How To Setup And Run Successful Email Marketing Campaigns for Interior Designers
Brands and service-based businesses are making even more of an effort to connect with their desired market in highly personalized ways… is that what you are looking for as well? Great! We’re so happy to hear. Keep reading, you’re in the right place!
Personalized and high-quality communication can really help you stand out from the crowd, stay top-of-mind and become the go-to interior designer for your audience. Sounds great right?
There are different ways to implement this in your business. Today we are diving into one important strategy: your email marketing. How to set up and run successful email marketing campaigns as an interior designer so you can build your audience, connect with potential customers and increase your sales!
If you don’t currently have an email marketing strategy then this is your sign to start… right now.
There are many benefits of nurturing your email list and sending qualitative emails to your audience. To only mention a couple, here is what email marketing provides you:
Longevity: unlike your social media posts that quickly disappear in the thousands of other posts posted at the same time, your emails can live for a very long time in your audience’s inbox! Your email can also be saved, easily accessed, searched for, and forwarded to someone else!
Control: have you ever got your Instagram account deleted for no reason or you’ve seen it happen to other people? How scary would that be to only be able to reach your audience through a platform you have no control over. Gaining access to people’s email addresses, on the other hand, allows you to get in touch with them on your own terms. You get to keep the email list on your drive and save it as you want!
Captive audience: Not everyone gives you their email address and you can’t really guess another person's email address. That means that the email addresses you do have came because that person at some point showed interest in what you were offering. From former clients to someone interested in a freebie, this audience is more niched and attentive. They are a captive audience, curious about you! This makes this style of marketing a great way to connect with potential clients who are ready to buy or former clients who want to invest again.
Emails are successful in delivering high ROI (return on investment) to the business, making them an ideal marketing tool for business growth and acceleration.
For interior designing and home decor business owners, a structured flow of email content that displays your expertise, project progress and completions, new deals, and tips and tricks can cause a potential lead to turn into a valuable client.
Bearing all of this in mind here are some of our top tips for helping you set up a thriving email marketing campaign. Ready to boost your interior design business? Let’s go!
Know who your ideal clients are
A big part of successful marketing is knowing who you’re talking to! To attract a captive audience, you first need to make sure who that audience will be!
Maybe you know exactly who your target audience is, or maybe you haven’t taken the time to pin them down? Are you still trying to talk to everyone? Or maybe your target audience has changed over time since your business has changed and evolved, too. Now would be a great time to clarify who you want to reach. Click here to learn more on how to find your target market as an interior designer.
By getting clear on who your target audience is, you are getting clear on who your emails are designed for.
You want to be educating people and sharing a lot of value about the importance of your work and particular design style. You may want to work with families who have just moved to your town, or maybe your area of expertise lies in penthouse apartment designs for singles, or you’re actually focusing on designing office spaces… These are all different topics and audiences. You can see how important it is to be clear on who you’re talking to if you want your content to be impactful to that audience.
“Market to all, market to none”
This is a very important first step when setting up your email marketing strategy. Otherwise, you risk spending a lot of time, doing a lot of effort, without getting the results you want.
How to get people to sign up for your newsletter
Make it easy and accessible for people to sign-up!
Consider adding a pop-up on your website that won’t be too intrusive but at the same time easy to find and talk about your newsletter often on your social media profiles. The fewer hoops people have to jump through to sign up, the more people you will attract.
Another great and effective way is to create an ‘opt in’ lead magnet to entice people over. I’m sure you’ve exchanged your email before for some free interesting content you wanted access to. This would be some sort of freebie that they can only get if they join your mailing list.
Here again, it is crucial to keep your ideal client in mind. What kind of content do they like to consume? Are they more into a step-by-step guide, video tutorial, free coupon, awesome giveaway…
You want to offer something they won’t be able to say no to because that’s answering their current needs! This will also help you to really identify yourself as an expert and someone they can trust and count on.
Here are some lead magnet ideas:
A ‘how-to’ guide
An e-book sharing your how to achieve XYZ look
Videos sharing easy tips they can implement right away
Email courses to teach people how to create something specific
Discount for parts of your service
A free phone consultation
Giveaway to enter with cool prizes to win
When you’re creating the freebie you want to share something really valuable! The worst is to feel tricked into giving our email addresses and receive content that isn’t that interesting. That will break the trust you’re creating with your audience. Instead, give freely and think of what would be the next steps they could take to work with you after digesting that free content.
