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- [00:00]
Kate
Foreign.
- [00:09]
Co-host
Hey, guys, welcome back to the K show. Today I am going over the hard and fast marketing checklist, the do's and don'ts, things that you should already know and some things that you probably don't know. And if you are like, am I marketing my business correctly in the home industry, this episode is for you. And quite honestly, a lot of clients that we work with at the Socialite agency will ask me that question when they first get started because we'll have gone through their onboarding, they're all set up with us, marketing is happening, and they're like, okay, what else do I need to do? Is there anything else? Hopefully not, because I'm exhausted, but is there anything else that I need to do? And if they're already working with us, their bases are covered. But for those of you who have never worked with a marketing agency before, or if you really do want to try to do as much of it yourself, I wanted to give you a look at the things that I tell my clients because it can be very tempting to just market your business the way everyone else in your industry is marketing their businesses. However, a lot of people are just following the crowd like you might be tempted to, and nobody actually knows does this stuff work? And worse yet, they don't know how to measure the efforts to see if they're getting roi. They aren't sure where to look at any sort of metrics or analytics, and they don't really have the time either. So some of this, and just like what my clients will actually say is, I'm ignorant, I know nothing about this, or I don't want to know anything about this, or I want to learn. Please teach me. And it doesn't matter which of those categories you fall into as a business owner. There are just some stuff that you have to know. There's some things that you have to know. And you may not like it, but you have to know it not so that you can be the one doing all the marketing yourself, but so that you know who you need to hire to make sure it all gets done. And most often, my clients are shocked by how much less marketing they actually have to do when they're doing the correct things. So it ends up being a huge savings in time, in money, in stress. So we're going to go over all of that today.
- [02:34]
Kate
This episode of the Kate show is brought to you by Honeybook. I love using Honeybook for my business because it helps create a streamlined workflow when people decide they want to work with me because, you know, there's one thing to do the right marketing to.
- [02:48]
Co-host
Get the client, there's quite another to.
- [02:50]
Kate
Impress them all the way through the.
- [02:52]
Sponsor/Guest
End of the project.
- [02:53]
Kate
And with Honeybook, my clients are able to review and sign the proposal, make their payment, and then be told what to do next, all in one fell swoop. I've set up automations that remind them when they need to send me certain assets so that their website project can go off without a hitch. And if you've ever worked with us, you know that Honeybook kept you on track. It kept us on track and it.
- [03:17]
Co-host
Was really easy to use.
- [03:19]
Kate
If you're interested in using Honeybook for your business, go to honeybook.com and use the code socialite at checkout for 50%.
- [03:26]
Co-host
Off your first year.
- [03:30]
Kate
This episode of the Kate show is brought to you by the Foundation Website guys. If you need a new website for your business, but you can't afford a fully custom site or you just don't have that much time to spare, you should check out the semi custom website design service from the Socialite agency. For home pros who need more than just a DIY website template. How many times have you purchased a website template only to never use it or get stuck because you don't know how to complete it, you don't know how to connect all the things and well, doesn't that end up being a waste of money? It does. That's why the foundation website exists. If you want a professional to set.
- [04:09]
Co-host
Up your website, you can handle your.
- [04:10]
Kate
On site SEO, optimize your images and write your copy and you want to maintain full control over that website moving forward. This website is for you. You'll be able to see what's included and what's not included by heading over to katesocialite.com and under the services page click on semi custom website Design. Every great build begins with a solid foundation and we've made it easy. You'll be able to learn exactly how the process works, why we have a 10 business day turnaround, and why we can keep the fees so darn affordable with no ongoing fees to us whatsoever. The cool thing is, and the thing that a lot of our clients appreciate is that when you get our website, whether it's fully custom or semi custom like this one, we are available to help make updates to your site. We only charge you when you actually need an update made, which means that months, years might go by. You don't have to pay us a dime, but when you're ready for help.
- [05:11]
Sponsor/Guest
We'Re there to Help you head over.
