It might be overwhelming to figure out how to attract clients for graphic design. A quick search on Google will turn up thousands of ideas, some of which have not been tried and others have become obsolete.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a freelance graphic designer just starting out or if you’ve been looking for clients in the design industry for years; today, we’re going to talk about what it takes to find graphic design clients.
Recently, these strategies have been tested and shown to be effective either by myself or by actual graphic design freelancers from our community.
Try them out and see if they don’t speed up the process of finding clients for your own design business.
Getting clients for your graphic design work is easy if you follow these steps straight away:
Table of Contents
1. Register With Design Job Sites.
Signing up for quality freelance job sites is one of the quickest and easiest things you can do to increase the likelihood that graphic design clients will hire you. This is true whether you are looking for graphic design clients in your immediate area or need graphic design jobs that are performed remotely.
If you’re interested in delving deeper into the world of freelance work, we’ve prepared a vast list of freelance job sites; but if you’re just getting started, here are a few of our favorite sites for finding graphic design clients:
- SolidGigs
When it comes to attracting customers for graphic design work, Time is money. SolidGigs’ primary objective is to save you valuable time by combing through thousands of freelance job postings and providing you with the most relevant results daily.
Additionally, SolidGigs does not take a cut of the profits you make (like sites such as Fiverr might). Instead, freelancers are only responsible for paying a single monthly rate.
SolidGigs offers a free seven-day trial period, during which you are eligible to receive graphic design clients, and subsequent payments begin at just $21 a month.
- Flexjobs
Flexjobs is another one of our top picks for websites that are simple to use and can help you gain graphic design gigs. They consistently have some fantastic freelance design tasks available, which can be found in various fields. If you are diligent, you will be able to start getting graphic design clients relatively fast by using Flexjobs, which you may try for free.
- Upwork
Upwork is the largest and most helpful marketplace for discovering graphic design clients. Therefore, we opted for them rather than any other freelancing marketplaces similar to Upwork that we could have chosen to highlight here. However, we went with Upwork (in our opinion).
Creating an account takes a little more time than seeking clients for graphic design, but the time invested may be well worth it in the long run. On Upwork, specific freelancers (like this guy) make a career doing it full-time.
We’ve spoken with freelancers who have told us they’ve had experience finding clients through Craigslist, Angellist, or Fiverr. Freelancers have also told us that they’ve hacked Angellist to get clients.
The most important thing is to determine which freelancing websites would work for you and then educate yourself on how to get graphic design clients’ attention on such websites.
- People Per Hour
People Per Hour claims it will assist its users in “starting small, moving fast, and building up” by utilizing its profile and proposal search. Because of the WorkStream feature makes it possible to save the entirety of Job History in a single location, including chat threads, briefs, and quotes, so client communication is conducted without a hitch. Users can review one another thanks to a ranking system, which encourages repeat business.
- Freelancer
Freelancer is currently one of the most prominent online markets for the outsourcing and crowdsourcing of design work, with the primary goal of connecting small businesses with independent designers. It is an excellent site to take up projects and connect with possible clients because it connects over 21 million employers and freelancers from over 240 nations, regions, and territories worldwide.
2. Go Where Graphic Design Clients Already Are
When you are learning how to obtain clients for graphic design, one more strategy you should concentrate on is going to where design clients currently spend their time.
This is true for both in-person and virtual interactions.
Are you able to count on the same group of graphic design customers in your area to show up to the monthly meeting of the local Chamber of Commerce? Or perhaps there is a fantastic co-working facility in the area that regularly has local mixers, at which many prospective design clients get together for a drink and to network. Likely, design clients are congregating and networking within fifty miles of your home, regardless of where you live. Even if you can make it to a couple of these, it might be helpful for you to get your graphic design firm off to a good start.
If you are more of a go-getter online, you should look into which Facebook groups contain the design clients you are interested in working with. Establish organic connections with prospective design clients through the use of Linkedin. Or offer guest pieces to publications your future clients are reading.
