Everyone thinks that they're your only client

No matter how much or how few work you do for a single client while having multiple clients, they all expect that you can just drop everything and do their work immediately or answer their phone call or email immediately. The truth is that when your independent and rely on multiple clients for income that's just impossible to be available to everyone at once 24/7, even if you have an office that you work out of the majority of the day every day, sometimes you just get tied up on the phone or over Skype with someone.

There's a very thin line between keeping the customer happy and the customer just asking for too much. Some people just plain ask for too much attention. You have to find a balance between getting back to your clients in a timely matter, being sure not to ignore them, but also making sure you are not ignoring another client in the meantime. Generally you figure out how to deal with each client individually, and juggle your time by being honest with them and explaining that you are unavailable because you are busy with another client, but will get back to them as soon as possible. You also can't let it drive you crazy and in the long run, you have to figure that you just can't always work perfectly with everyone.

You are NOT a Graphic Designer just because you learned photoshop!

Whew.. it's like a never ending conversation about learning photoshop vs. being a graphic designer. I like to compare notes on this with photographers who dislike how everyone who picks up a camera thinks they're a photographer. The truth is that though the use of photoshop and digital cameras have hurt real graphic designers and photographers rates to a certain extent, the reality is that there is no real competition if your a good seasoned graphic designer or photographer.

Here are couple reasons I came up with:

1. I don't know how many people have come to me saying "my friend said they'd do this flyer, business card, poster, logo, etc.... free (or extremely cheap) but never called me back." Time is money and your friend wanted you to know how cool they are for knowing how to use photoshop, but really have no interest in doing it for free for you. Besides, unless you don't mind the use of 5 fonts in 6 colors on a pixelated background with lens flare that is turned down by a printer who asks why your design doesn't include the bleed, you might want to try using someone who actually IS a graphic designer next time. (P.S. Freelancers do design for as cheap as your gonna find, "insert www.liquidreddesign.com plug" and also craigslist is there for you too!)

2. I've been to at LEAST 3 interviews for design jobs where they first showed me an average flyer design and asked "can you do this?" I of course said "yes" Followed by "oh because several people we interviewed said no right away." LOL! Don't embarrass yourself! My 8+ year design portfolio will destroy the flyers you did for your friends house party kegger. I admit, everyone has to start somewhere and it was really difficult finding jobs that wanted entry level designers in the beginning. But if you have never taken a design class, I suggest at least taking one or several because they don't just teach you photoshop believe it or not. They teach you what not to do, and the "secrets" to using fonts correctly and not making your design into a horrible piece of garbage.

3. You can't do everything! There, I said it. Though it's also hard for me to admit sometimes. You just have to suck it up and realize that even though you are really good at your current profession whatever it may be, you may want to leave print design, web design, and photography up to the experts so your business doesn't look cheap because you had your assistant design your flyer in word. I always look at the menu design when I go into a restaurant and decide on the quality of the food based on how well designed their menu is. If the menu looks cheap, I know not to go in if they want $19.99 for a turkey sandwich. This goes for every type of business. Everyone can tell that you "designed" your business cards on Vista Print and got them for free.

4. I admit, I've been stuck in a situation where the business I was designing for didn't have good photos or any photos and wanted me to shoot the product photos and/or photoshop the photos to look decent. Not only should (I) you be supporting the use of a professional photographer, but it really does look that much better when professional design is accompanied by professional photography. And vice versa to you pro photographers!

I help you get more Facebook fans NOW!

Hey fellow business owners, I'm doing a giveaway contest on Facebook that you can be a part of!

I'm giving away a $49 "My Accessory Business" Jewelry Sales Kit from www.MyAccessoryBusiness.com. The "My Accessory Business" fan page has 3000 fans and I want to help you get tons and tons of fans too! Plus my personal page has over 1200 other friends and 2 other business pages with 300 different fans. I'm looking for other businesses to join my giveaway that will be broadcast to over 4500 TOTAL Facebook users. Here's how it works:

- 4500 Fans from my 3K fan page, friends page, and 2 other business pages want to enter my contest to win a $49 sales kit
- They go to the contest page and they get one entry for each business page that they "LIKE"
- Most people will like every page in the contest to get a better chance of winning the prize
- I entered my business page in a similar contest and got tons of new "LIKES"
- Getting new fans increases your chance for getting your message out to more people to promote your business
- Even if the fans you get don't have interest in your business or are not located in the area your business is located, the more fans you get, the more popular and therefore trustworthy your business will look online.

