Deb Mitchell Writing

design, well written.

messaging + strategy

How key differentiators help designers land ideal clients

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I’m a firm believer that writing is simply an intentional form of communication. But when it comes to writing for your interior design business, it can be difficult to know what to communicate that will really help you stand out from other designers (and ultimately attract your ideal clients).

When tackling any writing project for my designer clients, I start by building a brand messaging foundation that revolves around their key differentiators. Your key differentiators will cause your ideal clients to pause, build rapport with you, and trust you to design their dream space.

So exactly what are key differentiators? 

Simply put, they’re the “wow factors” of your business that set you apart in the industry. Even iconic brands began by knowing exactly who they were and what made them different before they were able to win millions of loyal clients or customers. 

In fact, before Coco Chanel was world-renowned, she set to work creating an awe-inspiring, aspirational brand. Any fashion brand could design a jacket or a handbag. But Coco created an all-encompassing and unforgettable brand, distinguished in large part by her aesthetic (which, of course, was cutting edge at the time).

In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. – Coco Chanel

Of course, there are endless lessons we can learn from Coco, but the point here is that it pays to determine your key differentiators. When you know what makes your brand and services unique, you position yourself to reach your ideal clients. Who knows? Maybe you have your own “little black dress” that sets your designs apart from other designers. Figuring out what your key differentiators are will allow you to discover your “wow factor.” And trust me, everyone has that, even if you don’t think you do.

Why Key Differentiators Matter to Your Ideal Clients

Discovering precisely what makes your approach to serving your clients unique, desirable, and valuable is an incredible business asset. It’s what empowers you to communicate confidently about your business no matter who you’re talking (or writing) to.  

That’s exactly why identifying key differentiators is a huge part of the Brand Messaging Strategy process I guide my clients through. 

Why is it so important? Because your key differentiators are the direct cause of your client’s satisfaction and their willingness to refer you to others.

Examples of Key Differentiators

You may be wondering how to find your specific differentiators. You can start by downloading my free Brand Differentiators worksheet. 

Knowing what your key differentiators are not may also help you to pinpoint what they are.

Here are some examples of not-key-differentiators: 

“I design unique/beautiful/luxurious spaces.”

“I’m passionate about interior design.”

“I design for families.”

I’m not saying those things aren’t relevant at all or that they shouldn’t be in your website copy. I’m just saying they probably don’t make you stand out as different from other designers. 

I’m also not saying you need to have a crazy-unique story or do something no one else is doing in design to have great differentiators. Sure, some designers have something really different about them personally or about their design work, or the niche they serve. But most designers don’t have that kind of built-in differentiator to lean on. 

Digging into the specifics of how you serve your clients and show up for them is key to finding and developing something that gives your business character and makes your services desirable. Instead, you want to define the who, what, where, why, or how of your services.

A key differentiating factor of your business may look like this, “I bring my clients closer to nature by bringing organic textures, natural elements, and whenever possible, stunning outdoor views into their homes’ designs.”

The difference is like night and day, right?! Potential clients want to know what makes your services worth paying for. When key differentiators are readily available in your copy across all marketing platforms, you’re providing them the answer to that question before they have time to doubt your value.

The truly unique aspects of your business aren’t always easy to unearth on your own. The primary struggle of clients who come to me either for my Brand Messaging Strategy Service or my Website Copywriting Service is that they need help digging up and conveying what makes them stand out to their ideal clients. 

Seeing my clients get a “spark” when they realize, for the first time, what makes them truly unique and that they have their very own special “wow” factor (not to mention being able to verbalize it all) is the most rewarding aspect of what I do. It’s absolutely incredible seeing people connect their vision and their “why!” It changes everything about how they show up in their business. 

Knowing your differentiators is an important part of knowing your business and it’s well worth investing in. It will help your ideal clients find you and make them fall in love with you before you’ve ever even met! 

When Getting New Website Copy Feels Like Therapy

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There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou

I made my client cry.

