As a freelance marketer, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work on your plate. You have to manage multiple clients, stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends, and track the results of your work.
This can get overwhelming but, if you have the right tools and resources, you can save yourself time, stay on top of things, and get better results.
To help you successfully manage your workload and thrive under pressure , Alex Ratynski, founder of online marketing consultancy Ratynski Digital has shared his list of six powerful tools and resources that will make your life as a marketing freelancer much easier.
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1. Eliminate the guesswork with time tracking software
As a freelancer, it can sometimes be difficult to make sure you get paid what you are owed. One of the best ways to ensure you do is with time-tracking software that calculates how much time you’ve spent on a particular project.
There are lots of benefits to using a tool like this. Firstly, it will make it much easier for you to show clients how much work you’ve put into a particular job. And they won’t be able to doubt you, because there’ll be proof of every second!
A time-tracking tool can also help you to be more productive by ensuring that you don’t work more than you need to. Spending more time than allotted on a task can leave you with less time to devote to other projects, and will drive your hourly rate down.
2. Use templates to create professional-looking invoices
Freelance work tends to involve a lot of invoicing. One of the best ways to ensure you include all of the relevant information and present clients with polished and professional-looking invoices is to use a template created by experts.
You’ll want to choose invoice templates that are affordable and easy to use. You won’t want to spend a lot of time navigating complicated features, and you also won’t want to spend too much money doing it — your goal is to make money, after all.
FreshBooks is an accounting software provider that specializes in helping freelancers and small businesses to get the most out of their money. They’ve created a range of free invoice templates that will work for you, whatever you sell. And they can even be customized to reflect your branding, giving them a very professional finish.
3. Track your social media success with analytics tools
In this increasingly online world, it can sometimes feel like you always need to be posting on every single platform out there. But it’s actually far more beneficial to choose a few platforms, and focus on creating the best possible content for them — in other words, don’t spread yourself too thin.
It’s important that you track your social media performance to get an idea of what’s working, what isn’t, and what avenues you should go down. There are lots of tools out there that have been designed specifically to help you with this. For more information, check out SocialPilot’s round-up of the best social media analytics tools.
With analytical tools, you can identify the social media platforms you get the most engagement from and monitor traffic, reach, and other metrics that tell you what kinds of posts are well received and what isn’t quite working. Having these tools at your disposal can help you make better decisions so you don’t end up wasting your time on platforms that won’t get the results you’re looking for.
4. Harness the power of a project management tool to keep track of your tasks
As a freelancer, you can often be working on tons of projects for different clients. It can be hard having to juggle and keep track of so many details while ensuring nothing slips through the net.
Using a project management tool can help you keep track of all your work, deadlines, and clients’ feedback. It’s also a great way to boost your productivity and keep you in control of all the different aspects of your projects.
Here are some tools that have been specifically designed to help you manage your projects effectively.
Trello
If you have an extensive clientele list and have to perform repetitive tasks, Trello is a great project management tool choice. It allows you to track any number of projects from the beginning to the completion stage. With this tool, you can monitor every detail regarding a particular project, such as the associated files, links provided by clients, as well as media and marketing copy. The tool also has an easy-to-use interface that is simple to navigate.
Google Suite
Most people use one Google app or the other in their daily tasks, but you may not know that Google Suite is a great option for your basic project management needs. For example, Google Docs and Sheets allow you to plan and work on projects while sharing your ideas with other collaborators. There’s also Google Drive that makes it easy to store and organize all of your files while sharing them with others when necessary.
Asana
Asana might work best if you are a freelancer with team members. It allows you to assign tasks and set due dates for everyone so you can keep track of the deadlines for each project.
5. Collate any research you do with marketing templates
Marketing can involve a lot of research that you’ll want to use to inform your strategies over time. Using marketing templates to organize and collate all of this research can be very helpful, as it will ensure you have all of the most important information in one place.
There are many different types of marketing templates that you could use, including backlink gap templates, content strategy templates, content brief templates, and keyword research templates to mention a few.
Marketing templates are very useful as they help you save time. Instead of coming up with a new method every time you embark on a project, templates give you a structure that can help you to organize your content marketing efforts.
And you don’t need to create these templates from scratch. Companies like Loganix have ready-made SEO templates that will help you to stay on top of things and organize all of your research for when you really need it.
6. Use a graphic design tool to create visuals quickly and easily
Marketing is becoming increasingly visual, so most freelance marketers will be required to do some graphic design during their work.
There are a number of simple and affordable tools that have been created to help you with this. And many of them are easy to use so you don’t need to spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to create graphics. As a freelance marketer, these tools can help you create visual designs like images for social media, logos, infographics, thumbnails, and more.
An example of a tool that can be used to make stunning visuals is Venngage or Picmaker. It will provide you with more than 100 templates that allow you to create catchy and interesting infographics that can be used on social media or websites.
Their templates are also very easy to customize and tweak. You don’t need any professional training to make great designs, but this tool will make it look like you’ve spent years practicing.
Summary
Investing in the best tools as a marketing freelancer is essential to your success. The right tools will help streamline your processes, save you time, and monitor your marketing performance.
From invoice generating tools to project management and time tracking platforms, these tools are must-haves for every freelancer looking to make their business processes more efficient.
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Alex Ratynski is the founder of Ratynski Digital, an online marketing consultancy that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses achieve their goals. He set up his company after working as a local SEO director for a dental marketing agency, where he helped to turn clients’ ventures into thriving multi-million dollar businesses.
