6 Steps to Start Freelancing as a Digital Marketer

The answer depends on various factors, such as your specialty, your region, the type of clients, etc.

Let’s look at the Singapore freelance industry. According to Indeed, the salary of a freelance writer in Singapore is 2,537 SGD per month. The salary is higher compared to Malaysia, 3,522 MYR per month (1,019 SGD).

Zip Recruiter shows that freelance social media can earn an average salary of up to 47,714 USD per year. The amount is lower compared to the salary of a freelance digital marketing manager, 87,719 USD per year. This is because the job scope and responsibility of being a digital marketing manager have a higher stake compared to the social media position.

In some smaller company clients, the freelance fee tends to be cheaper than the clients from bigger companies because they still building the company and not in good financial health.

These examples do not apply to all types of freelancing and just to give you a visualization of how many factors influence a freelancer’s fee.

Similar to working full-time, freelancing also has its own pros and cons. Read the explanation below and think through it.

Pros

Work from anywhere

Freelancing allows you to work anywhere you want, as long as the place supports your productivity and comfort.

Work the hours you want as long as you hit deadlines

You have the flexibility to arrange your working schedule at any time for any duration. The most important thing is that the work meets the deadline and the client's expectations.

Build an expertise

Having many successful experiences in handling various clients with various complicated projects will make your services more credible. The next client will see you as an expert in digital marketing for their needs.

Freedom to choose your specialties and clients

Different from working as a full-time worker, working as a freelancer gives you freedom to choose which clients you want to work with. You can also focus more on your skill specialty.

Cons

Same as running your own business (end-to-end work)

Freelancing is similar to having your own business. You have to create your own service fee, promote your service, do the job, and analyze the performance by yourself.

Only get paid for what you do

Freelancing is not like working in full time where you are paid monthly even if your performance is low. You are paid based on what you do or submit to the client. If you don’t, you won’t get paid.

Unpredictable income

In some months, you will get paid a high salary, some not. This is because your clients have various job submission deadlines and payment SOPs.

No health or other employee benefit

You won’t get any health insurance or tax fees handled by the company. You need to be responsible to pay them by yourself.

Some find the ongoing hunt for clients stressful

For you who are in the early stages of freelancing, finding clients already takes up a lot of space in your head, even for those who already work as freelancers for a long time.

It's because you have to promote your service from door to door a.k.a ask them one by one through messages, do pitching if needed, and follow up. All the processes do not guarantee you get the job directly.

Below are the early steps for you to arrange your freelancing system, documents for applying for the job, and how to find one.

Select specialties (master skills you need to become a freelance digital marketer)

There are a lot of roles in digital marketing, divided by each channel. Choose one that fits your interests and skills.

If you are currently working full-time and plan to pivot to freelancing, use your full-time experience to be your new focus in freelancing.

For example, you like to create content on social media. Learn more about how social media works, how to create great content, and how to strategize a social media account to get users' attention, through courses.

Learn also some other skills related to social media, such as project management, time management, data analysis, critical thinking, creative thinking, etc.

It goes the same if you are interested in content writing, SEO, email marketing, ads, etc. Join courses and master the hard skills and soft skills.

Build a portfolio

A portfolio plays an important role in your freelance hunting. It contains your best projects and case studies that can give your clients visualization and expectations when working with you.

Gather all your past and recent works and choose the best three to five works. Compile them in one file and design it beautifully.

Do not only insert the result. Share also the process of how you create the task, including the problem statement, solution, and result.

So, a portfolio not only showcases your results but also showcases how your thinking process is.

Build personal brand

Personal brand also plays an important role in differentiating your service from other freelancers and makes the clients easier to identify your type of service.

For example, your freelancing focus is on content writing. There are lots of content writing styles that you already mastered, but yours leans toward humorous and Gen Z oriented writing styles.

This becomes your personal brand. Put this in your digital outputs, such as in your social media content, LinkedIn profile and posts, and portfolio.

Set your rate

As already mentioned before being a freelancer is like you manage your own business, including the service rate. Some companies or clients already set their own rates for freelancers, but also there are several that ask for your fee.

Set your rate by considering some factors, such as the location of your clients (city, country), market price, your working experience, etc.

Build network

Networking also becomes your task in this early stage of entering a freelancing job. By doing it, you will have many connections and you will be known for your freelance service.

You can network through LinkedIn, join communities, and attend networking events or conferences. So, if your connections look for freelancers, the first person that comes to their mind is you. Then, they will contact you and ask you for collaboration.

Promote your freelance gig and find clients

Now you have your portfolio, personal brand, rates, and connections. Now, it's time to promote your service.

Utilize LinkedIn by publicly saying that you are open to freelance services or nudging your connections.

Create a dedicated social media account for presenting and promoting your service. Upload your example of work there. You can also nudge some potential clients through social media.

Extend your freelance hunting to other freelance platforms, such as Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, etc. Also, apply to freelance job openings in various job portals, such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, etc.

Career Foundry shares two effective promotion strategies:

Cold pitching

Reach out to business owners or marketing leads in your preferred industries and pitch them your service.

Before pitching, research how your skills can help them specifically.

• Can you help their site rank on search engines?
• Do you have a strategy to help them grow their social media platforms?

Show them. Use stats from your website or social media profiles.

Working for free

This trick is useful to gain experience in the field.

For example, writers can submit guest posts to big brands in their industries. Social media managers can pitch themselves for unpaid internships, and budding SEO experts can barter their services to another freelancer who can offer them a service in return.

To make your freelance work seamless, here are some additional tips for you.

Treat it like a real business

Although this is a freelance position, dedicating 100% of your effort and attention can lead to a higher monthly income compared to a full-time job. You need to create a separate bank account and pay yourself well.

Freelancing is a professional role, so it’s important to maintain a positive attitude and treat your clients with the same professionalism as you would in a full-time position.

Get clear SOW every time

When you deal with the client, make sure the SWO (Statement of Work) is clear. Some elements that you have to pay attention to more are:

• Service rates,
• Contract period,
• Job scope,
• Work ownership,
• Force majeure,
• Contract penalty, etc.

SOW must be in a written document, signed by you and your client. SOW will be your reference when you do your service. If there is anything bad happens in the middle of the collaboration, you can refer to the SOW.

Raise your rates if relevant

If you have already for a client for a long time and the task is more complex than the agreement before, you can ask for a rate rise. Explain the reason by providing some proof or data.

Aside from this case, you can also raise your rate service if you already worked as a freelancer for some tenure and already handled various famous clients with various complexity.

This is because your skills already improved compared to when you first entered the freelancing world, already handled various clients, and you have a high credibility. Additionally, the living cost is more expensive from period to period.

You can raise your fee one in three to six months.

Take breaks

Similar to working full-time, don’t forget to take breaks. Taking a break can help you feel more relaxed, calm, and give your brain a chance to cool down in the middle of the freelance heat.

This way, you’ll be able to be more productive later on.

Further reading:

• How to land your first digital marketing job without experience
• How to become a freelance digital marketer in 2024

Popular digital marketing jobs in Singapore:

Digital Marketing | Email Marketer | Online Community Manager | Web Content Writer | Account Manager | Customer Service Representative