The Art of Business: Low-Budget Self-Promotion

Eric J. Adams

I’ve yet to meet a creative professional who loves to get out there and self-promote. I understand. It’s really not much fun, but neither is sitting in your office without a billable hour in sight. Here’s the good news: Self-promotion doesn’t have to be difficult or distasteful, and it certainly doesn’t have to be expensive. The following pointers will take you far.

• Devise a plan that makes sense for you. It’s courting failure to think you’ll go on a self-promotion blitz if that’s not possible due to your personality or time restraints. A self-promotion plan is a lot like a diet — better to create one that you can live with for a long time than a crash course.
• You’re always in self-promotion mode. It’s not a once-a-month thing. You should promote yourself all the time, with everyone you meet, every phone call, every chance you get. That doesn’t mean you have to be pushy or loud, just let people know what you do and how excited you are about doing it.
• Whatever you do to promote yourself, know exactly what your purpose is and why you’re taking the action. Create focused goals and realize that you need to provide a benefit (or solution) to everyone you connect with in the business.
• Think outside the box. If you’re marketing yourself the same way you always have, it’s time for a change.

Specific Tactics
Now, some tried and true methods to pump up the promotion volume.
 

• Talk to your clients.

Many things in business have changed, but the 80/20 rule still applies: Eighty percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your clients. Your best prospects for new work are with the clients you already have.

Call your clients and ask what projects might be on the back burner or what’s coming down the pike. Ask questions, offer helpful insights, and make sure to relay your availability. No hard sell here, just a “Call me when you’re ready.”
Pay your clients a personal visit. Even in our world of email and virtual white boards, a personal visit remains the most powerful relationship-builder. If you’re in the town of even a minor client, make arrangements to stop by to say hello and shake a hand. That’s how salesmen get insignificant customers to become significant ones.
 

• Ask for referrals.

Most new business for creative professionals comes from referrals, so it makes sense that most of your new-business promotional efforts should be directed toward building a referral business.
 
The best way is simply to ask for referrals from your clients, friends, vendors, and those in associated professions. Ask questions such as “I’m looking to expand my business, do you know anyone looking for my type of services?” or “If you run across someone looking for my type of services, please feel free to drop my name.” Offer to reciprocate and do reciprocate whenever you can.
 

• Play the networking game.

The list of networking possibilities online and off is long. You may already attend meetings at local ad clubs and graphic arts groups. There are also software-based user groups. Don’t overlook Chamber of Commerce meetings and other business gatherings. And of course, there’s the trade show circuit where many a contact can be made often serendipitously.
 
Online, get back on those graphic arts and marketing bulletin boards and poke around boards specific to the industries you work in regularly. Add your two cents to discussion threads — you’ll be amazed at the conversations you can strike up. You can network even more proactively by teaching seminars and workshops.
Even though it’s unlikely that potential clients will come to your classes, just having your name in course catalogs can help. And teaching adds a certain legitimacy to your resume that can be helpful.
Networking is not a selfish technique. It’s a two-way street. You can be a friend simply by clipping articles of interest and sending them to people you know. Call people out of the blue when something reminds you of them. Give genuinely to the people you know, and good things will come back to you.
 

• Make Warm Calls.

It’s a rare creative pro who likes to make unsolicited telephone calls, but to get prospects, sometimes you have to do some prospecting. Remember life as a newbie? You had to make cold telephone calls. Luckily, once you’ve been in business for some time, cold calling turns into warm calling.
 
So fire up your contact-management software and start calling people, beginning with former clients. Strike up a conversation, and don’t be afraid to ask for referrals, even casual referrals. Then follow up on those as well. Check your local paper for news of companies expanding or moving into the area. Keep your ear to the ground and call whenever a possibility emerges.
Warm calling can be tedious and time consuming. But if one warm call nets you a new client, your efforts will have been worthwhile.
 

• Work the publicity machine.

It’s pretty easy to get a mention in your hometown paper. Draw up a short press release to announce a new service, award, or contract. Throw in a picture, and chances are you’ll see yourself on the local business page.
 
For a wider reach, try trade magazines and newsletters, which are always looking for contributors. Declare yourself an expert and write an article about design, photography, marketing, or whatever your expertise is. (Just make sure your topic relates to the publication’s field of interest.) Even if you write for free, you’ll have another piece for your portfolio that shows you’re more than just an artist. Publicity begets publicity and before you know it, you might have journalists calling you for interviews.
All of these suggestions cost next to nothing, but they do take time and commitment. However, several of the techniques are self-perpetuating, so the more you succeed, the less work promotion will be.