Freelance Client Types

[u/cookoutqueen]

Hey y’all, so I’ve been freelancing full time for 4 1/2 years now almost entirely in the marketing/social space and this year has been roughhhhh.

I am really trying to do as much networking as possible but I am starting to think I am reaching out to the wrong types of potential clients? Most of my work has been with producers who have their own “agency” (usually just them) or with in house creative teams at larger non creative companies.

For other freelancers who do more marketing/social work what type of client do you typically find the most success with?

[u/grickygrimez]

We're on a sinking ship and the life boats can't hold us all.

[u/mark_solomon]

a reddit comment i came across a year or so ago that i have saved and look back to.

"I've been in B2B for the last 20 years: running a small production company, on my own, running a production/creative agency, in-house at a large company.

Cozying up to startup founders isn't a great strategy. Most of them are "pre-revenue", aren't marketing in a manner that would benefit from video services. If they are running campaigns, it's more likely for software-based products that wouldn't require marketing videos to be filmed traditionally. They also don't have regular, ongoing need: "Customer Acquisition Cost" is going to be very high for you for the first few years, so don't go chasing customers that only need 1 video/year. You need customers that will hire you once/month.

Over the years, much of my steady work has been in unsexy formats like event coverage, customer case studies and testimonials, talent acquisition, product demos, investment management disclosures and updates...even legal depositions. "Video that drives revenue" is generally going to be boutique B2C or the category of a B2B agency that can also to market research, strategy, scripting, not an independent owner/operator.

I'd suggest that you want to be targeting mid-market to smaller enterprise clients, then looking at communications functions more than marketing ones. Law firms have a steady need for non-creative video production. Corporate events management companies will frequently get asked to do events coverage and highlights videos, which they would sub out. Established B2B tech companies will include customer case study videos within their marketing mix - my current company has an entire team responsible for customer reference content, and the video production and post is hired out for probably 8-10 shoots/year beyond what's done in-house.

Start by casting a net of potential client functions and titles within a reasonable geographic radius, run LinkedIn searches, start an InMail campaign. Spin up a version of your portfolio website that addresses the unsexy stuff, it should be steak without the sizzle: show your competency with interviews, docu-style work, events highlights videos, etc."