Starting a business as an interior decorator can be an extremely rewarding experience! That said, it’s important to take the time to properly brand your business in a way that’ll set you apart from the competition. Not sure how to brand your interior decorating business?
We’ve got you covered!
In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know about successfully branding your interior decorating business from start to finish. In particular, we’ll cover topics such as:
- Creating a logo and tagline;
- Developing a marketing strategy;
- Advertising yourself online;
- And much more!
With the right tools and knowledge, YOU can create a successful brand as an interior decorator. In turn, this will help you attract new customers AND help you grow your business!
Dream of being a professional decorator? Then this Ultimate Guide to becoming an interior decorator (yes, even with no prior experience) is a MUST-READ!
A brand is much more than just a logo or your business name. In reality, it encompasses the overall look, feel, and personality of your company! If done properly, branding can make your business appear more trustworthy, credible, and likeable. And as you know, these are all essential qualities for attracting customers!
Why Branding Is Important for Interior Decorators
As an interior decorator, it’s important to stand out from the competition. After all, there are thousands of other designers out there who are vying for the attention of your prospective clients. As such, it’s important to create a brand that will make you memorable amongst the crowd!
Moreover, branding can also help build trust with potential clients. By having a strong brand identity, people will be more likely to book you for their home design projects. This is because they’ll feel reassured that you’re a credible, trustworthy interior decorator.
Another reason why branding is essential to your interior decorating business has to do with marketing. A company that’s well-branded will have a way easier time promoting itself and attracting new customers. After all, people are more likely to remember and purchase services from businesses they actually recognize!
What Makes a Brand Successful?
There are 3 major requirements for a brand to be successful…
First, it must have a strong visual identity. Its logo will be well-designed, and it’ll have cohesive branding colors – both of which are used consistently across all marketing materials.
Second, the brand will also have a clear and concise message. Furthermore, this message will be easy to understand and will accurately reflect the overall feel of the business.
Third, its marketing efforts will focus on a target audience. This demographic will be clearly defined, thereby allowing for the creating of branding and marketing materials that best resonate with them… As well as attract new customers in the process!
What Is The Target Market for Interior Decorators?
Speaking of the target audience, it’s important to understand who you’ll be marketing your interior decorating business to. After all, this will play a big role in determining the overall look and feel of your brand!
There are 2 main types of customers that interior decorators typically market to: private homeowners and businesses.
Private Homeowners
Private homeowners usually hire interior decorators to help them with design projects in their homes. This could be anything from picking out new furniture to redesigning an entire room!
Businesses
On the other hand, businesses will often hire interior decorators to help design their office space. Typically, this might involve anything from choosing the right paint colors to selecting the perfect furniture for employee productivity.
No Matter Which Type of Customer You Decide To Target…
…It’s important to make sure that your branding and marketing materials reflect this. For example, if you want to attract private homeowners, then your branding should be more “homey” and approachable. Alternately, if you’re targeting businesses, then your branding should be more professional and polished.
How To Brand Your Interior Decorating Business Name
Your business name will likely make the very FIRST impression on clients. So, make sure that impression is a good one by choosing something that accurately reflects the feel of your brand!
If you’re having trouble coming up with a name for your business, you can always brainstorm a list of words that describe the overall look and feel of your brand. Once you have a list of these keywords, try combining them to create unique and memorable names for your decorating business.
From there, keep the following tips in mind:
- Keep your business name short, sweet, and to the point!
- Avoid using acronyms, as well as anything that might be difficult to spell or pronounce!
- Make sure your business name is available as a .com domain before settling on it!
- If it isn’t already in use, get your business name registered ASAP!
- Ask your friends, family, and/or fellow designers if they have any ideas for good interior decorating business names!
Want to learn more about picking the PERFECT business name? This article reveals the Top 5 rules you have to keep in mind!
How To Brand Your Interior Decorating Business: What Are The 4 Steps of Branding?
Now that we’ve covered the importance of branding and what makes a brand prosperous, let’s discuss the steps you need to take to create a strong brand for your interior decorating business!
Step 1: Create Your Business Logo and Tagline
Once you’ve settled on a name for your business, the first real step in branding your interior decorating business is to create a logo and tagline that accurately represents your brand. Your logo should be simple and memorable, and your tagline should reflect the overall feel and purpose of your business.
For example, if you want people to think “luxury”, “elegance”, and “high-end” when they see your brand, then your logo and tagline should convey this. In this case, your logo could use simple, clean lines, with luxurious colors such as gold, silver, or black.
