5 Best Digital Marketing Strategies For Interior Design Startups

digital marketing strategies

If you own a local business, you know an online presence is crucial. Whether it’s selling products or providing services, having a local online presence will allow you to reach new customers and expand your business.

If you lack a visible online presence, you miss out on potential growth and revenue opportunities. That type of visibility is something a lot of growing companies are ambitiously seeking.

Such is the case for interior designers simply starting up. No matter what segment of the interior design business you are a part of, identifying your target audience and strategically marketing to them boosts tremendous benefits for your company. 

For interior designers wanting to start a successful firm, you need to understand how to market your local business. We cover some local marketing tips to help you get more clients.

Is Interior Design Marketing Different from Other Industries?

While some industries may overlap with interior design, such as architecture, interior designers tend to focus on creating spaces both aesthetically pleasing and comfortable for clients.

To successfully promote your company, you must first understand the differences when marketing for interior designers than with other types of industries.

Most marketers only use one channel when promoting their products. However, interior design is one of a few areas where, outside of publications, most of its sought-after traffic can come from social networks.

It’s often suggested to use these multiple channels to reach customers. For instance, advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Ads, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.

Taking advantage of the YouTube and TikTok platforms is a must. This type of content is very effective at getting people interested in what you have to offer in full. The same can not be said for other industries such as certain healthcare types.

The need to advertise in local and national publications such as Architectural Digest is also urged. Landing a magazine or newspaper ad is still an important way to get your name out there, but it’s not the only way.

Digital Marketing for Small Businesses – Why It Works (& Why You Need It)

When it comes to local search engine optimization, there is little doubt about its efficacy.

In fact, according to Search Engine Land, more than 80% of all searches begin with a local keyword. Thus to rank higher in local search results, you need to optimize your website with local online marketing.

But why does this marketing method work? And why do small businesses need to utilize it? Let’s take a closer look at these questions.

Why Digital Marketing Is Important for Small Businesses

If you’ve ever looked for a restaurant, hotel, shop, or any other service-based business, chances are you used a search engine like Google or Bing to find it.

And while you probably didn’t realize it, those search engines rely on local data to help users find precisely what they are searching for.

This is where local SEO plays its part. By optimizing your site for local keywords, you increase the likelihood that potential customers will be able to find you online.

This is especially important for small businesses because most consumers don’t have an extensive network of friends and family members who would recommend them to a new place to eat or shop. If someone has never heard of you before, they’re going to turn to a search engine to find out more info about your business.

And since most people start their search by typing in a location, having locally-optimized content makes sense.

The Importance of Local SEO for Small Businesses

So why should you care about local SEO? Here are just some of the reasons:

More Customers Are Using Mobile Devices:

According to Exploding Topics, more than 60% of internet traffic now occurs via mobile devices. For your online business to succeed, you must ensure that your website is mobile-friendly.

Local Searches Are Converting Even More:

According to Google, 76% of all local searches for businesses have resulted in a physical visit within 24 hours. This means the chance of a conversion is higher now, making this type of traffic valuable.

Your Business’s Positive or Negative Reviews Matter:

In addition to being easier to access, local search results also tend to include reviews from actual customers. These reviews can provide valuable insight into whether or not a particular business is worth visiting. They can also harm your brand if they aren’t favorable.

Local SEO Helps Build Trust With Potential Clients:

When potential clients type in a location, they expect to see relevant results. If your business doesn’t show up in the first few pages of results, odds are you won’t receive a visit. This is partly because many users find the first page of the search results authoritative and trustworthy.

It Gives You An Edge Over Your Competition: When you optimize your website for local keywords, you give yourself a leg up on your competition. Not only will you appear higher in local search results than your competitors, but you’ll also appear higher in organic listings.

The Importance Budget Plays When Starting Up

Most startups don’t have a lot of money to spend on marketing. It typically takes years for a startup to build enough brand awareness to make significant headway with traditional advertising methods.

This is why you need to be smart about how you use your budget and the type of return you get.

When starting a new interior design firm, you will likely not have much money to invest in marketing. But this shouldn’t stop you from investing in local SEO.

