<![CDATA[Mallie Rust - Freelance Editing, Advertising, and Content Creation

<![CDATA[Mallie Rust - Freelance Editing, Advertising, and Content Creation - Blog]]>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:10:00 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[3 tips for marketing your freelance business]]>Mon, 13 Mar 2017 17:52:53 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/3-tips-for-marketing-your-freelance-businessOne of the most difficult parts of freelancing is figuring out how to market your business and attract clients. It's tricky, especially for non-marketing freelancers like editors, programmers, and designers. Lucky for you, I've prepared three tips to help you grow visibility for your freelancing business and help you generate leads.

1. Establish a useful brand

Clients have a lot of options for freelancers; why should they pick you? Your brand is key for differentiating yourself in the crowded freelancing marketplace, and it should be more than just a cool logo or website. Your brand should be the underlying philosophy that connects you to clients and guides all efforts related to your business.

If establishing a "brand" for yourself as a freelancer sounds daunting, here are a few questions to help you get started:

Who are my customers and what customers do I want to have?
What problem is my business trying to solve?
What's your story and why should it matter to your customers?
What can I offer that nobody else can?

The second part of this tip is the most critical. Having a brand is great, but having a useful brand is what will land you clients. The difference between a brand and a useful brand is direction. It's not enough to merely establish a personality or a visual look. A useful brand leverages those elements to show potential clients the value you can add to their business.

One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is to give your clients something they find valuable before they're even your client. Blog posts are a great way to give potential clients insight into who you are and the value you can bring to them. Figure out what you can

2. Engage on twitter

If you're not on Twitter, you should be. Trust is a critical part of the client/freelancer relationship and Twitter is a great way to establish that trust. It provides an opportunity to show off your knowledge and facilitates interaction with potential clients. Real, authentic engagement helps build relationships which in turn inspires people to want to work with you.

Not sure where to start? I highly recommend taking part in Twitter chats. Tweet Reports has a great Twitter chat organized by topic here. I love Twitter chats because they're a chance to show off my knowledge and connect with other people who are passionate about the same things I am. I'm proof positive of the power of Twitter; a client actually reached out to me for assistance with an editing project after interacting with me on a Twitter chat.

3. Don't neglect your website

When was the last time you looked at the usability and usefulness of your website? For many freelancers, your website is the most important consumer touchpoint. Your website should be easily navigable and make it easy for potential clients to contact you.

Here are a few important questions for you to ask yourself (or a friend) about your website:

Do I have the most important pages linked in my sidebar/header?
Does my homepage convey my services/brand?
Is my contact information easy to find?

I also recommend taking a look at your analytics. If you have a website and haven't set up a way to track visitors, website visitor demographics, conversions, and visitor journey on your website, you're missing out on very valuable information. Google Analytics is an easy way to track all of that info, and can indicate which pages you start to lose the most potential clients at. User flow is one of the most useful aspects of Google Analytics for figuring out what pages you need to improve, and Orbit Media has a great guide on how to glean actionable insights from your user flow here.

The big takeaway

If you don't market yourself as a freelancer, success will be difficult to achieve. Marketing may sound daunting, but it's actually pretty simple: know the message you want to get across, then make sure you're speaking to that message at every touchpoint. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or through my email (social links below)!

For more tips on how to market yourself as a Freelancer, check out FreelancerMap's blog carnival.

]]><![CDATA[Ladies Celebrating Ladies: Happy Galentines Day!]]>Tue, 14 Feb 2017 18:37:41 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/happy-galentines-dayFebruary 13th is Leslie Knope's favorite holiday: Galentines day. It's a day for "ladies celebrating ladies," and I am all about that. In honor of Galentines day, I'm sharing a list of five women that inspire me.

Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop): This fall, I heard about the 3% Conference for the first time. The 3% Conference champions creative female talent and leadership, and Cindy Gallop embodies what it's all about. The self-proclaimed "Michael Bay of business," is confident, outspoken, and empowering women in a huge way. Cindy inspires me to lead with confidence, unafraid to speak out.
Lisa Dobias (Professor Profile): I know I'm not the only TexasMedia student who feels this way. Lisa Dobias is the reason that I decided to pursue a career in media. I was totally lost until I took her class; her passion was infectious and her support is endless. She does everything in her power to help her students achieve greatness, whether in media planning or in their job search. Lisa inspires me to chase my dreams, no matter how big or bold.
Gay Gaddis (www.gaygaddis.com): This is a woman with vision. Gay Gaddis is the founder and CEO of T3 advertising, the largest woman-owned ad agency. She grew her business into a top five innovation agency. Every time I hear about the newest brand solution from T3, I nerd out a little bit. Gay inspires me to innovate, challenging conventions and seeking unique solutions.
Julie Augustyn (@JMAugustyn): Working at RealMassive this summer gave me the chance to see Julie Augustyn, Senior Vice President of Foundry Commercial, in action. Her insights on the retail sector go far beyond CRE, and she's amazing at facilitating connections. She's a major player in organizing meetups at ICSC events and she's phenomenal at creating and keeping connections. Julie inspires me to make a concerted effort to network with the pros, forging real connections.
Analisa Goldblatt (@avgold14): Last but certainly not least is marketing maven/designer/blogger/SEO strategist Analisa Goldblatt. Working at a startup is hard, but Analisa makes it look easy. She wears about a hundred hats and wears them well, never complaining and always pushing forward. Analisa inspires me to take my projects to the next level, going beyond what's immediately on my plate.

These women are #goals, and I strive to shine like them in all my work, from advertising to freelancing. I hope to someday be as inspirational as each and every one of them. To see what else inspires me, check out my other blog posts here.

]]><![CDATA[Brave the Bots]]>Thu, 08 Dec 2016 02:18:26 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/brave-the-botsChatbots are an up-and-coming medium, allowing brands to create more personalized connections with consumers. Brands are seeing amazing engagement rates, though not all consumers are thrilled at the thought of being spammed by brands. Agencies like MEC are challenging those negative perceptions of bots by using the platform for good.

MEC recently pioneered a new chatbot with the #IBravedMyBias to help users challenge unconscious biases. It’s an opt-in experience, and builds on MEC’s original Brave your Bias initiative. It’s promoting an idea rather than purchasing behavior, and signals the potential of chatbots to build positive brand affect.

The folks at MEC aren’t the first to promote philanthropy through chatbots. Lokai and Charity: Water teamed up this August to create a chatbot to help users understand the struggle to get clean drinking water that many individuals face. Their focus was on telling a story to generate interest and involvement, not just clicks and purchase.

The key to successful chatbot experiences is to make them feel personal and meaningful, not invasive. While some customers embrace chatbots as a personal coupon delivery system, it’s clear that the standout chatbot experiences are just that: experiences. Chatbots could be a valuable asset in media mixes, especially for campaigns that want to stimulate conversations.

Want to learn more about how bots are affecting the advertising industry? Click on the button below to read the Team Orange Ad Fraud report.

Read the Report

]]><![CDATA[Dungeons and Dragons and Media Planning]]>Wed, 16 Nov 2016 19:09:47 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/dungeons-and-dragons-and-media-planningFull disclosure: I’m a total nerd. Hobbies include video games, copy-editing, and tabletop role playing games (TRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons. Running my first campaign this Halloween (using the Dread system) forced me to flex the same muscles I use creating a media plan.

I understand running a tabletop RPG isn’t for everyone, so I’ve compiled three media planning parallels I noticed when planning and running my game.

Understand your audience- In Dread, players build their characters through questionnaires instead of dice rolls. I had to ask questions that inspired storylines and then build encounters around their answers. Asking generic questions gave me generic characters, but asking more interesting questions helped me build narrative hooks. The questionnaires were my psychographic research, giving me insight into the motivations and intentions of the people engaging in my story.
New experiences are king- According to experienced game masters, horror games are often difficult to run because they require total buy-in from the players. To build buy-in, I tapped into my theatre experience and decided to physically set the scene. We played the game by candlelight, and I used ambient soundboards and scary sound clips to make the scenario feel more real to my players. Almost everyone in the game later commented that the theatricality of the session made it especially fun and spooky. I gave my players an experience that only I could create, leveraging my unique skillset. When planning experiential marketing, it’s essential for brands to provide something totally unique. That’s what generates buzz.
Embrace the unexpected- TRPG players and consumers share one very important quality: they rarely behave exactly as you’d expect them to. I had to design a rough storyline that would work no matter what direction my players decided to take. In media planning, that translates to analyzing campaign performance in real-time and being unafraid to make adjustments to the original plan. The ability to respond to major market shifts is crucial, and analytics are empowering media professionals to effectively tackle the unexpected.

My game turned out to be a critical hit, and I gained valuable insight into media planning. Any fellow D&D geeks out there who want to weigh in? Let me know in the comments.

