Someone I know who has moved back to South Africa from the UK has been trying for some time to break into the local advertising industry. He is a graphic designer and after two years hasn’t come up with any meaningful work. He advertises services on a local community forum and only got two replies. One was from a salesperson for a stationery company and the other a printing company.
The challenge in areas like this where so many people have similar skills such as graphic design and Photo Shop is to find a niche market. The thing is it takes time to build up a local personal network where you are able to select customers that will first of all give you work and secondly provide you with profitable work.
So many colleges and universities are churning out people with the same or similar skills that in many areas the market is flooded. In this hard economy with slower business companies are often not starting something new and don’t need these skills. Continue reading “How to find the right target market”
