15 Guerrilla Marketing Tips For Freelancers

Good Article by Mike Smith on spyrestudios blog. Here are 5.
Read his article to see the rest.

1. Custom designed bookmarks ↓

I’ve said before that business cards inside bookmarks are a great way to showcase your business to people who are looking for books in your target market, but what about taking it a step further and designing some bookmarks that showcase a cool design and also give some information on your business? Then it doesn’t look like a marketing campaign at all and the reader of the books will likely keep the bookmark a lot longer, increasing your chances to make a sale with them.



2. Write tutorials on how to do what it is you do ↓

If there’s one thing that will showcase your skills, writing tutorials will probably be #1 on most peoples list. The benefits for writing tutorials are that you get to show potential clients you know so much about your business that you can write step by step tutorials for someone like them to understand it, even if they have zero previous knowledge about it. It’s ok to boast your knowledge a little bit – and best of all, it only costs you some time (you could even shop the tutorial around and see if a bigger site would pick it up and pay you for it).

Do you design websites for small business owners, or someone who may benefit from business cards? Why not offer 1,000 free business cards to them when they purchase a web design from you – you could even build the price of the cards into your pricing if you want to offset the cost of them. U Printing has 1,000 business cards for around $30.00.

3. Go overboard on the stamps ↓

Sending your business package to potential clients in the mail can have you end up in the bin of other businesses trying to pitch their ideas, but what if you used more stamps? If you have 39 of the 1 penny stamps on the envelope, what are the chances that it catches the potential clients eye when they’re shuffling through their mail?

4. Start your own blog directly on your site ↓

This ties into the tutorial idea above, but why not start a blog about the type of topics that your potential clients would benefit from reading? Explain how you handle business transactions, show the productivity tools you use, showcase pictures of your office, discuss the benefits of hiring a _________ (insert designer, photographer, copywriter, programmer, ect). The traffic will build and the exposure could turn into some very big clients coming across your work.

5. Hold a free presentation about your business ↓

Mason from Small Fuel could explain to you better as to why this is a great idea and why the 15-30 minutes of talking it takes to hold a presentation could turn into cold hard cash. You can read his article here.

Read other 10 tips...

Reviewing your own portfolio

Outlaw Design Blog has an article on How to Review your Portfolio through Social Media Design sites.

Concept Feedback
Concept Feedback is a nice site that practically guarantees you will receive feedback on your design within a day or two of posting. It’s a great place to hear what other creatives think about your work.

Design Critique
Uses Twitter as a tool to get reviews for your site or design. Seems ok, but reviews are limited to 145 characters.

Feedback Army
This website cost money, but is pretty affordable. It is more based on usability, but seeing as how usability and good design go hand and hand, it seems like the site could be worthwhile.

30 iPhone Apps For Designers

Here are a list of 30 iPhone Apps that will be particularly useful for Designers.

Link to Article at Tripwire Magazine.

Job Available: American Greetings Editor

Just got an alert about a this job opening. American Greetings is looking for an Editor to join the Editorial team at our world headquarters. This is an entry or mid-level position requiring a demonstrated aptitude of the editorial field. The qualified candidate will have a Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 2 years professional experience. Previous greeting card or related industry experience preferred, advertising or related field a plus!

More information on the application process at career opportunites.

How to Register You Copyrights Digitally



Have you filed your copyrights for all the art you've created this year? Now you can file your images digitally online at https://copyright.gov/registration/
You can also search for copyrights at http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First.  The current fees are listed https://www.copyright.gov/about/fees.html  Most copyrights are $35 and some include "collections" you can do as a group.




Kate's tips:

  • Keep this tech support number handy: 202-707-3002.
  • Have the Tutorial open on your screen while you go through the application process, otherwise it's easy to get sidetracked and go down the wrong road, especially when a lot of their examples are oriented towards musicians, video producers.
  • There is a hour time limit for downloading, so it's best to have your art ready before you get on the site. Make copies of your art files, reduce their file sizes and put them all in one folder on the desktop. That way, they are ready to download and easy to find. I reduced each image down to 100-500K range.
  • Consider compressing all your files into one zip file and just downloading that one file.
  • Is this worth all the hassle? In the end, If you have a lot of art, then yes. But if you are only submitting a few items, then it will be faster filling out the paperwork by hand. For example, online, it may take you ten minutes just to decipher the dozen restrictions for the obscure and unnecessary password requirements, such as:
    "A password must not include words that can be found in any dictionary, whether English or any language"

Have any tips of your own? Did you have a different experience? Leave them in the comments below or write to me directly and I'll add them on this post.

Filing Online:
Where to file:https://copyright.gov/registration/
Lower filing fee of $35
Online status tracking

Before using the service, read
eCO FAQs, or eCO Tutorial (PowerPoint) eCO Tutorial (PDF).
For recently added features, see eCO Updates





Articles on Copyrights

Fear of Getting Your Art Stolen? Look at the Numbers

How to Register You Copyrights Digitally

Artist Protects Copyright Through Twitter

The 10 Key Points That Must Be In Every Licensing Agreement

Protecting Your Designs with Watermark Tools

Photoshop Tip: How to create a customized signature brush

Protecting Your Art: Interview with Alyson B. Stanfield

How to protect your assets in a licensing agreement




Free Booklets from the Copyright Office

PDF Copyright BasicsPDF Registering a Copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office
PDF Make Sure Your Application Will Be Acceptable
PDF Cartoons and Comic Strips
PDF Have a Question About Copyright Registration?
PDF Make Sure Your Application Will Be Acceptable
PDF Publications on Copyright
PDF Copyright Notice




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Legal Books for Artists
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The Copyright Zone: A Legal Guide For Photographers and Artists In The Digital Age If you license or publish images, this guide is as indispensable as your camera. It provides specific information on the legal rights of photographers, illustrators, artists, covering intellectual property, copyright, and business concerns in an easy-to-read, accessible manner. The Copyright Zone, Second Edition covers: what is and isn’t copyrightable, copyright registration, fair use, model releases, contracts and invoices, pricing and negotiation, and much more. 


Legal Guide for the Visual Artist This book provides legal guidance for any visual artist involved with creative work. Topics covered: developments in copyright, artists in artist-gallery relationships, First Amendment protections for graffiti art and the sale of art in public spaces, cases dealing with art and privacy, model contract for Web site design. The book also covers copyrights, moral rights, contracts, licensing, sales, special risks and protections for art and artists, book publishing, video and multimedia works, leases, taxation, estate planning, museums, collecting, grants, and how to find the best professional advisers and attorneys. In addition, the book teaches strategies for negotiation, gives information to help with further action, contains many sample legal forms and contracts, and shows how to locate artists' groups and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts organizations.