- [05:13]
Kate
To katethesocialite.com and look under the services tab to get the website your business deserves.
- [05:20]
Co-host
All right, guys, let's dive right into it. We're going to start with the more digital aspect of things because that is where a lot of marketing happens these days. Let's start with your website. Your website is the mothership of your entire brand. And if you're like, that's not a good thing because I'm kind of embarrassed of my website, or I don't have a website, or I have a website, but I can't even log into it to make tiny little updates because it's too complicated or I don't have time to figure it out or my web developer won't let me log in. Big red flags there. Okay? You need to make sure that you have access to your own website, that you are the one in charge of your website and. And that you have the ability to go make simple changes if needed. But even more importantly, you need to make sure that your website has the correct information to attract a lead versus deter it. You see, a website isn't just supposed to look nice. It actually has a job to do. Your website should have a homepage that explains who your ideal client is, what their pain points are, and how your services solve those pain points. Your homepage should also include things like at least one testimonial, a summary of your services. So literally just a list of services with maybe a sentence describing each. You can then have a button that links to your actual services page where people get a more in depth look at what you offer and how you offer it. And then your homepage should also include a brief introduction to you. Now, not your full bio, but your headshot, and a little summary of how you work with clients. On your about page, you can go deeper into your education, your certifications, your industry affiliations, your history, whatever it is that you want to share. Now, if your website doesn't have those things, if your website is more focused on one main image and very little text, not only does that hurt your SEO, but it's a real waste of space because it doesn't connect with the ideal client. It doesn't state who your ideal client is or what makes you different or why they should hire you. Because let's face it, there are a lot of interior designers and stagers and window treatment dealers and workrooms and organizers. Like, there's just so many of you guys. That's a good thing, actually. But it also means that you have to differentiate Yourself, you have to have a niche. You could focus on a particular type of person, or you can focus on a particular type of client. You don't have to do just a particular type of client. And that is where people get kind of freaked out because they're like, kate, I can't figure out what my niche is. I really can't. But then when I start interviewing them and I'm like, okay, well, what type of projects do you like to do? What do you want more of? All of a sudden, their eyes light up and they're like, oh, I just really wish I did nothing but kitchens and bathrooms. They are my favorite. It is so exciting, it's so rewarding. And I love doing it in this particular design style. Or I love doing it for people who are obsessed with cooking or with hosting. Well, you know what? That is a niche. So don't put yourself into a quandary because you can't find your ideal client. Maybe you need to find your ideal project instead and that needs to be communicated full force on your website, especially on the homepage. Your website homepage is going to be the longest, most involved page of your site because a lot of people will not go any further into your website. You need to make sure your homepage has the key elements that I've listed or it's just not going to be able to do its job. Now, the other thing to keep in mind, on your website homepage and on every page of your site, including your portfolio and your blog, your images should be of decent to excellent quality. Now, decent meaning if you took an A photo on your iPhone or your Android, that's fine. Maybe just use an app to adjust the lighting. I like to use the Tezza app, which is T E Z Z A. They have a free version. I've been using the free version for years and it works just fine. Although it might be worth it for you to upgrade. If you're taking a lot of photos on your phone of your work, but investing in professional photography of your work and getting also a brand photo shoot done of you and your team is a great idea because you can use those images for years. They are truly an investment. You can use them across many facets of your marketing and it really will make your website stand out. Images can kill or can really glow up a website, all right, but those images should be compressed, so they'll need to be run through a compression tool. Or if you have WordPress, you'll need to use a compression plugin. If you have Squarespace, there's now an actual plugin for that as well. It's kind of tricky to use, so I admit. So you might want to just compress your images before you upload them. And then every file name of every image should be renamed because it should include the location of the project and it should