hockley91 Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 I was wondering how many of you market yourselves.... In some earlier threads it was quite apparent that the web page isn't really great for marketing, but good to have as more of a resource to give to people to see your work. As far as independent hits from potential clients goes, it isn't a great asset. How do some of you market yourselves? I've had success with just emails and some word of mouth. I'm about to send out some business postcards. I'd like to get some more business. Have many of you had success with business postcards, your website, or just phone calls? Any brainstorming? Any ingenious ideas? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 I STILL don't have a website up. Usually designers & architects have a lot of other friends in the same business so word spreads pretty easily if your work is really good. Then if they contact me, I usually just email them a set of my latest work. So I really don't find the need to market myself a whole lot at this point. You need to make sure that you will be able handle the work if the jobs start coming in. I had an architect who I haven't met before contact me last week to get a price quote for a hotel rendering. I quoted a price that was a lot higher than I would have charged last year, but I figured this was a good time to test the waters. It really wasn't so high that I would be making a fortune - I thought it was a reasonable amount for the job. I haven't heard back from him so I guess it was too high! But the nice thing is, there will be other opportunities & others who are willing to pay for quality renderings. Anyways, my best advice would be to talk to your existing clients, and tell them you are looking to expand, and ask if they could spread the word. Or ask if they know anybody specifically that you could contact for work. They are usually more than happy to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmanahan Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 I sent out post cards to quite a few people but did not get much response though I did get a lot of activity on my website, so it is nice to know people are interested enough in my sample on my postcard to look at the rest of my portfolio online. I will call up an architecture firm and ask a few questions, if they use freelancers, have in-house, how often they use freelancers, a contact name to send samples, etc. Then you don't have to send samples to places that won't be interested. Check out the architects web sites for what they do and how they present themselves. Maybe you don't like what they do or you love what they do and go after them a lot harder. I have persuing jobs for about 9 months and have not found a magic formula, though i am looking but word of mouth, meeting people face to face and a good portfolio seem to be the best bet. pmanahan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 I tried striking out on my own a few years ago, I had no client base so I did what most people would do and that's get the phone book and start making calls. I wound up with about 500 numbers of firms that I thought would be interested in my services. I sent out 500 post cards that had samples of my work on them along with contact information. My web site did get several hundred hits but in the end I got only one client for all my work. I tried making phone calls to different firms but unless you really know who to talk to you are wasting your time. I found that most firms would send me to the human resource manager, or an associate that didn't really know anything about this type of work. I also tried e-mail but those had little or no impact either, the best way to get new jobs it to meet face to face with a perspective client. I would say if you can afford a laptop and a projector then set up small meetings with firms that may be interested in your work. Go there and give them your presentation, that way you can make contacts and they are more likely to remember you when it comes time for a rendering or animation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Erstad Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 Direct mail has a typical "success" rate (someone calling you, NOT a contract) of less than 2-3%. If you send out 500 hundred cards, and only got one call back, you might also consider the fact that the mailing list accuracy (actually received by your target) is far less than anticipated. Or, the message of the card did not strike a chord with your audience. If you receive an inquiry from a prospect, get his project info (cad files, intended usage, budget, overall project budget, etc). Call back after reviewing with an educated price quote. Use a proposal. Outline what, when, who, etc. Do not make a prospect work any harder than they have to give you work. Call them back, do not wait for a call back. Be patient, be direct, and be firm with your quote. If a price is too low as compared to the market, what would you think? Something’s wrong here! Architects and developers are busy folks, if you wait for them, you may be waiting a long time. Follow up your post cards, proposals, and inquires with a phone call. If you say that you will do something - call, be in the office, be in their office, deliver a knick knack, do it! Be on time. direct phone contact is telemarketing, and sometimes needed. you must be better at it than telemarketers. You can make quite a few phone calls if you spend an hour or two each day marketing. Ask for their time too, do not jump on them with your qualifications and your pedigree. Most important issues for most prospects? Cost, turnaround time and your skills. How easy will it be to work with you? How organized are your questions and clarifications? Do you have a firm understanding of the request? Don’t overshoot the request, ask questions to gain understanding. I think that a flat price quote over the phone is the biggest mistake one can make in this industry. Give them a ballpark range with a visual example, but find out BEFORE you do that: What is the purpose of the image / animation? What is the goal for the projects success? What is the timeframe to complete? What is the final format for output? What is the quality of info you will receive to work from? Be competitive - determine a rate for the work you will be doing. You may not be able to charge the same rate for all types of work - CAD monkey