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  1 0 Thanks for the question! Can you give me an idea of what audience you are looking to target? Dan Williams answered in Un/Employment about 1 year ago | Report 4 comments by rgill, EricaT, and Dan Williams… 0 0 Sure. It's mostly small to mid-size, growing, and local businesses, who need branding work for new products and are focused on sustainability (farms, green dry cleaners, green engineering firms, green printers). rgill commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 First, I would break that into two target audiences: one that is "small to mid-size, growing, and local businesses" and one that is "new products and are focused on sustainability". Then I would find out if there are any list serves, meet ups, etc. where you might be able to network with people who are interested in those two topics. Start a blog and post stories that are about current trends or great advice related to marketing / sustainability, but not articles about your business so that you can be considered a subject matter expert. Also focus on making it easy for people you have worked with to refer you to friends by making sure you are "google-able", that they have your business card and actually let them know you welcome referrals. EricaT commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 All of EricaT's suggestions are good and very much in line with what I would suggest. I would also add looking into partnering with other local businesses that work in the sustainable agriculture and green sectors. Farmer's Market Associations, consumer co-ops, local food publications, and such would be a good start. A lot of these organizations already work with the people you meeting and networking or suggesting a mutually beneficial partnership could help you get access to those folks. Basically it all comes down to networking. Dan Williams commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 All great recommendations here! I wrote a long answer below that essentially says much of what EricaT and Dan said, before I saw these comments. Michelle Goodman commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 0 I agree with Dan; it would help to know what specific audience you're targeting. For the sake of argument, though, let's pretend you focus on design/marketing/branding for the local medical community (doctors, hospitals, and perhaps some insurance providers or alternative health care providers). I'm not a fan of pricy ads. Fortunately the web offers many inexpensive alternatives: you can create a targeted Facebook ad, you can advertise in the digital newsletter of a regional medical association, you can buy an ad on a website your target audience frequents. Ads are not your only option of course. And they're not necessarily your best option. Going back to my hypothetical example, if you're not well-known in the local medical community, there's a lot you can do to get there. Start frequenting industry luncheons hosted by your professional association of choice. Start a blog or a Twitter feed that offers design/branding advice aimed at medical professionals and promote it through online industry channels. Get to know people who WRITE for medical professionals; their clients may need a designer at some point. (Better yet, team up with them to land clients.) Get connected with medical professionals and other freelancers on LinkedIn. While you're at it, answer some questions on LinkedIn to show off your expertise. For better or worse, the more connected you are, the more recommendations and work you're going to get. (The fact that it's STILL all about who you know in this day and age tickles my analog heart.) Clients who needed a website or brochure redesigned yesterday don't want to spend a lot of time interviewing freelance designers/marketers -- they just want to collect recommendations of qualified folks from trusted colleagues in their network. Do your best to be a part of as many relevant networks as you can and you'll never go hungry. Michelle Goodman answered in Un/Employment about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by rgill… 0 0 Thank you everyone for the helpful responses, I really appreciate it! rgill commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  0 0 What you do has to be focused on the results it can deliver to the bottom line. There are now a plethora of "self-serve" options online and the idea that branding/graphic design has some inherent valuable but not "value-able" impact is out the window. You have to show that you can improve their business by A: reducing their costs or B: increasing their revenue and do one or both better than they can do themselves. Westside forever answered in Un/Employment about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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