In A256 - Where do you find freelance clients? we talked about the watering holes, those places where your clients come together to talk business.

Today's episode goes a little deeper into that topic to talk about the context and intent of your client at these watering holes.

The human behavior part of this equation is what I'm fascinated most with.

I'm not the first, nor the last person who will talk about context when it comes to marketing.

In fact, it's the very first personalization that was done in advertising and marketing.

It's why restaurants put their side dishes next to entrees on their menus. You are going to order a potato and veggies with that steak and they know that. So they aren't going to put sides on the last page, they'll put it directly after that filet mignon that you plan on ordering.

Ad platforms these days put context on steroids. We have more information at our disposal about someone than ever before.

We can target a specific employee at a global company in a certain town that has a hobby of white water kayaking.

But what do you do with that information? Often you will jump all over that by pushing an ad out to come to sign up for your service or book a consult or something of that nature.

While that's all fine to do, they may be looking at the photos of their niece's dance recital.

That's not the most opportune time to pitch your abilities to build them a new website.

To make this even more concrete, in the case yesterday where we spoke about the medical industry, you wouldn't walk up to 10 doctors sitting around a table ordering a steak and pitch them even though that's where they all are at the moment, right?

If the content is king, then context is queen.

As in the last episode, getting into the head of your client and then understanding the context and the intent of them in a specific setting can increase the likelihood of success of your strategy.

In the context of my former employer, they bought booths at events that specifically spoke to marketing, technology, and business growth in the industry.

At events that were smaller or not specific to the mindset where the doctors and organizations would be thinking about their website or marketing, my former employer would be there anyway, but in a different way. The sales team would be there to build relationships, set meetings up with clients and leads and of course network, but there wasn't a big push for sales.

Ariel, The Urbanist, on a podcast, shared some insights in his strategy on this. His objective was to land gigs with big travel brands and online publications. Instead of creating ads pitching what he did. Instead, he created content as he normally would, then targeted those key individuals of the companies he wanted to work with so that he was sure that his content would be seen by them.

Then when those individuals were looking for content that he does, he would be front of mind.

He admitted that he couldn't directly connect a job to a specific ad this way, but he did admit that he got work from some of the brands and companies he targeted.

In your case, if you are looking to inject some personality into your brand, how about creating a piece of content that's centered around you and your family, or your mission as a business to help a charity, or why you are in business for yourself, and then put that piece of content as an ad in front of your ideal clients while they are looking at those recital photos.

It may not get that click, but if you do it consistently, when that person who is extremely family oriented, is looking to redo their website, best be sure that they'll remember that they saw "something about some designer who was playing with their kids talking about websites" and go look for you. Not Wix or GoDaddy.

Running your freelance business

Struggles with time management? Which emails to send off and when? Wonder what type of software to use? Here are the answers you’ll want to have a listen to.
See all topics

More episodes in this topic:

17

What do you do when a crisis hits?

18

How to start building an email list as a freelancer?

20

How do you manage time wearing so many hats as a freelancer?

28

What software tools do you use for business? What is best?

32

How do you prevent, manage scope creep in your projects?

34

Do you schedule in time for exploring or reading articles online?

38

What is the best way to get income fast?

40

What happens if you can’t define a scope of work on a call?

41

What do I do first thing Monday morning?

47

How can I focus on my business when I’ve got a ton client work?

53

Do I have to be concerned with GDPR?

65

What are the tools and services that you use and would recommend to freelancers?

70

How do you have time for all that you do?

74

What podcasting gear do I use?

78

Does live chat bring you in business?

81

How do you followup with a lead after a proposal?

84

Did hiring a mentor really help you with starting up your business or your career?

87

What is my writing process

88

What is the easiest way to get a remote testimonial?

91

How do you determine a quality prospect?

115

How do you step away and actually take a vacation?

116

Are job boards reliable?

123

How to decrease the sales cycle or time to close?

127

How would you write a cold outreach email?

130

How to present different services that could potentially diminish your abilities in the minds of clients?

132

Should I bundle projects for clients or keep projects separate per client?

133

What product do you use for your business that you can’t live without?

135

What makes you stand out from other freelancers?

136

Do I drop this client?

142

How do I set a goal?

143

Do you meet leads and clients face-to-face?

144

How do I work “ON” my business and not “IN” my business?

147

What is the best structure for setting a goal?

152

How do you do a review of your week?

156

What do I say when a potential client says I’m too expensive?

159

What is activity based selling?

165

How to get more clients?

167

How to have a productive week?

168

Do you use a CRM for your business?

171

How do you choose the technology for your clients?

180

What is the structure of a weekly review?

181

What is the structure of a monthly review?

191

What are lead generation techniques to get me out of the feast and famine revenue cycle?

193

How do I know if I should buy a course?

198

What’s a polite way to tell existing clients you are raising your rates? And what is a reasonable percentage to go up?

199

How many email follow-ups should I send to a lead?

201

What do I do? I’m afraid to filter the tire kickers coming into my business because they are the only leads I have.

202

How to take the next step from contracting resource to solo business owner?

205

What do you think about Gutenberg? Schmutenberg!

206

How do I get better at sales?

207

How to overcome objections in sales?

208

How do I respond to an RFP?

209

How to respond to “I don’t need strategy, can you just do…”?

210

If you don’t have experience, how to you prove the quality without the education/experience?

212

How do you handle a client that has ghosted?

218

What do you ask during a sales call?

219

How to improve your sales process as a freelancer?

222

How to charge more as a freelancer?

225

How do you push past the imposter syndrome?

229

How do you segment your email list?

236

What to say when a client insists on adding something new?

257

What kind of content should I promote to potential clients?

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