Yep, right in the middle of her brand messaging presentation. I’d just finished going over her differentiators and was walking her through her clients’ values when she started tearing up. 

“It’s just that you’re nailing it,” she said, “You get me. And I can’t believe it’s finally all being put into words.” 

This actually happens a lot in my work with my clients.

And it makes sense, really. Because putting into words that thing that’s in your heart, finding vocabulary that lets you speak your truth clearly and confidently…

There’s something incredibly powerful – even life-changing – about that, my friends.

Putting your message into words – be it personal or for your business (because let’s face it, your business IS personal)…

It lets you show up differently. 

For yourself. 

For your clients.

For your family and friends and loved ones. 

It tells your inner critic to go jump in a lake ‘cuz you’re legit. 

It confirms to your own damn self that you’re for real.

It lets you see yourself as the person you’ve been working…

And struggling…

And fighting…

So hard for so long to be.

And to get others to see you as.

But the words – the right words – they make you see yourself so differently, like you’re looking at someone else and thinking, “Wow! They’re awesome! I wish I could be like them.”

And then you realize that you are like that. 

It’s you. 

You are the person you want to be.

And you finally know for sure…

You’re awesome. 

You’re more than enough.

You’re worth every penny. 

You do work that matters.

You matter.

And when you really see it,

When you really know it in the deepest parts of yourself, 

That’s when you fully step into that awesome self you didn’t know you were all along.

And you thought this was just about getting great copy for your website.

All the best,

 

 

Client Project Reveal: Blakely Interior Design

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interior design website design

“Living Vibrantly” with Blakely Interior Design’s Website Copy

When I set out to write the website copy for Janelle Photopoulos, owner of Rhode Island-based Blakely Interior Design, with Katie Saunders of Pop & Grey, a widely respected branding and web designer for creatives, we took inspiration from Janelle’s fabulous and fun project photography.

Janelle is a wildly talented designer who embraces all things big and bold – color, pattern, and out-of-the-box design ideas included. Part of the beauty of working in side-by-side with a web designer is that we discover the client and their business as a team, drawing the same key conclusions we then are able to carry forward into the web design and the copy, creating rock-solid brand messaging at every touchpoint on their site.

As Katie and I got to know Janelle, we realized her talents don’t stop at creating beautiful interiors. She’s also a super-smart business owner with a fire in her belly to go big and bold with her company. With that knowledge in mind, we laid the foundations for a brand, site design, and website copy that will carry Janelle forward into her business’s bright future.

A deep dive into Blakely’s ideal client profile unearthed the fact that they don’t always feel bold in their approach to their homes’ designs. Instead, they’re looking to Janelle and her team to gently guide them out of their design comfort zones to achieve the personality-filled homes they crave deep inside but aren’t sure how to achieve tastefully.

As a copywriter, it was important to me that I find ways to underscore in the copy Janelle’s adventurous attitude toward design, business, and life, while at the same time not overwhelming her prospects with design adventures they might not feel ready for. Instead, I focused on reassuring those prospects that they would be deeply understood and well cared for with Janelle and her team at their project’s helm.

In the end, much of the basis for the copy I created for this amazing company came back to that most foundational of interior designer core values, trust, but counterbalanced with the wonder and delight that comes from embarking on a creative adventure with caring, talented design guides like the Blakely crew.

Together, Katie and I captured all of that and more in Blakely’s dreamy new copy, stunning branding, and beautiful new site, painting a colorfully bold image for their prospects and fans!

You can see more of this project here.

Packaging & Pricing E-Design Services: How to Give Your Clients What They *Really* Want

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e-design packaging and pricing

 

 

[I was recently interviewed by Business of Home in a webinar about e-Design. You can join their B of H Insiders program here to view the recording. You can also see a B of H post about the discussion here even if you’re not a Insider.]

