office interior designer in dubai
hello and welcome along to another editionof home conscious tv. today we're talking about getting your first client. where do you find your clients? this is one of the most asked questions ofany interior designer and i would say categorically that there are expensive ways and there areless expensive ways of doing this correctly. i have learned the hard way over the years! getting that first client is a very importantstep. many entrepreneurs and business books talkabout that first client that gives you proof that you are in business at all.
i look at it as the start of the businessjourney. it is a very exciting moment and definingone. the first thing to say is that they can belike buses; you want one, but three come along at the same time! it may well be that youmeet a client and the client picks you because they have now met you and they like you; andthis is something wonderful. but that happens seldomly. so how do you get your first client? wheredo they come from? let's look at the runners and riders.. word of mouth is by far my most effective way to acquire clients.
and word of mouth covers a broad spectrum of waysfrom suppliers recommending you or clients recommending you, to hearing from estate agentsabout a property to refurbish, to builders passing on their clients. all this comes under word-of-mouth. mostly you get work from friends of clients. they want what their friends have. and ifthey can get you to do what you did for their friends, then they'll be pleased. you won't get every job you go for. some just want to meet you, some are justthrowing around ideas and want to talk it
over with someone. either way, recommendations can be lifeblood when you're starting out. because recommendations prove that you've done a goodjob and people want to rehire you and book you based on what they've seen. paid for advertising is easy money to throwaway and is for the larger companies only. don't even try to compete with them. most of these campaigns are about brand awareness. you're not there yet. unless you have an injection of venture capitalforthcoming and want to spend it on full and
half page advertisements. do you get any return? i never have but those larger companies keeptheir name in the forefront of people’s minds and it works for them. the exception to this is facebook where youcan get really targeted. see amy porterfield on how to do it right. promotion and advertorials within magazinesis something that can be done but it is a paid for placement. yes it looks more like an article but youare still paying handsomely for it.
i have not had much traction from these. far better to do features for journaliststhat name check you. the good thing to realise about paid advertisingis that you will undoubtedly be included in other parts of the magazine if you alreadyadvertise with them. look at vogue magazine. when they arrange for clothes to be in themagazine shoots and photographed by famous photographers, they pick first and foremostfrom the list of heavily invested advertisers ralph lauren, fendi, chanel etc. it is allabout the brands that advertise. the same is true of design companies.
promotions are only relevant if you have somespare marketing money to spend on a 2 to 3 page spread that highlights your latest work of course. nothing sells more than ‘before and after’shots. from weight loss to health conditions andfrom fashion style to hairdressing.. if you're new and have no ‘before or after’ shotsthen you'll be relying on a picture of you and some text and you’ll have to be clearand convincing as to why they should feature you at all. my personal favourite is public relations this is one of the best ways to market yourselfand without spending cash.
writers and editors and journalists have spaceto fill, even more so online. the trick is to find your market. local often works wonders. local magazines, local newspapers. everyone thinks of themselves as global anddigitally that's true but remember you have to travel to these properties to completethe work; so do your suppliers. that’s no good if you are featured in apublication 50 miles away and you and your suppliers are not able or willing to travelthe distance. let's look at the different ways that youcan engage these writers and journalists....
look at your local mags. what are they? list them. look for any interior pages. do they have them? look for local news pages. does it have the name of the person who wroteit? sometimes it will have their email, other times you have to go to the masthead what is the masthead? this is a list of peoplethat compile the magazine. sometimes it gives a contact email for eachof them, but mostly it doesn’t. if it does
make a note of it. now all you need to do is to email them. if there is no email, use the main contactemail and and mark it for the attention of (the name of the person you are trying to reach). if you don’t have their email, call up andask for it and explain you have a local business news story to give them. when you have the email, explain who you are,what you do, what you offer and that you are local. suggest an interview with them or a questionand answer written article that they can cut
and paste into an article. make it easy for them. tell them you can supply images of you andyour work. a step up from this is to email the editordirectly. if you can get the editors email, then brilliant. this is where you can be more bold with yoursuggestions. how about a column? they haven't got one?you can do that! how about a three month trial? 200 to 300 words? that shouldn't be a problemfor you should it?! ask the editor to try it and see if people emailin with problems for you to answer and solve.
things to note: don't be too over friendly,keep it short, include a link to your website. be patient. they have hundreds of emails coming in. if they reply ‘no thanks’ reply to themand ask if they have any supplements that would be suitable for you to appear in. be prepared for them to ask you to advertisewith them. ask for the name of the person on the magazinewho you should contact with any updates and news. keep your email or telephone call conversational.
they want to know that you can speak as well as write! keep it human. it's always great when suppliers can passon their gratitude to you by recommending you. this has happened a number of times to meand it's always nice. furthermore you tend to go out of your wayto help the new client as you want to do your suppliers proud and do a good job for thembecause they have done a good job for you in the past. recommendations tend to be varied both infinancial size and project detail but from suppliers, they tend to mean more becauseit's a recommendation from your peers as it
were. if they didn't like you or your way of workingthey wouldn't be happy to recommend you. the other crucial thing with suppliers recommendationsis that you can often get background detail on the prospective clients beforehand. i have had kitchens, whole houses, commercialwork and maintenance work from recommendations. well worth the effort. i have not had many leads from residentialclients from social media but i have had commercial clients crop up now and again. social media is more brand building ratherthan attracting clients.
social media is also good for getting in touchwith your peers and the people that you want to contact and colarborate with. but two of these platforms are very important. these are instagram and pinterest. pinterest and instagram will showcase yourwork because they are visual. at first you won't have any work to put onthere but eventually you will and you can use these platforms to your advantage. but to start, just follow accounts that youlike and start building pinterest boards and instagram accounts that reflect you and yourwork.
in conclusion i would say that there are manyways to get clients and those are just a few of the ways that i have used both in the pastand currently in order to attract clients. although, you won't see any advertising fromme however. i have more than enough work coming in andthat's through 100% recommendation which clearly works both for me and my clients. so that’s all for this video. if you have learned something from this, like,share and subscribe and you’ll be ready for the next session. happy designing!