Advertising your business is very important. To keep the flow of clients coming you need to have a plan for how you will get your business out there. There are many ways to advertise, but not all of them will be the right type for your company. Advertising in the right places and the right way will help turn people into future clients. Here are some ideas of where to advertise your Interior Design business.
An Effective Website
First and foremost, have a website of your own. Advertising is so technology-driven now. Radio ads, billboards, and ads in the newspaper are not as good as they once were. Be sure to have a user-friendly, professional website.
Your website will showcase all of your previous projects, help people contact you, show pricing, and show potential clients how well you work with others. All of the photos on your website need to be professionally done. You are going to shoot yourself in the foot if you do not take time to get really good photos done. Non-professional photos will make you look incompetent and clumsy.
Update the design of your website every so often. If your website is three or four years old consider doing a redesign or update. You do not want to lose clients because your website was too old or too hard to navigate.
Social Media
Utilise social media. There are so many platforms that would be really good for advertising your business. For instance, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram are extremely visually-based. Photos are constantly being uploaded and shared on these platforms. You can also create and post infographics to get your point across better than a plain post.
On Facebook, you can use ads to target who sees information about your company. You can really narrow it down to those who have previously searched for interior designers in your area or those who might be searching for living room ideas. The ad campaigns are endless. Make sure that with any campaign you do it will get you enough activity that the platform algorithms think your ads are relevant.
Pinterest can be used effectively depending on how you organise boards. One company categorised their work by room and different design styles. You can cross-market across Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to get followers or those looking at your work for the first time to share your images with their networks and hopefully lead them to your website. All this cross-marketing will potentially lead to new clients.
On all your social media platforms and your website, if you allow people to contact you, be responsive. Respond quickly and professionally. These things will influence what types of reviews people leave you and if they become future clients.
Houzz
One social media platform needs to have a mention of its own, Houzz. This platform is probably the most important social network you can be a part of.
On Houzz, you can display your gallery, interact with other people researching interior design idea, network and speak with other professionals, and generate potential clients. Most established and reputable interior designers are on Houzz.
Have an interactive profile on Houzz. Participate in discussion boards, polls, and forums. These things will give you opportunities to share your expertise and get brand exposure. This also leads to another opportunity for cross-marketing as people may share your images on other platforms. People will also be able to ask you questions directly.
Submit your projects to be featured on Houzz. You can try to have articles and projects featured on Houzz which will give you great brand exposure.
Make your profile one that will get noticed. Complete your profile will all the different projects you’ve done and their locations. Even if you are getting a lot of traffic from people who are outside your area there is potential that it will lead back to someone in your area.
Connect with and leave reviews for partner business (furniture stores, niche designers, contractors) that you have worked with. By doing this you will help each other get more traffic and business.
Ask people to leave you reviews. The more positive reviews you have the higher you will rank in searches.
YouTube Channel
Sure, YouTube may seem like an odd idea, but it is still worth it. On YouTube, you can create a channel and gain followers. You can make an introductory video explaining your approach to interior design. You can also make How To’s for different subjects. You can connect these videos to your other social media platforms and your website.
Doing this and making sure to use keywords across all of your social media platforms will help with your SEO (search engine optimisation). You have to be conscientious about what words you are using and how you are optimising where your website and other social media accounts come up on a search list.
Search Engines
On search engines, you can run pay-per-click ads. These campaigns will help you come up at the top of the search list when people type in Interior Designers on their web browser. As you focus on the most commonly used keywords and run the ad specifically for your target area it will help create traffic to your social media accounts and websites. Run campaigns for specific design types or certain rooms, have the ad take them to a spot on your website with the exact content they are searching for.
Online Directories
List your company on online directories like Angie’s List, Thumbtack, and Home Advisor. This will once again help your company get brand exposure and be more visible on a different platform. People can leave you reviews and help improve your company’s placement on the search list.
Advertising and making a plan for exposing your brand will always be a bit challenging. You need to know where and how to advertise to make it effective for your business. The above ideas are a great start to putting your business out there and turning visitors, clickers, or searchers into future clients.
