“You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything.” Beth Comstock
I have the privilege of working with designers on a daily basis. I hear from a lot of my clients that want me to create animations or reels for them that they are just wanting whatever will get them the most numbers. How do I get more followers? Will this reel or hashtag work?
Marketing at its root is finding your core audience, researching that audience, and creating a plan to find that audience. Since the rise of social media, we have strayed away from organic marketing. However, in 2021 many platforms are rewarding accounts that return to these old fashion methods of marketing and move away from the randomness that has permeated or industry along with many others.
Today we are going to look at how to leverage your target audience in a way that is organic and real so your clients will come to you. We’re also going to look at programs I use to help when marketing my own business. I touched on this topic briefly in a prior blog post about starting your business in a pandemic.
Find your niche (in a world that is full of designers)
Our market is saturated lets me honest. So what is going to set you apart? What is going to put you above the rest? The best thing you can do for your interior design business or any business is find your ideal clientele (your niche). Speak to them in all your content. Meet with them 1:1 in your social media and connect with them through your blogs.
For example, if you want to own an online interior design business, niche that down. Add what you offer, your specific style, or even your prior experience. Good examples are : Eco-friendly interiors
Design for Gen X
Design with the family in mind
Start a blog (make the time)
I hear a lot of designers I work with tell me that they just simply don’t have the time for a blog. You have to make the time for a blog. Your blog is your mark on this thing we call the world wide web. Your blog is how your ideal client or niche will find content relevant to them.
This is also is where you will grow your potential customer base (ie. email list) to market to for newsletters and anything else you’d like to share. Opt-ins are also a great marking tool to grow your email list for blogs. There is so much more to touch on this which will be included in future blog posts. (subscribe to stay updated) see what I did there? 😉
Photo by Christian Mackie on Unsplash
Optimize Your Social Media Accounts (choose two)
Interior Designers and business owners, in general, tend to think if they just post their profile on social they will be successful. However, that is not the case. Social media does take work. That is why I always suggest choosing two social media platforms to focus on. How do I choose my two? Google analytics.
When you log into your Google Analytics, you’ll find a screen that says “acquisition”. This is where you can find how you acquire all your lovely website viewers (potential clients). On channels, you’ll see social. The top two social channels are where you want to focus your most energy.
You’re probably asking why not the others? Well, most likely, the other networks are brining you little to hardly any traffic. My top two are Instagram and Pinterest. I would about guarantee yours is similar. These two platforms are image and graphic based (leaning video based now) so I spend every monday creating new conent full of graphics for each of these platforms.
I use the following to schedule out my content Planoly for Instagram, and Hootsuite for Pinterest. To keep everything organized and to make a content calendar for myself and my interns I use Trello.
Get a real email (no more @yahoo.com)
You own your domain name, why not add your email? This is a simple inexpensive task that will help elevate your business to make it more legitimate. Also if you are still using @yahoo sometimes those can be sent to spam which can be frustrating for clients
Buy multiple domains (don’t put your eggs in one basket)
Once you have your niche down and you have your keywords set you can start the process of a different kind of marketing technique. Domain purchasing. Now I’m not saying buy up every domain that you see in your niche, NO! Do your research, find ones that will rank high in google (possibly higher than your own), and create a redirect landing page or use it as a redirect for your site.
For more information about owning multiple domains read this article.
Lastly, Create Memorable Content
Interior Design Templates
As an interior designer, it’s important to make a lasting impression. No just in someone’s home but with our documents, blog posts, and social media content. How do we do that? Graphic Design. This is not something we learn in interior design school. That is why one of the reasons I went to continue my education in it so I could help interior designers in this way. Also, why I have created my template business.
There is one program I use on a daily basis, Canva. Canva is an easy-to-use program that allows to you have access to millions of resources to design the perfect graphic for whatever the purpose. Even if you are not a graphic designer you can create graphic design worth graphics with ease. Now if you want to get started on the right foot check out my templates at www.interiordesigntemplates.com
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