Marketing is a crucial part of any business that helps to attract potential clients and create a branding in the market. And this is no exception for interior designing as well. You need strong and dynamic marketing strategies to keep your interior designer business going.

Today the interior designing industry is one of the most highly competitive industries in the market. Whether you are a freelancer or full-time designer, you need practical marketing ideas to market your business and beat the competitors.

However, developing marketing strategies may not be easy for you as you are not a professional in marketing. That is why, here in this write-up, we will share some fantastic marketing ideas that you can use to market yourself as the best interior designer in the market. So, what are you waiting for? Let us start exploring.

Create a Portfolio

The first and most important step to market yourself as an interior designer is to create your own portfolio. A portfolio will display all the masterpieces you have designed so far and will help your potential customers understand the benefits they can get when they hire you.

However, keep your portfolio short yet versatile and use it to showcase different styles of interior designs you have created. It will make your portfolio more exciting and informative and quickly grab visitors’ attention. You can upload it to your website and make some fine copies for your office use for better outreach.

Incorporate Social Media

In this digital era, social media marketing, or SMM, is vital in gathering more clients and increasing your website’s popularity. Today most businesses use social media platforms, and if you use these platforms to promote your business, you will get a broader audience base.

Currently, most leading interior designers use social media for marketing their services. So, create your business account on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. and promote your business.

Upgrade Your Website

Getting more clients and marketing yourself as an established interior designer need much work and strategies to achieve the desired results. When it comes to marketing your business, your website plays a crucial role in attracting people. If your website is intuitive, user-friendly, and easily navigable, it will likely attract more traffic.

So, upgrade and optimize your website according to the latest market requirement and include essential features that increase website traffic. Also, ensure your website is mobile optimized, has fast and smooth downloads, and has no glitches for high client satisfaction.

Collaborate With Other

It may sound challenging for you if you are a solo walker, but you must do this if you wish to expand your horizons and market yourself as the best designer. When you collaborate with other designers, you can gather experience from their work, learn something new and improve your skills as a designer.

Interior design is a creative field, and when you work with other designers, you get the chance to share creativity and ideas. Plus, collaboration can bring new business networks, and you can access each other ‘s customer base and enhance your client base.

Update Your Works on Social Networks

Creating your business account on different social media handles is not enough; you must constantly update them with your latest projects and achievements. For instance, a potential customer can hear about you from someone else and visit your social media handle to get more information about you.

But if they get a post from six months ago and leave the site due to lack of information. So, constantly update your social media accounts with your latest projects and achievements to stay relevant and create a good impression.

You can also use your social media handles to connect with other designers and customers to expand your business network.

Participate in Contests

Another interesting way to market yourself as a successful interior designer is to participate in various design contests. Displaying different prestigious awards and certifications on your website and office gallery will eventually boost your sales and marketing, and you will gain more attention.

Awards and certifications show you your capabilities and expertise in the field and reflect your seriousness and dedication towards your work.

However, you do not always have to win every competition to showcase awards. Certificates and awards for special thanks and exceptional performance from a recognized or leading designer company can also bring more customers and boost your business growth.

Create Podcasts

Currently, podcasts are becoming a major hit in the market, and almost every business uses them to market its services. Podcasts are convenient and easy to access. You can create podcasts on your success story and essential tips for beginners. It will influence them to listen to you and visit your website for more information.

Increase Your Knowledge

You can be an excellent Interior designer in the current market, but maintaining this position in the future is not easy. Increasing your knowledge about the latest innovations in your field is a must. You must also learn about the latest trends, design themes, and techniques to maintain consistency and market yourself in this ever-changing world.

Incorporate Social Influencers

Another great way to reach more audiences and market your designs is to work with influencers. When you invite social influencers to work with you. You can learn from them about the market trends and what the audience may like.

Also, they have huge followers, you can access wide audience if they share a post or story about you. You can use your social media handles to invite influencers and learn various details about them.

Use Google Ads

Google Ads or Ad Words are very effective for marketing your business. If you want to reach more audience and create brand awareness, this can be an ideal solution for you. You can use Google Ads by creating an account with Google.

Here you can have various bidding options for different budgets and select your desired ad type. Google Ads can display your ads as video, pre-roll, image, and graphic form on different websites, social platforms, and apps associated with Google.

Use Paid Promotion on Your Social Media Handles

Like Google Ads, you can also use paid Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter advertising to reach more people. Social media like Facebook target audiences by age, hobby, and interest help you reach potential customers by posting your ads in their feeds.

