Here’s an idea to get some gigs

If you’re just starting out, or in a wee bit of a slump, here’s an idea to get some gigs on the project roster.

Look around. There’s no shortage of deficient design, foolish photography and wimpy writing. Use it to your advantage. Pick a niche. Maybe it’s an industry or a type of project. Either way, it should be something you’re interested in and can connect with. That just helps to make the job fun. Next, roll up the ‘ole sleeves and start doing your homework.  

Let’s say you do site design. Pick an industry and Google up some sites. Nab the contact info off the

ones you think could use some help. If you’ve been itching to do some package design, go shopping. Find some companies with bad box in your marketing area. Maybe you’d like to help out restaurants

suffering from menu malaise. Go out for lunch at some different places. Annual reports up your alley? No problem. Fire up Firefox and swing over to a site like annualreports.com. You can view reports online or have hard copies mailed to you. As luck would have it, they’re sorted by industry. How handy is that? 

Pretty soon, you’ll have a groovy list of potential prospects. Next, whip up a letter to introduce yourself and let them know you have some ideas for their report (or what ever you’d like to discuss) during a brief meeting. I like to use the word “ideas” in intro and sales letters. It tends to pique interest if they feel you may be able to provide a benefit that will help them. If you have a promo pack, CD or maybe a press kit, add it to you mailing. Some tear sheets, or better, a quick read case study or two about how you saved another client’s neck will help reinforce your case.  

Send off your package and follow up by phone a week or so later. Just because they didn’t scramble to call you (and some probably will) doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. If their stuff is that bad, they’re probably busy trying to get customers and keep their business afloat.  

Doing this accomplishes a few things. First, it gives you something to do to pass the time when you’re slow. It definitely beats playing Solitaire on your computer waiting for the phone to ring. Second, you’ll build a list of prospects who need what you find interesting. Working on stuff you enjoy is better than working a gig you hate. Finally, over time, it will help you build a reputation in a certain industry or for a type of project.

Is it time to give yourself a raise?

Rates are an often overlooked part of the four “Ps” of marketing – Product (or service), Price, Promotion and Place (distribution). But, they are also a big part of positioning. It’s similar to buying a car. You can buy an economy deal for a paltry price, or you can buy a cushy BMW. Both will get you where you want to go. It’s simply that one will get you there in a lot more style. BMWs are well-made cars, but the price also conveys a sense of quality and style that’s worth the price.

 

In the minds of your clients and prospects, your rates and fees can position you as a low-end pair of rented hands or a valuable, high-end project partner. A lot of it has to do with your own sense of value and worth.

Let me share a story to illustrate the point. I have two clients. One is a well-known designer with a high profile practice. He never went to art school, but is innately talented, has won loads of awards and attracts clients with deep pockets. He knows the value he brings to the table and is confident about what that value is worth. He can easily command thousands of dollars for a logo and his clients are happy to pay it.

The other is an excellent designer, but also one who’s just coming out of a divorce and overcame significant health problems. He had been charging a typical or “going rate” rate for the most part. He also had some clients who were charged a lot less, mostly because he felt he wouldn't win the gig if he charged more. We needed to run the numbers to see what he really needed to charge to cover his target salary, overhead and make a profit.

When we ran those numbers, we found, based on his specific situation, he needed to up his hourly rate by roughly $20/hr. He said to me, “Nobody’s going to pay me that!”

And therein lies the rub.

What this designer had been through on the personal side was effecting her sense of value on the business side. It happens to indie pros and it happens often. Lots of business consultants say you need to separate personal stuff from business stuff. That’s true, I believe, but only to a point. Sure, you should have separate bank accounts, phone lines and such. But, the reality is that when things are stressful on the personal side, it’s going to effect your business and can easily effect your sense of worth and value.

We had just done a promo mailing for him which brought in several new prospects. I suggested we use one as an experiment by quoting the new hourly rate. He was, shall I say, a wee bit doubtful but finally willing to give it a try. Off he went to the initial client meeting.

