Quick Answer: Freelance digital marketing refers to working for companies to promote their offerings online. The job of a freelance digital marketer is to reach out to the target audience and drive them to the client’s web profile to boost sales.
Digital marketing is easily becoming the future of any kind of marketing; with rapid advancements in the field of marketing and the digitization of essentially all business processes.
Just think about all your favourite brands of shoes, motorbikes, streaming channels, websites, anything.
A digital marketer is behind all of those brands, coming up with new techniques and strategies to make you fall in love with the brands.
Businesses now are hiring freelance digital marketers that cater precisely to their marketing needs. So, if you want to avail this exciting opportunity, you need to learn everything about freelance digital marketing.
What Is A Freelance Digital Marketer?
A freelance digital marketer is an independent individual who is also a professional in the field of marketing, who uses digital tools to promote or market their client’s market offering.
The goal is to improve sales and design compelling marketing strategies that help clients attract potential customers. The digital marketer must be proficient in using various digital tools that operate on social media, search engines, emails, and other similar platforms.
The daily operations of a freelance digital marketer include:
- Communicating with clients
- Developing market copy
- Market research
- Designing marketing campaigns.
Though it may seem like freelance digital marketers have a lot of free time on their hands, in reality, they have to follow a strict and carefully regimented schedule set by the clients.
They are self-paced and mostly work remotely. If the clients are satisfied with their work, they are also included in the company’s marketing team.
Pros Of Freelance Digital Marketing
- You can decide when and where to work
- You can choose your clients
- You set the price for your service
- Receive immediate payments
- Use tools and equipment you are familiar with
Cons of Freelance Digital Marketing
- Less stable
- Intense competition
- The digital landscape is constantly changing, you need to stay up-to-date
- No insurance or paid-time-off
- Tax filings and licensing issues as you are running your own business
- You’re still working for other people, as opposed to affiliate marketing where you work for yourself
Types of Digital Marketing?
Here are some popular fields and types of digital marketing you must explore:
SEO Consulting
Search engines are one of the major sources of inviting traffic for businesses. With SEO, companies can improve their organic ranking and become more prominent in Infront of their potential customers.
PPC and Google Ads
Pay-per-click advertisements are ad models in which marketers place ads with links attached and pay the publisher when someone clicks the links. The most well-known PPC network is Google Ads.
Chatbots and Customer Service
Chatbots are the latest creation in the customer service domain and this tool is now integrated into different sites. These bots answer common queries and help in optimizing answers for sales.
Facebook and Instagram Ad
Facebook and Instagram have both launched an advertising feature that can be managed by a freelance digital marketer. They are responsible to master these ad campaigns and attracting customers.
Sales Funnels and Landing Pages
These are the bases of online sales; the whole process of interacting with potential customers to convince them into buying is a sales funnel. You can engage with people through ads, websites, emails, and other ways. Landing pages are particular pages that include all essential details of the product or service.
7 Main Skills You Need to Master
SEO and SEM
SEP (Search engine optimisation) and SEM (Search engine marketing) are skills needed to optimize web content so that it appears on top of the search engines.
Technical Skills
You will be a freelance digital marketer in today’s age, which means that you will be using a lot of modern tools and instruments. You will have to learn about new software and updated programs to track market trends and process the information. You need to know how to analyze different analytics and use software like word processing, graphic design, and teleconferencing, along with many others.
Research Skills
Everyone knows that a marketer has to research; this job is 60% research and 40% creation of content and strategizing.
If you have strong research skills, you have the scope for growth in this field. You have to compile and store heaps of data for your clients and analyse the trends in the market based on your research. It is crucial for you to possess research skills otherwise you would not be able to comprehend market information.
Communication Skills
As a freelance digital marketer, you would have to often engage with the clients and be part of the consultation meetings. The clients would expect you to actively listen to their demands and then meet them.
For this reason, you need to notice the nonverbal cues and pay close attention to what they are demanding.
You also need to be articulate while you are presenting your ideas and use the correct words so that they can paint a picture of what they want to achieve.
Copywriting
This includes writing promotional content for clients that engages their audience and helps them attract more customers. A freelance digital marketer must know how to write content that can help promote a brand and boost sales conversions.
Negotiation Skills
As a freelance digital marketer, you would be expected to determine the price of your services. You cannot just offer a flat rate because you will be working differently on each project for your clients.
This job requires strong negotiation skills especially if you aim to work long-term. This way you can ensure the best compensation for your work and efforts.
Creativity and Innovation
You need to leverage your imagination to create something unique and riveting so that you can reel in a pool of potential clients.
11 Places You Can Find Freelance Digital Marketing Jobs
A freelance digital marketer is not any typical employee; they have the liberty to choose clients themselves based on the job requirements and the compensation offered.
So, if you are looking to begin this venture, here are some sites where you can look for new clients;
- Upwork
- FlexJobs
- Problogger
- People Per Hour
- The Dots
- LinkedIn Jobs
- RemoteOK
- 99designs
- ClearVoice Marketplace
- Media Bistro
- Link-able
Final Thoughts
When compared to affiliate marketing, freelance digital marketing has its pros as well as cons.
Freelancing is not for everyone and digital marketers may not always thrive as freelance digital marketers. Many people work best in an office environment and need that sort of stability. So, make sure you assess your values and preferences before you embark on this journey.
Freelancing is not as easy as it sounds; you may be working flexible hours, but you will be hustling and working multiple jobs at a time. You will have many different clients and you would have to wear different hats. So, make sure you do a thorough search before you decide.
