Rescue Plan for Designers to Avoid Ongoing Slump
Time is getting rough and laying many designers off their jobs. The global economy seems to recover whereas; designers are still in the midst of recession. The reason behind is quite simple. Today, an average internet surfer can set up his own website without acquiring any formal knowledge like a professional designer. Thanks to WordPress who has made it easy for naïve people to have their own website.
The aforementioned situation has become common putting a lot of pressure on designer’s fraternity. Nowadays, designers have not only lowered their prices to bottom but they have started offering number of services in bonus just to have more clients.
Scarcity of quality has reduced the value of web/graphic designers. The situation may sounds horrific for new comers in the field, however; there are still a lot more options available for them to opt and let recession turns into succession.
Today’s post is all about rescuing designers from certain slump and give them ideas to get their act together in order to race for new success heights.
Quit Downplaying Your Worth:
It is not a wise idea to discredit your own worth just to enlist more clients. Let some nickel and dimmers go and look for big thing. The sanity calls for removing your eye from money but to stick to the people with money. Try to find people who you think are willing to spend on your professional abilities and they value your expertise. It means that you will have to raise your rates or being choosy when it comes to client selections. The idea of raising rate in this competitive atmosphere seems scary, however; in order to get the attention you will have to do so. Moreover, it is also possible that your high rates catch the curiosity of clients and they like to know why you are the one charging more than the rest of the market.
At this stage, your fellow designers can help you in making decision. Try to look for high rate designers and interview them, find it out if the high rate game is working well for them. It will strengthen your decision to go high on rates.
Furthermore, it is not prudent approach to compete on left over clientage in the market. However, if you can raise your rates and take fewer clients in the process, then you can focus on doing nothing but great work. So, first rescue tip is to stop downplaying your expert abilities which you have learned after spending significant amount of time.
Be a King of One Instead Jack of All:
It may seems that the proposed rescue plan is more of a risky than safe but the fact is it is better to take risk proactively than wait for fortune to smile on you. Most of designers try to learn basics of everything which turns them jack of all. They neither become expert in anything nor professional in the quality production. So, the best advice is to let the people know that there is one man who is expert in his niche. It is important in the relation of price hike because when you raise your rate you also raise the expectations of client. The client will never be satisfied with average quality at high price.
In order to cope with this situation it is better to become the “go-to the man” person for a specific niche rather than trying to become a one-stop shop. At this stage the time comes when you need to find a perfect place for yourself. If you are best in mini-sites then become a mini-site designer. If you are expert at designing niche blogs, then brand yourself as the niche blogging design guru. A lot of designers have this idea of serving everyone to earn more but the truth is that as a consumer, I want to know you are an expert in doing what I need you to do.
Don’t Turn Your Back on Market:
This plan may seem weary but it is applicable and practical. The expert designers have already made up their place in market so, they keep themselves up to date about market. However, in case of changing the geography or targeting new venue it is highly desired to get complete idea about the market. The likes and dislikes of clients, relationship between client and designer, expectation, worth, and most importantly trend.
There will be some cases in which you come across clients that don’t know what works best in their industry, but that doesn’t mean you should turn them down. You need to keep that in your mind that you are an expert and responsible to act like one. So, there is no harm in briefing your expertise to naïve clients. In many cases, this will give them even more confidence in your vision.
Taste Every Nugget of Opportunity:
Designers are creative people who don’t really care about the money making things. It may not be true in all the cases but there are some who really stick to what they do while missing out the related small things which can make them an ideal choice and complete package. Here are few examples designers should not miss to do it along designing the website:
- Web banners
- Twitter background/profile design, Facebook page etc
- Avatar photos for a uniform social media representation
- Icon design
- eBook template design
In start it is possible that your client does not know that he needs these things so, seize the opportunity and start the conversation. There is no contradiction to what I have said earlier, however; putting yourself in client’s shoes will clear up the confusion.
Tag Along :
It does not make sense to die for work at first and meet the client every now and then. However, once designer gets the job they don’t really considering following it up. It is the most important part of marketing strategy which is being neglected very often on designer’s part.
Never forget that a customer is your greatest asset. They don’t just give you money but they are also a perfect feedback source. So, develop a feedback mechanism from your existing and previous clients.
In order to tag along your previous clients you should keep them on your email list and let them know that you’re offering a sale or a new service.
Finally…
The five point rescue plan is the best when it comes to bring life to your dying bank account. It also helps to prevent your skills to get rusty over the time. The plan does not require you to be marketing junky whereas; it does require you to adopt few techniques and excel in what you have learned. Just consider to be sensible risk taker and let the money come to you. Cutting price, developing a niche and tagging your clients along will serve you before, during and after the project.
So, these were few yet highly practiced tactics to build a reputation and become an asset to the community rather than someone just groveling for clients. Start respecting your own ability first and then expect the community to return the favor.
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