10 Useful Marketing Tools For Freelancers
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It’s not easy being a freelancer. Sure, there are perks such as (technically) being your own boss, escaping the monotony of a typical 9 to 5 desk job, and choosing which projects to take on. However, with the growing turbulence in the world economy and the competitive nature of the design industry, it is more important than ever to have great marketing skills to match one’s creative talent.
As Community Manager for a community-based creative website, I use many marketing tools to manage our blog, Twitter account, and other social networks to enhance the presence of our brand, as well as strengthen and form relationships with creatives worldwide.
Here are some great tools for social media, marketing + PR purposes that freelancers can also use to help increase their personal brand’s presence both online and offline, in no particular order:
1. Ping.fm
Ping.Fm is a “multicast” site that allows you to let all of your social networks know what you are doing without having to individually update each one. For you aspiring social media butterflies, Ping.Fm is a time saver, as you can update your statues, blogs, or micro-blogs all at once across Twitter, Liverjournal, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Wordpress, + more.
2. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great, professionally-oriented networking site that allows designers a lot of opportunities to market themselves. Whether it’s connecting with existing clients or finding new work, there are many ways for a designer to utilize the site. Asking clients for a recommendation on your profile boosts confidence with potential clients. By utilizing LinkedIn groups, designers can connect with fellow designers or seek out niche groups who may need design services. LinkedIn Answers also provides an opportunity for freelancers to find people looking for creative help.
3. Tweetdeck
Tweetdeck is a favorite amongst Twitter fiends. The Adobe AIR app makes it easy to divide your followers among groups. This feature is especially useful for several reasons. You can create niche groups to display certain Twitter members (i.e. “clients,” “designers,” “inspiration”) to keep up with specific topics. The ability to filter tweets by keywords is also useful for branding and promotion. When people say they “need design,” you can engage in a conversation, or if you have a tracker on your company name, you will be able to monitor what people are saying about you.
4. Retaggr
Retaggr is essentially a virtual business card that includes your entire online presence. Your Retaggr profile can be embedded into email signatures, blogs, and on other websites for people to see where you are located online. It helps take the guest work out for people to find you on other sites, allowing you to be more connected with your network.
5. SEOMoz Tools
Modern designers know that an online presence is undoubtedly important to have in today’s freelance world. Stay on top of your website / portfolio’s search engine optimization with the free tools from SEOMoz.org. These tools allow you to determine the strength of a website, whether or not pages are being indexed on the big search engines, and analyzing how targeted a page may be for specific keywords.
6. Google Analytics
Pie charts, graphs, and map overlays may seem boring, but Google Analytics is an extremely helpful tool in tracking web metrics, determining referring websites, length of time spent on a site, what keywords were searched to get to a site, where your visitors are coming from, and more. By knowing these statistics, you can optimize against them. If people are coming to your site after searching “logo design” or are being referred via Twitter, then you are able to determine your strong and weak marketing points.
7. Shozu Desktop
Shozu Desktop is similar to Ping.Fm, but for photos and video. This website / application is known for making mobile media content easy to upload and distribute. Their desktop application is a great way to share photos or videos on your computer across over 30+ networks with one click, which is nice if you want to post a logo or illustration you’ve just created to multiple networks without having to update each site manually.
8. Pictobrowser
If coding isn’t your forte and you just want to display your best work, Pictobrowser is a way to convert your Flickr gallery into a portfolio. The easily customizable and embeddable app allows designers to showcase the work simply. Plus, it allows your portfolio to maintain the benefits of having the actual images live on Flickr. With group pools, tags, and ease of search, you never know who will stumble upon your work and want to hire you!
9. Mars Edit
Mars Edit is a powerful blog publishing tool made for Macs that allows for offline writing. The program plays nice with Wordpress, Moveable Type, Blogger, Drupal, and more blog publishing services. It’s organizational system allows for easy re-blogging, media file management (which can be extremely helpful when dealing with tons of images that can be re-used). The ability to write blogs while not connected to the internet is a huge benefit to busy freelancers on the go.
10. Yelp iPhone App
The Yelp iPhone app (or even mobile browser) is a great way to find good meeting places for clients. Especially when in an unfamiliar area, it’s great to read reviews and find out whether or not you are inviting clients to a nice environment. The “search nearby” functionality also allows you to find locations of interest. At a meeting in a coffee shop and need to fax something quickly? Yelp can locate the nearest FedEx/Kinkos. It’s also a great way to find + research local businesses that may need your design services.
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What a great article, I think you’re really onto something there.
