If you’re exploring ways to elevate your business and brand, then you already know that first solidifying and honing in on your expertise and services you provide is the foundation, followed next by marketing. Here are some essential ideas to have in place as you begin to market your business.
Exposure You Control
Before we get into the media exposure side of things, let’s take a look at what’s within your control. Your primary way of reaching the audience at large is via your website. This is your opportunity to give prospective clients a taste of what you do, and what they too can have, should they choose to engage your services – which is the ultimate goal. Your website needs to function well and feature your work to entice browsers and convert them into buyers. Your website should also offer your expertise in the form of SEO-optimized tips and advice, which a primary way for customers to find you. This segues nicely into our next topic…
Do you know who your customer is? Who’s most likely to engage your services? Understanding this profile will help you reach them through a tailored marketing strategy. Social media can be a great source for this type of research, and incidentally, it’s also an effective way to reach that audience organically and through your paid media strategy. If you’re in a creative service for sure must engage in Instagram. *Important to know what best platforms to be invested in that will compliment and engage with the right audience.
For both your website and social media channels, your content is king – and in many industries, that means photography. This will be a make or-break factor with the media, too. From my experience in design PR, coverage comes down to good photography that showcases effectively the project. So with the start and finish of every project, keep this top of mind.
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Telling Your Story
Your photos are an integral element in telling your story, but they don’t tell the whole story. Without context, they’re just images. The narrative accompanying those photos helps illustrate why your product or service is indispensable. Whether you’re conveying story through your website or social media channels, or you’re leveraging the media as your megaphone, ensure it’s relevant and reflective of your work and your brand.
What sets you apart from the rest? If you’ve browsed the internet for design products or for example Googled “interior designer,” then you know the sheer volume of companies, websites and stories that come up. You’re not doing yourself any favours by “doing what other brands are doing,” which erroneously becomes the marketing mantra of those who, quite frankly, are all out of ideas. Tailor your content!
Once you know who your potential clients are, identify their pain points (refer back to your social media findings!) and then, serve up relevant content that answers their questions and shows how you can help. Each project is a potential opportunity to share how you solved a design problem and showcase the skills of your team and through this will help generate new business.
Client testimonials can be a powerful way to reach an audience, humanizing your brand and giving outsiders an objective, insider perspective into the project and the process. So, tap into that past business to generate new business. Client success stories are also a great way to get into the media spotlight. Once you have those stories, promote, promote, promote!
Getting and Leveraging Outside Exposure
Whether you’ve secured some coverage in a small, local publication or you’ve got a big hit on a national media network, share it on your website, social media channels and in other marketing materials. Much like client testimonials, media exposure is valuable in that it offers an unbiased view of your work, making someone who’s shopping around for a reputable interior design professional, more likely to reach out.
With some coverage under your belt, leverage those websites and their readers to drive traffic to your own website. This is an easy win, and could be just a matter of a quick phone call or email to the online editor, to request a backlink to your website. When another website links to yours, that offers even more validation and improves your Google ranking.
How you promote your work can help guide your path to success. We advise our clients to maximize every opportunity, no matter how small, to make the most of your business coverage.
Start telling your unique brand story and take your business to the next level. If you want to find out how, schedule your brand discovery call with us.
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