Promoting thy self

The fine art of saying “hello”

Confidential. All content is copyright TAK! Design Ltd. 2007

“You can not not communicate”
Erik Spiekermann
Unless you promote yourself you
will only reach a fraction of your
potential audience. Or worse,
no audience at all
No one piece of promo material
will do better than another when
sent out generally to anyone
Do research…
—Who do you want to work with?
—Who would like your work?
It is pointless to create
something beautiful when it
lacks relevance to those who
receive it. Be selective
12 steps to self promotion
1. Research your market

Know your audience so your sample pack contains work suitable

to the receiver
Be aware of style preferences within your chosen field and target the
companies who are a suited match
For example; if you want to work in editorial illustration, target the
publications which you think would best suit your work

8
2. Don’t be shy

Give the company a call and ask to speak to the commissioning editor /
head of marketing / creative director
This makes sure you know you are sending your (precious) sample
materials to the correct person…
…and importantly the materials are then addressed personally and
not generically (sir / madam)
On a basic level, simple initial contact helps overcome those nerves and
provides a small amount of familiarity with the company

9
3. Write a covering letter

It’s your call to action

Explain…
— Why you are making contact
— Why your work is relevant for them to see
— Make sure it’s labeled to the right person (see step 2)

10
4. Quality control

Don’t send materials that are badly printed from low resolution scans
If the package is tatty — don’t send it
If sending via e-mail be aware of file sizes…
— Learn the basics of web optimisation
— Each image should be no more than 100k in size
— Use the ‘Save For Web’ option in Photoshop to scale down
and compress your images

11
5. Label everything

With your name, contact e-mail address, phone number

and copyright information
When e-mailing samples watermark each image so it
cannot be re-used
Create an e-mail signature which states that all attached
media is copyrighted to you
(Do this when sending any artwork at any stage in any job)

12
6. Group by style

Choose your samples carefully for the client in question

Example: If you are approaching a book publisher, demonstrate you
can illustrate the same character in multiple positions
Example: If you are approaching a greetings card publisher, send
seasonal illustrations in a variety of styles

13
7. Snail mail over e-mail

Everyone likes receiving stuff in the post

(Unless promotional material is thrown away) it’s hard not to be
reminded of the creative each time it is seen
Inboxes grow daily & e-mails fall off the radar fast

(And the Royal Mail needs your business!)

14
8. Include business cards

Small and easy to keep

Essential marketing tool
You can never send enough
You will change address / lose your phone before you have finished
handing out that box of 500 cards!
Clients will always pass on surplus cards

15
9. Portfolio sampler books

When you feel you have enough quality work (or spare cash) invest in
making a small book which you can give to people
A book will be kept and passed around increasing your exposure
You can always sell spares via your website with Paypal

16
10. E-Mail & web portfolios

The internet has changed most forms of communication over

the past 10 years
Get online!
Purchase a domain name and web space

taktak23.freespace.uk.com / taktak23@home.btconnect.com
vs.
www.taktak.net / dom@taktak.net

17
11. Follow up (phone calls)

If you haven’t received any feedback contact the prospective client

Engage on a human level — don’t be scared
To break the ice (and to justify your call) ask if they received your
samples and if so, ask for their opinion
Re–iterate your interest in working with them
Put on a friendly voice, be clear and show you are keen & passionate

18
11. Follow up (e–mail)

If your samples were sent through e-mail then you can make the
process easier by following up with a friendly e-mail
The benefits of an e-mail is that you can think about what you are
going to say and there’s no case of the heebie-jeebies
But e-mails can get ignored or forgotten

19
12. Step & repeat & repeat & repeat

If you don’t hear back and really want to work for them, try again
— They may have been too busy to contact you back
— They might have lost your details
— You might have been added to the large pile in the corner
Either way — subsequent contact shows that you are keen and keeps
you fresh in their mind
But don’t waste precious time and money on sending work to those
who aren’t interested

20
Getting online

Why you should be online and how to go about doing it

If you want work, get online.