While I don’t want to keep opining about e-design (read my other post about it here), this topic has always been one I’ve tossed around with my clients – and it’s definitely not going away anytime soon due to our Covid-catalyzed new world of running our businesses. And so here I go again…

As I said in my earlier post, the one thing that isn’t really being addressed in the multitudes of “Should You Offer E-Design Services” articles, blog posts, and podcast episodes is defining what e-design REALLY is and how it affects your business model by offering it.

Packaging & pricing is a key part of marketing

In case you’re wondering why a copywriter and brand messaging strategist like me has anything to say about this, I should probably note that packaging and pricing are key pieces of marketing. 

Don’t believe me?

You already understand the important marketing role packaging and pricing play in product-based businesses (think Apple’s sleek packaging and premium pricing, McDonald’s Happy Meal; the $x.99 psychological pricing trick; etc.). It’s all marketing!

The same goes for service-based businesses like interior design firms.

Marketing is about appealing to the right kinds of clients who’ll buy what you’re selling. It’s a mix of visuals, copy, packaging, and pricing that positions you to sell to those clients. 

So if how you package and price your services doesn’t appeal to customers, you’ve got (among other things*) a marketing problem on your hands.

Now do you see why I’m talking about this? I have to address packaging and pricing with my clients every time I write website copy, email launch sequences for their courses and webinars, etc. I can’t do a kick butt job helping them shout out their offering to the world if I don’t have my arms around the scope, deliverables, and investment… and I love my clients too much to not speak up if I think they’ve got those things wrong for the clients they’re trying to reach. 

(*I feel compelled to note that, even if your service offerings sell great, if the way you’ve packaged and priced things means you can’t take on enough clients to let you pull in sufficient revenue to turn a profit (‘cuz design isn’t a non-profit industry, folks!) you won’t be able to stay in business for very long and you might completely wear yourself out trying.)

So is it even possible to serve high-end clients with e-design? 

I’ve wondered for years if there’s a way for my clients to offer a hybrid of e-design and full service design by specifying trade-only products within a consultative e-design service package. 

The argument in favor of that would be that it might appeal to a higher end market while still carving out space for those who don’t want full-service functionality. 

Under a traditional e-design service, you’re limited to specifying retail products so the client can take on the ordering, receiving, and installing portion of their project. Of course, there are tons of great products available in the retail market. But I have to admit that, when I started working in the interior design industry nearly a decade ago, I didn’t have a clue that what I could access as a non-designer was a teeny, tiny tip of the iceberg relative to what was available to the trade. I mean, it was SHOCKING! I actually felt a bit foolish to know that I’d been doing my best to find decent products at retail when all that time, there was a whole world of beautiful, fully customizable items for the asking. 

Listen, I fully believe that any good designer can put together gorgeous spaces using retail products. But the truth is that most higher end clients aren’t going to be satisfied with the creative limitations even the best designers are up against when sourcing from the retail market. 

And that problem brings us back to the idea of sourcing trade-only products within an e-design service model.

What would a high-end e-design package look like?

Imagine that you’ve sold an e-design service to a client who wants a one-of-a-kind, designer-caliber space. They tell you they 100% do not want a sofa or a rug that they’re going to see at their neighbor’s house, as well. ‘Custom’ is their watchword. Even so, they think your full service design is more service than they need. Here’s the rundown of what they want, broken up into “e-design” and “full service design” functionality categories.

e-Design

  • They don’t have time for all those site visits and meeting at showrooms and they want this room done quickly. 
  • They want you to provide them with a moodboard, CAD drawings, and product options. 

 

Full Service Design

  • They’ll need you to source the products because they’ll need to be trade-only to achieve the custom look they’re going for.
  • To source the products, you’ll have to come up with a complete top-to-bottom design of the space, including all fabric and finish selections, and every available option for each piece (like hardware, seating cushions, drapery hardware, etc.)
  • You’ll also have to source art and accessories
  • You’ll also have to orchestrate having the products delivered and installed in their home (because how else is that going to get taken care of for the client?). 

