You already have the one skill you need to land commercial work as a freelancer
Here's how to use it!
This October, we’re talking about ~commercial work~ on The Professional Freelancer. Throughout the month, as a premium member, you’ll receive exclusive resources to help you level up your freelancing with commercial projects.
🗓 Next week, I’m interviewing Molly Conicella from Skyword, a talent platform that connects writers, graphic designers, videographers, photographers, and other creatives with top-tier brands. Register here!
There’s one skill that all freelancers already have that makes them instantly appealing to commercial companies.
It’s a skill you’re already using on a daily basis in your freelancing business: problem-solving!
In this post, I’m going to walk you through how you can land commercial gigs using your problem-solving skills.
👉 The commercial work opportunities available for freelancers
If you want to boost your income with commercial work, start by getting your head around how brands work with creative freelancers.
As a creative freelancer, one of the most common ways to work with a brand is through what’s known as content marketing.
The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as, “A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
Put simply, content marketing is the creation of engaging content that brings in potential customers for a brand.
All types of freelancers can land content marketing work, whether you’re a writer, editor, illustrator or photographer. Content marketing is all about storytelling – if you can tell a compelling story, you can do so for a brand. So how do you actually land this work?
👉 How to use problem-solving to land commercial work
You’ll want to identify which of your existing creative skills transfer to content marketing. (Hint: a lot more than you think).
Do this by making a list of your skills and thinking about how they’re valuable to a brand. As you write your list, do so as though you’re speaking directly to the company. This will help you see for yourself exactly why your existing skills are so valuable to a company.
I’ll get you started with some examples:
As a writer, I distil complex concepts and communicate them effectively. I can help your company by writing engaging blog posts that will bring clients to your website
As a videographer, I produce visually compelling stories. I can help your company by creating memorable and sharable video campaigns
As a photographer, I create striking images. I can help your company by taking beautiful product shots for your website that showcase the quality of your goods
👉 Problem-solve your way right into a gig
Broadly speaking, you have two main routes you can take for finding commercial work. The first is to use a content marketing agency like Skyword, Contently, ClearVoice, or JunoYuno. With these sites, you upload your portfolio and you’re paired up with a brand depending on how your skills match their needs.
Or – and here’s where the problem-solving comes in – you can approach companies directly. Whenever I’ve approached companies directly about commercial work, I’ve thought of it as a puzzle that needs solving. I have skills that a brand needs, how can I go about fitting those pieces together?
Start by identifying companies in your field of specialism. If you’re a culture writer, look for lifestyle brands that produce blogs (E.g. WePresent); if you’re a travel photographer, look for online travel agents (E.g. Mr and Mrs Smith); if you’re an illustrator, look for startups that use custom illustrations (E.g. Underpinned).
The next puzzle piece to find is the right contact at these companies. Use LinkedIn and Twitter to identify the right person to contact about working together. Anyone with “editor”, “head of content” or “content marketing” in their job title is an excellent place to start.
As for what to say when you approach these companies, that’s coming up later in the series! I’ll be sharing scripts for what to write in your emails in a couple of weeks.
Until then, check out the upcoming events this month in the Commercial Work series:
🗓 Commercial Work with Skyword (Oct 14): I’ll be going into more detail about what content marketing is and how to work with agencies, in this Q&A with Molly Conicella from Skyword.
💰 Freelancer Club Showcase (Oct 22): Showcase your work to leading brands and agencies looking for creative freelance talent. TPFers have found ongoing brand work through the Showcase so sign up now before all the spots fill up