Marketing Trends Interior Design Firms Need To Know To Close Sales

Are Your Marketing Efforts Behind the Times?

MARKETING IS CHANGING RAPIDLY

The following list will illustrate marketing trends every interior designer should be using to increase sales. 
2014 is upon us and like many other businesses; you will certainly want your interior design firm to see tremendous growth this year. The key to achieving this goal will be dependent on identifying and taking advantage of the current marketing best practices and using a software like Hatchbuck, We've outlined some of the trends that will help you gain exposure and close more sales.

Grasping these important marketing trends will push your marketing strategy in the right direction, allowing you to work smarter – not harder. And who couldn't use a little more time? So what are these marketing trends and how can you use them to get more and better clients?

1.    REAL-TIME MARKETING IS SET TO SOAR

Old school marketing campaigns are reliant on a pre-determined set of events and activities that are inflexible. Monthly e-newsletters that follow the "Post & Boast" print advertising and direct mail that works by repetitively show your logo month after month are examples. The marketing world is changing rapidly and with it the rigidity of campaigns is going the way of the dinosaur.  Marketing success is not limited to pushing information out in hopes it stays in a prospects mind.

With recent advances in marketing technology, businesses can take advantage of real-time data and respond to the consumer behavior almost instantly. Therefore, if consumers seem to be focusing their attention on a certain area of service, you can respond by automatically releasing additional marketing material that targets their interest and provides them with a special offer. Or just something that highlights your skills in the area that they are interested in. We are seeing more and more websites change their home page content to match the prospective client's interests. 

2.    SOCIAL MEDIA WILL BECOME MORE INTEGRATED

You may have all the relevant social media profiles out there: Houzz, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+, however, it is more than likely these are not integrated with the rest of your activities. In 2014, you can expect the power of social media to increase; gaining importance and becoming more aligned with other activities.

Your business will start to be able to collect the information of who is responding to your marketing efforts and syncing that with your customer database. Data collection allows you to send more specific messages to your clients, responding to their activities with better targeted and relevant marketing messages.

3.    CONTENT AND SOCIAL MARKETING WILL HAVE A GREATER IMPACT ON SEO

Google and other search engines are always trying to improve their algorithms to ensure that users are given results that are more relevant to their search. This year, for example, content that duplicates another website's online content will be penalized on Google rankings. The marketing trend for websites is to provide more relevant content that the user will want to read. Keywords and tags will become a thing of the past, as natural conversations about the topic will take center stage.

4.    THE HUMAN TOUCH WILL BECOME PARAMOUNT

One of the marketing trends that has been consistent over the last few years is that marketing messages will need to become more personal. Consumers love to receive a message that appears to be from a real person and not one that has been created by an automated system.

Creating a voice for your marketing will be important, something that your clients will be able to relate to and nothing is more relatable than giving that human touch to your marketing. So e-mail marketing should come from a specific person – not a bland department like sales, contact or info.

It is clear that the marketing path businesses should be following is one that is more natural, with human interaction taking center stage. If you can utilize the marketing trends that will take a hold in 2014, you will see a return on your time investment - with greater lead generation and sales for your interior design business.

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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.