In this article, we're not going to discuss the eternal question of "Agency or Freelance." On the internet marketing courses will give recommendations and ideas on how a beginner freelance marketer can find clients and where to start in general. On your own, with no experience or portfolio.

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Інтернет маркетинг курси в onpage.scool відкриває нові можливості, дозволяє не лише опанувати базові навички інструментів маркетингу, а й навчиться вирішувати реальні завдання. Для власників бізнесу це найкращий спосіб розібратися в digital та навчитися ефективно керувати компанією в інтернеті.

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The tips will suit everyone involved in the field of digital: specialists in contextual and targeting advertising, SMM, SEO and so on.

Advantages and difficulties for the novice specialist

To begin with - the good news. Novice specialists are still in demand, even if there are enough professionals on the market. The first time rookies have to build up practice, so:

1) They take on almost any task. Often they are approached with small projects that "professionals of their trade" simply have no interest in and usually no time.

2) They pay attention to detail and approach all tasks with maximum responsibility and enthusiasm to earn their name and reputation from the ground up.

3) They are in the process of learning, and therefore willing to discover new ways of doing standard tasks.

In some ways, they are more flexible and often have more up-to-date knowledge - and this is an important priority compared to those who are sure they know everything and do the job according to an established "one-size-fits-all" methodology.

4) For lack of experience, they simply can't charge high prices for their services. This plays into the hands of customers with small marketing budgets.

Nevertheless, there will always be customers who are not willing to take risks, and tend to find a specialist who has already proven himself. Those who want to save money on marketing in the first place often use their lack of experience as an argument for paying less.

Whether it is worth working with such clients and how to set a price for their services is a separate question. Below we consider how you can compensate for your lack of experience.

What to Offer Potential Clients

The first thing you should start from - the benefits for the customer. Make an emphasis not on how great you are, and what you know how to do, but on what good you can do just for his business.

It's better to engage in a dialogue right away. Find out who the potential customer's target audience is, what goals he wants to achieve. Ask other leading questions that will help you get up to speed and actually start the collaboration before you conclude the contract.

To fully immerse yourself in the client's business, ask them to fill out a brief - give comprehensive answers to all their questions about the product and company. How to write a brief and what it should include.

Then describe your action plan step by step. What you will do, what techniques you will use to get the desired result for the client. Everything should be as transparent as possible. The customer will understand that you are on topic, and will be more willing to continue the dialogue with you.

This is also a plus for you. You draw up an algorithm that is understandable for you, so that you can organize the whole process in your head and follow it in your work.

What exactly should you write and what should you base it on?

Get specific information from the client on the audience, goals and advertising budget. Based on these inputs, write a media plan - how much traffic and requests you will bring in for that amount, from what sources, how much one request will cost on average, etc.

How to make your first case

Ideally, your case - a result + a clear and detailed instructions, which you have created yourself and which you followed.

You don't just need to provide a brief report, but describe in as much detail as possible what you did and what you based it on. Show that you have thoroughly studied the audience and the niche, share insights on how to work with it further.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time. But it will pay off: a quality case, the trust of the client, who may continue to work with you, and "well-trodden path" that will be easier to follow in the next projects and tasks.

An important point: you need to build up a portfolio, but not all customers are willing to share the results you get for them. Talk about the possibility of using a client's case in your portfolio in advance. It is best to include it in one of the clauses of the contract.

Sometimes the customer still does not agree to share even anonymized data. In this case, there is a way out - ask him to leave a review about your work and recommend you as a specialist. This will help in the further search for customers. 

P.S. Use as many search methods as possible - so there is a better chance that some of them will work. And don't work for free under any circumstances. It's better to ask for a little than nothing. Appreciate at least your time - then you will be appreciated and recommended to your clients.

Source: https://onpage.school

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