Freelancers (Stylists, Makeup Artists, Photographers, etc.) - Marketing Yourself

[*Happiness*]

marketing yourself is truly important.
in freelance work, if people don't know what you do and who you are and how good your work is....they won't remember you or call on your for jobs.

such good information I am finding at 240 in the morning.

 

[FASHIONLOVA]

i m thinking of becoming a personal stylist. from what i know there aren t any in my city.
except that i just moved back here after a long stay in canada and although i know the stores, i don t know the owners nor the sales assistants.
now i was wondering how i could start off this new business

 

[FASHIONLOVA]

i forgot to mention that i worked with a few designers already and have experience as a stylist, but being in a new country makes it all confusing.
should i go make friends with shop owner s first or what???

 

[BetteT]

That's a great idea ... but they will expect you to send business their way, too. Or maybe a small $$ thank you if they send business your way that you get paid for.

Just brainstorming here:

What about beauty salons?

And maybe try networking with people who work weddings ... like makeup artists and wedding planners. Sometimes the mother of the bride and even out of town guests may need some styling and shopping help.

Rich kids duting prom season? Anyone during the Xmas/New Years season who might need to dress up and want some help.

What about men; executives who are very busy ... they usually have no clue and need help ... if they have more money than time, they might love a personal shopper.

You could try to advertise in a local newpaper or magazine ... make sure you have a good web site where you can send prospective clients to see high quality images of your work.

Joining high end clubs and volunteer groups to get to know women with money might give you some good contacts. It's a business of referrals ... so you need to meet and to talk to a lot of people ... and they have to like and trust you. You have to "hob nob" with the type of client who would actuall hire you. That's exactly how RAchel Zoe got into celebrity stying ... of couse she was automatically "networked" by being born rich.

 

[FASHIONLOVA]

this magazine is interested in what i do they just wrote to me. so maybe they ll write something about me, i need publicity.
my brother in law's wife has a top notch beauty salon, but i don tknow how to tell them about what i do.
also since i provide full day transformation services, with the help of a beauty salon, i thought about working with them...send them clients and them doing the same.
now there are designers stores here, do you think i should call them and explain what i do???

one last thing; do u think i should get business cards now or wait a bit?

 

[uhdinger]

Thanks Bette, fascinating insights you are sharing.

 

[BetteT]

High end stores and salons will know what a personal stylist is.

Great about the magazine ... that is a great starting point! You might even be able to get lots of extra copies or tears from them at no charge ... so be sure to ask. This will help you in your marketing ... have something to leave behind with the shops and salons in addtion to your other stuff.

And yes ... you need business cards plus comp/zed cards for mailing, and a portfolio with high quality images in it, in addtion to an on-line portfolio with they same high quality images. These are your marketing tools to attract business. They show people not only who you are but how good you are at what you do. Lack of marketing materials or poorly presented marketing materials will leave the impression that you are inexperienced and sloppy and who would be interested in paying for that?

You will be dealing with high end clients and they expect the best in professionalism. Be sure that everything you do, say and show is at that level.

 

[jaizednconfused]

I don't think business cards and comp cards have really been discussed in this thread yet (correct me if I'm wrong!)?

Of course the purpose is to relay your contact info., but as a stylist, should your card be... well, more stylized? I've seen stylists with plain simple business cards (clean, black and white) and also seen some louder ones (colorful, creative)... obviously it needs to be legible, but should it reflect you/your style or is there an industry standard? Do they usually include an image on one side or do you save images for your comp card?

 

[FASHIONLOVA]

i m just about to do my business cards, so that question comes in handy.
my first business cards were white with a silhouette in black
I'm thinking or redoing the same thing.
can someone post a comp card example pls. thanx

 

[jaizednconfused]

FASHIONLOVA- I'm working on my cards too

I'm planning to make comp cards as well, I think it's a great marketing/promo tool. You can stick a stamp (or 2) on, send them out everywhere, give a taste of your work, and see who you hear back from.

