Branding Agency Needs More Clients

[stanley ilenda]

Hey, I'm Stanley and I run IKFDesign.com

We love designing Logo's, Websites and the overall Branding for business.

I'm struggling to find start ups to work with, any advice on how to find more clients.

 

[Gecko001]

YouTube videos perhaps.

 

[Scribe Copywriting]

Congrats on the startup Stanley!

I started out by cold-calling businesses with a 30 day free trial offer, which basically said "Try what I do for you for 30 days -- if you want to keep using the work at the end, you pay my bill and give me a reference, and if you don't, you agree to stop using my content, and you don't have to pay me anything."

It's a painful way to start -- you'll work twice as hard, you'll see no money for 30-90 days (depending on your invoice terms). Some people will take advantage of you, too.

On the plus side, what a 30 day trial offer does is it gets the ball rolling, and it puts you in control of your client list from day one. You'll also be pleasantly surprised at how honourable most people are when it comes to paying. Just make sure you put an expiry date on the offer.

 

[fisicx]

I'm struggling to find start ups to work with, any advice on how to find more clients.

Advertising, cold calling, billboards, referrals, paying for leads...

There are loads of way to market your services. Most of them mean being proactive and going to them rather than waiting for them to come to you.

 

[stanley ilenda]

Ok thanks for the advice, I have will start reaching out more.

 

[Chris Pearson]

Its very low income but consider using Fiverr.... Lots of people doing logo design and is very low end at £5 per logo but might provide an "in" to a company to provide other branding advice.

If you have a website you can always try advertising on google or search engine optimisation but its a very competitive space so would likely be quite expensive. (Its what my company does so reach out if you want a free audit of your website)

 

[ssasoft]

i think you should approach starting level business in your area.

 

[Paul Murray]

£5 per logo but might provide an "in" to a company to provide other branding advice.

I can almost guarantee it won't. £5 is less than minimum wage, and any client that thinks £5 is a suitable price for their brand identity is definitely not going to pay £500 – £5000 in future for other work. It's a waste of time trying.

@stanley ilenda think like a start-up, where could they look for a designer. Would they search Google? Go to design forums? Post on their social media? You might find a fair few on job sites but the budgets will be tiny for the work required.There's a lot of competition there too, you should focus on getting in front of potential clients or making yourself prominent.

Design is a very competitive field, and you'll often be up against larger, established agencies who dominate search results. If you're not an agency with multiple staff members (i.e. it's just you) then market yourself as just a single designer. This way you're not competing with the bigger studios for work and you can target people actually looking for a single designer.

The majority of my clients prefer to work with me rather than agencies because I'm cheaper, faster and more flexible. They know they can pick up the phone and speak to me straight away. Start-ups need to grow fast so being able to work with a fast, adaptable designer is almost essential for quick turnaround times.

You should also make your work easier to find on your site, ideally on the home page. 'Clients' is not very descriptive anchor and it took me a while to find examples.