But how are these initial meetings conducted? What do you talk about? How do you know if you’re asking the right questions?
Ultimately, being able to conduct an effective initial interview will come with practice. And the questions you ask will depend on your particular discipline. I might not ask the same questions as a graphic designer would, because I deal with video production.
As you work with more clients, you will be able to refine your interview skills and quickly mine those nuggets of information that will aid you in your creative development. Here are some questions that I usually like to cover in my initial creative meeting:
From this initial interview, you need to find the core PROBLEM that your efforts will SOLVE. These questions are by no means set in stone, and you don’t need to limit yourself to asking only 10 questions. Sometimes the client has thought about these things, but often they need you to prompt them into evaluating themselves and their brand. Be sure to take a lot of notes throughout the meeting and feel free to jot down a few ideas during the meeting as they come to you.
Elance is an online workplace where businesses connect with qualified professionals to get work done.
With the largest network of certified technology and creative talent, Elance helps businesses succeed by connecting them with the people they need to get work done. Elance facilitates the entire work process from hiring to collaboration to payment.
Businesses use Elance to get work done by qualified professionals whenever they need it. Service providers use Elance to meet customers and get paid for doing what they do best.
To be more specific, E-Lance is a place where freelancers can go, create a profile, upload references, skill sets, portfolio pieces, etc. and network with businesses who are interested in hiring freelancers to complete certain jobs. Let’s say Company X needs some graphic design work done and they’re looking for someone with a specific style or a specific set of skills. They can head over to E-lance, peruse the directory of available freelancers, and hire one for the job. It’s a way for companies to keep overhead costs by employing someone only when they need them. And it’s a great place for freelancers to find work. I just created my profile today, so I’ll have to wait and see if it pays off. There are a number of different categories in which you can create your profile. It might be worth investigating. Every little bit of exposure for you and your business can pay off.
Yes, it’s important to learn about your client, but it’s more important to learn about your audience. If you put together a great ad, but it doesn’t speak to your audience, then you haven’t accomplished anything. In fact, you might do severe damage to your client’s brand and create a PR nightmare. Consider the online Motrin campaign from last fall that offended so many moms. In the ads, Motrin speaks to the audience from the perspective of a mother — a mother who needs pain relief from carrying her baby in a sling or papoose, or other baby carrier. It sounded good, right? Moms need relief sometimes. However, for moms who actually use and love their baby-carrying devices, the ad completely missed the mark. They found it offensive and insulting and Twitter feeds lit up with posts from moms who have nothing but great things to say about their baby carriers. Motrin may have had a decent idea, but they seem to have fallen way short of connecting with their demographic.
Type in “Using Twitter for Marketing and PR” in your search engine and you will find a number of web pages giving out advice on how to use Twitter to market your business. Of course you will also find a number of people who feel that Twitter should be used as a social outlet only, not a selling platform. Just look at the advice from the site HowToUseTwitterForMarketingAndPR.com
Regardless of where you fall in the debate, it’s obvious that some business owners have seen tangible results from utilizing Twitter. A coffee shop owner in Houston, Texas credits Twitter with doubling his clientele. News outlets use Twitter for keeping the public up to speed on the latest headlines. Job sites around the world are now using Twitter to help people find the job they’re looking for.
The bottom line is that social networking is still in its infancy and there are no hard and fast rules for what you can and cannot do with a utility like Twitter. However, social etiquette that we use everyday in our face-to-face conversations should certainly carry over to a portal like Twitter, if you hope to gain a following and expand your network. Consider these Twitter Do’s and Don’ts.
The panelists of Freelance Radio frequently discuss social networking sites on their podcast, and they have some great insights into what you should and shouldn’t do with these tools. Bottom line is that if you want to be listened to, you have to contribute something to the conversation. Don’t simply set up a blog, Twitter account, Facebook page, etc. and sit back and wonder why you have no readers. Get out there and write comments on other blogs. Contribute. Become a part of the conversation.
Before my iPhone I was using Outlook to track my time, but this was often cumbersome, because on my version of Outlook there was no good way to export the data into an organized time sheet. So, while searching the App Store a few weeks ago, I came across Eternity, a great little time log tool. You can get a free version to try it out, but it’s very limited and won’t let you export the records via e-mail. However, the full version ($7.99) will allow you to post limitless entries and will allow you to email reports to yourself. This is my first week using the full version and I love it. It’s far superior to Outlook, not only for its organizational tools and detailed reports, but also because it’s mobile. Since it’s on my iPhone, the app stays with me, so I’m able to keep much better records of how I spend my time throughout the day. Worth the money, for sure.
While I was updating my account, I went through a lot of old friend requests that I hadn’t read and came across Triune Films, a group out of South Florida. I wanted to pass along a link to their channel, because they offer up some great tips on how to achieve good-looking special effects for little to no cost. If you are a low-budget filmmaker and are looking for cheap resources, you might want to check out their site. Here’s their most recent video dealing with Perspective.
