Most social media freelancers go into this line of work for a couple of reasons:

• To ditch the 9-5.
• To help more people.
• To be able to work from anywhere in the world

At least, that’s why we both did it.

But when you're only working with long-term, management clients your business has big risks. Losing a client can have a massive impact on your income, replacing them can take a while and in the meantime you still need to pay the mortgage.

And trading time for money means your income can reach a cap you can't overcome.

Adopting a business model that minimizes risk and provides diverse income streams is crucial to ensure you can increase your profit and avoid major revenue dips.

We help freelance social media managers build a profitable business using The Offer Triangle® Framework, and in this blog, we're helping you understand how this simple yet effective business model can help you create a stable and thriving business too.

The Offer Triangle explained:

The Offer Triangle is a strategic approach that revolves around three distinct types of offers. By spreading your business across these three points, you can minimize risk and ensure a steady flow of revenue, even during uncertain times.

1. Long-term Recurring Revenue

For social media managers, long-term recurring revenue would typically be social media management services, but it could also be long-term coaching clients, a membership or another subscription model.

This stable and consistent income forms the foundation of your business and provides you with a steady cash flow, with your long-term clients paying you month after month.

Trouble is that when you only have clients in this area your income can drop dramatically overnight.

2. One-to-One Offers

The second stage in the Offer Triangle involves providing one-time, personalized services to individual clients.

These offers can include social media audits, standalone social media strategy sessions, consultations, or bespoke training tailored to specific client needs. By offering personalized solutions, you can cater to clients with varying budgets and requirements, expanding your client base and building strong relationships.

These offers also ensure you can top up your monthly income, even when you cannot accommodate additional long-term, time-consuming management clients and you have services you can offer your audience whenever you need to.

3. Group Offers

The third point of the Offer Triangle® focuses on offering services to multiple clients simultaneously. Group offers can include workshops, masterclasses, digital products or online programmes.

People often call this passive income – and then wonder why they make no money!

Group offers mean you can maximize your time and effort by serving multiple people at once, creating additional income streams while providing value to a broader audience.

Group offers like this are a fantastic way to scale your business.

Benefits of the Offer Triangle® Framework

1. The Offer Triangle® reduces your risk:

Relying solely on long-term contracts or single product offerings can be risky. Losing one client means losing a big chunk of income, and no one wants that!

When the pandemic hit in 2020, many freelancers lost all their income overnight when their clients were forced to close their businesses. Using the Offer Triangle® we were able to help them diversify their income streams to minimize the impact and replace their income until businesses reopened.

2. Increased Revenue Opportunities:

The Offer Triangle® allows you to cater to clients with different needs and budgets by offering various services. This means you can attract a wider range of clients & create more opportunities for revenue generation and no longer have to turn away businesses who cannot afford your long-term fees.

Using this model also means your income doesn't have a natural cap as you can offer different services any time you want (or need) to increase your income.

3. Flexibility and Adaptability:

This framework also allows you to adapt your business to changing market demands. If one stream of income experiences a downturn, you can focus on other areas to maintain a stable cash flow.

4. Client Retention and Upselling:

By providing a variety of offers with different levels of commitment and at different price points, you can build trust with clients at different stages of their business journey.

Many of our long-term clients started out as short-term customers who purchased a 1:1 or group offer from us, mostly power hours, masterclasses and workshops. Those first experiences of working with us built trust and meant they knew exactly who to ask when they needed more support.

When you start with one-to-one or group offers, you can demonstrate your expertise, which may lead to long-term relationships and opportunities for upselling your core services in the future.

Remember, creating multiple income streams reduces risk and opens up new possibilities for growth and success in your freelance business journey.

We can help you add the Offer Triangle to your business

Join The Inner Hub, our exclusive membership for freelance social media marketers, to gain access to valuable resources, networking opportunities, and expert guidance to help you build your Offer Triangle and take your social media management business to new heights.

Hear how The Offer Triangle® has helped other social media managers grow their business in our secret podcast ‘Success Stories of Social Media Managers'.