Who’s your most important client?

Here’s something to consider. Who is your most important client? If you think it’s the one with the big pen to write those big checks, it’s not. It’s you. Or, at least it should be. Sure, you’re a Graphic Designer, Communication Designer or, perhaps, a Web Designer. But, your primary business is marketing. Without marketing to warm things up, sales don’t often happen. It’s been said that nothing happens until somebody sells something. Without sales … well … you won’t be in business very long.

It’s critical that you see yourself as your own numero uno client. Just like you make time on the schedule for client projects, you need to schedule time for your marketing efforts. Try to see it as another project that needs your attention. No, wait … that demands your attention. Give it a job number and open a project folder. Manage your business’ project the same as any other.

New business is the life blood of a professional practice. Design is no different. It can take a long time to turn a prospect into a client. For instance, in the design field it can take months and sometimes a year or more. Add to that the fact that clients come and go. Here’s a chilling fact. In the design industry, the typical client/designer relationship lasts about three years.

If you’re not actively marketing and promoting your business, you’re already behind. Probably way behind, considering the time it takes to turn a prospect into a paying client. This is how the beast called, “Feast or Famine,” begins to rear its ugly head.

Does this sound familiar? You’re up to your eyeballs, so you put the marketing stuff off to the side. You were so busy you also put your billing on the sideline until things calmed down. When the projects finish up, there’s nothing new on the horizon and the next check is 30 days away … providing they pay on time. Hindsight is 20/20. You figured you were on a roll and there would be more gigs with hefty deposits. But now the rent is due and you’re hoping beyond hope that the postcard you just mailed, or whatever, will miraculously bring in a big fish. When this sort of stuff happens, anxiety isn’t far behind and that’s a lousy place to be. There’s nothing quite like trying to be amazingly creative when your stomach is in knots and you can feel your blood pressure soaring.

Here’s some more hard truth. We’re in business to make money. We do that by providing a valuable service to our clients. Marketing is about communicating that value to our prospects and showing them how we can help them achieve their goals. If you don’t market and promote your business and value, you might be better off in the fine arts. But, consider this. Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting is his lifetime.

Market when you’re slow, but also when you’re busy. That’s the reality and you must do it if you hope to stay busy.

I find it’s best to schedule marketing time during the beginning or end of the day. For me, whether it’s making discussion group posts, working on an article or this blog, poking around the Net for prospects, writing a sales letter, etc., early morning is best for me. At the end of the day, I’ll make a list of what I need to do the next day. I try to do something everyday. Some days I’m better at it than others, but the point is to be as active as you can.

When you become your own best client, you’ll go leaps ahead of the competition who aren’t as aggressive. Let them do battle with the Feast Or Famine beast, the anxiety attacks and hoping the phone’s going to ring. You can do better.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt