Shaun Crowley (bio)

Creating a business offer.
Before you start a major promotional push, you need to be sure you are targeting your best clients—and work out a persuasive offer for them.

Ask yourself the following:
“Who should I target?”
“What can I offer that will take the risk out of new clients hiring me?”
“What sets me apart from competing freelancers and agencies?”

You need answers to these questions before you start to contact companies and ask for work.

Why? Because these answers will affect how you prioritize the work in your portfolio, how you structure your website, and how you present yourself in your self-promotion.

Aim for consistency of message, and people will remember you.

Approaching companies.
The most effective marketing tool available to you is the telephone. So why is cold-calling so scary?

People aren't generally comfortable ‘selling themselves’ over the phone. Some people hate cold-calling because they don’t appreciate telemarketing calls at home. Most find rejections difficult to cope with.

Well here’s some good news. It doesn’t have to be that way.

You can avoid all the stress if you think of prospecting as a ‘selling process’.

The longer you extend the selling process, the less commitment you require from people to get to the next level. That means fewer rejections and friendlier responses.

Set yourself less ambitious targets. But don't give up on someone until you get yourself an appointment. When you call, ask for permission to email. In your email, invite recipients to browse your online portfolio. Then send another email requesting a meeting. Then make a follow-up call to set a time.

The reality: people are naturally skeptical of any prospecting freelancer. Give them plenty of opportunities to check you out before requesting a meeting. That not only increases your chances of getting meeting time, it also makes for a more relaxed pitch, so telephone prospecting becomes less stressful.

The secret to successful cold-calling isn’t just about having a “positive mental attitude”. It’s about changing your approach so it becomes achievable, effective, and (dare I suggest) enjoyable.

Internet marketing.
Marketing your business online can offer the greatest return on your efforts. But first, you need a practical website. And I emphasize the word practical.

That means: no unnecessary Flash intros. No dashing self-portraits. No abstract visuals that hide your text.

Sure, you are selling yourself as a designer. So the design of your site is important. But leave the elaborate design for your portfolio pages.

Keep in mind that clients aren’t looking for a nicely designed site. They’re looking for information about you. And they want it fast.

My advice: Forget about yourself when developing your website. Think about your clients. What are they looking for? How can you provide it quickly and easily? How can you convince them you are worth investigating?

Also think about how you will use your website. What role will it play in your marketing later on? How can you structure your online portfolio to make prospecting easier?

Then, when your online portfolio is ready, you can use your website as a platform in various marketing activities.

One marketing activity is to set up an email campaign. This involves selecting a data-list of contacts, writing a well-targeted email, and using relevant tools to track responses.

Another activity is to focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This involves adding lots of good-quality content to your website, and getting incoming links from popular sites who share the same keywords as you.

Newspaper exposure.
Advertising in newspapers is expensive. That’s why most designers avoid it. It's probably why you have avoided it in the past.

But think about it. Most of your potential clients read a trade magazine specific to the industry they work in. Advertise your services in one of those trade magazines, and you’re looking at quality exposure.

How come? Most other designers avoid advertising in newspapers. If you're the only designer with an ad in that magazine, you won't be competing with anyone else.

Writing an advertisement for your business isn't difficult. Follow a few well-selected copywriting and conceptualizing tricks, and you’ll have a persuasive ad written in no time.

Don't have enough money to advertise?

No problem. There's a much cheaper method of getting newspaper exposure. Get yourself featured in a news story instead.

If you've got an interesting story to tell, a press release will persuade editors to feature it. And it won’t cost you a cent.

Maybe you recently won an award. Maybe you stumbled upon something interesting. Or maybe your design contributed towards some kind of achievement on behalf of your client. Whatever achievements you have made or insights you have gained, exploit them as much as you can by making newspapers aware of them--and get free exposure in the process.

Creating client lock-in.
OK, let’s say you already have lots of clients. So there’s no need for marketing, right?

Wrong. You may have clients today. But there’s no guarantee you’ll have clients tomorrow. You may think to yourself, “the work I’ve done for this guy is pretty good, he’s sure to come back to me”. Not necessarily.

Maybe your client wants a fresh new approach. Maybe another designer has moved onto the scene. Maybe your client’s needs suddenly change—or evolve over time—in a way that excludes the need for your particular brand of service.

It’s tempting to think that you have no control over these scenarios. But the fact is: you do. As your clients’ needs change, you need to change with them. It’s what separates successful businesses from the rest.

So how do you keep up with your clients’ needs?

Simple. You ask for feedback. For any small business, market research is a key activity.

It may feel wrong asking clients to reveal everything they like and dislike about your service. But you’ll probably find that your clients actually appreciate the opportunity to tell you what you do well—and how you can improve.

What is more important than asking for feedback? It's how you respond to it.

At the end of the day, there’s no point in doing market research if you’re not prepared to act on the suggestions you receive. Be ready to hone your service, learn new skills, or find new contacts if need be.

My new e-book, The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook, offers step-by-step tips that explore each of these five areas of self-marketing.

I draw upon my experience as a marketing coach and copywriter, revealing key marketing strategies and copywriting tricks essential for writing self-promotion.

And as a design client myself, I can also let you into a few secrets concerning how clients like to be contacted, and how they choose new designers.

Not looking to buy the book? No problem. Make sure you read the free sample extracts on writing a press release and structuring your website. I hope you find the info useful.

Tune in next week to read an extract from the first chapter: 'Creating a business offer'.

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Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter, marketing consultant, and communications manager for a major UK publishing company. His new book The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook is available for download at www.marketing-designers.com, and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists is available for download at www.copywriting-designers.com.

© Shaun Crowley 2007