Doing Ads for Free! What is your Advice?

J

Jamaine

Active member
Trying to gain experience and make a name for myself in the Market. There isn't much people that is doing on professional and high quality level here in my Caribbean Island. And there are already known as to go to guys for professional work. So am thinking about approaching business places and asking them to allow me to shoot their ads.

Let me know your thoughts.
 
Work for free for very good friends, a great project with some talented people ( who might also be working for free ), your own projects and maybe a cause you really believe in. Offering your self for free to produce ads for local business, won't get you any work.
 
Maybe just use a site like poptent.net to find spec ads to do for free. You don't want to be known as the free guy...If that happens, then you'll be the guy they'll call when they want something done for free and or cheap.
 
working for free = undermining the business tat you are hopping to be part of. work for free for a project you believe in not some adds to make more money for others.
 
Sorry, I think made a mistake in what I was trying to explain. I mean do the ads for FREE and if they like it and want they would pay me for it. Just as a way to gain a market share! What do you guys think or if there are any other places like poptent that i can good practice, please share.
 
Jamaine said:
Sorry, I think made a mistake in what I was trying to explain. I mean do the ads for FREE and if they like it and want they would pay me for it. Just as a way to gain a market share! What do you guys think or if there are any other places like poptent that i can good practice, please share.
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Why would they pay you for it after you've already made it? Especially if they didn't ask for it. And because of trademark or copyright issues, you wouldn't be able to use it to promote yourself without permission.
 
Ads are about selling a product, promoting a campaign or strengthen the brand. All of which is part of their ad strategy. If you have connections it's fine to pitch what you think would work for a client but just to do ads on your own doesn't work. It wont fit.
 
Making a "spec" ad - one completed and offered to a client without a prior commitment - is a perfectly reasonable tool for someone attempting to break into a market. Needless to say it will be taken as a showcase of your talent - or lack thereof. The price you offer it for can also "set the bar" or establish the price point your hopefully new client will expect to pay for future work. This is especially true for less sophisticated clients. Offering anything without expectation of payment is always a very bad idea. No one's going to value your work more than you value it yourself. Being known as the "free" guy would be the kiss of doom.

An alternative strategy would be creating something for a locally popular cause or charity and then approaching local business to "sponsor" or help the charity pay for it's creation and distribution. Done properly, this allows you to both showcase your talent and open a dialogue with potential clients while garnering goodwill at the same time. You need to have the charity on board and endorsing the action but this shouldn't pose a problem. Done properly it's a win-win situation.

Good Luck & Best wishes.
 
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