The Wrong Kind of Web Exposure
Muku Studios gets a decent amount of exposure, but it’s almost all within the art and design community.
I’m not complaining. That’s something we take pride in, but a graphic designer isn’t usually seeking graphic design services from another designer. I often receive emails from people that are fans of our work, or applying for jobs with Muku. It’s very flattering and I can’t thank these people enough for their support. However, it got me thinking. While it’s great that we’re reaching out to other designers and artists, at the end of the day it doesn’t pay the bills. It would be nice if we received as many requests for work as we did resumes. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. I’d love to hire some of the talented artists that send us resumes, but we barely receive enough work to sustain ourselves… and I don’t mean the kind of financial “difficulty” that comes with paying the mortgage on a second house.
Our concerns are more along the lines of being scared to invite potential clients over because there’s a drug bust going on at the apartment next door (I wish I was joking). I love our lives and the freedom that comes with owning a business in Hawaii, but there also comes a time when you’re tired of living in a tiny apartment surrounded by domestic violence and drugs. So, it recently came to my attention that our current state of living is directly effected by the wrong kind of business exposure, as blindingly obvious as that may seem — You can create the best designs in the world, but if the right people aren’t seeing it, you’re going to be broke.
So, how do you get the right kind of exposure when you’re broke? It ain’t easy! It’s not a cool funk to be stuck in. As we all know, it takes money to make money. When you don’t have the money, well, you’re like me. This whole epiphany is still very fresh for me, so I’m in the midst of trying to work out the best course of action, but my immediate reaction was advertising. There’s only 2 affordable ways of advertising that come to mind; Craigslist and Google AdWords. If you know of any others, feel free to share.
I’ve tried the Craigslist thing. It can work, but the majority of people seeking services on Craigslist want the world on a silver platter for peanuts. It can be enough to survive, but I’m sick of just surviving. I’ve also found that advertising high quality work to a low paying crowd doesn’t seem to get much attention since it “looks” expensive. It’s like advertising fine Italian cuisine to somebody looking for Spaghettios. Craigslist is the wrong kind of web exposure for me. So, I’ve turned to Google AdWords. AdWords is a science unto itself. One bad campaign, and you’re entire account could be screwed up. Trust me, I’ve done it. I’m still no pro, but I was lucky enough to get a few valuable tips from an SEO expert at Starbucks in Honolulu one day. I’m attempting to put those tips into effect. With a little research and luck, it will be a start to providing the exposure we need. Exposure that pays the bills!
Ultimately, the dream is to have sustainable income without the complete dependency of clients. This is the holy grail of the web world — making money while you sleep. There are a number of ways to do this, but they all require a great deal of time, hard work and risk if you want to be successful. This is also something we have been striving towards for a majority of 2009. While I’m confident these projects will bear fruit; in the meantime I’m left with a balancing act of client work to pay the bills and working around the clock on launching personal projects.
I’m hopeful the right seeds were planted during 2009 for 2010 to be the successful year we have been working for. And in light of this new realization, we’ll learn the proper ways to market to the right crowd and gain the exposure we need for both Muku Studios and our other projects.
definitely need some SEO experts, also facebook’s advertising thing may help as well.
“Take risks and you’ll get the payoffs. Learn from your mistakes until you succeed. It’s that simple.” -Bobby Flay
Hard advice to take in the short term, but true in my experience.
Funny you mention Facebook, I was just thinking about it… Thanks for the tip!
Word to that Jeff! And I guess sometimes it takes difficult financial times to step back and figure out what we’re doing wrong.
Kind of going with the Google thing, use Google Local Business Center to put your studio on their maps. Its free and usually you will get top ranking when someone searches of graphic design or web design within your local area.
I can so relate! I have been struggling with the same issues, I do flash but the issue is the same! You can’t invite people to your home who you want to charge for a project, when there is so much drama around you, it just does not reflect a good situation, at least in my experiences.
I have also struggled with marketing, but I would say stay away from criagslist, people want the world from you but don’t want to pay.
I would say Facebook is good, but also get in touch with people in the business and try to get on their overflow(this worked well for me in the past).
I have been lucky on twitter, as I have been able to network with other flash developers where I get freelance projects oversees, but to attract business in Hawaii is very difficult.
On a different topic if you do CSS/Design for Flex applications, this is a huge market with a ton of work!
Yeah! At least the drug busts next door have calmed down
Since writing this post I’ve tried several things. I have stayed away from Craigslist. What has helped the most has been the launch of 2 major projects. Offering the free WordPress Structure Theme and finally launching our baby, Organic Themes. I have had a little luck with extremely targeted Google AdWords and Facebook ads as well. But it’s been peanuts compared to the exposure of launching major projects. Twitter has been awesome too!
So, it definitely seems to be the right kind of exposure that pays off. Getting that exposure takes more than continuing on the same path. You have to do something above and beyond your normal daily grind to elevate to that higher platform. It can be anything from getting an office, starting a user group, going to conferences in your industry, etc. The problem is most of that stuff takes money we simply didn’t have. So releasing rather large projects in to the public eye was the most cost effective solution for us, but man was it a lot of work!
Otherwise, you’ll always find yourself beating on a clients door for work, instead of them beating on your door for work. Which is the position I’m not very fond of. Because you’re always at the mercy of the client and bending over backwards just so you can pay the rent. It’s interesting because I’ve been on both sides of the fence within a relatively short time, and man… having the work come to you instead of constantly hunting for new work is sooo much better.
Hi David,
We feel your pain. Its very hard to have a creative services and/or software development business in Hawaii. Compared to other places I’ve done businesses (NY, CA, Japan, etc.) there is much more emphasis on price vs. quality. We’ve found it useful to develop deep specializations in industries and technologies where the supply of services hasn’t yet caught up with the demand. In Hawaii one example of this is people who can design and build iPhone and iPad applications.
Soft promotion also helps. For example, hosting meetups or teaching workshops on design, social media, etc. Students often become customers.
You do beautiful design work. Keep your head up and good luck!
Aloha,
Dan