Are You Properly Marketing Your Design Services?

Every designer I know has a list of self marketing plans that they hope to accomplish, however for numerous reasons these projects always find themselves on bottom of the stack of priorities. We as designers create marketing materials all day long for our clients, however we find creating these same materials for ourselves to be some of the hardest tasks to tackle. There are a number of reasons why this is the case…

We accept that our marketing is important however it is never our most urgent item. Because this work is not normally billable we often place it aside in order to complete projects that will immediately generate income. However by devoting a set amount of time every day or week that is applied towards marketing your firm, you can assure that you finish these plans with a minimal time investment. The result of this time spent is the ability to be more selective in the jobs and clients you take on.

We believe that our marketing is not a top priority because we are already bombarded with work. When you are busy, it is easy to pass off marketing efforts, because how would you possibly handle the additional work that it would generate? The important thing to remember in this situation is that your marketing efforts should bring you work that you actually want to do. Marketing efforts should not be about gaining a lot of new clients, it should be to control the type and quality of them.

We neglect our marketing because we are unsure of what we really do. Many designers are completely unaware of what their specialty is or why their services are any better than their competition (quality, price, and responsiveness do not count, see my article explaining why). Marketing materials make us define these reasons and position ourselves, however many designers prefer to fill whichever roll is given to them. By defining what your specialty is, you can effectively sell your services through tangible statements, establish yourself as an expert, and create marketing materials that effectively portray your business.

Remember that the goal of marketing is not to increase business; it is to improve the quality of your prospects. This is in turn should result in higher sales figures, clients that value your expertise and treat you like a member of their team.