Nika Stewart, the Designers' Success Coach, is the creator of Designer Blitz, a high-impact coaching system that guides interior designers to achieve their business goals. Her books, classes, articles, and one-on-one mentoring sessions have been instrumental in generating rapid results for thousands of designers.
Nika's e-book, Designers' Marketing Blitz, is the first marketing book of its kind geared specifically to the interior design trade, and helps home fashion professionals bring their businesses to the next level.
Get your free subscription to Designer Blitz, the wealthy decorators ezine, at WealthyDecorators.com
Scientific studies show that marketing is tied to weight gain! Well, actually, the studies show that elevated levels of stress often cause increased fat. And since many designers tell me that marketing makes them feel stressed, I just made the connection.
So to ease your stress (and possibly increase your health and fitness), I've decided to answer some common marketing questions
What are the most effective ways to market a design business? First, let's define "effective." Effective marketing is creating a lot of awareness about your company - for the least amount of money. The more effective your marketing, the more calls you will get from prospects looking for your services. (Selling the prospects on you and your services is the next step, but first you have to get them to call.)
The most effective marketing techniques for designers are the ones that create relationships - in other words, marketing that focuses on a specific target audience, includes personal contact, and emphasizes continual customer satisfaction.
Okay, you want the short answer? Here are the marketing techniques that work the best: - email newsletters sent at least twice per month - calling past customers at least once a year - knocking on doors in new neighborhoods - mailing personal notes to new neighborhoods and past customers - live classes or demonstrations (only if they are done regularly, and then followed up with one or more of the above methods)
What are the cheapest ways to market my design business? See all the techniques above.
What are the best ways to get repeat sales from past customers? See all the techniques above.
How do I get more clients that I really like working with? See all the techniques above.
Okay, this may seem like a joke, but seriously - these marketing techniques work! And if you put each method into your schedule and make a system for yourself, you will be taking away a HUGE part of your marketing stress.
Here's to your marketing fitness!
Wanna get this all done?
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The secret to becoming a wealthy decorator. Learn easy, fun tips for creating a successful interior design business. You don't have to do it all alone! Make money doing what you love. Interior decorating, design, home fashions, staging, redesign.
I am so thankful for the beautiful colors outside my window. It's a rainy, icky day,
but the coppery leaves on the big tree by my kitchen really make me smile.
Are you feeling thankful today? For most of us, this time of year is filled with gratitude and excitement, but also lots of stress. While we are rushing to get orders completed and make clients happy, many of us are feeling too busy and overwhelmed to market ourselves. This week's article explains why that could be deadly for your business - and gives you some simple ways to
market through the season successfully and with less overwhelm.
To your success,
'Tis the season - to be jolly, joyful, and full of stress. Every job must be completed before the holidays, and it's your responsibility to see that everything goes perfectly. 'Tis the time of year when most home fashion professionals are overloaded with work. How can you enjoy the holidays when you have so much to get done for other people? And how can you possibly be expected to also promote your business during this busy time?
Most of us don't. When we are busy with a lot of design projects, we don't have the time to do our regular business promotions. Some designers think: "I have a lot of business, so why do I need to spend time on promoting?" or "I'll take care of marketing if I get slow." or "I would like to do some promotions, but I simply can't find the time now."
The problem with these thoughts is:
An ultra-successful business requires consistent, steady, recurring marketing (even when we are too busy).
I'm sure you realize that placing just one ad in a local paper is not going to create long-term success; your ad needs to be seen consistently to get lasting results. It's like building a strong foundation. The longer your promotion goes on (the longer prospects continue to see your ads), the more powerful the credibility and confidence in your company. This is why marketing experts suggest that you run your ads over and over.
If you were running a recurring ad in a newspaper, and you took it out for a few months, chances are you would have to start over - from scratch - rebuilding your foundation. This is very costly and time-consuming. The most effective way to keep your business going is to market continually and consistently.
So how do we do that when we are so busy? Here are a few ideas to reflect upon:
Set it and forget it Newspapers and magazines allow you to purchase recurring ads. Set up a long-term contract, so you know that your promotion is going on continuously - keeping you in homeowners' minds, even through your busy rush.
Email newsletters If you send out newsletters, don't neglect this month. To save time, you can recycle an old article (like I just did!). You don't need to write anything new. The most important thing is to get the newsletter out!
Just make a phone call One of my favorite (and most successful) marketing ideas is calling past clients. Gather a list of your favorite ones, and call to say happy holidays. Your quick phone calls will remind clients of your products and services. And what a great time of year to do that (bonuses are received now, and homeowners are fantasizing about what to spend theirs on)!
Give yourself the gift of a long-lasting, thriving design business. I wish you happiness, joy, and success.
It's always great to promote safety, and why not boost your business at the same time? National Window Covering Safety Month is a wonderful "excuse" to do just that.
