How Can Graphic Designers and Animators Win Wore Clients?

Graphic designers and animators are struggling with this too. As a video platform for sales teams, and freelancers, CrankWheel has a solution that is helping those looking to win more clients.

Twine has a solution too.

In this article, we look at how graphic designers and animators can win more clients during these challenging times. 

Business isn’t back to normal yet, either, and might not be for at least a year. As a freelance graphic designer or animator, you might be understandably wondering, how can you win more clients in these challenging times. 

Here are several ways, freelance graphic designers can continue to win more clients. 

5 Steps for winning more clients

#1: Keep your current clients happy 

It’s always always easier to support an existing client more, than to win a new one. 

Early into the pandemic, it looked as though everyone’s work was about to dry up. That isn’t the case anymore. Many have weathered the storm. Clients have come back. Money is flowing again. 

However, no one can afford to be complacent. Animators and graphic designers need to keep their current clients happy. Go beyond delivering what they need. Identify what would really help them. Provide solutions through your work that would support their growth. 

When you support the growth of a client, as a graphic designer or animator, you benefit directly. Clients with budgets for ongoing or extra work spend more. You’ve solved a problem for them, which means they don’t need to look elsewhere for a solution. 

At the same time, open lines of communication are more important than ever between clients and designers. And more transparency will help. Such as, if you’re struggling to maintain pre-pandemic workloads, at least temporarily, then let your clients know. 

Keep in mind that with modern tools, you can communicate quite effectively with your clients even though you can’t meet in person. Use the phone, use screen sharing, and/or use project tracking tools like Basecamp to effectively manage client projects. 

#2: Book in future work

Whether you do this through a platform, such as Twine, or directly, keep that work coming in and getting clients to confirm what they need going forward.  

Now that businesses have adapted to this new normal, locking in future work shouldn’t be as challenging. Although this partly depends on how the sectors/clients you’ve worked with are coping during all of this. 
The further in the future you can book this work, the better. Ideally, aim to secure clients on a retainer basis. Have a chat about what they need, now and 12 months from now. See how you can keep supporting them using your graphic design or animator skills. 

#3: Look for opportunities to grow 

A huge well done, if you’ve stayed busy since this all started! 

But don’t worry if that isn’t the case. In most cases, this is directly because of what we are going through right now. A global pandemic is shocking, and unprecedented, for several generations. In our interconnected world, it’s made a sizeable negative impact on the world economy. 

So if the amount of work you’re able to pull in has reduced, there is a reason. Now is the time to start looking for new opportunities; unless you’ve already started doing that. On platforms such as Twine, you can win new clients. 

There are other ways too, such as collaborating with those that have complimentary skills. Such as web designers, developers, writers, and even games creators. Aim to find and work with those who could either benefit directly from your skills, or sell them to their clients. 

This doesn’t mean you need to start cold calling. Winning new clients, whether directly or in partnership with someone else, requires an online portfolio or website, some social media activity, and emails or messages. Only when you’ve got a new prospect in the sales pipeline is it useful to jump on a video call, which you can do with solutions such as CrankWheel. 

Some sectors have thrived in this pandemic. eCommerce is one of them. In 2020, total eCommerce spending exceeded $5.5 trillion, with so many physical shops shut around the world. When it comes to eCommerce, opportunities are everywhere. 

Even beyond eCommerce, there are countless opportunities in the digital space. Whether directly, through social media and othacutelyer marketing efforts, or working with partners, and platforms such as Twine, graphic designers and animators can find new clients, and new clients can find them. 

#4: Look after your mental health 

Mental health is something to be acutely aware of during this. It’s always important, of course. But there’s no doubt that everyone’s mental health has struggled during this. 

If you are wondering what looking after your mental health will do for winning clients? The answer is: everything. If you are in a good place mentally, your productivity increases, and therefore you’ll be able to win more clients, which will help with productivity. 

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), “an estimated 2.6 billion people – one-third of the world’s population – is living under some kind of lockdown or quarantine. This is arguably the largest psychological experiment ever conducted.” 

We all need to recognize signs when we are struggling. Mental health challenges can appear in many ways. Tiredness is a big one: either getting too much sleep or not enough.

Other issues many are having can include everything from low moods and depression to more serious amplification of mental health issues from before the pandemic. 

Mental health can also be challenging for those raising children. Especially with schools closed, your role as a parent or carer has likely also been mixed with that of being a teacher. 

#5: Be and stay active on social media 

One sure-fire way to get noticed is to be active on social media. 

Show off your work. Especially on platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and others designed purely for designers and animators. Make sure potential clients can quickly see how amazing your art is, to encourage them to get the animation and design help they need. 

When it comes to speaking with prospects, one of the best things animators and designers can do is show them your work. With an easy-to-use instant screen sharing solution, such as CrankWheel, you can do that quickly, regardless of the device a prospect is using, and they won’t have to download anything.