Starting Design Business seeking advice

[brgreene]

I'm a 22 year old college student majoring in Graphic Design. I see an open market for design services in my area and I'm straving to start my own design business and I'm looking for some advice on how to go about starting this business and what is the best way to go about finding clients. My idea for the business is outlined at the bottom and it shows the products and services my business offers as well as the client needs within this market.

SERVICES (custom design)

• Busniess Cards
  Posters
  Fliers
  Photo Restoration (colorize/photo restore)
  Team Logo Design
  Brochures

PRODUCTS (custom design)

• T-shirt
  Caps

CLIENT NEEDS[list]
Need a business card displaying your contact information for your business or company?
Need a poster Ad for your upcoming trade show or special event?
Need to restore Old, Stained, Ripped photos or just want to add some color to those black and white photos?
Need a logo for your little league team?
Need a custom design T-shirt for your next family reunion?
Need a brochure displaying your companies job benefits or information?
Or if you have a design or idea and you need advice on how to bring it to life?


I created my business outline the best I could. What is the best marketing tool I could use to attract clients?( I was thinkg about passing out my own business cards/fliers,or creating a website) What is the best way to increase productivity with a design business like this? What are the best Print Service companys that can produce detailed, image quality work. (if you know any in the dc,md,va area would be great) Thank you for reading my post and with all of your advice.

[GriZzly]

If you are targeting a local market then a website would be useful, but by no means necessary. I used to do (and still sorta do) print-based graphic design for local companies. What I did was arrange meetings with whoever was responsible and look at their current business cards/ stationary with them, rather than call up and get told to get lost by the receptionist. Then if you see that a company could seriously benefit from a redesign you offer to come up with a few mocks for them to review and if they like it you will produce the product for them. Bare in mind you will be knocked back a lot, but keep at it like this for a while and you will build up a reputation.

[brgreene]

what type of companies in your area did you set up meetings with......also I'm not sure if I want to bring other people on board with me...is this something you was doing on your own or did you have others start the business with you.

[Monchd]

Hi im thinking of starting a graphic desgin as well, freelancing tho. wanted to wish u the best of luck and yeah go for it, im sure u can do great solo or not, just depends on how motivated u are. hmm, i think word of mouth is one way to start. next one is probably to look at advertisements in the newspapers or online, go have a look, cos the last time i went sourcing out adverts..there were quite a no. of companies out there actually looking for graphic designers for a once off/ contractual etc. projects to outsource to, especially qualified ones like yourself. Hope this helps!

Monchd/Monday's child
Founder and Managing Director
www.monchd.com

[Cartman]

Sounds crazy, but if you hook up with the right person, they can get you referrals, you get new customers who are happy, and in turn tell others about your services.

I'll use myself as an example - I have AMAZING business cards that were done for me by a friend who's a designer in Canada. They weren't cheap by any means (full-color, matte finish, 2-sided, thick stock), but they look incredible, and anytime I hand one out at a Chamber/Networking event, the inevitable question comes up about where I got them done. I can hand them this guy's card, and more than likely they'll contact him about getting cards done for themselves. And so the cycle starts. Word-of-mouth marketing is the oldest and most successful way to build business.

Hook me up with shirts and/or hats, and I'll gladly wear 'em at the events I go to.

As for poster/flyers/brochures, maybe offer your current customers a discounted rate if they can include something on the bottom/back of the piece saying "Designed by XXXX company - www.xxxx.com". You never know who might see your piece, like it, and decide to get something done for their own company.