Freelancing and Marketing

I believe the hardest part of being a freelancer is marketing oneself. I know I would rather be concentrating on the creative work, designing dynamic and engaging websites, brochures, business cards, and posters for clients. But in order to do the work for clients you have to get clients and that means selling yourself.

I asked my contacts on LinkedIn for tips that would help freelance designers. Feedback came from recruiters, fellow graphic designers, design firms, and marketing experts.

The tips and suggestions given I’ve broken down into three categories.

Branding/Identity/Message
Networking
Services

Branding/Identity/Message

This would be whom you are and what you offer that others don’t. It’s how you present yourself to the world online and in person. Some people call it “your story”.

Sammie Watson (Aesthetic Designs of Cherry Creek) talked about utilizing your background.  “I would say marketing yourself comes down to knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, your past experiences that made you who you are, and knowing how to shine all of this in a positive light that appeals to those you are marketing to.” She goes on to say that in order to target your audience you need to listen and know what they want; you need to be able to relate to them.

Kimberly Myers (CWDP, Outreach & Resource Specialist at WorkSource Pierce) said “Have a consistent and focused message… Everything you put out there about yourself has to agree with that message.”

What my sources stressed was decide to whom you are marketing, understand what skills, experience, and training meet your audience’s needs, and craft a consistent message.

·      Know yourself

·      Know your audience

·      Provide value to your audience

·      Be consistent in your message

Networking

Networking involves building business relationships whether in person or online. These relationships are professional business connections and in establishing them you can also establish your reputation. Focus on what you can do for their business and be willing to refer them to others.

Networking with your targeted clientele is a little different than networking with people in your industry. The former allows you to learn about their business (this would be part of the research in understanding your client’s needs) and present yourself as a reliable and talented commercial artist. Again, the focus should be on what you can do for them. The latter provides opportunities of knowledge sharing and connecting with people that can assist with your projects.

Bill Kaufmann, MBA, recommended rotary clubs and chambers of commerce for connecting with other businesses.

Conferences within your own industry and your targeted audience can also provide contacts, information, and resources.

Marcus M (graphic designer, Lenz Do This Studio) said he networks with random people. In other words, talking to people throughout your day. He also said that most of his work has been obtained via word of mouth. This has been my experience, which highlights the importance of networking.

Find social media sites that are business centered. LinkedIn is a good example. Participate in online groups within your industry and your targeted audience and share your expertise. Getting involved in discussions, answering questions, offering help, and asking questions increases your visibility.

Rusty George (Rusty George Creative) advised becoming a thought leader.  “... become a thought leader in one area and write about it so that clients will come to you about and pay you for what you know (expertise) instead of what you do (being a vendor). The more respect they have for you the more you make.”

Writing a blog can help in becoming a thought leader online. What can be effective is posting regularly and sharing those posts across your various social media outlets.

Services

What can you offer your client? What services can you provide that will help their business?

Marcus M (graphic designer, Lenz Do This Studio), recommended finding a niche. “Focus on one thing and then branch out.” He had started with tattoos and piercings, then expanded to photography for realtors and later added promotional videos.   

He suggested canvassing. Use the good old fashion legwork of going from door to door and talking to business owners. What he did was look at their businesses, recreate their signage, logo’s, or branding and presented them as samples of what he can do for them.

In Conclusion

It takes a lot of effort to build your business as a freelancer but the results are rewarding. I hope the tips I’ve shared here are useful. 

Logos

Logos created in the last 5 years

Golfing Gets a Swing with Design

Golfing and design - who would have thought they would go together? Of course they do when you have a golfing tournament to advertise. That’s what the Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce needed for their 14^th Annual Golf Tournament.

A good event poster needs three elements.

1. Information
2. Visuals 
3. Easy to Read and Understand

Information

The most important information is letting people know what the event is all about. That would be the event name and in this case “14th Annual Golf Tournament” is the largest font on the page. The client wanted the Golf Tournament to be prominent, considering “14th Annual” a secondary consideration. This was done by using a different color and font size for “Golf Tournament”.

Date, time, location, and cost are the next pieces of information in priority. What to expect at the event, what participants get for the price of registration or ticket, discounts, sponsors, and who is putting on the event, is information often included on event posters. But the priority of information is dependent on the client.

Visuals

Visuals should capture the attention of the intended audience. In this case it would be people who enjoy golfing. Any number of images whether graphics, photos, clip art, or illustrations, can be used as long as the design doesn’t look cluttered and busy. They can be used to highlight information or direct the viewer to text, logos, and other images.

This was the third poster I created for this event. The first had a pastoral scene of a golfing green. The second included an image of the restaurant/clubhouse where the tournament would take place. Both had the sponsor prominently displayed within a golf ball.

This time I took a swing at their tag line “Get your swing on at the Enumclaw Golf Course.” There’s the golfer in mid swing and grinning at the viewer. It’s the largest image on the poster.

Easy to Read and Understand

People should be able to find information easily. I’ve seen some posters where I had to hunt for the date, time, and location. Sometimes, I’ve been hard pressed to find what the event is about.