 

Based on this, it seems like you couldn’t charge much (if any) less for all of that vs. your full service design package without giving your client a screaming deal on your time and effort. There’s very, very little difference between what we’re describing above and a traditional full service design project. 

For all intents and purposes, you’d be performing a full service design functionality – just without site visits (which would probably make the job of specifying every last detail even harder for you) and with remote client meetings and presentations.

Let me be very clear here: Charging less for your design services “because it’s e-design” is…

a) completely unfair to anyone paying for your standard full service design package

b) probably not sustainable for you since it’s taking you the same amount of time or more, but you’re not charging as much for it

Of course, there’s always the option to make sure you mark the product up sufficiently to cover the expense of your time, but that could result in some major push back from your clients – especially if your markup for full design clients is lower since you’re making more in the design fee. 

All things considered, what you’re really offering under the scenario above is a full design service with remote components. It’s not really e-design and there’s no good reason to charge bargain rates for it.

Is it a good sales tactic to use the words “e-design” on your website anyway?

As a communications expert, I’m always thinking about not only the message being sent, but the receiver it’s going to. 

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to try to use your clients’ language to talk about what you’re trying to sell to them. That can serve two purposes – catching their attention in the first place and making them feel like you understand their needs

In the name of using your packaging to “give the people what they want,” there might be something to be said for using the words “e-design” to describe your full service design package that includes remote components – especially in the time of Covid. 

I see pros and cons to that and think you should consider these things carefully when deciding whether to promote any service under the banner of e-design.

Pros

It’s in the vernacular of design clients.

It’s timely during quarantine and post-quarantine Covid fears.

SEO – searches for keywords related to e-design are up right now.

It highlights that you have capabilities in place to design remotely.

Cons

Stigma as a low-end/bargain option so use of the term with higher pricing could be seen as misleading.

Feels like a step backward to some designers used to working with high end, full service projects.

Some high end clients think of it as a low-end/bargain option and NOT the custom level of design they’re looking for.

Offering it alongside your full service design could confuse clients if both are roughly the same with the exception of remote meetings and no site visits.

Offering it could trick you into feeling like you have to charge less than it’s worth/ less than it’s going to cost you in terms of your time.

If you offer it as a temporary service, you’ll have to deal with deciding when to pull it off your service menu and whether or not to provide it upon request from there on.

Thinking through your packaging and pricing carefully from both a marketing and a business perspective is ALWAYS important, but all the more so with so much advice to jump on the e-design bandwagon out there. Whether or not to create an “e-design” package in any way, shape, or form is a complicated issue. It’s not a simple pivot – just throwing it out there without thinking through the complexities and potential downsides could be risky for your marketing strategy and your business as a whole. 

That all said, I’d love to hear from anyone who’s found a way to package an e-design service that high end clients love and that isn’t undercutting their business, but I also understand that most of you would want to keep that “how the sausage is made” kind of info to yourselves. If, however, you’re willing to share your idea with me and the design world, I’d love to help you shout it out! Reach out to me at deb@debmitchellwriting.com and we’ll chat!

Using Instagram Stories to Market Your Interior Design Business

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OK, I admit it! I’m coming to this IG Stories party fashionably late, and holding up the wall for a while so I can adjust to the faster-paced scene.

Getting up to speed with these things can take me a minute! But if you’re like me, once we get over our stage fright, we’re ON IT!

You may already get the gist of what IG Stories is and how it works, but just in case, let me catch us both up!

Instagram Stories in a Nutshell

IG Stories let you post a photo, series of photos, or short-form video. Videos can be up to 15 seconds long, but if you want to post something longer, you can use a third-party app like this one to break a longer video into 15-second segments so you can post them all.

Once you post a Story, it stays on your profile for 24 hours.

These are meant to be candid, casual, and representative of what’s happening in real-time, as opposed to being planned ahead (but as my husband says, I’m probably the least spontaneous person on the planet, so I like to fudge that just a bit – more on that later).