A good website is the most

important communication
tool you can have
Make sure it’s well constructed

No confusing navigation elements

Check there are no broken links
If in doubt, keep it simple
Do it yourself (iWeb, WordPress, Online tutorials)
Get someone else to do it for you. Trade skills?
If worst comes to worst, use flickr or other similar tools to get
your stuff online

23
Promote the site

A well designed site with good work will easily get linked on design
portals and other creative news sites
Links from other sites will bring focussed traffic to your site
Register your site to the main search engines
Improve search results ranking by using correct & relevant page titles
and text within the page (wherever possible)
Getting linked on other sites will improve your search engine ranking

24
Tell people about your site

Never be ashamed to shamelessly plug your own work

find people who would be interested in your work and get linked up
Scratch their back and link to them in return
Get a mailing list and use it
Include your domain name on anything that has a surface

25
Add a ‘blog’

A blog doesn’t have to be a diary of what you had for breakfast

Treat the blog as a space to post news about what you’ve been up
to in relation to your work
Post stories about stuff you’ve seen that you like
Text on the page will increase search engine driven traffic
Link your MySpace with your main domain space

26
Get yourself seen

There are many illustration portals where you can upload work
and get listed for commissions here are 3 to submit your work to…

Illoz Illustration Mundo Compuer Love

www.illoz.com www.illustrationmundo.com www.cpluv.com

Community site aimed at professionals. Well known and well used site. Free. Community driven site for all kinds
£76 per year for illustrators. Art Community driven, post work and of creatives. Submit work and create
directors (commissioners) join for free. latest news for others to see. online portfolios. Regular news on
High standards. homepage. Featured galleries.

27
Networking
The life of a freelancer is all
about who you know…

…and who knows you

Networking can be a
cringe but doesn’t mean
selling yourself at
inappropriate times…
(see the video below)
Networking can be as
simple as making people
aware of your work;
handing out a business card,
adding your site to a search
engine or letting someone
know what you do
Plant seeds
Get to know people and then keep them
informed all of the time
Magazine editors
Design studios
Gallery / bar owners
Friends & neighbours

34
Self initiate

Organise an exhibition with friends

Create a project which promotes yourself and others
Form a collective
Collaborate with a company and do a collective promotion
where both parties gain

35
Go out and get pissed on free booze

Exhibition openings
Book launches
Conferences
Talks

36
Get published

There’s are an incredible amount of publishers who seek fresh new

material for their publications. Befriend them
— Books
— Magazines
— Websites

37
Ideas for self promotion

So what can you make and send to people?

The classics
(never to be underestimated)
Postcards
— A solid collection of cards are always treasured
— Can be used by client or given to colleagues
— Can be used by yourself as compliment slips to be sent with
invoices and other communications
— Cheap and cost effective
— An alternative could be greetings cards

39
Postcards
The classics
(never to be underestimated)
Posters
— Makes a big impression
— Allows for many illustrations and text
— Can double as a fold out magazine
— Posters are always well received
— An alternative could be wrapper paper

41
Posters
The classics
(never to be underestimated)
Business cards
— A well designed business card is a great opening
— Small portable window into your work
— Contact details can be kept safe
— A collection of cards can act as a micro portfolio

43
Business Cards
Some more… Mmmmmmmm nice!
The classics
(never to be underestimated)
Promo book / booklet
— A well produced book will be kept for future reference
— A chance to get work published (DIY)
— Ability to lead people through your work – a story
— Not as expensive as you might think

46
Books & booklets
The interesting
(making an impression?)
Badges & stickers
— Everyone loves badges & stickers
— Small and relatively cheap
— Still have the ability to communicate contact info (reverse)
— Wearable
— Multiple as opposed to singles

48
Badges / stickers
The interesting
(making an impression?)
Tee-Shirts
— Different
— Prominent canvas to showcase work
— Unlikely to be thrown away
— Wearable

50
Tee Shirts
The interesting
(making an impression?)
Tote-bag
— Current
— Unique approach
— Alternative to a tee-shirt
— Re-usable

52
Tote Bag
It’s important to remember,
building up a name takes time. At
first, people don’t want to know.

But keep going… it will work.

If you’re reading this online on our
website, why not start by
contacting us and saying hello.

:-)
Thanks!