include the service you provided. So kitchen remodel, interior design, Boston, Massachusetts, for example. This will tell Google what your photo is about. It's a great way to add more of the right keywords. And also the compression aspect of it is really important because if you have huge images on your site, your site is going to take a long time to load, and that is one of the determining factors in your SEO loading speed. And if it's got a slow, sluggish loading speed, you're going to have reduced SEO or search engine optimization as a result of that. All right, so images are huge. Make sure your images are compressed and renamed Next Blog Posts Now, I do want to preface this by saying that blogging is not necessary for every business, but it is always helpful. Now, I know plenty of people who don't want to do blogging. I have plenty of clients who engage with us for things other than blogging. They make it clear they want nothing to do with blogging, and that's okay. They're still able to grow their businesses. Would their businesses grow faster or have better results through blogging? Potentially. But there's more than one way to skin a cat, as we say here in the Midwest. So when it comes to blogging, for every completed project, you should have at least one blog post. Now, you could do multiple blog posts from your projects if you wanted to spin it that way. And that's something that I strategize with my clients on. But you should also have blog posts that explain your process and answer your frequently asked questions. These are excellent for improving your chance of showing up in search results, which is basically SEO. And it's also great for inspiring your current clients, educating your leads. And you should be publishing one of these blog posts every single month. Now, not that you have to blog about a new project every month because nobody has endless projects, but that's also where it's helpful to brainstorm, whether on your own or with someone else, about the things that you should be blogging about. I've done other episodes where I've talked about the different things you should be blogging about. I also have tons of resources on that. We literally have blog post templates for that reason, because coming up with topics can be hard, especially when you don't want to default to talking to your peers, which a lot of people do, by the way. Interior designers are notorious for this. They'll start blogging, but they actually end up blogging content that would be relatable to their, their co workers instead of to their clients. Or they go to the other end of the spectrum. And I see this a lot even in home organizing and in home staging, where the business owner will default to blogging about DIY how to's. And you don't want to do an A how to unless you're actually teaching the reader how you do it. So instead of saying how to organize your kitchen, it's how a professional would organize your kitchen. There is a very distinct mindset shift. You do not want to attract people who are there for the diy. You are not offering DIY services like you're not offering a course, for example. If you are, that's a different marketing strategy. Yippee. All right. But moving on from the monthly blog post, the thing that you should always be mindful of is the power of email marketing. So, email newsletters. Now, unlike blogging, which is not always necessary but always helpful, newsletters are always necessary and always helpful if they're done correctly. Your newsletter should be highly focused on one topic. It should be sent out once or twice a month, so basically every two to four weeks. And it needs to be uncluttered by things like our featured products or our recent trip to High Point or wherever, or, hey, check out our recent blog post. Because anytime you add those things to a newsletter, especially if you add all of them, all it does is detract from the effectiveness of that newsletter. Your newsletter should be on one topic, for example, how we will renovate your kitchen. And then the call to action should be book a consult today. Very to the point and simple. Because if you add clutter, if you add distracting elements to a newsletter, suddenly the whole point of the newsletter is rendered completely sterile. There is no action for the reader to take. There is no clear call to action. So it's pointless. And when people come to me saying, I know you believe in this whole email marketing thing, but I've tried it, it doesn't work for me. I'll have them share their past newsletters with me, and every single time, this is what's going on. They are cluttered, they are confusing, and by the end of the newsletter, I'm not even sure what they were trying to say, and I'm looking for their message. So if you have tried email marketing in the past, but it hasn't worked. This could very well be why newsletters are super important. Because they're the only direct line of communication that you have with your leads and your clients. Not even social media can fill that role. Because as we all know, posting something.
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Sponsor/Guest
On social media does not mean all.
