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101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads

Cyan Ta'eed
Getting new leadsI love leads!! Image from iStockPhoto

Since FreelanceSwitch started, there is one question that I get asked more often than any other. How can a freelancer find more work and generate new client leads?

Well at FreelanceSwitch we don’t shy away from the pressing questions. So as the kicker for a new series on how to get more freelance work, we have put together an enormous list of ideas, ranging from ones that take 10 seconds to 10 days. There’s something for everyone to try and I guarantee there will be plenty of things you never thought of.

Over the next few months we will be publishing an article on EVERY single one of these topics, so if you need more explanation or examples on any of them, don’t worry they’re coming!

And now without further ado, here they are, your 101 ideas:

Word of mouth is the go

  • Enlist your family and friends to spread the word about your services
  • Send out an email to everyone in your address book, announcing what you do, where you are and what you can offer
  • Ask your satisfied clients for referrals
  • Offer free consultations to new referrals
  • Consider a referral or finders fee

Love those clients

  • Get in touch with past and current clients when you have a new service to offer them
  • Get in touch with past and current clients when you have completed a flagship project
  • Start a newsletter
  • Take advantage of every outgoing email by using your email signature as a marketing tool
  • Send promotions for services with your invoices
  • Ask your clients to place a credit on your work in web, video or print
  • Make a calendar featuring your work for clients to put up in their offices to serve as a constant reminder
  • Make a poster for your client to hang up on their office wall

Talk the talk

  • Go to industry events - conferences, association meetings, seminars
  • Go to events in your client’s industry
  • Sponsor a client event
  • Join your local Chamber of Commerce and get involved
  • Socialize and always have your card ready
  • Do some pro-bono work for a charitable organization with industry links
  • Get involved in social groups you’re connected to (church, school, university)
  • Join an industry organization and get listed
  • Contact people you used to work with and ask them to send you any run-off work they might have
  • Offer to give a seminar to a local business group
  • Practice an elevator speech about what you do and have it ready to go wherever you are
  • Participate on online forums (using the forum signature line)
  • Comment on blogs to draw people back to your freelance site

Promote Yourself

  • Get car signage
  • Get t-shirts made with your URL
  • Try location based Google Adwords
  • Advertise in a niche magazine or trade publication e.g. a magazine just for cafes
  • List yourself in business directories or the Yellow Pages
  • Research sites your clients are visiting and buy advertising there
  • Advertise in online directories
  • Take out an ad out in a local newspaper
  • Participate in a trade show
  • Holidays are your friend! Send a clever holiday greeting to clients showing your work
  • Promote a free first consulation service
  • Have a gimmick that makes you stand out
  • Give something away for free
  • Place an advert in an industry newsletter
  • Offer branded pens and paper at industry events

Be an industry expert

  • Pitch an article to an industry publication
  • Pitch a story to a blog or resource website
  • Offer to speak at industry and networking events
  • Start a blog and publicize it
  • Submit tutorials or how-to’s to websites
  • Get on the radio
  • Write an eBook or Report for your target market and promote it online
  • Enter your work into competitions and awards… and win :)

Use the media

  • Issue a press release about a story related to your services and try and get it into a local newspaper or magazine
  • Pull a publicity friendly stunt (think Richard Branson)
  • Run a contest which ties into your services

Job Boards

Brrr – it’s cold in here!

  • Find out how you could improve a companies business and profits and cold call them with your pitch
  • Mail promo postcards to potential clients
  • Mail fun promotional items to potential clients (calendars, toys, posters etc)

Help leads find you

Get in bed with local business

  • Contact your local internet service provider or printing house and offer them a commission if they refer work
  • Establish contacts in larger agencies that can refer their run-off work
  • Keep in touch with freelancers that will offer clients a complementary service to yours and throw each other work
  • Create a local business directory and use it to get to know other business owners who might later need your services
  • Cross promote with other businesses
  • Ask if you can put your business cards or brochure in local stores
  • Rent officespace shared with other businesses or freelancers

Industry Specific Ideas

And here are some ideas that are tailored to certain industries…

Photographers

  • Enter your work into a gallery or run an exhibition
  • Submit some work to stock agencies to attract attention
  • Do a new series of work so you have a reason to show your portfolio to an old contact
  • Send in your photography work to industry magazines to make a name for yourself
  • Start an online photojournal
  • Photograph an event or series and pitch it to a newspaper or magazine
  • Get an Agent

