In the design world, it seems like every year is a game of catch-up. There are more creative agencies popping up than ever before, and with new services being offered to the public at all times, it’s more important than ever to stay ahead of the game.
Brand building is an essential part of growing any design business in today’s world. It isn’t enough to be a great designer anymore. You need to build up your brand and learn how to market yourself to get ahead of the competition.
To help you better understand this concept, we have created a guide on some of the most effective marketing tactics for designers and anyone participating in any creative industry.
Here are some tactics to keep in mind for your portfolio and how to best implement them.
1. Social Media Marketing
The social media landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years. While it was once an ideal way to keep in touch with friends, it is now a powerful platform for marketing, customer engagement, and acquisition.
However, the social media landscape can be intimidating for design businesses, especially newer ones. Each platform has its personality and culture, and it cannot be easy to navigate which one will work best for your brand.
But don’t worry; when handled correctly, social media can be a great tool for any business to attract and engage with potential customers. There are many popular social media platforms; however, we will focus on 2 specific ones: Facebook and Instagram, for promoting your brand.
(a) Facebook
Facebook remains one of the most popular social media networks today. Nearly everyone has a Facebook page or profile to connect with friends and family, but did you know that businesses can use it too?
Most social media marketers recommend the Facebook page format over the personal profile format because business users have more options. Businesses can create a custom cover image, add apps, host events, and much more with a Facebook page.
To get started on your Facebook business page, log into your account and click Create Page in the top right corner of your screen. You can also find it under the Businesses tab in your settings.
(b) Instagram
The rise of the smartphone has made Instagram a very potent marketing tool for creative businesses. This is not a new phenomenon, marketers have been using this platform for years to grow their businesses, and there are many ways to incorporate it into your marketing strategy.
Instagram is a mobile-first photo-sharing platform that has become quite popular among novice users and professionals alike. It’s a great way to reach potential customers on their mobile devices and build relationships. To set up your business page, look under the Pages menu at the top right of your screen.
You can set up a basic page or customize it with a header, cover photo, etc. while choosing how many posts you want to put on it each week. Finally, you can upload photos, videos, and text posts to share with your followers.
2. Search Engine Marketing
In today’s market, if you aren’t showing up on the first page of Google or Bing, your competitors are. This is a great way to bring in new clients, especially if you are an established business and you already have a solid reputation within your local community.
Google and Bing keep track of where your website ranks for certain keywords; this is called ranking. The higher rank you manage to get your website for specific keywords or search queries, the more hits you will receive from people looking for those terms on Google/Bing.
With page tuning and keyword research, you can have your business ranking for specific phrases that are important to the type of design services you provide. One thing to keep in mind about search engine marketing is that it’s not an easy process.
If you want to succeed at it, you will need to invest a lot of time into building your site, conducting thorough keyword research, and testing different optimization strategies to get the most out of these efforts.
3. Direct Mail Marketing
In the digital age, it’s important to keep in mind that not everyone is connected to the internet all the time. Many of your potential customers may still prefer physical mail over digital mail. Direct mail can provide a reliable, cost-effective way to reach out to customers and uncover new leads.
You can use several different types of direct mail marketing methods to create a business mailing list, including postcards and coupons. With the current interest in online shopping and e-commerce, there is also an increasing demand for catalogs and coupons sent out through regular mail.
Whether your business is entirely offline or has a website to support your brick-and-mortar business, direct mail marketing can help you reach new customers cost-effectively.
4. Email Marketing
As a marketing tool, email is one of the most effective platforms. It’s simple to set up and use, but it also provides plenty of spying opportunities for the sender to see who opened and clicked on their emails.
Email marketing is also a great way to build your brand and promote your business, especially if you create emails specific to each particular niche or community. You can design them in your style or use templates provided by email providers.
To add your email list to your marketing strategy, you will first need to create an email list that is exclusive to your business. When individuals subscribe to another company’s newsletter, they get placed into a public database that the company itself can’t control.
If you’re using this list for marketing purposes, you must control the communication process. This way, you can ensure that your subscribers get the most relevant information.
You will also want to make sure that the signup form is easily accessible on each website page. If someone takes too long or forgets to subscribe, they could get lost and click away before joining your newsletter.
Conclusion
There is no one-size-fits-all marketing strategy for all businesses, but it’s important to set one up whether you are already in business or are starting from scratch. You must learn about the marketing channels that work for your design business to grow your profits and build a lasting relationship with customers.
And remember, the best marketing strategy is to be creative and take action. Build relationships one customer at a time, with each visit to improve your services and grow your revenue.
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