Deb Mitchell Writing

design, well written.

website copywriting

How to Never Waste Money on Hiring the Wrong  Writer for Your Brand (Spoiler Alert: Hire a Copywriter!)

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If you’re like most of my clients, you probably wrote the copy for your first website yourself–and you certainly won’t get any shade from me for that. 

In fact, I think it’s important to spend time working with paying clients at the start of your business before you invest money in developing your brand message. There’s just too much learning and evolving that happens in that first year or two of being in business to be able to solidify messaging. 

But once you’ve been in business for a while, the time will come when you realize that your original messaging and copy needs to go. It makes total sense that as you evolve as a person, designer, and business owner, your brand messaging will need to evolve with you. You always want the voice of your brand to reflect where you currently are while also reaching to the next level you’re aiming for. And so, as you uplevel, your brand messaging needs to grow, as well. 

You may even find yourself at that point right now and thinking you don’t want to DIY it again. Even if you had the time (which you don’t!), you know you don’t have the expertise to take your messaging and copy to the next level. You’ve been there, tried it yourself, and now you know it’s an outside job! 

But once you decide it’s time to hire someone to write your website copy for you, it then becomes a question of WHO you should hire. 

Believe me, you don’t want just any writer to be responsible for the words of your business (the one that you’ve worked SO HARD to build!).

That may seem super obvious, but I’m pointing it out because I find there’s often a disconnect with what it truly takes to write truly good copy. A lot of smart, well-intentioned business owners simply don’t know that there’s a massive difference between writing and copywriting–and that a professional copywriter is the only kind of writer that can give them the transformational results they’re looking for. 

 

So how is copywriting different? 

Copywriting is much more than just ‘good’ writing. It’s a strategic marketing and advertising profession that requires extensive training and practice. Copywriters need to be great writers who also understand the psychological aspects of marketing and communication, and know how to navigate best practices for standard and digital marketing.  

It actually isn’t like any other form of writing. Being a good writer is only a starting point, but it’s only part of being a good copywriter who can write effective copy. 

That’s why I cringe a little when designers tell me things like, “I’m a pretty good writer so I think I can handle my copy myself,” or “My web guy says he used to write movies so he can write the copy.” (True story!) 

It’s not that I think these folks are going to write BAD copy with misspelled words and commas in all the wrong places. It’s that they don’t know what I know about copywriting, including methods of subtle persuasion, psychological and emotional strategies, and even how to leverage SEO and UX/UI principles. Even if they write copy that sounds fine, they aren’t going to be able to create copy that does everything it can and should do to attract their ideal clients, earn their trust, and give them a meaningful experience that moves them to reach out. 

It’s no different than when people tell you they’ll handle their home’s design themselves. Even if they have great taste, they aren’t trained professionals with all of the knowledge and resources you have at your disposal. While you’re equipped to help them achieve all their goals and then some, their own abilities can only get them so far.

Good copywriting is about more than just sounding professional & polished

Taking it even further, I don’t just believe you should hire a professional copywriter–I believe you should hire a professional copywriter who specializes in writing for interior designers.

This is because there are so many nuances involved in marketing for the design industry. It’s luxury but it’s also high-touch and highly personal; it’s a service but it also involves selling products; it’s your personal lifestyle brand but it also needs to center around your clients’ wants and needs (not to mention the many regional nuances in aesthetics and home markets).

There’s no room for error here. You can’t hire a pro writer who’s used to writing for law practices and accountants and expect them to understand you and your clients. No matter how good they are at what they do, this is different. What you need from a writer is highly specialized. 

You wouldn’t go to a heart surgeon to get a facelift or a house painter to commission a piece of original art, would you? Then why would you hire someone who doesn’t specialize in the design industry for your brand’s website copy?! 

Even if you try to bring them up to speed on your needs, they’re not likely to be able to create messaging that sounds authentic to you and resonates perfectly with your ideal clients as they wrestle with writing for an industry they’re not familiar with.   

While any professional writer worth their salt should be able to give you web copy that’s professional and polished, that’s just barely scratching the surface on what you actually need. 

