Chewing Pencils

Method 3:- Advertising

This method of getting your work sold is perhaps more about promoting yourself rather than your actual work. Nevertheless, advertising your services is one or the tried and tested methods to get yourself some paying cartoon work.

Where you advertise will depend on the sort of work you do. For instance, if one of your major talents is to do live caricature, then advertising in corporate journals and the like is the way to go. Come Christmas time or major product launches, the live caricaturist can not only make some good money, but get a free meal at a fancy conference center too!

Here are a few suggestions on where to advertise your services and the sort of things to include in your advertisements:

1. Your Website

I’ve written about this elsewhere, but it is essential that you have a good, professional looking website first. All other advertising you do should include your web address so potential clients can visit your site and get a better idea of the sort of work you do.

2. The Local Phone Book

My fellow scribblers here in Australia are a little divided over the usefulness of advertising in the phone book. For years there was no separate entry for ‘Cartoonists’ and a good deal of lobbying was organized to see it happen. Some do really well out of their ads in the phone book. Others don’t, but nearly all talk about the number of ‘nuisance’ calls they receive because of it. Parents looking for work experience for their kids, who reckon their child is the next Larson and the cartoonist is the spawn of Satan if they don’t take them on as an apprentice. Don’t think I’m joking!

Having said that though, the phone book is probably the next most popular place after the Net that people look for the services of a cartoonist. If the budget allows, make sure you’re there!

3. Mail Outs

I’ve been really fortunate in that I’ve only ever done minimal amounts of advertising. One of the very first things I did was to put together a flyer that I mailed out to potential clients, letting them know who I was, what I could and how to contact me. I followed a number of them up with a polite phone call, which resulted in a number of paid jobs.

Creativity is the key here. A standard letter with a few drawings is ok, but a parcel that arrives in an old movie reel tin, with some chocolates and a series of cartoons on the entertainment industry is more likely to get the attention of your entertainment type publications.

4. Targeted Advertising

This is form of advertising is where you go after people in your niche. It might mean placing an advertisement in a particular trade journal, organizing a stand at a community fair, subscribing to something like Google’s Adwords or approaching key people in that field directly.

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This form of advertising sometimes costs a little more, particularly if you wanted an ad to run for multiple months. However, it can be a better use of money than, for instance, placing an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper.

Additionally, many communities have a local Artists’ Register that is distributed to every resident in the community. Inclusion is usually free, so even if it only gets you one job a year, it’s worth getting yourself in there.

5. Email Campaigns

Similar to the mail out, an email campaign is where you purchase a mailing list of potential clients and email them an ad directly. I’ve not used this method – it always seems like sending spam to me – but it is a legitimate way of getting your name out there.

You can probably think of many other ways and places to advertise your services – give them all a go if your budget allows! As a rough guide, I probably spend about $250 year on advertising in different forms, which includes my website, an Adwords campaign and the odd targeted ad here and there.

Anyway,whatever you choose to do, make sure your ad includes the following things:

* Your contact details! The ad is a waste of money if clients can’t contact you through it.

* Your web address! Again, your clients will likely want to see what you can do before they ring you.

* An explanation of the sort of work you do. If you’re a caricaturist, make sure you say that! If you’re not, don’t pretend you are.

* A small, but eye catching cartoon is essential. I’ve lost count of how many ads for cartoonists that are simply some guy sitting at a drawing desk, holding a pencil. It’s not original anymore, so don’t do it!! Instead, if animals are your specialty, include a well-drawn animal – make yourself stand out.

* Finally, don’t give any indication of pricing in your ad. The nature of the business means that every job is negotiable, so avoid locking yourself into any price by putting a figure in your advertisements.

What forms of advertising have you used, or seen used effectively by cartoonists? Let us know in the comments section…