Programmers & Developers

  • Pitch your self as a developer who understands web designers, because most of them need a developer
  • Write a small web app like ta-da list or jobpile and get some recognition
  • Answer tech questions on forums and use a signature that says you offer freelance coding services
  • Enter a programming contest like RailsDay
  • Contribute to open source efforts and get known

Illustrators/Animators

  • Start a comic strip blog - e.g. gapingvoid.com
  • Make characters and create merchandise based on them - figurines, badges, tshirts etc
  • Enter some competitons to get your illustrations in some famous places - snowboards, posters
  • Create an awesome animation that wins you fame like Laith Bahrani
  • Do stock illustrations for a site like istockphoto and have a portfolio site offering custom ones
  • Write to big blogs and offer to do a cartoon strip (k10k)
  • Send in your illustration work to magazines like computerarts.co.uk
  • Create a promo Reel of animations or illlustrations and send it around/get it publicised
  • Send your illustrations to gift card publishers

Writers, Bloggers, Journalists

  • Pitch yourself at ad, design and web design agencies as a copywriter
  • Find some photos on iStockPhoto and write some great ad headlines for each and make a mailer out of it
  • Submit articles to article banks for sale
  • Write opinionated, witty pieces and get them publicised on Digg with a blurb at the bottom about your services
  • Pitch article ideas to editors, online and off
  • Write a book and publish it with lulu.com

Designers

  • Submit work to design compilation books and magazines
  • Get your portfolio/profile listed on a site like Coroflot
  • Design a great website and submit it to design galleries like CSSMania.com
  • Build a great portfolio and submit it to design portals like DesignIsKinky.com
  • Start a magazine, design portal or blog

So there you have it, lots of ideas! Do you know of any more? Add them in the comments and we’ll add them to the list…

Leave a Comment
  1. Great!! :) More More.

  2. fantastic. i’ve tried a few of these things over the years, but not consistently. i’m going to print this one out! ~m

  3. excellent post. I can’t wait to read the in-depth articles. If all else fails, you could stand on a corner with a cardboard sign and balloons…. guaranteed people will look at your sign if you have balloons..

    :)

  4. great post. this one’s definitely getting filed in delicious.

  5. I agree this is a great post. It would be nice is there was a print this button on the page that created a printer friendly version.

    Thanks for the post.

  6. Great list of ideas on how to promote yourself. A lot of the simpler sounding ones, such as having a elevator pitch, can be very useful, you never know when it could come in handy.

    Lately, I’ve been trying to promote myself more online, on various blogs and design portals, I want people to see my work. I can’t stress how important it is to network, both online and offline. Something as simple as a friendly conversation with someone can lead to some potential work or better yet, a business relationship.

  7. Excellent ideas for any industries on this post. I will keep coming back for good ideas like this.

    I have received some traffic from leaving just this kind of comment on blogs. Now–how to convert link traffic to customers!

  8. Great Post. I do a blog on selling for independent professionals that might be of interest. I will also offer sales coaching very soon, including the dark art of prospecting (finding customers). When you “have to sell to eat”, it helps to have a little training. I would even be happy to guest write on some of the items on your list!

  9. That took a while to read :) - great tips; looking forward to reading ALL of those articles :)

  10. Great article, I’m in the planning stages of setting up my own freelance company, and some of the ideas that you have listed above will come in very handy, Thanks!

  11. Wow, that’s good stuff :) Good ideas :D

  12. This is some of the best advice i’ve seen on how to promote yourself, and it’s mostly things that can be done in a matter of minutes!

    Another thing that a lot of people overlook is a good business card. I’ve received a decent amount of freelance work just purely on my business card.

    Other than that, I’ll be implementing a lot of these shortly. Thanks a lot!

  13. Another idea i have done is pick up business cards from stores and look for the ones that have yahoo, gmail, or hotmail email addresses. This will give you a good idea they need web design/development services. Then either mail then a flyer of what you do or go visit them personally.