The options are endless! Remember your end goal throughout the process. You want people to want more of you.
When you have sign-ups - consistently nourish them
Once you have people’s emails, treasure them and celebrate them. Don’t abuse them with daily emails and follow-ups, but don’t ignore them either. You want to be consistently sending emails weekly, biweekly, or monthly whatever works best for you. When they sign up ensure you send a welcome email telling them a little about who you are, what you do for your clients, and what they can expect from you in this newsletter. Give them enticing reasons to keep reading every email you send by making each one unique and packed full of value.
Pro Tip: When it comes to setting up your marketing campaign we recommend creating it all in advance and automating it. This will save you a lot of time and it will help you to be more strategic.
There are great email platforms available to you. We love FloDesk for its user-friendly and attractive design templates. MailChimp is a leader in the industry, and ConvertKit is another great option if you rather have more simple emails. Some website builders such as Squarespace or Wix also offer email marketing options.
Use eye-catching email templates
Your design style will have an impact on how your business and brand look like. Your brand will have an impact on how your communication looks like. Ensure your email design shows this off and represents your unique style.
Make sure your branding remains consistent throughout all of your online spaces, your website, social media, and email marketing all need to clearly be yours and have the same look and feel.
This helps people remember you, connect with your content, and find you more trustworthy.
Another important technique to get your subscribers to open and read your email is to ensure the headline is intriguing and sparks curiosity. The subject line of the email is what will make the difference between a click and a delete. Keep in mind people receive a high volume of emails daily.
Use trigger words such as free, easy, instant, how-to, etc., along with a problem you are solving with the email. An example could be “How to clean up your home without getting rid of a single item”. Keep also your content seasonal. Your audience won’t be looking for the same tips before Christmas or during the Summer months.
Pro Tip: Think of the main problems your ideal clients need your help to solve right now. Now, ask yourself what kind of content can you create to really support them?
Have a clear goal for your email marketing campaigns
Every single email that you send must have a clear goal and desired outcome. For example, if your goal is to get people on a video consultation with you - this needs to be clear. You want to have a clear CTA (call to action) embedded within the email that will take them to book a video consultation with you.
It is tempting to use many CTA throughout our emails but it can also confuse the reader. Decide on one main link you want to promote - this will be the main focus. You can then have a secondary call to action or links in your emails but they shouldn’t be competing with your main one.
If you have too many things to say, consider keeping that content for another email instead of stuffing your newsletter with too much information that will be more likely skipped.
With only seconds to spare a glance, your email marketing campaign must be crisp, concise, and engaging, pushing them to interact further with you.
Build a community and create a connection
It’s important that people view you as a person as opposed to a digital source of information. Building trust and connection is vital to creating a successful marketing strategy that lasts. Emails are your ticket to generating long-lasting client-designer relationships. This isn’t possible if people don’t feel connected to you, so ensure you add a little ‘human’ to your emails. People love to feel like they can relate with you, so share your life updates, potential ‘failures’, and lifestyle tips and make your emails feel warm and inviting.
Create a strategy that is aligned with you and your audience
It’s easy to get caught up in marketing techniques and to try a lot of things. It’s important to know that every marketing tip won’t necessarily work for you and for your audience.
The best way to have results and enjoy the process is to create a process that works both for you and your audience.
Before you start sending emails, we invite you to do a little bit of research.
First, ask yourself these questions:
what kind of emails do I enjoy reading?
How did I end up on their mailing list?
What about these emails do I like?
Now, which emails do I get but never open?
What do I find frustrating and annoying about the newsletter I get?
Then, ask these questions to people that would be your ideal clients.
This is part of conducting market research. Learn more about it here.
This is how you will create a unique flow that works for you, that will represent your business and that will attract your dream clients!
Email marketing continues to be a tried and tested, and very successful, strategy for lead generation and building your business, not to mention it's a great way to keep former clients connected to you!
Curious to learn more? You might like: HOW TO START AN EMAIL FUNNEL TO COLLECT LEADS FOR YOUR INTERIOR DESIGN BUSINESS
If you need help implementing the right strategy for your business, we’re here to support you to grow your email marketing strategy. Click here to schedule a Complimentary Brand Consultation.
Like this article? Pin it for later!📌
