How To Get Clients as a New Freelance Graphic Designer

How do you actually get clients as a new freelance graphic designer? This guide will show you how!

If you’re new to the world of graphic design, it can be hard to know how to actually pick up paying clients. And, as a new designer, there’s a good chance that you may not have many, or any, existing connections in the industry to help you along.

In this guide, we’ll look at some different methods and techniques to help you pick up clients as a new freelance graphic designer. We’ll explore different websites, networking, design competitions, and more!

Share Your Portfolio and Market Yourself

As a new graphic designer, the reality is that you’ll have to spend a lot of time marketing yourself. And when you’re new to the world of graphic design, this can often mean sharing links to your portfolio online.

In our increasingly digital world, an online presence is everything. So if you don’t already have a stunning, high-quality portfolio packed with your design work, that’s the first step – create one. I personally use Squarespace for mine, but there are plenty of other tools.

Market Yourself Using Social Media

Everyone is on social media, including potential clients. As a new freelance graphic designer, you need to get into the habit of posting your work to social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Even better, you should also look to share your expertise. A client not only wants to see your work, but they also want to know that you’re an expert in your field. Regularly publishing design guides, insights, news, and more is an excellent way to do this.

In fact, creating educational content is one of the primary ways that I use my own social media accounts. Check out my Instagram to see examples of the design content.

Even if you don’t get new clients from social media to begin with, it’s still an excellent way of networking with other creatives. More on this later.

Market Yourself Using Creative Platforms

I’m sure you already know this, but there are plenty of websites and platforms aimed at creatives that essentially act as social networks and portfolios combined.

An excellent way to reach a new audience, for designers of all levels, is to be present on these platforms. Sharing your work, highlighting projects, and showcasing your process is essential.

To start, you can try platforms like Behance, Dribbble, and Coroflot.

Test Fiverr

Fiverr, and other gig-based websites like it often get a bad rap. And for the most part, I agree with the criticism. I think Fiverr is responsible, in part, for the general devaluation of the graphic design profession, as well as other creative disciplines. But, with that being said, they do have their uses.

When you’re new to graphic design, it can be hard to get any paying clients. Without projects in your portfolio, convincing people to hire you can be difficult. This is where websites like Fiverr can come in handy.

As someone new to graphic design, offering your services for a relatively low cost (please make sure you’re not dramatically underselling yourself!) can be an effective way of getting your feet wet. Projects picked up on Fiverr can help you flesh out your portfolio with real-life designs, as well as getting some essential client management experience.

What I would recommend, though, is once you’ve worked on a few projects, it’s a good idea to move away from Fiverr. It’s no secret that that platform encourages creatives to charge way under what most people would consider acceptable. Fiverr’s great when you’re starting out, but not a brilliant long-term freelance strategy.

Try Cold Emails

Cold emails are a bit like cold calls, but not as intrusive. The idea is that you send an email to someone who you think may be interested in your services, without being overly pushy or salesy.

If you’re new to email marketing, or working with clients in general, it’s a good idea to think about sending emails to a wide range of professionals. This can include entrepreneurs, influencers, and small business owners. Anyone who you think would benefit from your services.

Additionally, if you want to establish yourself as the go-to designer for a specific niche, you can allow this to influence the people whom you send emails to. If you want to work exclusively in the music industry, for example, reach out to people working in record labels, independent artists, producers, etc.

If you’re going to go for this method, it’s important that you’re explaining what services you provide, and the value you’ll be able to bring to the table. Simply saying I’m a designer, need a design? isn’t going to get you anywhere.

Here’s a great guide from Dribbble to help you write killer cold emails.

Network with Other Creatives

When you’re thinking about buying a new laptop or phone, how often do you speak to friends and family to get their recommendations? I’m guessing every time. The same applies to people who are looking for a good graphic designer.

Word of mouth is vital in the design industry, which means you need to get yourself out there into the world and network. You never know when a friend of a friend might bring up your name in conversation, leading to your next big project.

Networking doesn’t have to be with other designers. Whilst this is also very important, networking can be as simple as letting your friends and family know that you’re looking for new projects. If a friend knows somebody who needs a new logo, business card, or set of flyers, they’ll be much more likely to bring up your name when you’ve expressed your interest in picking up design work.

Enter Design Contests

Design contests get a lot of flack from the graphic design community. A lot of people look at them as a form of spec work. If you don’t know what that is, it’s short for speculative work, and refers to work completed for free with the chance of a payment upon acceptance. This is definitely the case when brands run competitions for a chance to create their next piece of merchandise.

Design competitions most definitely fall into this category, but much like Fiverr, they can be a valid way of getting your name out into the world when you’re new to the graphic design industry.

Some challenges aren’t about creating a real-world product, but rather a way of challenging yourself to become a better designer. Things like The Daily Logo Challenge are an excellent way of challenging yourself to design something unique every day.

You can then combine this challenge with posting on social media as a way of showcasing your skills and potentially reaching new clients.

Create a Referral System

Gaining new clients through established ones is a huge win. Not only does it mean new business, but it also means your clients appreciate you enough to spread the word to their network.

To encourage your existing clients to spread the word of your design business, you can incentivize them by creating a referral system. They refer someone from their network to you, and if you sign a contract and work with that person, the existing client gets some form of kickback.

There are a few ways to do this, but the simplest options are:

• The referee gets a percentage of the money made from the new client, usually 5-10%

• The referee gets a discount on future services upon the signing of a contract with a new client

• The referee gets one free deliverable upon the signing of a contract with a new client

Go Old School

Our world seems to be ever more focused on the digital world. Because of this, you’d be forgiven for thinking that business cards and other physical media are a lost cause.

I thought the exact same.

But after I got contacted by someone who found one of my business cards 40+ miles away from my house, I realized that there’s still a lot of power left in “old school” marketing methods.

I won’t go into the whole thing, but long story short: don’t discount business cards. Print some out and spread them around. You might be surprised at the results!

Conclusion

So there you have it! There are plenty of ways that you, as someone new to the world of graphic design, can begin picking up new clients!

From creating a referral system, to networking, to even going old school with business cards, there’s almost endless possibility when it comes to reaching new people for your design business.

A reality of freelancing is downtime. The good news is that there are plenty of productive things you can do when you find yourself between projects. Here’s a whole list of productive ways to spend your downtime!

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