The Window Covering Safety Council's promotion is designed to increase consumer awareness of cord safety concerns. It is a nationwide campaign that urges parents with young children to repair or replace pre-2001 corded blinds, shades, and draperies with today's safer products. Join the crusade!
And you can promote so much more than window coverings during Safety Month. Here are a few promotional ideas to try this month...
Send a special "Decorating Safety" email to your clients and prospects. Encourage them to review and follow your safety tips on cribs, windows, bedding, rugs, etc. They'll probably realize they need your help and invite you over for a consultation.
Add the "KIDS, CORDS, CAUTION" slogan to your promotional materials this month
"How I Turned My Struggling 7-Day Workweek into a Thriving Successful Design Business (where I work only 4 days a week, make lots more money, and enjoy my life more than ever!)"
I know the feeling too well. I wish I could say that I don't, but I am prone to feeling overwhelmed. As designers and business owners, with so many external and internal factors to deal with - the economy, the housing market, our families, our own homes, the demands of our clients, backordered and discontinued fabrics...(oh my gosh, I am feeling anxious just typing this list!), we are bound to feel overwhelmed and stressed sometimes.
So what should we do?
Here is what I hear from the 'experts': Take a bubble bath. Get a massage. Read a book. Take a walk. I usually get an urge to punch those experts.
When I am in a state of overwhelm, the thought of taking time off to relax makes me more stressed. I have too much to do! I don't have time to take a silly bubble bath.
But this is what I have learned: When I am too stressed and too busy to take even a little time for myself, that is when it is absolutely critical to do so! Getting away from the situation is the only thing that will help prevent future overwhelm.
Just get through Friday
I used to think, "Let me just get through Friday, and then I can relax." Then Friday would come, I'd relax for about a minute, and it would start all over again. I was always "just getting through."
Without taking what I call an Intention Break, you will never get your business out of overwhelm. You may get some small relief once in a while, but you never seem to get ahead.
Taking an Intention Break
If you are feeling - overworked - stressed - overwhelmed and it seems like you are always working hard but not getting ahead (personally and financially), then you need to take an Intention Break. Here's how it works:
Step Away from the situation that is overwhelming. If it is work and clients, get out of the office. Go outside. Drive to a coffee shop. Plan a trip! (I know - you're too busy to do this! But you can NOT stop the ongoing overwhelm if you do not physically step out of the situation. Take one day to save yourself years of stress.)
Reflect on your goals, remember your priorities, think about your dreams. What is your intention for running a design business? What did you want to get from this when you started? Is it financial f*r*e*edom? An easygoing lifestyle? To make the world more beautiful? To be known for making a difference? Write your intentions down, and keep this paper with you always. Post it near your desk, place it near your bed, keep it in your wallet.
Go back to your regularly scheduled life.
Yes, it's actually as simple as that! If you are continuously reminded of your business intention (reading it when you wake up, glancing at it from time to time as you work, saying it to yourself over lunch), you will make choices on a daily basis that bring you closer and closer to your goal - and further and further away from overwhelm.
When I had my first baby almost 2 years ago, I quickly understood the plight of the working mother. The stress, the lack of sleep, the constant demands for your attention. Is there actually enough time to get everything done? It didn't seem possible to me. The available time I had to work on my business was cut way down to about 8 hours a week - and that was adding up all the little "bits" of time I stole when I could. (While she's taking a half-hour nap, I place a quick order. After she goes to sleep, I call a few customers. If my mom can watch her for an hour, I run to a design consultation.)
So what did I do about my lack of time? I complained. I don't have time for anything! I can't get anything done. I can't run a business and raise a baby. Everything is going to fall apart!
Then one day, when Ellie was about 9 months old, my friend said to me, "Wow, you just had a baby. How do you find the time to get so much done?" And I thought to myself, "What is she talking about? I'm not getting anything done!"
But I decided to take a look back over the time since Ellie was born, and I was amazed. With much less time available, I actually did get more done than I had in any previous year in my business! How did that happen?
I found the answer to that question recently in an amazing book (The 4-Hour Work Week), and now it seems obvious: When you have a limited amount of time to get something done, you can get it done in less time.
For example, if I gave myself a week to place a large order, I would always take the full week (often waiting until the end of the week to really get started). But because I no longer had that time for myself anymore, I had to get the order done in the one hour I could find. It had to get done, and so it did.
This is true for every part of my business and my personal life. When I give myself a small amount of time to achieve a goal or task, it gets completed. And so that it what I've decided to continue doing.
Today, I have a babysitter for two hours, and so I've decided to write this ezine, email several clients, design a new cover for one of my books, and create a template for a new "Sales for Designers" program I have coming out. Previously, it would have taken me a whole week of working full-time to get this all done. But I don't have that luxury anymore.
Thank goodness! The sudden, enormous cut in my personal time made me even more efficient and productive.
Why don't you try working just two hours a day for the next week? Decide what you need to get done, and then do it. You might be amazed at how little you actually have to work!
FINALLY ... There is a customized program just for designers to personally coach you toward your goals! 
