After about 2.5 years of starting Bionic Creative, here’s pretty much how my design business runs (I’m sure many of you will find yours similar):

  1. A dash of PR
  2. Marketing, lots of it
  3. Networking, lots of it
  4. Getting leads from the above
  5. Pitching to the prospects
  6. Negotiating (And sometimes…dealing with fish market kind of haggling)
  7. Sealing the deal
  8. Design and deliver
  9. Get paid (Duh.)
  10. Thanking the client
  11. Asking for a referral or more work

I was pretty happy with this, and thought to myself, “Wow, I’ve really got it together!” So I carried on my merry way.

I got a call from David, whom I had done some work for quite a while ago. He was happy with the work delivered and went on to build his business. Now he had some new design requirements so he asked to meet.

During the meeting, we were catching up and then it happened. I got a smack in the face and I totally realized that the my perfect picture was flawed. What happened? It went something like this:

David: “Oh, I just contracted this guy to redo our website as well…Hey, you don’t do web right?”

Me: “Uhm, I do…”

David: “What? You mean I could’ve given this job to you? Aiyah (a Singaporean expression of exasperation)…You didn’t keep touch, I totally didn’t remember if you did or not! Oh dear…”

David went on to rub in the fact (it was certainly well-deserved, I must say) that I failed to keep touch a few more times and boy, was I slightly embarrassed and also kicking myself in the behind. The rest of my day was spent in a rather pensive state; the conclusion was obvious.

My pretty picture lacked a mechanism that can keep me on my contacts’ radar now and then. And as the saying goes, ‘Out of sight, out of mind’. I need something that will keep the relationship alive, subtly and non-intrusively, and remind my contacts of who I am and what I do.

So what’s my plan of action?

I’ve long been a supporter of email marketing and branding, thanks to my buddy Mark from Shoutlabs. By the end of April, I will launch my periodic newsletter, Biomechanix. What will I write about? I think these are the things that would interest business professionals:

Bionic Updates
A quick feature of our latest work and achievements and goings-on at the studio.

Design Education
Not everyone is familiar with how design works and what it’s all about. Learning about design will help you work better with designers and make better decisions when it comes to your marketing and branding collaterals.

Productivity Tips
I’m a fairly gadgety, internet savvy and resourceful person. Want to learn tips like how to reduce a 10MB PDF to under 2MB in file size, with minimal quality loss? Stay tuned.

Guest Articles
I have a wide network of media and marketing professionals. The best way to stay ahead of your industry, is to broaden your knowledge and learn new ways that you can brand and market yourself. Guest writers will be from PR, email marketing, internet marketing and much more.

I’m certain that with the newsletter, I can better maintain my client and prospect relationships while adding value with useful information that they can apply practically. What else would you like to receive in the Biomechanix newsletter? Better yet, why not sign up now so you don’t miss out later.

All in all, this incident with David was a pretty humbling experience and serves as a reminder that one should not rest on their laurels!

Thanks David! ☺