Guide To Successful Freelance Digital Marketing Career

Freelance digital marketing is the method of implementing all the digital marketing activities by a professional who is not a part of any business organization but works independently to promote a business and its products and services online. They can successfully create a digital marketing strategy for a business organization and implement it to effectively grow a brand in the digital space.

Freelance digital marketers are those who possess a myriad of skills starting from websites creation and development, content strategy, paid advertising tactics to SEO and so much more. Digital marketing has seen such exponential growth in recent years that business organizations now look for specialized skills in an individual so that business can reap benefits in the online market.

A digital arena is a place for innumerable possibilities. Today digital marketing has gained immense proportions with technological advancements. As a result, the demand outweighs the supply of competent digital marketers. Go to any job portal and you will see just how much in demand a digital marketer is nowadays.

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Why Go For Freelance Digital Marketing Jobs?

People are always looking for newer greater opportunities in life. It is the satisfaction of doing a job at your own convenience that matters the most for individuals today. The job market has seen a drastic change in the last 15 years. With new avenues opening up, professionals have realized their capabilities.

Today people want to strike out on their own. Enough of the monotony and taking orders and instructions. More and more people are today looking to penetrate the Digital market and related jobs.

The reason – Digital Marketing is an interesting dynamic field where you have a lot of scope for success as well as flexibility. as of December 2019, Naukri.com, one of India’s most prominent job portal registered 19000+ freelance digital marketing jobs for marketers in India.

Where To Get Information On Digital Marketing?

A number of reputed institutes offer specialized courses on digital marketing to help you acquire and hone your skills. They are available both online as well as offline.

Moreover, there are a plethora of study materials available on the internet about digital marketing. They come in the form of detailed blog posts, podcasts, slideshows, Ebooks, white papers, etc. If you have the enthusiasm and will to learn you can very well become an expert in the domain of digital marketing.

Anyone from any field of study can successfully become a digital marketer. All you need is your perseverance to learn this particular vocation and evolve with new changes. Also, a penchant to discern trends and work accordingly works greatly to their advantage.

Coming to freelance digital marketing, they come with their share of advantages as disadvantages. Let’s look at both these factors and you can decide if this job is a good fit for you.

Advantages

1. You have the option of working from home, from a cafe shop, or from abroad. There is no geographical constraint. Think about the possibilities of what you can do if you are not confined to your office chair in a stultifying 9-5 job. The best part, you get to be your creative best!
2. You have the option of choosing the work you want to do. Additionally, you have the liberty of choosing who you want to work with.
3. You don’t have a superior to report to. Yes, you are accountable to your clients but then that is your job. Other than being answerable to the people you directly work with, you don’t have to answer to anyone else.
4. Since you are a freelance professional, you can decide on your charges without having to consult anyone else.
5. The digital marketing space itself is extremely interesting and exciting. On top of that, there are so many job opportunities and varied roles to fill, there is no chance of boredom creeping in on the work front. Content Writing, Copywriting, SEO, email marketing strategy, social media strategy. So, you see, there is no way digital marketing can get tedious.
6. You can create your own schedule, work whenever you want. It completely depends on you. So long as you get your job done meeting all the deadlines, you are free to work whenever you want. Bring value to the table, your schedule isn’t a concern.

So we now know the advantages of getting into freelance digital marketing jobs. Let’s look at the challenges and/or disadvantages that freelance digital marketers face as a result of going solo.

• Unstable Income – There is no job guarantee with freelancing. As a result, there is no stable income that you are sure to come your way every month. Moreover, the pay fluctuates with each project that you take up. One month you might earn 3 lakhs but the next month the earning might just be 50000 or less. There is no stability where earnings are concerned.
• When you are starting, it does become an uphill task to get clients to invest in you. You have to create a portfolio and sometimes even work for free or a very nominal amount just to build up your credentials in the field. Also, you won’t get high paying clients for sometime when you start. So remember it is a steep ride for the initial couple of months or so.
• There is tough competition in the field with everyone wanting to rake in the first spot for a project. Also, you are responsible for managing every single role in the process of creating a strategy for your client. You are the digital marketing manager as well as the customer support executive. Donning the hat for so many roles comes with its challenges.
• You don’t get benefits like insurance, health privileges, and other advantages and packages that you get when you work for a company.

Interested in a Digital Marketing Course?

Take all the above points into account and decide for yourself whether you are made for a career in this field.

We have the pros and cons out of the way, now let’s concentrate on what a freelance digital marketing career entails.

Digital Marketers whether freelance or a company know all the elements of digital marketing. Also, they must possess specialized knowledge of some of its elements. Precisely, the job roles they can confidently apply for without any doubt.

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Some Of The In-demand Job Profiles In Freelance Digital Marketing Are

1. Content Marketing Expert/Specialist/Strategist

Content is the cornerstone for the success of any brand. A website’s identity is vastly dependent on the quality of content that it disseminates to its visitors and customers. Content marketing specialists typically write high-grade inspiring content for readers so that the copy appeals to their senses.

