Fellow designer, are you just starting out in your design business, feeling unsure of where to find your next design client? Or maybe you’ve been in business for a while but you feel like finding your next client project is a constant process of trial and error. If either scenario resonates with you, friend, you’re in the right place! I’m here today to share how you can create your dreamy ideal design clients from scratch without hustling to find them on social media, or feeling chained to that content creation hamster wheel.
3 Ways To Create Design Clients From Scratch
Creating design clients from scratch really just boils down to who your ideal clients are and where they are spending their time! I would much rather you have a solid system in place where you are only spending a certain amount of time marketing your business vs. spending endless hours on every platform, blogging multiple times a week, starting a YouTube channel and podcast. Friend, that is just not sustainable, and a perfect recipe for burnout!
Understand your Client Goals
So, if you are starting from square one and looking to generate design clients from scratch, the first thing you can do is understand your need. Be honest with yourself, friend! What do you and your business need to be bringing in on a monthly or weekly basis to meet your goals? When we can really understand what our business needs are, then we can really dive into data we should be seeing from our marketing efforts.
As designers and creatives, we put so much emotion into our work because we care so deeply. We want everyone to experience the transformation we can provide, and when we aren’t seeing the results, or interest, it is so easy for us to take it personally. But what we should really be doing, and what I encourage you to do, is instead of focusing on the emotion (AKA the drama), give yourself the space to feel those feelings, but focus on the truth, the facts (AKA the data!) Let’s take the drama out of marketing!
It’s as simple as figuring out how many leads you need to generate in order to get that number of clients each month. I totally believe that if we remove the emotion and drama and we look at the numbers or data, we will see where the room for growth is and where things are going well! This allows you to answer the questions of…
- How many people do I need to book each month?
- Based on my current conversion rate, how many leads do I need to generate?
If you have a need of $10k months, for example, you need to understand what your numbers need to look like to get you there. So if you’re taking on two clients each month at a $5,000 price point, you only need two clients. You don’t need to be marketing your business as though you need 10 clients.
On the flip side, if you have a very small need and you only need to make $500 a month or something like that, you do not need to be spending all of your time and energy showing up on all of the social media platforms, because you’re going to be generating more inquiries than you really need to be.
Short and Long Term Traffic Drivers
You can then set up your short and long term traffic drivers that are truly scalable. We’ve all been there, trying to implement every strategy we’ve ever heard about and can find ourselves deep in a rabbit hole. That is never fun, and can totally suck up our precious time and mental space!
And by scalable I mean that these short and long term traffic drivers will continue to be something you can build upon and grow, and see results without adding more to our plate. Remember friend, we want to work smarter, not harder, in our design biz!
A short term driver can be as simple as an Instagram story with a call to action to book a consult call, or a Facebook post and a fun, easy to manage Facebook group. Your ideal clients are most likely hanging out on these platforms anyway! Your long term driver can be your Pinterest marketing, or you email list! This will help drive more traffic over a longer period of time. And friend, please remember, you only really truly need one of each. You don’t need to be spinning endless amounts of time, adding all the things to your plate. That is just not sustainable. To learn more about using short and long term traffic drivers to generate consistent design clients, check out this episode of the Brand Strategy Podcast!
Your Transformation Statement
After you have spent some time understanding your need and creating those short and long term traffic drivers, a great way to create those design clients from scratch is using your transformation statement. Ask yourself friend, what transformation do I offer to my ideal client? When a client hires you, what are you helping them achieve?
Thinking about this concept of a transformation statement in action, let’s look at the Brand Strategy School.
“The Brand Strategy School helps designers and branding pros hit consistent 10k months in as little as 30 days without any prior brand strategy experience, or without adding anything else to their plate.“
In this transformation statement, I am showing a potential student of the course what kind of result, what kind of growth you can expect if you invest in this program, without adding more to your plate.
Your transformation should do the same! You want to make it abundantly clear to your potential clients, what you do, who you serve and what kind of growth, what kind of results, they can expect when they choose to work with you.
Once you have your transformation statement nailed down, it’s time to let everyone know about it! Your transformation statement should be everywhere, friend! Your website, Instagram bio, it should be the beautiful text on your homepage next to your headshot, or in the warm welcome note in your investment guide. It should be so easy for potential clients to discover that they have no questions about who you are, what kind of work you do and what kind of results you will deliver when they choose to work with you!
If your transformation statement truly resonates with you ideal clients deepest desires, and helps them avoid those big pain points, they will be so excited to click on over and learn more about you!
Understand Your Worth
Friend, last but certainly not least the biggest thing to remember when trying to create those design clients, when starting your new business, or making that pivot to create the design biz of your dreams is that you are so worthy. You are so much more than your followers on Instagram or your perceived successfulness to any of your story replies, or the number of inquires you generate, or the number of email list subscribers. You are so worthy of creating the successful dream design biz and working with your dreamy ideal clients!
CREATE DESIGN CLIENTS FROM SCRATCH
If you’re ready to take your services to the next level and captivate your dream clients, I’ve created a totally free, Netflix-style, one-hour masterclass all about how to triple your income without taking on more branding clients!
After tuning into this training, you’ll be able to:
- Charge more for your services so you can experience consistent income without working crazy hours or taking on hundreds of clients
- Kick imposter syndrome to the curb and position yourself as the expert your branding clients are searching for
- Get out in front of your ideal clients without hustling to be seen online
- And so much more!
Click below to grab your free seat to this on-demand training, and I’ll see you there!
CLICK HERE TO JOIN ME FOR THIS FREE MASTERCLASS
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