Whether its advertising, collateral, web development, videos, or more, we use proven, successful techniques to help you create stronger brand awareness, develop impactful messaging, and generate leads to grow your business.

From graphic design to search engine optimization, website development to video production, from draft to launch and beyond, SMC Freelance uses modern tools and successful strategies to enhance your brand and focus your message to your target audience. We use the same software tools and quality control that the “big boys” do, without getting caught up in internal procedures that limit our creativity, hamper your true goals, or nickel-and-dime your budget.

Putting Your Ideas to Work

Start with the End in Mind

When launching your new business, revamping your company’s image, or developing a new advertising strategy, you have to start with your end goals in mind. Often we start too simple. We want to increase sales. We desire more leads. We need to earn more donations. But what does that really mean?

Break down what your end goals are in measurable terms. I want to increase sales by $1,000 per week. I wish to generate 500 new leads per month. I need to increase our donations by $20,000 this year. Start with goals that are attainable, that you can measure and compare versus your previous period, or against a past strategy, and let us help you plan for success.

Even if you are just looking for a new company logo or letterhead, or you want to redesign your product packaging, think how you want that design to help you impact your goals. Share your ideas with us, and let SMC Freelance help you make it happen.

Sell to Yourself

Many companies try to sell to customers that have no interest whatsoever in the products or services they offer. Instead, focus on selling to the people just like you. The people that share your same interests, want solutions like yours, and are looking for something to fill a need. Think about how you would sell your website, product, service, video, etc., to someone just like you. Be cynical; be skeptical; and then answer those doubts with your messaging. Even imagine being naive, or simply unaware, and tell yourself what an “uninformed you” would need to know to make an informed decision, and then put that in your content or design.

Let SMC Freelance play “the devil’s advocate” and through the “what ifs” at you to make sure that you have all of your bases covered. We help provide you with the most engaging design and an impacting message. We encourage you to explain what makes your organization and its products or services unique and beneficial to your target audiences.

Review, Refresh, Repeat

Coming up with a great design is hard work. Keeping it relevant is even more difficult. You need to plan to update your website content regularly, should plan to completely redesign it every 3 or 4 years to keep it up to speed with new technology and engaging features.

At SMC Freelance, we work alongside you not just in the initial design stages, but also in measuring its impact, keeping it fresh, and watching out for trends that could positively or negatively impact your message. We recommend making a habit of reviewing your design, refreshing its message, and measuring the results, and then repeating that cycle continuously. Progress doesn’t rest on its past laurels, and neither will your competitors.

Contact Us Today!

To learn more about our dependable design options, what that could mean for your organization, and how SMC Freelance can partner with your team to help grow your business, please contact us today.

The post Dependable Design appeared first on SMC Freelance.

We don’t have a lot of overhead, greedy investors to please, or dreams of commercial expansion. We just offer good, honest service to small businesses with real needs at better-than-reasonable prices.

Because every client is different, we offer payment programs that are convenient to meet different budget requirements. Feel free to compare our fees against local competitors and you will see that our standard project rates are significantly lower, but the results we offer often exceed what even larger firms can provide. With dedicated, direct personal management and consistent, hands-on care of your projects, it won’t take long for you to see the advantages of depending on SMC Freelance to help your business meet its goals and reach its potential.

SMC Pricing Options

Option 1 – Per Project Estimates

Our most common practice is to provide you with a personalized proposal with an estimated number of hours necessary to complete the client’s project, including design, implementation, testing, modifications, and any training needed for the client. In addition to the proposal estimated hours, SMC Freelance provides a dedicated time sheet so you can see where our time is spent on an hourly basis. It is also our policy to round all hours down to the nearest quarter hour to the advantage of our customers. We are committed to making absolutely sure that you get the most work for the lowest price, because happy customers are usually returning customers. Note that this option does have the highest per hour charge.

Option 2 – Designated Hours

For some clients, who have lots of recurring projects for SMC Freelance, we offer them the ability to set a designated number of hours per week or per month. With a lock on a bundle of set hours, this option allows you to budget for ongoing projects at a lower hourly rate than the per project option above.

For example, a client might want us to manage a list of projects for just 5 hours per week, completing them as we go based on their list of priorities. This would keep us both from exceeding any budget limitations they might have. This is also what we mean about having your “own marketing team” on your own terms, and for a much lower rate than you might expect to pay elsewhere. We have several clients who prefer this option, and we can setup scheduled meetings with them to make sure that we are staying on track to meet their project goals.

