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TOPIC: Where do you find clients?

Re: Where do you find clients? 11 years 5 months ago #3095

  • Jade Otten
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Hello Etienne!

First of all - congrats on venturing into freelancing and becoming an entrepreneur! Not sure how long you have been at it but I have huuuge respect because I know how daunting it can be.

Right, I too am a website developer and can tell you that there are quite a few ways to find new clients.

The first step is to realize that as a website developer - your clients can be anywhere in the world! Don't limit yourself to local markets. I find South African's (not being too negative) are a little 'stuffy' with their website requirements and generally ask for the moon and want to pay peanuts.

However the minute you are are sought after designer, they come to you in droves! So the trick is to become the brand. Your name and surname is quite literally perfect because it is totally you! And then you create your website to personify your areas of expertise (and to portray yourself as an expert).

Then to get the ball rolling - and to start earning cash (and exposing yourself to new clients) log onto a website called Design Crowd: www.designcrowd.com/

I went on there and pitched 3 designs - one of which I won and received payment in dollars! :)

Oh, and since you are eager to meet like minded Entrepreneurs, please join a group I recently created called Entrepreneurs United on Facebook: www.facebook.com/?q=#/pages/Entrepreneur...ited/303075119784673

We have an event coming up in January 2013 which includes a 'Speed Networking' hour where you get to meet like-minded entrepreneurs, suppliers, potential clients and new friends.

Good luck!

Until next time, Happy Marketing!

Jadeye :)
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Re: Where do you find clients? 11 years 5 months ago #3097

  • Etienne
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Hi Jade

Cool, some good advice. Thank you!
Will join your Facebook group. Where are you based? And what kind of development do you do?

Cheers,
Etienne :)
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Re: Where do you find clients? 11 years 5 months ago #3098

  • Jade Otten
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Hello Etienne,

I am based in Northcliff but starting an entrepreneurs working hub in Randburg through the Entrepreneurs United group so watch this space :)

I do simple HTML websites, but specialize in layout design for programmers such as yourself in photoshop and illustrator.

I conceptualize websites is a better way to put it.

Thanks for joinging the group. And I hope you will attent the upcoming event in January (look up building Your Brand in the events section of this site or on the Entrepreneurs United events page).

Have a super day! And good luck!
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Re: Where do you find clients? 11 years 5 months ago #3099

  • Etienne
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You too, cheers :)
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Re: Where do you find clients? 11 years 5 months ago #3100

  • Albert Mpuru
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Hi Etienne,

The answer to "Where Do You Find Clients?" pretty much depends on what you sell. Business owners find clients from various sources. They may find them...
  • online on forums like this one...
  • online on other people's websites...
  • online on search engines like Google...
  • offline through newspapers, magazines, radio or TV...
  • offline in trade shows or trade organizations...
  • and so forth.
As you can see, there are a lot of places to find clients.

The key to finding clients is to develop an effective marketing strategy that is based around knowing your ideal client, your product or service, as well as knowing your unique selling proposition.

This information will make it very easy for you to know where to find clients and what media will be effective to use to put your product or service in front of them.

To higher sales!

Albert Mpuru
Albert is an Online Marketing Consultant & Copywriter. He can answer all your questions about marketing your small business effectively. Join is his FREE Internet Marketing newsletter at www.marketingadvisor.co.za/im-newsletter/ or check out his marketing web site: www.marketingadvisor.co.za
Last Edit: 11 years 5 months ago by Albert Mpuru.
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Re: Where do you find clients? 11 years 5 months ago #3115

  • Joanne
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Hey Etienne

Most of the people I've talked to say they get a lot of their clients through word-of-mouth. (I don't know if anyone else has experienced that?)

As far as I've seen, word-of-mouth seems to be more effective than paper-based advertising (like flyers, the phonebook etc.)I don't know though - does anyone still use paper-based methods?

Good luck with your business!

Joanne
Get your clients to recommend your service to their friends: www.ledula.com
Last Edit: 11 years 5 months ago by Joanne.
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Where do you find clients? 10 years 10 months ago #3628

  • Rikus
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Hi Etienne,

BOOOM is a handy tool for small businesses. They offer free business listings with the option to upgrade your listing to receive unlimited quote requests relevant to your business industry. So basically they are reversing the roles here, your clients will find you instead of you having to find them.

Give them a try it's free. www.booom.co.za
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Where do you find clients? 10 years 8 months ago #3674

  • Apryl
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To start off, if you don't have one yet, you should have a website, establish your own portfolio, include a list of services you offer and display work samples/projects so possible clients who'll stumble upon your site will have idea about your work :)
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Where do you find clients? 10 years 8 months ago #3684

  • Ruth Levine
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Hi April

Apart from the obvious, online advertising, word of mouth etc....

I returned to South Africa after many years abroad and found myself short of connections so, my partner and I advertised for a marketing associate and we narrowed down the interviews to three people, all who were well connected. We have a specialist niche with an excellent background in Europe and just needed to be able to get out feet through doors here in SA.

So we put an offer on the table. 30% of the business share for the first associate to meet the target. In the first week we signed up several new clients, Sometimes if you're happy to share some of the wealth with someone else, you make more money. If you contact me privately I'll tell you exactly how we did it.

How good is your online presence?
Boutique Digital Presence specialists from startups to corporate, Social Media, CRM, ORM and viral marketing. www.nomsindo.co.za
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