Effective Thing #5
EFFECTIVE THING #5
Show-and-Telling Everyone
When I started my agency I had a personal portfolio of music industry work, but no music industry contacts. It may not seem like I started from scratch, but the saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is truer than most (and should really explain the themes in these five strategies well).
We finally got our first big opportunity in the music biz with a website for a large conference/festival. To say we discounted our work is an understatement. Saying we paid to make it is funny but closer to the truth. I pushed and pushed our developers to finish the site because once it was launched the real work would begin.
When it was done, I booked every possible meeting I could with everyone in the music industry, everyone in the festival industry, and anyone that would be remotely impressed by this brand. Then I took the website on a road show and gave everyone a guided tour of the site - and that was it. Look what we made! Isn’t it neat?
Eventually the work led to more websites and each one got a roadshow of their own. People began to know me as the guy who finished a website again, I’m sure. But they got to know the passion and pride our team brought to each project. You just can’t easily put that into a static ad for your service.
Like what you’re reading? Join our newsletter for more insights like these.
I’m out here
People Need to Know That You Do
That heading is intentionally not what you do, it’s that you do it. It’s not enough to have people understand your service, you need to remind everyone you know that this is what you are doing on a regular basis.
The music festival example is perhaps a lofty goal but the strategy is scalable to any level. If you photograph a wedding show those photographs to everyone you know (particularly single people) if you make balloon animals, make sure everyone sees those balloon animals. It sounds obvious but there’s more to this than just posting online.
When you take the opportunity to show your work to someone, it coalesces all of the strategies in this list:
You’ve got a great excuse to speak to many people that may not be at the decision-making stage of the sales cycle.
When you simply explain your existing work to someone without trying to pull work out of them, you don’t appear desperate. You’ve already got work, right?
There’s no greater preview for what it’s like to work with you than you being proud of what you made, in particular if the work is pretty good.
You finished the thing, right? That tells everyone that someone trusted you and the process worked. This helps to communicate that you’re a low-risk investment.
You’ll also note how well this step feeds into the first strategy on this list and if it feels like I’m suggesting that this is a cycle you to be repeated for the rest of your career it’s because I’m suggesting that this is a cycle to be repeated for the rest of your career.
20 years in - I’m using the same tricks I did in design school.
The Takeaway
Making show-and-tells a part of your project cycle makes each project an opportunity to market yourself. You’re going to need lots of tools to get yourself out there but none of them are as powerful as you proudly explaining your work with passion.
You can sit a potential client down and straight-up tell them everything that’s great about you and even if they believe you, it won’t necessarily make them want to work with you. Let them hear that passion, and they’ll be drawn to the idea of making something great together.
Ok - But How Do I Get Work I Love?
Maybe it isn’t fair to say, go get the work you love, then show it to other people to get more work you love, but remember, this is scalable. Ground level opportunities exist in every niche industry and there’s always a way to get your work in front of someone.
This would be the point in which someone might suggest doing work for free to get started but I would exercise massive caution here. In fact, I would do everything in my power to eliminate the word “free” from any of your equations, even on day one. It’s a slippery slope - once you start doing free work it gets increasingly difficult to charge for it.
Instead look at ways of assigning different values to your work. Even if it’s kinda bullshit like “Hey can I design this for you and all I ask in return is feedback.” You need to establish value with the person you’re doing the work for - even if it’s a favour. Don’t let them establish them either. You can decide to do work for “exposure” but don’t let someone else decide that.
All of these warnings can make up a series of posts on their own and if you’ve signed up for our newsletter, you’ll be hearing plenty of these warnings, but I’ll leave this last strategy on love.
Every little thing you make is something that did not exist in the world until you came along and willed it into existence using only your creative mind. It’s easy to forget how incredible that is - but don’t let yourself.
Each creation deserves to be introduced to everyone you know and if you can remember how incredible it is that you made this thing, it will come through in how you talk about it. Love your work. Everyone will feel it. And more work to love will always follow.
Thanks for reading! It means a lot to me and us at Working Creative. We’d love if you shared this series with anyone you think would be helped by the insights within.