Option 3 – Annual Retainers

Lastly, we have some clients for whom we have finished a long list of projects in the past, but don’t have any immediate project needs. For them, we could always use options 1 or 2 if they have a new projects they want us to complete, or a series of smaller projects they want to keep managed over time. However, a few have opted for a retainer program, where we provide them with an agreement for a set number of annual hours, and they can use them up as needed. The retainer program does require an up-front payment in full, but it also allows for the lowest total hourly rates. If more hours are eventually needed, the retainer agreement can be updated. However, if there are unused hours by the end of the year, a refund is not provided. We will work with you to create a retainer program that makes sense for your needs, to be as accurate as possible.

Get Started Today!

For more information about each of our pricing options, to ask for a quote, or just to get some free consulting for your specific marketing or design needs, please contact us today. We can get your organization started on a journey to success hand-in-hand with SMC Freelance.

The post Fair Fees appeared first on SMC Freelance.

From handshake until final project signoff, and beyond, we treat each customer with respect, share their goals, and take personal ownership of their projects, because our joint success depends on it.

We understand that sometimes you just need a quick “one and done” project to add to your existing marketing portfolio, but sometimes you genuinely need more than a mechanized, factory-produced solution that makes you feel like a number. Sometimes it isn’t that simple. Sometimes you need someone to walk hand-in-hand with you through the initial concept stages, to make sure you cover all of your bases. At SMC Freelance, we offer you as much assistance as you want, at any point in the project, from beginning to end and after, with reporting, reviews, and more. Whatever help you want, for as long as you want it, we can provide comprehensive care to all of your marketing and design needs.

Meaningful Customer Service

Project Planning

At SMC Freelance we start with your end goals in mind first. No matter whether it is new website build, or a series of product specification sheets, we start with reviewing your ultimate purpose for the project. Sometimes we have clients that feel like the just want a “website” without understanding what that all entails. We work with you to understand how to make sure it is successful, and what that “success” should look like. We help you figure out what you really need, not just what you think you want, by asking some simple, yet important questions, such as:

• What is your end goal for this project?
• Is it to generate new sales leads or close business online?
• Are you looking to expand awareness of your current image or update an outdated image?
• What is your message and what story are you trying to tell with this project?
• Who is your target audience and do you have competition in that space?
• How do you plan to measure if this project is successful?

By starting with the end in mind, we can also better create a realistic “go live” date to make sure that all pieces are put in place by the time the project is publicly visible. The last thing any organization needs is an incomplete project with an unclear message being rushed to market. Not only does it look poorly on your company, but it will almost certainly fall short of your expectations. At SMC Freelance, we seek to exceed your expectations, always.

In Process

Once the details of the project have been hashed out and the process of developing it have gotten underway, SMC Freelance will continue to provide updates, feedback and suggestions to improve the project. A large portion of the creative process includes “what if” thinking, we we work with you to find better, more effective ways to engage your intended audience and/or harvest better results for your established goals.

Any new additions to the original scope of work will of course require your approval before any deviation from the original plan takes place. SMC Freelance will also provide a written time sheet for every project, so you can see exactly how our time is being spent on your project, to keep it on schedule, and under budget. Everything we do at SMC Freelance is focused on your benefit from our services, so we can provide updates, drafts and other project status reports to you however you require. If you aren’t satisfied, then neither are we.

After Completion

Once your project is finished, approved by you and “signed off”, we will still continue to provide you with service, sometimes even for free, when we feel it is in the best interest of your company. For example, with your permission, we can regularly check to see if there are software or plugin updates, updated document formats, or other improvements that might be available for your finished project that might enhance its usability. If those updates take us only a few minutes, we will gladly do them for you for free. We want to make sure that nothing gets accidentally messed up with your website, digital collateral, videos, email campaigns, AdWords, etc.

We can also provide you with regular reporting, if not part of your original proposal, for a nominal fee, to help you track your results. This also helps you decide what modifications or improvements to your features or content might be beneficial to keep your goals on track. We can also set you up with monitoring tools, and provide training, to help you manage things on your own if you prefer. Our purpose is to serve you in whatever ways are most meaningful to your organizations, whether that includes post-project maintenance, scheduled reviews, or updates whenever you have content you want to add. At SMC Freelance, we work hand-in-hand with you through the entire project process and after, because we want you to be completely satisfied with the services we offer. We also want you to come back to us again and again for your other marketing and design needs.

Contact Us Today!

For more information about our in-depth customer care, how we assist in the planning stage, in process reporting, and post-project maintenance, please contact us today. We can get your business or non-profit in the fast lane toward reaching your goals with SMC Freelance.

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