freelance branding designer

As a creative, you fell in love with the idea of selling your services through graphic design freelancing. You want to be your own boss and to work with great clients.

 

To become the successful entrepreneur of your dreams, you need to figure out how to get graphic design clients! This will involve taking your creative output and turning it into profitability.

 

We’re here to help you learn the business tricks — or, if you’re an old hand already, let’s see if we can help to increase your success. Together, we’ll learn how to be more productive, our creative best and, of upmost importance, independently profitable!

 

As our starting point, we know your freelance business will succeed when your clients are happy. If they love you, they’ll be paying your invoices and telling others about your great service.

 

Hang on, wait a minute…you’re saying you aren’t sure how to get freelance clients? You aren’t confident talking about your design services in a way potential clients will understand – and pay for?

 

No problem — we’ve got you covered and we’re going to show you exactly how to stand out from the competition and catch the eye of your next great client.

 

What’s the Big Deal About an Elevator Pitch?

Have you heard experienced business-people talk about their company’s “elevator pitch”? Do you know what they’re talking about? If not, you’re going to be today-years-old when you find out!

 

(And, yes, it’s really important to learn about this simple but effective way to orient your business direction and growth. Fasten your seatbelt, here we go! We’re not going to let you gloss over the essentials any longer.)

 

An elevator pitch is a little metaphor. Think of it like a game. How would you explain the services your business sells, if a potential (big) client was riding an elevator with you down to the ground floor of a 20-story building? That’s it. That’s your “elevator pitch.” It’s how you succinctly explain what you do.

freelance graphic designer working next to her dog

How would you do on the elevator ride? Do you have it worked out all ready? Is it written down?

 

Ok, let’s start there. (And, if you have an elevator pitch already written down for your freelance business, that’s great! — pull it out, take a look at it, read it over again to refresh yourself, and we give you a ‘pass’ to move on to the next section, where we’ll focus on differentiation.)

 

So, how do you write an elevator pitch? Let’s get the elements down. (It needs to fit into a couple of sentences. If you can get it into one — just in case the elevator ride is short — even better.)

  • Who are you? (your business name)
  • Who do you target? (your ideal client & their industry)
  • What services do you provide?
  •  How do your services help your clients?

 

Now, let’s work out a sample:

  • Name: Top of the World Design Agency
  • Target: 30-something female entrepreneurs selling fashion attire through online sales platforms
  • Services: Graphic design, web design,  and branding packages
  • Problem/Solution: We create memorable brands to help online fashion industry businesses break through the crowd and increase sales

 

Let’s string it together and push the elevator’s lobby button. Here we go:

 

Business-person in the elevator: “Nice to meet you. What type of freelance business do you have?”

 

You: “Top of the World Design creates online branding for entrepreneurs specializing in digital fashion retail sales. Our designs set our clients apart by creating a memorable first impression that’s full of feeling and drives sales through viewer clicks.”

graphic designer working on a laptop

Here’s an extra hint: Ask for a card and follow up with a LinkedIn connection later…after in-person networking, it’s always wise to follow up. Set a time each week on your calendar, have a spot where you collect the weeks’ business cards and/or contact names and send each person a quick, follow-up message on LinkedIn.

 

Direct the contact to your website maybe, so they can see your portfolio. And leave it there — unless they happen to be a 30-something female entrepreneur selling fashion attire through an online sales platform — you just want to network quickly so you’ll be top-of-mind!

Survey the Crowd to Differentiate and Get Clients

If you found the elevator pitch exercise overwhelming, take a deep breath. Let’s work backwards a bit, together, even as we press forward towards positioning your freelance graphic design studio in today’s marketplace.

 

Differentiating isn’t really about making yourself different (or better) — it’s about knowing who you are targeting that is different than, say, the entire world and business community!

 

After all, we know that every business could benefit from excellent design services, but who are you going to focus on? (Hint: it has to do with who your ideal client is. Let’s move back to that point for a minute.)

 

You may need to ask yourself some soul-searching questions. We’ve been where you are, and we’ve grown our freelance business into a thriving design agency. We’re sure your business can succeed like ours, but we only know one recipe for this masterpiece of a cake, so here it goes:

 

  • What projects have you LOVED working on in the past?
  • What projects did you receive rave reviews about?
  • Which clients are returning to you again?
  • What kind of individual (client point of contact) do you MOST like to interact with?

freelance designer working on sketches

If you can answer these questions, you’ll have your ideal client. Let’s try it out again, using our previous scenario:

 

  • I love working with the fashion industry
  • I won an award for my logo design and sales fulfillment packaging for Carol’s online scarf sales platform
  • Carol came to me through a referral from Joanne’s Handbags….along with Michelle & DeeDee!
  • I like working with women my age

 

There’s your ideal client, but let’s spell it out like we already did when we were working on our elevator pitch: My ideal client is a 30-something female entrepreneur selling fashion attire through online sales platforms.

 

At this point, you’ve niched-down, which means you’ve figured out your point of differentiation, and there’s only one more important thing to consider before you focus on positioning yourself in front of Carol, Joanne, Michelle, DeeDee, and their industry cohorts!

