1. What is your experience in product development and launching… if you are confident in certain areas but don’t have the time or expertise in others, find people who can help you on a project basis.
excel certain have you launched products before or is this your first launch?
2. How many products and variations and collections are you developing?
3. What are your target markets?
4. What’s your marketing plan? What’s your PR plan?
5. Who are your competitors?
6. What are your sales channels?
7. If you’re hiring a designer to work on design aspects, have you worked with one before? If not, find out their process and how they prefer to communicate.
8. Do you need prototypes to show trade buyers?
9. What is your unique selling proposition?
10. At what points will you introduce new products into the line?

This is just a list to get you going… take things step by step and don’t forget to have a budget plan. To learn more, check out my other product launch and development site.

PROMOTING FOR THE FREELANCER
As a freelancer you may have periods of feast or famine. The key is to always do a minimum amount of work promoting yourself throughout the year, but increase it drastically when you are having slow times. In the end, it should all balance out.

FIND BUSINESS AND SOCIAL GROUPS
Every one of us has circles of influences that go beyond. So it’s accurate to assume that everyone else does to. Google “networking business groups” and your city name and check out what pops up. Meetup.com is a great source for finding groups of all kinds as well, although, it may take some trial and error to find the right ones. What constitutes as the right group? The topics/conversations should be useful or interesting. There should be a good mix of industries. But really, the only way to tell is by attending the group at least 3-4 times, and doing some one-on-one coffee meets with select people. Don’t wait for people to ask you, choose people you think are influential and ask them for coffee (and pay for him/her when you do meet!). If you love a certain group, keep going. Oh, and if you’re new to a business group, do a door prize like a free logo design or tri-fold!

REFERRAL PROGRAM
When someone sends you a referral that turns into a project, remember to say thank you in actions. I know it’s hard to offer something if you’re broke. But, sending a simple thank you card with a $10 Starbucks card
attached to it, is a great way to say you value them and their referral. Depending on who has referred me, my thank you/referral gift has varied from a check, gifts from Nordstrom, to interesting books. I know how rare this is, so when they receive it, they are floored. My standard referral program gives 7-10% of the total project price to the person referring me. When you get to the point, develop one and stick by it.

FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE AND LINKED IN
These two are different audiences, but go ahead and work it on both sites. Offer 80% useful information/inspiration and toot your horn the remaining 20%. Show off work you’re doing currently and ones you have completed. Post your latest blog articles on LinkedIn. Send introductions to people you want to know in LinkedIn. Do a few facebook ads that are targeted.

EMAIL NEWSLETTER
I did an e-newsletter (that was well designed and super informative) for a full year. I’d track the analytics on that and I’d notice which people opened the newsletter multiple times. Further develop your relationship with those people. Create an archive of articles, so when things get busy, you can plop one in from the archive.

PRO BONO IT/VOLUNTEER IT!
Want to get into a group of people but don’t know how? Contact a couple of them and offer to do pro bono work. If they don’t have anything, think about volunteering at an event for them. And after the pro bono/volunteer work, send a “thank you for the opportunity” card to the appropriate person. (Notice the trend here? It’s BE GRATEFUL and let them know you are!).

COLLABORATE
Find a couple of creative folks and see if you’ll can collaborate on a project like an e-book or something. Creative collaborative projects make great fodder for blogs all over.

These are some of my best insights and they really have worked. I think it’s important to create MOMENTUM with a variety of these, even if you don’t think it’s working, I promise you, it is! But it takes time. If you put in the legwork, it will pay off. If you consistently grow, pay someone else to write some articles. The most important thing is don’t stop promoting when things get busy, find small ways you can keep that momentum going.

>> Want to read the other posts in the Freelancer Tools series?
Click here to read about Freelancer Tools: Branding Yourself.

BRANDING FOR THE FREELANCER
If you are a freelancer already, chances are you’ve had to hustle for projects at some time. Unless, you are totally fine making just enough for bills. I like to have plenty for bills, fun and savings. So, I hustle all the time. But for me, it’s more just a part of being an entrepreneur or owning my own business. It’s a natural (and sometimes fun) part of it.

Here are some tips on how to kickstart the hustling while creating an image/brand for yourself and your business:

A CONSISTENT AND STRONG IDENTITY KIT
If you’re starting out, create some designs options for a logo for your business. Get some feedback from your closest friends on what they think (but you be the judge!). If you’re already a couple of years into your business, consider revamping your logo and freshening it up a bit. Invest in some good business cards. Almost everyone I hand out my card to, compliments me on the paper, design and unique shape. I have already scored a point with them at that point!

FIND A NON-PROFIT GROUP AND DO SOME PRO BONO
Yes, we need the money. But, you need to build a foundation first, so find a well-connected group or organization and offer to design an invitation or make changes to their site. This is how I started my career. That one probono project I did years ago is still yielding work for me because of all the networking from that.
But make sure you “screen” some non-profits before you pick someone.

EMAIL NEWSLETTER
For one year, I sent out a newsletter every month. It was designed with my brand colours, my recognizable logo was front and center (actually it was on the side lol), and although I only got 2-3 direct clients from it, there were plenty of referrals. This helped establish my brand and show people my expertise. What to put in the newsletter? Show off a project every month, have a tips/tricks section, talk about something design-marketing related. Remember to mould your newsletter for your audience.

WEARING YOUR COLOURS
Ok, this is taking it pretty far, but it’s not like you’re colouring your hair orange! Wear your brand colours. Create a series of amazing fun t-shirts that show your website on the back and wear them instead of that 2002 concert t-shirt you are still wearing!

A THANK YOU SAYS A LOT
How do you thank people who refer you or hire you for projects? I will generally send a well designed thank you card (with the schnauz design brand on it of course), but I have also sent Starbucks giftcards, carefully chosen coffee table books, and select gifts from Nordstrom. It all depends on who the client is, how well we’ve connected and how much they’ve spent of course! I also make it a point to send my subcontractors thank you cards and christmas gifts (web developers, photographers, other designers you hire- don’t forget to thank them).

What I want you to think about when thinking about branding is finding your own special online and offline ways to remind people you are there. Have a good mix of channels when branding, and feel free to change it up, but don’t do that too often.

>> Want to read the other posts in the Freelancer Tools series?
Click here to read about Freelancer Tools: Promoting Yourself.