If you’re self-employed, the time you spend on paid work is likely only matched by the time you spend looking for additional clients. When business is going well, there is a constant flow of people you want to hire. But when times get tough, and the load wears off, you need to pull yourself together and grow your customer base through an effective marketing strategy.
But fear not. With the proper techniques, you can compete with even larger companies and build a reliable stream of income for your small business.
The Specifics Of Marketing For The Self-Employed
Marketing yourself as a freelancer is a key to building a steady flow of work and keeping your business going. But you shouldn’t throw out a wide-ranging marketing network for two reasons:
- You only want to attract the right customers because wrong customers mean expenditure of time and no profit.
- Do you want to save a lot of money from a large-scale marketing campaign? After all, as a self-employed person, you usually have a manageable customer base.
Your particular service or product is likely only suitable for a small segment of the population, and that’s fine, too. This specialization can help build a strong brand within your niche, which often drives sales much more than trying to get everyone to buy what you are offering.
That is why every marketing concept begins with identifying its target group. This segmentation of one’s target group starts with the characteristics of the customers and then moves quickly to the common problem of the customer base. After all, as a self-employed person, you want to use your skills and abilities to solve customers’ problems.
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What Is It That Makes You Unique?
Therefore, after analyzing the common characteristics and problems of the target audience, you should always define what makes you unique.
To create a working marketing strategy as a self-employed person, you need to know why customers of the target group should choose you. And more specifically than through general buzzwords such as quality or price-performance ratio.
This particular step is central to working on your marketing. So what is it that makes you unique? Why did you start the company?
The Entrepreneurial “Why.”
Nowadays, meaningfulness plays an increasingly important role. More and more people are very interested in whether the companies they buy from matching their values. The “why”, i.e. the purpose of a company, plays a central role in this process.
If you manage to explain this “why” authentically and credibly, you have a great advantage for the entire marketing process.
Examples of such motivation would be:
- You have been fascinated by tidy and clean rooms since childhood and love it when other people feel more comfortable as a result. So now you have a building cleaning company.
- You have developed a new attitude towards life through yoga and are now going through life fitter and more balanced. You want to convey this feeling to other people, and that’s why you give online yoga classes.
If you have that kind of motivation, that’s a massive plus for marketing. This does not necessarily have to be enthusiasm for a specific topic; tradition, local ties, etc., can also work well. The result is that you are perceived as a “good company” that should be supported. Regardless of your product or service, your customers will initially be positive and open-minded.
But A Why Still Needs A Reason.
All potential customers decide for or against an offer for whatever reason. Every company, therefore, needs clear reasoning why an informed person should choose to do business with this company. This is the company’s raison d’etre. A company that doesn’t have a straight answer here has a problem.
But if you have such an answer, you have found your “USP”. The abbreviation stands for “Unique Selling Proposition” – in German “Unique Selling Proposition” and is the answer to the question:
Why Should Someone Choose Your Offer And Not One Of The Competing Products?
Very many companies cannot answer this question convincingly. The result is that the prices are compared, and the cost becomes a significant factor in the purchase decision. It doesn’t have to be that way, and it’s not in your interest either. This behaviour can be avoided or significantly reduced if the USP is clearly defined. This can be anything: excellent service, exceptional quality, proven origin, remarkable freshness, etc. Specialization is an important argument, especially for smaller companies, which customers understand immediately.
It is usually a combination of different factors, for example, specialization in connection with the region. The aim is not to be one-to-one with the competition.
The Character Of The Company
Your company and your services are a brand – whether you know it or not. Your brand is the sum of the individual impressions people have of you. This is especially important for the freelancer because all these impressions should result in a coherent overall picture. If z. B. The focus is on personal service, and this should run through the entire customer experience. A good background story is therefore significant for the self-employed because it creates character. Because one thing must be clear to you: your personality is the marketing promise. Ultimately, your entire appearance has to match this desired overall impression: from the car to the website to the sound on the phone.
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