Astrid's Self-Promo Tips

Sorry for the delay guys, was busy with taking part in the children illustration competition I mentioned in an earlier post. Will shortly let you know how that turned out. For now, here's my addition to the topic self-promotion. Your tips were all super cool, thanks a lot! You make it hard to add things, but here goes:

* Make individual mailing pieces for a small selection of contacts:
I had an illustrator friend (Nicole Justiz, nilludesign.com she's in children publishing) recommend that to me. She learned: wide-spread postcard mailing, near to no answer. Selected customized gift mailing with memorable worksamples, 80% of positive feedback!! In her case she was targeting gift producers for toddlers, and she sent self-made teddy bears and more. I'm planning a customized samples-to-keep package for girlie market book publishers (book covers), will let you know how that works out. Cross your fingers =)

* email newsletters:
This has been mentioned before. I hear there are pros and cons. It may land in spam, but some will get there. It's definitely good to build and keep a fan base, and to stay in touch with existing or interested customers. I use Verticalresponse.com. For Email newsletters, I've been very happy with them. Don't use them for postcards, I think they're too flappy looking, and get spots easily.

* don't just wait to be found, find who's looking - with google search:
I firmly believe that (almost) no matter what style you do, there's someone out there who will like it, hopefully even pay for it. Often they're even looking and would love to find us. Why not help them and meet them in the middle? If we put ourselves in their shoes, what terms would we put on the internet to find us? Try typing words like "illustration submissions" into google for instance. Or "illustrator for greeting cards". You'll find tons of entries, some of which might be interesting...

* google adwords!
On google.adwords.com, you can drive people to your website by paying for keywords. You can say how much you pay, and you only pay when someone searches for your keywords in google, and actually clicks on them. Great tracking and analytics functions, you'll see what works and what doesn't. I'm still fiddling with it myself, I know I can still improve. Again, put yourself in the shoes of the people who want to find you. How would they look for you? How would THEY word it?

* meet someone or do a mailing?
When I started out, I went to 4 cities and met magazine art directors. About 12 appointments in each city. On average, I got about 1 client out of it. Comparing, I get about 5 answers out of a postcard mailing of 500 (they say that's normal). To travel to a city and meet people takes a LOT of time and money! Even though mathematically, I got about 8% success rate out of it, I'm not doing this right now. It just takes so much effort and money that I want to try the specialty mailing for a change.

* website boosting tips!
These tips are out of a German book called Website Boosting. I love this book! I'm about to redesign my website, and will definitely try to implement as much as possible. I had a webdesigner recommend the book to me, he said he could tell in his hit rates that the book had definitely helped. I haven't found the book in English yet, but will let you know if I do. Here are a few extracts (without explanation, not enough room):
* don't use flash (can't be read by search engines)
* don't use images for text (dito)
* don't use frames (search engines have trouble)
* try to get many links to your site, from similar websites, or from websites with a high page rank
* work with google keywords (adwords.google.com)
* boost your usability for the visitors of your website
* text has to have strong contrast to background
* are all links easily recognizable (underlined, other color)?
* can each page of your website be printed? (if someone is interested in your work, they could easily keep your reference, or forward to someone)
* is your contact information on each individual page? (easy accessibility)
* not more than 7 buttons to choose from in the navigation(our brain can't take more)
* does the user always know where he/she is on your website? easy navigation...
* update often
.....

* Keep learning
I just bought a 3CD set by Mark Simon, called "the thriving artist". Great tips on how to land dream designer jobs! He sure seems to know what he's talking about, he's an award-winning artist, best-selling author, worked for Disney and many big shot movies... I learned that if we really want a job/assignment, there's a high chance we can get it, if we really go for it. Inspiring, recommendable! I'm always on the lookout for books and magazines about marketing, illustration technique, illustration business books, and art market books. Also online. If we have time, I believe it's a great help to really get to know the biz, we'll automatically be better at self-promo.

* collaborate!
Like us here, it's such a great opportunity for everyone involved! We share knowledge, tips, support each other, share costs when we do a promotion together, critique each other, and use our platform as a separate marketing channel. What better can there be than joint forces? Thanks Illustrator Group Soup Ladies!! Of course this also goes out to everyone who follows our Group Soup Talk, and gets involved with their thoughts and tips - tips and feedback are so welcome!

* be memorable
I have a very very (very) common last name. Mueller is about as widespread as Smith in England, or Meyer in Germany. Everyone is called Mueller. Going for a different, creative, memorable business name has proven to be very positive. The name reflects my humor, and it attracts people with my humor, which is great! Most reactions are very positive, people will smile, everyone asks (which is great, they'll remember more easily), why PotatoMammaDesign???

* be enthusiastic, while being yourself
If you're enthusiastic about your work and what you do, people will be too. They'll trust that you're good, and they'll be looking forward to working with you because you're so excited about working for them. I think we all have that excitement when we start out as freelancers (right?). We have to keep it, it's the fire that makes us shine, strive to keep going, and fun to work with.

I think that's it for now (smile)!!

Question back to you guys! Someone mentioned going to conferences to meet ADs. On which conferences to you meet ADs? Thanks! Do you like my approaches here? Any comments, or suggestions for improvement? Constructive criticsm is welcome!