Competing Against The Agency – The Freelancer’s Epic Battle
As a ‘noob’ to the freelance design industry in what I would consider a truly professional manner; I was somewhat naive as to how hard it would be to find clients. After the initial shock, I found myself confronted with one monumental competitor that seemed like Goliath; leaving me feeling like David (without his slingshot).. However, I soon found that the structure of the powerhouses that are graphic/web/media studios and agencies, actually makes my life somewhat easier.
Price Point
your quote is substantially lower than who we previously had contracted….
Large agencies, studios, advertising companies are well set up…. They are well setup to handle large projects, spanning months on end, that require many multitudes of work, research, development and application. This however, results in them being nowhere near as efficient when working outside those parameters.. i.e small business startups, one-off small jobs, quick turn-around projects etc. All this extra fluff means graphic design agencies as businesses must charge a premium of sorts. Per head they have to cover electricity, wages, rates etc and then charge for the design work itself and then add a little profit margin.
Me and my little studio. As a freelancer, I have a wonderful smile knowing that I am free from the majority of those things and as such I can explain that my prices are lower as they have no reason to be higher. By imparting the fact that they will receive the same if not better quality for cheaper to the client.. they have a somewhat easier decision to make.
My Big Company Ltd
Assuming you a running a proper business (you want it to grow) and not a lifestyle business (pay my rent and bills); you are going to want big clients. Big clients are the chance to get more money, recurring work, monthly retainers and the ego stroking prestige. To satisfy this type of client’s want for an all encompassing service, (i.e they not interested in having to actively seek out 5 different freelancers to complete their product launch or re-brand) then you can position yourself as a freelancer with a network of freelancers at your disposal. Alternatively, wonderful terms like freelance partnership / freelance collective can be thrown around here. Once again, we see the importance of social networking – by having a network of fellow like-minded talented individuals around you – you can have the confidence to pitch for the bigger clients and therefore, the bigger payoff.
The key here is to never promise what you cannot deliver. You do not want to find yourself in over your head. It takes an astute freelancer to put their hands up and say this is far out of my reach. Never get blinded by numbers – as you’ll find come the end of it; you wont see any of them in your account! Furthermore, one of every businesses most valuable assets is it reputation.. don’t play roulette with it.
Customer Service, Personal Touch
In any industry, the bigger the company the worse personal customer service often becomes. Nameless e-mails and phone calls in different countries are some defining factors! You must as a freelancer, have impeccable customer service. 75% of our work, comes simply from referral. As people promote they’re their business, they are invariably networking with other businesses and inevitably if you have gone that extra mile, your clients will have no problem passing on a business card or contact detail. Even when positioning yourself with larger companies, shoot out phrases like:
My company is a smaller collective of talented freelance professionals, this enables us to give you a faster and cheaper turn-a-round with the highest level of innovation! Plus, you will be talking to and working directly with who is in charge of your project!
Expertise, Niches, Specialisation
Another strategy, is to find a niche or offer specialised services. A jack of all trades is a master of none. It is up to you through your marketing and promotion to position yourself in this way. Thus, the client will see that you and not the multitude of agencies are a genuine expert in this field. This strategy, you may find you actually getting outsourced work from agencies/studios. This is a fairly widely applicable concept. Are you going to launch another design blog spewing top 10 lists and attack powerhouses with 30+ people writing articles and 20K subscribers? or would it be smarter to launch a niche blog that specialises in something? Of course, as with every niche in terms of business – it is only a good idea if there is an actual demand.
Another key closing point is to remember, we are all out searching for clients and that competition is fierce. I personally work on the basis that: quarterly I want to get 50% of all jobs pitched/enquired for/about as a good average. I read somewhere… (someone tell me if you know) :
In large, successful businesses are based on averages and not on any one single client…
Competing for jobs is the way! You must… If your conversion rate is above 50% – your lucky in that either your competition is weak, or you are failing somewhere (pricing?) – If it is below 50%, market yourself harder and promote yourself harder!