They are creative and innovative new ways of connecting with the customers of the business through organic content. Education and Information are the two vital aspects of content strategy.

A content marketing specialist generally works on blogs, White Papers, Ebooks, Newsletters, Email copy, Case Studies, Social Media posts, etc. Content helps in the SEO of a website.

With informative value-driven content, you can very well rank in the first page of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) A content Specialist ensures that your work is picked up by Google algorithms and posted on the first pages of SERP for better reach and exposure.

Content can take the form of texts, as well as infographics, videos, images, or an aesthetic combination of all these elements. Content is the mainstay of any business, the foundation on which a brand thrives. It is a very lucrative career option and has a great opportunity for growth.

2. SEO Specialist

An SEO specialist ensures that all the aspects of successful website creation is achieved by an organization. They are leaders in website optimization and comprehension of complex ranking systems on different search engines.

An SEO specialist is responsible for carrying out website testing, for developing the website for ranking on the SERP pages. It requires testing the website speed, assessing the trends and working to improve the overall reach of the website. There are certain guidelines and rules that a website has to follow to be able to display on the search engine results page.

An SEO specialist keeps abreast of all such rules and uses the knowledge for the clients and the brands they develop and work for. To become a freelance digital marketer specializing in SEO, a professional has to show proficiency in keyword planning, Keyword insertion bin copy, HTML, CSS, blogging, and website creation.

3. Search Engine Marketing Specialist

Some businesses, especially start-ups, find the concept of paid advertisement management overwhelming at times. There are a lot of companies that want a digital marketer who can manage te paid advertising aspect of their digital marketing program.

For a digital marketer, it is essential to learn the ropes of paid marketing strategy (Google ads, Adsense,) to become an overall digital marketing specialist. Every step of the digital learning process, you have to incorporate your knowledge into practical experiments to gain know-how.

Only then will you be able to apply that knowledge to your client’s advantage. Learn this area of digital marketing very thoroughly and they set out to work in this field. Even for starters in this profession, the paid advertising arena might look like a maze. Which is why you need all the practice that you can.

Search engine marketers have to possess knowledge od analytics and how to read reports to optimize a website for the business. There are numerous courses available to comprehend data analytics. Skilled SEM marketers analyze trends, patterns, website traffic and then work out a paid advertising strategy to suit the needs of the business.

4. Social Media Manager

A social media manager looks after all the aspects of social media. From strategizing a social media campaign around the brand to managing ads on social media everything is done by a freelance social media manager.

They are also responsible for identifying target consumers, mirroring existing customers if any, identifying KPIs and making sure that the brand has a strong positive social media presence.

Social Media Ads, display advertising (Facebook Ads, Instagram Sponsored Ads, banner ads, native ads on social media, etc) can get a little difficult for companies to grasp on their own. That is when social media specialists come to the rescue.

A freelance digital marketing job requires that a professional knows about email marketing, community management, crisis management, as well as managing public relations for the business.

They have to be adept at communications making sure to engage in online forums. They should also have an active presence on LinkedIn, make sure to post relevant high-quality content on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

The more they become accomplished in maximizing reach, the more the brand and its features get exposure.

How To Start With Freelance Digital Marketing?

The first step is to acquire all the information you can on the different digital marketing modules. Take a course if you are still not clear about the elements and how to work on them practically.

A digital marketing course can be very helpful for freelance digital marketers especially people who want to start their careers in digital marketing on their own.

Next, set up a website of your own and practice all the modules and submodules on your website. Understand and download the essential plug-ins. Play around with the design, theme, content, email marketing plug-in.

After you’ve gained insight into the different components, identify your strongest points. Which is the area you have a knack in?

If you can weave compelling stories with your word skill you should look at copywriting and content writing. If you have a great sense of designs and structure you can start with website planning and design for clients.

Consider These Steps

Whatever it is that you are proficient in, or have an innate talent for in this field, never lose sight of the one pertinent thing. A successful career in Digital marketing requires you to constantly upgrade your skill sets to match the standards and expectations of the fast-paced online domain.

Digital Marketers have to plan and execute an entire marketing strategy to bring in customers. Along with that, they have to make sure that customer satisfaction and loyalty is successfully retained by the brand.

After creating a professional-looking website, start creating a work portfolio along with building a strong social media presence. Since you are working on your own, you need to be a little proactive in finding areas to network. A course gives you access to new people and new resources.

Otherwise, you can autodidact and make sure you achieve proficiency. Make the effort to build a network of like-minded people on social media.

Read Plenty Of Articles, Blogs, White Papers, Case Studies On Digital Marketing.

Communicate with marketing gurus on the different social media channels. Get yourself a mentor who can direct you to the right path. You do get expert advice when you sign up for courses.

