Since founding my creative content studio SIRAP a decade ago, we’ve been incredibly fortunate that most of our new work enquiries come directly to us through client referrals. But it wasn’t always that way. I built the business off the back of building relationships, and as we continue to grow, we’re always looking out for new opportunities to win new work through a more proactive approach to pitching.
Knocking on the doors of high-value prospects can be confronting for smaller players and can really hold small businesses back. But if there is a client you are driven to work with, you should reach out and try to get in front of them, even if it’s just for a coffee, as building relationships can already set you apart from the competition.
While you may have more limited resources in terms of budget and manpower as a small business, I’m a strong believer that relationships and rapport are key to building business. The ‘human touch’ is something small business often has on its side when compared with larger competitors.
(Small) size does matter
One of the great benefits of working with smaller businesses is that the client typically has direct access to the whole team or senior creative leaders; be it the founder, creative director, or crew. The hierarchical model of larger agencies and studios often means more distance between the ideas, people and clients, and this can slow the process down, cause mixed messages and ultimately cost more time and money.
Small businesses are generally more agile, with the ability to adapt quickly. We have a full-time, in-house team of nearly twenty crew and creatives that can be flexible to our clients’ needs and make things happen quickly.
Back yourself
Cold-calling for new business may sound daunting but if you don’t put yourself out there it can hold you back from developing opportunities with global brands and big clients. But if you’ve got the right people on your team, great ideas, and the capacity to deliver them, you’ve got nothing to fear.
Understanding your clients’ needs, being engaging, easy to work with and expressing the unique nuances of your offering as a smaller player are just as important as the ideas themselves. Our creative team and crew are accessible and have a human-centred approach to creative problem-solving and collaborating with our clients.
How to make your pitch stand out from the crowd:
- Research and understand what the client has done previously and what opportunities might present so you can pitch something with a different lens.
- Flex your creative brawn! Producing mock-ups of concepts or ideas is a powerful way to communicate your commitment to the brand and awareness of its positioning, tone of voice, and messaging from the outset.
- Storytelling is key; on screen and in person, and first impressions count. Take your client on a journey with you through your presentation, they want to be engaged and hooked in. This is something we have certainly refined over the years but is something that can easily be forgotten in the pressures of pitching.
- Be creative in your approach to selling yourself and your ideas. Don’t forget to highlight what problems you’ll be solving for your client.
- Celebrate what makes you unique. The size of our studio means I am directly connected to the client and the work, even though we’re now big enough to tackle big international campaigns.
It’s easy to get caught up in the work, especially when there are egos involved, but at the end of the day, it’s all about your prospective client. Investing time and energy into building and nurturing authentic relationships is always a smart move.
