After years in a trade you’ve let go of the vine and taken the leap of faith. You’ve started your own business and are doing what you love 100% of the time…

Or at least that was the plan.

The truth is now you are not only doing the work you love, you’re also responsible for the accounting, the scheduling, meeting with clients, marketing, and sales…

Wait a minute, I didn’t want to be a salesperson!?

3 Steps To Hacking Your Freelance Marketing

1. Identify a market or target customer for your service.

The easiest way to do this is by looking to the clients you have already done work for. What did they do? Look for more of the same. If you don’t have any clients find someone who does similar work to yours and look through their portfolio for an idea of their clientele.

2. Print gift cards with a dollar value that is equal to 30-40% of your typical fee.

For example if you build websites for $1000 on average you’re going to get some $300 or $400 gift cards printed up. Sure it’s a hit but you can easily adjust your fee to cover at least part of the discount if you need. The key is to give real value. If someone is looking for your product or service and is presented with a large value discount they are going to bite. As opposed to paying thousands for marketing you’re only paying if you get a client.

3. Get the gift cards in the hands of your target clients.

If you can (and of course if it applies to your business) attend a local meeting where your target customers will be.

TIP: Searching meetup.com is a great tool for finding these FREE targeted events!

When you attend hand out your gift cards to everyone you speak with and ask them if they would pass one on to a friend or colleague.

No sales pitches.
No pushy closing tactics.
No sneaky tactics.

That’s it, you are simply giving people several hundred reasons to talk to you before they speak with your competition. It’s an extremely powerful tactic that will give you the most bang for your marketing bucks. (Price a set of gift cards instantly online)

7 Killer Gift Card Marketing Offer Ideas For Freelancers

1. $250 Off Your Website Design
2. 2 Years Free Hosting + A Free Domain
3. $150 In Free Prints
4. 1 Free Lunch at... 
5. 1 Free Coffee at…
6. 1000 Free Business Cards
7. Free 1 Hour Portrait Session

With all these offers the key is to tie it to a larger ticket item in the terms and conditions. (View sample gift card terms and conditions) For example:

1. $250 Off Your Website Design - Straightforward, just enforce a minimum $ amount
2. 2 Years Free Hosting + A Free Domain - with website design
3. $150 In Free Prints - With paid photo cd, portrait sitting, $300 order, etc.
4. 1 Free Lunch at... - Must have lunch with you
5. 1 Free Coffee at…- Must have coffee with you
6. 1000 Free Business Cards - With logo and business card design
7. Free 1 Hour Portrait Session - With purchase of print package