Like with any small business setting your target market is imperative so

FINDING YOUR
finding and locating the right clients for your services you will offer.

Target Market Now that we developed our goals and really worked on detailing the
services we will offer as a freelancer lets figure out which types and
what industries we will need to market to. Use this worksheet as a quick
WORKSHEET guide for thinking about who may be your target market (audience)

1 PICK YOUR
TARGET INDUSTRIES 2 PICK YOUR
CLIENT SIZE
CIRCLE WHICH TYPES OF INDUSTRIES YOU CIRCLE THE CLIENT SIZE YOU THINK WILL MATCH BEST
WOULD LIKE TO TARGET OR YOU THINK YOUR WITH YOUR SERVICES AND OFFERINGS AS A FREELANCER.
SERVICES WILL BE VALUABLE. (YOU CAN CIRCLE MORE THAN ONE)
(YOU CAN CIRCLE MORE THAN ONE)

Are there any particular industries needing my services over others? You
can pick these based on your prior experience in several of these
industries or it can be based on looking at your closest competitor or
someone who offers similar services to you. You can also do research
online depending on the type of services you will provide.
Are there particular industries needing my services over others? For
Example: Retail shops are always needing logo and branding work,
freelancers as well, perhaps there is a way to fine-tune my target market
by exploring demand.
Figuring out the size of your client’s companies or businesses can be a big help when
crafting your target market. Your client may be individuals,
families, small local business, regional businesses or even larger national corporations.
Finding out what size clients you want to work for can be helpful to your personally too.
Individuals and smaller companies are more companionate with deadlines and larger
corporations can pay a bit more, but may be less forgiving of schedule changes etc.
This can also be helpful to know if you decide to do paid targeted marketing campaigns and helping narrow
down your targets. (we will talk about a bit later in the course.)

For Example: I can check out logo design competition sites like 99 deisgns.com to see
if I can find a trend or certain industry that seems to be posting more requests for logo
design work if I am a graphic designer wanting to have logo design as a service.
INDIVIDUALS SMALL REGIONAL BUSINESS

AEROSPACE INDUSTRY FILM INDUSTRY FAMILIES MEDIUM SIZED REGIONAL

AGRICULTURE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY BUSINESSES
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY FOOD INDUSTRY SMALL LOCAL BUSINESSES
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY
LARGER CORPORATIONS
SMALL LOCAL FRANCHISES
COMPUTER INDUSTRY HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS
SOFTWARE INDUSTRY INFORMATION INDUSTRY
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY MANUFACTURING
DEFENSE INDUSTRY ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY
EDUCATION INDUSTRY NEWS MEDIA
NON-PROFITS (GENERAL) PUBLISHING
ENERGY INDUSTRY INTERNET AND DIGITAL CONTENT
ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY
MUSIC INDUSTRY WEDDING AND EVENTS INDUSTRY
 4
SELECT DETAILED
3 DEMOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION
GUESSTIMATE
CLIENT BUDGETS Note: These ranges are not in
dollar amounts so that others
using different currencies will
CIRCLE THE CLIENT BUDGET YOU THINK WILL be able to set it to their given
CIRCLE THE CLIENT DEMOGRAPHICS YOU THINK WILL MATCH MATCH BEST WITH YOUR SERVICES AND OFFERINGS currency.
BEST WITH YOUR SERVICES AND OFFERINGS AS A FREELANCER. AS A FREELANCER. (YOU CAN CIRCLE MORE THAN ONE)
(YOU CAN CIRCLE MORE THAN ONE)

Example: If I am a web developer, perhaps they will need a minimum of $2,000 to even start a project with
Would your potential clients most likely be male, female? Certain you. That could help you narrow down your target audience simply because some types of clients may not be
able to afford a website of that pricing, small mom and pop small business for example.
industries and styles may overwhelmingly target one over the other.

Finding our wither your target market will focus on non-profits or for-profit
companies. Certain services favor one over the other. For example, 0-99 100-200
per client job per client job
illustrations and mural work may be more in demand from non-profits in
your area.
201-500 501-1000 OTHER
Perhaps I will want to target 20-40 somethings if I want to offer wedding per client job
photographer services. If I offer custom t-shirt illustrations, I may also want
per client job
RANGE
to target the younger ages.
1,001-3,000 3,001+
per client job per client job

MALE FEMALE OTHER 5 DETERMINE CLIENT LOCATIONS

CIRCLE THE CLIENT LOCATIONS YOU THINK WILL MATCH BEST
WITH YOUR SERVICES AND OFFERINGS AS A FREELANCER.
(YOU CAN CIRCLE MORE THAN ONE)

FOR PROFIT NON-PROFIT Some of you guys want to have a worldwide client base, while others, like those in the painting
world, find it hard to ship larger finished products to clients who are overseas. Also, working with
clients in other countries can be more challenging in some industries than others, web design is
one of the services that seems to be more immune to this challenge.

You also want to figure out if you want to target local clients at first or national. Sometimes
starting with a local target market can make marketing and networking a lot easier. Some local
markets may not support your services because of income or budgets in your nearby town.
YOUTH 0-18 YOUNG ADULTS 19-29
LOCAL
NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL ALL
CLIENTS
ONLY ONLY
ONLY
ADULTS 30-39 MIDDLE AGE 40-49

YOUNGER SENIORS OLDER SENIORS DRIVING RADIUS OF CLIENTS (IN MINUTES)

50-69 50-69 FOR THOSE WHO SELECTED THE LOCAL CLIENTS OPTION

0-10 11-30 31-60 60+

 6 FIGURE OUT
POSSIBLE LIKES/DISLIKES 7 CHECK OUT
YOUR COMPETITION
FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH CLIENT LIKES/DISLIKES/TASTES YOU FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH POSSIBLE TOP COMPETITORS
THINK YOUR TARGET MARKET CLIENT WILL HAVE.

This goes back to matching with an industry that may demand your style.
We all offer certain styles in our creative services. Try to find ways to find
target demographics that may desire or have demand for your unique style
or has a demand for a style you have a particular talent in.
Another way to fine tune your target market is to study your competition, you
may notice their client list on their portfolio seems to be in a particular industry.
Also add them to your social media feeds so you can see what they are up to
and how they market to their clients.

LIST IN YOUR DESIRED ORDER

LIKES

WEBSITE OR
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE:

WEBSITE OR
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE:

DISLIKES

WEBSITE OR
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE:

WEBSITE OR
SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE: