How Freelancers Can Maximize Their Work Exposure to Attract Ideal Clients

Have you wondered why, even after doing everything “right” – having a website, circulating through all the social media channels – you’re just not getting as much notice as a designer as you feel you should? It probably has something to do with the approach you’ve been using to market yourself and your work.

Today, we’re examining the ineffective ways designers often try to market themselves and exploring alternatives that have a much higher success rate.

What Doesn’t Work: Endless Social Media Followers

While social media can be a great way to connect with other designers and professionals in your industry, it usually provides pretty dismal returns compared to other methods of getting yourself noticed. Many popular designers have thousands of followers on Twitter or Facebook, yet the majority of their business comes from elsewhere.

You may get a few clients trickling in through social media, especially if you have a substantial following. However, if you want to attract the most ideal clients best suited to your business, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

What Works: Email (And Snail Mail) Marketing

You have to go to where your clients are. These days, there is no better place to reach potential clients than in their inbox. Creative, opt-in email marketing is an easy and effective way to promote just about any type of business, including freelance design. If you’re targeting brick-and-mortar businesses, this tactic can even extend to snail mail.

An interesting mailer showcasing your abilities, even if you specialize in web or digital design, can catch the attention of the person who sorts the mail at the company. And if you think mailroom employees don’t share interesting things with the rest of the office… have you ever worked in an office? Trust me, they live for that stuff.

What Doesn’t Work: Guest Posting About Design

Guest posting is a popular strategy for gaining recognition within the design community. However, its effectiveness is limited when trying to attract paying clients — the ones who are interested in hiring you for your services.

Think about who typically reads design blogs: other designers. In other words, your competition. Unless your services include writing about design, continuously guest posting is unlikely to significantly aid in winning more design projects.

What Works: Getting Seen On Prominent Design Sites & Curated Lists

Design clients, by and large, don’t spend much time reading industry blogs. However, they do spend plenty of time looking through examples of beautiful design work. Sites like Dribbble and Behance, as well as top curated lists on platforms like Tumblr and Ffffound, attract potential clients in large numbers.

Image source: Behance

If your work is showcased on these prominent sites, you have a much better chance of being discovered by someone looking to hire a designer.

What Doesn’t Work: Blogging For Other Designers

If you have your own website, it often follows that you have a blog as well. Blogging can either help or hurt you in the search for clients, depending on the type of services you offer and, more importantly, what you choose to blog about.

If your blog mostly covers new developments in the design industry or offers tutorials and tips for fellow designers, you won’t be speaking to potential clients much. These types of topics are of less use to clients than they are to other designers.

What Works: Blogging For Your Actual Clients

To capture clients’ attention through your blog, focus on topics that interest them, not other designers. Subjects like how to hire a designer and key considerations when negotiating a freelance contract are what potential clients want to read about.

Clients are also interested in understanding the impact of design on their specific industry, making it crucial to have a defined niche to cater to.

What Doesn’t Work: Business Card Free-For-Alls

Consider how many business cards you’ve collected over the years. Now, think about how many you’ve actually used. Probably very few.

Most of the time, business cards end up sitting at the bottom of a drawer or languishing in wallets, bags, or pockets until they are discarded months later. This waste of paper rarely results in gaining work. It’s often just a waste, period.

What Works: Being More Selective

The business cards that get used effectively are those with a genuine connection attached to them. They weren’t handed out indiscriminately to anyone who requested one or forced on people who didn’t express interest.

It’s essential to make people eager to have your contact information. People value information much more if they are the ones seeking it out.