13 Smart Marketing Strategies For Interior Designers In 2022

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the interior design industry landscape for good, especially in marketing. Some marketing tactics that worked previously, now don't. Strategies that didn't seem possible then are now generating tons of leads today. The industry has surprisingly grown in a period of lockdowns and with many people quarantined in their houses.

Running an interior design business can be a very profitable venture, but, to be successful, you need to have a strong marketing plan in place. This requires you to put in the extra effort to change what you've been doing.

We get it. Interior designers have a lot of tasks and need to balance things daily. They need to communicate with clients, draft plans, review color palettes, do billing, and much more. However, if a marketing strategy is not in your daily schedule, you're not as busy as you could or should be.

1) Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

An interior design business's Google My Business (GMB) profile is one of the first places a potential customer will go to learn more about your company. It's also one of the simplest ways to market yourself as a business. The platform is a massive collection of businesses that contain a large library of information relevant to their customer(s).

There are 3.5 billion Google searches per day, and a GMB profile is a great way to show up in organic searches or on Google Maps. This is a nice way to help you get local leads for interior design projects.

This might sound disappointing but only around 5% of views of GMB listings result in a call, direction request, or website visit. However, around 50% of businesses get more than 1,000 GMB views per month. That could easily mean 50 leads or more per month.

Your GMB profile should be search engine optimized so that potential customers in your area can easily find you. This includes:

• Adding relevant keywords to your business name and description, as well as choosing an appropriate category for your business.
• Including high-quality photos as they give potential customers a sense of what your work looks like. Also, consider adding virtual tour videos of past projects to show your skills!
• Posting regularly
• Finally, make sure that your contact information is accurate and up-to-date

2) Niche Down Even More

To be successful, you need to stand out in the sea of other interior design businesses. You need to possess a quality that sets you apart from the rest and potential customers will easily remember you.

One way to do that is by niching down further in your offering(s). This could mean specializing in a certain type of design, such as modern farmhouse or Scandinavian minimalism. Or it could mean catering to a specific client, such as families with young children or retirees.

By niching down even further, you:

• make it easier for your potential perfect client to find you and understand what you offer
• become known as an expert in your field, which helps build trust and credibility with potential clients
• enjoy working with clients wanting the exact projects you love

Many successful interior designers have one thing in common - they clearly define their niche and know exactly what they want to do. It's showcased in everything they do, from the services they offer, the branding of their website, and their picture-perfect posts on Instagram. They can easily discover who their best target audience is and find the best out of their customer base.

To be the best at what you do, you should consider your skills and what you love doing. Ask yourself:

• Are you a color fiend and love having pops of color in every design you do?
• Do you love coastal interior design or designing beach houses?
• Do you get a buzz from innovative space-saving solutions?

By focusing on what you love, you'll be able to better define your message and target market. This will make it a lot easier to market your business and attract the right clients! And when it comes to interior design, potential clients will be able to tell if you're passionate about what you do just by looking at your website and Instagram.

3) Use Photorealistic Designs to Close Deals Faster

As an interior designer, you should have photos of all your completed work ready to be uploaded to your portfolio. However, you probably haven't done all the projects you can imagine doing or want to do, but you still want to get a client for a project. If you want to showcase your skills for a project you haven't completed, you may want to use photorealistic designs. This will help you close deals faster because this will evoke a powerful emotional response from potential customers when they see what the final result of their dream project would look like in full color and detail.

Many software programs can help you create photorealistic images, such as Adobe Photoshop or SketchUp Pro. These programs allow you to add furniture, lighting, and other accessories to your design, so potential customers can get a better idea of what the final product will look like.