Do you guys out there think competing with agencies is a possibility? How do you advise you do so?
Extra Resources
Related Posts:
Competing Against The Agency – The Freelancer’s Epic Battle
As a ‘noob’ to the freelance design industry in what I would consider a truly professional manner; I was somewhat naive as to how hard it would be to find clients. After the initial shock, I found myself confronted with one monumental competitor that seemed like Goliath; leaving me feeling like David (without his slingshot).. However, I soon found that the structure of the powerhouses that are graphic/web/media studios and agencies, actually makes my life somewhat easier.
Price Point
Large agencies, studios, advertising companies are well set up…. They are well setup to handle large projects, spanning months on end, that require many multitudes of work, research, development and application. This however, results in them being nowhere near as efficient when working outside those parameters.. i.e small business startups, one-off small jobs, quick turn-around projects etc. All this extra fluff means graphic design agencies as businesses must charge a premium of sorts. Per head they have to cover electricity, wages, rates etc and then charge for the design work itself and then add a little profit margin.
Me and my little studio. As a freelancer, I have a wonderful smile knowing that I am free from the majority of those things and as such I can explain that my prices are lower as they have no reason to be higher. By imparting the fact that they will receive the same if not better quality for cheaper to the client.. they have a somewhat easier decision to make.
My Big Company Ltd
Assuming you a running a proper business (you want it to grow) and not a lifestyle business (pay my rent and bills); you are going to want big clients. Big clients are the chance to get more money, recurring work, monthly retainers and the ego stroking prestige. To satisfy this type of client’s want for an all encompassing service, (i.e they not interested in having to actively seek out 5 different freelancers to complete their product launch or re-brand) then you can position yourself as a freelancer with a network of freelancers at your disposal. Alternatively, wonderful terms like freelance partnership / freelance collective can be thrown around here. Once again, we see the importance of social networking – by having a network of fellow like-minded talented individuals around you – you can have the confidence to pitch for the bigger clients and therefore, the bigger payoff.
The key here is to never promise what you cannot deliver. You do not want to find yourself in over your head. It takes an astute freelancer to put their hands up and say this is far out of my reach. Never get blinded by numbers – as you’ll find come the end of it; you wont see any of them in your account! Furthermore, one of every businesses most valuable assets is it reputation.. don’t play roulette with it.
Customer Service, Personal Touch
In any industry, the bigger the company the worse personal customer service often becomes. Nameless e-mails and phone calls in different countries are some defining factors! You must as a freelancer, have impeccable customer service. 75% of our work, comes simply from referral. As people promote they’re their business, they are invariably networking with other businesses and inevitably if you have gone that extra mile, your clients will have no problem passing on a business card or contact detail. Even when positioning yourself with larger companies, shoot out phrases like:
Expertise, Niches, Specialisation
Another strategy, is to find a niche or offer specialised services. A jack of all trades is a master of none. It is up to you through your marketing and promotion to position yourself in this way. Thus, the client will see that you and not the multitude of agencies are a genuine expert in this field. This strategy, you may find you actually getting outsourced work from agencies/studios. This is a fairly widely applicable concept. Are you going to launch another design blog spewing top 10 lists and attack powerhouses with 30+ people writing articles and 20K subscribers? or would it be smarter to launch a niche blog that specialises in something? Of course, as with every niche in terms of business – it is only a good idea if there is an actual demand.
Another key closing point is to remember, we are all out searching for clients and that competition is fierce. I personally work on the basis that: quarterly I want to get 50% of all jobs pitched/enquired for/about as a good average. I read somewhere… (someone tell me if you know) :
Competing for jobs is the way! You must… If your conversion rate is above 50% – your lucky in that either your competition is weak, or you are failing somewhere (pricing?) – If it is below 50%, market yourself harder and promote yourself harder!
Do you guys out there think competing with agencies is a possibility? How do you advise you do so?
Extra Resources
Related Posts: