Category : Marketing

in Business, Marketing

How to Combine Print and Online Marketing

I recently gave a presentation at my local Meetup group, The North Georgia Entrepreneurs Group about how to combine online and print advertising. I thought I would share some of my notes, resources, and ideas on the matter for you guys here on the blog.

Is print marketing dead?

We here it all the time that print is dead. But what does that really mean for us as freelancers? Obviously this is a big deal for industries that have relied on print for such a long time. News, magazines, and direct mail marketing are all industries that need to find a way to adapt in order to survive. This isn’t new information and something many of us have been saying for a long time. But, have you ever stopped to think about how this effects the little guy?

I am under the belief that as print “dies” it will actually become more popular. As the use of print fades, it will actually become more of a novelty and thus attract more attention when used.

Think about it, its always the fads that die out ad then come back that seem to get the most attention.

Why still use print media for marketing and advertising?

Wither you want to admit it or not, there will always be a place for print advertising. However, it will never be as important as it once was. Odds are, there will always be a need for business cards, postcard flyers, and other simple print related products. Even if there isn’t always a need for these items, you will always have people who prefer them to the digital format, or in addition to it.

Another thing to remember about printed materials is that some industry call for them a lot more than others. Some industries have a much greater need for printed materials and probably always will. Places like restaurants, photographers, and artists will always have a need for these things.

What online marketing is best for me?

There are 1001+ books, websites, blogs, and podcasts out there to answer this question. I will however, speak from my own experience as a designer on how I have used online marketing. Obviously I use a blog and vidcasts as a marketing tool to help build up my brand. This is something everyone should be doing in some shape form or fashion. I’m not suggesting you go out and create a “me too” type design blog, but rather one that your clients can look at and see you as a professional based on what you have to say.

I also use some online advertising to help drive traffic to my business websites. I do a little direct advertising on websites who visitors are likely to need a website design. Places to like blogging blogs, niche business websites, and other similar areas. I also occasionally use Google Adsense when I first launch a new site to test out its content and layout.

How do I combine the print and online marketing?

Now this is the true $100,000 question isn’t it? The truth is, there is no real easy way to track the ROI of print advertising for your online business. There are a number of techniques you can do to help give you a better picture of the success of print marketing, but it is still really nothing more than a guess. Below I will outline a few various ways you can use printed materials to help drive traffic to your company website:

1. Turn Your Business Card Into a Coupon
If you are like many small business owners, you give out or leave your business card with almost every person you come in contact with. While the traditional business card is a business staple, many people underestimate its value as a marketing tool. Yes, having your contact information on it is important, but is that really enough to get people to visit your website? Why not turn your business card into a coupon? Adding a simple line that says, “redeem this card for a free social media strategy consultation” is a lot more likely to get people to contact you.

2. Create a Synergy Between Your Print and Online Image
Many designers already know that keeping a cohesive look between ads, website, and marketing materials is important. But, you would be pretty surprised ( or maybe you wont!) at how many small business owners aren’t aware of just how important this is. Using your logo on all your materials is not enough to create a cohesive look. You need to make sure things like colors, fonts, photos, logos, all match up. You don’t want someone thinking they went to the wrong website because it looks nothing like the flyer they have do you?

3. Create a Custom Landing Page for Printed Materials
First, let me say that this is not the same thing as creating a custom URL to try to track ROI from printed materials. Adding a www.mysite.com/nytimes url to your ad the auto redirects to your homepage is a fools attempt to track conversions. The majority of people out there, even the dumbest ones, are smart enough to know they don’t need to type that into the browser. What you need to do is create a landing page that is specific to your printed material and that persuades them to visit that url directly. For example, say your are a wedding photographer, you could create a custom landing page with a contest for seniors to get a free 8×10 print. In this instance, people are a lot more likely to visit the contest url before the root url, thus helping you track your ROI from printed materials.

4. The Power of Curiosity
Many small business owners are afraid of this tactic, but many could greatly profit from it. That said, this idea won’ work for everyone. The idea here is to say as little about your business as possible. For example, if you were a designer, try only printing your website url on the card. Obviously you can’t really track this method, but it is still worth while. Many people will be intrigued at what you do and want to see what you are all about. On a side not though, you need to have a somewhat descriptive url for this to work well.