During the meeting, he presented his work, value proposition and held his ground. The result? A new client at a higher rate ... and the client didn’t so much as bat an eye when he quoted it. The designer had just given himself a $20/hr. raise. Not too shabby.

The moral of the story is to accurately calculate your rate so you know your making money. But, you also need to develop the courage and confidence to quote that rate. Then, seek out those prospects who understand the value you bring to their project and are able and willing to pay for it. That, in turn, means being selective about the prospects you woo and doing the background research to insure they can pay your hefty fees for your brilliant work.

Finding those prospects is the tricky part. Research the designers or writers they've worked with in the past. Can you get an idea what they charge? HOW Magazine has good article about rates in several geographic areas to help you get an idea. The Graphic Artists Guild's Pricing and Ethical Guidelines is also helpful. Another option is to simply ask around. Photographers, illustrators and writers may have a good idea what others charge. Some clients' might also tip their hand.

When thinking about your value, consider this. Prospects come to us because we have knowledge and experience they don’t possess. We can do something they can’t. It’s the same reason you hire an accountant, lawyer, financial advisor, plumber or mechanic.

Beyond this, consider the return your client gets for your labors. Let’s say you design a direct response package that yields a few million dollars for your client. Yet, you charged a fee of, say, $500. That’s pretty disproportionate. Maybe it’s a logo you did for a new company. They, in turn, skyrocket to fame. Your logo design suddenly becomes very valuable as their face before the public.

The story of Carolyn Davidson, designer of the Nike logo, is often cited. The story goes that she was paid just $35 the now famous mark. Actually, in September 1983, Nike co-founder, Phil Knight, gave Davidson a golden Swoosh ring with an embedded diamond and an envelope filled with 500 shares of Nike stock. At the time, the shares were worth around $8,000 and because Davidson never cashed out the shares, today they are worth shy of a million dollars.

You’re worth more than you may think. Don’t sell yourself short.

Drafting Dynamic Graphic Design Proposals: A step by step approach

Next to a portfolio, a well-thought out and written proposal is a creative's best selling tool. Maybe it's even better than a book (portfolio). Heck, if you do it right, you may not even need to lug your book around.

Proposal are also the cause of a great deal of anxiety for many creatives — especially those new to the industry. They're usually not on the list of most creative-related classes in school. But, fear not, oh ye creative brethren. I'm going to take you step-by-step and show you how it's put it together.

Before you can do a proposal, you'll need a few things. A client is a good start. A client with a peachy project and deep pockets is even better.

Step One
Sit down with your client and review the project. For a detailed questionnaire to jump start your interrogation, go to PandaDoc.com. They have a detailed template you can use directly or as a guide.

Step Two
Check out the competition and the audience. Fire up your browser and begin checking out competitive sites and review any material that's been supplied to you by your client. Where are the holes? What's good? What bad? Where can you position your client for maximum impact?

If applicable, make some phone calls to vendors and suppliers. Ask their perceptions about your client and some of their competitors. What do they like? What don't they like? From this you'll start to get a picture of the competitive environment. Write out your findings. If there's stuff the competition's doing better, don't be shy. Tell it like it is. Your client needs to know and you'll have the facts to back it up. 

Next, look at your audience. Who are talking to and what pushes their buttons? You can ask friends, family members and business associates that match the profile for their input and opinions. Cruise the net for forums where your audience may be hanging out. 

Oh yeah, the profile. It's a good idea to distill the audience down to a single, albeit fictitious, character. This "person" is the one you'll be persuading. You'll likely want their demographic info along with any other info you can gather such as color preferences, images that turn their crankshaft, web surfing habits, etc. You get the idea. 

Step Three
Okay, now you've got some ammo to play with and it's time to start playing Shakespeare. Typically, a proposal is divided into 10-13 categories:

1. Executive Summary
2. Current Situation
3. Project Goals
4. Competition
5. Audience
6. Creative Strategy
7. Process
8. Fees & Reimbursements
9. Billing & Schedule
10. Conclusion
11. Company Overview
12. Clients
13. Awards

Here's the info on each.