Furthermore, your tagline might be along the lines of: “The Luxury Interior Decorator” or “Exclusive Home Design Services”. Something that makes it clear what you offer, as well as the high-quality of your work!
On the other hand, say you want people to think “friendly”, “approachable”, and “down-to-earth” when they see your brand. Then your logo and tagline should reflect that! For example, you could utilize warm colors and playful fonts in your logo.
For this kind of brand, your tagline could be something like: “The Friendly Interior Decorator” or “Approachable Home Design Services”. Not only would this let people know what services you offer – it would also highlight the approachable and personable nature of your work!
Step 2: Develop Your Marketing Strategy
The next step in branding your interior decorating business is developing an effective marketing strategy. For this, you’ll create marketing materials such as business cards, flyers, and social media posts that accurately represent your company’s brand.
When developing your marketing strategy, remember to keep your target audience top of mind. This way, you can make sure that your marketing materials are focused on attracting the right type of client(s)!
Step 3: Create Your Brand Voice
You’ll further solidify the branding of your interior decorating business by coming up with a great brand voice. Your brand voice is the overall tone and personality of your business. Just like with everything else we’ve covered so far, your brand voice should be reflected in all of your marketing materials.
For example, if you’re aiming for a bohemian brand, your brand voice might be more carefree and relaxed. Whereas, if you’re aiming for a luxury brand, your brand voice might be more formal and sophisticated.
Step 4: Remember To Stay Consistent
The final step in branding your interior decorating business is to be consistent! Otherwise, all of your hard work in developing a strong brand will go to waste. Your client base might end up confused about your business and walk away with the wrong impression… And we know you don’t want that!
One way to avoid this is to use the same colors, fonts, and overall design aesthetic everywhere you possibly can. It’s also important to maintain the same tone and voice across all platforms – whether that be social media, your website, or even face-to-face interactions.
When your branding is persistent and unchanging, you make it a LOT easier for people to remember and recognize your decorating business!
Creating a Interior Decorating Brand: Why Proper Training is Essential
Next, let’s discuss why proper training is essential for any successful interior decorator.
As a professional designer, it’s important to have extensive knowledge of the services you’re offering – as well as how to offer them correctly. Not only will this ensure that your clients are happy with the outcome of their home projects; it also helps to build all the more trust in your brand!
Furthermore, by receiving proper training, you’ll be able to develop your own unique style and voice as an interior decorator. As a result, you’ll be able to stand out from other designers in your field and attract new clients with ease!
Ultimately, receiving a reputable education is essential for any designer who wants to build a successful career. It’ll help you to provide excellent service to your clients, while also developing your own unique style and voice at the same time!
Why You Should Train with QC Design School
If you’re ready to start training as an interior decorator, then your best bet is to enroll with QC Design School! QC Design School is a faculty of QC Career School, a pioneer of distance learning since 1984, and proudly holds an A+ ranking with the Better Business Bureau.
What’s more – QC is affiliated with such esteemed design associations as the Decorator & Designers Association of Canada (DDA), the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA), the American Society of Professional Organizers (ASPO), and more!
The beauty of QC’s courses is that they’re all 100% online and self-paced. Meaning, you get to complete your design certification training whenever and wherever YOU want! Starting from the date you first enroll, you’ll have a full 2 years to finish your program.
However, many of our alumni have found that by devoting a mere 1-2 hours per week to their studies, they were able to graduate in as little as 3-6 months (sometimes, even sooner than that)!
QC Design School offers a 21-Day Money Back Guarantee, and all of the certifications provided through our school are internationally-recognized. Currently, we offer the following courses for designers of all experience and skill levels:
- Interior Decorating
- Home Staging
- Staging for Designers
- Professional Organizing
- Deng Shui Design
- Color Consulting
- Floral Design
- Landscape Design
- Aging in Place Design
- Virtual Design Training
- Accelerate Your Business Workshop
Interested in learning more about these online design courses? Check out all of our programs in FULL detail here!
How Do Interior Decorators Get Leads?
Now that you know how to brand your interior decorating business, it’s time to start generating leads! After all, what good is a well-branded business if no one knows it exists?
There are many different ways to get leads as an interior decorator. However, some methods will be more effective than others depending on the overall look and feel of your brand.
For example, if you’re targeting private homeowners, then online marketing might be the way to go. This could involve anything from creating a website to setting up social media accounts and running ads.
