Interior designers are creative people right! I often think that we need to use this creativity not just for our client’s work, but actually when working on our businesses too. Take marketing for example which is such a wide subject, and one on which everybody has different opinion!
When thinking about ways to market your business to potential clients you really need to start by pretending you are one of them! To do this you need to decide exactly who they are first. So get a large piece of paper and write down all the things you imagine your potential best client to be and to have. Then try to get into the role of being a person like that. Where would they be when they heard about you, what would motivate them to give you a call. What would stop them in their tracks and attract them to you?
This is quite hard and can take quite a bit of time but it is well worth doing. Once you have focussed in on this perfect client –you need to start coming up with ways to get them to notice you. Now here is where you need to be creative. Don’t do what everyone else does and just put an ad in the yellow pages and hope for the best. No –you are an interior designer –you have to show creativity.
You need to start thinking about what you can do to get people talking about your business in a good way. Think about trying to find somewhere and someway of advertising your business that no one else has thought of yet. For example a golf coach I heard of advertised her service by having some small hanging tags made with her details on them that she could hang form the golf clubs hired out at her local club. –A real talking point I thought. Another example was a children’s entertainer who had her details printed onto balloons. She put these into envelopes and sent them to her prospects with a card saying something along the lines of “Blow this balloon up to find a great way to occupy the kids next party time” –it was different, fun and original. How about a handyman who sent out his leaflets with plasters attached for “all those for whom DIY spells PAIN” and last of all- the garden designer who had her business card in the shape of a leaf. Such a simple idea, but imagine lots and lots of business cards on a table at a networking event all rectangles except for this one–which one would you be drawn to? And which one portrays some creativity?
Now I’m not going to give away all my ideas here-but I am trying to point out that because we are selling a service where originality and creativity are so important , by using these skills in every part of our business may give us a head start on out competitors.
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