What is the best way to market yourself or your business?

I suck at marketing which is essential as a freelance graphic designer. I mainly use Craigslist but I am limited to posting as I usually don't get replies until weeks later. I have though about paying people on Fiverr to post more places. I am working on my website but for now I refer people to my Coroflot portfolio. I also use Twitter there are a lot of people looking for designers but they don't see or reply to someone they don't follow so its useless. I still try though.

 

You can try http://www.backpage.com

I'd post in their services / creative area. Just hit all the major cities there. I don't know what results you will get, but BP is second to CL, so you should get some.

 

Thanks does it cost to post in all cities?

 

If you want to post in several cities at once (and I think your ad gets promoted too) then yes you'll have to pay. Their cost varies from city to city. Some cities are just several cents, whereas the others can be a couple bucks.

But anything posted manually is free. The backpage community doesn't flag ads as mercilessly as the CL one, so even if you post 20-30 free ads you should be fine.

 

Sounds great thanks for the advice

 

Use BEHANCE. Its super effective
For Graphic designers, Portfolio is everything..Add as much as you can on both your website and behance and you will get responses.

 

KiaraJ, alot of people struggle with marketing and selling themselves. But believe it or not, you already have over 18+ plus years of experience. Think about the times you had to tell a lie, or tell your ex-boss at work you need a day off because you're "sick"...or going on a job interview, or having a good credit rating, or attract a guy. Feel me?

John Carlton has a copywriting course which within it he shows you how to "sell yourself". Very valuable... especially if you want to master yourself - and internet marketing.

 

Make sure your name is readily identifiable when you market yourself. It should command attention with its typeface and placement. For example, use a bold font, in a larger size than the surrounding text, and center it at eye-level.
Your contact information, including telephone number(s), mailing address and email address, should be listed in a way that is easy to find and read.
If you have a mission statement, a promotional catch-phrase, or a call-to-action that expresses your purpose for marketing, then include it on your marketing materials. This is your opportunity to sell yourself, so be creative.
Include your logo on every piece of marketing material you produce.

 

I totally agree that behance is the best place for graphic designers. And you can use some other sources like oDesk, Guru and Freelancer.

 

I will definitely be making a Behance profile. I have and Elance and Odesk also Coroflot. More designers are on Elance

 

You need to test and test

 

Create a Facebook account
build your friend base mainly in whatever niche market your in..
build relationships with them
engage with them...
Build there trust
tell them about what you do and who knows you can get leads this way..
very effective i say ..
im in a business when you join you get the Team fb strategies for FREE..
and they are very effective..

 

How about LinkedIn?
I think it is the first best step to market yourself.
Besides you will be able to find businesses and individuals relevant to you and to your site.

 

If your having trouble posting on Craigslist, it sounds like you need a good reliable U.S based service to do it for you. There are only a couple services that are capable of posting successfully right now. Get in touch with me if you want to talk about your campaign, check signature!

 

If I was going to market myself I would try to do it though Youtube. Look up a Youtuber and contact them. Tell them that you will pay them for mentioning your name/company/email. That is a great way to have a lot of people see who you are. Also choose a Youtuber that targets your audience and is in your area if that is required. The best thing about graphic designing is that you can do it for anyone anywhere. Give this a try, Youtube is huge and is a great way to be introduced to a large audience.

 

Do a short video version (slideshow) of your portfolio. You can then put that up on YouTube and link to that in your marketing. People love looking at videos. Then do some searching around YouTube and comment on other videos, if your comments are worthwhile people will click through to your YouTube channel and see your portfolio slideshow. Don't forget to put that video as the featured video on your channel so it is the first thing visitors see.

 

Are you on fiver?
I think I may be Able to help you.
Im in an internet marketing business where we teach all this good stuff lol.

 

Create a website for your business, show off alot of your cool work there, then post the link to your website on freelancing sites like freelancer, fiverr, elance, odesk...

 

Hey,

I have recently started a project with my website which aims to help small businesses to promote themselves.

I run a news satire website and have helped a few businesses already. Basically, I write spoof news stories which feature their business and a link somewhere in the article (always in a good light!). It's free of charge and they can then share it with their fans/followers/customers. People are more likely to click on something like that, and it provides a backlink too.

PM me if you're interested.

Lizzie.

 

HI @KiaraJ, I'm Devin, a new freelancer myself specializing in web copywriting. How is your marketing coming along now?