Working as a freelancer has become increasingly attractive in recent years, not least because it offers the option of working on your terms, setting your own rates, and structuring your business around your priorities, objectives, and lifestyle.
Freelance work is also well-suited to digital marketers, many of whom focus on creativity and content management and prefer the space and time to concentrate on campaign development far away from the noise and disruption of a busy office environment.
Although there are undoubtedly downsides, such as the need to market your services and secure new clients, the opportunity continues to entice thousands of marketers, many of whom need to spend a little time brushing up on their non-marketing skills to ensure they’re ready to launch a standalone freelance business.
What Is the Appeal of Working as a Digital Marketing Freelancer?
Regardless of your niche, seniority level, or current experience, freelance work has become massively popular, especially following remote working trends. Professionals recognize they might stand to earn considerably more when their incomes aren’t limited by a fixed salary.
Freelance marketers benefit from the following:
- Unlimited income potential, based on the quality of their work, their reputation in their sector or niche, and the types of businesses or agencies they work with. Freelancers set their own rates and can often quote on as much or as little work as they’d like to take on.
- Flexibility: Freelance work can be managed around childcare and family obligations, used as a secondary income alongside part-time employment, or suit people who find they are most productive and creative outside of the conventional nine to five.
- Access to fast internet connections, video conferencing apps, and workflow platforms means freelancers aren’t limited by their location or even the country where they live. They can market their services internationally and even take their jobs with them as they travel.
Another big advantage is the ability to specialize or pick a niche or subsector that you love. Rather than having a job specification and list of responsibilities, as a freelancer, it’s up to you where you concentrate your efforts—whether you want to work with clients in a particular sector or industry or prefer to take on project-specific tasks.
It’s also becoming far more common for companies, even big corporations, to hire freelancers rather than take on permanent in-house employees.
Hiring freelance digital marketers means businesses can tap into expertise or skills on demand without committing to ongoing costs. They can also select from a wider pool of talent or advertise for specialists for each individual project instead of hiring one or two full-time staff with potentially limited capabilities.
Check out our guide: If you’re looking to become a freelance digital marketer
What Skills Do I Need to Be a Great Freelance Digital Marketer?
Next, we’ll look at the skills we’ve mentioned, many of which you’ll already have if you’re an experienced marketer with a few years of professional work or projects under your belt – and on your resume!
It’s important to clarify, though, that there could be areas you’re not yet proficient in. Spending time studying, comparing business management platforms or working out how and where you’ll advertise, handle workflows, or add value to attract high-paying clients is well worth it and will secure the long-term sustainability of your freelance business.
1. Negotiation and Communication Skills
Almost every project, contract, or piece of work you take on as a freelancer will require a degree of negotiation regarding the rates you’re prepared to offer and those your client is willing to pay, the edits or workflows you’re committing to, and the deadlines a client is expecting and you feel are realistic.
We’ll talk about contracts a little later, but if you have great negotiation skills, you’ll avoid being pushed back on price or agreeing to terms that are less than ideal and may put pressure on your time or income.
2. Self-Marketing Abilities
You might know how to market and promote client brands, products, or services – but do you know how to promote yourself? Freelancers are responsible for advertising their skills across various platforms and freelance working sites. If you can’t promote your abilities or demonstrate the value you’ll bring to a client project, you will likely struggle to win business.
While digital marketers will already understand the importance of having a recognizable, trusted, and strong brand, it’s essential you can transfer those skills to yourself as a freelance professional and find a theme, specialism, or tone of voice that will make you stand out from the crowd.
3. In-Depth Sector or Industry Know-How
If you’re already working in digital marketing and want to leverage the knowledge you have, you might be ready to get started. However, it’s a good idea to spend sufficient time researching any industry you’re considering working in or browsing our job board to see what recruiters are looking for in project-based freelance work.
Much of the digital marketing freelance environment is similar to that you’ll be used to. Still, if you know exactly the challenges a client in a particular market is facing or how their competitors have developed their own digital marketing efforts, you’ll be in a great position.
4. Project Management
Every freelance job needs to be managed, from initial specifications and briefs to scheduling the work alongside other projects you’re handling, providing updates or content for your client to review, and finding times to meet or talk online to discuss progress and performance vs objectives.
Much will, of course, depend on the type of digital marketing work you’re offering as a freelancer, but you might want to refine your project management skills to ensure each project is structured and configured clearly and without room for error.
5. Contract Writing
It’s highly advisable to present any new client with a contract before you begin work since this is a proven way to avoid disputes or misunderstandings and protect yourself as a freelancer. For example, your contract can set out factors like:
- Payment terms and penalties for late payment
- The number of edits or revisions included in a project
- Start and end dates for time-limited or project-based work
- The scope and extent of the services you’re offering
- The terms and conditions of the agreement between you and the business
You can study online contracts, use done-for-you templates, or research how other freelancers handle their contracts; you might also join a few forums or digital marketing groups where experienced freelancers are often happy to share tips, advice, and recommendations.
6. Bookkeeping
Freelancers act as the CEO, receptionist, accountant, marketer, and quality manager for everything they do. It’s like running a mini business with just one employee, which means you’re responsible for issuing invoices, chasing late payments, reconciling your accounts, recording your expenses, and filing your tax returns.
Plenty of bookkeeping apps and sites offer affordable packages that automate many of these admin tasks, and picking wisely will ensure you’re not overrun with overdue tasks or forget to bill a client promptly once their project or campaign has finished.
7. Time Tracking and Management
Finally, as a freelancer, you’ll oversee your own calendar and schedule, which can be a big positive but also a pitfall if you’re not proficient in time management. While it’s common for new freelancers to underestimate the time a job will take, it might be worth running through a few initial test projects to get a clear idea about the hours you should be quoting for and the number of days a week to set aside.
Time tracking is also relevant if you’re billing clients based on the number of hours you’ve spent working on a project or ongoing digital marketing campaign. You can either do this manually or, better yet, install time-tracking software that logs your time and notes the tasks completed during each set of billable hours.
Developing Your Skills as a Freelance Digital Marketer
We hope this guide has helped outline the skills you’ll require to become a successful freelancer and highlighted the opportunities and risks a freelance business carries.
To learn more about freelance digital marketing jobs and the vacancies currently available for applicants, you’re welcome to browse our digital marketing job board to see which posts catch your eye.
Alternatively, you can upload your resume to our busy platform, including any new learning or skills you’ve worked on, and circulate your details to a wide network of recruiters, agencies, and businesses throughout the world.
