Advertising your services...

theshoefairy

I am currently a Graphics Student but I have actually been studying and practicing it for years now so I feel I have quite a bit of experience. What I would actually like to do is target small/new businesses who might not be able to afford to spend too much on logo/stationery designs. This would be great for me as it would be a way of earning and also expanding my portfolio and getting some of my work "out there".

I have been using LogoDesignGuru for a few weeks and recently earned $400=£250 for a logo design for a company in America. The trouble with this site is that there are a lot of applicants so competition is tough.

Does anyone have any advice as to where I can advertise online? I also thought about designing my own business cards and putting them around but apart from putting them in shop windows, I don't really know what else to do with them.

Any advice would be great!

ilovethecomps

Have you thought about setting up your own website (online portfolio)? At the very least you could set up a blog, and share your creations with the world!

To get your name out there, you could try approaching local companies and offering your services for free. Obviously this won't help generate income in the short term, but you may benefit in the long run once you've got some contacts etc.

Another free ad medium would be Twitter, you could follow local businesses, build a rapport with them and tempt them with a free (or low cost) logo design etc.

pitkin2020

Post number #2 mentioned some great ideas like blogs, twitter, website etc. Don't offer your services for free it won't help you, yes people will say they will recommend you to everyone but your soon forgotten. Doesn't mean you can't offer them a great design that you have already taken the time to do already at a great price. I have picked up several jobs when I started by doing van redesigns for people, showed them a great design and offered a good price, Thats sign making not just graphic design though). A lot of people already up and running with a poorly designed logo don't know its as bad as it is, so show them an alternative.

Plenty of free advertising online but don't forget your local papers/yell.com etc. If you can set up websites that would be good because you offer the whole package then, if not get in with some local web designers so you can still offer the who package!!

Get plenty of samples in to show people business cards and stationary so they can touch and feel it.

Other than that its a case of just getting out there and approaching businesses you think would be in need of your service.

alexdrans

I am actually looking to get a logo designed! Although £250 is way over my budget.

bingo_bango

Lots of students doing logo design for around £10.

Brother got one done for a rebrand of his business last year for £9.99 on ebay. Quality is extremely good, and full copyright / all required files passed over to client as part of the price.

OP, If I was in your shoes, I'd be looking to push the print media aspect and offer logo design as part of that service. A logo is fairly strightforward for anyone with a copy of Photoshop to knock up, but if a client wants business cards, letterheads etc, then the average bedroom dabbler is going to struggle to produce anything meaningful.

It's a cutthroat business at the moment, so research all aspects carefully before committing yourself to just one line of income.

pitkin2020

Yeah thats why the industry has gone to pot with idiots doing all that work for £10. Too many people doing it for beer money now instead of a business. Too many idiots who think by purchasing photoshop they are now a designer and capable of producing a logo.

Being in the sign trade I tend to sway away from logo design simply because it gets a little boring hearing £250 is out of my price range I can get it for a tenner on ebay, go to ebay then lol. There is no money in designing a logo for £10, time spent actually designing, time spent back and forth with client making adjustments etc. You would be better off getting a minimum wage job as you would be earning more.

no_choice_now

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Too many idiots who think by purchasing photoshop they are now a designer and capable of producing a logo.

Get with the program, nobody BUYS Photoshop lol They crack it or use the freeware equivalent GIMP http://www.gimp.org/ which is way better than PS hands down

Horace

£250 for a logo where i am is pretty average - I have been quoted upwards of £700 before now:eek:

Free places to advertise - gumtree, linkedin, twitter, facebook, google+ have your own website with blog (wordpress is free). People per Hour although they will take a proportion of the fee that you charge, something similar to People per Hour has just appeared https://www.working-bees.com how good or bad it is I haven't a clue. Working Bees is B2B.

Make sure that your own business cards are up to scratch as well and carry them with you everywhere because you just never know who you are going to bump into. I networked with someone in Hyde Park last week - I was a tad lost and asked for directions to Marble Arch and he was going that way himself - turns out that he worked for a big corporate with money to spend on events and it was part of his remit to organise them.

mike_mccormick

social media like facebook or tweeter are recently very occupied with some adverts from "friend's friend"
as long it is not ugly spam and just a message from a friend I think that's pretty fast way of spreading your name around

ESKIMO

The only thing with Facebook and Twitter is that you constantly get 'crap' from business owners trying to 'network'. When in actual fact they are totally missing the point and tweeting about what they had for breakfast. I really dont care.

Only use FB and Twitter for promotions. End of. There is no need to talk about anything unrelated to either you or your business.

Jenna_Appleseed

^ the whole point of twitter and facebook is that you don't use them just to promote or spam.