  14. Oops those images had vanished for a while but they’re all fixed now!

  15. Wow, what a thorough list! I am definitely bookmarking this page! THANKS!!

  16. “Pitch an article to an industry publication”

    We’re always on the lookout for great new writers at Digital Web magazine - like Cyan says, it’s a great way to get your name out there, position yourself as an expert in the web industry, and get some extra traffic while you’re at it:

    http://www.digital-web.com/contribute/write/

    :)

  17. Good collections of suggestions. Few things missing. One could sign up with the freelance marketplaces like getafreelancer.com, rentacoder.com.

    Rajesh Shakya
    http://www.rajeshshakya.com

  18. For more info please visit: http://www.businessonmarket.com

  19. Gravatar

    alexandre monassa

    you said : “Send out an email to everyone in your address book, announcing what you do, where you are and what you can offer” nowsday it can be considered as SPAM . And you can be until arrested. Take care .

  20. Or, you could be part of a word-of-mouth referral club, like Business Network International. http://www.bni.com

    Plenty of chapters in different countries.

    I’m a gaprhic design and I joined this club and I tell you, say goodbye to cold-calling and cold-emailing. Plus you get quality and qualified leads and you can train members to find those projects that you would love to work on

    This is my chapter http://www.bni-rendezvous.com

    You’ll get to interact with people from industries and share ideas. It’s all good!

    Vicki

  21. Whoa! Nice ideas!

  22. Which are the most effective though? And which apply better to certain industries? Because doing all of those won’t leave any time for doing any freelance work.

  23. Wonderful article - so many avenues with which you can get your name out there. Exposure, exposure, exposure. Kinda like, location, location, location. Thanks!

  24. I have found that Craiglist is the best source of Freelance work. I point my RSS reader to the section about computer gigs in my area and I have a never ending stream of jobs to go after. Sometimes you deal with cheapskates but that is everywhere isn’t it.

  25. Great stuff!

    Ryan Haden: I agree. Craig’s list computer gigs section is nice.

  26. Not only an email newsletter, but a print newsletter. Even today, not all decision makers give out their email address or spend much time reading email. I know, SACRILEGE:) Still, it’s true.

    A print newsletter will get you noticed. It’s not as difficult or expensive as you’d think. 5 reasons to have one are on my blog at http://www.rescuemarketing.com/blog/2007/05/17/5-reasons-why-your-business-needs-a-newsletter-part-1/

    Also, write a column for local publications. The editors of your local newspaper, business journal etc are always looking for content. If yours is good, they’ll use it. Instant credibility - after all, if it was in the paper, it must have been true

  27. There’s some awesome ideas in here - I appreciate your hard work putting this together for us “freelancers”.

    This is my new favorite website! Keep up the good work!

    Cheers
    /cm

  28. Gravatar

    dilip ojha

    i am a software developer

  29. Sites such as:
    http://www.guru.com
    https://www.it-globalized.com
    http://www.rentacoder.com

    would also be specific ideas for how to get more freelance work, but from what I could see this was also linked to in a related article.

  30. Gravatar

    desigirl

    I’m glad I found this site! Great advice.

  31. Cool…

  32. Yes… the point of view in this post is….

    Always creative and do something new and different ;)

  33. Great article.Lots to learn from this article.
    — GDzine Studio Kolkata, India

  34. “Advertise in online directories”

    There aren’t many good directories of freelance consultants, but a few that are worthwhile are http://www.FreelanceLocalTech.com (for most technical consulting, including web/app dev, tech writing, and graphic artists) and FreelanceDesigners (primarily graphics and creative folks).

  35. I love your article…^^…I didn’t really realized before how varied the avenues that I can use to get more freelance work…Thanks Cyan…^^

  36. Some good tips. FYI; I have recently picked up several “gigs” by posting a free ad on backpage.com. Thanks to the magic of copy and paste it took me less than an hour to post ads to several dozen cities.

  37. Good and useful read!

    I’m Bookmarking this and hoping the future in-depth articles on each topic/idea will be added to this page as links. (*hint hint* :)

  38. Did you mention the use of places like MySpace and YouTube?
    If so, I’m sorry if I missed it. I have already used some of the ideas suggested here. Excellent!

  39. Atlast I found a spam free info source on freelance business ideas. Thanks for the great efforts.

  40. Very good article pack with useful advise

  41. great stuff, already bookmarked!

