Automate Your Marketing and Attract Better Interior Design Clients

Today, in order to stand out in a competitive marketplace it's critical to be constantly marketing your services to potential customers. Implementing digital techniques, like automated marketing means it is possible to be promoting your brand 24/7. Marketing automation is a way to to automate processes and tactics to save both time and money. Implementing marketing automation software can help you to do both.

As an interior design firm, your business lends itself perfectly to automated marketing. Because your business is visually oriented, automated marketing techniques can put your work in front of potential customers at any time. Using various techniques, you can place your message, photos, and information in front of potential customers automatically, at their request.

Here are seven time-saving, money-making automation tips for interior design firms.

Managing Content Automatically

Marketing today is an ongoing process. As the focus has shifted from “selling” to “telling” content delivery has been the way to build your brand identity and help potential customers reach a buying decision. The fact is most visitors to your website are not ready to buy. The way to guide them towards a buying decision, and help them to choose your firm is thru content. Customers are seeking specific information based on their needs and interests. If you don't deliver it, they'll move on to your competitors to find it. Marketing automation helps you to manage your content delivery efficiently, saving time and providing potential customers with the right content at the right time.

1. Dynamic Content

Dynamic content is “smart” content and can be the perfect way to deliver the right message at the right time. It adapts to the behaviors of visitors based on information it gathers from your leads and customers.

Dynamic content can be personalized based on your leads request or their previous actions on your website. It also allows two-way communications as leads can submit information back to you which can provide valuable information on that leads behaviors. Updating materials become much simpler and less time consuming over doing this manually. A simple example of this process is updating a header image based on the customer inquiry (for example using a photo of a kitchen design) rather than using a generic image.

2. Amplifying Content Reach

Leverage your content by taking that dynamic content and breaking out the traditional organic strategies. Integrating it with paid, earned and owned tactics across multiple delivery channels including websites, social media, and advertising. You can extend your reach and amplify results.

Database Marketing

Using DRIP marketing to send a relevant email, or social media post at the right time to the right person can make a considerable impact when working to close a sale. Marketing automation software gives you a central location for all of your marketing data including prospect and client behaviors and interactions. Here are some time-saving ways to use your valuable content.

3. Lead Nurturing

The buying process is complicated and labor intensive. Using automation to send well-timed, relevant emails and offers can help you to develop a relationship at each step of the buyer's journey. Marketing automation can allow you to track lead engagement with your content and can help you determine where a prospect is in their buying process. This can help keep your brand in front of a prospect to assure every opportunity is taken.

4. Lead Scoring

By using lead nurturing techniques like DRIP marketing, along with having the ability to pinpoint where your prospect is in their buying process you can “score” leads based on their actions and engagement with your efforts and whether or not they are ready to buy.

5. Lead Segmenting

Marketing automation allows you to segment your leads into categories and you can then create separate contact lists. For example prospects interested in kitchen design can be separated from those seeking a new master bedroom design. With an automated process, each of the segments can receive specific information based on their needs. This means you can deliver personalized, relevant content to each person at the right time.

Improving Business Processes

Saving time on content creation and automating delivery gives you the ability to push leads through your sales process faster and grow your business. Marketing automation is not only going to help you to delivery information, educate consumers and convert visitors into leads. It can also help you to streamline workflows and business processes. For example:

6. Sales Team Processes

Using a lead management system and automating content delivery means that your sales team (probably you) will not need to manually educate prospects about your company, brand, or services. They've already received relevant information through lead nurturing and are ready to purchase. This can free you or your sales team's time to focus on other tasks.

7. Troubleshooting Workflows

Automation can allow you to clearly see where they may be a bottleneck in your system. You can identify potential problems earlier and find solutions in real time rather than waiting until next month's sales report.

Automating Your Marketing Provides Real Benefits

Marketing automation can put your marketing efforts on auto-pilot which can free your time to focus on other business-critical tasks. From capturing new leads through content marketing and blogging to nurturing them through the buying process with automated DRIP email marketing, right thru conversion, sales and marketing software can provide you with useful insights all along the way.

You can determine who is just browsing your website, and who is ready to buy. That means that your sales team will always be engaging with hot, qualified leads rather than wasting time on cold calls, and prospecting.

Automating your interior design firm's marketing efforts can provide you with 24/7 outreach to potential customers and build your brand identity while growing your business.

About Michael Conway

I'm the owner and strategist at Means-of-Production. My firm builds Squarespace websites, Houzz profiles, and content marketing and advertising solutions for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Our all-in-one marketing tactics attract the right clients with exceptional architectural photography and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition.