Neil Tortorella is a veteran graphic designer with
over 25 years' experience in developing identities,
collateral and web solutions for both large and small
companies. Based in Northeast Ohio, Tortorella Design
has received numerous awards for design excellence.
Expand your [marketing] horizons
by Neil Tortorella
I was talking to a videographer
the other day up at my main shooter's studio. It was a pretty
typical conversation. "So
how's business? Busy?" "Nah ... it's been really
slow. Seems like everybody is around here."
That was an accurate reflection about the our local economy.
The Great State of Ohio has declared the county where I live
as an "economically distressed zone." It's been tough
for a lot of creatives around these parts. Some are doing well,
but most are squeaking by the best they can.
The word on the street is that the overall economy in the U.S.
is recovering and the experts expect things to break around
mid-Spring. Maybe it's slow-going right now in your neck of
the woods too.
So, what's a creative to do?
For me, it meant gettin' outta Dodge and expanding my horizons.
Right now, I'm only working on one local gig. Everything else
is for remote clients.
In the old days, many of my firm's clients were out of our
local area. Yeah, I had a "firm" back then with real,
live employees. But, that's another story. Although we were
based in Northeast, Ohio, clients came to us from New York,
Florida, Minnesota, Nebraska and New Mexico, among other places.
But, it was expensive. Long distance phone calls, overnight
shipping, flights to meetings hither and yon. One revolutionary
piece of technology helped - the facsimile machine. Remember
those? Mine's under my bed now gathering dust.
The very fact that you're able to read this little ditty shows
you're ready to expand your marketing area. You've got a Net
connection and you're not afraid to use it. The Internet has
changed everything. It's opened up the world and made working
with remote clients a piece of cake. It's fast, relatively
easy and inexpensive.
Almost all my communications now are handled by email and instant
messaging. As a matter of fact, one of the writers I work with
lives within walking distance, yet, most of our communication
is done by email.
To follow is a checklist of how to work with clients who are
100, 1000 or more miles from your front door. But first, you'll
need to generate some buzz.
Your corner of the Web
A website. If you don't have one, get one. It's simply expected
now days. Sorry, but the freebie deals don't count. You need
your own branding, as in joeblowdesign.com, to position your
practice as professional.
Your site provides an always present point-of-contact. It's
an easy and inexpensive way to promote your wares and show
your brilliant work. It's also easier than lugging your book
around.
But, you'll also need to aggressively promote your little corner
of the web. Just because you build it, doesn't mean they'll
come. Naturally, you'll want to include your url on everything
you send out. Here's a few other cheap, but effective ways
to drive some traffic your way:
Online forums/discussion groups
Participating in forums is a great way to get folks to your
site. Graphic design and other creative-oriented forums are
good to interact with your peers and the occasional prospect
may stop by looking for help. But don't forget to participate
in other business forums. Do some searches for specific forums
in industries where you have a specialty or would like to work.
The trick is to be helpful. Posting in these places can help
position you as an expert. Remember not to write stuff that's
a blatant ad. Answer questions, provide some advice or your
experiences, etc. Always, always, always put a sig at the end
of your post that contains your site's url. In addition to
making it easy for prospects to get to your site, many forum
posts are picked up by the search engines and may help with
your link popularity.
Send out news releases
Got a new service? Finish up a unique project? Just land the
Coke® account? Tell the world. News releases are a good
way to get yourself known. Plus, this p.r. stuff is usually
seen as more believable than advertising.
Here's a link to an article on Inc.com about the art of the
release.
Another resource to spread the word both online and off is
PRWeb [link]. PRWeb is a free release distribution service.
They're a nonprofit organization and if you throw them some
contribution dough, you can track your releases and see how
many views they get. As with forum posts, releases posted online
generate links to your site helping with your popularity. Just
be sure to include your url.
Oh, and don't forget to submit your news to Creative
Latitude.
We'd love to hear from you.
Optimize your site for the search engines
As you create your dazzling display for the browsers of the
world, don't forget to add in keywords and phrases. This is
an art unto itself. You'll want relevant keywords within your
code, but also reflected within your site content. Keyword
density is critical. Also, be sure to pop a few into your page
titles and ALT tags.
Here's a nifty little tool from Mike's
Marketing Tools. Plug
in your url, type in some keyword and voila! You get a ranking
report for several major search engines.
