When it comes to generating leads and onboarding new clients, it always helps to use the best strategy possible. Efficient, time-saving strategies are ideal for freelancers, as we must dedicate a decent portion of the workday (sans pay) toward marketing efforts bringing in leads, sending proposals, asking and answering questions, taking calls, and giving quotes. So, how can freelancers in this digital age best make use of their marketing time? We have done some research, and the answer is simple. If you want to generate the most ROI with the most fruitful results for your freelance business, we recommend email marketing.
Email marketing is the top choice for marketers who want to increase profits and grow businesses, with the stats showing an average return of $44 on every $1 spent. That is an ROI of 4400%. With 82% of all B2B and B2C companies using email marketing technology, it is only natural for freelancers to consider the benefits to be gained in adopting such a strategy, or investing in email marketing software for freelancers. With email marketing holding such power for lead generation and conversion, we would go so far as to say that email marketing is essential for freelancers today. Throughout the following paragraphs, we will show you the different ways freelancers can harness the power of email marketing for growing their businesses.
Email Lists for Relationship Building
Freelancers who want to build profitable relationships with clients are wise to get some help from their email lists. Email lists with current, past, and prospective clients and those who have opted to receive correspondence, or would benefit from your services are excellent places to start. Like any relationship, it is important to nurture it with the attention that it needs. Email lists are no different. To keep the relationships with the people on your list alive, healthy, and well, we recommend sending emails regularly. This will help to keep things consistent and will keep the attention of those who find value in the content you’re sharing.
Marketers recommend sending correspondence 1-2 times per 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 also important, and vital in determining whether or not 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 is going to be valuable for the reader.
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 for them to become a lead. To do this, it is important to make sure the content you are providing is relevant to their interests or business needs. The idea is to entice potential clients and show them the value they will gain 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 can be done by meeting your prospective clients where they are regarding fulfilling an unmet need, or showing them how your services can help them boost their profits, or add value to their brand, etc. After readers open your email, read your content, and become pumped about what you are providing, give them a bit of instruction as to how they can take action next. A call to action button telling subscribers to sign up now, 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 ROI-generating 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 be welcomed to reach out to you for support, and be given easy access to your goods or 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 your first email, it is essential to follow it up with additional messages. These may be automated and based upon the actions taken by the reader from the first email sent, as well as appropriate to the first email. Email automation makes this process easy and less time-consuming because the emails can already be drafted to communicate to each subscriber at a specific time. Each follow-up email should be different and should walk readers through a story. The first email is more of an introduction, and welcoming readers. Follow-up messages should be shorter in length 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 may be scheduled to send periodically over a specific course of time.
Drip Campaign
One of the best ways to send out automated follow-up emails is by setting up a drip campaign. This is a form of email automation that occurs over a series of times and focuses on helping assist new leads or customers with the products/services a company provides. Drip campaigns may be sent according to a reader’s actions over the course of the campaign. You can use these 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 also 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 have worked with to use in future marketing efforts.
With all of the marketing tools available for freelancers today, email marketing holds the most potential for increasing profits, generating leads, onboarding new clients, and managing relationships with current and past clients. Before setting up your email marketing campaigns, you may find that you desire the help of an experienced marketing team or software tool. We recommend using email marketing software for freelancers designed to help maximize marketing efforts while saving time and energy.