Breaking up the text into bite size pieces rather containing most or all in a paragraph will encourage people to read the poster. Size of the font, placement of the text, the type of font used, and font color can all be used to draw the viewer’s eye to date, time, cost, etc. and make the poster easy to read.

Keeping these three elements in mind will help you create successful posters for your clients.

What does a Singing Group have to do with Graphic Design?

The singing group is a client and I'm the designer. Cascade Foothills Chorale just completed their spring concert and I have had the pleasure of designing their posters for the last two years.

Their concerts always have a theme and this spring it was “All-Occasions” for the all occasion cards that used to be advertised in the backs of magazines. Their concert featured songs for the various celebrations that happen throughout the year.

To capture the theme I selected images from Flickr Commons that invoked most of the prominent US celebrations throughout the year. I was more concerned about how everything fit together in a collage rather than a sequential layout. You can see New Years Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Flag Day, July 4^th (the American flag represents both), Halloween, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King, Jr Day, and Christmas. 

All of it was created in Photoshop and I used a lot of masking to merge, combine, or overlap images. 

I thought a vintage look would be appropriate and selected Snell Roundhand for the font and added a dark orange shadow for the edge of the poster. 

Value versus Cost

Starting out in the graphic design field I offered my services for low cost or did pro bono work that is, admittedly, problematic.

You might think that it’s a win-win.

The Client is

• Getting professional design so their advertising looks better
• Gaining more attention
• Getting design at bargain prices

You are

• Building up your portfolio
• Getting visibility to get clients
• The organization will hire you for other projects
• The client will give referrals

Surprisingly it can be hard to get a gig offering low cost or pro bono work especially with non-profits. Typically they have someone who likes to be creative and are happy putting together clip art.

I did manage to convince one non-profit to use my services. The problem is that they saw the cost as the value of my work. We agreed I would be compensated by the cost of the events they were sponsoring. The cost ranged from S30 - $100 depending on the event. The value of what I was doing, the labor that was involved, of course, was a lot more. To them the value was $30 - $35. Their reaction to paying $100 was “I don’t know if I can get approval to pay that much for this.”

I have not been hired for other projects. When the company that produced their brochures went out of business they hired another graphic designer. It’s questionable as to whether I get referrals from them when they view the value of my work as the cost.

Three or four years later I’m asking myself if I have gotten any business from this. Are they referring anyone to my business for graphic design work when they perceive the value of it as being so low?

Not all non-profits have this attitude. There’s another non-profit that understands the value of what they are getting and is very appreciative.

I won’t say don’t ever offer your services for free or low cost. Sometimes it’s the only way to start out. But be aware that the client may confuse the cost with the value. Don’t let yourself get in a rut and if you are getting little or no benefit from the situation move on.  Also, try to move on graciously. It won’t benefit you if you leave the client with hard feelings. 

A Poster with an Art Nouveau Flair

The latest poster I did for the Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce was inspired by Art Nouveau. Rich color; curves and fluid lines, and a lot of gradients are some of the hallmarks of Art Nouveau. Some of the lines are very reminiscent of Celtic Art. There are details and shading in objects which are sparingly outlined. 

Sometimes I start with a sketch, scan it, and use it as a basis for my drawing.

This is the sketch I used for the Spring Wine Walk poster. 

The woman, her face, hair and hand holding the wine glass are detailed. The grapes and grape leaves are lightly drawn in because I already had grapes and grape leaves created in Illustrator. Basically, the light sketch of both are place holders giving an idea of where they will be placed within the design.

I often reuse assets for posters operating with the philosophy of “why recreate the wheel”. Colors might change and some of the shape might change. 

For the comp, I used my own hand as a model.

The grapes I got from the Fall Wine Walk poster, changed the color from white grapes to red grapes and saved them as a symbol in Illustrator. 

I found a beautiful font from Dafont.com that was designed just for the Art Nouveau style.

The comp was sent to the Chamber committee who wanted, after review, more color.

The final poster. 

A Good Rejection

As a graphic designer, illustrator, or artist you will have your share of rejections. 

Cherish the good rejections. "What? But they didn’t like my work and won’t use it!" I know it can be discouraging but a rejection can be used as constructive criticism.

No response doesn’t tell you anything.

Saying that your work is good or bad is uninformative.

But a good rejection will state what they liked about your submission and what didn’t work for their project. It means what you did was good but didn’t fit their vision of their project. That’s ok. You can learn what to improve if it’s for a specific genre and you still have something to add to your portfolio.

A good rejection that includes an offer to recommend you to other clients looking for a graphic designer or artist is also an indication that your work is good and it builds a working relationship and a chance for networking.

Thank the person, company, or organization for considering your work. Again this helps build a working relationship and they will see you as a professional. They will be more inclined to recommend you to other people and maybe they will consider you for a different project in the future. 

The image above is a piece of work I submitted recently for a project that was rejected. They said they liked the color choice and the humor. What they didn’t like was that it was too safe for what they wanted and wasn’t what they envisioned for their project. They also said that they would recommend me to people looking for an illustrator or graphic designer.

This was created in Illustrator based on a couple of sketches.