“We’re taking content in-house”.

It’s a perfectly plausible thing for a brand to do, but it was a kick in the teeth for me. I’d kept my diary light for the next month to accommodate a huge new contract I’d picked up, but the client decided not to renew and to take their content in-house instead. It happens, but it still sucks, however many times it’s happened.

Luckily, I wasn’t completely up sh** creek without a paddle. Why? Because I make an effort to market my freelance business every month—in one way or another. 

Why you need to market your freelance business 

The hardest part of freelancing for many freelancers is finding enough work to tide them over. It’s easy to get complacent when work’s busy, only to find yourself scrambling to pick up a new contract when a client suddenly goes AWOL or pulls the contract. 

The example above is just one of the times that’s happened to me. In the past, I would have panicked. It would have been a total disaster to lose a chunk of income like that because I had nothing to fall back onto. 

But, with a marketing strategy in place, I’m now able to pick up another contract (or a singular project or two) to tide me over. 

Psst… “Marketing” can take many different forms

I have a background in marketing, but when I became a freelancer, I was hoping to wave a happy goodbye to that side of my skill set. Obviously, things didn’t go that way. Turns out, you have to be a fairly decent marketer if you want a successful freelance business. It’s not enough to sit back in the shadows and wait for clients to rock up at your door. 

It’s a shame because often the people who are the best at what they do are overlooked because they don’t put themselves out there.

Brands often choose the easiest (a.k.a. most visible) option because they don’t want to spend their precious time sifting through the depths of the internet trying to find someone who’s an amazing recluse. Again, it’s a shame, but it’s part of the game. 

I’ve learned over the past 10 years that marketing doesn’t have to be this sleazy, black-hat process of convincing people to work with you. Thank god, because I think I would have given up a long time ago if that was the case. 

Instead, think of marketing as the vehicle you use to put your business out there. Your vehicle might be a suped-up Lamborghini or it might be a clapped-out old Ford. Either way, its job is to get you to where you need to be, whatever that might look like on the outside. 

The good news is, that marketing can take on whatever form you want it to take (Lamborghini or Ford? Mine definitely leans towards the clapped-out Ford).

You don’t have to post three videos a day on TikTok if you don’t want to. You don’t have to cold pitch 100 brands a week. You don’t even need to have a website (although, I kind of recommend you have one because it’s much easier for brands to find out more about you—an important part of the sales cycle). 

The beauty of marketing is you can do whatever works best for you. 

That being said, I also recommend you choose your marketing methods from two buckets: 

1. Active marketing tactics
2. Passive marketing tactics 

Here’s what that looks like in action. 

The best ways to market your freelance business 

I’ve tried a lot of different marketing tactics over the years. I’ve tried complicated lead gen funnels, paid ads, blogging until my fingers hurt, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook groups—I’ve tried it all. 

But for me, the best results came when I geared my marketing tactics to the state of my business. I’ll explain what that means in a moment, but first, let’s break down the two buckets I mentioned above.

What is active marketing?

Active marketing tactics are things that get you work ASAP. They are direct actions you can take to pick up work as soon as possible and are great when you have a client go cold or lose a contract and need to pick something up quickly. 

What is passive marketing?

Passive marketing tactics are a bit more laid back—their goal is to grow your visibility online and perhaps land you a project along the way. These tactics are great to employ when your work is busy but you still want to keep your pipeline a little hot and spicy. 

They’re both legit ways to market your business, but they involve different levels of input and, therefore, see different levels of output. 

Examples of active ways to market your freelance business

Actively marketing your business involves seeking out options that are available right now. That means finding opportunities that you can slip right into without having to warm up a very cold deal for months on end. 

Here are some examples. 

Pitching 

Pitching is the most active form of marketing because you’re literally putting yourself in front of the people who need your services. 

There’s an art to getting this right, though. If you need work ASAP, you need to pitch the right people. So many freelancers spend endless hours fine-tuning their pitch to within an inch of its life without really taking the time to figure out if the person they’re sending it to really needs their services or not. 

Pitching won’t bring you any good results if you’re using a scattergun approach in the hope that someone will give you a contract. In fact, this turns it from an active form of marketing into a very passive form of marketing.

If you struggle to know who you should be sending your pitch to, download my checklist that highlights what to look for in a client that’s actively hiring. 

