You’ve been reading graphic design blogs like this forever, and have been munching on self-help books with breakfast every morning since January. Still, you can’t quite get enough clients to your freelancing business, forcing you to tighten up the old belt and hope for the best. If you’re sick of not having work—but have ample ambition—use these no-fail tips to hook more business than you can stand. It’s fail-proof, and might just get you out of an uncomfortably dry rut.
First Off, Get to Base-Making: The first thing you’ll want to do, if you haven’t done it already, is create some kind of base for your business. No one will want to hire you if they have no idea who you are, or don’t know what you do. To remedy this, start to immediately create a base for yourself.
What we mean by this is found a blog or digital portfolio. You have to establish a presence somewhere on the Internet, or all your crowd-sourcing polls will have been in vain. It’s not difficult, and with tools like WordPress you can have a fully functional design blog up and running in the span of an afternoon.
Be a Bit Different Than The Herd: Once you’ve started to make a name and presence for yourself, you’ll want to differentiate your brand from all those other design firms out there. An easy way to do this is to be slightly quirky, or off beat. Use laid-back language on your site, or cater to an off-beat crowd with your designs. However, if you get to weird with your outfits, you risk alienating clients, rather than drawing them in, so be sure not to overdue the distancing.
Specialize in Your Market: Another great way to draw clients is to specify your expertise. Rather than creating a design for any and all design needs, why not tailor to those in need of a new business logo, or a web-based front-end for their new company? Usually, by specializing in a specific branch of graphic design you can attract more business, or at least those in need of your services. Make a name for yourself as “The Business Card Guy,†and you’ll be surprised with the number of clients that need just such a service.