It’s not promised that you’ll rank highly for every keyword, but there are several things you can do to improve your odds.

For example, you can use tools like SEMrush to identify popular keywords that might work well for your business. You can also create a list of all the places your target audience frequents. Then, ensure that these locations are included in your website’s metadata.

Another thing you can do is to ask your current clients for referrals. They may be willing to share with you which websites they visit regularly.

Finally, you can try using social media to promote your business. While it won’t necessarily get you high rankings, it can help build awareness among your target audience.

With that being said, here are tips on pinpointing your ideal buyer and maximizing your online marketing for your interior design startup.

How to Identify your Target Audience

After deciding you want to gain exposure for your business, it’s important to identify your target audience. Market Evolution defines a target audience as “the specific group of consumers most likely to want your product or service.” Additionally, your target audience can be dictated by several factors, such as “age, gender, income, location, [and] interests.”

It’s essential to understand your target audience to strategize your marketing techniques and set yourself apart from your competitors. By understanding who your ideal client is, you can create curated interior design ads that allow you to connect with them.

These curated ads can help increase clients and sales for your firm. From there, you can begin to research a variety of ways to effectively market your company to gain notability and drive sales.

What are the Top Digital Marketing Strategies You Should Be Using?

In today’s competitive business environment, online marketing has become essential to any successful business strategy.

However, if you’re like most small business owners, you may feel overwhelmed when trying to figure out where to start. Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of top local marketing strategies that will help you grow your business and attract new customers.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is one of the most vital forms of online marketing because it helps your site appear when someone searches for something related to your product or service.

When someone types in a keyword phrase into Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc., your site should appear at the top of the results page. The higher your site appears in these search results, the more visitors you’ll get from those searches.

SEO takes time and effort, but once you have a good foundation, it’s worth it. There are plenty of tools available to make this process easier. For example, Yoast is a free plugin that makes creating SEO-optimized content easy.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is another powerful tool for promoting your business. You can send emails directly to your current customers, potential customers, and even clients.

You can create automated email campaigns that go out regularly, or you can manually craft each message. Either way, you’ll need to collect subscribers’ information so you can send them relevant messages.

You can also set up autoresponders to automatically send out messages after a certain amount of time. This is a great option for keeping in touch with your customers without being annoying or spammy!

Social Media Advertising

Take a look through your phone. How many social media apps do you have? As social media continues to be a presence in our lives, many small businesses have taken advantage of it and utilized a variety of platforms to promote their companies. 

Start by making profiles on a variety of different platforms. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram, Tiktok — all of these sites offer paid options for advertising. This is a great way to increase visibility for your interior design firm. You can showcase your best work, connect with other people in the area, and even increase the notability of your brand. It’s also a great way to boost sales while avoiding advertising costs. If you want to take it a step further, you can also advertise via social media to further your reach.

These ads allow you to target specific demographics and interests. That means you can focus your ad budget on reaching the right people.

Social media advertising is a great option for getting your name out there and connecting with potential customers. But keep in mind that it’s not as cost-effective as some other forms of online marketing.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves creating valuable content and distributing it across various channels. This includes things like blog posts, eBooks, videos, infographics, webinars, etc.

The best part about content marketing is that you don’t necessarily need to be a writer. Many businesses hire freelancers who specialize in writing blogs, articles, and other types of content.

If you do decide to write your own content, though, you can use platforms such as WordPress to quickly publish posts.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing works well for any business that sells products or services online. As you probably know, affiliate programs work by paying referral fees to publishers who refer traffic to a company’s website. Those referral fees are then split between the publisher and the merchant.

There are two main types of affiliate programs: pay-per-sale (PPS) and pay-per-lead (PPL). Both programs require affiliates to generate sales before they earn commissions. However, PPS programs typically pay lower commission rates than PPL programs.

Regardless of your route to market your interior design firm, identifying your target audience is crucial to effective advertising. It allows you to curate ads that speak to your ideal customer and grab their attention. From there, you can begin to advertise in a variety of different ways to reach customers, gain exposure, and drive sales.