According to research in 2016, over half of employers currently use independent contractors and expect to increase their use of such individuals in the future. Freelancers.
This is the ‘gig economy’. And, that refers principally to people who have given up the toil of the nine-to-five. Instead they work for themselves.
If that’s you, and you’ve pondered the benefits of using email marketing to advertise your services and keep existing clients coming back for more. w=We’ve got some good news. It’s absolutely worth it. Email marketing will open plenty of new opportunities if you’re an independent worker.
Here’s why:
1. It’ll help you rekindle old relationships
Any freelancer will tell you that the key to a happy working life is ensuring you can see the road ahead. Generally, that’s only possible if you have plenty of on-going client relationships. Moreover, to ensure such partnerships blossom, you need to keep in regular contact.
Sometimes, contracts come to an end and clients move on. That’s unavoidable! If you simply let them slip away without so much as a backwards glance, you’ll miss the opportunity to re-engage.
With email marketing, you can periodically send a targeted, personalised message out to your past customers. You don’t need to send a special offer. Just an email that acts as a reminder that you exist. You never know, it might land in their inbox just as they’re thinking “who was the person who designed our logo a couple of years ago?”.
2. It saves a freelancer significant time
A great way to get yourself known as an independent worker is to spread your wings once in a while. Reach out to potential customers.
In the past, you may have done this the hard way by sending individual emails to businesses you suspect might require your services or via a bunch of cold calling sessions. Unfortunately, neither option is particularly palatable, nor enjoyable.
With email marketing, you can target a relatively large audience in one hit and do so with a form of communication that is beautiful and engaging. In return, you’ll receive a huge amount of statistical information you can dig into in order to ascertain who read, clicked and engaged with your email.
Just remember – you need to obtain confirmation from the people you’re targeting. Make sure that they’re happy to receive emails from you (that can be done by a much shorter round of cold calling or a sign up form on your website).
3. It enables you to shout loud and proud about your service
If you deliver a piece of work or a product that is particularly well received, it’s a great idea to create a mini case study to showcase what you’re capable of.
As a savvy freelancer may already be doing this. But, if those case studies are simply ending up as blog posts on your website, you’re missing another trick.
By all means, feature them on your website. But, use that list of past customers and email the case study directly to them. Email marketing software will enable you to do so in a way that is vibrant and engaging. It might just win you another contract if people see what they’re missing out on.
4. It makes you look bigger than a freelancer
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a solo entrepreneur running a micro enterprise, but if you battle against larger organisations in your industry, you may sometimes feel a little inadequate.
Email marketing can help elevate the positioning of your micro business within the sector by painting a professional public image that wouldn’t look out of place in a much larger organisation.
You’re operating on your own, but just because you don’t have a huge office teeming with staff doesn’t mean you can’t make a great first impression and battle comfortably against the big guns.
5. It’s not expensive
The cost of email marketing software has reduced significantly over recent years. Services like mailingmanager now available for comfortable monthly fees.
What’s more, the return offered by this form of marketing quickly pays for any outlay. Moreover, you won’t have to look far or wait long to see the benefits of investing in the tools. You’ll need to make a big noise about your freelancing business.
Wrapping up
One of the hardest parts of freelancing in an economy that is fast becoming swamped with independent workers is making yourself heard. And, while nothing quite beats the tried-and-test techniques of door knocking and networking. Adding email marketing to your promotional strategy could be the best thing you do this month.
