What is Freelance Digital Marketing? A Beginner’s Guide 2024

If you have learned about digital marketing, a rapidly evolving field that offers rapid career growth, and wonder if there is a scope for doing freelance digital marketing, then this guide is for you.

In this guide, we will explain many things related to freelance digital marketing, including what is freelance digital marketing, what is a freelance digital marketer, how can you become one, the tools and skills required, the pros and cons, and many more things.

Have you ever thought about leaving your job to start freelancing in digital marketing and wanted to know if freelance digital marketing is legit or not?

We will answer all your questions, but we will start from the start for beginners who are interested in freelance digital marketing and how they can start their career as freelance digital marketers.

This guide can be adapted as freelance digital marketing for beginners to help beginner build their careers through digital marketing. 

Let’s start —

Also Read: How to Use AI in Digital Marketing? Step-by-Step Guide

What is Freelance Digital Marketing?

Freelance digital marketing refers to providing digital marketing services as a freelancer rather than working for a particular company as a full-time employee.

It’s a profession where you have to learn multiple skills like content marketing, copywriting, building websites, and designing, along with all digital marketing skills like search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, PPC, and many more.

Freelancers can work with multiple clients as they are not employees of any company. 

What is a freelance digital marketer?

Freelancer digital marketers engage in online communities to build their presence and fetch some clients, such as Facebook groups and LinkedIn conversations.

Freelance digital marketers enjoy the flexibility of working from home or anywhere else by sitting at their desks during their hours.

Freelancing in digital marketing career is getting more popular day by day with the rise in growth in online businesses, which is directly increasing the demand for digital marketing and its related skills.

Types of Digital Marketing Freelance Jobs

Freelancer digital marketers are self-employed and can choose one single skill at a time to work with or all digital marketing skills at once, as you are not bound to answer anyone; it’s your own choice.

So we have mentioned the types of digital marketing freelance jobs there are on the market. We have mentioned the main jobs as well as some digital marketing freelance jobs as a bonus. 

Here are concise definitions for each role:

SEO Specialist or Consultant:

An SEO Specialist’s work is to optimize websites to rank higher on search engines like Google by improving ON-page and OFF-page SEO for website content.

Their work also includes keyword research for new and upcoming content for the websites, and building backlinks as an OFF-page SEO part.

They also have to focus on the technical terms of the websites, like if the websites’ pages are crawlable and indexable by the search engine bot.

Their overall goal is to increase organic traffic to the websites without spending any money on paid advertising.

Social Media Manager:

A Social Media Manager is responsible for creating, designing, and managing all types of content for all social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X).

They start with creating a content calendar for all social media platforms and develop strategies to build different types of content to engage the audience genuinely and organically.

They are responsible for follower growth and building and spreading brand presence by tracking the performance of the content they are posting in the insights of the platform.

Their main goal is to keep up-to-date information on social media and increase brand awareness among the majority of the audience.

Affiliate Marketer:

An Affiliate Marketer promotes products or services on behalf of companies or clients through various referral links to earn commissions for each sale or every lead generated through those referral links.

They use related blogs about company services or products, similar social media accounts, and other online platforms to attract new audiences and drive traffic to the company’s offerings.

Their overall goal is to promote the company’s product or service genuinely through other well-known blogs, websites, or social media accounts. They use affiliate marketing to generate more sales and leads, as well as to promote their brand.

Email Marketer:

Email Marketers usually create and execute email campaigns to promote products, services, or content to targeted audiences, along with writing content and managing email distribution to all types of audiences.

Their main focus is to grow email lists, make sets of different types of audiences, write engaging emails for that audience, and distribute them.

They check insights of an email campaign by open rates, clicks, and conversions happening from emails.

Email Marketer main goal is to increase conversion rates by implying offerings and other aspects to gain the trust of their audience.

Also Read: What is Digital Marketing? Types, Examples, Funnels & Benefits

Content Marketer:

Content Marketers are responsible for creating valuable and relevant content for the business to attract new and retain existing audiences.

Their job is to create all types of content required to build the brand presence, like website blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media content. 

Content Marketer’s main aim is to educate or inform their audience through various content types while mentioning their brand to spread brand awareness.