I can say that I am already using several of these services and can’t wait to get more associated with the rest of them.
-Adam Scott Paul
Freelance Interactive Creative
http://www.teamredvest.com
Very useful roundup. Bookmarked!
Great article!
How about adding- Use your emails signatures as a marketing tool with WiseStamp check out:
http://www.wisestamp.com
Great round up, I checking these out right now…. so helpful!
I should have heard about Pictobrowser long time ago, looks like an interesting spot to visit. Thanks! It is a really great list ;)
A couple of these I was not aware of, Retagr and Shuzo, both look really interesting.
Thanks again, you are a star
Graham
Hey thanks for this post – found some good new stuff, ping.fm especially.
Have been using Retaggr for a while – absolutely love it.
Great list for me. Thanks you very much
Keep it up !
Hey, great write-up!
I am a freelancer and I did the site design for Ping.fm. Nice to see it there at the top of the list. :-)
Great list!! Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote an article with 120 self promotional ideas for designers and it was very popular. Also, there is a list of social networking sites for designers here that I think is a great way to market your design services.
Great post…
thanks.
Rachel
AllGraphicDesign.com
Angeline, great article! I hadn’t seen ping.fm or Retaggr so I will be checking those out!
Hi,
Saw your post and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Jen Grenz and I am the VP of Products and Marketing here at ShoZu. Great to see you including ShoZu in a round up of marketing tools. Being a passionate marketeer (and obviously a bit biased to ShoZu), I see so many unique and interesting ways marketeers and PR folk are using ShoZu with their clients to spread the word, and ultimately make managing your brand and broadcasting your product from the mobile device simple and addictive. Marketing and establishing a ‘voice’ for your company doesn’t have to mean many hours behind a computer, rather out and about, on the road, talking to the consumers and learning to speak their language. Or, if you are at your computer and want to use the ShoZu desktop app for quick mass- publishing (to over 45 sites online or email distribution lists) that works to.
Whether from your mobile or your computer, we appreciate being included in your piece. Any other ideas, keep them coming!
Thanks,
Jen
jennifer.grenz@shozu.com
[...] economy and the competitive nature of the design industry, it is more important than ever…read more | digg [...]
good words.
I agree with Graham, Shuzo and Retagr Look awesome! Thanks for making us aware! :)
Andy Sowards´s last blog post..Daily Links
[...] 10 Useful Marketing Tools For Freelancers | Fuel Your Creativity Some really nice tools for freelancers, I Use most of these! (tags: design freelance freelancers web webdesign tools business marketing article SEO) [...]
Great article. Ping.fm looks cool, but I just came across http://thecosmicmachine.com/ recently, and it’s a great desktop app that pulls most social sites together in one nice desktop app. I prefer the apps to yet more sites.
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oh, nice marketing tool roundup! Few new for me..great :)
Dainis Graveris´s last blog post..50 lieliskākie FireFox papildinājumi mājas lapu veidotājiem!
[...] 10 Useful Marketing Tools for Freelancers [...]
Cooooool!!!!!!!!
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Great post. #1 was especially useful for me. I will definately look into the service, I badly needed an automated solutions for alerting social bookmarking website.
Hi everyone!
Thanks so much for the compliments. Hope you find these tools helpful! If you come across any others, please let me know!
All the best,
Angeline
Angeline´s last blog post..Twitter Link Round Up
[...] 10 Useful Marketing Tools for Freelancers [...]
Sweet list, thanks in advance ;)
very usefull, thank you very much! maybe you forgot to name facebook… another social network
enfoque grafico´s last blog post..Inspiración en internet para diseñadores
Great post, totally helpful. I signed up for retagger. Thanks for showing us useful resources
Thao Ly´s last blog post..loveurmindnsoul: Ohh I just created a retagger card. Check it out! (http://ping.fm/FDfHh)
Analytics is amazing… simply amazing. Google knows what’s up. I have been using it for quite sometime for my design freelance site to check on the keywords. It really helps me optimize.
[...] 10 Useful Marketing Tools For Freelancers [...]
Very Helpful Article, Tools and Tips, Angeline! :)
Thank you for compiling and sharing this with all of us, Angeline! :)
and …
Everyone Have a Great Day! :)
You brought up a good point on SEO. That’s exellent. :)
[...] 10 Useful Marketing Tools For Freelancers : Without proper marketing nothing is possible. You might be the best freelancer in your field but if clients can’t reach you, your business is bound to fail. This article explores ten tools/platforms for freelancers when it comes to marketing their businesses. [...]