Of course, businesses have already picked up on how fantastic IG Stories are to promote their brands in quick bursts. Not surprisingly, you can purchase an IG Story as an ad that will be shown to hundreds of people you target. But if you want to save a little money, you can, of course, post Stories to your interior design business’ profile for free while still making them strategic to your brand.

How Do You Create IG Stories?

This part is easy!

Just like regular Instagram, you pretty much have to create IG Stories on your phone (although more and more third-party software platforms are developing IG Stories-planning capabilities. So as per usual for social media, everything might all change soon). This means the better your phone’s camera, the better quality your IG Story will be. It’s way more appealing for your Stories’ audience if you use candid iPhone pics and videos, as opposed to your IG feed where you might rely more heavily on pro images or produced videos to keep your feed looking prettier and more polished.

Here’s the step-by-step for creating an actual IG Story.

  1. Head over to your Instagram profile on the app
  2. If you’re making the video or taking the pics right then and there, simply tap the camera icon in the top-left hand corner of the app. Your camera will pop up.
  3. Tap on the circle quickly to take a photo or hold down on the circle to create a video (remember the 15-second limit).

And… that’s it. No post copy to write; no hashtags to research (although you can use hashtags in Stories to some extent – read about that here). It’s a little too simple for my overthinker brain to process!

If you want to put a little more thought behind what you post, just like I do, then take pics and video of little things you think might make good Stories and save them on your phone. When you’re ready to post:

  1. Open your IG app and tap your profile picture in the circle at the top left of the screen on the home page OR on your profile page – either will get you there.
  2. If you still have another Story up from the past 24 hours, you’ll need to tap the profile picture circle at the top of that screen, as well, to open up the post-creator screen.
  3. Tap your camera feed at the bottom left of the screen and select the photo(s) or video you want to post.

Of course, if you want to have a little more fun with your Stories, there are a ton of customization options that can also help you promote your brand and interior design business.

Create a Unique Look

There are a ton of ways to customize your Stories to create a unique look that exemplifies your brand’s personality.

For example, you can add stickers, text, or a filter on top of your video to give it its own flavor. While Instagram provides a ton of options here, you can also design your own stickers, overlays, and templates with apps like this one. With these graphic options, you can tell a story in an ultra-creative way that static images and written descriptions on your Instagram newsfeed can’t.

And since – unlike your IG feed – your Stories won’t last forever, you may feel more freedom to experiment. See what you like and what your audience responds to. Oh, did I mention your audience can engage with you on IG Stories by tapping the “Send Message” field at the bottom of the screen and either tapping one of the Quick Reactions emoticons there and/or by sending you a DM? You should engage with the Stories others post in this way, as well, for a 2-way social experience.

Of course, knowing HOW to create IG Stories is one thing, knowing WHAT to post is something else entirely! In next week’s blog, I’m going to be talking about the kinds of content that you should be posting to your Instagram Stories to get the best bang for your buck! And on top of that, it will be fun too!

If you’d like to talk more about creating a comprehensive content plan for your interior design business (one that can include IG Stories), then feel free to contact me today. As popular as Instagram Stories are, they should only be one piece of how you market yourself online and the kinds of content you want to promote. If you’d like to talk about creating some fantastic interior design copy that will catch your audience’s attention, you can schedule a call with me immediately!

What the Heck is Going On Between Houzz and Designers?

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I have a secret. A secret that I’ve tried to kept hidden for years, but… I can’t do it anymore! I need to admit it!

I… wanted to be a magazine advice columnist!

Nah, just kidding. But reading those reader dillemas can be a lot of fun. While columnists are answering specific questions sent in by their readers, the advice they give usually ends up being pretty universal. I’ve often thought about this when responding to personal messages from some of my clients. They want some advice, and I can’t help but think of how useful that advice could be to everyone I work with, as well as designers I’ve never met.

So, having deleted the name of the person who sent me the message, I guess it’s time for the very first installment of “Ask Deb!”