Truly good interior design copywriting is about: 

  • Having a deep understanding of the nuances of marketing for the interior design industry and leveraging that knowledge to your advantage in your copy.  
  • Strategically creating messaging that clearly and authentically articulates your values and who you are as a designer, so that you’ll attract clients and projects that are aligned with you on a deeper level (this makes for happier, more successful projects for everyone involved!). 
  • Implementing integrity-filled, subtly persuasive messaging that gets right-fit clients to say ‘yes’ to hiring you, while subliminally deterring wrong-fit clients from inquiring 
  • Using strong empathy skills to understand your ideal clients, speak their language in your messaging, and connect with them on a deeper level, forming lasting relationships with them BEFORE you’ve ever even spoken with them

Your brand messaging plays a MASSIVE role in how you experience working in your business. The words on your website can (and should!) do so much more than just sound pretty. If written with expertise and skill, they have the power to attract ideal clients who are excited to pay top dollar for your services, and to repel wrong-fit clients who would end up being a nightmare to work with and costing you money in the end. This kind of messaging is truly make or break when it comes to building a profitable business you love vs. unintentionally building one that drains the life and profit out of you! 

Good copywriting isn’t about stopping at sounding polished and professional. It’s about getting you in the room with the right people–your ideal clients. Because that affects everything else in your business and your life! 

4 ways to tell if a copywriter can give you killer copy for your interior design website

So now you know you need a trusted expert who knows your industry and your ideal clients really well–what they’re looking for in a designer, what they need to hear to trust you, and what language to use to connect with them. You want to be 100% sure you’re investing in the right writer and not just wasting your hard-earned money! 

But with the stakes so high, how in the world do you figure out who the best person is for the job? Don’t worry! I’ve got you covered with 4 questions to ask any writers you’re considering to help determine if a copywriter is right for you. 

Before hiring someone, look at samples of interior designers’ websites they’ve written copy for and ask yourself:

  • “What does your process look like?”

If it doesn’t involve asking you lots and lots of questions to understand exactly who you are, what your goals are for your business, and what your ideal clients really care about when it comes to hiring an interior designer, RUN! Even the best writers aren’t mind readers so if you want copy and messaging that reflects the ethos of your brand, they need to get everything about your business out of your head. Otherwise, they’ll be writing an essentially fictional representation of what they think your brand should be (in some ways, this is what PR writing is but it won’t help you connect with your ideal clients in a meaningful way and get you hired). 

  • “Can you show me examples of your work with other interior designers?”

Sometimes amazing examples might not be on a writer’s website because they were hired as ghost writers, BUT they’re permitted to show you the work individually offline. And like you, we writers don’t always get our most recent projects up on our sites in a timely fashion! Look for clear, compelling brand messages; a strong sense of the type of client the designer wants to work with and the kinds of projects they’re looking to attract; and an easy to follow hierarchy of messaging throughout the site, with no confusing or conflicting messaging and not poorly organized information because a confused prospect never buys! 

  • “What kinds of clients and projects do you most love to work with?”

If they love working with newbies but you’ve been in the biz for 20 years, it may not be a great match. The same goes if they like writing only for new websites but you’re looking to get new copy for your existing website or if their process requires more time from you than you’re able to give.

  • “What kinds of changes have your clients seen in their businesses after working with you?”

If the only thing a writer can promise you is new copy, something’s wrong. A good copywriter will be able to point to transformations and growth in their clients’ businesses such as attracting more and better clients; being able to articulate more clearly and confidently about their business on- and offline; attracting attention from the press; earning speaking engagements, etc. Copywriting is a marketing and communications service that helps you level up your interior design business in multiple ways, making it well worth the investment!

I hope that clears up any confusion you may have had about the differences between writing and copywriting, as well as shedding light on why hiring a pro who specializes in the interior design industry is the best way to never waste money on hiring the wrong writer for your brand again! 

If you’re looking for an experienced pro copywriter who specializes in the interior design industry to help you level up your website messaging, I’ve got you! 

Contact me here to get started with a free chat about your needs and goals, and to determine if we’re a perfect fit!

