So your freelance business is going through a summer slump but you’re not sure how to get out of it and start making money again.
You can’t keep relying on your savings.
What if this slow stage goes on past Summer? How will you make money to pay your rent & support your family?
Well, in today’s video I’m going to break down 5 ways you can get out of a summer slump and start booking clients again.
Is business going slow for you right now? Let me know in the comments below! I will be answering all of your comments & questions as they come.
First of all, I want to tell you to breathe. You’re not alone. Most freelancers experience a summer slump every year so it’s perfectly normal.
A summer slump is when business goes slow between the months of June and August. People aren’t inquiring about your services anymore. You’re struggling to make money. You’re stuck twiddling your thumbs and wondering what the heck has happened to your business.
I feel your pain, my friend.
Here are 5 ways to get out of a summer slump and book more freelance clients:
1. Realize that people don’t stop needing you just because it’s Summer.
Not everyone slows down or goes on vacation in Summer.
Booking more clients starts with believing that there are people out there who need you. The slow stage you’ve been going through may have dented your confidence; you may be doubting whether you’re a good freelancer. But there are plenty of clients out there for everyone, no matter the time of year. You just need to get better at finding them.
2. Get into the minds of your potential clients.
Around this time of year, your marketing message needs to change.
Until now, you may have been by basing your message around how your service helps clients uplevel their business. But your potential clients may not be focused on up-leveling their business at this time of year. They may be focused on something else, like why their business is going through a slow stage and how to get out of it, just like you!
Do some research to understand what holds people back from hiring you at this time of year and create marketing content that helps convince them to get past those doubts and fears!
If potential clients are having a slow summer, they could be hesitant to hire you because they’re not sure it’s worth the investment at such an unstable time in their business. If that’s the case, your Summer marketing message needs to explain why now is the time to hire you and how your service will help their business get out of a slow stage.
Show your clients why you're the solution to their Summer Slump!
3. Diversify your marketing strategy.
Until now, you may have based your marketing strategy around referrals, and the people who refer clients to you may be the kind of people that take the Summer off. That could explain your lack of new clients.
If you believe this is what's happening, you need to diversify your marketing, lady!! You need to start promoting your services in three or five ways, not just one.
I used to be like you. I relied solely on referrals as my source of clients - until that source dried up and I was left with zero clients and only a tiny amount of savings to fall back on. It was a NIGHTMARE!
But it didn't last.
In fact, I used social media to find potential clients, show them I’m an expert and get booked solid for the next six months.
And it didn’t take months of marketing.
I got those 6 months of clients in just 2 WEEKS of
social media marketing.
Intrigued? Don't worry, I'm not leaving you high and dry. Here’s a closer look at how I got out of that slow stage:
Once I did, I realized my clients were either finding me through a referral or finding me through social media. SO many clients had found me through Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter, and most of them had watched my live streams before hiring me.
Analyzing this data made me realize that referrals were not my only source of clients like I'd thought. Social media was actually my no.1 client converter!
Do yourself a favor: Email your last 10 clients and ask them how they found you.
If they can't remember, ask them what their earliest memory of your brand is! They'll usually be able to pinpoint the moment you made a lasting impression on them; it's usually a live stream, blog post, webinar or social media post.
Next, add a question to your contact form:
Where did you hear about me?
From now on, you'll automatically collect data on how clients are finding you and this will help you see where you should concentrate your marketing efforts!
Now, on with my journey from zero clients to booked out...
Now that I knew my clients had found me through social media and referrals, I knew where to focus my marketing efforts. I knew where my highest return on investment was.
It's easy to get caught up trying a little bit of every marketing strategy you find, but that just leads to an overcomplicated and underperforming marketing strategy.
Diversify your marketing, but don't overcomplicate it.
Choose the two marketing strategies that have worked best for you since you started your business and focus solely on those for one month.
As time goes on, you can add more marketing strategies to your plan, but stick to two strategies for now.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by the thought of actively marketing your freelance services. But if you want to book more design clients, you have to do it!
To avoid overwhelm, I broke my marketing down into doable chunks:
Here's how to create your own simple freelance marketing plan:
Create two Evernote notebooks for the marketing strategies you want to focus on this month.
Get your calendar out and split the month in half. Dedicate two weeks to your first marketing strategy and two weeks to the other.
In each Evernote notebook, pour out every tactic you want to try. For example, you may have a notebook for Instagram Marketing. In that notebook, you'd write all your marketing ideas for Instagram.
Narrow it down to five marketing tactics per notebook.
On your calendar, assign these tactics to days.
Now, you have a 1 month marketing plan! That wasn't so hard, was it?
When I did this, I decided to focus on social media marketing and it got me booked solid for six months.
If you want to learn the exact strategies I used, it’s all in my ebook, Social Splash.
4. Focus on booking clients for Fall.
Sometimes, the reason clients aren’t booking your services is because they don’t have time to work with you right now. They’re too busy enjoying the Summer!
Instead of promoting your openings for Summer, why not promote openings in your calendar for Fall? Fall is usually the most productive time of year, especially for business owners. It’s this time of year that people buckle down and work on their businesses.
If you work with business owners, this is a great strategy to end your slow stage. The only thing you need to do now? Find a way to make money for the rest of the Summer that doesn’t involve client work.
That leads me to my final point...
5. Launch a product.
If you’ve always dreamt of launching a product but never had the time to do it, now is your time. Instead of looking for clients, you could utilize this free time you have and create an ebook or course to help you make passive income.
The great thing about this approach is that, once the product is launched, it will make sales again and again - even when you’re busy with client work!
Launching a product is a great way to utilize the free time you have, make some emergency cash for the Summer and continue making passive income in the future.
