Introduction
Are you bored doing a 9 to 5 routine job? Do you want to work in an environment where the boss is not always around the corner? Have you ever thought of starting Digital Marketing (freelancing) as a side hustle or maybe after gaining some experience making it a full-time business? People these days need an environment with no pressures as already they are sick of being bullied at the office and listening to the boss’s questions. Here is a complete guide in which all the information for the beginner is available. A detailed road map is available for newcomers in this field.
Who is a Freelancer?
A freelancer can earn money per client per project or given task. Like companies hire you as an outsource person who is not a company’s employee but will work for the company. The hired person can work from anywhere in the world and the same goes with your customers or clients, they can belong to any company or country.
Freelancing “A side hustle or full-time business”?
Being a newbie in freelancing one advice that is always very beneficial for an individual is not to quit a full-time job until you start making at least double from freelancing. It’s not easy but it’s also not impossible to be a freelancer, every industry requires time, patience, and experience. Remember to start freelancing as a side hustle and then by the time one will gain experience make it your full-time successful business.
Finding Industry
It’s not easy to identify the best industry in the freelancing discipline. Just like it is difficult to find a job of one’s requirements. Job hunting is tough but finding industry is also not a piece of cake. In Freelancing an individual will find a variety of available niches, like:-
- Content Writing
- Copy Writer
- Web developer
- Graphic designer
- Marketing Manager
- Marketing strategist
- Social Media Page Manager
- SEO
- App developer
- Online tutor Editor
- Translator
- Software developer
- Programmer
- Photo Editor
- Educator
- Online Trainer
- Digital Marketer
Survey Report
Statista Research Department, Dec 20, 2023
In 2023, an estimated 64 million people were doing freelance work in the United States. This is an increase from 2014 when about 53 million people were freelancing. The number of freelancers in the U.S. has been increasing since 2014.
A Day of a self Employed Man:- Although freelancing is not a routine job, but its always good to make a routine of your work, self-employment does not mean that no one is there for you to answer, your clients will be your boss, they will asked you on the given time about the status of task or job assigned to you. A freelancer is required to make a schedule and planner so it will be followed accordingly. It is ok if you want to work at night time or day time obviously but sticking to your planner and being consistent in your side hustle is the key if you want success.
Freelancing as a Digital Marketer
Once a person finds their niche or industry, start doing your research for example if a person selects digital marketing to do as a freelancer, make sure to start with your local market, do not jump to be a digital marketer for big industries or multinationals, start slowly with your surroundings to gain some experience. Here is a step-by-step guide available on how you can start your work as a freelance digital marketer.
Step # 1
Go to the nearby shops, schools, colleges, clinics, small boutiques, grocery stores, or marts, ask them if you want to do their digital marketing for a month as a trial and if they receive good results or like your services, they can hire you as their digital marketer. Make sure that must go and find your market in a well-dressed attire and you must have a good proposal with you for your market, or you can take their email address and ask them you send them a customized proposal for them.
Step # 2
You can first create your account on Canva, make a decent logo for your company as a social media agency, and for a nice proposal, give a name to your company, you can give it your name or any other name and now make a proposal here’s a link you can edit it according to your vision and mission.
Step # 3
Find the pain point of your specific client, here is an example, a shop owner says that the market is very down we are unable to make our sales to break even, try to give them some unique ideas, and make strategies for how you can boost their sales. Make sure that getting the first client is very important in the market, make sure that you hard work the most with your client, find what other shop owners are doing for their profitable sales, maybe their way of dealing with the client is wonderful and respectful, maybe other shop owners are providing a solution to their clients. Make sure that you have your uniqueness as well in the market.
Step # 4
Please make sure that you market your client’s product on every platform, like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and LinkedIn, and also help your client in managing all these accounts, Market the product on these platforms, learn how to pay for ads on these platforms, in the beginning, you can ask your client to add their card for online Facebook booster or you can place your card in Ads Manager of Facebook and other accounts. Make sure that the target audience of your client sees the advertisement and chat with them in your inbox so that the leads will be converted in actual clients.
Step # 5
Once you achieve the target of your client in a month or at least you show some results with your client now you can negotiate the price with your client, in the beginning so do not expect a handsome amount you can start with the budget of your client and then later you can increase your price.
How to find a second client being a digital marketing freelancer?
Now you can make some minor amendments to the digital marketing agency proposal and start sending this proposal to different small businesses in your area or any other nearby area, daily at least 50 to 60 emails you can send to different owners who must be looking for digital marketers in a budget, you can take help of Mailchimp for this purpose. Find emails of clients from their LinkedIn or Facebook accounts.
Survey for digital Marketers as Freelancers
It was calculated that digital advertising spending worldwide amounted to 522.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The source projected that by 2026, the spending would reach 836 billion dollars.
Freelance Digital Marketing Salary
Freelance Digital marketers earn a handsome salary, with recent reports 55k to 64k $ a year which is quite good results as compared to a 9 to 5 job, in which you need to listen to your boss and always make the company profitable.
FAQ’s
Q1 Can I start with freelance digital marketing jobs?
Yes absolutely you can start as a freelancing digital marketer, you may find your specific job on Fiver, Guru, Upwork, or LinkedIn, Make a nice and decent profile on these platforms and be ready to explore.
Q2 Is the Digital Marketing field Legit?
Every niche requires digital marketing, these days social media presence gives knowledge to people about your company’s product.
Q3 From where can I learn digital marketing or digital marketing courses?
You may check Coursera.com, Harvard university is offering free courses also you may check the website of Stanford University as well.
Q4 Can I do freelance digital marketing from home?
Yes freelancers work from home, however at times companies hire you a full-time paid digital marketer, but then you need to follow a proper routine
Q5 Am I eligible to do freelancing from Africa?
Yes you can do freelancing from anywhere in the world, you need a good internet connection and a laptop.
Q6 As a student Can I start freelance digital marketing?
Being a student make sure that you start freelancing as a side hustle, and then by the time convert it into your full-time income, studies should be prioritized as well.
Conclusion
Starting a career in the field of freelance digital marketing is not like a piece of cake but nothing in the world is impossible, if hard work, efforts, and proper planning are involved, for every business it is important to keep in mind that the business which an individual is doing to solve the problem of people if an individual start thinking in the direction that my business will help people then there is no way that he/she can fail in business.
Consistency and continuous efforts always result positively, if the result rate is not 100% but 20 or 30%, this is also called progress. In case you fail in your first project always remember that a restart is better than no start.