Self-promotion Ideas and Inspiration

I'm pleased to say that Tea and Crayons are back to work for 2011, batting ideas to and fro, getting very excitable about the possibilities (and that's just me!).
At the minute we are looking in to self-promotional ideas to get noticed as a collective.


Self-promotion can be tricky to get right, so us Tea and Crayons ladies have been doing a little research in the area to see what advice is out there. We thought that this might be of interest to our followers too, so have pulled the best bits of advice from the 'net to share with you.

The fab 'Escape From Illustration Island' offers some great tips. You can read their post here. Here I have picked out some of what I consider to be the most useful tips:

• Be unique

Imagine the amount of promotional work sent to art directors day-in, day-out. It must become tedious seeing the same sort of thing in the post everyday. If you are different you'll stand out from the crowd, which will in turn make your work more memorable.

• Be consistent

Don't just send out your promotional material and expect the work to come to you. You need to follow it up, whether that's with a phone call or an email is up to you.

• Stay on the radar

Similar to being consistent, don't simply send out your promo work and leave it at that. Keep the people you are targeting in the loop with any new work you do. However...

• Don't overdo it

It's good to keep potential clients up-to-date with your latest work, but it isn't good to be a pest. Don't send out too much, too often.

Another fabulous resource for all things illustration (not just self-promotion) is the book 'How to be an Illustrator' by Darrel Rees and Nicholas Blechman. Grab yourself a copy because it is definitely worth a read, I recommend it highly.

I also took a look on google and flickr to find some examples of self-promotional work done well. Here are a few of my favourites:

These gorgeous examples of promotional work are by Thereza Rowe, found on her flickr photostream. I love how bright and eye-catching they are. Also, Thereza has made great use of shapes with her circular cards - not at all what you would expect.

This self-promotional material is by Kotryna Zakauskaite a.k.a Kata Illustration, also found on her flickr photostream. Kotryna has designed a cd envelope, covering letter envelope, and business card. I think something like the cd envelope is less relevant now as many people simply view portfolios online, but I love the strong sense of identity throughout the design, and once again love the use of shape - particularly the rounded edges.

Also found on flickr are these fabulous postcards by Barbarana. Barbarana has used her promotional material to introduce herself on a personal level, and I love the vintage feel to the reverse side of the postcard. Such a lovely and unique idea.

More postcards, this time by the wonderful Jo Cheung - also found on her flickr photostream. The little box is a great idea which will keep the postcards safe, as well as looking smart and professional.

I love this promotional pack by Charline Giffard which I found online here. It's very well designed, and like Kotryna's promo material, there is a strong sense of identity to the pack.

And here we have a folded mini portfolio by Lesley Barnes, which can be found on her flickr photostream. It's a simple idea, but when done well like Lesley's, the results can be really effective.

Our very own Rachel L has blogged about self-promotional work. You can read her post about when she made a mini portfolio concertina book here.

I hope this is a useful post for those of you starting self-promotional work of your own. Tea and Crayons will most certainly be using the tips we have found, so watch this space as to what we come up with.