|
With all due respect, I will disagree with your advice to a large degree. I've tried what you are suggesting, literally for years. No success, and it's not for lack of talent or skill on my part, aesthetically speaking. In my local area (I've lived several places), there is so much competition for the "small jobs", and so few local small businesses that actually care about the value of amazing design (or who can afford to pay the fees needed for a designer to actually be in business) - no matter how much you try to educate them - that it's really not worth it to go after such small fish. If I'm going to spend my time and effort educating potential clients on the value of and need for branding, I want it to be on those businesses that 1) have growth potential, 2) are at the beginning stages of their lives, when the need is greatest and 3) run by people who have the greatest probability of "getting it", i.e., actually able to comprehend that there is a value to excellent, well-thought-out creativity and that sometimes that value justifies a little bit higher price than $99. Joe's Body Shop or Jim's Plumbing or Karen's Flower Shop or Martha's Nail Salon are frankly not an adequate target audience for most designers who aspire to make some major impact, and in most cities those kind of businesses are at least 50% of small business (excluding national franchises/chain operations which dominate in many cities). They are perfectly content to have their name plastered on the side of their truck and leave it at that. I want to create solutions for businesses that are a little bit more meaningful. Once I do a couple of those, I think the word of mouth will build from there. And maybe some of these other kinds of businesses will see what I do, and that it's awesome, and that it has the potential to help drive revenue by helping build respect and credibility with the public, and those businesses will then try to convince ME that their business is worth MY time, instead of the other way around. I am encouraged by my self-promo efforts so far, but I'm always looking for ideas from people who have a knowledge of the startup scene. |