How to Market Your Graphic Design Portfolio
7 min read time
One of the hardest things to do in the graphic design world is getting your work in front of the eyes of potential customers.
But don’t worry, I’m here to save the day. Here are 5 ways to market your graphic design portfolio/website.
1. Have a Decent website
Now, this might not seem like an actual marketing strategy, but it is. You are a graphic designer and this is your launchpad to the eyes of potential customers. If you start marketing your graphic design portfolio with nothing on your website, and it doesn’t look somewhat decent, there is no point in getting people see your work. Your visitors will automatically think you are either inexperienced, or lazy. The graphic design marketplace is mercurial. Make sure you keep your portfolio up to date with your latest and best projects. Make it easy for your potential customers to reach out, make it easy for them to see your work, make it easy for them to find out more about you with an “about me” section or making your social media links visible and prominent. Just make it easy.
2. Find your niche, and go where that audience goes
As someone who has owned a clothing brand, I know the ins and outs of the clothing industry pretty well. I’m no expert by any means, but I know a lot more than the average Joe. With that, I also love music. I like to find underground artists who haven’t gone mainstream but they are looking to find a way to make it. I get a sense of pride in finding up and coming artists before they blow up. Having great cover art and great merchandise is key to making these artists look professional and start generating higher incomes for themselves. That is my niche. An artist who wants to broaden to merchandising and/or who wants to take that next step in their cover art visuals. Now, where do these potential customers live? They live on Instagram, Soundcloud and community Spotify playlists. I often browse these social media sources to find new and upcoming artists who have a bit of a following. I then find their music on Spotify or Apple Music. Soundcloud is a good way to find immensely-underground musicians. But, if they are only on Soundcloud, they likely aren’t ready for that next step in their passion. It takes time and money to get their music distributed on major platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music. The smartest way to get clients is finding a Spotify playlist placement. These playlist allows potential clients pay to be featured on their playlist that often get many listens. That way, you already know they are giving up their capital to try to reach a new audience.
3. Make content about your graphic design
Do what you see me doing now. I’ve never blogged before. Truthfully, I am only doing this because I have no one to talk to about graphic design. But, I see the opportunity in creating some sort of content about graphic design to gain more of an audience. That’s most likely how you got here. There are so many ways to create content in this age of digital media. Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Blogging, etc. There is no reason why (if you are knowledgable in the graphic design field) you are not creating some time of content in this day and age. This lasts forever. This blog will be stored in a database forever. It is free marketing.. forever. I’ve only come to this realization recently. After years of creating content for myself and other clients, I find that YouTube is my favorite way of creating content. But, I’m testing the waters for myself in graphic design. This only works if you (the reader) gains some kind of new value from reading this piece of writing. Which brings me to my next point:
4. Two-sided value
I just finished reading “Company of One” by Paul Jarvis. This book provides great insights on focusing on your current customers and not scaling your business too fast or really, at all. Most businesses focus more on customer acquisition than customer retention. As a small business, and yes, you are a small business, you have to prioritize customer satisfaction over growth. Us creators, cannot be selfish when working with clients. Clients who are returning customers because they have enjoyed their service so much, saves countless hours of marketing to new clients and takes you away from why you really want to pursue a graphic design career, and that is to create things. You cannot be selfish when running a business. Do what is best for the customer. Build that relationship so you are more than just someone who they pay. Become their friend, mentor, student, whatever you want to be. As the common saying goes “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. You can’t get to that point if you don’t start building relationships. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the customer’s always right. If you do not like working with someone, you can finish the project and be done with them. There’s no point in building fake relationships just because of someone’s potential or stature in their community. Build real relationships with people you like.
5. Be consistent with your marketing
I have trouble forcing myself to exercise on a daily basis and consistency is key to anything you want to improve or get better at. If you’re anything like me, it’s hard to keep on the daily tasks of life. I’m a very forgetful person. I forget names, tasks that need to be done, what I ate for dinner last night, etc. It is one of my weaknesses. They key to success is finding your weaknesses and making them a strength. I “fixed” my exercise problem by time blocking my days down to the very minute. Now, I have been time blocking for about a year and a half now. It helps me focus on my goals and when I need to work on them. If you don’t know me (or even if you do), you probably don’t know how much I work in a single day. My day typically consists of 3-4 hours of tasks to further my dreams and aspirations before my day-job every morning, then I work approximately 8-9 hours a day at that same job. After work, I get another 1-3 hours of work done on my goals and aspirations. In the morning, I have at least 30 minutes blocked out for Graphic Design marketing. It has worked out very well. Do you know why? It’s because I do it every day. No ifs, ands, or buts. Consistency is key.
(My time blocking example)
Time blocking has great benefits including me not being an idiot and forgetting something important like birthdays, major tasks, my day-job work schedule, meetings, etc. Obviously, you don’t have to schedule everything down to the times when you eat everyday, but, even just time blocking major tasks, deadlines, and your daily routine can help remind you what you really want to focus on in life. You think you don’t have time for something? Try to time block your whole week just for a week. I’m sure there is an opening somewhere for at least 15 minutes for whatever long-term goal you would like to achieve. Your efforts made to improve your life on a daily, weekly or monthly basis compounds over time. You have to ask yourself, how important is this goal? What am I willing to give up to achieve this goal? How often can I work on this goal?
It’s up to you.
