Day 523 - How I get my consulting projects for Outsprint - https://golifelog.com/posts/how-i-get-my-consulting-projects-for-outsprint-1654570150723
@viking_sec asked me about consulting work, about how to get your name out there -
"I’ve got an idea for a fairly good niche. How do you get your name out there in your niche in a way that gathers attention from the right audience?"
It’s a great question! And I realised I’ve never wrote much about my design consultancy Outsprint before, and certainly never wrote about how I sustained myself in consulting all along, so writing out the answer for him was cathartic in a way. Putting it down here for reference and archive:
Caveats
Let’s get the caveats out of the way first. Honestly, it really depends on your niche. I can’t say my approach will work for everyone, so your mileage may vary. Please be discerning and filter out what works what doesn’t for you.
What worked for me:
Social capital
I was lucky in this aspect. My consulting was based off my previous employment ~10 years ago when I was a designer in a government organisation. I had some networks then, so when I left to continue doing the same work but as a external consulting specialist for government/non-profits, there was word of mouth effect that helped. I’ve never done any ads, done any marketing for my consulting agency. It was solely word of mouth.
Be known for a unique niche
Occupying a unique niche helped. Most design consultancies don’t specialise. They take work from wherever whatever. I only do “design for public good” - design-driven innovation in government and non-profit, so it’s easy for anyone to remember that “gov design guy”.
Location matters
My design consultancy was targeting local work only. Which makes sense because of the nature of government. But this helped me niche down further, instead of competing globally. Geographical advantage helps - it gave cultural context, networks and focus.
Overdeliver
I always felt that the best form of marketing was to do damn good work. Overdeliver on value, impress by going the extra mile. The lovely second, third order effects of that is word of mouth marketing, good deliverables that showcase itself, and ex-clients willing to recommend you to others.
Unique business model
Because I worked in government before, I knew how my now-turned-clients think, their painpoints and needs. I was in their position previously! I intentionally created a productized service package with clear deliverables and price (instead of buying man hours or per project quotations). That helped them understand what they will get at what cost, compared to more vague terms they might get with proposals from other design agencies.
I also made the price fall within the budget approval limits so that they can get approval through a less onerous approval process (we call it invitation to quote) rather than a lengthy more troublesome process (calling for tender), which most consultancies often fall into.
With the lower price also meant I needed to deliver a shorter project, hence I went with a design sprint model, everything done in 1 week. That also lowered barriers to trying me out, compared to other agencies where they have to project-manage for 3-6 months.
Build an audience
COVID dried up the consultancy gigs from government because they were focused on managing the crisis. But with the pandemic mostly over, restrictions lifted, public organisations are slowly getting back to thinking about service improvement. I thought I could start building an audience on LinkedIn now (since my LinkedIn networks are mostly local design folks), to raise awareness of my presence and offering again, and do some business development. It’s the first time I’m doing any form of marketing.
"I’ve got an idea for a fairly good niche. How do you get your name out there in your niche in a way that gathers attention from the right audience?"
It’s a great question! And I realised I’ve never wrote much about my design consultancy Outsprint before, and certainly never wrote about how I sustained myself in consulting all along, so writing out the answer for him was cathartic in a way. Putting it down here for reference and archive:
Caveats
Let’s get the caveats out of the way first. Honestly, it really depends on your niche. I can’t say my approach will work for everyone, so your mileage may vary. Please be discerning and filter out what works what doesn’t for you.
What worked for me:
Social capital
I was lucky in this aspect. My consulting was based off my previous employment ~10 years ago when I was a designer in a government organisation. I had some networks then, so when I left to continue doing the same work but as a external consulting specialist for government/non-profits, there was word of mouth effect that helped. I’ve never done any ads, done any marketing for my consulting agency. It was solely word of mouth.
Be known for a unique niche
Occupying a unique niche helped. Most design consultancies don’t specialise. They take work from wherever whatever. I only do “design for public good” - design-driven innovation in government and non-profit, so it’s easy for anyone to remember that “gov design guy”.
Location matters
My design consultancy was targeting local work only. Which makes sense because of the nature of government. But this helped me niche down further, instead of competing globally. Geographical advantage helps - it gave cultural context, networks and focus.
Overdeliver
I always felt that the best form of marketing was to do damn good work. Overdeliver on value, impress by going the extra mile. The lovely second, third order effects of that is word of mouth marketing, good deliverables that showcase itself, and ex-clients willing to recommend you to others.
Unique business model
Because I worked in government before, I knew how my now-turned-clients think, their painpoints and needs. I was in their position previously! I intentionally created a productized service package with clear deliverables and price (instead of buying man hours or per project quotations). That helped them understand what they will get at what cost, compared to more vague terms they might get with proposals from other design agencies.
I also made the price fall within the budget approval limits so that they can get approval through a less onerous approval process (we call it invitation to quote) rather than a lengthy more troublesome process (calling for tender), which most consultancies often fall into.
With the lower price also meant I needed to deliver a shorter project, hence I went with a design sprint model, everything done in 1 week. That also lowered barriers to trying me out, compared to other agencies where they have to project-manage for 3-6 months.
Build an audience
COVID dried up the consultancy gigs from government because they were focused on managing the crisis. But with the pandemic mostly over, restrictions lifted, public organisations are slowly getting back to thinking about service improvement. I thought I could start building an audience on LinkedIn now (since my LinkedIn networks are mostly local design folks), to raise awareness of my presence and offering again, and do some business development. It’s the first time I’m doing any form of marketing.
