Know Yourself or Know Your Client – Which Comes First?

Smart Marketing and the Savvy Entrepreneur
by Cheryl Peddie
Originally Published in Calgary's Child Magazine, Mar/Apr 2008

I’ve been a graphic designer for years. I love helping small and large companies create promotions, logos, books, magazines – any visual representation of what their companies are, and will be. It can be frustrating – the tear-your-hair-out-at-one-in-the-morning-when-that-idea-JUST-WON’T-COME kind of frustrating. But when the idea does come, it’s golden.

The smaller companies I work with can have the most unique needs. Their owners usually deal with small budgets and even smaller amounts of time to work in their business, let alone on it. I get it. I’ve been there. I’ve bought those perforated business card templates from Staples too.

So, the time-money continuum makes the decision to engage in some marketing, a precarious one. Do you invest the time and do it yourself? Or do you spend the money, and pay for someone else to do it? And what on earth do you need? What do you want? Be sure not to confuse the two. Sure, I’d like to have a 40 page glossy portfolio, to attract some well-heeled contracts too. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to make one, because I don’t really need it. So why spend the money?

But then where do you start? Everyone thinks that you start by understanding what you sell and who you are. And that’s important, I agree. We’ll certainly get to that. But I suggest that a better place to start is with your clients. And with the clients you want but don’t have yet. They will show you the way, every time. It’s not fancy or mysterious, and it works. Here are the questions to ask yourself. Get a pen – this is so important that just thinking about it won’t do.

1) Who are my clients? Who are the people that I’d like for clients? How old are they? Where do they shop? Where do they live? How and where do they use the products/services I sell? Short of following them around (and risking getting slapped with a stalking charge); learn everything and anything you can about the people that will use your product.
Enlist some help – recruit some unbiased friends, or put together a group of the type of folks you’d like as clients. Ask them their opinions. Let them try your product. But the most important thing is to listen to them. Again, your client is king. I’m sure you’ll hear lots of compliments, but let them criticize, comment or address concerns too. Don’t take anything personally, because you can use the negative feedback to make your offering better.
Asking these questions will help you understand the best way to reach your market, and when and where they’ll be most receptive to hearing your message. It will help you learn what kind of message i.e. – a brochure, or newsletter, etc. they’ll be most receptive to.

2) Who are my competitors? How do they reach their clients? Do they advertise? Do they market directly to their target with printed materials? Do they have a website? And the most important question – what do they offer that you don’t?
These kinds of questions will help you gauge the environment you’ll be competing in. This can also give you good ideas about how to make your offering better than ‘the other guys’. You might learn about a client need that is being filled inadequately – or one that isn’t being filled at all.
You might also learn from their mistakes – what have they done that didn’t work?

3) Now – finally – you can think about yourself! Be honest, and make a good, solid list of the strengths and weaknesses of both your product/service and your company. Go back to the information you generated when analyzing your clients and target market.
What kind of information is it? If it’s very technical and needs explanation, perhaps a newsletter or promotional booklet would help you sell your service the best. Is it visual and graphically interesting? Then a brochure might be the best choice.

Your next step? Now that you know what materials you need, think about what you need them to say. That’s half the battle. In my next article, I’ll explore this issue, along with ideas about making that message look its best.

Cheryl is a graphic designer and artist, and has a degree in Marketing. Her artwork can be found at Galleria (now in Inglewood), at various local shows throughout Calgary, and on her website at emergecreative.ca. She can be also reached at 270-9755.