On the other hand, if you’re targeting businesses, then offline methods might be more effective. This might involve networking at local events or even cold-calling potential clients!
No matter which method (or methods) you decide to use, just make sure that your branding and marketing materials are consistent across all channels. This will help ensure that everyone who comes into contact with your business knows exactly what it’s all about!
Branding an Interior Decorating Business Online: Your Website, Social Media, and Marketing Strategies
Let’s build more on the idea of online branding for your interior decorating business. As we mentioned earlier, one of the best ways to get leads as an interior decorator is through online marketing.
But what does this involve, exactly? In short, it means creating a strong presence for your business on the internet! The 3 main ways you’ll achieve this is through your website, your social media, and your marketing strategies.
So, let’s break down each one individually, shall we?
Your Business Website
One of the single BEST ways to create a successful interior decorating brand is by having a polished, professional website. Your website should be visually appealing, easy to use, and rich with need-to-know info about you and your company. Additionally, it should also be fully optimized for search engines. This way, that potential clients can easily find your interior decorator business!
When developing your website, make sure to keep the following in mind:
- Your site offers the PERFECT opportunity to showcase your brand colors, fonts, and logo throughout its design… So, don’t squander that opportunity!
- All of your website’s content should be compelling and accurately reflect your tone of voice (and style) as a designer!
- People are going to want to see examples of past work you’ve done. So, don’t forget to show off high-quality images (preferably, professional photos) from your design portfolio!
- Utilize social media widgets in order to link your website to your accounts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, etc.!
- If people can’t find a way to contact you, all of your efforts will be pointless. For this reason, ensure that your contact information is prominently displayed and easy to find on your site!
Pro Tip: Your professional design portfolio can also be used to help reflect your brand! If you don’t have a portfolio yet, make sure to check out our Accelerate Your Business Workshop, as this is one of the many topics this course covers!
Your Social Media Accounts
On top of having a website, it’s essential that you also have a presence on social media, too. After all, these days, clients are typically more likely to find you through social media than they are through a Google search.
So long as your social media accounts are active, well-curated, and informative, they’ll be sure to draw people in!
Not sure where to begin?
Here are some useful tips to keep in your back pocket:
- Make sure that you’re regularly posting original, high-quality content that properly reflects your brand!
- Use social media to grow your network by engaging with others in the design industry! Your best bet for doing this is to like, comment on, and share other people’s posts.
- Use relevant hashtags that’ll help potential customers find your content!
- Increase your number of followers by running regular social media promotions and giveaways!
In terms of incorporating your brand into your social media channels, we also recommend the following:
- Showcase your brand colors, fonts, and logo in your social media profile images and bios!
- In your bios, post descriptions, comments, etc., write compelling descriptions of your business that accurately reflect your brand!
- When writing post descriptions, replying to comments, and/or responding to DMs, always use your brand voice!
- Link viewers/followers back to your website by including its link in your social media bios!
- Speaking of your bios, include your contact information there, too!
Pro Tip: Not sure how to get started with branding your interior decorating online? All of QC Design School’s certification courses come with a FULL unit devoted entirely to business training… And this is just one of the many topics that will be covered for you!
Your Marketing Strategies
Now that you have a website and social media accounts for your decorating business, it’s time to start marketing yourself online! There are many different ways to do this, but 4 of the most effective methods are:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content marketing
- Ad marketing
- And email marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Marketing
One of the best ways to market your interior decorating business online is through SEO marketing. Search engine optimization involves enhancing your website and social media accounts so that they rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). In turn, this’ll help potential clients find you a lot easier!
Here are some ways you can better your business’s SEO:
- Your website and social media content should all be using relevant keywords.
- Moreover, your website needs to be fully optimized for search engines!
- Boost your SEO by linking to your website and social media accounts from other websites and online directories!
Content Marketing
Another smart way to market your interior decorating business online is through content marketing. Content marketing involves – as its name suggests – creating high-quality marketing content. Examples of this would include blog posts, videos, infographics, etc. that are relevant to your business.
Business-savvy content marketing will give potential clients a better idea of what you do and how you can help them. And what’s more, it’ll also help your SEO… Talk about killing 2 birds with 1 stone!
When focusing on your content marketing, keep this advice in mind:
- Again, your website needs to be fully optimized for search engines! Do this by regularly using relevant keywords throughout your website’s content. You should also be using these keywords in your site’s webpage titles, headers/subheadings, tags, image file names, descriptions, and meta descriptions.
