14 Fantastic Interior Design Marketing Ideas

Running an interior design company is often a dream come true. It’s a job that involves a lot of social engagement and networking, along with plenty of creativity! Even though a lot of networking occurs naturally, it is not always a marketing related event that is occurring. You can do a great job for someone and end up having no one find out about the work you did, even with stunning photographs in your portfolio.

A good marketing effort begins by putting yourself out there and letting people see why you’re different. Maybe it’s your eye for color combinations or you’re able to source unique and unusual items for a home. Sometimes different isn’t considered a good thing, but it is in this career field.

Great Interior Design Marketing Ideas

1. Become the Local Expert
People want to get the very best from the very best and they’ll go to whomever is considered the expert in the interior design niche for your local community. If you want to get the most customers, then you’re going to need to become the expert. Go through your past projects, focus on a target demographic, and then show your expertise through value.

2. Recruit From the Best
The key to marketing success for an interior designer is to clone your best customers and you can do that by focusing on that small demographic. Go to where your preferred customers are and then entice them to see what you can offer. That way you’ll get the consistent business you want for the type of customer that you want too.

3. Know Where You Plan To Go
If you’re able to define what your plans are for each job, then you’re able to inspire more business because you’ll be seen as well thought, organized, and able to get the job done. Having a plan is liberating as well because it gives you a series of goals to hit along the way with each job.

4. Create a Master List
Don’t forget about the customers you’ve already served because they can be an ongoing resource for you. Pick out the very best of the best customers that you have and make them feel special as much as possible through birthday cards, thank you notes, and even announcements of big projects you’ve just completed.

5. Get a Newsletter Out At Least Once Per Quarter
One of the easiest ways to stay at the top of a customer’s mind is to get details of your latest jobs right in front of them. You can do this through a traditional newsletter sent through direct mail, but an email newsletter is a lot cheaper to produce. Chances are you’ve got most of your client’s email address already anyway, right?

6. Get to Blogging
If you have a website without a blog, then you’ve got missing value that needs to be filled right away. Blogs are all about the value that you can provide someone and best of all, it’s free for everyone. A little sweat equity on your part for a helpful post about the interior design field that lets your customers solve a problem will go a long way toward scoring some additional business.

7. Be Visible
Don’t let yourself disappear into your community when there are slow times. Use the slow times as a means of getting involved with community projects. Volunteer for a local non-profit agency, sponsor a town event, or just get yourself to local Chamber of Commerce events. The more you’re seen, the more you and your skills will be remembered.

8. Start a Business Referral Network
Honest is always the best policy and there will be times when you won’t be able to serve a customer because of their unique needs. Use this as an opportunity to refer this customer to someone who does have the ability to meet their needs and you’ll get referrals back in return – or at least you should.

9. Get Customer Referrals Too
Today is the day to develop a referral strategy if you don’t have one because word of mouth advertising will be your greatest success. People who are pleased with your work will invite people over to see what you’ve created. They’ll be impressed and want to hire you for their work as well. How do you encourage this process? That’s up to you. It can be through discounts, public recognition, loyalty programs and a whole host of other ideas.

10. Host an Exhibition
Having a walking tour of the interiors you’ve designed to give your community more opportunities to see your work. Coordinate with your customers for a weekend of luxury and fun by offering small treats for people who do the tour. Prizes or raffle tickets for those who complete the entire tour can encourage deeper levels of participation as well.

11. Consider a PPC Campaign
A locally-based pay per click campaign doesn’t cost much to gain a lot of attention that could turn into some good business. Plan a campaign that targets local zip codes only and you’ll get advertising in front of people who are looking for what you provide.

12. Consider an Affiliate Program
Affiliates will work to advertise your services on your behalf and you pay a commission to them when they are successful in drumming up some business. This helps you because you don’t have to do the heavy lifting and it benefits the affiliates because they earn a paycheck doing what they do best already.

13. Be Strong on Social Media
A strong presence on the preferred social media networks of your customers will keep you engaged with people and give you an outlet to share other marketing efforts, like your valuable blog posts. This helps to keep relationships strong, shows you’re an industry expert, and that always leads to more business over time.

14. Start Video Marketing
Video testimonials of a good job are just as good as an online review. They’ll touch an inner mechanism of trust in people who watch their peers raving about you and that will often result in more bookings.