]]><![CDATA[Make a Spectacle of Yourself]]>Fri, 11 Nov 2016 14:58:37 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/make-a-spectacle-of-yourselfSorry Google. It looks like Snap Inc. (the company formerly known as Snapchat) might edge out the tech giant in its bid for the wearables market. Though their functionality may be limited to videos, Spectacles are designed to appeal to the masses rather than early adopters.

One major criticism of Google Glass was that the glasses stood out in an uncomfortable way, and Spectacles seem to be designed with that in mind. The sleek “techie” aesthetic of Google Glass is eschewed by Spectacles. They’re designed to look like stylish sunglasses, which allows them to blend in. As an added bonus, the shape is very on trend for 2016.

Style and accessibility seem to be a major focus in most aspects of the Spectacles marketing plan. Though the product distribution is still limited, the average consumer has the ability to buy a pair if they’re near a Snapbot, a unique vending machine concept. Consumers can buy a pair of Spectacles for on $130, which is a far cry from Google Glass’s $1,500 price point.

Though it seems like Spectacles are everything that Google Glass wanted to be, it’s important to remember that Google was the pioneer in the glasses wearables category. The first iteration of Spectacles only allow users to take videos, while its predecessor allowed wearers to receive notifications as well. The decreased functionality makes the current model of Spectacles almost impossible to use as a media vehicle.

Some advertisers are excited about the potential role of Spectacles in message delivery, but until functionality is added, advertisers should focus on how Spectacles can enhance their creative strategies. Point of view is critical in any creative work, and Spectacles will allow creatives to explore new and specific points of view.

Personally, I’m not much into Spectacles as a concept, but the dollars talk. The Snapbots are selling out of Spectacles in four hours. Advertisers should take note, but stay cautious. It’s unclear whether Spectacles are just a fad or have the staying power that Google Glass did not.

Do you think Spectacles are here to stay? Let me know in the comments!

]]><![CDATA[Totalitarian Opt-In NightMare]]>Fri, 28 Oct 2016 01:21:18 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/totalitarian-opt-in-nightmareI just finished reading The Circle by David Eggers and it made my skin crawl in the best way possible: it got me thinking. The idea that we as a society might allow a single corporation to deny individuals the right to opt out may not be completely realistic. Even so, it is something our increasingly “opt-in” society should be wary of.

To clarify, I’m talking about all of the modern “necessities” that mine that sweet, sweet data. Buried deep within the terms and conditions of Facebook and Twitter are the legally-binding statements that allow them to sell your information to advertisers. In theory, that means that only the most relevant ads reach you. In practice, it means that companies know more about you than you’re probably comfortable with.

The targeting options that advertisers have at their fingertips is truly staggering. I can target Twitter users based on beverage purchases, insurance tendencies, and philanthropic engagement. Nielsen can predict the restaurants you eat at and TV shows you watch based on your age, purchasing power, and zip code. Digital targeting has become weirdly specific, and kind of unnerving.

As a media student, I struggle with determining how private data should be. I hate the idea of advertisers knowing how terrible my diet is or that I suffer from seasonal allergies. I’ve also unironically uttered the following statement: “I know the data is out there. This media plan would write itself if we could just access it!”

Our thirst for data can have major benefits. Wearable companies like Fitbit use de-personalized aggregate data to help aid medical studies. The theoretical ideal of eliminating irrelevant ads is one both advertising professionals and consumers can get behind. At what point, however, does the cost of opting in outweigh the benefits?

I can’t really answer that. We may be a little too quick to opt-in, but we’re not the totalitarian nightmare that’s presented in The Circle. Still, it’s worthwhile for advertisers and brands to consider the ethics of data collection, especially as digital privacy threatens to dwindle to near non-existence. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments.

]]><![CDATA[Emotional Targeting: Programmatic’s New Frontier]]>Tue, 18 Oct 2016 00:52:08 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/emotional-targeting-programmatics-new-frontierProgrammatic buying is focused on making ad placement more efficient and more effective. The end goal is to use the data available to reach consumers with relevant ads. Unruly, a video ad tech company, is working to create more relevant campaigns using emotional targeting.

Emotional targeting may sound fluffy, but Unruly has it down to a science. They’re focused on creating emotional engagement with consumers, and they’ve launched new private marketplaces that intend to amplify the emotional resonance of ads. Hilarity, Surprise and Pride are the three of the private marketplaces available, with more presumably on the way.