5. Drive Traffic from Your Website to Your Printed Material
Say what?!? How does this work you are probably asking yourself. This is another tactic that requires a little more work, but one that could work very well for the right business and industry. The idea here is to make your customers have to do some work to be able some sort of discount or special from you. One idea here is to blog about a special on your website. Then tell your readers in order to get it, they must find your “secret flyer” at local downtown retailer. If launched correctly, this could lead to a nice little viral marketing campaign.

in Business, Marketing, Video Posts

Episode 21 – The Importance of Interface Design

We all know that slick interface designs are pretty to look at. Personally, I ogle over them like the centerfold in a mens magazine. Is that weird? The more sleek and intuitive the design, the more I am drawn to it. Obviously, one of the results of good interface design is usability. Give me an app that looks pretty and works the way I expect it to and I am sold. Where do I pay?

I’m sure none of you will argue with the general statements above. Well, maybe the one about the mens magazines, but you know what I mean. So we all enjoy applications that work intuitively and and look pretty, but how important is good interface design to the overall succes of an application?

I say very.

I don’t just think that good interface design is important just from a usability point of view. I think it is important from a marketing and business point of view as well. It seems to me that your application ( assuming you make multiple ones ) should be an extension of your brand. I should be able to look at an apps interface and know who designed it. Obviously the general public (i.e. non designers/developers) may not be able to do this, but that doesn’t mean its not important. If you want a good example of companies that do just this, check out:

One thing that I think that many app developers underestimate is the value of a good looking design. Just because the application is usable, doesn’t mean that it looks good. I have played with ( and lost interest in ) plenty of apps that worked well usability wise, but just were not pretty. Maybe I’m a design snob, but an app is so much more fun to use when it looks pretty. I am not the only one who feels this way, which is why application developers need to pay more attention to the design process. I can’t tell you how many times I have bought an iPhone app just because it looked pretty. I have at least a dozen apps that I almost never use, but bought because they look pretty.

What do you guys think about this?

in Marketing, Video Posts

Episode 15 – How to Review Your Portfolio

Last week I talked a little bit about the importance of joining social media design sites like Behance and such. This got me thinking abut how to decide what work to put up on these sites. After all, if the point in joining these sort of sites is to get more work, it only makes sense that you should only post your best work on them.

That seems easy enough.

But, if you are anything like me, you constantly seem less than impressed by work you have done in the past. I’m always improving my skills as a designer, so I tend to look at my older work as sub par. No matter how good I may have thought the design was at the time, in retrospect I hate it.

That isn’t to say its a bad design now, I just seem to see all the flaws in it and how better it could be if I were to redesign the site today. So, how do you get over this dilemma?

The first place to start is just post what you think is the best of your worse work. The other is to poll random people or fellow designers. By polling non-creative types you can get a sense of what work of yours potential customers may be impressed with. By asking fellow designers, you are getting creative feedback that could help you improve your skills over time. Getting feedback from designers who you respect can really help you step up your game and become a better designer.

Portfolio Review Resources

Sometimes it is a lot harder than one might think to get feedback on their design. Lucky for us, in this digital age, there are a number of sites that can provide you with feedback on your design. It is important to note that you should take any feedback you get on your design on these sites with a grain of salt. There is no telling the skill level of a person based on their feedback. I mean, do you really want to take the advice of someone who designs things in MS Paint? Ok, maybe that’s a stretch, but you get the idea.

conceptConcept Feedback
Concept Feedback is a nice site that practically guarantees you will receive feedback on your design within a day or two of posting. It’s a great place to hear what other creatives think about your work.



designcritiqueDesign Critique
Uses Twitter as a tool to get reviews for your site or design. Seems ok, but reviews are limited to 145 characters.



feedbackarmyFeedback Army
This website cost money, but is pretty affordable. It is more based on usability, but seeing as how usability and good design go hand and hand, it seems like the site could be worthwhile.

How to Self Review

If for whatever reason you don’t want a public review of your portfolio or just can’t get any decent feedback, don’t fret. Self evaluation of your portfolio isn’t terribly complicated. I usually just ask myself a few questions when deciding what work to publish in my portfolio and online networks.

1. Does this design showcase my skills? – Ok, this one is kind of a given, but it’s still important. Don’t just add stuff to your portfolio for the sake of filling it up. Less is more in this case. It seems to me that 3 amazing designs are far better than 10+ sub-par designs.