Digital Marketing Strategist:

A Digital Marketing Strategist plans and executes marketing strategies across various digital channels, such as SEO, social media, email, and paid advertising, to increase direct sales or leads and organic & paid traffic.

They make sure that everything aligns with their brand’s goals.

Bonus Freelance Digital Marketing Jobs:

E-commerce Specialist:

E-commerce Specialists optimize and handle tasks like product listings, website navigation, and checkout processes, while also using digital marketing strategies like SEO, PPC, and email marketing from the e-commerce point of view to drive traffic.

Marketing Analyst:

Marketing Analysts gather and interpret data related to marketing campaigns, customer behaviours, and market trends. They provide insights that help improve the effectiveness of marketing strategies, optimize budgets, and ensure better targeting for future campaigns.

Video Marketing Specialist:

A Video Marketing Specialist is responsible for creating engaging video content to promote a brand, product, or service.

They handle everything from scripting and production to editing and optimizing videos for platforms like YouTube, social media, and websites.

Influencer Relations Manager:

Influencer Relations Managers find and collaborate with social media influencers to promote a product, service, or direct brand.

They are responsible for building and maintaining relationships with influencers, negotiating on behalf of the brand, and ensuring the launch of the right campaigns.

PPC Manager:

The PPC Manager’s work is to bring traffic to the website or social media channels through paid advertising campaigns on platforms like Google Ads and Meta Ads.

What skills should a digital marketing freelancer have?

Whatever type you choose to become a freelance digital marketer from the above-mentioned lists, you still have to have other skills along with these technical skills of digital marketing. 

Learn all the skills we mentioned below to start freelance digital marketing for beginners: 

Technical Skills:

As a beginner digital marketing freelancer, you’ll need solid knowledge of technical skills as a foundation for your digital marketing career. This includes knowing all aspects and types of digital marketing, like video marketing, SEO, and SEM, to help your clients get noticed online.

You’ll also need to be aware and practical with analytics tools to track the performance of the websites and improve strategies like Google Analytics or insights.

To know analytics from the beginning, you have to be aware of the user experience or customer journey to help clients know about their audience and what terms they have to take care of.

Content Marketing:

Content marketing is a job type as well as a skill for freelance digital marketers because content is always king, and as a freelancer, you’ll be expected to create or manage engaging and relevant content for all platforms that resonate with your client’s audience. 

It will be blogs, social media posts, or videos.

As a freelance digital marketer, you must know how to create engaging content through storytelling to attract more attention and action from the audience. 

In content marketing skills, you have to be versatile with different types of content formats according to the need.

Time Management:

Time management can be one of the hardest parts for a freelancing digital marketer, like managing your own work time for work-life balance, especially when you have multiple clients and deadlines.

Time management in freelance digital marketing is all about prioritizing important tasks according to the deadline, staying organized, and not letting procrastination get the best of you. 

Tools like Asana or Trello can help you keep everything on track, so you don’t miss anything, or if anything, slips out of your mind. 

Communication:

Strong communication skills are non-negotiable as a freelancer, even if you are a beginner.

You’ll be constantly in talks with clients, explaining your strategies and clarifying their goals for the business.

Being able to communicate your ideas, both in writing and face-to-face (or in Zoom meetings), will help you build strong relationships and avoid misunderstandings.

Business Skills:

Don’t forget, that to start freelancing in digital marketing is like running your own business.

So, it’s essential to know about budgeting, negotiation, and keeping track of your finances, like expenses and profits.

This means being comfortable with keeping records of all money (in and out) and basic accounting.

That’s why freelance digital marketing from home seems like a huge job, but if you do it right with the right set of skills, you will never have to worry about anything else. 

Also Read: 6 Powerful Tips on How to Create a Digital Marketing Portfolio

Why Choose Freelance Digital Marketing?

As with all other freelance fields, freelance digital marketing also has pros and cons of its own. We have mentioned all below; check it out: 

Pros (benefits) of freelance digital marketing:

• Location Freedom:
  The freedom to set your schedule and work from any location makes freelance digital marketing a good benefit to start with.

• Work and Time Flexibility:
  You can choose your work hours according to your free time, there are no boundaries of this kind, but you still have to keep track of deadlines.

