Issue #30
July 27, 2006

Welcome to Inside Freelance Design (IFD), your free, bi-weekly e-letter from American Writers & Artists Inc. Every other week, you can receive this special alert with secrets, tips, and insights from AWAI's graphic design pros to help you improve your skills and reach your goal of becoming a professional graphic designer in the fastest time possible.

IN THIS ISSUE:
  • Marketing Mentor Ilise Benun Tells How to Keep your Clients “In the Loop” So They'll Keep Asking for You
  • Quick Tip: Understanding … and Profiting from … the Emotions of Colors
  • The IFD Mailbag
  • EXTRA! EXTRA! News and Job Opportunitie
How to Build Your Success by Keeping Your Clients “In the Loop”
By Kammy Thurman

Marketing mentor Ilise Benun advises that one of the most effective ways to build your business…and your success…is using a strategy she dubs a “communication loop.”

A communication loop is simply a method for contacting prospective clients, then building the relationship by continually staying in touch with them through one or more communication tools. These tools include newsletters, postcards, calendars, press releases, and networking.

Ilise says communication loops are effective marketing systems because:

  • They're structured. You need to create the structure and format for newsletters, postcards, or calendars only one time. Then you can use the original design as a template for future pieces.
  • They save time. Ilise determined many people give up staying in contact with clients because it's time consuming. By using templates, you greatly reduce the time it takes to use these tools, and you're much more likely to keep sending them.
  • You can use the tools that fit you best. You can start by focusing on using just one tool, so you won't feel overwhelmed. And you can choose the one you're most comfortable with. As you become more comfortable with that tool, you can add others.

Nothing's Perfect … But Knowing Potential Problems Gets You Closer

Each of these tools comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Here's a summary … and resources to overcome potential problems.

  • Newsletters

    Advantages: Newsletter can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish.

    Disadvantages: To make the best impression, you must be consistent with delivery. “On again, off again” approaches don't work.

    Solutions: Start out slowly so you don't get overwhelmed and give up. Consider sending quarterly, then moving to every two months, monthly, and possibly weekly if you feel you can handle that frequency.

    If you're interested in sending e-mail newsletters, check out www.myemma.com. Emma® is a service with custom-designed templates, real-time response tracking, and features designed to help you grow your audience with newsletters. Mention Ilise at Marketing Mentor sent you and get a 20% discount.

  • Postcards and calendars

    Advantages: These tools provide great opportunities to showcase your design skills.

    Disadvantages: Postcards and calendars don't offer as much information as newsletters. And calendars can't be sent that often during the year, reducing their effectiveness in keeping your name in front of the client.

    Solutions: Use postcards to provide tips and techniques instead of just advertising. Some designers also use postcards to send short, pithy newsletters. To get ideas how to use these, check out www.amazingmail.com and www.modernpostcard.com

    Use calendars as self-promotion add-ons. Every page should have your company's or your name or logo. Size them so there's a good chance the client will put one on the desk or on the wall near his desk. Consider sending two 6-month calendars a year. In this way, your client thinks about you and your services when he opens the package as well as when he glances at the calendar.

  • Press releases

    Advantages: Press releases are useful for getting attention from media and getting your name out into the community. When your press releases result in articles, you can send copies to clients and prospects as credibility builders.

    Disadvantages: You can write two-dozen press releases and only get one published. Getting published depends on the immediate editorial needs of the media outlets you're releasing to.

    Solutions: Press release to a wide number and wide variety of media outlets. But make sure to release only to outlets your press release relates to. Individualize press releases so they fit the type of outlets you release them to. To learn more about using press releases to build your business, go to http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp

  • Networking

    Advantages: Networking is an integral part of any communication loop. It's one of the most effective ways to make your first contacts and pull people into your loop.

    Disadvantages: Many people shiver at the thought of networking personally.

    Solutions: Networking gets easier the more you do it. Be yourself. You're selling your design skills. So when networking, focus on those. Use a business card as your introduction. Realize that 99% of the people you speak to have been as uncomfortable about networking as you currently are. They understand your nervousness.

    If the thought of networking makes you cringe, check out Ilise's new book, “Stop Pushing Me Around.” You can get more details on her website at www.marketing-mentor.com.

