As a follow to my post on Using LinkedIn to Find Design Jobs, here is a slightly different technique to go after the design business that you want.

If you decide that your ideal client type is a travel-oriented company because your aesthetic is a match or because you already have some experience in that space, then search for travel companies within LinkedIn. You search companies using the search feature in the upper right-hand corner of the page, pulling down the menu to change the search from “people” to “companies.” I just did a search for “travel” and got 4772 results. Now you have an idea of the volume of possible new client contacts on LinkedIn, but that’s a global and really broad search so let’s narrow it using better search techniques.

Follow this link:
http://www.linkedin.com/companies

The page at the link above also lets you browse by industries. Here I have started browsing “Philanthropies”:
http://www.linkedin.com/companyDir?results=&sik=1251911248496

…where I can then focus the results by country, zip, company size and even if they are hiring by using the search features on the right of the page. You can check the “hiring” box if you want on your first search to filter for the low hanging fruit of companies that actually have design positions available, but you are not really performing this search seeking open positions but rather companies to which you might sell your design services.

Ok, so now you can search on LinkedIn for companies and industries globally or in your part of the world. But why?

What you are doing is building your database of prospective clients, the ones you should mail with your profile and follow-up with a call if feasible. And many companies list a remarkable level of detail that you won’t find on their website — AND don’t forget that you would never have found their website anyway because LinkedIn is why you even know the company exists.

LinkedIn company profiles often list the principals and management names and links to their LinkedIn profiles. If you see a company that you think is a fit for your design skills then look at the management listed on the company’s linked-in profile. See someone that might be the right person to approach? You have a couple of options for reaching them. You can visit the company website and try to find their email address and then email them. Call the company and ask for them. (Cold calling is a drag, I know.) Or, look at their profile and see what groups they are a member of on LinkedIn. If one of the groups is a fit for you then join it. Then, once you are accepted into the group, you add the person you were trying to reach to your network on LinkedIn by selecting “Groups and Associations” when you are asked how you know them. In the little box where you can write a comment to the person during the connection process just be honest, say you are a designer specializing in industry X design work and you are building your network of professionals in that space. You are networking like anyone else, nothing wrong with it. It’s a soft sell. If they accept your connection then you’ve made a real connection with a decision-maker inside a company that is now a prospective client of yours. What next? I’ll save that for my next post.

Look at it this way, if you were a bigger company you would have sales people incented to find clients and those sales people would create a database of prospective clients and go after them with your portfolio of work. If you do have sales people then they can add LinkedIn to their methods for finding prospects. If you don’t have sales people then this is work that you should consider doing.

Yes, there are big sites that act as agents for designers and they may have value. But what is described above is a more proactive than reactive approach. You are finding work, not letting work find you. When was the last time you got a gig from a portal site for designers that puts clients and designers together? (Someone is going to yell at me for that last comment I’m sure.)

Good luck and have fun.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Design, Design Careers, Getting Gigs, RESOURCES. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.