Make sure you constantly work even if it is for a small fee because you are getting experience and probable chances of good referrals. Strive to create your identity in the digital world as a credible freelance marketer.

Once you build a favourable reputation for yourself you will start getting high paying clients that will help you take up fewer projects but more quality works with much greater pay.

Scour job portals like Upwork, Freelancer, Truelancer, Fiverr, People per hour, to get contacts and clients. Conversely, you can also look for opportunities for cold pitching in companies that need digital marketing strategists.

Building Your Own Reputation

Some Of The Characteristics For You To Build Your Own Reputation As A Trustworthy And Reliable Freelance Marketer Is Your Communication Skills.

You have to be affable, and approachable. A lot of digital marketers today create videos on Youtube with tips and techniques for successful online marketing. Make sure you use a good quality sound and editing software to give a professional feel to it.

Don’t try too hard to be what you are not. Not a lot of people are extroverts. There is nothing wrong with that. Make sure you come across as genuine in whatever it is that you are doing to promote your skills and identity in the web world.

You need marketing skills to sustain in this fiercely competitive space, yes, but your ingenuity and sincerity towards your work are the factors that will get you results.

Communicate with fellow freelance digital marketers and get an idea of the kind of pay that you should charge. Sites like Indeed, Glassdoor can give you an idea about pay. Fix how many hours you are ready to invest in a project and calculate the amount. Other than that, there are fixed payment projects posted on several sites.

That is a better way of making sure you have the money in your bank after your work is done. Commissions work like affiliates sometimes. When you bring in a certain number of consumers you get paid an amount.

Go to freelance digital marketers’ tutorials and websites and you will see almost all of them recommend certain tools to maintain efficiency and productivity in your work. Since you have to remain self-motivated throughout the year and pretty much your entire career henceforth, creating tools may help you achieve maximum productivity.

 

Google Sheets, Slack, Trello, Canva, Buffer, Getresponse, Constant Contact, Calendly, Feedly, Pixabay, Pexels (Free stock photos), etc are some of the tools that will help you get your work done smoothly.

Let’s Look At The Various Work A Digital Marketer Has To Do For A Client.

A freelance digital marketer has quite an interesting but tough job on a day to day basis. Just because it is freelance doesn’t mean that the day goes on breezy like there is no urgency of work. Once a freelancer digital marketer lands a client who entrusts them with the entire digital marketing strategy, the work generally entails the following:

Making a thorough assessment of the needs of the customer. In this case, the brand you will work to develop. Identifying the target consumers and where they are located digitally.

This means you have to see where most of your target audience resides in a particular marketing channel. For example, the target audience is mostly on Facebook in an age group of 25-40. A digital Marketer will have to create copy aligning to the data and insights available.

Then They Will Proceed To Create A Marketing Funnel With The Whole Marketing Process Of Awareness, Leads And Then Conversions.

A digital marketer has to track and create reports of the progress of the brand on a monthly basis. The reports indicate the level of awareness, the website traffic and the conversions monthly. An important part of a digital marketer’s work is to create compelling copy.

It can be blog posts, sales copy, enticing email content or an ebook. Additionally, they have to monitor the progress and align the strategy with the budget allocated. Also, they have to maintain a constant connection with the business officials with detailed updates on the progress.

Next, they have to put special emphasis on social media scheduling since it is a potent marketing channel for any business large or small. PPC campaign is also of vital importance to a business.

It helps in quicker conversions and awareness. A freelance digital marketer also has to build and nurture strong relationships for other modes of digital promotions as well. Podcasts, radio advertising, television advertising, etc are some great digital channels to create recognition. Webcasts, Webinars should be an active feature if promotional tactics.

Therefore, Digital marketers should make sure to use these areas to further strengthen the brand’s reputation. All along what has to remain constant is the quality of content that is to be sent out for public consumption. The potential consumers expect content that helps them in some way.

Content that educates and inspires creates much better conversion. Add to it some great CTAs and you have a stellar content copy. A digital marketer needs soft skills since they have to collaborate with senior officials of the business.

They Are Required To Make Innovative Campaigns Like An Omnichannel Strategy.

Give importance to all the different channels to leverage maximum benefits. Feasible Affiliates and influencers are also determined by these digital marketers for the overall growth and exposure of the business.

Remember if at any point, if you feel that the work requires additional help, you can always reach out to other freelance digital experts. Make sure you have that caveat in your contract with your client. In this way, a digital marketer has to take care of the multifaceted digital marketing campaign.

Conclusion

The core objective of a digital marketer is to create brand cognizance, drive traffic and ultimately facilitate sales. But there are a range of skills for a freelance digital marketer to master if they want to successfully create and grow businesses for clients.

Since you are the only one accountable for the positives as well as the negatives for the business you have to be vigilant and conscious of every decision you take.

Being circumspect, understanding your strong points and leveraging on them can make you very successful in a freelance digital marketing career.