In this post-pandemic era, digital marketing has become a fundamental need—even if businesses don’t admit it to themselves. Grabbing the attention of a specific crowd is not easy, with countless competitors also doing the same. Quite often businesses have ended up copying each other and it has proven to be heinous for all of them.

Also understanding where the opportunity lies—from strategics to increasing sales requires a lot of experience, which fresh freelancers are not usually equipped for.

Social Media, for instance, has taken the world of business by storm in recent times, with everyone elbowing one another for the best crowd pull. So, if one copies from their biggest competitor, it not only sabotages their brand image but also spoils the market. And social media is just one of the aspects of digital marketing. SEO, SEM, Google Ads, Google Analytics and many more add to it—and not to mention the plethora of new Social Media Platforms cropping up by every hour…well do you get it?! The opportunity is humongous! But if you want a slice of that pie, you need to buckle up and be prepared for the uphill task.

Businesses that do seek professional/freelance help can be found on websites like Up-work, Freelancer, Guru, Fixture etc. These platforms are filled with countless freelancers bidding for work — also not to ignore the big shark’s (experienced freelancers) within them, out of which you as a fresher would have to bag one project home.

Say, you’ve got some projects under your belt, built a good network and business connections and upgraded yourself with a digital marketing certification course. This gives you a good head start with lead generation and sales, but will it help you ace?  Let’s dive into the competition aspect first.

 

Competition

Along with the big shark’s and countless other freshers into freelancing, consider the number of students regularly completing digital marketing courses. Not just from your city or your country but from across the globe, where the best online digital marketing courses and offline digital marketing courses are imparted—we do live in a connected world, after all!

They are all competitors for a freelancer.

If you’re going to take them mentioned above on and win, you’ve got to be better than them.

So, can you succeed as a fresher in freelancing?

The answer is Yes! Every fresher in freelancing should possess the following key attributes.

1. Solid knowledge base

You must have a strong grasp of digital marketing concepts with corresponding practical experience, for which a digital marketing course with placement assistance would be good grooming.

2. A portfolio that validates your knowledge and abilities

Consider a reversal of roles. Would you hire an unknown mechanic to repair your expensive car? (let’s assume you have one).  At the very least you would want to check his references., qualifications, certifications, testimonials from previous employers, etc.

3. Practical experience

The fastest way to get this is by interning at a digital marketing agency that has a lot of clients. This will give you many opportunities to put the knowledge you’ve gained in your digital marketing training to practical use.

How to land the best internship? Our article on the same topic provides insights that will help you get started. Read it here.

 4. Project management skills

This includes pitching for business, strategic, executing campaigns, servicing clients, calculating

metrics such as CoA, CPM, etc. and maintaining spreadsheets to track important parameters.

5. Business development skills

Freelancers are running their businesses. So with it comes the need for solid business development skills. Winning new projects/accounts is the only way a freelancer can succeed. And that means being able to gather leads, develop them and close them profitably.

6. Knowledge Updating

Digital Marketing is a continuous growing field, very well known for its constant optimization for satisfactory user experience. This brings in the need for a digital marketer to constantly up-skill himself to keep him updated in the market. To fit in the busy schedule which a digital marketer has, one could opt for advance online marketing courses with certifications.

Conclusion

As a freelancer, you have to pull your cart, so you have to be thorough in your concepts and equally strong in your practical and supporting skills.

The knowledge part is easy. All you need to do is sign up for a digital marketing free course with certificates or join a reputed digital marketing training institute for a course that will cover all the fundamentals of digital marketing. The course can be online or physical classroom training.

Before signing up, take a couple of minutes to read our article on classroom vs online digital

Marketing training, here.

Once you’ve got a couple of years and 10-15 strong winning projects/campaigns under your belt, you’re ready to hang up your shingle and chase the dime.

This is the time to be your own best client. Put all that you’ve learned to work for your own business and your hypothetical expensive car will soon be a reality!

We hope you liked our article Can I Freelance As a Digital Marketer Once I Complete My Course? Don’t forget to hit the follow button on our Twitter and Facebook handles.