Here's how you can be a part of my giveaway:

OPTION #1: Your business page listed on my giveaway as an option to "like" your page for 1+ entry in the contest- costs only $5

OPTION #2: Your business page listed on my giveaway as a mandatory option to "like" your page for 1+ entry in the contest & they MUST click "Like" on your page in order to enter the contest- costs only $10

OPTION #3: If you have more than one business page you want to enter, you can have BOTH listed on the giveaway- costs only $8

For your business to be part of the giveaway:
- Send correct payment through www.paypal.com to liquidreddesign@gmail.com
- Mention which option you are choosing
- In the message box, write in the Facebook URL for your Facebook business page

Be sure to enter your business now and try it out, the cost of entering your business in this type of giveaway may increase at a later date.

The contest starts on May 1st, 2012 and goes until May 15th, 2012 (2 weeks!). You may send your payment for this at any time from now until the end of the contest but the earlier your business is entered, the more fans you will get, so enter your business page now!

If you have any questions, you can email "myaccessorybusiness AT gmail.com" or message me on Facebook.

-Megan

Getting seen by your fans on Facebook

It seems that not only do you have to get fans to "like" you business facebook page, you need to get them to engage in the conversation on your page. Why? Well, if you haven't noticed, you don't see every single post on every single page you liked or from every single friend all the time. Facebook uses an algorithm to determine what you see on your news feed and what slips through. So how do you get your posts to show up on your fans news feed?

Here are a couple tips that can help your posts show up:

- By commenting on their page your news feed posts are more likely to show on their page later. So connect with your friends and fans often by replying to them, even when it's not directed towards you.

- Post as yourself on your fan page. You have the option to post as your business, or your real name on your business page and posting as your real name will help show your post to not only your business page fans, but your personal page fans as well.

- Private messaging on your business page is great! I was so happy to see that this was finally available because it seemed too hard to figure out who to contact on a business page before. Now, potential customers can easily get in contact with me and I can easily get in contact with other business page owners. This will also help your posts to show up in their news feed.

- You can tag other businesses and fans that have commented in your thread. This can help with cross-promotion of your business on other business pages.

- Sharing content works to get seen on that person's news feed. It also give you more content to post on your page. Also, when you do post something that is "share-worthy" you can ask people to "re-post" or "share" and if it's interesting enough, they will.

Ever feel like online ads are following you?

Well, maybe they are?! Yes, but it's not magic. It's called "retargeting."

What is retargeting?

Generally 2% of shoppers convert on the first visit to an online store. Retargeting brings back the other 98%. Retargeting works by keeping track of people who visit your site and displaying your retargeting ads to them as they visit other sites online.

How does retargeting work?

Technically all that is necessary is to place a JavaScript tag in the footer of your website. This code creates a list of people that visit your site by placing anonymous retargeting "cookies" in their browser. This list allows the retargeting vendor to display retargeting ads to your potential customers as they visit other sites. 

Basically, someone goes to your website, check it out and then leaves. Will they ever come back? Who knows? Well, with retargeting, your ad will pop up on display ads around the internet. I just saw one of my "My Accessory Business" website ads on another site I was looking at randomly. The customer may or may not even remember going to your site but now they have a new opportunity to visit your site again, and maybe this time they might have thought more about making a purchase on your site since they visited it last, so they are more likely to go back and make a purchase. 


The website I have been using to do my retargeting is called AdRoll http://www.adroll.com They have a free trial and lets just say that unless your site is getting massive traffic already, you won't be paying a fortune to use it after the trial is over. The CPC seems to be close to the price of google ads. 


If you need ads designed to fit in the ad roll art requirements, I'd be happy to help design those for you. Email me at: liquidreddesign AT gmail.com and visit my website at www.LiquidRedDesign.com

Facebook "Interest Links"

As you may or may not know, now you can make "Interest Links" on your facebook page. It's basically a newsfeed of specific business pages and friend pages that you can set up on your own or follow a set of businesses in a certain category that other people are following. See more info on this Facebook Newsroom post: http://newsroom.fb.com/Announcements/Introducing-Interest-Lists-109.aspx

I've been brainstorming on ways to use this to my advantage to promote my business pages. I made a list up for "My Accessory Business" in the category "Jewelry Business"that included other similar top businesses in the same field and I posted links on their business pages letting them know, hoping to get a couple of followers. So far, no one has seemed to catch on and join my selected newsfeed after a week. Maybe people don't even know that they're there? Or maybe "Jewelry Business" is not a popular category. Either way. I wouldn't have known about these interest links if I hadn't come across the facebook newsroom blog post about it, so why would anyone else know about it? It's always good to jump on something early anyway and see if it takes off. So far, not so good... but over time, I guess I'll find out. 

Step... repeat... step... repeat

I've had my picture taken in front of many step and repeat boards with logos galore in Hollywood, but for the first time, I had my picture taken in front of MY logo on a step and repeat board in Hollywood at Smooth Sound Multimedia's Grand Opening Party.

