Online Marketing Tips: Branding Your Interior Design Business

Early in 2010, a woman in Denver, Colorado, decided it was the perfect time to launch her interior design business. She’d finished school and an internship, and had spent two years working for another well-known designer in town. She had some nice references with a decent amount of work in her portfolio and, while her reputation was not overwhelming, it was solid.Through her experience with her employer, she had built contacts among suppliers and contractors in the business and had managed to put together an acceptable level of interest from former and prospective clients. Above all, she had faith in herself, that she could help people create the home of their dreams, and that she would find success on her own.Being more tech-savvy than most, she knew she would need a great website and sought help from one of the most respected website development and internet marketing firms in the Denver market, figuring they would have the local knowledge she would need in support of her efforts. Using stunning digital imagery and extremely descriptive copywriting, her new website was a huge success – branding her as an up-and-coming player in the Denver interior design market.Over the next few years, she exceeded her own expectations and her new business grew by leaps and bounds. She built a team of associates and support personnel that helped her greatly and, finally, felt confident enough in herself and her team that she was able to end the contract with her web developer and outside marketing support, saving herself quite a bit of cash.When Your Brand Begins to FadeWithin months, her brand began to suffer and she had no idea why. For the first time in three years, her sales went flat, then began a slow and subtle decline. Over the next 18 months, she struggled to understand what was happening and, while she was not in danger of losing her business, she came to realize that she would need help to save it.Re-enter her former internet marketing team, the folks who had helped her build a great website did her blogging/copywriting and social media marketing and helped her develop and reinforce her brand.You see, what our talented but inexperienced business owner had failed to learn from her startup experience is this… Branding your design business is a never-ending task – and it will change over time – based on market forces and other factors.How to Employ Consistent BrandingWhile the team she had built had taken over much of what her contractor had been doing for her, they lacked the experience and insight required to respond to shifting trends and new technologies. Essentially, they were simply copying and repeating what had already been done for them, using stale content while expecting fresh results.

• Imagery must be enhanced with video – While quality imagery remains important, in today’s online marketplace, video has become a critical element in a consumers’ buying decisions. In fact, the more visual your product or service – and interior design is nothing if not visual – the more valuable video will be for you.
• Creative copywriting requires experience – and the ability to tell a story. While building your brand will be done largely through the copy on your website, reinforcing your brand and enhancing your reputation will be done by blogging. This can be extremely challenging when the subject matter is even somewhat repetitive. After all, how does one make stories of multiple bathroom redesigns sound original? Experience and creativity are required to overcome the sense of redundancy that such blogging can generate.
• Social media platforms are always changing – From changing policies to shifts in audience demographics, knowing how to get your message across through social media is a constantly shifting target. It can be extremely time-consuming, especially for a novice, and requires almost daily immersion and a great deal of experience, if you want to avoid wasted effort.

For our Denver designer, things were soon back to normal. Her business continues to grow and she is again exceeding expectations, thanks to consistent branding and a comprehensive marketing strategy.Of course, not every emerging designer can afford to hire outside help for web development and marketing support. However, based on the experience of our business owner, you can be successful in branding your design business if you keep these things in mind.Have you struggled to establish and maintain a recognizable brand for your interior design business? Have you overcome those challenges? Share your experiences in the comments section.Looking for more new design trends, tips, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.