Where to find work?

R

RPCreative

New Member
Hi all,

I’m a logo designer with 14 years of graphic design experience. I’m looking to go full time freelance but I’m struggling to find work.

Can you help by pointing me in the direction of industries you get the most work from for logo design and branding?
 
hankscorpio said:
Local businesses. Targeted with custom material.
Click to expand...
I thought about this but worried that they’d think that if custom designs have already been done, why should they pay?
or what type of custom designs do you mean, perhaps I’m thinking about it in the wrong way.
 
As an example, Garages that offer MOTs, how about business cards branded to the garage stating when the next MOT is due, next Service is due for their customers etc, you can then have a standard template that you swap out the logo and contact info. Offer the print as well, 5000 business cards from us are £40, add a mark-up for the artwork and offer the whole lot to Garages for £79/£99 or similar, decent little earner on 1 product if you get enough on board.

I suspect a lot of garages will not have logos at all and therefore require logos and other items, you need to offer them something to get your foot in the door and get them talking to you.

Just an idea.
 
Usually it's just a conversation starter.

You don't have to do an entire food menu for example.
You could pick a part of the menu and say - hey it could look like this.

Same with company logos in your area that you feel are missing something.
You could approach them with an idea for improving their logo.
And this then leads to new marketing materials and updates across the range.

Don't just think a garage will want business cards - but NCR pads, stationery, pens, t-shirts


If they like one of your logos straight from the ones you draw up have a set price.
If they want to customise it further then you can charge more.

=====================
There have been 4 new coffee shops open up, a barbers, new refurbished pub all on the same street where I am from.

In the past I would have targeted these empty buildings with my business card, inserted into a small portfolio that has a jacket for holding the business card - just slipped through the vacant property letterbox.

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You can start by calling local businesses and introducing yourself. Then pop by later with a quick portfolio for them.
Once they see you can make the logo - do the stationery, pens, t-shirts, overalls, signage, leaflets etc.

There's a tonne of messages online that you can 'draw from' to get their attention
venngage.com

80+ Branding Statistics You Should Know For 2020 - Venngage

It’s safe to say a strong brand is essential for growth in 2019 & beyond. Here are 80+ branding statistics to inspire you to invest in your brand this year!
venngage.com venngage.com

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As Stationery direct said - get some generic templates and swap the logo in.

So you should be able to come with a meaningful presentation

And don't do this - it is boring
1. Who are you
2. What you do
3. What you can offer
etc.

Do the presentation like this
1. Who are they (the client)
2. What do they do
3. What do they need (new logo, refresh, rebrand, consistent branding across social media)

Focus on them - don't make the presentation about you.
Have your information at the end.

Cover
Their Logo on the front cover big and bold
Your logo underneath but a bit smaller
Make them the focus

Some info about you - maybe your website/email/phone number in small writing

Page 1
A short demonstration of why consistent branding is important (as per the link I showed)
dress up the stats - dress to impress
You can continue to Page 2 and 3 with this if you feel it's necessary

Facing pages
Page 2
Their logo - their current marketing (print and social media)

Page 3
Your idea - swap out their logo and clean up their marketing material for consistency

Page 4
Page 5
Keep going with your ideas if you like
Maybe introduce marketing materials like NCR pads, umbrellas, pens, t-shirts
(all with new logo)

Page 6
Page 7
A short presentation on yourself and contact info
or maybe page 6 shows more marketing stats about branding
And page 7 shows your info (inside back cover)

Page 8
Back cover




Once you make 1 presentation - you only need to update a couple of pages and some marketing material with new logos.

You basically have a template going forward.


You can print this out by a professional printer or send it by email.


Visualisation is key - most people cannot visualise.
How many times someone has asked me what the logo will look like on a white cushion and not an orange cushion.


First impressions last.
 
When I was freelance I used to go to local business networking meetings.

4N is National but has local events, and BNI possibly the longest running and most well know is an American format, but a bit (or was, not been in years) formal and stuffy.
On top of that there will be more localised groups depending on your area. Business West is my area.

There's various formats, Breakfast meets, coffee networking etc.
Things will have changed over the past year no doubt.

Things to remember, there will be a cost to join/attend and it might take a while (6 months or so) for the other members to start to warm to you and start feeding you work.
But EVERY business has a brand, so at some point everyone in the room has the potential to need you. And at these events people hand out business cards for a past time so if you get a few orders for business stationery offer the printing to, and use @Stationery Direct, I've always been able to resale his stuff with a VERY healthy mark up and customers still think they're getting a great deal.

After a while, once you've done a few small jobs the other members will start to share their contacts with you.
So, for example, there might be an Air Con Repair Guy in the room.... don't just think, "oh I might get to redesign his logo" You need to get in the mind set that this guy is in and out of big businesses all day long, what businesses might he visit where he might overhear a conversation, or see some outdated literature. If you happen to pass him a lead for someones air con service he'll keep an eye out and let you know when he visits a tired old office that could do with a shake up or perhaps servicing some empty offices will lead you to an introduction with a new start up looking for office space ... and so on.
 
Personally, I would worry that you are looking to target a fairly niche market if you are focussing on just logo work. I'm presuming you will be offering the whole
package to these companies too, but what you really need when starting out freelance is for those companies to come back again and again with other work.
Everyone likes designing logos, but I can't imagine trying to find enough companies wanting to rebrand and making a living from it. Having said that, you might find some
small businesses or start-ups on somewhere like Bark dot com, though they are likely to be on small budgets.
 
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