Executive Summary
The Executive Summary is a one or two page overview of the entire proposal. It's also the last part of the proposal you'll write. Clients will usually go here or to the budget first. It's your job to direct where they go and when during the presentation meeting. Flex those bulbous biceps in the meeting and keep control. You don't want to let the cat out of the bag too soon. 

Current Situation
This section is ... er ... your client's current situation. Like, duh! It's a recap of why they've called you in and what you learned in an initial meeting. This section will contain stuff like:

Although Client XYZ has a site in place, it is unfinished resulting in a poor visitor experience and erosion of the brand. The key issues are:

• Most links are not functional
• Overall design is outdated
• Top navigation area takes up too much screen real estate resulting in most content falling "below the fold."
• The splash page (homepage) is unnecessary
• The focus is on the company, rather than fulfilling the needs of the audience
• There are no meta tags in place for search engines to index resulting in poor, if any, search engine rankings
• The homepage is made entirely from graphics. Search engines require text in order to index pages and sites. 

Project Goals
 On the heels of the current situation are the project goals. What the heck are you trying to accomplish? Well, this should be a no-brainer. You simply restate what you learned during your initial interview. This is where any misunderstandings should crop up. It's better to address them now and not when you're 30 hours into the project and find you're totally off-base.  


Competition Here's where you're going regurgitate all the stuff you learned doing your competitive spying ... er ... research. You'll want to document what they're doing poorly as well as where they shine. 

Audience
This section is pretty much the same as the competition section. Spill your guts about who you're talking to, what's important to them and what motivates them. You'll want to either start or finish with a profile of a typical audience member — the person that reflects the entire audience.  

Creative Strategy 
 Here's where you'll strut your stuff — without doing any layouts or other creative work. The idea here is to explain what you plan to do — how you're doing to meet the project goals and make the audience drool, while scaring the heck out of the competition. All this while keeping within the budget and on schedule. Boy, are you good or what? 

Process
This is where you explain all the stuff you have to do to make your client the bee's knees in their industry. Detail each and every task you need to handle to get from the beginning to the end. It helps to justify those high fees you about to quote. 

Fees & Reimbursements 
This is the budget. The bottom line. Your meal ticket. List out every task and assign a dollar figure. Pretty straight forward. Some folks use Excel or Numbers, others simply list each task with a dollar amount.

Leave no stones, or tasks, upturned. Remember, the dough is much better off in your bank account than your clients. They'd just spend it on frivolous stuff like payroll, supplies and stuff. You'd spend it on meaningful things like a Mazarati, a trip to a balmy South Pacific island, or a Rolling Stones concert. You know ... the important things. 

Billing & Schedule 
This is the area where you'll lay out the production schedule along with how and when you get the moolah. Be sure to give yourself some breathing room. Always, always, always under-promise and over-deliver. If you do this, you'll always be the knight in shining armor. 

As a rule of thumb, add 20% to keep yourself covered. Things always take longer than you expect. You'll want to cover copyright issues here, too. What rights you'll be giving and what you'll retain. This includes a line that says you can use the work in your promotional efforts and include it in your portfolio. Reality check: Just because you did it, doesn't necessarily mean you can show it in all cases. 

Conclusion 
This is the first cousin to the Executive Summary. It should be a recap of what you're going to do and why your client was utterly brilliant in choosing you over your competition.  

Company Overview, Clients & Awards
This final section is where you'll talk about your business' background, who you do work for, awards you've won, etc. It's the final section where you lay it on thick. Here's where all your experience comes to a head and shows the client that you're the right person for the job. You may want to include some current client testimonials to back up your ego-centric ramblings. 

And there you have it. Piece of cake, no? Follow this prescription and you'll be whipping out professional proposals that will meet or beat your competition, every time. Be sure you create a nifty cover and table of contents. Shoot your tome over to Kinkos or similar place and have it coil-bound with a nice cover and backing. You're potential client will be bowled over and you'll be smilin.’