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Co-host
Your followers will see it. In fact, a very small percentage of your followers will see it, and even fewer of them will actually react. Comment, like, share, whatever. Uh, email marketing is growing in popularity. It has been growing since the day that it was created several decades ago. And even though a lot of people get a lot of emails, the emails that stand out, that are high quality, that are interesting, that are inspirational, that are really focused, are the ones that keep getting open. So the average email open rate in the home industry is around 20%, but my clients are seeing open rates as high as 60 to 80% just because it's consistent. But it's not overbearing. It's every two to four weeks, not two emails every week. It's intentional and it's branded and it's directed toward that business's specific ideal client. Now, is this something you could do on your own? Absolutely. And I encourage you to try it. But if you don't want something else added to your plate, there are certainly alternatives. People like us who can help you.
- [17:11]
Kate
This episode is brought to you by the Window Coverings association of America. Are you an interior designer, a decorator, a student, a workroom, an installer, or a window treatment vendor? The WCAA was meant for you. If you're looking for community rather than competition, business guidance, real growth strategies instead of just good ideas and introductions to all all the right people, you need the wcaa. Their mission is to provide education, networking, a code of ethics and increased exposure for this unique industry. Learn everything from the latest window treatment production techniques to business profit tips, marketing and so much more. All from the comfort of your laptop. Learn and grow your business right where you are by connecting with your local WCAA chapter. Monthly meetings, educational opportunities and fun activities abound within the organization. Lastly, you can also save money with vendor discounts.
- [18:04]
Sponsor/Guest
You can save on items and services your business is already buying through their industry partner relationships.
- [18:09]
Kate
Everything from coaching and marketing to well known window treatment brands and more are available. But hey, here's the real question.
- [18:16]
Co-host
Do you need more leads?
- [18:18]
Kate
As a WCA member, your business will.
- [18:20]
Sponsor/Guest
Be listed in their homeowner facing directory.
- [18:22]
Kate
Of Home industry professionals, helping you connect with more of the right clients. Do you need to hire or be hired as a member of the wcaa.
- [18:31]
Sponsor/Guest
You'll have access to a job board.
- [18:32]
Kate
That is exclusive to the design and window treatment industry. Perfect for finding or filling your next role. Don't wait. Go to WCAA.org and apply to join with them. You're never in business alone.
- [18:47]
Co-host
Do you find yourself turning on the.
- [18:49]
Sponsor/Guest
News and feeling hopeless? Woke agendas, open borders, inflation due to out of control spending and the list goes on. There is something you can do about it. Buy from companies that believe what you and I believe.
- [19:00]
Co-host
We need to stick together now more than ever.
- [19:03]
Sponsor/Guest
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- [20:28]
Co-host
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Sponsor/Guest
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- [20:41]
Co-host
Now the other thing that you definitely need for your business is Google Analytics, Google Search Console and a Google Business listing. These three are completely different Google products. They're all free thankfully, but they're very different and that's confusing for a lot of people and I understand that. I was confused in the beginning too. Google Analytics should be connected to your website and you should have a basic understanding of how most people are finding your site with this tool. If you do not have Google Analytics connected, do it right away. Have your website designer do it. It's going to take 30 to 90 days before there'll be enough data in Google Analytics to analyze. Google Search Console should also be connected to your website because it's going to give you a quick monthly snapshot of which website pages might need to be fixed, as well as your most popular pages that month and some other miscellaneous information that you might find helpful. Google Search Console helps index your website so that Google can better understand the contents of your website, which does directly correlate to whether or not you show up in more search results. Lastly, your Google Business Listing. Everybody knows what this is, but not everybody has one. And most people who have a Google Business listing for their business do not fully fill it out and they don't keep it updated. So that's an easy way for you to stand out. Make sure you fill out absolutely every area in your Google Business Listing. Enter in all the categories, list all your services, all your service areas, and then you can also share your recent blog post as an update in your Google Business Listing. So you could do that once a month. We have found anecdotal evidence that shows when you do that, when you post on your Google Business Listing once a month, it definitely increases the number of views your listing gets, which can easily translate into more website traffic. All right, so that is basically the checklist, but then there are a few other things that you should already know. And is there