How to Become Fluent in Your Ideal Client’s Language

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When one of my sons was in kindergarten, he came home telling me a story about a girl in his class. As he was describing the girl’s clothing, he referred to her as wearing a “topless dress”. Since I knew topless dresses didn’t exactly meet the dress code standard at his school, I was curious to figure out what he actually meant by this! 

As I got him to explain more, I figured out that the girl was actually wearing a skirt, but his 5 year old mind had adorably and hilariously decided it would best be described as a “topless dress”. 

While a skirt technically IS a topless dress, I had to teach him that the correct word we use for that item of clothing is “skirt”. 

The language that we use is super important, and as cute as his mistake was, I didn’t want him setting off any alarm bells by incorrectly describing his classmate’s clothing! 

As a copywriter for interior designers, I know that the first step toward connecting with your ideal clients is to speak their language in your online presence. Because connections are formed between people who feel like they’re on the same page–like they’re “speaking the same language.” And in the case of your clients, they first need to be able to even find you online and using the same language they’re using to search for interior designers is critical. 

Metaphorically speaking, if they’re searching for a skirt, but you’re calling it a “topless dress” on your website, they won’t be able to find you!

For example, when I first started my writing business, I must have tried every possible iteration for ‘writer’ on my website (‘freelance writer,’ ‘website writer,’ ‘interior design writer,’ ‘marketing writer’). Even though I knew I was a copywriter, it wasn’t until I learned that most website designers direct their clients to hire a copywriter that I realized my people were actually looking for me using that terminology. Making the switch to describe myself as a copywriter and providing copywriting services for interior designers was a game changer for attracting my ideal clients!

If you’re not using the keywords on your website that they’re typing into their search engine, then your site won’t even pull up for them, and that initial connection won’t happen! 

Once you nail down the right keywords and they DO find you, speaking your ideal client’s language in your website copy will also build a deeper connection to you.

You know that amazing feeling you get when you finally find a trusted professional that can help you? It’s like a doctor who listens to what you’re experiencing, adds their experienced take on the matter, and presents you with solutions to address the problem. You feel so much relief and comfort knowing that you’re in the good hands of an expert who hears you and who can guide you.

That’s exactly how you want your ideal clients to feel while reading your brand messaging. And in order to spark that deeper connection, your marketing materials need to be using language that resonates with them. You need to talk like you’re already listening to them. 

Now, to be clear, I’m not just talking about tone or brand personality here. I’m also talking about your choice of words! 

When you’re trying to grow your business by attracting the attention of your dream clients, you can’t risk miscommunication. Connecting through language is essential to getting you in the room with these people. And getting in the room with the right people is how you create a business that you love.

You have to translate “business owner language” into your ideal client’s language

It’s important to stay true to the brand personality that feels authentic and original to you. You want to speak in your own voice, and write the way you speak. You don’t want to sound like a copycat version of someone else!

But the words you use to talk about your business and describe your aesthetic are usually different from how your clients think and speak. So while you want to choose website messaging that beautifully captures who you are, it must also be wording that makes sense to your ideal clients.

This means that for your messaging to be successful, it’s critical that you find a way to translate the language you use as a business owner into the language of your ideal clients. 

I know it sounds complicated, and quite frankly, it is. Which is why you need someone with marketing expertise who’s fluent in both languages, and can effectively do the translating for you. 

Empathy is the key to learning your ideal clients’ language

So how exactly do you figure out your ideal client’s language? My best piece of advice is to think of empathy as your secret weapon! 

Use empathy to put yourself in your client’s shoes, and really think about where they’re coming from. You want to consider things like: 

  • What are their worries, fears, likes, and dislikes when it comes to hiring an interior designer? 
  • What do they know and what don’t they know about working with a designer? 
  • Which of your brand’s values can you highlight that actually matter to them, as well?
  • Is there anything specific or niche about the home market they live in?

Speaking to all of this in your messaging will create major points of connection by helping your prospects feel seen and heard by you–especially if you express it all using words they can readily understand. 

When I’m creating messaging for interior designers, I use empathy LIKE CRAZY! Empathy allows me to pick up on important nuances other writers may miss. I’m using empathy to listen for what my clients care about, how they run their business, and what will make them happy and fulfilled. And at the same time, I’m also using empathy to put myself in their ideal client’s shoes, and think about what type of language THEY need to hear. It’s an empathy-fest around here 24/7!

