Here comes the “This blog is coming to an end” message.

I started this blog five and a half years ago to share what I knew to help other freelancers, particularly direct market designers and copywriters.

I’m still going to share, but likely not in this spot. (Notice how I qualify that just in case I change my mind six months down the road?)

Let me give you a bit of background, and then tell you where you can find me if you want to continue taking advantage of what I’m learning.

If you haven’t noticed, the main site of www.mikeklassen.com has just gone through a total redesign. My old site was HTML-based, and while it was fine and did the job, I wanted to take the appearance up another notch.

Goodbye HTML and Dreamweaver. Hello WordPress.

The change allowed me to add some new areas that I’ve gotten into: speaking and consulting. (This goes back to my last article on Expanding Your Business Boundaries.)

As part of that change, I didn’t really feel this blog had a place. All the content for this blog will remain for now. But there won’t be a link to this blog from the main site. The only way people will find it is through searches that link to the content.

Having said that, helping people is still a part of what I do. And it hasn’t just been happening here.

You may not be aware of where else you can find me…

1. The Magalog Guy’s MagaBlog. This is updated weekly. It’s geared to businesses in general, not just freelance designers and copywriters. But since you are a business, the content applies to you just as much as anyone else.

2. The Increase Sales & Build Deeper Connections Podcast. These are short messages from me, covering similar areas to what I cover on the blog. I’ll include interviews from time to time.

3. The Neanderthal Marketing Radio Show with co-host Traci Hayner Vanover. This is a weekly podcast, about a half hour in length, where Traci and I talk about different business-related topics. Very informal and a lot of fun for Traci and I.

4. The Magalog Guy Facebook Page. I try to share a few links of interest or bits of business info each week. I don’t believe in using this page to send out dozens of messages each day. So if you “Like” this page, don’t worry about me flooding your FB stream.

As you can probably guess from that list, it takes some time to put together that content on a regular basis. Between that and my work for clients, something had to give. And taking the hit was this blog.

I appreciate everyone who has read this blog. I hope you did more than read it… I hope you took action on it.

And I hope that you’ll find at least one of the other avenues I mentioned to follow me as I can continue sharing what I learn.

Thanks!

More often-than-not, clients who hire me already have a printer chosen.

But I knew that there would be times when I would be the first point of contact for a new client… not the copywriter and certainly not the printer.

Because of that, I wanted to make some direct connections with print brokers.

What’s a print broker? Broadly speaking it’s someone who finds clients the best printer and printing deals. They often have connections with a variety of different printers who might specialize in different areas. And some brokers will also be able to assist clients in the mailing of their marketing material which is a big plus.

All this is great for me because, as much as I’d love to know everything, I just don’t have the time to be an expert in printing and mailing. I know it to the extent I need to when I’m designing. Beyond that, I want my clients to get accurate information from someone who lives and breathes it.

I knew one print broker from my very first project years ago. I even got the chance to meet him once at a conference. We’ll call him Broker A. (I know… it’s not an original name. Sorry.)

It had been a while since Broker A and I had worked together or spoken, so I also asked some colleagues for other names to have handy. That led to Broker B.

Broker A and I had a good talk while reconnecting after a couple of years. I was up-front saying that it’s rare that a client doesn’t already have a printer. But I wanted him to what was going on with my business if I did need to contact him down the road.

(Hint for any potential clients reading this: Looking for someone at the last minute to handle any aspect of your marketing material is a bad idea. Introduce yourself now and be honest that you’re simply looking to make connections in case there’s a need later on.)

Broker B and I also had a good talk and the same type of conversation. But e-mail responses from him were slow. Another e-mail was never returned. While I liked Broker B, and he had a ton of experience, I didn’t like his slow or non-existent responses.

Could I have called Broker B to speed things along? Sure. But I work primarily via e-mail as do my clients. For that reason, people I partner with need to prove they respond quickly with e-mail.

In fact, I’ll restate that again just so it’s clear: If you can’t respond quickly in e-mail, I have no desire to partner with you on client projects. Because of time differences and full schedules, phone calls are too hit-and-miss. And a “paper trail” of the project in e-mail is vital for me and many of my clients.

Months after those calls to the print brokers, I’ve needed to bring in a print broker a few times. In some cases, there isn’t a good fit between client and broker. So it doesn’t go further than a quote.

But in each case, Broker A has responded quickly to me and my clients (or prospects). Information is provided to my client within 24 hours if not the same day.

That’s what I like to see not only because it makes my clients happy, but I look good for putting them in touch with someone who is on the ball.

I didn’t even bother contacting Broker B about the jobs because of his slow response or lack of response during our “get-to-know-you” stage.

I’m going to let you draw your own lessons from my example. I’m not just thinking about print brokers but more about how you interact with people involved in the creative process. That would be copywriters, designers, printers, brokers. And you can even extend that to how you respond to prospects and clients.

Do you move quickly when someone needs you?

Do you have connections with people you may need to partner with who move quickly?

Do you even have connections with people in other aspects of the creative process?

As I’ve said countless times, your success as a freelancer is not just based on the actual work you produce. Just as important is what you’re able to bring to the table in terms of great partners who can help you clients reach their goals quickly.

By the way, if you need a print broker, I’d be happy to introduce you to the one who makes me look good to my clients, and makes them happy with his personalized attention. Contact me for his name.

It’s always a good idea to make connections with other creative professionals. If you’re a designer, find ways to meet copywriters and vice-versa.