Okay, now you've created some buzz and you've got a prospect
emailing about a killer gig that's going to make you rich and
famous. How will you handle it?
Get the skinny
First, you'll need to interview your prospect and gather information
for your proposal. I'll usually start with a phone call to
the prospect. Although some handle all communication by email,
I believe it helps to set a prospect's mind at ease when they
can listen to a voice on the phone. You can use this call to
qualify the prospect and get some preliminary info about the
gig.
Next, I email out my client questionnaire. You can find some
similar ones in CL's Resources section. From this, I'll draft
my proposal. For remote clients, I whip up a pdf and send it
out by email. Reviewing the proposal can be handled either
by phone or email.
Speaking of the phone, these calls can get expensive if your
not careful. Sure, you can bill the client, but to keep them
happy look into some low cost options. If you're in the U.S.,
one is Talk.com also known as TalkAmerica. They offer pretty
low long distance rates. For example, I have an associate on
the other side of the planet. My first call to them was for
roughly an hour. I was using one of the big long distance companies
at the time. That 60 minute chat cost me a whopping 250 smackers.
A call through TalkAmerica was only 25 bucks. Same amount of
time. Same, if not better, quality. Sorta makes you wonder,
doesn't it?
Mobile phones are good for domestic clients, if you've got
nationwide long distance included in your plan.
Another option that's becoming popular is Skype. Skype is an
internet phone where calls are free between Skype members.
If your client isn't a Skype member, no sweat. You can buy
credits to call land lines and the rates are dirt cheap to
most places.
Other options for communication include instant messaging and
video conferencing. These are simply remarkable. I'm not set
up yet for video conferencing, but it's on the list. Options
like Mac's iChat AV wth
iSight have received good reviews.
All I need to do is swing over to Kinkos and print out a highly
retouched
poster of myself in a glamourous office setting to stick in
front of the camera.
Instant messaging is pretty darn handy. AOL, Yahoo, MSN and
Mac's iChat, among others, are good options. I use iChat all
the time. As a matter of fact, I have one East Coast client
who I'm connected to all day. It's like having them in the
office next door.
Managing your project
So, your client was tickled pink with your proposal and sent
you a big fat check that actually cleared at the bank. You're
ready to move things along.
Remember that site you set up? It's about to come in real handy
for more than just promoting yourself. I set up a project development
site on my server for both print and web gigs that's password
protected. On the development site, I post layouts, usually
as pdfs for print and the beginnings of web sites. In the case
of a site design, after approval of the preliminary design,
I move over to the actual code. In addition to layouts, I create
a page for Status Reports, Design Notes and Contact information.
On the Status Reports page, I make date-stamped notes about
what I've done. This does a couple of things. First, it lets
the client know where things are at. Second, it documents the
project which helps to avoid misunderstandings when it comes
to billing time.
In the Design Notes, I'll write why this or that was done,
what materials I need from the client and such.
The nice thing about a development site is that it lets the
client, and their associates, look over things at their leisure
from any computer with a browser and a connection.
My development site format is a work in process and I'm always
looking into ways to increase its value to both my clients
and myself. Right now I'm looking into a decent calendar option.
Mac's iCal is an option that allows you to publish calendars
on the web using either an .Mac account or a WebDAV enabled
server. Another [free] option is Yahoo
Calendars. A calendar
is useful for project status, milestones, documenting when
parties are out of town or on vacation and such.
In the end it all comes down to clarity.
When all is said and done, you want a happy client who will
sing
your praises to others. To get there, you'll need to strive
for clarity in your project management. Working remotely can
make for a bit of anxiety, so you'll need to go the extra mile
to avoid misunderstandings.
Document everything. Explain what you're up to and why. Ask
questions - lots of them - even if they seem stupid or obvious.
I constantly ask my clients, remote or local, if they're happy
with my work and process. I don't read minds very well and
I don't like to make assumptions.
When we get busy, it's easy to forget to keep up with things.
I had that happen with a remote client recently. She said one
thing and I heard another. We got it handled before it became
an issue. Just because you think you understand, doesn't necessarily
mean you do. A simple way to nail it is to repeat back what
you heard or read. It helps to flag problems.
So, with your site in place, your on and offline promotional
tactics underway and a rock solid design and project management
process, you're ready to tackle those clients across the state
or across the ocean.
