How to become a freelancer digital marketer in 2024

What is digital marketing?

Nowadays, traditional advertising is just one of the million ways to advertise or promote a product. Now, media agencies or even companies themselves, seek for new ways to reach their target audience. These new ways go from websites to apps, from mobiles to search engines, from social media to an insane number of options regarding digital media.

According to sources like Investopedia, digital marketing involves many of the main principles from traditional marketing, and it is not here to replace those principles, it is here as an additional way for companies to approach consumers and understand their behavior. Companies normally combine both traditional and digital marketing techniques in their business decisions and measurement.

What should a freelancer digital marketer do?

First, a freelancer digital marketer should understand the industry he’s working in, he must identify the top trends in the actual days and, of course, analyze competitors’ activity. All these key points are discovered by market research. Let’s not forget the importance of the audience for a freelancer digital marketer. He/she will need to define the target audience and create buyer personas. Always identify the needs and behaviors of your consumer.

Because we are talking in digital language, a freelancer digital marketer should keep in mind the keywords that target users are searching in the actual days. These identifications of useful keywords will be applied to manage successful SEO campaigns To understand it better, let’s check the main activities or techniques digital marketing includes:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

 To reach better their consumers, companies often focus on the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO includes content optimization, keyword usage, meta tags, URL structure. And, they seek for backlink building (mentions in other websites), social signals, online reputation.

To have in mind: Website speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability.

Content Marketing

Creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and engage a target audience. Content marketing can involve blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, podcasts, eBooks. Typically, this way of digital marketing aims to increase brand awareness, lead generation and customer retention.

Social Media Marketing

Involves the use of social media platforms to promote products, services, and brand messaging. Some of the main platforms companies use are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and TikTok. Social media marketing includes strategies of organic posting, paid advertising, influencer partnerships, community engagement.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

It is a model of internet marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. The main platforms used by advertisers to promote their products are Google Ads, Bing Ads, social media ads (Facebook, Instagram). There are different types of ads: you can seek for search ads, display ads, shopping ads, video ads.

More info: https://trainings.internshala.com/blog/what-is-pay-per-click/

Email Marketing

The marketing strategy of sending targeted messages to a group of subscribers via email. There are different types of email marketing. You can use newsletters, promotional campaigns, transactional emails, automated sequences. Mailchimp is one of the many tools to run a campaign based on this technique.

Affiliate Marketing

Performance-based marketing where a business rewards affiliates for each customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts.

-       Mechanism: Affiliates promote products using unique links and earn a commission on sales.

Influencer Marketing

Collaborating with influencers to promote products or services. It is important to keep in mind that a good influential marketing strategy must involve relevant influencers, that talk about your category of product or services, and he/she must be perceived as a referential person (regarding the category) between your target audience. This means that this people’s followers must be the same type of people as your target audience.

Importance of monitoring the performance for a freelancer digital marketer

The performance tracking is key to know how the campaign you’re running is doing and the consumer engagement it might have generated. It is better to use professional tools like google analytics to monitor the campaign performance. Also, track Key Performance Indicators (KPI’S) to measure the success of the campaign, the KPI’S measure traffic, conversion rates, click through rates (CTR) and Return on Investment (ROI).

The communication is very important to deliver important insights. A freelancer digital marketer should always provide updates to clients on campaign progress and performance. Always maintain beneficial relationships with clients through communication techniques and good service.

By following these steps and utilizing the appropriate tools and skills, a freelancer digital marketer can effectively plan, execute, and optimize digital marketing strategies to achieve client goals.

Don’t forget Data and Analytics

In the digital world, data and analytics play an important role in digital marketing because it provides insights for informed business decisions. Data analysis gives a freelancer digital marketer the information needed to create customized experiences for users, therefore it helps to increase engagement and improves customer satisfaction.

By leveraging data and analytics, digital marketers can enhance their understanding of the market, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their campaigns, and ultimately achieve better results.

A freelancer digital marketer should understand Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is the buying and selling of online ad inventory through computer software to automate buying and selling of digital advertising. This include but is not limited to real-time bidding (RTB). In programmatic advertising, supply is not guaranteed. This way of advertising allows advertisers to purchase individual impressions. Advertisers bid on impressions through RTB (real time auctions) or by guaranteed ad impressions.

Essential Tools for Freelancing

For freelancers, especially in digital marketing, using the right tools can boost efficiency and simplify daily tasks. Here are some must-have tools:

1. Intelogos

Intelogos' remote employee monitoring software helps track and analyze remote team performance by capturing productivity data, including screen activity and time usage. For freelance digital marketers managing remote teams, this tool provides real-time insights into each team member's work habits, helping optimize workflows and ensure accountability. Additionally, it allows for better project management and informed decision-making by highlighting areas where teams may need support or improvements.

2. Paystub Hero

Managing finances is crucial for freelancers. Paystub Hero is a reliable tool for generating accurate paystubs, ensuring compliance and professionalism in just a few clicks.

3. TimeTailor

A subscription-free booking & salon POS software for freelancers and small business owners.

4. Trello

This project management tool helps freelancers organize tasks, track progress, and collaborate with ease using visual boards and cards.

5. Hootsuite

Managing multiple social media accounts is easier with Hootsuite, allowing freelancers to schedule posts and monitor performance from one dashboard.

6. SEO link building software 

AI software and tools can also have a positive impact on link-building and SEO efforts. For example, using SEO link building software automates key processes such as prospecting for relevant websites, checking their quality, and finding verified contact information. Linkee's AI algorithms help streamline outreach by sending personalized emails, scheduling follow-ups, and tracking campaign performance. This not only saves time and resources but also ensures higher accuracy and consistency in acquiring valuable backlinks, ultimately boosting SEO performance and improving search engine rankings.

For a freelancer digital marketer, understanding and effectively implementing these components and leveraging data and analytics is critical for success. This involves thorough research, strategic planning, diligent implementation, continuous monitoring, and constant optimization. By maintaining open communication with clients and staying adaptable to new trends and technologies, digital marketers can deliver significant value and drive business growth.

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, staying informed about best practices and emerging trends will equip marketers to navigate challenges and seize opportunities, ultimately leading to more effective and impactful marketing efforts.