Find a profitable niche
It’s no good offering a unique layer of service if people aren’t interested in it. The key to finding new customers is to offer a specialized service that lots of people are looking for, but that other artists in the area don’t offer.
It’s no good offering a unique layer of service if people aren’t interested in it. The key to finding new customers is to offer a specialized service that lots of people are looking for, but that other artists in the area don’t offer.
If, for example, you offer a highly specialized service like “ancient coin photography”, your number of potential clients will be small, thus limiting your profitability. However, if you offer a more general service such as “book cover photography”, you compete against other freelancers and agencies offering the same service, thus reducing your chances of finding work.
To find a profitable niche, offer a high-demand and specialized service to a lucrative segment of the freelance market where there is little or no competition.
To do this, you need to 1) Target the most lucrative market, 2) Research the market, and 3) Offer a specialized service that responds to the needs of your market.
- Target your most lucrative market.
Suggestion: focus on marketing departments
The most profitable freelance artwork jobs are found in the marketing communications sector. If you can design (or provide artwork for) direct selling promotional material such as brochures, adverts, and websites, you can charge higher fees than designers who work mainly in other sectors such as publishing. - Research the market.
Suggestion: get to know the promotions controllers
Freelance designers with an understanding of marketing and copywriting are usually favoured above designers with no marketing knowledge. That’s because today’s promotions controllers are likely to be project managers; intermediaries between copywriters and designers, and not necessarily creatives themselves. Today’s publicity designers often have to work harder at interpreting what the client actually wants, and a knowledge of marketing communications often comes in handy.
Promotions controllers increasingly rely on copywriter-artist duos to conceptualize, write, and design direct selling promotional material, thus limiting the need for them to get involved unnecessarily mid-project. As a result, designers need to work more closely with freelance copywriters, and copywriters prefer to work with designers who are more in-tune with their way of thinking. How do you get in-tune? Simple, learn the basics of copywriting.
Suggestion: integrate copywriting into your artwork service and offer full marketing agency creative services
Copywriting and design services have become interlinked in today’s creative freelance arena. Briefing a copywriter-designer duo is a much more persuasive proposition for promotions controllers than briefing a copywriter, then briefing a separate designer.
However, copywriter-designer duos are really only found in expensive agencies. This leaves a gap in the market; where freelance copywriters and designers can get together to offer full marketing agency creative services, without charging full agency prices. If you are prepared to try a few new tricks, you can get yourself established in this profitable niche market.
http://freelanceswitch.com/designer/how-to-promote-your-graphic-design-business-–-part-two/
Twitter definitely has its haters – not everyone wants to hear you describe your lunch in 140 characters or fewer. But it’s a highly searchable tool that is free and takes moments to manage. Once you set up your account, search for your favorite designers and studios as well as friends, businesses you frequent and companies you’d like to hire you. This alerts potential customers to your existence – they might in turn follow you and seek you out for future jobs. Tweet your blog, news about your business, a fun project you’re working on, artwork you find inspirational, a handy tutorial – keep your tweets short and informal. Twitter is not the place for heavy copywriting, though it IS a great place to offer exclusive deals.
Unlike Friendster and MySpace, Facebook hasn’t shown signs that it’s going away anytime soon. Therefore, like Twitter, it’s another social-networking tool that is easy and free. Be sure you set up a business page and not a profile – Facebook can be strict with noncompliance and take down profiles that do too much promoting if they’re not billed as businesses. Include all your contact information as well as upload photos of your office space, your logo and select works. You can add tabs to the top of your page. For example, you might want to add one for your works in progress or portfolio pieces. With NetworkedBlogs you can link your blog to your Facebook page so that it automatically appears on your page and in your followers’ news feeds. Encourage comments by asking questions – as with Twitter, be conversational, not stiff.
Foursquare and Gowalla
These are location-based social-networking games that allow players to “check in” with their phones at businesses, public places and homes. Check in enough places, and users earn “badges” and other items. So where does the marketing step in? Businesses can opt to offer incentives to players when they check in. For example, Chili’s offers free chips and salsa to people who check in on Foursquare, and Best Buy hosted a contest encouraging folks to check in on Gowalla to have a chance of getting a free Eye-Fi wireless memory card. With location-based social networking, you can participate on both sides – make yourself seen by checking in places as well as offer your own rewards.
Yelp
Yelp certainly has its detractors, but whatever your opinion of the site, it pays to at least monitor your business profile. Look yourself up regularly to be sure your contact info is correct and a link back to your site works. Most important, read the reviews posted about you. Tweet the good reviews and perhaps ask those people if they’d like to contribute a testimonial for your website. Respond to negative reviews to see if you can make things right. Remember that for a lot of people, Yelp is the new Yellow Pages, and your business profile might be the first impression a potential customer gets.
Postcards
Sometimes it pays to get back to basics – not all promotions need to be web-based. A postcard was and still is a multiuse marketing tool. Design a postcard with one or a few of your best works on one side and your contact information on the other. A batch of hundreds can often be printed cheaply. Then ask to leave the postcards at businesses such as cafes, bars, clubs and gyms. Your eye-catching design should attract new customers, whether they contact you immediately or come across your postcard they’re now using as a bookmark. If anything, a postcard gets your name out there, and recognition is a key to advertising.
