We were lucky to catch up with Andy Brenits recently and have shared our conversation below.
Andy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.
I’ll start by painting with a broad brush…After being laid off from my in-house corporate position as creative director, I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly looking for a new job. While searching for the next opportunity, I decided to pick up freelance design work until I got my next job.
I emailed five creative directors, people I knew reasonably well, who I thought might need help. My message was brief, explaining that I had recently been laid off. While looking for new opportunities, I could help with creative projects if they needed extra hands or creative thinking.
Two of them replied they could use my help and, within a couple of weeks, outsourced paid projects to me.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Sure, I would be happy to. I’m Andy Brenits, a branding and creative strategy expert recognized for my award-winning work as an in-house creative director and independent creative consultant. As the Principal and Chief Brand Officer at Brenits Creative, I have helped countless growing businesses compete with big brands by creating a consistent way to look, communicate, and act.
I advise individuals and business owners on brand strategy, creative management, and what it takes to differentiate oneself consistently in a crowded market.
I started my career working for boutique design studios in New York City before moving in-house at major brands like Gap, NFL, and KPMG. I received my BFA in fine art and graphic design from the School of Visual Arts and earned my Masters in Design Management from Pratt Institute.
I’m an experienced mentor and teacher and have taught visual design, marketing, brand strategy, and creative development to undergraduate and graduate classes at esteemed institutions such as Pratt Institute, MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), and Columbia University.
These days, along with running my agency, I work with solopreneurs, authors, experts, and coaches to develop their personal brands. I also coach other self-employed people on how to be productive and focused in their day-to-day work.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been networking.
Not the big weekly group meeting kind of networking, but by building deep relationships one-to-one with people who can help me and whom I can help in return.
My network has provided me with everything. Except for one corporate job, every client, business opportunity, and class I’ve taught has come through a referral.
Every week I dedicate 1 hour to targeted outreach. I’ll send an email, text, or make a phone call to 3-5 people in my network. In a short message, I’ll ask if I can do anything to help them – in the form of work or even a referral – or try to schedule some time for a call/Zoom to catch up. I contact past clients, referral sources, friends, past coworkers, and others in my network.
I also dedicate at least an hour to follow up on the previous week’s outreach if I have yet to hear back from someone. After all, as I always say (I wrote about this too), “the fortune is in the follow-up.”
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Keeping in mind that brand = reputation, the best strategy for fostering brand loyalty is to do great work, consistently.
This means you need to define what “doing great work” means and what it looks like to have a great experience with your brand looks like.
Once you can define that, you can work towards ensuring your delivering a great experience all the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brenits.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybrenits/
- Other: www.andybrenits.com
Image Credits
Peter Speyer