2. What does the live version of this site look like? – Double check that your clients are still using your theme or that they haven’t broke it. If a would be client visits a site in your portfolio and its all jacked up thanks to your idiot client, it could reflect badly on you.

3. Is this a big name client? – A big name client can do wonders for your portfolio. Even if it’s a sub-par design, most people will overlook that aspect and just be impressed that so and so thought you were good enough to work with.

4. Do I want more work like this? – I think it is important to show off websites you enjoyed working on. For one, this will show through in the design. Second, it could lead to more similar work. Why not try to get jobs you actually like?

5. Does this design need explanation? – Sometimes a design can just need an explanation. Not because its a bad design, but some circumstances just call for it. These sort of designs probably aren’t the best ones to add to your portfolio.

in Business, Clients, Freelancing, Marketing, Video Posts

Talking Shop – Working with Bigger Clients

This video is a little late, as it was supposed to come out before the post “Who Else Wants Higher Paying Clients“, but it took forever to get uploaded. Anyways, in this video I talk a little bit more in depth about certain aspects that I cover in the article linked above.

Talking Shop – Working with Bigger Clients from Danny Outlaw on Vimeo.

If you haven’t checked out the article Who Else Wants Higher Paying Clients, I highly suggest you do. It has some very in depth advice and tips on how to land higher paying clients and bigger projects. The article isn’t a bunch of fluff and theory, but things that I have learned from my own experiences.

in Business, Clients, Marketing

How Weed Increased My Web Design Business

shutterstock_32620222While there is plenty of money to be made in the drug world dime bags and QPs, I’m not suggesting you add these to your list of services.  What I am suggesting is a clever business idea I picked up while watching the hit HBO series, Weeds.

If you are unfamiliar with the show Weeds, here is a description from Yahoo TV;

“A widowed suburban mother determinedly keeps up appearances in her idyllic community, whose residents remain oblivious to the fact that she’s the source of the high-quality marijuana that’s suddenly flooded the neighborhood. In Season 2, Nancy evolved into a true business woman from her humble beginnings as a dealer. She struggled to meet her obligations to her family and her new found “career.” Her questionable choices continued to play havoc with her life. Last season, viewers saw Nancy venture from hesitant but determined toe-dipper in the unpredictable waters of drug dealing to confident, full-fledged queen-pin entrepreneur.”

What I learned from the Show

There is an episode in the series in which the main characters accountant mentions that he canvas college bulletin boards for things like small business clubs and entrepreneur groups. He then makes arrangements tos peak at these clubs and meetings, upon which his lectures are designed to confuse the hell out of people when it comes to taxes and accounting. He then passes his business card around and the “deer in headlights” members come asking for his help.

Now I’m not suggesting that you find some similar groups and confuse the hell out of them when it comes to web design or graphics, but speaking at these sort of events can lead some decent work. Places like the Small Business Development Center and other small business association usually have work shops and guest speakers on a regular basis. If you don’t have a fear of public speaking, these organizations can be a great way to drum up business.

How to Find Small Business Clubs and Associations

If you are interested in trying out this networking technique, there a number of places where you can start looking for clubs and associations in your area.

Colleges
As mentioned above, colleges can be a great place to start looking for these sorts of clubs. You can always try out the college website first. Sometimes these websites are more geared toward recruiting new students then promoting campus activities. If you can’t find any information about clubs on their website, you can always try calling student services. These people will generally be able to anwser any questions you have about clubs, or at least point you in the right direction.

SBDC
The Small Business Development Center has locations all over the US. You can check out their website to find a location near you. You can also look at their calendar of events to see what sort of workshops and lectures they provide. After you are a little more familiar with what your local SBDC offers, try contacting them and pitching a lecture about the importance of web design or something similar. They are likely to jump at the offer and set something up right away.

Meetup.com
Another place that I have found useful in finding local small business groups in my area is a website called Meetup. This website is full of homemade groups in your area. Some of them can be as broad as “Small Business Owners of City Name.” Some can be even more specific if you are into niche work like “Bloggers of City Name.” These groups tend to meet once a month or more usually have a guest speaker or specific topic they talk about. If you contact the group founder, it is highly likely that you can arrange some sort of design specific topic night.

Final Thoughts

Do any of you have any experience with doing this sort of thing to driver business or just educate fellow entrepreneurs in your area? Im sure your fellow readers would love to hear your experience and how they worked out for you in the end. If you have any stories regarding this topic, please share it in the comments section below.

The image for this article was purchased from Shutterstock

in Business, Freelancing, Marketing

How to Hire a Sales Person for Your Freelance Business

freelance-salespersonFor many freelancers out there, one of the hardest parts about staying business for yourself is actually finding business. Some of us are lucky enough to have a fairly steady stream of clients, but for many, the freelance path tends to be famine or feast. If this has ever happened to you, you know exactly what I mean. You either have more jobs than you can handle, or can’t get a job to save your life.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a part time sales person working the internet and local business trying to drum up business for you? I know what you are thinking; that sounds great, but there is no way I could afford something like that.

Don’t be such a negative Nancy! How much thought have you actually put into what it would take to hire a sales person? I am actually in the process of doing this myself, so I thought I would share with you my experiences.

How can I afford this?

There are probably a number of ways that you can make this work financially, but I am going to talk mostly about the two options I have been brain storming. These two options include a commission based sales person and a hourly paid sales person. Obviously there are pros and cons to each, which I will go over later in this post. I want to stress that they hourly position shouldn’t be overlooked, as it might not be as expensive as you think.

Commission Based Sales Person

For obvious reasons, the commission based sales person would be many freelancers first choice if they were to hire someone. And why wouldn’t it be? This is a low risk option with the potential for high gains. Before we dive into the details of this, lets first cover some of the cons to commission based sales people.

One of the major drawbacks to commission based sales is that you run the risk of your sales person being too pushy. Because thier paycheck depends on how many sales they bring in, they may become overbearing to would be clients when they are having a bad week. This is a personality trait you’ll have to keep in mind when hiring a sales person. One way that you can overcome this problem is to hire a sales person who already has a decent paying job and get them to only work three days a week. This will help reduce the stress of having to make extra sales to make ends meet.

Another important factor that can be negative in commission based sales and shouldn’t be overlooked is the bad client. Because your sales person should be paid at the end of a completed project, what happens if your sales person get you a client who leaves half way through the job or decides not to pay? While this isn’t exactly a negative to hiring a sales person, it is something that needs to be addressed for this type of sales person.

On the plus side, because a commission sales person earns money per sale, they can be a lot more driven to acquire sales. If all of the factors are in place; good commission, great sales person, and quality marketing materials, a sales person can do wonder for increasing your business.

If you are going to go this route, my advice would be to first hire a commission based sales person on a three month, three day a week, trial period. This way, if they aren’t working out for you, you have an easy out. The three day work week can vary depending on how you do business and what sort of work you are trying to drum up. You can have them do cold calling from the office, find jobs online for you, email past inquiries, or go door to door around town. I think it would also be beneficial to let the sales person know that if they wanted to work on their own on their off days that that would be acceptable, but not required.

Hourly Based Sales Person

Hiring an hourly sales person can seem like a daunting task to a mere freelancer. Just the thought of having to pay someone else pay check from your own sales is enough to make one throw out the idea immediately. Think about it this way though, if your sales person works out well, they should be able to pay for themselves in just a few sales each week. Therefore, the end result is higher profits with only a slightly higher cost involved in getting them.

While there are a number of cons associated with hiring a hourly sales person, I just want to talk about the one I find the most important. The one important thing to keeping mind when hiring an hourly sales person is that you are obligated to pay them regardless of how well sales are doing. Just because you had a bad week and didn’t get many sales, doesn’t mean you can decide to not pay your sales person. You will be responsible for someones meal ticket now, be sure you can handle that responsibility.

One suggestion that I have for hiring a hourly sales person is to first save up three months worth of pay before you actually hire them. This way, during your three month trial period you can see if the sales person will actually be able to pay for them self and make you money. If they end up bringing in a god bit of extra sales, then you will know you can afford them and then worry about all of the other legalities that go along with hiring a staff member.

Your Thoughts

Have any of you ever hired a sales person? If so, where did you find them? Was it a friend or family member, or someone you hired online? How did this work out for you?

Let us know about your experiences so we can learn from them. Leave a comment below.