• Money and Time Saving:
  By choosing freelance digital marketing, you choose to save on your daily transportation as well as time. It saves a minimum of two hours a day, which you can utilize to complete your work.

• High Earning Potential:
  You can work with as many clients as you want according to your schedule, which eventually can increase your overall income. It’s easy to have multiple clients in freelance digital marketing.

• Across Industry Projects:
  Digital marketing freelancers are limited to one industry because digital marketing is such a diversified kind of marketing that can be applied to any kind of industry. So, with technical knowledge, you will get to work across industries to gain experience in many industries, which is kind of essential in today’s world.

Cons (challenges) of freelance digital marketing:

Even if freelance digital marketing has lots of benefits, there are still some cons that seem like challenges, such as:

• No fixed Income:
  There is no fixed income in freelance digital marketing. Your direct income directly depends on how many clients you can find in a month. So, your income can vary from very low to very high according to the number of projects.

• Find Clients:
  As there is no one above you, you have to find all clients on your own without relying on yourself, which might be hard and time-consuming at the beginning, and you have to make constant efforts to retain your old clients by offering them new and beneficial services.

• Balancing Multiple Projects:
  Balancing multiple projects at once with the same deadlines can be an issue for you, and sometimes with different deadlines, you have to juggle between multiple projects.

• All-in-one Task Manager:
  If you are a freelance digital marketer, you have to manage all your tasks on your own including finance management, writing pitches or emails, designing, and analysis. But there is always an option to outsource the work once you have established a freelance digital marketing career.

Is Freelance Digital Marketing Legit?

Many people wonder whether freelance digital marketing is a legitimate career path.

The short answer is yes, but with the right technical and other skills, dedication to work as a freelancer, and knowledge of marketing strategies to gain clients more frequently.

Many freelancers have achieved higher incomes than their full-time jobs and achieved long-term success.

However, freelance digital marketing requires continuous learning, you have to keep learning and applying what you learn to establish your long-term career in this field. 

How to Get Started as a Freelance Digital Marketer

Now that you know what freelance digital marketing is, its pros and cons along with the skills that are needed to become a freelance digital marketer. It’s time to learn how you can become one once you learn all the skills required.

There are four important steps to becoming a freelance digital marketer, such as:

Step 1: Building Your Skills and Portfolio

Before you start offering services as a freelancer, you need to build a strong foundation in the digital marketing field. Knowing is a good thing, but unless you have practical knowledge, you can’t land a client.

To have practical knowledge, you have to get a certificate or do one or two internships.

• Certifications:
  Consider completing certifications in SEO, PPC, social media marketing, and other areas from reputed platforms like Google, HubSpot, and AADME. AADME offers internships as well as their 4.5-month Digital Marketing Course. So you will get many certificates with the Google certificate of digital marketing.

• Experience:
  You can either have experience through a practical internship by working on live projects, or you can work for free or offer discount services in your initial phase to your nearby and local businesses to build your portfolio.

• Build your Portfolio: A portfolio is a way to showcase your previous work. So, once you have work to showcase from your free or discounted offers, you can mention them on a website or in slides as your portfolio.

Step 2: Choosing Your Niche

In the beginning, as you are just learning and starting in freelance digital marketing, you have to choose your specific niche to work with. Don’t choose all the skills, choose whatever you are best at.

It can be SEO, where you can showcase yourself as an SEO expert to attract clients who only need SEO work.

You can specialize in social media marketing or as a PPC specialist. 

Niches are different for different skills; choose what you are best at and see if you can work with it in your long-term career.

Step 3: Setting Up Your Freelance Business or Career

There are many platforms to start with if you don’t want to take care of all the things in the beginning, but if you want to start by finding clients without any medium or platforms, you have set up some things to operate as a freelance digital marketer. These are:

• Branding:
  Create a professional website and establish a strong online presence through a website and social media. And develop your brand online to attract clients without the need to reach out to them. Having a brand presence is a good option for a long-term digital marketing freelance career.

• Contracts and Invoices: If you don’t want to include any type of platform as a medium between you and your client, you have to have contacts to protect yourself and your clients. And for timely payments, you have to start by having their invoices.