vs. High and animation artist is one example. Marketing is not easy, but it is necessary aspect. If you are reluctant, or shy, or simply find it difficult to communicate with design professionals, it will be apparent. A confident, relaxed, conversational attitude and tone will always be more successful. You must get yourself and your firm in the minds of your audience before they require your service. Tradeshows, networking with current clients to establish new ones. Simply sending out a mailer helps, but will not make it rain on its own. A website will often educate your competition of your wares before your intended audience - how often do you durf the websites of your peers? However you do it, you must find ways to get yoruself in fornt of real decision makers who appreciate what the service does for them. Features and benefits baby. It really is "What can I do for you today? or better yet, How can I make you better? Have fun, and jump in - the waters fine! Scott http://www.fortelstudios.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted January 26, 2005 Share Posted January 26, 2005 David Wright wrote a really nice article for CGA about this very subject. A good read for sure. http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/article6_DW.asp Some other articles are not directly related to marketing per-se but do touch on some important things to understand when selling your services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hay Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 The "Selling Web Design Services Blog" by Andrew Neitlich at http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-view.php?blogid=14 has some awesome advice that is just as applicable to architectural illustrators as it is to web developers. This is the sort of professional, down-to-earth marketing advice you'd normally pay 1000's for. Brian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockley91 Posted January 27, 2005 Author Share Posted January 27, 2005 Thanks everyone! Good to hear all the good advice and personal stories! Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockley91 Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Another question..... I'm working on my business card. What do you all call yourselves? I was thinking about it and I thought putting "president" under my name sounds kind of silly.... What have any of you put down under your name? 3D Illustrator 3D Illustration Services 3D Visualization President Owner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 What do you all call yourselves? If you are incorporated, then I see no problem in calling yourself President, even if you are only one person at the moment. I am president of my one person corporation...I also have 1 million shares - wanna buy some? When I made my business cards I didn't put any title under my name, simply because I didn't want to try to make myself seem bigger or more important than I was. Now if I was to make more cards, I would probably add President, just because when you meet people for the first time, they don't know if you are working under somebody else, or if you are the big person in charge. I think Owner isn't bad either, but maybe not as official sounding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 And speaking of business cards, here is a pretty decent site to get your cards printed very inexpensively. http://www.psprint.com They don't offer a lot of options, but for $20 you can't go wrong. The hardest part is that you have to do your own cmyk conversion if doing color, & that is a pain the arse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockley91 Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 That's a good find for business cards! I think I might use them. I'm assuming you've had some business with them and your happy with how it turned out? I was using this company for my postcards and was going to use them for my business cards as well, but I might use the site you recommended. The price is pretty nice. http://www.mypostcardprinting.com As far as what I have right now for my business card, I'm just using my name. I'm doing this all by myself, so I guess it does sound a bit odd to put "President" down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 You could also consider using the Title Director (Director of visualization, Technical Director, Marketing director etc.) My new title is Technical director, becuase if would look ridiculous if I had 5 titles for all the things I am responsible for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockley91 Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Jeff, I like the sound of that...."Director"...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Denby Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 What's wrong with Visualiser or similar...that's what you do ! Director identifies your status within the Company, but not what your speciality is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 my official work title is 'visualization designer' ...it's a mouthful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Alexander Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Another question..... I'm working on my business card. What do you all call yourselves? I was thinking about it and I thought putting "president" under my name sounds kind of silly.... What have any of you put down under your name? 3D Illustrator 3D Illustration Services 3D Visualization President Owner If it sounds silly don't do it! If you don't believe it who will? If your card explains what it is you do- your function is kind of obvious and should stand on it's own. I'm CEO CFO President, secretary, director of sales & marketing, salesman, janitor, estimator, project coordinator, grunt.... nobody cares if they don't think you can do the work they need or may need. Direct calling- even with a good list it's still cold calling. Results are typically less than 1% (don't believe what you read, it tends to be the Ideal). Market saturation, demand, economy are all variables that the compiled lists can not be very accurate on due to change. AND don't ever forget that your approach as a "Salesman" (representative) of your services has more to do with response than the accuracy of the best list. For that matter how successful you will be. Cheers WDA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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