In either scenario, the primary objective is to maintain contact with as many prospective new design clients as possible.
3. Make Use Of Cold Outreach To Acquire Design Clients.
Cold outreach, contrary to the claims of some, is not only still alive but thriving, in my opinion. Sending unsolicited emails is still one of the most effective ways for me to get new customers each year.
It should come as no surprise. The months in which I send cold emails are the months in which I obtain clients. I have fewer customers during the months I am lax with my work.
Learning to get customers through cold emails is not a tricky skill to acquire. It is also not hard to become proficient at it.
Although it may be nerve-wracking, I’ve put together a comprehensive tutorial on how to write cold emails that convert, which will walk you through each process step.
4. Create An Environment Where Customers Will Come To You For Graphic Design Work.
The only thing that could top discovering a veritable treasure trove of prospective new clients for your graphic design business would be mastering the art of luring those clients to you rather than the other way around.
A couple of close friends of mine are incredibly good at doing this. For example, Ian Paget runs a successful logo design business in which every one of his new design clients comes directly to him. Ian doesn’t have to put in nearly as much effort to find new customers these days.
Why?
Because Ian has spent years creating an online presence that provides him with a steady stream of new customers for his design business, when someone searches for something like “Logo Designer UK,” his website and podcast are pretty high in the results.
5. Optimize Your Portfolio To Get Clients.
Your portfolio should be optimized for client conversions, which brings me to the last and most crucial piece of pro advice I have for anyone serious about learning how to obtain graphic design customers. Even though I have devoted entire pages to provide exhaustive coverage of this topic, the following is the information that is most pertinent to your inquiry:
Your portfolio is NOT the place to display your completed work. Therefore, stop squandering so much time trying to make things look attractive and perfect.
Your portfolio IS the location on your site where you transform casual site visitors into clients who are interested in working with you.
So put your attention on your calls-to-action, which should encourage design clients to get in touch with you or hire you; stay away from off-ramps, which are links that direct visitors away from your portfolio; and for the love of God, put your design portfolio online and make it live as soon as possible before you entirely run out of steam.
6. Be Sure That You Understand Your Worth.
What separates you from competitors in your industry is the value you provide to a potential customer. More clients will hire you as a freelancer if you can effectively convey the value you bring to the table.
Find out what you’re worth to yourself first. Asking yourself the following questions is an excellent place to start:
- What kind of results has the projects you’ve worked on for your previous customers yielded?
- Which of your experiences can you say is unique to you?
- Where do you stand compared to other graphic designers, and what do you bring to the table?
For instance, if you have direct experience working in a specific industry (such as the healthcare industry, the financial technology industry, the lifestyle industry, etc.), then you will have more value to offer clients in that industry because you will better understand the requirements of those clients.
7. Ask For Recommendations
If you have satisfied customers, you should inquire about possible referrals or recommendations from them. Inform them that you always welcome the opportunity to speak with prospective customers and that you value the referrals they provide.
Depending on the particular services that you provide, you may even be able to establish a formal referral or affiliate network for them.
Remember that most businesses have working partnerships with various suppliers and other organizations. Even while it may at first appear that a client would not want to refer you to their possible rival, it is essential to keep in mind that this is the case.
How To Get More Work As A Freelance Graphic Designer Starting Today?
Developing a relationship with a customer that they can trust is essential to gaining their business. When you make it such that potential customers are comfortable doing business with you, you’ll discover that they want to do business with you more and that factors like price become less important to them.
That Is How To Bring In Customers For Graphic Design.
Here are seven expert strategies that have proven to be effective when it comes to getting clients for your design business.
The following, however, is the actual recipe for success when it comes to attracting clients for design work:
Hard work
Patience
I am aware of how challenging it may be to hear that. You may seek a quick and easy way to earn additional passive income or need money like yesterday. It’s possible that you despise what you do for a living and can’t wait to quit.
I’m sorry. I genuinely believe that. But acquiring clients for graphic design work is neither a simple nor a quick process, especially if you want those clients to remain loyal customers.