a bit of guilt there? Is there an undertone of guilt? Yes, because you know what guilt is motivating. So there are some things that you should know because you are a business owner. And if you don't know the answers to these questions, this is your motivation to find out. This is your Monday motivation. All right, so you should know your brand colors down to the actual color codes. Now, I'm not suggesting you have to, like, memorize these codes, although I do know the code for white is hashtag fff. But I've also done a lot of graphic design, so that's why I remember. But you should have that information somewhere. And you should also have your official brand fonts. So. So if your brand was designed by a graphic designer, they probably gave you a brand guide. But if you DIY'd your brand, you need to consider having a professional redo it. You wouldn't want your clients to DIY their interior design, right? DIY logos are pretty easy to spot, and they can lessen your credibility Unless of course in your past career you were a graphic designer. I have had a few clients like that recently who come to me with these gorgeous websites and gorgeous brands and I'm like, girl, where did you get this? And she's like, I did it myself. And I'm like, wow, that's amazing. What an asset to your business. But for a lot of us, we weren't graphic designers. So working with a graphic designer to get a fully custom brand or even a semi custom brand is a great idea. Because if you want to instill trust in your ideal client, if you're working with that mid to high end luxury client, you need to look as high end as your client. And by the way, if any of you are looking for fully custom or semi custom branding, my friend Jill over at Julepaper, not sponsored, is amazing. I send all our agency clients to her. Just go to julapaper Co, that's J U L A paper company. All right. Other things that you should already know include how most of your clients are finding you and whether or not you have any influence with over that method. So if people are finding you because of Facebook groups, that's considered word of mouth referral. That is not a social media lead because it's usually someone else talking to someone else about you. And that could happen offline, it can happen online. It's definitely word of mouth. Are they finding you because you're showing up in search results? Are they finding you because of an industry organization you're part of? You need to know also what is your signature service? You should be offering no more than three services with one of those being the primary offering and you can group similar services together. So for example, my company offers website design and content marketing. So really two things. But within that we have the fully custom and the semi custom website design. And then within the content marketing we have the email and the blogging and the sales funnels. If you were to parse out all of that, if I were to parse out all of that, it would look like I had so many services it would overwhelm you guys. Because our brains don't like having to make so many decisions. And your clients brains are the same way. So if you offer consultation services, don't parse it out into designer for a day and then color consultations and then space planning consultations. No, it's just a consultation. Whatever happens in that consultation is fine. But you offer consultations and then you offer full service design or you offer virtual design for organizers. Same thing is true. Don't parse it out into pantry organization, closet organization, whole home organization. No, you offer home organizing. Whether that is the pantry, the bedroom, or both, the playroom or the entire house, it's still home organizing. Now you can certainly list here are common spaces that people hire us to organize. But don't parse it out and confuse people because then they won't be sure which service they need to hire you for. All right, moving on from that. What is your project minimum? This should be listed as a starting at price on your website to better qualify your leads. Now, if you're an organizer, you have an hourly rate. You might already list that on your site. But stagers and interior designers and custom window treatments and custom window treatment dealers even, like, you can't really give an hourly rate, but you can give a starting at price. So as an interior designer, you know you're not going to touch a renovation for less than 100,000 or whatever your number is, or if you like smaller scale projects, that's fine. But you need to state what you're starting at price is. That way you don't get the tire kickers, the people who are just like, well, I just wanted you to help me pick out a sofa. Like, no, that's such a waste of your time. So having a starting at price on your website, knowing internally what your project minimum is, and that should be based on like actual math, not on what you feel comfortable with. A lot of designers get nervous when they're like, oh, but if I tell people my project minimum is a six figure number, is that going to deter some people? Well, yeah, that's the point. All right, the next thing that you should know is the ways that you are developing a relationship with your future clients. So here's, here's how not to do it. Posting random graphics on social media, quoting other designers on your website, never sending newsletters, blogging about generic topics, refusing to share your face across your marketing. These are all things that I see people doing when they are deeply struggling with marketing and likely paying