You’re starting your own marketing business.
Maybe you just need a side income.
Maybe you want to scale to agency size and make this a full-time income.
Either way, your first client starts your journey to making money online.
There are many different marketing niches you can choose from: SEO, content marketing, copywriting, social media marketing, Google ads, or influencer marketing.
Choosing your niche is the first step to finding the clients you want to work with. Is your skillset creative writing or technical SEO? Do you have industry knowledge in e-commerce, finance, sales, or some other niche? Do you want to do B2B or B2C marketing?
Answering these questions starts your journey to a successful, profitable business where you can find your ideal clients, serve them with your business, and keep them coming back for more.
The Paradox of Your First Client
You need a client to have experience, you need experience to get a client. This is such a big hurdle that some aspiring freelancers stop right here. If you don’t know how to get your first client as a freelancer, this is an important point.
I don’t want to work for free, you may think. I need the money, or I wouldn’t be doing this. How do I get my first marketing client?
Here’s the truth: you are not going to be instantly successful when you first start your marketing business. Your first few clients will not bring you a lot of money.
But each one of your first five or ten clients is paying you in other ways that are just as valuable to your business in the long term.
The Right Way To Get Your First Client
The Internet is, sadly, full of unscrupulous, dishonest, or desperate people who want to get ahead at any price.
This is where unfortunate things happen. These people try to pass off others’ creativity or skill as their own work in order to get clients.
They can’t meet the standard of the samples they pretend to have made. Client is upset with delivered work and leaves a bad review.
Needless to say, this is not the right way to get your first client.
So, how do you get your first marketing client?
Be Honest
Don’t be like that first guy. Only show samples of work that you have rights to, whether that is an SEO dashboard, an article, a copywriting sample, or a UGC influencer video.
It is also important to be honest with yourself. If you create work samples, compare them with samples from successful marketers, and see that your own samples don’t measure up, it’s time to recognize that.
Either offer your product at a lower price to reflect your lower skill level, or take a little extra time to perfect your craft before launching your offer.
Work On Your Own Projects To Show Your Skill
Honestly, this is one of the biggest hidden freelancer hacks.
If you’re not willing or able to do free work for friends or local businesses to get started, you can make yourself your first client. This is an easy way to get started in marketing with no experience, and build the experience you need along the way.
Do you want to do content writing? Start your own blog or publish articles on LinkedIn and Medium.
Is social media marketing your thing? Start a Facebook business page for your freelancing work. Create engaging posts and images and demonstrate consistent growth.
Do you want to do SEO for affiliate marketers? Start by building your own blog and increasing its ranking.
Any of these things can showcase your skill as a freelancer in way that is very attractive to potential clients. Basically, you’re showing them that you already know how to do the job they would be hiring you for. They can confidently turn their work over to you and know that it is in good hands.
Now you may be thinking: Now hang on a minute. This sounds like more of that free work I didn’t want to do.
Here’s the thing, though: When you use yourself as your first client, you’re still building something of value that can be of use to you in your business.
If you built a blog to showcase your SEO skills, you now have a SEO skill portfolio and a thriving, high-ranking blog that you can use for your business or to create additional income streams.
If you built a business Facebook page or a Tiktok account with great reach and a high following, you have proof that you know social media management and a page that you can use for affiliate marketing revenue and business advertising.
If you publish articles on LinkedIn, you have a portfolio of your content writing and a LinkedIn following that will be interested in your work. (Psst… you can write for this blog too. More on that later.)
Basically, if you use this method to start your marketing business, you are creating value for yourself in the process of demonstrating your value to others.
Try Legiit
If you’re looking for a collection of eager buyers looking for your marketing talents, look no further than Legiit.
The Legiit freelancing marketplace was built by freelancers, for freelancers. It contains all of the features you need to find success, and none of the features you don’t.
Review editions
One of the greatest features of Legiit is Review Editions. Reviews are one of the most important ways that freelancers can show their skill. A glowing review from a happy customer or a couple of 5-star ratings shows new customers that you are someone they can trust with their project.
Legiit makes it easy to get your first few reviews. It gives you the option to offer a few units of your service or product at a temporarily low price (or free) in exchange for a guaranteed honest review.
Once those review editions are used up, the price automatically goes up to your regular price, and you have those critical reviews on your profile that tell prospective buyers how awesome you are.
These reviews make it easier to sell your product at the price it’s worth, because now you have social proof that your service is worth it.
Legiit Blog
Here’s that sweet tip I promised you earlier. If your marketing expertise is in writing, the Legiit Blog offers another opportunity for free publicity.
Simply write an article (such as this one) that benefits your fellow freelancers, and submit it for publication. If you have a Legiit account, your name can be tied to the article. This gives you a chance to showcase your writing skills, gain a portfolio piece, educate your fellow freelancers, and earn some free publicity. Everyone wins.
Try creating a Case Study
This is similar to creating your own blog or social media following. Instead of actually building out the product, though, you use an existing business. This method of getting marketing clients works well if you use your ideal client’s actual website or business as an example.
Of course, you can’t actually just start working for them and doing things to their business or website. But if you can create a mock-up of their website, you can accomplish a few important things:
● You get their attention.
● You can show what you would do differently.
● You can show how this would improve their business.
If done professionally and not in a spirit of criticism, this method can work very well to sell marketing clients on your services and skills.
Outreach
Now that you know how to show what you can do, how do you get that information to your buyers? Outreach is the next step in how to get your first marketing client.
Outreach is a combination of letting your potential buyers know what you can do, and knowing where to find those people. If you are working on a freelancing platform such as Legiit, you have less need to do outreach as buyers and sellers can come together. However, if you are working on your own, you need to know how to reach your ideal clients and what to say.
In order to reach your ideal clients, you have to know where to find them.
● Affiliate marketers: you can find them on their websites or blogs, or through social media.
● B2B marketers: you can find them through their business websites or LinkedIn
● Social media marketing: you can find the clients you want to work with on their preferred social media channel. You can also find neglected social media accounts connected to a business and follow through to the website to find a contact. Pitch your social media management services.
Document your outreach. Keep lists of which outreach you did.
● Business name
● Decision-making individual name. This might be the business owner or the marketing manager.
● Method of contact (email, social media message, in person)
● Date of contact
This enables you to keep a list of potential clients and when to reach out again. This is called your digital marketing client list.
Create a pitch template for yourself. You can write one yourself or choose from a number of online templates.
Don’t just send the same message to all your prospects; clients know when a message is impersonal.
Don’t beg for work either. A good pitch is short, professional, and keeps the focus on what problem you can solve for your client.
Work for Free
I recommend charging something for your beginning freelance work, even if it’s only a dollar or two. This ensures that both you and your buyer value your work.
However, if you get a great opportunity to do some free work that showcases the best of your skills in exchange for a review, you don’t have to think of it as doing something for nothing.
You’re not really doing something for nothing. You’re doing it in exchange for valuable social proof that will help your business grow in the future.
How to Get Your First Marketing Client: Final Thoughts
It’s said that making your first dollar online is the hardest. After you get that first client and make that first dollar, it becomes easier and easier to continue. You have motivation to earn more and more money. Once you have tasted success, it becomes addictive and you want more and more.
Getting your first client can be achieved in a number of different ways. Whether you pitch to clients on social media, via email, or earn your first online dollar through Legiit.com, the key is to build awesome value that you can share with your clients.
Whether you are an experienced business owner or new to freelancing, Legiit welcomes you. Join the club today and be part of the world’s greatest freelancing community.
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