4) Build A Tribe Through Email Marketing

A great investment you can make in your interior design marketing strategy is building a list. People say that email marketing is dead. We can assure you that it's not. The email is a powerful tool that allows you to reach a large audience, display your products or services, and it's an easy way to stay in touch with your past, present, and future clients when you've built up an email list.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when using email marketing in interior design:

• Make sure your emails are well-designed and visually appealing
• Write compelling copy that speaks to your target market's pain points
• Use Calls-to-Action (CTAs) throughout your emails to encourage recipients to take action

Did you that over 99% of your site's visitors will not become potential clients on the first visit and nearly all of them will never return? So getting some of these people on your email list would be a no-brainer.

Here's How To Grow Your Email List

Pop-ups

A pop-up is a form that appears when a visitor lands on your site, typically asking for the person's name and email address. You can use it to offer a discount or freebie in exchange for their contact information.

There are many types of pop-ups, so you'll have to experiment which ones work best for your business. For example, exit-intent pop-ups appear when a visitor is about to leave your site; they're often used to offer discounts or coupons. Timed pop-ups appear after the visitor has been on your site for a certain period of time, and they're often used to offer freebies.

Landing Pages

A landing page is a standalone webpage that can be incredibly effective. Some landing pages can be so effective that well over half of the visitors on that page become email subscribers. It typically features a form where the visitor can enter their contact information in exchange for something, such as a freebie or discount.

Landing pages are a central place to direct traffic and the chance to sell what your subscribers are going to get from you.

Content Upgrade

A content upgrade is specific to the blog post or webpage where it's located. It can put your light-box pop-ups on supercharge and \increase the number of people who sign up by up to 5X. For example, if you have a blog post on tips for remodeling your kitchen, you could offer a content upgrade with a printable checklist of those tips.

The faster you grow that email list, the more traffic you get which means more interior design clients for you.

5) Publish A Portfolio Page

If you're an interior designer or home remodeler, who's going to trust you if you have nothing to show? To establish your reputation in the field, showcasing your work is a priority. You should create a portfolio section of your completed projects on your website.

When creating a portfolio page, make sure to include high-quality photos. For each one, include a brief description as well as the location, type of project, and any other relevant information.

Also, if you don't have a website, you need to create one ASAP. Covid has catalyzed the transition of business activity to online (what would've taken 5-10 years), so it's more important than ever to have a sturdy online presence. In this day and age, not having a website could spell the death of your business.

6) Write Blogs And How-To Articles

One of the best ways to attract attention to your interior design business is by writing blog posts and how-to articles. This is also a very unique lead generator. It's a great way to show off your expertise and knowledge in the field, without just trying to sell potential customers on your services. And you can create a variety of keyword-laden content (search-engine based) for interior design that can draw in lots of qualified sales leads.

When you share your knowledge with others, you create value and establish yourself as an expert. This will make potential customers more likely to trust you and use your services when they need them!

It's a good idea to compile and address customer and interior design pain points as ideas in your blogs. For example, you can write about "how to nail open-plan living," or you can write about color schemes, best of ___, comparisons, or how-to guides.

7) Promote Your Biz on Industry Lead-Gen Sites

If you want potential customers to be able to find your business, you need to make sure you're promoting it on the right platforms.

Besides social media, you'll also want to focus on sites specific to home services or design like:

• Houzz
• HomeAdvisor
• ConstructConnect
• Porch
• BuildZoom
• The Blue Book

These sites function like business directories. All you have to do is set up a profile and fill it out with your business information. You can also pay a fee to promote your profile in searches so you're most likely to show up when customers are searching for interior design on Houzz. This is beneficial because many businesses get a significant portion of qualified leads from lead generation sites like those.

By creating a profile on these websites and actively participating in community forums, you'll be able to reach a wider audience of potential customers who may need your services.

Not only that, but these websites allow you to showcase your fantastic portfolio, skills, and get more exposure for your business!

8) ASK for Reviews and Testimonials

If you want potential customers to trust your business, having 5-star reviews on Google, Yelp, or Trustpilot light up potential customers' eyes. Getting reviews and testimonials from past clients or existing customers serve as social proof that you're a quality interior designer who delivers on their promises and sets you apart from the rest.