I usually see 4 tiled images and contact info on one side and one larger image on the other, or a slight variation thereof, always on heavy cardstock. But as always, I'm sure there is some creative leeway on the layout...

To anyone-
I know it's larger than a postcard, but what is the standard composite card size? How should the images relate? Should you show a good range rather than a complete story?

 

[BetteT]

Comp/zed cards are usually about 4 by 6 or larger. I don't think there is a "standard" size ... but there are lots of on-line companies that specialize in comp/zed cards for models and freelancers and checking those out might give you some ideas.

I think that a range showing you best images is better than a story for a comp card. Comp cards provide just a peek at your work and hopefully interest potential clients enough to check out your work in your on-line portfolio or ask to have you bring in your hard copy portfolio. So you would be sure to list your web site on the card in additoin to your contact info, so they can see the rest of your work. Your portfolio (both on-line and hard copy) needs to show your stories, if you are a sylist.

There's a thread about actually building your portfolio ... the process, the size, what goes in it, how to arrange it, how to line up tests, etc., .... here.

 

[BetteT]

My business cards have my logo on them, in color. It's bold, graphic, and clearly defines what I do at a glance. Plus it's simple and it never goes out of style. It's also on my pro web site, my invoices othe business forms. So you know, I don't share a link to my pro site, here ... so you won't see the logo ... sorry.

I use my busisness cards at times and my comp cards at other times. My business cards are always with me, so they are easy to hand out. I use my comp cards to leave with or send to clients, potential clients, and other people in the biz, with whom I network... who send me referrals.

 

[jaizednconfused]

it's simple and it never goes out of style.

That's key.

So is it safe to say it shouldn't include an image? I've created a few logo options for myself, with defining typeface/colors, that I think speak graphically to my personality. I want it to be recognizable and easily worked into all of my marketing material, so this is why I think I should forgo any photos altogether and save it for my comp card. I also think a business card is too small a space to really get your styling across.

 

[BetteT]

I think ... just my opinion ... that photos of a stylist's work can be a problem ... what happens when the clothes go out of style? Then you have to re-do everything. So a logo makes more sense, to me.

Of course ... always use photos for your comp card (that is the point of comp cards) and that will get changed often. The comp card can have the logo on it as well, to be consistent with everything else.

 

[renay johnson]

Great advice here, but mine is a different problem. I can't afford to do internships for free and I don't necessarily want to work for a magazine. I would like to freelance and have people call me when they need me. I work a FT job but can utilize vacation days, weekends to freelance. I want to shoot runway and some editorials eventually. Is this unrealistic to want to be a photographer who shoots for designers at fashion shows? I hear that usually designers just get images from Getty and other wire services who send photographers to shows. How does one get there work seen if designers are just going to go buy images from Getty?

I've sht MBFW in Los Angeles and some of my images rival those that make it to magazines. Not saying I'm all that, but I can match some of the stuff I see in mags already. I went to fashion week - LA, had these nice images and no one to show them to

 

[BetteT]

Here's a great resource to learn how to market yourself if you are a freelance makeup artist, hair artist or fashion stylist.

 

[stylevirtuoso]

Comp card examples

Someone asked about comp cards examples( I think fashionlova)

these are some examples of comp cards that I have been using,
Lately, I really have been loving the collage thing vs the blocked image card.
Your thoughts....

And I switch mine regularly/ beginning of the season and the images as well.
Mine are actually 3.5 * 5, like index cards.

 

[ad111714]

I'm just doing the biggest promotion of my (still young) career: I've printed a 40p. magazine full of my photos and send it out to agencies, mags, labels with which I can imagine to co-operate.
The cover is made from this picture:

I'll post the full PDF here as soon as the mailing is sent out.

 

[antoniobarros]

Hi Thomas!

did it work? Did you have any feedback?

 

[ad111714]

Hi Thomas!

did it work? Did you have any feedback?

It worked fine, I'll do Vol. #2 soon

The mag brought lots of new clients and even some newspaper coverage about my photography.

Here's the full issue #1 (2009)