Working as a freelance designer can be very rewarding. You can do inspiring work with clients you actually want to work with, focus on the niches you want to work in, and, of course, enjoy more flexibility when it comes to selecting your jobs, but also with scheduling and remote possibilities. If you’ve been working in an agency environment or even in-house with a contract position and are looking to establish yourself fresh as a freelance designer, then chances are you’ve already honed your skills and have the confidence to complete projects for potential clients.
One of the biggest issues for many freelancers, both newbies and veterans alike, is pitching to clients. Perfecting the art of pitching your services is crucial for you to continue working as a freelance designer and to enjoy the benefits of your independent work.
The good news is that there are countless ways for you to pitch your skills to potential clients in the digital age, so this process is all about finding the channels and approach that work best for both yourself and the clients you’re going after.
Continue reading below for some useful tech tips to help you pitch your services as a freelance designer.
First Impressions Matter
Our first tip is all about presentation. You can use a basic PDF editor to create highly presentable documents that outline your experience, past projects you’ve worked on, and all the other particular details that make up your pitch (i.e., pricing models, work samples, turnaround times, etc.). Sending potential clients well-structured PDF documents will make you look like a pro instantly and help you secure more work moving forward.
When you’re communicating with potential clients and hoping to communicate the full value of your services, you’ll naturally need to ensure that you make the best impression possible. You only get one chance at a first impression, so make sure you do yourself proud. This means that any documentation you send should look slick, professional and be on-brand.
Build A Website
As a freelance designer, you’ll need to have a presence online to ensure that prospective clients can find you and engage with your body of work. While a social media presence is important for designers, it’s always worth going the extra mile and setting up a professional-looking website to provide a more formal portfolio.
If you don’t have the skills to build a website, you can hire a web design company to look after it for you. Alternatively, if you want to save money, you can use one of the many free website builders out there, like Squarespace or Wix.
And if you’d prefer to grow your client base before building your professional website, you can always focus your efforts on LinkedIn. Making a professional profile, connecting with people in your industry and engaging with any posts you come across is a great way to increase your exposure to potential clients.
Using networking platforms like LinkedIn that have their own brand recognition can help you identify how best to present yourself as a freelancer without having to manage the upfront costs that accompany owning and maintaining a domain. You can even find freelance jobs ready to use your services on these platforms.
Leverage Social Media
Setting up a portfolio of your work on your website is definitely a good idea. However, as a designer, you should also look at leveraging social media and freelancer platforms to both show off your work and ensure you’re easily accessible to prospective clients.
Regarding social media, images and carousels work really well on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. You can also create short videos of your work to share on Instagram Reels or Stories and perhaps even YouTube Shorts. And don’t forget to join freelance groups online to make connections and to network with others in your niche.
CRM Software
If you’re already an established freelance design agency with multiple clients but you’re looking to expand your portfolio of clients, you might consider using suitable customer relationship management (CRM) software for freelancers. CRM platforms allow you to record and monitor all of the communications that you have with your customers. You can easily look back on previous communications with them, identify different trends or messaging that might have worked to get work in the past, or more importantly, identify what did not work.
Many of these software packages also allow you to send group emails, build audiences and set up reminders to ensure you continue to follow up with potential leads. In other words, these software solutions may just prove themselves to be vital to your lead generation processes as a professional freelancer.
Use Tools To Identify Trends
And speaking of lead generation, to attract new clients, you’ll need to understand what the hottest trends are at any given time. Knowing what’s trending and generally keeping your finger on the pulse in all the industries you want to work within will allow you to stay one step ahead of your competitors so you can reach out to potential clients before they do. For example, maybe contract work through C2C staffing becomes required in your area. It’s important to be aware of trends like this so you can be ready to land your next gig.
Online tools such as Google Trends, Semrush Trends and Buzzsumo are all very effective when it comes to discovering the latest trends. And when you know what is trending in the marketplace, you can quickly put together a proposal to send to your clients addressing these new needs. Not only will this help you to get more freelance design work, but it will also show your clients that you have your finger on the pulse.
Set Yourself Up For Success As A Freelance Designer
The freelance market is more saturated than ever, and as a result, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd. Following the tips above, you can use the right technologies to gain the upper hand. With the right approach to pitching potential clients, you will secure more contracts and earn more money as a freelance designer as time goes on.