Step and repeat board logos only really work to brand your logo and business name. It's unlikely that you will get a lot of direct business. Well, unless you are going around saying "hey my logo is on the step and repeat!" Which I did... a little, but mostly just handing out my business card does the trick when talking business. I always get asked "What do you do for work?" and of course I say "I'm a graphic designer" and hand them my business card. It really only works well when said person is actually looking to get some design work.

That's me on the left. And I also designed the "Hollywood Entertainment Services" logo and helped re-make the "Smooth Sound Multimedia" logo.

My near 3k fans will eat your 300 fans

Not that I'm complaining. Well maybe I am. But when approaching a company to donate something to your online auction, giveaway or any other promotional type things you are doing... be sure that you either:

A. Have a good cause that your working to promote or raise money for.

B. Have close to or more friends/ fans than I do on your business page. 

I suppose it never hurts to ask. But, if you do ask, don't use your 300 fans as the only incentive for me to donate something that includes a product, postage, maybe a picture, and my time. 

The whole cross promotion thing on facebook fans pages with giveaways and product reviews and photo page auctions is very interesting. It's like a world in itself. Some business fan pages do these types of things often. 

Giveaways have helped out my "My Accessory Business" page a lot. I like using this one called "Sweepstakes" by Hooplasoft.com There are other ones out there but some charge a lot and this one is free. I found another giveaway program and I was impressed by what they had said about how their giveaways had gotten businesses a lot of fans so I went and started to design a giveaway on their page. They wanted to change for every day it was posted, and a flat fee of $25 just to do the giveaway. I emailed them asking if they somehow were able to get my giveaway in front a large network of people that they had online, and they wrote me back saying "no, you have to market to your own friends and fans online" Uh... so I have to pay to do the giveaway, give something away out of my pocket, pay for shipping, do all my own marketing online for the giveaway to the fans I already have, then every one of my fans see what software I'm using to do the the giveaway so their giveaway software gets promoted for free. Yeah, you lost me. Then they sent me an email to give their software a review, needless to say, I was very blunt about explaining how and why they lost me, but hey, I'm just nice enough to do that favor for them by filling out their survey. 

Keep them coming back for more

In any sort of business, you want returning clients. If you're selling to a lot of people that you don't come in contact with personally, you are more likely to keep them updated on new products, specials, coupons, and news through email marketing and social media. It gets expensive to send paper mail out to people, especially when they are likely to buy online, it's better to throw a deal at them while they're already on the computer where they can easily just click over to your site and put in their credit card.

When you run a  business that is more personal, you need to be a little more personal with your clients. Sending an email that addresses them and their business personally is a good start to see how they are doing. But a step beyond that is by mailing out a "Thank you" card to clients. I like to include a personalized hand written message in a cute card, my business card and something they are less likely to throw away like a business card magnet that they can stick on their metal filing cabinet or fridge to remember me by and think of me when they see it. Sending the card helps to stir up business with a client that you haven't heard from in a while, it puts a smile on their face, and also the magnet helps for them to remember you in the future.

Welcome to my new blog, "Nerdy Vixen" I like the idea of being a walking contradiction. A lot of people look at me and assume that I'm a model or actress, especially living in Los Angeles. Though I have done a decent amount of modeling, I have a whole other side to me. Usually you either know the daytime computer geek who sits in front of a computer for hours on end, working with a client, over the phone or while watching some TV show or movie while working away at a desk in my home office OR you meet the nighttime party girl, tall, knee high stiletto furry boots, long blond hair down, low cut top, dark eye shadow, short skirt, wine glass in hand, latex dress wearing vixen. The truth is that I'm 100% both sides along with my athletic side which mostly comes out while in the pool, running up a very large hill or pumping iron in the weight room.

I think the really interesting thing about being this contradiction is how few graphic designers out there fit my profile. First of all, I never realized how few women there working at independent graphic designers. Also, I dislike how the stereotype of graphic designers seems to be that most dress like hipsters. I wouldn't be caught dead looking like a hipster. If I need a stereotype, I'll call myself a goth or rocker. Even though I don't dress goth 24/7 and have bleach blond hair, I wear a lot of black and have more of a rock n' roll background than most actual musicians I know.

But this blog is dedicated to my nerdy side because I feel like I need more of an outlet to talk about my thoughts on marketing, graphic design and social media and hopefully eventually get some feedback from my peers and online readers.

A little more about my business side: I've been a graphic designer for over 8 years now and I have a bachelors degree from Eastern Michigan University in graphic design and marketing. So, no I'm not an 18 year old writing this blog. My graphic design business is called "Liquid Red" www.LiquidRedDesign.com I also have an online jewelry sales kit business called "My Accessory Business" www.MyAccessoryBusiness.com - I have worked with a variety of clients on creating their business image through my design work and have helped many market their businesses online through a variety of marketing techniques. I've also taught graphic design private lessons and helped people to launch their social media, email and online target marketing campaigns.

There you have it. Hello world, welcome to "Nerdy Vixen"