Learn your client’s “new normal”, because it’s not business as usual anymore.

Our clients’ businesses, and therefore our careers, have changed forever. Sure, we can attribute some of this change to the explosion of social media, lightning fast communication speeds, and the new economy. But the bigger and longer-lasting change is in the foundational nature of how our clients perceive and value design.

As you know, our clients are still under the same pressures as always, such as looking good to the boss or shareholders, being profitable, showing measurable success, and more. But the stakes are higher now; budgets are tighter. This applies to both them and us. So how do we become valuable in this new environment?

Our ability to show clients more strategy, metrics and research is more valuable than ever, and I think this is good for us. However, when we started our design businesses, these really weren’t key areas of focus, were they? Sure, we thought we’d need to create an occasional brief, do some client meetings or frankenstein some things now and then, but we didn’t count on having to stay on top of technology, designing in both print and online environments, doing more work for less money, and the list goes on. Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining, just explaining. See, this is our “new normal.” In addition to design, we need to stay up on global innovation and pressures in order to remain relevant to our clients. Your clients’ businesses have changed, and they will continue to change faster than ever before. As their partner, you need to understand this and help them manage it. You need to understand their points of pain, and you also need to recognize where their industry is headed and brainstorm on keeping them on track going forward. Go to their tradeshows, read their trade pubs, visit their competitors’ websites, and gather info from their vendors and parallel industries. A few years ago, it was all about showing a process that gave value to design. The strategy was packaging that process and “selling” it to clients. Well, our process is more complex and valuable than ever and “selling it” requires showing value and results beyond just design. So talk to your clients and come up with ways of tracking success and understanding the new pressures they’re facing in this new economy. It will pay off for you, too.

#68 Utilize your social media outlets for research. Ask your connections via LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Also, think about Twitter as a search engine.

For some of you this will be old news. Or perhaps you have thought about it, but have yet to utilize your networking resources in this new way, as a research tool. Let’s say you’ve built a small (or large) army of connections on various social networking sites. Use them! Ask them a question or throw out an idea to see what kind of response you get. Your network will hopefully give back some honest opinions, insights, and other thoughts to consider. To make the most of it though, remember: be honest with what you’re looking for, participate if someone else asks you, and don’t get carried away. (No one wants to be your personal opinion survey).

Also, consider Twitter’s search function as a powerful tool to find live trends on any key word. To search, go to search.twitter.com. Type in your word and get ready for real time thoughts of what the masses are thinking. For more on this concept, read this article from Tech Crunch.

For more great Twitter thoughts, check out our last post on Twitter here.

How are you participating in your social networks? How are you using them? New business? Research? Or what else?