I'm often asked how I acquire new clients as a freelancer. I use several methods. Following are three marketing tools that, in my opinion, every freelancer and/or small business owner should utilize on a regular basis.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with any of the companies listed below - I'm just a happy customer.

1. Postcards: I use Vistaprint.com to order these. The reason is they are inexpensive; they have templates for almost every profession (you can also design your own postcard from scratch); and they offer some of the best prices around. They also deliver promptly and the quality of the work can't be beat. The more you order, the more you save.

NOTE: There are many postcard printing sites on the web. Do your own research and find one you like.

Postcards are a cheap, effective marketing tool. If you are a regular reader of any of my small business articles, then you know I advocate using methods of advertising you can afford to repeat. As most clients have to see your message 7 to 28 times before they will call, postcard marketing is an easy and effective way to reach out to new clients and stay in touch with existing ones.

2. E-mail Marketing: ConstantContact.com. For as little as $15 month, you can send as many email campaigns as you want. Here again, there are pre-designed templates that make your message look professional (or you can have a template designed for your company for a one-time fee of a few hundred dollars).

Going away on vacation? No problem. You can set up your campaign to be delivered any date or time you want - a day, week, or month from now.

For my money, the most useful tool this company has is the ability to compile a subscriber list. All you have to do is copy/paste a bit of HTML code where you want your sign-up box to go, and voila! - visitors to your site can sign up quickly and easily. Compiling a subscriber list allows you to stay in "constant contact" with clients, which leads to more sales over time. You can send a monthly newsletter, special deals and discounts, timely articles - the possibilities are endless.

Tip: Staying in touch with clients keeps your business top of mind. But, don't oversell to your list. What I mean is, always keep your customer's interests top of mind. Instead of a sales pitch, send an informative newsletter, a timely article, a thank you when it's NOT the holiday season. Your efforts will pay off handsomely over time.

3. Article Distribution: There are a myriad of sites on the web where you can submit your articles free for distribution, eg, AssociatedContent.com. Some I utilize often are IdeaMarketers.com, EzineArticles.com and ArticleCity.com, among others.

Every time I write an article, I post it to my website, InkwellEditorial.com, and send it to each of these FREE article distribution sites. This way, other newsletter writers can pick up the content and use it in their newsletter.

Instead of content only being seen by readers of my website, the content may appear on 20, 30, or 40 or more sites at one time. This amounts to tens and hundreds of thousands of readers. Over time - millions. I can't tell you how much publicity this has brought my businesses over the last few years.

Also, writing articles brands you as an expert. This adds to your professional credibility in clients' eyes, allowing you to charge more.

These tools have helped me to grow two businesses in the last 10 years. Utilize them consistently and your freelance business will grow - slowly, but nicely and steadily.