Conclusion
Let’s face it – for freelancers the trade-off for freedom from a 9-to-5 cubicle job is a sometimes unsteady paycheck. There just isn’t a lot of extra time or money for advertising. But with the Internet comes great opportunity – the chance to take a risk with different types of marketing. If one campaign doesn’t work, try another. You’re a creative pro, so why not exercise that creativity with unique promotions?
http://webdesignledger.com/tips/how-to-promote-your-design-business-on-the-cheap
The Foursquare and Gowalla is a really good way of making your location and agency known and you can show what your doing to other people by checking in at different points or places, Also it supports our idea of the postcard as its cheap and can be left in locations for clients to pick up.
Sarah Talbot who owns a Cornish Design Company called DesignStudio has an innovative way to promote her design company through a cook book she has designed. I asked Sarah if she would consider an email interview for Graphic Design Blog and she kindly agreed. My thanks to Sarah for taking part.
1. Please could you tell us a little bit about you and your company and the type of design work that you do?
I run a graphic design company called DesignStudio, we typically work with small to medium sized businesses helping them to strengthen their ID within their marketplace. We build open and professional relationships with all of our clients, in light of this we are able to understand and pinpoint their needs, likes and dislikes which has led to producing the best possible design solutions to meet individual requirements, from a simple brochure or a much broader campaign.
I run a graphic design company called DesignStudio, we typically work with small to medium sized businesses helping them to strengthen their ID within their marketplace. We build open and professional relationships with all of our clients, in light of this we are able to understand and pinpoint their needs, likes and dislikes which has led to producing the best possible design solutions to meet individual requirements, from a simple brochure or a much broader campaign.
2. The idea of creating a cookbook as your design company’s brochure is very unusual, what gave you the idea?
The recipe book has come from a very unique service that we offer our clients, we bake them their favourite cake and take it along to development meetings. So popular has this service become I decided to make it a feature of my new brochure.
The recipe book has come from a very unique service that we offer our clients, we bake them their favourite cake and take it along to development meetings. So popular has this service become I decided to make it a feature of my new brochure.
3. Has cooking always been a passion of yours as well as design?
I love cooking, anything foody and I’m there. The fact that I now combine two of my passions in life is fantastic!
I love cooking, anything foody and I’m there. The fact that I now combine two of my passions in life is fantastic!
4. I understand that some of the recipes came from your existing clients, how did they respond to your unusual request for recipes?
They loved the idea, most of the recipes are mine, but some are from clients. Some of my suppliers have pages as well as initially they were upset that they weren’t in the book. It’s also a thank you to my clients for their support for my first 2 years in business.
They loved the idea, most of the recipes are mine, but some are from clients. Some of my suppliers have pages as well as initially they were upset that they weren’t in the book. It’s also a thank you to my clients for their support for my first 2 years in business.
5. How has your book been received by potential new clients?
Brilliant, people’s eyes light up when they see it. It has been described as ‘porn for foodies’. It’s great because, although at the end of the day I’m selling my business and looking for new clients my new brochure contains nothing about my company, no services, no features, nothing. People’s guards go up when you try and sell to them – this does exactly the opposite.
Brilliant, people’s eyes light up when they see it. It has been described as ‘porn for foodies’. It’s great because, although at the end of the day I’m selling my business and looking for new clients my new brochure contains nothing about my company, no services, no features, nothing. People’s guards go up when you try and sell to them – this does exactly the opposite.
6. How do you plan on distributing the brochures, will they be used as a direct mail piece or handed out at meetings and events?
They are being handed out at networking events, they will be used as a direct piece of mail and followed up with cold calls. They will also be given to my existing clients to hand to possible referrals.
They are being handed out at networking events, they will be used as a direct piece of mail and followed up with cold calls. They will also be given to my existing clients to hand to possible referrals.
7. Have you any further plans for spin offs of the brochure ( e.g. recipe postcards as marketing material)?
Yes! I will be starting my own networking event by the end of the year. Called ‘afternoon tea with sarah’, this will be informal, invite only and instead of having a guest speaker we will have a guest baker who will cook their fav cake, with my help, live in the DesignStudio kitchen! I can’t wait…
Yes! I will be starting my own networking event by the end of the year. Called ‘afternoon tea with sarah’, this will be informal, invite only and instead of having a guest speaker we will have a guest baker who will cook their fav cake, with my help, live in the DesignStudio kitchen! I can’t wait…
8. Do you think you will do a follow up design cook book next year?
With out a doubt, I can see a whole series of books, maybe one day I’ll do a Delia style ‘all in one’.
With out a doubt, I can see a whole series of books, maybe one day I’ll do a Delia style ‘all in one’.
9. Has the concept been successful in terms of generating new business, or increasing the profile of your design company ?
I have only had the book for a week, so too early to say as yet. But I think absolutely, it had already increased my profile, I have 2 live studio radio interviews this week I will be appearing within the Cornish press. And I think because the book so interrupts the traditional selling, I think it’s a certainty of not only generating new business but attracted exactly the types of companies that I’m looking to work with.
I have only had the book for a week, so too early to say as yet. But I think absolutely, it had already increased my profile, I have 2 live studio radio interviews this week I will be appearing within the Cornish press. And I think because the book so interrupts the traditional selling, I think it’s a certainty of not only generating new business but attracted exactly the types of companies that I’m looking to work with.
10. Have you ever done any other unusual marketing campaigns for your design company?
Not really for my company but I have sent out live penguin boxes containing clockwork penguins for one of my clients John Richards Shopfitters. http://www.penguinholiday.com hopefully should explain it!
Not really for my company but I have sent out live penguin boxes containing clockwork penguins for one of my clients John Richards Shopfitters. http://www.penguinholiday.com hopefully should explain it!
This a very different approach of promoting your agency as well as making a personal rapport with clients.
It would defiantly make you stand out against the others.
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