Generating new leads and onboarding converted ones is critical to any business, including freelancing. Efficient and time-saving marketing strategies are ideal for freelancers since a decent portion of the workday needs to be dedicated (sans pay) towards marketing efforts, bringing in leads, sending proposals, answering questions, taking calls, and sending out quotations.
The question is, how should freelancers make the best use of their marketing time? We have done some research, and the answer is simple. If you want to generate the best ROI for your freelance business, we recommend email marketing.
Email marketing is the top choice for marketers who want to grow their business and enhance profitability. Statistics show an average return of $44 on every $1 spent on email marketing. That’s an ROI of 4400%. With 82% of all B2B and B2C companies using email marketing, it is only natural for freelancers to leverage it by researching and choosing the right email marketing software for freelancers. With email marketing opening such vistas for lead generation and conversion, it is only fair to state that email marketing is necessary for freelancers today. Let us look at a few methods through which freelancers can harness email marketing’s power for growing their businesses.
- Harness email Lists for Relationship Building
Freelancers looking to build profitable relationships with clients should begin with their existing email lists. Their current email lists would have current, past, prospective clients and those who have opted to receive correspondence. This would be a great starting point for building relationships and nurturing the list with all the attention it needs. To keep the relationships with the people on your list alive and healthy, you should send emails regularly. This will ensure that you are on their radar continuously, and depending on the value in the content you are sharing, they may turn into regular customers.
Marketers recommend sending emails 1 or 2 times a month. Redundancy without oversaturation is key. On average, a message must be seen seven times before a person will remember it and be influenced by it. Having a great subject line is essential and vital in determining whether someone on your list will open the email. Give readers a glimpse of some of the content you are going to provide and how it will be valuable for them.
Lead Nurturing
Email marketing has proven to be 40 times more effective at bringing in new clients than social media. Once readers open your email, you will want them to continue reading it and convert them into a lead. To achieve this, it is essential to make sure that the content you provide is relevant to their interests or business needs. The idea is to entice potential clients and showcase their value by hiring you for the services you provide. Giving them a glimpse of your expertise and services is a wonderful way to nurture a lead.
Lead nurturing and generation is best achieved by meeting prospective clients and finding out where they are with respect to fulfilling an unmet need, or showcasing how your services can help them meet it, boost their profits, or add value to their brand, etc. After readers open your email, read the content, and show interest in providing, guide them forward with proper call-to-action. A call to action button telling subscribers to sign up, request a quote, learn more, give you a call, etc., is a great way to turn your subscribers into leads, and eventually, clients.
Promote Service/Offers
Promoting your services is an essential part of an email marketing strategy. You will want to do this in a way that does not come across as an advertisement. Content should be conversational and not intimidating. Clients should feel welcome to reach out to you for support and be given easy access to your services through email. Surprising readers from time to time with sporadic discounts, offers, coupons, freebies, etc., is another excellent way to keep them anticipating a note from you in their inbox.
Follow-up Emails
Once a subscriber on your email list receives the first email, it is essential to follow it up with additional messages. These may be automated and based upon actions taken by the reader from the previous email sent and appropriate to it. Email automation makes this process easy and less time-consuming since emails can be pre-drafted and set up to communicate with each subscriber at specific times. Each follow-up email should be different and should walk readers through a story. The first email should be more of an introduction and welcoming. Follow-up messages should be shorter and focused on one primary goal, such as defining a need, a benefit, a promotion, tips, a case study, a reminder, etc. Some follow-up emails can be scheduled to be sent periodically over a specific period.
Drip Campaigns
One of the best ways to send automated follow-up emails is by setting up a drip campaign. This is a form of email automation that happens over a period and focuses on helping new leads or customers with your services. Drip campaigns may be sent depending on the reader’s actions over the course of the campaign. You can use these campaigns to promote your services during specific times of the year, to educate potential leads about the benefits your services can bring, or teach them about certain aspects of the freelance services you provide.
Feedback
Another great way to use email marketing as a tool for your freelance business is by allowing clients past and present to leave you feedback. You may be able to gather feedback from potential clients. Giving those who come into contact with your unique content, services, etc., a platform to share their experiences with you is a wonderful way to learn, grow, and improve upon your services over time. It is also a great way to market yourself when you have feedback, quotes, and case studies from those you’ve worked with to use in future marketing efforts.
With all of the marketing tools available for freelancers today, email marketing has the most potential to increase profits, generate leads, onboard new clients, and manage relationships with current and past clients. Before setting up your email marketing campaigns, you may need the help of an experienced marketing team or software tool. We recommend using email marketing software for freelancers designed to maximize marketing efforts while saving time and energy.
