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This article is from May 9, 2011, and is no longer current.

Marketing Help for Graphic Designers

Design is about positioning companies and brands in the right place—the place where customers are. In an economic downturn such skills ought to be highly prized, so why are designers giving their expertise away for free on a bewildering scale?
Design is about solving unique business communication challenges, so why is the wider world coming to treat it as a one-size-fits-all commodity?
These problems are analyzed in a white paper called “Why Design Stopped Being Special, and How This Feeds Free Pitching“. It is published by Zyzzyva, a venture that helps designers find new design clients without resorting to spec creative.
Marketing for graphic designers is a particular focus of the paper, which says that poor market positioning on the part of designers is the main driver both of spec creative and the commoditization of design.
“An over-supply of identikit design providers is to blame,” says Sean Ashcroft, managing director of Zyzzyva. “The majority of design online is completely undifferentiated, and because everything’s vanilla there’s is a compulsion to taste before buying.”
Ashcroft says having deep expertise in one or more niche, and marketing this expertise effectively, is the only way design practitioners can remove the need to free pitch.
To show how market positioning can negate spec creative, Zyzzyva talked to non-pitching creatives from across English speaking territories. One was Benard Design (benarddesign.com), based in New York City and founded by 43-year-old James Benard.
Previously, Benard ran a high-end print service, whose clients included major design agencies and fashion houses. In 2009, he decided to use this specialist expertise as the basis for a print-design venture, and it’s a niche that continues to deliver success. “It is our understanding of the printed piece that is a big advantage. This is because we design for the medium rather than considering it after the fact,” Benard explains.
He continues: “Many design businesses struggle with the disconnect between production and design, but we were producers first and so we avoid most of the puddles that the competition walk right into.”
This deep specialist expertise also means that Benard enjoys the luxury of being able to free pitch every now and again, knowing he’s likely to win.
“We prevail because production is offered as part of the design process,” Benard says, who describes the widespread practice of free pitching as “pretty lame”.
“If you do great work and are professional and friendly with decision makers, there’s no need to pitch,” explains Benard. “What’s needed is getting close to the decision makers, and our specialist expertise is what helps us here.”
Zyzzyva’s paper goes on to describe design as “a sick patient” for its ineffectual use of online marketing. “Design, especially graphic, must be the only sector optimizing on search terms it thinks people are using,” says Ashcroft. “It’s bad business – a bit like guessing which airport a client’s arriving at, turning up and finding they’re some place else.”
Examples cited include ‘world class design’, ‘passion for design’ and ‘affordable design’. “It’s all far too generic—clients have specific needs, not generic ones,” says Ashcroft. “The only people searching on these terms are designers pointlessly obsessing over their Google position.”
Zyzzyva says optimized, compelling niche-market case studies is the key to attracting targeted traffic, and to “converting clicks into clients”.
“Say I discover your agency through the search term ‘marine exploration branding’. If your site serves up top-level content showing deep expertise in this area, you’ll have earned a deal of trust before I even pick up the phone.”
To show the importance of case studies, the paper cites research from the British Design Innovation (BDI) a UK organization that helps designers and innovators. The BDI’s report, Appointing Design Agencies, is an in-depth study on how clients view design. Just under half (48%) of design clients questioned said they use search engines to find suitable design agencies, and when asked how they assess a design provider’s credentials, 100% of design buyers said they expect to see sector-related case studies.
Ashcroft says most designers “miss a big trick” in the way they use case studies. “Many designers sink a deal of effort into online case studies, but it’s often wasted effort.”
The following are reasons given as to why:
—Failure to make niche case studies discoverable online. “Too many are built using Flash, which search engines cannot read,” says Ashcroft.
— Failure to organize case studies by niche. “Often they’re organized by discipline, such as ‘branding’ or ‘web’, which is too generic.”
— Failure to showcase bottom line improvements achieved for existing clients. “Showing you can make your clients more profitable is very important.”
Zyzzyva suggests the following ways that case study content can help generate new business, both online and offline:
Copywritten optimization. Case studies need to be built on SEO niche market research so that they contain key search phrases in key places, yet remain entirely readable.
Themed site content.If you have three areas of niche expertise, you need three self-contained areas on your site optimized for these narrow markets. A single site that speaks to everyone is to be avoided.
Descriptive URLs.Site URLs should describe core expertise rather than spelling out an agency’s name. There’s nothing to stop an agency having 12 such sites for 12 areas of deep expertise. “If you’ve got tons of great case study material, then this is the way to go.
White papers.Case study material can be used to create white papers that discuss the challenges faced by a niche market. By showing you understand sector-specific problems, client prospects will wish to learn of your solutions.
Blogs.Case study content can be used to seed blogs, which over time earn online visibility for key search terms.
Online articles.Case studies can be used as the basis for online articles that can win quick, valuable visibility if optimized properly.
Ashcroft says: “Discoverable, relevant and compelling case studies get you in front of the right client prospects and build trust with these prospects before they’ve even made contact. Trust is to spec creative what kryptonite was to Superman”.
Zyzzyva’s white paper is aimed at communication design practitioners thinking of starting a design business, already running a design business or planning to turn freelance.

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