 

(BTW, if you aren’t fully convinced that your freelance design business needs to niche down, why don’t you check out our article Does Your Freelance Business Need a Niche? and we’ll give you all the details you need to know!)

 

Now that you’ve pinpointed your differentiation (and your ideal customer), it’s time to discuss how to position your business in front of them.

freelance brand designer

Maturing Your Freelance Messaging

When we niched down, we focused on your ideal client characteristics and industry, but what about your services? Do you know what you offer? Do you know why your ideal client needs theses services?

 

Let’s address the middle question first….do you know what you offer? You’re a freelance design business, so we know you design something, you are a creative, and you provide an end product to your clients. That’s a great place to begin. Now, let’s drill in a bit:

 

  • Do you provide logos only? What else, specifically?
  • Do you provide digital files for the client to use? What formats?
  • Do you provide research/design expertise, to inform your design recommendations?
  • Do you have a product delivery pipeline (including a client-discovery process at the beginning)?
  • Do you offer unlimited revisions?

 

(No, you don’t offer unlimited revisions, but that’s a topic for another blog! Or you can check out our Level Up Kit which is chock-full of essential nuggets like this one. If you’re new to freelancing, there are so many valuable hints in our online courses!)

kady sandle freelance course bundle

 

To mature your message means that you stop trying to please all the people all the time…and you focus. You niche-down on what you provide.

 

Think about your newly-defined ideal client. What were the core elements that pleased your previous clients in the same industry and informed you when you said, “Hey, this is the kind of client I want to work with in the future!”

 

Keep your package of services simple and consistent…and, of course, logical! You may have several elements and options, but even if you only do a couple of things, having a defined list of your services means you’re going to be clear and you’re going to provide consistent messaging.

 

In fact, being clear and focused on the services you provide will help in messaging, selling, creating, delivering, and spreading your reputation.

colorful paper art

Resist Navel-Gazing & Focus on Your Client

At this point, you might feel you have it all wrapped up…you have your elevator pitch, you know who your ideal client is, and you’ve defined what services you specialize in. What else could you need??

 

Clients! That’s right. Actual, live, paying clients!

 

Here’s the big reveal. This is how you will find your next ideal client: you need to understand how your services, when delivered, help your client to overcome their point of pain. You have to solve a problem your client feels they have.

 

But, wait, how do you solve a problem you haven’t yet defined? What is your client’s pain-point? Or, as a wise sage once said, “What is their felt need?”

 

You see, it isn’t important what you think your ideal client needs. It’s important what they think they need.

 

(Of course, it’s important to have clients with a need you know how to solve — i.e. within the design services you provide — but you still need to understand what problem-relief your service is providing to your client.)

improve your portfolio workshop kady sandel

Here are some business-changing examples that could be used to match a client’s self-perceived need with your freelance service provision (note the client’s felt need in italics for each scenario):

 

  • We provide your business with an eye-catching, market entry, memorable impression
  • We will help you increase sales through graphics that nudge your customers towards purchasing
  • Our clients gain market penetration through brand awareness
  • Clients we work with grow their industry market share through carefully crafted campaigns
  • Our services mean you can move into new territory with your business expansion

 

The possibilities are vast, but you can see that they revolve around the business basics: revenue (sales) growth, market share growth, business profitability, and customer awareness.

 

These are the common pain-points a potential client likely has…and, if you produce excellence in your design services (and we know you do!), you are the one who can solve their problem.

 

You have a plan. You know how. You are an expert. You are your client’s superhero!

two freelance web designers looking at a paper

 

Now, before being a superhero goes to your head, it’s critical to remember to resist the urge to tell a potential client the details of your services.

 

They don’t need to know the nitty-gritty of your design package at this point — what you want to communicate is that you understand their problem and you have the solution they need!

 

Resist sending the potential client too much information (about you) and remember to focus on gaining (and communicating) a clear understanding of their felt need.

 

In general terms, talk about how your service package fulfills their need…and what the practical outcome will be for their company.

 

Remember, it’s all about them…because they pay your freelance bills and keep you living the dream!


Side note: If you are wondering when you’ll communicate all of your design package details (including your price, number of revisions, and everything else), you’ll do that when you send a proposal.

 

But, at the point in time we’re discussing in this article, you are positioning your freelance business in front of potential customers. How you communicate your proposals is a later-stage effort, after an ideal client has expressed interest and you’re ready to land them.

 

 

Now that we’ve shared so much information, you’re ready to tell your story. You’re officially ready to market your services. You know the components now…and we’re going to list them again, in a reverse order action plan, to make our point clear — your client is most important and their perceived need is your primary focus:

 

  1. What is your client’s felt need?
  2. What is your service package (of course, it includes your solution to their need)?
  3. Who is your target client?
  4. Do you have this memorized in an easy-to-grab elevator pitch?
  5. You are ready to market! (Bonus hint: where is your ideal client located? Market there!)

 

We’re thrilled to be on this freelancing ride with you! It’s rewarding. It’s challenging. It’s simple. It’s incredibly hard work. It is your dream, and ours!

 

Most of all…we want you to benefit from the tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way. Drop us a message on Instagram to let us know how you applied our ideas to land your ideal clients. We want to cheer on your freelance design business as it grows, so go ahead and reach out!