To get them, all you have to do is simply ask! This simple strategy that you will continue to employ will have compounding interests over time and benefit you in the long term. You can send an email or text message to past clients, asking them to leave a review on Google, Yelp, or your website. Also, everyone likes to do a favor for someone once in a while because people like being valued.

9) Offer Online Interior Design As A Service

With the COVID pandemic, potential customers are increasingly looking for online services that can be done remotely. By offering online interior design, you'll be able to reach a wider audience of potential customers who may need your services but can't or don't want to meet in person. It's a nice way to show off your skills, make extra money, and get more exposure for your business!

For this to work effectively, you'll have to tweak your processes and offering(s). For example, you'll FaceTime or Zoom to meet with potential customers and discuss their pain points and needs, teach your clients how to send you good photos so you can do your job more efficiently, and develop specific packages for your offering that make it easier for potential clients to see what they'll get.

For pricing, you should use a technique called anchoring where you present multiple pricing options at different price points. By developing less expensive to highly-priced packages, it will persuade more potential clients to sign up.

Here are three price options:

1) The Basic Approach

• generally low cost and low time
• should be priced between $300 to $400.

2) The Better Offering

• will likely become your best seller (make sure to optimize it for profitability)
• priced between $700 to $800.

3) The Premium Package

• makes the middle offer seem much more appealing
• you'll get a few clients who will pick this option
• around $1500

10) Share Your Work On Instagram

If you're an interior designer not using Instagram, you're behind right now. Instagram was born for the interior design industry. With its massive number of users, you can use your photos of completed projects and photorealistic designs to increase your brand awareness.

To make the most out of the platform, it's important to post regularly, apply appropriate hashtags, and respond to comments and messages.

11) Generate Interest With Pinterest

For interior design, you especially want to maximize your visual marketing channels with industry websites like Houzz and Home Advisor. Pinterest is a KILLER way to increase brand awareness for your interior design business. In this platform, you can group ideas into boards, and users can pin them and refer to them later when creating a project. It's also appealing to creatives who are eager to create mind-blowing, innovative designs. By displaying high-quality images of your work, you can reach a wider audience and generate huge interest in your services.

To make the most out of the platform, be sure to upload pictures of your work with descriptive keywords so other Pinterest users can find them. You should also create boards that show your work in different styles and themes. This will help potential customers get a better idea of your range of niches as an interior designer. Once your users find your work and like it, they can add it to their boards of ideas on how they would like their interior design to be done.

12) Use Virtual Staging

Virtual staging is a process of creating digital images of rooms that don't exist yet or are in the early stages of development. It allows potential clients to see what their space would look like without actually creating it.

This can be done by using computer-aided design (CAD) software or even just Photoshop. You can create multiple images and variations of a room with a particular color scheme so the client can get an idea of what they want and how it would look before anything's set in stone. Plus, if you're working with a tight budget, virtual staging is a great way to save on costs.

There are also companies like BoxBrownie.com that offer virtual staging services. You can browse their site to get an idea of how virtual staging works and see how you can use it to market your brand.

13) Send Thank You Notes

Sending "thank you" notes are a great way to show your appreciation for someone's business. Plus, it's a nice gesture that will make them feel good about doing business with you. And, who doesn't like getting a generous handwritten note in the mail?

This helps make potential clients remember you at a time they might need your service. Seriously, there's even this rule called The Rule of Reciprocation mentioned by famed psychologist Robert B. Cialdini's, PH.D., in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

At the beginning of Chapter 2, He mentions an example of a university professor who sent Christmas cards to a sample of strangers. The response he received was amazing high-quality holiday cards addressed to him; it was a shocking response for him because they have neither met nor heard of him. That example conveys one of the most potent levers of influence around us, The Old Give and Take.

If you're working on a tight budget, you don't need to send high-quality cards. You can create your own or even write a simple note on some nice stationery. In business, it's not just a courtesy but a smart move to show appreciation for others!

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