- Drive traffic to your website from your social media pages! Share links to your website on your social media accounts, run social media ads that direct users to your site, add click buttons (that lead directly to your site) on promoted posts, etc.
- Reflect your brand in all of your published content! Blog posts, videos, infographics, etc., all provide excellent opportunities for this. Once this type of content (as well as new content on your website) has been created, share it on your social media channels and through email newsletters.
Ad Marketing
Ad marketing is yet another awesome way to promote your interior decorating business. As part of this marketing strategy, you’ll create and run online ads (often, that you’ll put money behind) that promote your business. Ad marketing is a great way to reach potential customers who might not otherwise find you online!
Here are some tips for putting together successful ad campaigns:
- It’s imperative that you choose the RIGHT platforms for your ads! So, ensure that you research where exactly your target audience is the most active. This way, you can then place your ads accordingly.
- We’ve said it multiple times already, but we’re going to say it again: create compelling advertising content that accurately reflects your brand! It’s so easy for people to scroll past an ad’s headlines and descriptions without even reading them. Bypass this by making your headlines and descriptions clear, concise, and attention-grabbing – right from the get-go!
- Those relevant keywords we talked about earlier also need to be part of your ad content! Including them here will help improve your SEO, while at the same time, ensuring that people see your ad when they search for related terms online.
Email Marketing
Lastly, email marketing is the 4th way we recommend promoting your interior decorating business online. As part of your email marketing efforts, you’ll send out newsletters, promotional offers, and other updates to your email list. Email marketing can be a terrific way to keep potential clients up-to-date on what you’re doing, as well as promote special offers and discounts (which can result in more bookings)!
If email marketing is of interest to you, make sure to heed this advice before diving in:
- Offering something of value in exchange for sign-ups! This can help you grow your email list. What you offer in return is entirely up to you, so don’t hesitate to get creative! A free eBook, discount code, or access to exclusive content are all popular examples to choose from.
- Target specific groups of clients by segmenting your email list! For example, you might want to direct different messages to different demographics, based on their location, age group, or interests.
- Don’t give people ANY reason to automatically throw your emails in the virtual trashcan! Avoid this by making all of your emails clear, concise, and attention-grabbing – right from its initial subject line!
How To Start Your Own Interior Decorating Business
First and foremost, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what type of designer you want to be. Figure this out by sitting down and asking yourself the following questions:
So, how do you proceed from here and launch your very own business as an interior decorator?
- Which area(s) of home design are you most passionate about?
- Which area(s) of interior decorating do you love working on most?
- Are there particular environments and/or rooms you’d prefer to specialize in?
- Do you want your business to only focus on interior decorating – or do you want to offer other design services as well (i.e., home staging, professional organizing, etc.)?
- Who is your target clientele?
- Do you want to only operate locally? Travel to long-distance clients? Provide virtual services? ALL of the above?
- Do you want to have a niche and be known for specific types of design services?
- Alternately, would you prefer to be seen as a Jack-of-all-trades and offer as many services as possible under one roof?
Answering these questions will help give you a better idea of what direction to take your interior decorating business in. From there, we strongly recommend giving these articles a read, as they will help further your understanding of launching (and running) a successful design business:
So, How Do You Turn Your Business Into a Brand?
In conclusion, there are a wide variety of ways to successfully brand your interior decorating business. As we wrap up this article and say our goodbyes (I really DO hate goodbyes! 😢), we hope you can walk away now knowing the following:
- You have to be clear about the type of designer you want to be. From there, make sure this is reflected in both your social media presence and business website.
- The overall image/aesthetic for your interior decorating business is essential. So, make sure you not only know what that is – but that you also keep it consistent across all of your platforms.
- Your website has to be informative and user-friendly. This is especially true if you’re targeting potential clients online. (And, let’s be real – in this day and age, you’re definitely going to be doing this.)
- People need to know why YOU are the interior decorator to book with – and not someone else. Stand out from the crowd, and offer potential clients something unique that they won’t be able to find elsewhere.
- The power of SEO cannot – we repeat, cannot – be overstated. So, make sure you’re making the most of those relevant keywords throughout your website and social media accounts, because this will be key for helping people discover your decorating business.
We hope this article was helpful, and we wish you the best of luck as you start (or continue) your journey in the professional design industry!
Do you have any questions, comments, or suggestions? Share them with us in the comments section down below! And be sure to stay tuned for future articles by The Focal Point for more tips and tricks on all things design-related!
Thanks for reading! 🙂