Menu
Amazing visuals are certainly important for a successful business in the design industry. However, there’s a lot more that it takes to stand out in a competitive and overcrowded market, such as design.
Global graphic design will be worth 78.25 billion by 2030, and you should start making the right steps right now if you want to establish yourself. Besides having great designers, it’s crucial to have financial and fraud prevention plans.
This article explores some of the key business aspects of design and aims to help you how to manage your finances in this market.
Advertisment
Even your local bakery will have a website these days, so it’s especially important that your design business does. Websites act like storefronts for digital companies, and they can increase your chances of landing new clients.
You can attract customers by articles and tutorials, allowing them to find you through search engines. However, there are many more websites than that. A good-looking website shows that you’re a professional and that you pay attention to the brand.
Imagine how customers would react if they opened a website and saw a static page that resembles the 2000s internet. Websites are also great at highlighting your past projects and serving as a portfolio. Customers and clients can also use it to inform themselves of your services and pricing.
A more administrative aspect of your design business is to open a business bank account. This opens opportunities in the form of obtaining larger clients, hiring people, and possibly becoming eligible for investments.
It also simplifies accounting and tax filings and makes your business more authentic. Along with a bank account, you should also find good software for invoicing and accounting. This streamlines legal processes, but it also helps you stay compliant.
Besides the very basics we’ve mentioned in the section above, businesses in design should pay attention to problems like fraud. Most notably, they are exposed to chargeback fraud, which can result in significant losses depending on the value of a certain visual.
You can see this to learn more about chargeback management software. However, frauds are often worst-case scenarios, and there are more important aspects of payments you should consider.
Setting a clear contract for every project can protect both parties from dissatisfaction. It should include the key aspects of a project, such as:
It saves a lot of headaches. For example, the design business won’t have to worry about not being paid, while the other party will know when to expect the product they’ve ordered.
For all business agreements, an upfront deposit can serve as a great guarantee of legitimacy. Ask for upfront payments from clients, whether that’s 20% or 100%; this can confirm that they are serious about doing business, while you’ll ensure cash flow.
When it comes to invoicing, a lot of problems can appear in case the parties don’t prefer the same method of payment. This is especially the problem with remote clients. An upfront terms on the payment method and due date can help you protect your cash flow.
It’s advisable to get an accountant to streamline all the invoicing and taxing processes. This can become increasingly complicated as you scale, and it’s best to have someone specialized for that.
Since businesses in design don’t have consistent cash flows, setting aside 25–30% of the income for taxes can ensure peace of mind for the leadership of the company. The data on all projects should be kept and tracked, especially timeframes and payments.
This can help you better predict finances for the upcoming periods and to understand when it’s time to increase the pricing.
Advertisment
To grow as a design business, you’ll need to spend a lot of work, depending on the niche you’re in. The different ways in which you can land clients are infinite, but you can find some of the key methods below.
You can always wait for clients to come to you, but this isn’t as time-efficient as pitching to them yourself. If you don’t have a sufficient workload at the moment, it’s best to use your time to reach new clients.
Cold calling or emailing can significantly increase your chances of landing new clients and expanding your business. Even if you get one client every 500 emails, it’s still an improvement, and it can create a snowballing effect.
However, creating the perfect pitch requires some trial and error. You can increase your chances by leveraging an AI resume builder to improve your pitch by providing the client with the right example of work.
You should always personalize your pitches and provide potential clients with relevant projects. But beyond that, you should also provide them with examples of how your work helped businesses achieve their results.
For example, if your company makes designs for SMM, you should create a case study on how this increased the client’s followers or likes.
Furthermore, you should know your target group. If you’ve had dozens of clients in, for example, the ecology niche, and none in the software development, you’ll likely have fewer chances of landing clients in the latter.
Advertisment
Creating good social media profiles is a more passive way of attracting customers and clients, but it’s still effective. While it’s not targeting specific businesses like cold pitching, it can also help you with establishing reputation and professionalism.
Your social media profile can also serve as a form of portfolio. Each post will represent your style and brand and help potential customers see what they will get by using your services. Once you start social media accounts, the types of content you can make are endless.
You can create posts “behind the scenes” that delve into the methods that you’re using to create designs or create tutorials to attract artists. Another advantage of social media posts is that you can monetize them.
Creating short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube can provide you with another source of income. This is great for becoming less reliant on your clients and getting more independence.
For all businesses and individuals that work on a project-like basis, like software developers, artists, designers, and writers, it’s crucial to establish long-term relationships. Being a retainer for multiple clients significantly increases your cash flow stability.
This can mean that a certain company always contacts you when they need new designs. However, depending on the type of design you are providing, you can provide ongoing support for a longer period of time.
For example, UI/UX design companies can have constant work as requirements for new pages and projects arise for a certain client. Retainer packages can also include consulting services, maintenance, and advice on brand image.
Depending on the size of your business, leveraging project management software can help you streamline processes across multiple departments. Even companies with less than 10 employees can benefit from having a straightforward way of seeing their tasks.
PM tools become increasingly important when you have multiple clients. This is because you’ll have to manage tasks that are in different stages and of varying urgency. Design startups and small businesses can have a culture that bonds everyone together.
However, outsourcing work or hiring remotely can put you in situations in which you’re working with unknown people. To hold them more accountable, it’s advisable to leverage some time-tracking tool or set KPIs.
For PM, you can use Asana, Clickup, or Jira, and for time tracking, you can find Hubstaff and Toggl useful.
Advertisment
Financial planning and management won’t make your business successful on its own. Your products and services are responsible for that. However, it’s certain that without having a financial plan, you’ll be exposed to multiple risks.
Furthermore, it’s crucial that you recognize and prevent fraud attempts, like chargeback, as they can significantly harm your business, especially in the early days. To get a competitive edge, follow our financial pieces of advice, and be mindful of the new trends.
Don’t be afraid to use the latest tools like AI to streamline your processes like fraud prevention or even design, but also remember that people value authenticity in creative work.
Veljko Petrović
Veljko is an IT student who has successfully combined his passion for technology with his exceptional writing skills. As an emerging specialist in cybersecurity, he has completed several courses and has been published in notable blogs in the industry. In his free time, Veljko enjoys weightlifting, reading, and programming.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veljko-petrović-699ab0201/
Website: www.writerveljko.com
If you found this post useful you might like to read these post about Graphic Design Inspiration.
Advertisment
Written by
If you like this post share it on your social media!
Advertisment
Advertisment
Advertisment
