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Get More Clients Now!
by Kimberly Stevens
Although David has been a graphic designer for a decade, he’s only been a
business owner for a little over a year. He was becoming increasingly
discouraged with his clientele. “I'm the only person in the business, and
even though I’ve been in business for a whole year, I’m still having to
spend a lot of time marketing to get new clients. And the ones I do get
usually only have one small project for me for the entire year. To top it
off, I don't even get to do the kind of work I really enjoy They all just
want the basic logo, business card, letterhead job. I really want to work
on full-scale marketing campaigns where I’m designing print ads, direct
mailers & media kits. How do I get more of the right clients?”
As you are discovering, David, building a stable of long-term clients with
needs that match your interests can be a time-consuming and ongoing
effort, but it's worth it in the long run. It's up to you to build a
company that attracts clients with higher-end needs. You can't blame the
small businesses for whom you are likely working for having a small budget
and basic needs. As a sole proprietor, you can certainly understand
working on a restricted budget.
So the first thing you need to do is to focus on how you want to position
your company in the marketplace. What types of work do you want to do for
clients? Do you want to avoid business card layout all together or will
you do it if it's for a client who does or will have larger needs in the
future? Do you want to develop a niche in which you specialize in doing
full-scale marketing campaigns within a specific industry, such as
restaurants or high-tech companies? You get the idea - begin by
determining what type of work you want. The world of graphic design is big
and broad, so it's your job to narrow your focus which will make your
company more attractive to potential clients in that field because you
spend more time working on projects similar to theirs as compared to a
jack-of-all-trades graphic designer.
Next, you need to make sure that everything you use to present your
company to the marketplace reflects your new positioning. This may mean
revising the content of your web site and brochures and re-wording the
tagline on your business card. If you don't already have a tag line that
you splatter on all of your collateral materials, create one. This is a
terrific positioning tool. And, as a graphic designer, you know that you
can impact the image someone gets of your company through the design of
your company's materials. Do you want to present your company as
high-tech, friendly and affordable, or hip and cutting edge? Create a
consistent image across the board on everything a prospect would see when
encountering your business. If you want to do full-scale marketing
campaigns, start with your own. Enlist the help of a designer friend or
marketing friend if you tend to have trouble applying your designer
brilliance to your own company as many of us do.
Once you know how you want to position your company in the marketplace and
you have updated all of your materials, the only thing left to do is
present yourself to the people who want what you have to sell. This may be
a very different group of people than the ones you've spent the last year
with. Many of us cut our marketing teeth at the local chamber of commerce,
but they can be full of small, one-person businesses that may not have the
need for the services you want to provide.
The best thing to do is to identify what types of companies are going to
be attracted to what you are providing. Are they of a certain size, a
certain geographic location, a certain industry? Once you've identified
the parameters, it's time to determine how you are going to reach them.
What associations do they belong to? Can you write articles for that
association's newsletter? What networking groups do they attend? Can you
join? Do they usually find their vendors from advertisements, referrals,
or direct mail? Who else already provides services to them that could
potentially provide you an opening into the companies in exchange for a
finder's fee or reciprocity (these are called Centers of Influence)?
Develop contacts with marketing companies who could potentially bring you
in as a subcontractor for their clients' marketing campaigns. Although,
they will generally take a cut or mark up your services, perhaps, you'd
enjoy focusing on building these relationships so in the future you could
focus just on the graphic design aspect of your business, not the
client-building part.
This may seem like you are starting from ground zero as you pull away from
those groups that you've been networking with during the past year and
begin again as a new member in new groups, but soon you will be reaping
the rewards of a thriving business working with people you like and doing
what you want to do. What could be better?
Once you've established yourself in these new communities, you can't
continue to spend half of your week trolling for new clients or you'll cap
your income in relatively short order. Your next line of attack should be
meeting some Centers of Influence. Read more about how to do this at:
http://www.askthebizcoach.com/ezines/061802gettingclients.htm
About The Author: Kimberly Stevens is the author of the ebook
series, *The Profitable Business Owner: A Step-by-Step System for Starting
& Running a Successful Service Business*. Download Sample Chapters & get
her free MiniCourse, *The 10 Most Common Mistakes Business Owners Make &
How To Avoid Them* at: http://www.askthebizcoach.com/ebooks.htm
kim@askthebizcoach.com
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