Ilise says a communication loop is a wonderfully successful (and easy) way to build client relationships. Once people get in your loop, they'll stay as long as you keep communicating. It also creates a nice expectation in your clients -- they start looking forward to hearing from you.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: You will learn more about keeping clients in the loop … and other proven self-marketing techniques … directly from Ilise Benun and other successful designers at AWAI's FastTrack to Graphic Design Success 2006. Click here for more information: www.awaionline.com/graphicsbootcamp/]

* * * * * * * * Highly Recommended * * * * * * * *

Everything You Need to Land New Clients Fast…

Learn how to work with clients effectively…keep them loyal decades into the future…get paid what you're worth…and leave your competition choking on your dust!

http://www.thedesignerslife.com/ultimateguide/

QUICK TIP: Taking the Emotional Temperature of Color

When designing promotions, the words on the page aren't the only things that affect emotion. By combining the right colors with the message, you can evoke a spectrum of emotions in the reader.

Colors come in three broad categories: warm, cool, and neutral.

The warm colors are red, pink, yellow, orange and gold. These colors convey emotions ranging from sweetness to passion to anger. They work well for fliers and posters that need to convey high-energy, materials aimed at young people, calls to action, and anything else that needs mellow to intense emotional impact.

Cool colors include blue, purple, green and violet. They tend to have a calming effect. Some uses, though, can create a cold or impersonal tone. They work well for meditative or serious pieces such as reports, capabilities brochures, financial and health magalogs.

Neutral colors include gray, white, black, tan, cream and brown. These colors enhance the impact of colors around them. They can tone down colors that might look overpowering on their own.

[This is just one of many color strategies you can learn from the industry's top designers at this year's FastTrack to Graphic Design Success Bootcamp. Click here to discover how Bootcamp can change your life www.awaionline.com/graphicsbootcamp/]

* * * * * * * * Advertisement * * * * * * * *

Do You Have Questions About Your Freelance Design Business?

Get the answers to these and hundreds of other questions
about starting and running your own profitable design
business: http://www.thedesignerslife.com/getanswers/

FROM THE IFD MAILBAG…
by Kristin Schwarz

Hello, everyone!

We start off today with a question from Bill that probably is on the mind of many designers.

Dear AWAI,

Please answer the following question once and for all. Should you put one space or two spaces after a period?

Bill S.

Dear Bill,

It is generally accepted that the practice of putting two spaces at the end of a sentence is a carryover from the days of typewriters with monospaced typefaces. It was believed two spaces made it easier to see where one sentence ended and the next began.

Today, with the prevalence of proportionally spaced fonts, that practice is no longer necessary and can even be detrimental to the appearance of text. With proportionally spaced fonts, the characters take up an amount of space relative to their actual width. For instance, the small i needs less space than the capital M.

The use of proportionally spaced type therefore makes two spaces at the end of a sentence unnecessary. Professional typesetters, designers, and desktop publishers should use one space only.

Dear AWAI,

In the last issue of IFD you answered an email from a member who had trouble lining up his figures in a column. I am working on a project where I have to list $-amounts in a column. I made sure that my kerning is set to metrics, but since some numbers in the subtotals have three digits and others four, the amounts do not line up at all. Any tips? I am using InDesign.

Thanks,
Amy

Dear Amy,

Figuring the right space with dollars and figures can be a real challenge. That's where a handy feature in InDesign comes in. It is called “adding a Figure Space.”

All numbers take up exactly the same width and a Figure Space is equal to this width. So adding a Figure Space (Type menu > Insert White Space > Figure Space) between the dollar sign and the first figure to its right, in the numbers with one less digit, will make all the dollar signs line up perfectly down the page.

Have a great couple of weeks!

Kristin

[Ed. Note: If you have a question or comment for Kristin, please send it to:
insidefreelancedesign@awaionline.com, Attn: Kristin Schwarz.]

EXTRA! EXTRA! News and Job Opportunities
  • GRAPHIC DESIGNER - Regnier Valdez, a full service advertising agency, needs a talented, organized graphic designer with proven project management skills. You'll work to design materials for print, the web, and for events. You must know InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. Send your resume and cover letter to cwilson@regval.com.
  • GRAPHIC DESIGNER - RNK Telecom, a telecommunications provide, seeks a graphic designer with an eye for the details to join their team. You'll work on websites, direct mail, brochures, email campaigns, tradeshow materials, and more. You must know InDesign, Flash, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, HTML, and CSS. Send your resume and work samples to ethan@mktel.com.
  • GRAPHIC DESIGNER - Crumpler, a manufacturer of unique, sexy bags, needs a designer to help bring innovative and creative marketing campaigns to life. You must know Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, and InDesign. Send your resume, portfolio, salary history, and -- just for fun -- a great photo of yourself to Margit at margit@crumpler.de
COMING NEXT ISSUE:
  • Using Web-Based Slide Shows to Promote Your Business
  • Quick Tip: Quick Typography Short Cuts
* ABOUT INSIDE FREELANCE DESIGN *

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