way too much money for it. None of these things will help your business grow and they will actually make you seem very sterile, very vanilla. That's not what you want. You want to be a burst of flavor. You want to be unforgettable. You want to be memorable. You want to to the right people. And every business has a different ideal client. You have to know who your ideal client is, what your specialty is, and then speak directly to them. And if that is something that you're struggling with, then you need to work with a marketing professional or a business coach. You need to get into a mastermind of your peers. You need to do something to figure this out. Otherwise your marketing is going to feel very painful and very ineffective. All right, now let's move on to some things that you might not know. First of all, I'm going to start with the big hard hitting thing. A lot of SEO professionals get really angry with me for what I'm about to say, but here it is. Your SEO is not a monthly ongoing task, and backlinks are not the sole key to getting more website traffic. If your website traffic doesn't increase due to SEO efforts that you're paying for, you're literally paying for nothing. If you don't understand the SEO reports that are being provided to you every month, you need to directly ask them, where does this report indicate the results of the SEO work that you have been doing? I say this because I have had so many clients burned by paying for SEO because they didn't understand what they were getting, they didn't understand how to measure results, and in some cases there simply were no results to measure. But the other thing to keep in mind as well is that not every SEO company understands the home industry. The home industry is not like the retail industry where we're selling small ticket items. These are big ticket services. The lead time is much longer for a client to convert, and the whole project costs a heck of a lot more money than things that they might have been used to helping people sell. So if you want to work with an SEO company, make sure they understand your industry and your specific business and your goals before you get into any sort of contract with them. Because not all SEO companies are bad. In fact, there's a lot of great ones out there. But the issue seems to come in when the SEO consultant doesn't understand the industry and, and the business owner doesn't understand SEO. So there has to be a bridge between the two. And you have to have a good understanding of how to track results, knowing that any new marketing strategy, even when that includes SEO, is going to take time. So SEO for your website might be a big enough project that it does require several months to complete, but you shouldn't be paying for monthly SEO services endlessly. What more is there for them to do if they say, well, we're creating backlinks, well, we're testing keywords. They should have been able to figure that out by now. And I know, like so many SEO people get mad at me. I literally had one SEO consultant rant against me on social media because she was so angry with what I was saying, which is kind of awkward because I totally sent clients to her because I do believe in SEO consultants and and a SEO specialist as long as they understand the client they're trying to serve. All right, moving on with that. One thing I should add is once your on site SEO has been established, which means you have good copywriting with proper use of keywords, you have images that are sized correctly and named correctly. You have page layouts that are user friendly. The only way to improve on that on site SEO is to start blogging at least once a month. Also, there are only so many keywords and additional pages that can be added to your site before your site gets dinged for keyword packing. A common keyword packing situation that I'm still seeing pop up today is when someone has a separate page on their website for every geographic area they service. So these pages are all duplicates of each other. The only thing that changes is the city or the county or the state being mentioned. That's not only super archaic SEO, but it's also completely unnecessary and you can get dinged for that. Your SEO can actually be hurt by that. So if someone tries to tell you you need to do that, say I've heard of that tactic, and it does not work. All right? The other thing that you might not know is that your Google business listing is actually one of the best ways to get found in your local geographic area. So like I said earlier, you need to make sure your profile is filled out completely and that you share at least one update per month. That can be as simple as recycling something that you posted on your blog. So grabbing an image from your blog, a paragraph from that blog post, and then linking it over to the actual blog post on your website. Because when you post an update, Google will give you the option to add a learn more button that you can hyperlink. So that's pretty neat. All right, so guys, that is a comprehensive list of things that you should already know, things you probably didn't know. And then the hard and fast rules of marketing and that every business, every service based business in the home industry should be following. If you guys have questions about any of this, I would love to get on a one on one discovery call with you. You can go to katethesocialite.com to book that call or you can send an email. Thank you guys so much for watching and listening. Until next time, keep your marketing simple, your message clear, and I will talk to you soon.