Just as important, if you’re a designer, find ways to meet designers who do what you don’t do. For example, I don’t do logos, but I have had requests for logo work in the past. Rather than simply say, “Sorry, I don’t do that,” I’d prefer to refer the person to someone who does do logo work… someone I know and trust. (Or maybe you take the job but outsource the work to someone you know while collecting a project management fee.)

Same thing applies if you’re a copywriter. Maybe you just focus on financial writing but you get a request for some form of technical writing. If that’s something not up your alley, be willing to refer that person to someone in your network who can handle that.

What got me thinking about this topic was the following e-mail I received from a copywriter. This is how not to approach a potential creative partner:

“I was impressed by your website, and I’d like to work with top copywriters like you to create direct mail control packages. Please take a minute to visit my new [...] website.”

This person was referring to my main business website… the one that says “Direct Market Layout and Design.” In fact, one line of copy on my site reads, “If you’re in need of a writer, I can put you in touch with someone who will handle your copywriting needs.”

So based on the e-mail and apparent visit to my website, I was curious how she got the impression I was a “top copywriter.”

I can only guess, but the e-mail comes across as a form letter sent to people without much research into whether they’re copywriters to begin with much less “top copywriters.”

My intent here isn’t to mock anyone, but to point out what can result in this sort of approach. I can only tell you how I felt about this, but I’m guessing I’m not alone. The e-mail didn’t inspire me to want to work with this person. Fair or not, I’m doubting her ability to write great copy and put in the research that goes into great copy when she didn’t really do much research into me and my business before contacting me.

And I really have no idea if she’s only looking for copywriters, or was also looking for designers but forgot to change the copy in her e-mail to reflect that.

Let me give you what I think is a better approach if you’re going to blindly solicit for creative partners.

1. Be clear in your own mind on why you’re contacting people. Are you just desperate for work and hoping someone will throw some scraps your way? Or are you genuinely trying to create a network that will benefit everyone involved?

2. Be clear in what you’re looking for. Say you’re designer and you’re looking to connect with copywriters. Based on your own work, what types of copywriters might your clients have a need for? If you’re working on magalogs, you may want to meet health and financial writers since that they are two of the biggest fields that use magalogs.

3. When you find a potential partner, take the time to really look at their work and read what they say on their site. Is this someone who, at least on the surface, appears like someone who has the skills they claim to have?

4. When you do make contact, refer to specific things they said on their site and work they’ve done. That shows you’re paying attention.

5. Be clear to them why you’re making contact. Understand that this person may have contacts who do the same thing you do. But extend the offer for them to look at your work or ask any questions they might have. You might also mention that they’re under no obligation to respond.

That’s just my ideas for a proper way to approach this. You might have a better way or do things slightly different.

The main point I want to get across is that with just a little extra time, you could be approaching someone as a professional yourself, and not someone who is blindly contacting everyone in sight. Not only does that usually fail to gain you anything, it can actually hurt your business and how potential partners perceive you.

For whatever strange reason, most of my layout jobs don’t involve direct contact with the copywriter. I end up working just with the client and if there are any issues with the copy, the client talks to the copywriter, not me.

Some clients prefer that method because they’re concerned that if they’re not always the go-between, the copywriter and designer may make a change and forget to tell the client and, ultimately, it’s the client holding the bag when it comes to success or failure of the promotion. Fair enough.

But despite not having the one-on-one contact with the copywriter, I strongly encourage my clients to bounce last minute ideas or changes off the copywriter even if his or her work is complete and they’re, in the mind of the client, out of the picture.

Let me give you two examples.

1. I was working on the layout of a newspaper ad. It had a bold, one word headline at the top. The client suggested to me that we include a photo at the top of the ad that illustrated that one word. I found a great photo, but because the photo included the same word that was in the headline, I felt that having both right next to each other was redundant.

So I asked the client to bounce the options off the copywriter. The options were to have both the photo and the text headline together, not use the photo at all, or use the photo and remove the text headline.

But great copywriters don’t throw in words or do things without reason. For all I knew, that one word has tested favorably in other marketing projects. Including a photo next to the headline might decrease response.

If a marketing piece bombs, it’s often the copywriter who gets the blame even if the client (or designer) was the one making last-minute changes.

So since we’d be tampering with the copywriter’s vision of the ad with the possible inclusion of a photo, and even though the client felt the copywriter’s job was done, I felt strongly that the writer should be brought in to give his opinion, especially if he felt it might affect response.

2. Similar situation, but this time with envelope copy. A client needed an envelope for a sales letter. The client never talked to the copywriter about envelope copy, but was contacting me about putting together a basic design.

Again, I suggested the client talk with the copywriter about the effects of copy on the mailing envelope vs. no copy. Because if the envelope isn’t doing its job in getting the recipient to open it, the sales letter won’t get read and then we’re back to the copywriter getting the blame for a failed promotion.

I had my own opinion on whether or not envelope copy was necessary in this particular case, but my respect for the copywriter meant that I wanted her to be brought in for her advice based on her experience with other promotions she had done.

And you know what? She wasn’t asked for her opinion. I don’t know why. I did give the client the pros and cons of envelope copy and based on that, and despite my suggestion he talk with his writer, he made the decision without her.

So there are probably two lessons to take from this. First, respect the copywriter and suggest the client talk with him or her if changes are being made that seem to take things in a direction that they writer wasn’t planning. Second, familiarize yourself with the marketing process beyond just the design. Because at some point, you’re probably going to be giving advice on matters that are not just design-related and you’ll want to be speaking from a position of confidence and authority.