Why New Freelancers Fail at Marketing (And How to Fix It)
When new freelancers jump into marketing, they often think
"I’ll master [insert social channel], and within six months I’ll have hundreds of thousands of followers, leads, and rolling in income!
Reality after 60 days usually looks more like
"Why isn’t this working?? I give up.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over years of being in business and coaching students, it’s this: new freelancers often come into marketing completely unprepared.
Marketing Isn’t Just Social Media
Marketing has become synonymous with social media. While I absolutely advocate for including social media as part of your strategy, it should only be one arm. It’s free, sure—but you’re constantly a slave to changing algorithms and rented space.
Instead, I teach my students to think of marketing as a ripple effect.
The ripple effect is when an initial action causes a series of subsequent effects that spread outward—like ripples in water when you drop a stone.
Marketing is a game of data. When you’re starting out, you need that data to know where to focus your efforts and where your audience actually pays attention—not just where you think they are.
Creating Ripples That Pay Off
For me and my students, creating ripples means putting your business in front of as many eyes as possible so that your initial efforts spread outward, eventually allowing you to coast as referrals and clients start coming in. This could include:
Attending in-person and virtual networking events
Co-hosting webinars to share your expertise
Building a community (Facebook groups, Slack channels, etc.)
Posting on social media
Having a newsletter
Cold pitching and starting conversations
Starting a podcast or guesting on others’ podcasts
Sponsoring an event if you have the funds
Running Google, Meta, or other ads if you have the budget
To be clear—I’m not saying you should do all of this at once if you’re new. The point is to diversify your marketing early, so your efforts create ripples that grow over time.
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If you also want ease, sustainability or just a new life for yourself - please reach out to me. I’d love to chat about what that looks like and if you’d be a good candidate for my programs.