Upgrade Your Business Card

Whether you are a freelancer or running an interior designing company, you must have your business card. But having a card is not enough; you must also update it occasionally to make it attractive and informative for your clients.

Use your latest projects’ sketches or pictures on the background and display your latest affiliations to get attention. Also, include your latest email ID and other contact details in your business cards.

Build a store partnership

Building a store partnership can bring excellent results in terms of marketing your design business. Find a suitable store for your business promotion and ask them if you can leave your business card and booklets in the store to get an audience. You can also offer special discounts and goodies to your store partners.

Write and post blogs regularly

Posting informative blogs regularly can help you gain more attention. Posting blogs on relevant topics containing targeted keywords will help you climb the SERP list ranking and increase website traffic. You can also invite guest writers to write about your design works to get more organic website traffic.

Engage in commercial projects

Working on personal or residential projects cannot bring more business than commercial projects. A commercial interior design will have a thousand times more views than a residential design. So, to promote yourself as the best designer, you must also engage in commercial projects.

For instance, if your specialty is kitchen or hallway design, you can focus on corporate projects like redesigning office spaces. This will help you get more visibility and attention in the market.

Use email marketing

Investing in email marketing is an old but gold kind of strategy that can help you attract more clients. Cold mail and bulk mails are always helpful in gaining more clients. Create a list of old and potential clients and send automated emails for promotion and follow-ups.

Get referrals

Getting referrals from your previous clients is one of the easiest ways to gain more customers for your business. Also, when you use referrals to promote yourself as the best interior designer, your approach becomes more reliable and authentic. So, ask your clients to refer you to others and offer exclusive discounts and gifts to encourage them.

Conclusion

Becoming a successful interior designer in this competitive industry is not easy. You need robust marketing strategies to establish yourself as the best designer and beat your competitors. And incorporating latest marketing trends is the fundamental way to achieve your desired marketing goals.

Using the above-shared marketing ideas will help you acquire a significant position in the market. Also, you can seek guidance from professional marketing agencies to help you build an effective marketing strategy.

Being tech-savvy has become more than just a choice for interior designers. Today we live in a digital world where everything is online, including a designer’s work. Modern interior designers no longer need to carry thick and heavy business portfolios. They can manage all their professional work, whether designing, contacting clients, or managing their day-to-day activities digitally.

Nowadays, we have many super productive software applications that can help manage various works of a designer better than the pen and paper method. These apps are not only helpful for handling daily activities and designing works, but they can also act as a mini-marketing platform to promote their business online.

So, if you are also a professional or freelance interior designer curious about these applications, keep reading. Here we will list some essential apps an interior designer must have.

Best Apps for Interior Designers

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is one of the widely used apps by interior designers; this app allows you to access an interactive to-do list you share with your team members, clients, and contractors to explain and manage your project. Managing several lined tasks and keeping track on them is essential for an interior designing business.

However, handling a pen-and-paper to-do list is hazardous and affects your productivity. But Wunderlist allows you to install customizable dates, rank tasks by priority, and break up big tasks into sub-tasks for clarity. So, when you use this app, it becomes easier to streamline your tasks as an interior designer.

SketchUp Pro

Another essential app that you should Wishlist for your interior designing projects is SketchUp Pro. SketchUp Pro is the advanced version of the SketchUp app dedicated to designers. The app has an extensive modeling suit that designers can use to create beautiful 3D models for anything from contemporary furnishings to passive buildings.

You can also use this app to create 2D sketches of your design ideas and then custom style and material to illustrate your idea on screen. SketchUp Pro is compatible with virtual reality platforms like HTC Vives, Oculus, and Microsoft HoloLens.

So, you can easily and virtually display your in-progress projects and seek feedback. Creating, storing, and sharing your designs becomes seamlessly easy with SketchUp Pro. The app offers massive cloud storage and a web tool to make your work easy and fun.

Photo Measure

Photo Measure is also an essential tool for interior designers that you can keep on your Wishlist. It is an advanced software with a virtual measurement facility. The app can greatly help, especially when working with different furniture dimensions and sizes. Measuring the accurate size of each piece of furniture is essential for interior design.

For example, if you are designing the interiors of a room or cabinet, you can use this app to determine the most suitable size of the furniture within the space and work accordingly. Measuring the furniture with an app becomes easier than manually measuring, saving labor and time.

