WE DO THAT
Over New Years, a very successful businesswoman I admire asked me, “How do you get your clients?” She didn't ask me our business plan, our marketing strategy, or our “value proposition.” Instead, she immediately drilled down to the core issue for all business owners.
How do you get your clients?
I loved the candor of the question but didn’t have as direct of an answer. Some find us on-line, others from referrals, some from our personal and professional networks. We’ve learned over the past three years that we've been in business that when we have a chance to write a proposal for a prospective client, we tend to “win” the work.
But, the simple question - how do we get our clients? made me stop and think. It hit home because just a few weeks before this conversation, I had coffee with a friend and colleague in the documentary film and television industry who was surprised to learn that my company offered full-service video production services. I was shocked that she didn’t know exactly what we did.
My partners and I tend be uncomfortable with the notion of self-promoting. We often assume most people know what we do from the occasional social media post. Therefore, we don’t spend a lot of time getting specific about what it is we do at FLOWSTATE Films outside of “appropriate” formats. And, I have to be honest, I am sure this discomfort around self-promotion has something to do with gender (but that’s a blog post for another time). But, clearly there is a line between unabashed self-promotion and simply letting people know what you do, especially something you deeply enjoy, so that you don't miss potential clients.
So, in the spirit of women taking control of their own narrative, we are vowing to be more clear about what we do and the services we provide at FLOWSTATE Films. This isn’t a hobby or something we do on the side, this is how the three of us earn a living.
AT FLOWSTATE FILMS, WE MAKE VIDEOS FROM SCRATCH.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:
1. If you run a non-profit and need an end-of-year fundraising video to thank your donors. We do that.
2. If you are a college, university, or other school that uses marketing videos for prospective students. We do that.
3. If you are doctor or other professional and want to share more about your practice or business using a video on your website or social media. We do that.
4. If you are a large production company or filmmaker and need a freelance producer, field producer, script writer or editor. We do that too.
5. If you are a network that produces non-fiction content, we do that. Well, we WANT TO DO THAT. HBO, ESPN, PBS, if you are reading this, call us.
And if you haven't seen it, check out our demo reel to see all of what we do:
Here’s to 2018 and a year of unabashedly finding new clients, being more comfortable as female business owners, and helping our clients find their new clients.
Kiley Kraskouskas
Co-Founder, FLOWSTATE Films
P.S. Music videos, training videos, advocacy videos, documentary films? Yes, we do those too!
