Effective Online Branding for Designers and Furnishing Dealers

We recently had an experience that made us ask the question: what is online branding and how can it help in local searches?

After performing a local Google search for interior designers and luxury furnishings stores, we were somewhat surprised to receive 1.96 million and 4.3 million results, respectively. Surprised because we find it somewhat unlikely that a metropolitan area of fewer than 1.3 million like Salt Lake City could support those numbers. (Duh!)

What truly shocked us was that so few local firms were listed on page one of the results: just 5 of 18 for designers and 6 of 18 for retail outlets. (Your own local search would likely show varying results but we find it hard to believe they would be significantly different.)

The point is that seeing results like these forced us to consider whether the lack of locally owned firms in the search results (SERPs) might be a branding problem. After all, our queries offered everything from locater services to online sellers like “Overstock”. These were decidedly NOT what we were searching for.

And so, we decided we might be able to offer an answer to our opening question, what is online branding?

What Is Online Branding?

When it comes to online marketing, differentiating yourself from your competition may be your greatest challenge. If it’s true that the average homeowner knows little about the differences between fine furnishings and the furniture offered at the typical retail outlet, it becomes especially difficult to convince them of the value to be had in high-quality furnishings.

Further, paying for the services of what they may perceive as a glorified shopping service can make working with interior designers seem wasteful, at best. This means that you not only have to educate consumers about the value of design services and luxury furnishings in general but that you offer something that your competitors don’t.

This is where effective online branding can be so valuable.

Building Local Brand Awareness

First, it’s not our goal to offer a branding tutorial in this post. Rather, we’d like to present you with the two most important factors for building brand awareness: reputation management and messaging.

• Reputation management – This is where you establish yourself as an expert in your niche, and as a local influencer, whether as an interior designer or furnishing outlet. The content on your business website will be important here but, even more important will be your blog and social media posts. By sharing high-value information at no charge, you show yourself as a real professional who is not just “in it for the money”.

• Messaging – Creating a consistent message about yourself and your business is a great way to set yourself apart from your competition. Since it’s impossible to be all things to all people, clearly outlining what you offer has huge value. It’s equally important to be clear about whom you offer it to – the types of clients you would most love to work with (beyond those who are simply willing to pay you!).

Building brand awareness should be one of the top priorities of your marketing strategy. It’s a critical step not just in appealing to your target audience, but as a way to create interest, generate leads, and convert those leads into meetings, bids, and sales. In fact, considering the competitive nature of the design and furnishing industries, there may well be nothing more important than focusing on effective online branding.

Ted remains available to work with you on an individual basis, consulting on how you might increase local brand awareness as part of your marketing strategy.

With more than 25 years of experience in the luxury furnishings and interior design industries, he has pretty much seen it all. So, if you're ready to work with a professional business consultant who can help you become one of those agile entrepreneurs our changing world demands, feel free to… Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Designing Your Design Business – Value of Client Testimonials and Reviews

We’ve talked quite a bit about the value, and need, of developing a strategic business plan for your design business (here and here). We’ve also offered advice on the importance of creating an online marketing strategy (most recently here). While many of the business building and marketing tips we’ve shared are important, we would be remise if we neglected to mention the incredible value of client testimonials and reviews.

According to an article at Inc.com, 91% of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews, and 84% trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. (More of the research to back up this stunning claim can be found here.)

Client Testimonials May Be the Key to Designer Success

The absolute value of client testimonials and reviews really cannot be overstated. The inherently impersonal environment of the internet makes it a place where skepticism runs rampant and where trust may be the greatest commodity you can find. In fact, we’ve known many online shoppers who base their purchases exclusively on the testimonials and reviews they see.

This is why it is so very important that you create and maintain a process that encourages your design clients to leave reviews and/or testimonials, that monitors the reviews they leave, and that deals with and improves any negative reviews you might receive. (Opportunity calling!!!)

Dedicated to offering tips to both homeowners and design professionals, the website Houzz.com recently shared some great tips for just such a client review process:

1. Ask Your Clients for Reviews and Testimonials

• Make reviews part of your design process – Mention reviews at the start and throughout the project so clients keep reviews top of mind. Planting the seed from the beginning will make it easier to get reviews at the end of the project.

• Personalize your client requests – Requesting reviews with a personalized note is much more effective than sending a generic message. Ask how they’re enjoying a specific feature you worked on or how they’re decorating for the holidays.

• Tap your professional designer network – On Houzz, members of the professional community can fill out reviews as “Colleagues” to provide a different angle of your business. Only request reviews from other professionals with whom you have worked.

2. Track Your Projects and Client Testimonials

• Keep a project tracking spreadsheet – Keep an Excel or Google doc of all the projects you finish. At the end of every month, send requests to all the clients who haven’t reviewed you yet. Once you receive a review, mark it in the doc.

• Request reviews with Houzz – With the “Get Reviews” tool on your Houzz profile, just add the client’s email address and write a personalized note. Houzz will send the client an invitation to review your work.

• Ask your account manager to follow up for you – Pro+ pros can have their dedicated Houzz account manager assist with reviews. Ask your account manager about the Review Concierge Service that can send requests via email on your behalf.

3. Follow Up with Every Client, Review or Not

• Thank your clients for thanking you – Since responding by email can be time consuming, Houzz allows you to respond to your reviews with a thank-you message and a “Like.” Responding to reviews shows that you truly value relationships with your clients, even after the project is complete.

• Respond to negative reviews – Offering clarification or perhaps how you might improve the situation will allow potential clients to see how you handle situations that aren’t ideal. A negative review can be a positive marketing opportunity. (More on this below.)

• Make client testimonials available online – Make the reviews you receive available to prospective clients to showcase your credibility and experience as a real interior design professional. Send clients a link to your reviews page, add them to your website with the Houzz Review Widget, and include them in any prospective client welcome materials.

BONUS TIP: Remember that repeat clients are more likely to hire you again – and to spend more – than a new client so, keep in touch with clients after you finish a design project by asking for a testimonial, and by asking of they may need more work in the future.

Turn a Bad Review Into and Opportunity

Here is some great advice from the Inc.com article we mentioned above: If you receive a negative review, the first thing to do is…

“Make the customer feel [like they are being] heard. Jump too quickly to trying to solve the problem and some will think you didn't take the time to fully understand the problem – and how it made the customer feel. Listen, ask questions, and then validate the customer's feelings. Say, for example, ‘It must have been frustrating for you to not be able to…’

“Then, focus on solving the problem, confident that you not only understand the problem, but what the customer really needs. Once the customer is happy… politely ask them to edit their rating.

“Most will do so. After all, customers don't want to leave negative reviews. They want to be happy.”

Since interior design is a largely local business, and because online reviews have become on of the most important local ranking factors with search engines, creating a process for client testimonials and reviews is absolutely a key to the growth of your design business.

Looking for more design business tips, new interior design trends, and new product ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.

Interior Designer Marketing Tips – Brand Building for Your Design Business

When an entrepreneur or business owner searches the internet for help with online marketing, one of the first things the “experts” mention is building your brand. Of course, this presupposes that everyone understands what that means. It occurs to us that we too may have taken this for granted when we post interior design marketing tips so, let’s clear up a few things about brand building for your design business.MBASkool.com, is a “one-stop management knowledge portal and a B-School community for all MBA students, professionals and MBA institutes”.According to the Marketing Dictionary they offer, “Brand Building is generating awareness, establishing and promoting company using strategies and tactics. In other words brand building is enhancing brand equity using advertising campaigns and promotional strategies. Branding is crucial aspect of company because it is the visual voice of the company. Goal of brand building is creating a unique image about the company.”To put it more simply, brand building involves creating a unique identity for your design business; finding ways to separate yourself from your competition by displaying extraordinary talent, creativity, and knowledge as an interior designer.“Oooh Kaaay”, you may think. “But, just how do I do that?”5 Brand Building Tips for Interior DesignersBrand building can be initiated with a well thought brand identity which can help create a strong brand image which goes a long way in consolidating the brand.Here we offer 5 brand building tips to help:

• Target a local audience – The first thing to remember is that, to a very large extent, your design business is extremely localized. Relatively few designers are able to appeal to, and reach, a national audience. Your clients and prospects will live and work near you and, should you happen to gain a broader reputation, that is a huge plus. However, for now, keep your focus on building your brand as a local designer.
• Narrow market focus – It’s virtually impossible to be all things to all people. Needs and tastes vary greatly, from homeowner to homeowner and from business owner to business owner. Building brand awareness among your target audience requires that you fit yourself into a niche that others are not filling, or that you believe you are better at filling. Stick with what you’re best at doing, do what you enjoy doing, and the rest will follow.
• Use images – Whether you carry a portfolio or use a website to promote your design business, high quality pictures of the work you’ve done has real power as a brand building tool. While smart phone cameras have improved dramatically in recent years, you should carry a good digital camera at all times. Remember – you can never have enough images of your design work!
• Website copywriting – Clarity and consistency are the keys to creating a message that speaks to the hearts of your target audience. They are also critical to enabling you to overcome the challenge of creating an identity that connects with them on a personal level. Finding ways to overcome the detachment and skepticism of your audience, and prospective clients, may be the greatest challenge faced by designers who choose to market themselves online.

When you create your website copy, or perhaps have it done for you, focus on an approach that personalizes online interactions, allowing you to speak directly to the needs of your audience and prospects, in ways that clearly outline the benefits of working with you.

• Testimonials and reviews – Back in the day, relying on word of mouth recommendations from satisfied clients was a realistic way to find new business. Today though, as more and more business is done online, you will need to add a Testimonials Page to your website. The key to success here is to ask your clients for a review of your work… And update the page regularly with fresh testimonials.

Creating a unique identity for yourself and your design business can be difficult. The competition in most markets is fairly stiff but, if you can focus you marketing efforts in two areas, you should have success. These two areas are: 1) what matters you as a designer, and 2) what matters to your design clients.When those two things mesh, you have found brand building gold!Looking for more new interior design trends, designer marketing tips, and ideas? Get in touch with TD Fall today.