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?
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Very nice article. Thanks for submitting it to the Design Informer.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
Thanks for having a look!
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I think the benefits of larger agencies are name/brand recognition, creditability, the impression of professionalism, and a documented body of work. I think that Freelancers can compete with agencies if they address these issues.
I think they need to compete by building their own brand, start a blog, get involved in social media, insure that when a client googles you they are flooded with information about your work, reviews, interviews, anything that makes you look impressive and qualified.
Everytime you do work get a testimonial and post it wherever you can, video testimonials are even better.
If you don’t have a large body of work yet, develop stock items for graphic river and theme forest, and do charity work to build up that creditability, body of work, and get those great testimonials, charity work is also great practice for talking with clients, answering questions, and overcoming objections, this will allow you demonstrate your professionalism and come off as polished and savvy.
.-= Roberto Blake´s last blog ..40 Stunning Digital Paintings =-.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
Hi Roberto, grewat points, building a solid brand that you can market well is essential! I have a post coming up where I asked a few questions to a young designer in London who has done that very well !
How do you go about asking for video testimonials, I am just thinking about asking a few of our corps for a video testimonial? Awkwardness!
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Great post, it can be daunting competing with agencies but you have summed it up very well. There are many reasons why a freelancer can compete in a corporate World. It is pleasing to see these things in a post like this especially when you feel you are being shunned by those bigger companies.
.-= Alistair´s last blog ..5 Content management systems for fast web design =-.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
Hi Alistair, defo!, part of the battle is having the confidence to go toe to toe with those who are more established!
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AlistairReply:
When you say emotive words like “toe to toe” who can resist going the 12
Great post, keep up the good work!
.-= Alistair´s last blog ..Creating a re-usable codeIgniter installation Part 2 =-.
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Coming back to this post to make another point. Freelancers will not be able to compete with agencies etc until agencies agree to sign the freelancers contract who come in to mop up their mess for a less than ridiculous fee.
Recently i’ve been commisioned to do a CMS / WP job for a fairly large organisation in the respective county for a jokingly small fee. Yet the agency hiring is unable to conform to a standard method of payment. i.e 50% at start and 50% on finish. Even some sort of down payment. Instead this lack of being able to release the corporate stranglehold prohibits me as a small time, self employed freelancer to do simple things like market my trade or even pay bills to stay online.
Anyway nuff said on the matter, hope you keep going the distance with these great posts.
.-= Alistair´s last blog ..Expanding on the codeIgniter installer: Part 3 Crud =-.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
Hi Alistair, that’s something I encounter aswell.. I often find agencies are the hardest to get payment from aswell as larger comapnies. You would think being clued up to how things normally work would make them the best type of client in regard to payment… Pfft.
Tanks for the encouragement – will try!
.-= Acuity Designs´s last blog ..Interview With Will Kay of OddKingdom – Becoming Your Brand =-.
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This is one of my favourite topics because I’m always droning on about the benefits of going with freelancers (or freelance collectives) as opposed to huge monolithic agencies. The advantages are not only centred around the price. A freelancer will listen, provide a personal service, bust a gut to get it right; agencies will very often think they know best, prolong jobs and disappear into their own bureaucracy.
Personally, I don’t try to get 50% of enquiries. For me, that assumes that all clients and jobs are created equal. Some clients will cost you money and are best ignored. Other clients will literally make your company and they should be retained (almost) at all costs. This is based around the Pareto principle – also known as the 80-20 rule: 80% of your income will come from 20% of your clients. You can read more about this on my last blog post.
Interesting thoughts here about niches, specialisation and competition. I don’t know if specialisation is right for everybody. I used to work for large agencies (as a freelancer) and I believe there is so much work that there’s enough for all of us! Here’s to the freelancers!
.-= Rob Cubbon´s last blog ..First thoughts on the 4 Hour Workweek =-.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
The Pareto principle is an interesting insight; I’m going to take a look through my books and see whether it applies to us.
Do you reccommend the book aswell? Looks like it might be a good read
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Rob CubbonReply:
Yes, I would recommend the book. This is one of quite a few interesting ideas about work he writes about.
Also, on the Pareto Principle, I would say that 20% percent of the time I spend working generates 80% of my income!
.-= Rob Cubbon´s last blog ..First thoughts on the 4 Hour Workweek =-.
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[...] Competing Against The Agency – The Freelancer’s Epic Battle [...]
Great post, it can be daunting competing with agencies but you have summed it up very well. There are many reasons why a freelancer can compete in a corporate World. It is pleasing to see these things in a post like this especially when you feel you are being shunned by those bigger companies.
.-= Alistair´s last blog ..5 Content management systems for fast web design =-.
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