4. Position yourself in the market through price.
Price is an issue a lot of people struggle to deal with professionally. If you’re not comfortable dealing with pricing issues, you tend to hide the subject until you’ve wasted a lot of time with the wrong customers. It’s understandable because the price you charge is directly related to the very personal work you are creating. And we tend to link our work to our own sense of self worth.
But you can get a lot of those issues out of the way by facing the issue of pricing head on, being confident in your value and sticking to your guns. There are also a lot of buyers who prefer to see right up front whether you are in the right price bracket for them.
Remember, everyone is afraid of the unknown, especially your customers. And the last thing you want is to be competing on having the lowest price. Those are not the customers you need to be wasting time with.
In any market there are budget options. Midrange options and premium options. You need to have a simple, clear statement that positions you in your market and explains why your pricing is perfect for the type of customers you want to attract. And those must be customers who can afford to pay you for the actual time it takes you to make and promote your services. You need to be profitable, so do not underprice. Aim for companies who can afford you.
Action: Create a 3 line pitch that positions you in the market at “just the right price”. For example…
a) There are low cost “competition” websites where illustration students and oversees designers compete for your work, whilst the pricing can be low, quality, reliability and professionalism are usually low as well.
b) There are international creative agencies where you can access the talent of 1000 creative minds, as long as you have an annual advertising spend in the millions.
c) And then there’s me, exclusively focused on solving your challenges with original work, reliably delivered on time, for projects like $3000 murals, $4000 exhibition packages, $10000 major event branding.
5. Let customers take a peek behind the curtain.
Your About page features a 3 minute video that does a fantastic job of showing people who you really are and why you are in this business.
Remember, all clients and customers are scared of the unknown, so the more you can let them in, the less afraid they will be and the more they will trust you. Even though it could be refined a little, this video provides a great template to make more of the same, featuring different examples of your existing work. Just repeat the formula from that video…
- Focus on one particular client or piece of work per video.
- Give a peak into your process and the work that went into it.
- Talk briefly about why you were passionate and got excited about that particular project.
- Give an insight into how long the process took (This will help justify pricing).
- Mention how great your client was and maybe how relevant their message or product is. (The client might also promote your video).
You only need a sentence or two for each of those questions but it can make all the difference to making your potential customers feel relaxed about working with you.
Action: Do more video’s just like this. Use them as the centre piece of more detailed case studies of your past customers…
6. Case studies are your business.
Following on from the last point about video case studies, there’s a lot of additional information you can compile on previous clients to create a series of full case studies. Nothing will sell your work better than previous happy customers.
Shift how you think about your work. Treat the whole process as if the real goal is not just to get paid, but to have your client become your sales force, giving you the recommendation and confidence you need to win your next job.
You’re already almost there, you have some images, some video, some testimonials. Just put them all together as individual case studies and turn up the volume.
Action: For each client, or individual piece of work, create a separate page. Include the short video you’re going to make. Include larger images of the clients logo’s. Include the brief (with their permission) explain the problem they had and how you solved it. Include larger images of the process and end product. Include details of the research you did and time it took. Include press clippings or quotes about how successful the campaign or event was and feature the testimonials from as many members of the client’s team as you can muster.
7. After you’ve built assets, put them to work for you.
Case studies, videos, testimonials, are all assets to be used. Don’t just let them sit there on your website and expect people to email you, they won’t. There is nothing people underestimate more than how active they need to be in promoting their work. But because promotion involves the possibility of rejection, it’s the one thing people most want to avoid.
That’s why case studies make such excellent assets for you to use. You’re not going out there making wild claims about magical potions. You’re showing people how you solved real problems using your valuable skills and how your previous customers were delighted.
And even if you’re only starting with one case study, from one delighted customer, and even if you did the work for free, that’s a solid foundation you can stand on and be confident in. If a prospect says no, or worse just ignores you, all it means, is that you aren’t the right fit for them, right now. It’s not a personal attack on your validity as a human being.
So start with your existing clients and make a list of all the other people out there who might be suffering the same problems as the ones you solved for your clients. If you did work for one event, see what other events are coming up in the future. Contact event organisers. Contact the people who make the banners. And the car graphics. You’ve painted store fronts, so contact shop fitters and architects and interior designers. Focus especially on those agents and middle men who get a steady stream of similar work from a variety of clients. Emphasise your professionalism and make it worth their while to send business your way.
Action: Put your case studies to work for you. Start building a simple spreadsheet of companies or agents who have problems you’ve proven you can solve, and start sending them proof of your value on a regular basis. Make your first goal the most relevant 100 people in your niche. Aim to contact each of them no less than seven times. That’s at least once a week for seven weeks. Don’t even think of deviating from the plan until after that time.