 

Hi Deb,

I recently read your blog about working with Houzz and how you don’t need to be a premium member to get the benefits. There was some great advice in there, but there is something that I wanted to get your take on.

My Houzz profile is currently pretty barebones. I’ve been hesitant to post any new work to it, as I recently discovered that they have been taking user-generated content and using it without the designer’s permission. For example, they have been tagging photos in products without telling the user who posted them, essentially advertising using someone else’s work. Often, they even tag the trade-only and custom items used in designers’ photos with lower quality retail items!

I’ve recently redecorated my own home and was planning to post some photos of it to Houzz, but because of this news, I’ve reconsidered. I’ve heard lots of people in the interior design industry say that posting a profile to Houzz is just selling out and that nothing ever comes from it. But, believe it or not, I just received a lead from my Houzz profile. So… I’m a bit conflicted.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this. It seems like there are a ton of advantages of using Houzz, but is it worth losing control of my content? What do you think?

All my best,

Between a Rock and a Houzz Place 

 

Hello BARAAHP!

Yeah, I’m not going to lie. This is a tough one.

For those reading who haven’t heard about this and want a full primer on the issue, Editor-at-Large covered it in this article.

As a designer, your work is so incredibly valuable to you. It’s not just your creation; it’s the custom deliverable you created exclusively for your paying clients, as well. This is why I can understand your frustration and hesitation about how Houzz might use your images for their own benefit. If someone took my writing and used it without my permission, I would be furious as well. And even worse, if they used my writing to advertise their own writing products as alternatives to my services, I’d be beside myself!

But there is another way to look at it. First and foremost, I always try to think about things from your client’s perspective. The average Houzz user (your homeowner potential clients) likely know nothing about the nastiness that’s been brewing between Houzz and designers. They are there for one reason only: to find a designer to hire. These users want three things from Houzz: to see designers in their area, to see their work, and to read their reviews. Not having a Houzz profile will keep your work away from these prospective clients.

Even worse, if these kinds of users stumble upon your website and are impressed by your work, they might wonder why you aren’t on Houzz. Are you not currently working/not taking new design jobs? Why are all of the other designers on Houzz, but not you? These questions can be deadly to an interior designer looking for new work.

For most designers, Houzz probably isn’t as much about getting leads as it is about being everywhere online. That kind of exposure legitimizes you to clients. If you’re missing a Twitter, Facebook, or Houzz page, that can set off some alarms you’d rather remain un-rung!

Everyone’s situation is different, but I wonder how much it ultimately would cost you in terms of Houzz ripping you off / tagging your pics with inferior products. Beyond the overall anger from designers for having their industry in some ways compromised – it seems to me that the real problems are when custom furnishings designs are ripped off. I think most of the designers who’ve been in this situation either have a product line or are trying to get one. In other words, they’re not just trying to get paying design work – they’re at a stage where they’re adding different revenue streams to their business model. Which is completely fine and legit, but is it what you’re trying to do right now? Or are you just trying to get found online consistently by great prospects who see you as an expert?

Something I’ve seen from smart and savvy designers who I respect is that they remain on Houzz, but don’t necessarily post their very latest work there. They readily post showhouse work but hold back on client projects for a few years (if they post them at all). I would guess that’s largely based on who the client is and if they would they care or not if products get tagged in images of their homes.

So for you, maybe posting your own new house would be a great way to get current work up there without having to worry about what your clients think. And just a touch more advice about how to manage the issue, you may want to change your service area in your Houzz profile to your new home state ASAP. Houzz supposedly hides product tags when a homeowner in your area is looking at your profile, so that might be a way to have your cake and eat it too!

All my best,

Deb

Well, that was fun! I hope it helped both you and my awesome client (love you, BARAAHP, ha!). What questions do you have about marketing, writing, or communicating about your interior design biz? Email me and I’ll answer them personally! If you’re ready to talk about getting some copywriting or content creation help, you can schedule a call with me today. Can’t wait to hear from you!

 

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