SmartDraw         

If you are looking for an innovative and advanced tool to support your floor planning digitally, then SmartDraw is just the right option for designers like you. The app software is highly intuitive and easy to understand.  

So, you do not need to take much time to learn the use of the tools. It offers an ocean of endless themes and layouts that you can explore. Also, the app offers endless floor planning options (building materials, furniture, and cars).

You can use SmartDraw to create as many floor plans and themes as you want. However, the app is only free for the first seven days, and if you want to use the app in the future, you have to subscribe for a paid membership.

Floorplanner

Floorplanner is also a powerful application that you can have for your interior designing works. The app is crafted with advanced tools, allowing you to design a space in 2D and 3D models. The Floorplanner does not require any advanced knowledge of curves to create your floor plans. Here you can sketch your ideas in 2D and then turn them into 3D to add suitable furniture. 

The core strength of this app lies within its functionality. In addition, Floorplanner is a web-based app, and you do not need to install the app to work on it. You can feel the ease of working online from anywhere and anytime.

Planner 5D

Planner 5D is also a popular and advanced in the list of interior designing apps that many professional interior designers use. The Planner 5D app lets you easily design your floor plan and other aspects. It looks like a free version of SketchUp Pro but can offer some other interesting features to simplify your designing experience.

With Planner 5D, you start the work by customizing the shape and size of the floor. Then you can change the color and material of the floor, then add walls, doors, and windows with various color schemes and designs. You can also add furniture by switching it to a 3D model and printing them to share with your clients or other collaborators. However, using more furniture other than the basic ones may cost you a bit.

Hootsuite

Currently, in the world of digital marketing, social media can act as your marketing team. With so many social media handles like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., it becomes more tedious to handle them all. Usually, you need to hire a staff to handle all your social media activities and stay on top of everything.

However, if you are not willing to invest money in an employee, then Hootsuite can be your ideal option. Hootsuite is a social media management app that you can use to read all your social media posts, schedule different posts, and schedule your blog posts and editorial content all in one place. The app may charge a small subscription fee to access all these facilities, but it is worth your money. 

Homestyler

Homestyler is also a popular app for interior designers. The app is more like SketchUp or SmartDraw, and you can use it to create your floor plans in 2D and 3D models. With HomeStyler, you can bring your design ideas into 2D form and then switch to the 3D mode and add furniture and other objects to create a virtual version of your idea.

At first, you have to master the floor plan basics with the 2D tools. Once you finish your 2D modeling, you can shift to the HomeStyler library. Here you can get endless options to add real-life objects like building materials, furniture, color, furnishing, art, etc. The app adds your chosen objects on a 1:1 scale in your floor plan.

Also, HomeStyler creates an immersive panoramic visual form of your 3D floor plan that you can print or digitally share.   

Adobe Capture CC

Adobe Capture CC is another app in the list of valuable apps for interior designers. The tool is top-rated among the new age interior designers. Adobe Capture CC’s best feature is that it quickly extracts the color scheme from any picture. The app compiles three top-graded photo manipulation tools of Adobe to bring this revolutionary color palate creator.

As an interior designer, you understand how difficult it is to create the color palate of your client’s recommendation. You need to work for hours in front of the desk to achieve the desired results. But if you have the Adobe Capture CC, you can leave the labor to this software.

Take a picture of any place that you want to use as your inspiration. Upload the picture on the app and extract the color scheme with a simple click. So, next time your client asks you to create a color scheme that reminds them of their grandma’s home, ask them to bring a picture.      

Pinterest

It is not surprising that Pinterest app is a significant source of inspiration for many artists and creative people, including interior designers. The app can be ideal for brainstorming innovative ideas and finding suitable objects to bring them into reality. On Pinterest, you can access millions of furniture, color, and other materials required for your floor plan.

The app provides more than just visually inspiring images and themes. Here you can get a virtual mood board to craft your floorplans and add the saved items from the feed. You can search millions of furniture images and save them for your floor plan. Also, the mood board is available in both private and public modes. So, if you wish, you can also ask your clients to pin themselves on the board to discuss the theme and floor plan.  

Conclusion

The interior designing work requires more than bringing up creative design ideas. You need to execute them in the floor plan and measure out every aspect, from selecting the building materials and furniture to the shape, size, and color of the furniture.

Advanced software apps make it easier to digitally manage all your design and official tasks. And here, we have listed some helpful apps for interior designers that you can use on the go to efficiently manage your design business.