Responding to call-outs

When I say call-outs, I mean posts on LinkedIn or other social media channels from brands that are looking for freelancers. These people are actively looking for help—all you have to do is put your hat in the ring. 

Caveat: There’s been a weird shift in the freelance world lately which has seen the number of responses to these call-outs absolutely skyrocket. It’s not unusual to see a post looking for freelancers get hundreds of comments which can be daunting.

The key is to make sure you stand out:

• Follow the instructions to a T
• Keep your pitch as short as possible while still including all the important info
• Highlight your USP
• Personalise! Remember you’re speaking to another human being 

Here’s an example of a call-out for freelance writers on X: 

You can find relevant call-outs by using a combination of keywords in the search bar on LinkedIn or X. I find something like “hiring freelance writers” or “looking for a writer” returns some good results. Alternatively, keep an eye out for people who regularly repost call-outs and turn on notifications for when they post. 

Applying to job ads 

Similarly, to call-outs, job ads are brands who are actively looking for freelance help. Again, you might find yourself up against stiff competition, which is why your application should follow the instructions, stand out, and give the reader something a little different. 

Remember your USP here—what makes you different from other freelancers? Why should the client choose you over someone else? 

Running a search for “freelance writer” on LinkedIn returned more than eight pages of results.

Search the jobs section on LinkedIn or use a traditional job site like Indeed or Monster with relevant keywords. 

When to focus on active marketing 

Active marketing can be time-consuming, but once you have a pitch template to work from and deeply understand your USP, it’s easy enough to shoot off an application or a response in a couple of minutes.

I recommend focusing on active marketing when you need work ASAP. The last thing you want is to respond to a call-out and get the go-ahead only to have to tell them you’re fully booked right now. 

Examples of passive ways to market your freelance business 

Passive marketing tends to tick away nicely in the background. It’s not as “aggressive” as active marketing and often has a longer lead time. 

Here are some examples. 

Posting on social media 

The most obvious tactic here is posting on social media—and I’m not talking about posting things like “I’m available for work, pls hire me”. I’m talking about posting thoughtfully crafted tips and tricks for your target audience.

This boosts your visibility and establishes trust so that when you do need to reach out and pitch someone, they already know who you are and what you do. 

Masooma Memon is a great example of a freelancer who does this. She shares highly engaging and useful LinkedIn posts about BOFU content to attract brands looking for help with their strategy. 

Networking 

Again, networking takes a bit of time and effort to start seeing results. I like to think about it less as “networking to get work” and more about finding people I connect with, whether that’s freelancers or content leads at companies that fit my target audience. 

I do this on LinkedIn and relevant Slack channels (like Peak Freelance, Top of the Funnel, and Superpath), but your mileage might vary. Research what communities are available in your industry and see which ones you enjoy spending time in the most—because fun networking is the most successful networking. 

Blogging and SEO 

The most time-consuming passive marketing strategy of all is blogging to gain visibility in the SERPs. I admit, I’m pretty slack on this one, usually because I’m all worded out by the time I’ve finished my client work for the day. 

That being said, this can be a fantastic way to attract potential clients who are actively searching for freelancers like you. By some miracle, my portfolio website ranks in the first three spots for the search term “freelance SaaS writer”, which has brought me a lot of leads over the years. 

If you can optimise your site for relevant keywords and have the resilience to post consistently on your blog, this can be a great way to market your business without it feeling like you’re marketing your business (because you don’t actually have to talk to anyone–yippee!). 

When to focus on passive marketing 

I tend to focus on passive marketing when my roster is busy and things feel good. I’ll set aside an hour or two each week to hang around in my favourite Slack channels and create some social media content to go out throughout the week. 

Remember that it can take time to see results from passive marketing—you need to be consistent more than anything. To give you an insight, it took me almost 18 months to start gaining traction on LinkedIn, but imagine if I’d stopped after three months because I wasn’t getting any more than 10 likes a post?! 

Creating a healthy mix of active and passive marketing methods 

I recommend experimenting with several of these tactics (both active and passive) to see what works best for you and, more importantly, which ones you enjoy the most. Then, create a healthy balance depending on where your business is at.

For example, one month I might spend more time sharing social content and networking because I’ve fully booked, while the next I might focus more on pitching or responding to call-outs to pick up another contract or two. 

You know your business best, but if you schedule a healthy mix of active and passive marketing methods into your week, you can’t go wrong.

Discover more ways to market your freelance business in my free download, How to Get Your Next Client.