You may think I’m beating a dead horse
when I start talking about marketing and public relations, again. Not so.
Ensuring your prospective clients know you are alive and well and ready
to work for them is now one of the most important things we can do for our
businesses. Robert and I have been
chomping at the bit (notice how I got another “horse” metaphor in there?) to
start marketing our new location and future home in the Carmel Plaza. None of this is easy and it all costs a
little or a lot of money depending on what you have decided to do to shout your
news from the rooftops. We are looking
at social and digital media for the bulk of our marketing efforts in the upcoming
months. I’ve contacted Alexandra Gibson
of Gibson Design Management to come up with a few ideas of how best to get our
message out. With just one phone call
she was actually able to define three areas in which we might benefit. One of the most interesting for me was the
thought of a new website dedicated solely to the marketing and sales of our
current book and my second book which will publish in June of this year. What an exciting idea. Gibson Design Management also has a great
track record with their ability to promote business through the internet. Not as easy a task as some believe. Hale-Williams Interior Design has a FaceBook
page, Twitter account, Allvoices account, LinkedIn account and as you all know
I blog once a week. I simply find I don’t
have the time to properly manage and execute all the different social media out
there. Gibson Design Management will now
take over those tasks and let me continue with the business of interior design
in our own company. Outsourcing can
indeed make your life easier and add to your resource of staff and time. I have no intention of allowing them to
gallop off into the sunset without any oversight. I will keep track of what is being said, how
it’s being said and where to ensure our ability to respond to the ever changing
marketplace both here in Carmel
and on the world-wide web.
All of this will help us tell our story
to the prospective clients I know are out there just waiting to be
contacted.
This shift to direct marketing is
something a lot of designers seem to be uncomfortable with. They shouldn’t be. It is simply a move forward for all of us in
the advertising and marketing arena. We
are not changing horses in mid-stream and we certainly won’t give up on
editorial press with specific advertising included. This is simply our recognition of the impact
the social networking sites have had on the way a message can be delivered. Now is the time to give thought to how you
will market in the coming upbeat design market.
You need to be ready to respond in a positive and creative manner. Don’t forget direct marketing as one of the
tools in your saddle bag of effective and productive public relations and
marketing.
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