Pidgin at One: Lessons I've learned as a freelance marketer

It’s been over a year since I launched Pidgin Marketing and I’m happy to report it’s been a pretty good year.

I’ve had the chance to work with some excellent brands, meet some amazing people and do some work that I’m really proud of. 

But I’ve learned a few hard lessons too and I thought I’d share both the positive and negative experiences with the world. 
Hopefully, this might be an encouragement to anyone thinking of jumping into the world of freelance marketing or might be a peek behind the curtain for any prospective clients out there thinking of getting in touch. 

The main lesson of the last year has taught me to structure my work and my billing better, so this article might give you some insights into how I work with clients. 

1. Business development isn’t my strong suit
   

I have a long track record working in sales, I started my career selling ad space and did it successfully for nearly ten years (daaaamn!). But it was part of my career I was glad to leave behind.

Persuading clients into something they don’t necessarily need or which isn’t the perfect fit for them has always made me uncomfortable (and best we don’t even mention the cringe-fest that is “professional networking”).

Shying away from ‘sales’ is something I’ve tried to hide from employers in the past but with Pidgin Marketing I’m embracing it. 

I’m not a salesman, I’m a consultant.

I’ve successfully grown Pidgin Marketing by demonstrating the benefits of what I do and working with the client to expand the brief if needed or even tailor it back, if necessary. It has resulted in stronger, more trusting and longer-term business relationships. 

2. I’ve overcome my inner saboteur and I’m so proud…so proud.

Imposter syndrome is a bitch and I’m thankful that I had a period of rest while I was off on parental leave. Just kidding, I’ve never been more exhausted in my life. 

BUT after five years of a pretty intense work environment where you were spinning hundreds of plates and continually getting punched down, it was great to get some breathing space.

Over the past two years, I’ve realised how much I had allowed my job to change my personality. I became a lot more reserved, more self-conscious and more paranoid about how others perceived me. 

Pidgin Marketing has allowed me to get back in touch with the slightly awkward moustachioed weirdo that gets excited about the latest digital marketing technique or algorithm change - and that’s who I recognise as authentically myself. 

And I think that is working to my benefit, I’ve been lucky enough to develop some strong professional relationships with contacts who have given me work and referred work to me and that is the greatest compliment. 

So thanks to Sarah, Claire, Khabi, Gerry and Marty for recommending me to their clients, contacts and friends, it means a lot.

3. You don’t have to do everything

My last job was very much “we must do everything, immediately, all at once” which led to burnout, constant stress and of course, often a lack of results. I probably started Pidgin with that same idea - “Yes, you need to be on social media every single day, as many channels as possible, get your email marketing sorted now, re-design your website and let me book some billboards.”

Over the past year, I have majorly cooled my jets. 

You don’t have to do everything all at once, you just have to do the right things and do them well. 

I’ve done years of the ‘everything all the time’ approach and working with big budgets and that has actually helped me in working with brands with a tight budget or limited time. I’m happy to call myself an expert at clarifying comms strategies and helping organisations focus on the activities that will bring them the biggest return on their investment. 

4. Time IS money

Thankfully I’ve developed some dependable retainer clients but last summer I hit a major dry patch (we had some great weather, so I wasn’t mad about it). It taught me a few small but important lessons. 

1. Charging too low a rate is counter-productive as a client won’t value your time if you’re cheaper than their cleaner. Time will be wasted on unnecessary meetings, research and admin tasks that could be conducted much more efficiently by a member of their internal team. 

2. I could totally cut my rate down to the bare minimum hourly rate but that wouldn’t cover the hours of additional training and research I put myself through every week (I mentioned I was a nerd about this stuff, didn't I?). So my rates reflect all of that time too.

3. Death and taxes - I’m still learning about inevitability in the business world… Eeesh, tax is a bitch.

5. No pitch? Perfect.

I’m happy to do the work in pitching to a new client when it is potentially worth it. But if you’re going to be a one-day-per-month client then I’ll pass on the big presentation, thanks. 

I’ll happily meet with you, several times if necessary, to talk through your needs in detail and come up with a plan but I won’t spend my time pitching against big agencies. I do always put together a strategy document before we get started in the execution phase of a plan but that’s just to make sure the assumptions I’ve made during our conversations are accurate and that all of our expectations are aligned. 

But this is different to a proper competitive pitch which takes days of competitor and market research, more days of strategising and creative brainstorming and then even more days designing up a beautiful big slide deck. All of this work for potentially zero pay if someone comes in with a more integrated offer or cuts their rate (hint, if the big agency is coming in at under £700 per day, that agency director you’re talking to won’t be the one doing the work on your account). 

If you want big-agency service, go to a big agency and pay them their daily rate because that covers long drawn-out pitches. I’m significantly cheaper than working with an agency but the service you get with me will not include bells, whistles or songs or dancing.

6. Freelance marketing is a two-way relationship

For many organisations, the best bit about using a freelance marketing consultant is not just the ability to access a higher level of expertise at an affordable rate or the ability to ensure a consistently high level of quality in an area of their comms plan they don’t have direct experience in.  

It’s the flexibility. 

Flexibility works for me too. I usually don't work Monday afternoons and make up the time elsewhere in the week if I need to. I’m freelancing because I’m also caring for my son who has some additional needs which mean full-time daycare isn’t right for him.

But I do need to plan my work (and my cash flow) which means I need some commitment from you. 

I can, of course, work totally flexibly if that’s what you need but my retainer clients do get priority access to my time, a better rate and a longer payment term.

A retainer for me is an agreed number of days per month that can be flexibly turned up during the month if required or reduced or turned off with one month’s notice. 

So usually I’ll agree to a set number of days in collaboration with a client and agree on a separate rate for an add-on day or two per month. At the end of each month, we’ll look at work coming up in the month ahead and usually agree then if we need to add that extra day. Sometimes we can do that during the month if something else comes up and I have the bandwidth (shh, I’ll usually make the bandwidth if I’m retained by you). 

There are a host of other little lessons about being a freelance marketer and especially about being an independent marketing consultant in Northern Ireland that I’ve learned over the last year but I have to stop talking at some point.

I’d be curious to know from any clients out there what their best experience of working with a freelance marketer has been. I’m always keen to learn and improve the service I’m offering, so let me hear from you on social media.

If all of the above sounds reasonable and you’re looking for help in creating your marketing strategy, executing your existing plan or just some support in making it all happen, let’s have a coffee (virtual or real). 

Book a free initial consultation with me and let’s get started.