When you work with me, I translate your design business owner’s language into the language of your ideal client. I work to preserve who you are and what you care about but I also troubleshoot  the words you love from all angles to make sure we get it right. Because I know that sometimes a turn of phrase that sounds good in your mind, may land differently with your client and cause problems in your working relationship. And that’s definitely not what we want!

For example, here are just a few common language mistakes I see interior designers make:

  • “We’re a collaborative design firm” – I see this one all the time! As a designer you might say this to mean you work well with other industry pros, like contractors, architects, and builders OR that you have a team and you all work together on behalf of your clients. You may even mean that you work closely with your clients upfront as you get to know them and their tastes and lifestyle needs. That’s all well and good but prospects can interpret this to mean you welcome collaborating on the entire design with THEM! So if you keep attracting clients who micromanage you, or who send you pics every weekend of the ‘amazing piece’ they just found for the design, you may want to delete this word from your website and vocabulary!    
  • “We work with your project, no matter how small” – Another common one I see! Unless you truly mean that you’re happy to put everything else aside to help someone pick between two potential backsplash tiles for $50/hour, you really shouldn’t say this.   Prospects don’t know why it’s important to some designers to adhere to minimums (let alone that a ‘small’ project to you actually means a $20,000 powder room). 
  • “We make sure to work within your budget” – While I get that you may say this to mean you’ll be a good steward of your client’s investment, there’s just way too much room for interpretation here. Prospects can (and do!) think this means you’ll be able to make any amount they bring to the project work for the scope of their project. If you’ve ever been hit with a prospect who wants you to furnish their entire living room for $5,000, this could be the reason why (also, HGTV, but that’s another topic altogether!).  

These examples may not be as off the mark as my kindergartener’s “topless dress” verbiage, but still! Really thinking about how the words you put out there will be received by your ideal prospects can truly make all the difference in who you attract.

Pay attention to the language cues your current clients give you 

Getting to know your ideal clients on a deeper level is a building process that can take time. But with each client project comes more experience to draw from, and you’ll begin to understand these people–and the language they use–more and more. 

You can start learning their language by taking notes on who they are and what they say.

  • Pay attention to how they respond to you in real conversation. Think about how your clients react to the things you say. What makes them lean in and excitedly say, “Oh yeah, I get it!!” vs. what tends to leave them with a confused look on their face? Pull language from these points of connection to use in your brand messaging, and stay away from the wording that tends to cause a visible disconnect. 
  • Pay attention to the off-the-cuff words they use to describe your work. (Particularly in casual modes of communication.) Look for these clues in their texts and emails to you, instead of their official testimonial. For example, if they send you a text exclaiming, “I just saw the new living room. I love how light and airy it feels!” Boom – now you’ve got some great descriptive words to describe your aesthetic! You know that “light and airy” could really resonate with new ideal prospects, because this is the type of language your current clients are using to describe your work.
  • Pay attention to what they care about. Are your ideal clients people who love to go to the classical symphony, or are trendy music festivals more their vibe? Are they seasoned art collectors, or are you introducing them to original art for the very first time? You’ll need to speak very differently to these distinct groups of people.  

As an interior designer, if you aren’t aware of the importance of thinking through your ideal client’s lens, you may end up trying to write your copy with words from your own head. Or you’ll end up cherry-picking phrases from other people’s messaging, which won’t sound truly authentic to you. Neither of which are speaking in a way that resonates with your ideal client! 

However, when you translate your messaging into language your ideal clients understand, you’ll start attracting more of those clients. Recently, a designer I’m working with emailed me in the middle of our website copy project to say she was already noticing a huge change in more aligned inquiries, just based on the first pieces of messaging we started putting out there! I’m telling you, this stuff really works!! 

So my question for you is – Are you absolutely sure you’re speaking the language of your ideal client on your website and messaging? If not, I can help!If it sounds amazing to have someone come in who’s fluent in design business language and the language of your ideal client, contact me here and let’s talk about it!

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.

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