Tooting Your Own Horn Series—P2

Budget-Friendly Promotions For the Whole Design Family

Little Recent Grad can do it, Grannie Design Vet can benefit, too. Heck, even Still-in-the-creative-womb Student Designer can start putting their name out there if they think their stuff is that good. How, you ask? Industry Competitions. I'm not talking about any run of the mill contests (pun intended)...most tend to end up utilizing a spec model and is therefore not good for the designer. There are better alternatives than the choice of giving in to exploitation for another's profit. Yearly industry competitions are held by respected sponsors like:

HOW Magazine
Print
Communication Arts
ICOGRADA
Rockport
and award sites like the Summit Awards

...that have entry levels for students on up. They ordinarily only allow work that has already been commissioned or work that is not for active projects. Moreover the designer retains ownership of their submissions. And like Design Recital and The Three Thumbs Up Awards, there are other online avenues of promotion available within our little community.

There are also sites like Word It and Illustration Friday where you can submit your work to showcase amongst your creative peers. You'd be surprised who scouts these sites from time to time, and who knows—it could possibly lead to future client projects or a worthwhile job opportunity. Never underestimate the power of viral marketing.

Finally you have the wonderful world of blogging. As before, you never know who's reading your blog at any given time and when a passing fancy can turn into a business opportunity, all because you showcased outside the confines of a mere portfolio.

Print Campaigns...Vote for Me!

Not to be forgotten (and because it's my niche, how could I?) there is the tried and true method of print campaigns. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but clever is often the name of the game. Doing something as simple as a targeted direct mailer with something as simple as an attractive postcard with a catchy tag can do the trick. By "targeted mailer" I mean that you roll up your sleeves and do a bit of research. I like to always walk or drive around with a pad and pencil handy. Every time I see an identity that could possibly benefit a re-branding, a new business that's starting up soon, or even simply jotting down the numbers of businesses you've always wanted to work with and send them your mailer, it serves as sort of a subtle reminder in the event they might be considering hiring a designer as well. It's more personal and because of your research just might yield some business for you later on.

I also recommend reading books along the lines of The Savvy Designer's Guide To Success: Ideas and Tactics for a Killer Career, by Jeff Fisher and relevant marketing and branding books like Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass and Join the Revolution, by Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons. Books like these detail much of what I discussed here and offer some examples that others used to promote themselves. It might inspire some ideas of your own to try.

I've mentioned Jeff quite a bit, but hey you've got to admit, he and others of his marketing ilk know how to toot their own horn...and often with favorable results.

You can come up with all types of campaigns and viral ideas that can start to get your name out there without breaking the bank. You can research a common need and use that as the basis of your promotional campaign. You can even do something as simple as cleverly mailing your business card, if it's creative enough to stand on it's own and promote your talent.

French horn photo Illustrations by Yukio Miyamoto

Next: Part three