There's no reason why a small creative firm has to think small and take on small projects. My business has been successful for more than two decades because I think big. I work hard to make my firm look big and professional. As a result, I consistently land big and profitable work from big companies. Here are a few of the things that work for me:
CONNECT. Use LinkedIn and Twitter to stay in front of potential clients. Both of these tools are critical to the B2B social media mix these days. You can use these services to help promote your blog posts and new projects. LinkedIn Answers is also a great way to share your expertise far and wide by answering questions posted by other LinkedIn professionals.
WRITE. Start a blog today. Keep your posts limited to the professional areas of expertise you are most comfortable with. WordPress, Blogger and Squarespace are a few of the blogging tools that can help you get started writing today.
CONSIDER PRINT. I invest in one printed self-promotion piece each year. For 2010, I created a series of three full-color self-promotion post postcards. Putting a marketing piece in snail mail is something very few freelancers do today. My cards get noticed and they show off my concept development and writing skills.
BE PROFESSIONAL. Run your business like a business. For me, learning QuickBooks early on (including how to job cost, prepare estimates and invoices, and do the bookkeeping) is the secret to my long-term success as a freelance writer and marketing project manager. I have always looked professional to clients on paper. I have always known how every penny of a project is spent and exactly what my profit is on each job.
LOOK TO OTHERS FOR EXPERTISE. Hire a good accountant, lawyer and insurance agent. When you're just starting out, it seems like you don't really need these types of professionals, but you most certainly do. Hire the best you can afford. It will pay off in terms of tax savings and potential liability issues successfully avoided.
BE ORGANIZED & FOCUSED. The key to staying on top of projects is to help keep your clients organized and focused. I've always provided weekly project updates to clients. These are quick-to-scan bullet lists that show status of current projects, projects pending and delivery dates of recently completed projects. I've never had a client complain about these updates or say they are a waste. They find them helpful. There is the added bonus that the updates keep my projects moving forward instead of getting lost in the shuffle on a busy marketing director's desk.
What do you think? If you have any tips for helping smaller creative businesses succeed with big projects for big companies, please share your thoughts in the comments section.