Step 4: Finding Clients

Finding clients can be one of the most challenging parts of freelance digital marketing from home.

You can start by networking through Facebook groups or LinkedIn conversations, where you can find other people in your related niche.

You can also start by creating profiles on freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.

It will take time to get noticed on these platforms.

Cold emailing and content marketing (e.g., blogging and social media marketing) can also help you find potential clients and build your online presence or portfolio.

Also Read: Top Highest Paying Digital Marketing Jobs in India

Freelance digital marketing hourly rate (setting up price rate)

Freelance Digital Marketing Salary

Freelance digital marketing salaries vary based on location, skills, experience, and services offered. On average, freelancers can earn anywhere from $20 to $150 per hour, depending on their niche and skill level.

When you become a more experienced freelancer, you may demand higher rates, especially if the work requires your specialization areas like SEO or PPC.

How to Set Your Rates

However, you can choose to set your rates according to your skills if you are the one responsible for invoices.

Things to consider while setting up your rates:

• Hourly vs. Project-Based: You can set your rates according to two types: whether to charge by the hour or per project. 

For example, a social media manager might charge $40 per hour, while an SEO expert might offer a package deal for a specific campaign or project.

• Pricing for Beginners: If you’re just starting, you might need to offer lower rates to build your portfolio and network. But there is always an option to increase your rates as you establish yourself as a digital marketing freelancer.

Negotiating with Clients

In some way, a freelance digital marketer’s salary depends on how much clients are willing to give; it’s called negotiation.

Negotiation can be very challenging if you are a beginner; for that, you have to show the value you will provide through your offers or simply show them the ROI (return on investment).

Always have a baseline while negotiating, below which you will never go.

Tools and Resources for Freelance Digital Marketers

Essential Tools:

Some tools are essential to have for a freelance digital marketer, such as:

• Project Management: Use Asana, Trello, or ClickUp to manage tasks and keep deadlines.
• SEO Tools: SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Analytics for keyword research and website performance tracking.
• Content Creation: Canva and Adobe for designing social media graphics and presentations.

Educational Resources

Keep learning and stay ahead of your competition by taking online courses from Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, and industry blogs like Moz and Backlinko.

Time-management

You can use focus mode on your laptop to keep track of time because it’s essential for a freelancer.

Conclusion

Freelance digital marketing offers many opportunities for those who want freedom, flexibility, and control over their time and career.

You can start digital marketing freelancing by building your skills and choosing the right niche or skill to go with; later, you can expand it any time for other skills.

You can even start your business by doing that; there are always opportunities in this digital world to make your career; you just have to choose the right skills and essential tools we have mentioned above in this article. 

FAQs

FAQs about Freelance Digital Marketing

1. What does a freelance digital marketer do?

A freelance digital marketer provides various digital marketing services, such as SEO, social media management, content creation, email marketing, and paid advertising (PPC), to clients on a freelance basis. They often work remotely and manage multiple projects, which can be from different industries.

2. How much can I earn as a freelance digital marketer?

A freelance digital marketer’s earnings are based on their experience, niche, skills, and location. On average, a freelance digital marketer earns anywhere from 20$ to 150$ per hour with international clients. However, you may have to start at a low price if you’re just a beginner building your portfolio. You can always demand higher rates with a strong portfolio. Monthly or yearly income depends on how many projects or clients you have.

3. How do I find clients as a freelance digital marketer?

There are many ways to find clients, including using freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, networking through LinkedIn, cold emailing, and creating content for websites such as blog posts, landing pages, or social media.

4. Can I start freelance digital marketing from home?

Yes, You can start freelance digital marketing from home if you keep working on your skills, build a strong portfolio, and adapt to changes in the industry. Inconsistent income can be a challenge at the start, but in the long term, it’s beneficial for your consistent growth and opportunities.

5. What skills do I need to succeed as a freelance digital marketer?

To become a successful freelance digital marketer, you need basic digital marketing skills (aka technical skills) such as SEO, content marketing, social media management, PPC advertising, and analytics. You are also going to need soft skills like time management, communication, client relationship management, and many more to build a long-term freelance career.