Some of the ideas might be awful, some of them might be worth it. But here is a compilation of ideas on how to get new clients:
1. Ask people you know for names of potential clients. Contact these people and ask for more names.
2. Create a wish list of businesses you would want to work with, then start making phone calls. Briefly ask the right person if they hire freelancers and offer to send your services information.
3.Mass mail postcards. Find a business list of your business location. Design a strong looking postcard and a clear call to action.
4. DON’t DO SPEC WORK. This is actually one of the best recommendations that I can give you. Even though it won’t get you clients per se, it will certainly will make you avoid non-clients (anti-clients). The anti-client is the person that poses as a client, smells like a client, walks like a client but never carries its checkbook. You don’t want to do business with anti-clients, period. Honestly, this is here more to remind myself of this than anything else: DO NOT MEET, DO BUSINESS, TALK, OR INVEST ANY OF YOUR TIME WHATSOEVER WITH AN ANTI-CLIENT. Doing work for “free” is not the right way of getting the right kind of business. You may consider doing free work for charity or because you want to, but don’t use it as a technique to get new business. The easiest way to avoid the anti-clients is to ALWAYS ask for 50% upfront to start. That way the risk is divided 50-50 (which is fair). If you encounter an anti-client: run the other direction! and I mean fast! run for your life! run as if he/she was a lion or an african crocodille.
5. Cold emailing. (FREE) If you find a particular website that you would like to redesign, then find out the right persons email address and write a clear, to-the-point email that presents the “why” they need to hire you.
6. Create business cards ($25) that don’t have your name but that have your businesses name and services information (including contact information) on it. Then “accidentally” leave this business cards everywhere you go: coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores and basically anywhere where people sit down and then somebody else takes their place.
7. When you see a group meeting like for example: “The 50’s and older ladies group meeting at Starbucks”. Try to find out who the organizer is and then provide him or her with your information, then offer to pay for a free coffee or free cd or something ($5-$10) in exchange for sharing your information with their peers ( they get a free gift, you get advertising that looks like a referral from a person that has created raport).
8. Kick the dead horse. (Free to $100 per referral) When you do a job, try to find ways to advertise based on that job. So for example if you designed a site, then try to put a link back to your site in that site. Once you send the last invoice or receipt try to include a coupon on the receipt for a 10% or 20% discount for another project. Offer a $100 dollar bonus for a successful referral of a new client or something of that sort. Ask for their permission to send eventual emails to advice about the software and techniques they used on their project, and then use those emails to do so but also to promote even more your services and promotions. Ask for a testimonial –if they are a happy client– and then post it in your website, then send them an email showing them the location of the testimonial with their name. In the testimonial page make sure to include new promotions.
9. Create a COOL (make sure is a cool shirt by asking random people if they like it) tshirt with your brand. Then give it as a free gift to your clients ($10 – $20 per shirt). You can also give your tshirts as the gifts to the groups that we were talking about before.
10. Create stickers ($60-$100)with your website on it and go for a run. Then “accidentally” drop the stickers on the floor.
Digital Media Insights for Business Owners