Emotion is one of the most important considerations in creative strategy, but it’s not typically a major area of focus in media strategy. Programmatic marketplaces focused on emotional targeting are an excellent opportunity for media professionals. It’s a new factor of ad relevance that marries creative efforts with cold, hard strategy.

Though the technology may be new, Unruly has already seen positive results. Their testing revealed that emotional targeting “resulted in a 74% increase in brand favorability and an 80% increase in purchase intent.” Advertising professionals should pay attention to the potential of emotional targeting, especially as the technology advances.

Like what you see? Follow me on Twitter for more thoughts on the advertising industry.

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]]><![CDATA[Is YouTube Really Advertiser-Friendly?]]>Tue, 11 Oct 2016 17:23:55 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/is-youtube-really-advertiser-friendlyIn September, YouTube embraced a more transparent de-monetization system. Though the policy has been in place since 2012, content creators only began receiving de-monetization notifications this year. Cue vlogger panic.

Revenue loss wasn’t the only concern; cries of censorship could be heard from beauty vloggers and current event channels alike. Many YouTubers were frustrated by the broadness of the demonetization policy, which seemed to be designed to demonetize “all but the most bland of YouTube videos.” It even sparked a trending hashtag, which is how you know an issue is important.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the way Youtube’s monetization works, here’s a simplified overview: YouTube uses an algorithm to examine content and if it determines that your content isn’t “advertiser-friendly,” ads won’t show on those videos and creators don’t earn money on those videos.

YouTube’s current “Advertiser-friendly” de-monetization policy isn’t, however, 100% advertiser friendly. Anything that the algorithm determines an advertiser *might* not want to be associated with is immediately taken out of the advertising pool. This robs advertisers of valuable targeting opportunities, especially for brands that want to target an edgy or extreme audience.

If YouTube wants to cultivate the strongest relationship possible with the advertisers that support the platform, it should reconsider the current model of monetization. Successful media placement depends on a match between the ad, the context of the ad placement, and the target market who’s going to consume the media. In order to achieve optimal placement, YouTube should consider repurposing their current algorithm to sort content by type and allow advertisers and brands to opt-in to advertise on content that other brands might find questionable.

Imagine the possibilities: a horror movie advertisement could roll just before a “Let’s Play” video of a spooky but violent videogame, while Huggie’s could stick to more family friendly content. A new system of ad placement could benefit YouTube, its content creators, and advertisers.

Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think in the comment section!

]]><![CDATA[Ad Fraud: Why you Need More Meaningful Metrics]]>Tue, 04 Oct 2016 22:55:36 GMThttps://www.malliefe2o3.com/blog/ad-fraud-why-you-need-more-meaningful-metricsAccording to a report released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in December 2015, ad fraud now costs U.S. digital marketing, advertising, and media industry $8.2 billion a year. To put that into perspective, that's roughly equivalent to the GDP of the Bahamas.

Ad fraud expert Augustine Fou summed up the ad fraud situation nicely: "[It’s] a more lucrative organized crime than credit card fraud, counterfeiting goods or being a Somali pirate, where the reward far outweighs the risk of being caught.

Both brands and advertisers depend on accurate KPIs in order to create efficient and effective budgets, which is why click fraud and impression fraud are lucrative opportunities for fraudsters. Many fraudsters earn their money with bots that spoof key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure campaign success; think click through rate (CTR) and cost per thousand impressions (CPM).

Fraudster success depends on advertisers using easily manipulated KPIs for campaign benchmarks, which is why advertisers should move to more meaningful digital metrics. A shift to metrics that are difficult for bots to spoof at a profitable scale could help advertisers recoup financial losses due to ad fraud.

Here are a just a few examples of more meaningful metrics to drive your next campaign:

Cost per conversion (CPC/CPCon): This metric measures clients who complete a desired action, like filling out a form or adding an item to a shopping cart.
Cost per acquisition (CPA): This metric is focused on making an individual a customer. Social Media Explorer has a great formula for determining CPA, which you can see here.
Overall ROI: This metric compares increase in sales to the amount invested in a campaign. It’s especially effective for launch campaigns.
Cost per Thousand Viewable Impressions (vCPM): This metric measures impressions where at least 50% of your ad shows on the screen for at least one second. It ensures that you're paying for ads that actually appear and can be seen.

To learn more about ad fraud, check out the team orange "ad fraud (and you)" brief:

READ IT HERE

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