The Power of A Testimonial (Part 1)

A testimonial -- brief yet concisely written -- can either make or break a freelancing professional. While it's good to cultivate your work ethics and perennially aim to exceed your clients' expectations, keep in mind that you should devote part of your routine to promoting yourself and your services.

And freelancing professionals know that advertising one's services can rack up considerable expenses, especially if one pays for web hosting, or needs to have a stack of business cards professionally printed.

Now, if you've had tenure in the workplace before deciding to turn freelance, surely you're aware that citing the names of former colleagues or supervisors, or anyone who can vouch for your competence at work, is one of the sure-fire ways to speed up a job search.

Likewise, asking a satisfied client to write a glowing testimonial for you can serve as proof that you're reliable and trustworthy. And a testimonial can be obtained at no cost at all. You can just ask a client to jot it down verbatim and then proofread it yourself.

Potential clients are more likely to notice a freelancer who's proven his skills and mettle, and once they log on to your website and read all those wonderful stuff you've done for your former clients, surely that would convince them that you're worth a try.

Since testimonials can make you more appealing to potential clients, it's worth taking some time to learn to utilize it to maximize its benefits. Tune in for my next several posts as I provide a few guidelines in using testimonials.

How to Bait Your Hook (Part 5)

Here's the last way to bait your hook effectively: 

Web stalk potential clients, and align yourself according to their most pressing needs.

If you aspire to capitalize on social media and make it your specialty, you should start along this line. Since more and more entrepreneurs are realizing the limitless potential of social media, simply logging on to Facebook and creating an Official Page or having an account on Twitter and Instagram to promote their brand or services can be appealing to a mobile and tech-savvy clientele.

And yet, having a Facebook Page, Instagram, or Twitter account doesn't guarantee long-term success. Putting out a Facebook Page to advertise one's products or services or getting the right type of audience to follow you on Twitter takes careful planning and preparation. 

In the March 2012 issue of Entrepreneur Philippines, it was stated that people are more likely to trust information that comes from friends and those with whom they're connected or affiliated, like colleagues at work.

This is why entrepreneurs need not just showcase their brand or services through photos shown on a Facebook Page or a Twitter or Instagram account. They should also create meaningful content that will mostly likely spark the interest of their target market.

And optimizing a Facebook Page isn't limited to SEO specialists. If you're freelancing as a copywriter, you can broaden your range of skills by engaging online users and get them to post comments or allow them to initiate a discussion over the pros and cons of the brand or services. 

Also, the success of a business or an enterprise doesn't necessarily lie in having more and more customers or clients in the long run, but to keep the clients that they already have loyal to their brand for the longest time possible.

This is the main reason entrepreneurs make innovations, or formulate new or better strategies, to keep their clients or customers happy.

As I round up this series in my next article, I'll cite several ways on how you can attract the attention of entrepreneurs who'd like to generate sales or have more clients by advertising through social media. 

How to Bait Your Hook (Part 4)

After dealing with the importance of baiting the hook through business cards, print ads, and websites, here's the next effective strategy:

Selectively give away freebies.

After years of checking out numerous blogs over the blogosphere, I now understand why plenty of freelance writers give online users access to a free ebook. These authors need subscribers to keep their blogs alive.

They might make an initial offer of subscribers getting a free ebook. If they teach correspondence courses about writing or other topics, a free ebook would be the perfect bait to inform their subscribers about the benefits they can get should they finish a course. 

And such deals aren't limited to freelance writers. In recent years, life coaching has become an extremely fulfilling and lucrative career, to the point that even men and women who have experienced remarkable success in the workplace found it worthy to jump ship and get themselves retrained. 

Now, having a platform is one of the determining factors to a life coach's success, and putting out a website and blog are just a few ways to show that he's serious about his game.

The key to remember when giving away freebies is this: provide just enough information to satisfy the curiosity of your subscribers, but leave out the rest of "the goods" that they'd want more of what you have to offer.

I believe the reason certain companies are hell-bent on programming and brainwashing consumers is this: it's very difficult to make people part with their hard-earned money unless you appeal to a legitimate need they have, like raising their self-esteem, or appealing to their jolts of vanity or sexuality.

Whether advertising is good or bad has never been the point. If it works, who cares about the way I got you to spend your money?

The good news is, you don't have to be a slick-sounding salesman or write a lot of "marketing fluff," like those generic-sounding, pie-in-the-sky promises that do nothing to your credibility.

If you already know how to write quality content, or if you outsource paid writing jobs to competent writers for your website or blog's content, then you're already halfway done when it comes to getting noticed by your target market.

If you can win subscribers to your point of view, and make them see the benefits that they can get from your services, you'll stir up a desire in their minds and hearts.