How does a freelance web designer build a client profile when preparing their marketing plans?

Bryce asked me this on Quora and he continued with…

"One would be for small, family-owned businesses, another for up and coming bands/musicians. Possibly having 3 price points for each model."

Bryce, if you are reading this right now, I love where your head is with this because thinking about your pricing and marketing is very much something that most freelancers don’t think too much about.

Dive into who your customer is First

However, where I think you need to unpack it a little bit is that your 2 target markets have very different ideas around what they need for their businesses.

As a drummer in high school and a bit in college, and someone who’s is very much a music fan, I have only my own perception of what that market looks like.

But in talking with many designers and developers over the years who have tried to target all sorta of areas of the music industry, they’ve found one thing in common, a lack of money.

Bands tend to spend money on beer, food, and travel - they really don’t spend it in their design elements.

So you may want to re-visit that niche a bit.

Understand what is most important to the customer

Small family owned businesses is interesting though because you are putting “family” into that niche.

Which means that the business may have been passed down for generations, or that only family members work in the businesses. This may be a tough nut to crack if that’s the case.

But if you are targeting small family owned businesses, you know exactly what’s important to them. Their family! The support of that family remaining viable through the business.

Knowing and understanding those two aspects in that area, you can put together a marketing plan that speaks directly to the understand of family values and legacy.

You can show past clients that have benefitted from your services showing them how your designs have increased their business.

And if you are in business for yourself because you want to be available to be there for your family, that’s a personal touch that you can add to the mix in your marketing.

To answer your pricing portion, that’s a bit more complex because I’m uncertain about exactly what you are providing as a service.

Make your price a no-brainer

As you explore your plan, you’ll want to anchor your prices for your services to the end results from your clients, and the benefits they receive.

What I mean by that is, if you can show that you are increasing their business either by

• saving them time on something, which increases profits
• increasing overall revenue through a new stream
• keeping with the current streams, increasing the rate of revenue quicker

Then you’ll be able to price your services accordingly to make it a no brainer for them to sign up.

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