When your work is marketing

When I began freelancing full time in 2020, I was eager to get to work. Fortunately, projects were coming my way.

After attending a morning networking event, I got an email from a potential client.

We talked over Zoom, then we met in person at her shop. We discussed her customers, her needs as a small business, and how a new website could help get her business online.

Then I got to work.

Over the course of a few weeks, I began assembling content, creating design concepts, and building out the site. Throughout this process, I communicated with the client—I made adjustments based on her feedback.

I shared follow-up examples of the layout and design. I explained my process and my thinking behind my decisions.

The client was ecstatic.

She didn't have to envision how her site was coming along, she knew.

In the end, she didn't only get a new site that would propel her business online, she got high-value service and support.

I place a lot of value on not just the work I do for a client, but how I do it. This level of service is my marketing.

I don't advertise. I communicate.

I share ideas and concepts.

I listen.

This is how your work becomes marketing.

The plumber who fixed your broken toilet and also communicated the issue, explained how it happened, and how they fixed it isn't just being helpful and nice, they're marketing, whether they realize it or not.

Author Austin Kleon says it better:

"The 'process' is the marketing. By sharing your process, you are inviting people to see the value in the finished product."