I was curious for the web designers and design agencies here, what you use and consider is your best method of successfully getting clients? Although I know the web design industry is so varied, I was just curious where they come from...

I plan on launching a web host business (although as a reseller) I am wanting to incorporate web design services as well.

Thanks in advance everyone :)

PR

You forgot "word of mouth" :)

Also forgot online contextual advertising, and search engine listings. And viral marketing, and email marketing. And forums. And plenty of other approaches. So maybe NetGoonie wanted to know which people think is best among that subset of options... but in that case "what is your best method to get clients?" isn't the best way to word the question.

true....I was wondering if I should add the other methods as well...email marketing though, well, that is an iffy I would think because even if I opted in spam acceptance, I am not sure that would please too many and attaching a business name to it could later in time, result in, "this company spams!"

Search engines....well, I don't have that much faith in high rankings when I see junk sites that often fill the first 25 listings...I see a lot of geocities sites there at #1 position and many other types of sites that make you think..."what in the *#$*#$ is this site doing here".... I can maybe see adwords with Google etc....which is something I might try out later.

Cheers :)

I think word-of-mouth/referrals are the best. More intimate relationship with the customer, the better.

In the past month, I've had three new clients track me down and call me after reading posts in forums like WHT. One came from here, two from another forum I use frequently. I wouldn't imagine this to be a big surprise, given the popularity and amount of business that takes place on WHT and similar boards.

But the overwhelming bulk of my design work comes from referrals and repeat customers. I have customers for whom I've developed three or four sites. As panb sort of alluded, being able to form and maintain strong, friendly, professionally intimate relationships with clients will take you about as far as anything.

Word of Mouth....local clubs, organizations, etc. etc...

Some strategies work while others don't. Print flyers may be a good choice, I think that e-mail campaigns can be more than a hassle...especially with the "Spam" issues.

If you read your own poll the you must realize that the only option that have an "action" or if you preffer to call it a "verb" is the " Cold call" option. And then you have to realize that in order to grow your business you have to make things "happens" and the other options just give you solutions to wait and see the results. You want sales then you have to do it the old fashion way......



I'm not saying that the other options don't work. My point is that if you want sales you have to take action and don't wait for things to happen....

very true....its the same thing for my web design, I don't wait at home in my studio for work to come in, although most seems to be coming in from referrrals and networking mostly. But judging from replies, I can get a picture of what needs to be done. I do plan on varying my marketing efforts though and I stumbled on a great method which is where the majority of my market exists :)

Cold calls in web design to me, is too harsh and will end up butting heads with most receptionists who are like the guard dogs (just a figure of speech) of a business, not letting any sales people past the gate....but, for the poll, I was curious if anyone did this method.

Cold calls in web design to me, is too harsh and will end up butting heads with most receptionists who are like the guard dogs
Receptionists/secretaries/admins are the most important people you will work with in the business world, hands down. They should be treated with all of the respect, friendliness and generosity you have to give. Not only is this important because, hey, being good to others is important - it's important because like you said, they are the gatekeepers. That's one big reason why they are hired in the first place. Do not ever disregard them, even after you've secured a client and you are working directly with their bosses, because the next potential client is going to have his/her admin check on your referrals and references, and they are going to talk to...you guess it, existing client admins :)

I do plan on varying my marketing efforts though and I stumbled on a great method which is where the majority of my market exists
As for marketing efforts, there are a number of ways to market yourself without spending a dime (public relations). One way is to generate a little press. Do some sponsorship trades for public exposure, come up with a new, innovative business angle to share with the rest of the business world - perhaps in the business section of your local paper. Join your local chamber of commerce and attend the social/networking functions they offer (this is usually pretty inexpensive). The sponsorship opportunities are key for me, second only to referrals/repeat business. In the course of a given month, I get a mention in 15-20 radio advertisements, two or three mentions in the paper, and individual recognition at 3-4 receptions, events, volunteer opportunities and other venues. And all it costs me is a little bit of my time. Of course, this is harder to do in larger markets. I live in a city of about 100,000 - small enough to have an intimate business community, large enough to have lots of business needs.

A definition for you:
Public Relations - Doing something well, and communicating it to others even better.

HTH!

Paul H

my friend is a web designer and he just walks in and introduces himself, and shows his work to the owner or manager on his laptop, works for him well:)