  42. Nice ideas and great article :)

  43. Very very good article I love reading it. wow cool

  44. Great article, Ive learn a lot on this. Thanks for sharing. :)

  45. Nice job putting all of this information together!
    Super effort.

    Remember the number one way to get work is through people referring you.
    It’s usually a sure job. They key is how do you get it. Answer— doing great work
    and time in the market.

  46. Wow, that is certainly a great list of promotional ideas. I just wrote an article with 120 self promotional ideas for graphic designers and freelancers and I thought that your users might find it useful - http://allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/2007/11/28/120-self-promotion-ideas-for-graphic-designers-freelancers-free-or-almost-free/

    Thanks again for the great article.
    Rachel

  47. Excellent article, great collection

  48. hey, the “Start a Newsletter” link in the body of the article (points to http://freelanceswitch.com/marketing/harnessing-mailouts-a-complete-how-to-guide-to-email-marketing-for-freelancers/ ) returns page not found….

    Otherwise excellent advice there; great article!

  49. Great article !

    Done some of the above myself but i never knew there are so many other options :-)

  50. Thanks some great ideas here. Basically I’m just now learning how to network locally and you gave me some new ideas.

  51. Great post…. I was just compiling a similar list for personal use and this would be very handy!

    I enjoy writing insights from life - do take a look at my blog at:

    http://www.letstalkinsights.blogspot.com

  52. Perfect. We learn new things every day. We will definitely use some tips and tricks in our company.
    http://www.syntacticsugar.com
    Sarka (Czech republic)

  53. Cyan,

    I enjoyed reading your article and linked my readers to your site in my post today about freelance work. Keep up your good work.

    Regards,
    Randy Place

  54. Awesome article and tips. I’m going to try some of these with my Administrative Services business.

    Thanks.

    http://www.RnTProadmin.com

  55. Excellence! These are good comments.
    I also suggest the website so that freelancer, software developer..can find ideas work.
    http://www.getoffshorexperts.com

  56. The 2 “Start a newsletter” links are dead.

  57. Something to keep in mind when trying out any of these ideas is that repetition and a long-term perspective are key. For instance, an e-newsletter is a great marketing tool, but only if you keep it up and produce interesting content consistently for your readers. It may be many months before you see results from your efforts, which can be frustrating. My experience, so far, in running a small design shop, has been that you should pick a few marketing channels and then work them systematically and relentlessly. I wish I had the time to effectively execute ten percent of the marketing ideas on this list.

  58. Network with other clients and freelancers - whizolve.com

  59. I think it’s great word-of-mouth for a photographer to have a blog too.

  60. I’ve tried many things on this list.

    Now I’m gonna go with “Get t-shirts made with your URL” and “Write an eBook or Report for your target market and promote it online”, although I’m not much of a writter =)

    Sites like Craigs List and oDesk.com help a lot to freelance begginers. Also GetAFreelancer.com, although I didn’t try this one.

  61. Excellent list guys, great job. :)

  62. Well, we all gotta start somewhere, here I am reading this great post and leaving a footprint by spreading the word of my freelance switch. Check out my website for graphics photos, magazine and blog, I”m sure someone will find interesting. Spread the word too if you like or subscribe to newsletter.
    Thanks for the tips Chad and you got me as a rss feeder.

    krossmedia.net

  63. Good tips. Thank you.

  64. bookmarked for sure. an excellent article about how to promote your business. i always forget to bring business cards with me. you gotta have them to pass them out.

    thanks

  65. Finally - a super comprehensive list. I have a couple friends just about ready to cut the corporate chord and they’re good, highly skilled professionals. They are just worried about keeping the business flowing so that they can keep feeding the family. I’ll share this post - it’s good.

  66. This is a super helpful list - something I have been looking for since I recently started freelancing.

    Word of mouth seems to be the best, and your list helps to consider some of the “not-so-obvious” ways in which you can generate more word of mouth.

    Thank you for putting this together : )

  67. I love this article. Thanks for all the great ideas! I actually have implemented a lot of these and so far, they have worked tremendously for my business! Thanks Freelance Switch…!

  68. That is a great article indeed. Thanks!

  69. Awesome article. Every freelancer needs to read it.

  70. Great post and great ideas to follow!
    Isaac
    http://www.jasfy.com

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