] You have tuned in to the designer within podcast, episode number four.
Hi, everybody. I hope you're doing well. Welcome to episode four of the designer within podcast. I hope you're having as much fun listening to the episodes as I am having recording them. It is just a blast. I feel like I'm just having a cocktail or coffee with you, probably a cocktail [00:01:00] chatting about the careers that we've chosen.
The ups and downs of everything and hopefully sharing some insights on all of that. So I hope you're enjoying it.
If you are enjoying the podcast, please feel free to leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcast,
It helps other people to find the podcast and it helps me to share the message with more people. So thank you so much for giving us a review and helping us to spread the good word.
today's episode is about one of my favorite topics, which is marketing. Does that. Put a scary vibe in your mind. Do you get a little timid when you hear the word marketing or sales? if you do this podcast episode could be for you. I actually love marketing. It is one of those things that just comes naturally to me, and always has, and it's always been sort of fun to me. And even sales has been fun for me, and marketing and sales has always been something that not only was I good at, but it's always been something that has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.
And I've always found a way to incorporate [00:02:00] that
from when I was a child, my mom was having a yard sale and I thought, Hmm, maybe I could bake some cookies and cupcakes and sell them to everyone coming to the yard sale. And that's what I did. So every time she would have a yard sale, would make cupcakes and cookies and sell them to people as they shop. it's always something that's been inherent with me and it's easy and fun. And I do. Enjoy it. and I sort of parlayed that into my life from early on . In a former life. For instance, I wanted to be an actor and that was a television show being filmed, not too far from my home. And I made it a point to stalk. I use that term nicely. But I did hang out by the set as much as possible and one day. the production designer of the television show happened to waltz right up and start talking to my mom and I. And we were talking and I was saying, yes, I really wanted to be an actor. And I love this show and it's one of my favorites and I would love to be on it.
He was such a nice man. Gave us tours of the set gave us has contact information and I kept in touch with him. So I kept reaching out to him and then eventually. [00:03:00] I said, okay. I would love to be on the show. What do I need to do? And low and behold, he got me onto an episode of the show.
All because I was what I call pleasantly persistent with him, and I did not give up. And I made sure that I was marketing myself to him that I love the show that I would do great on this show that I was, I supporter of the show. And it eventually worked out in my favor. It was a very natural feeling for me, and it was not anything forced. And we're going to talk more about how you have to believe in what you're selling to really make it work. And that was critical to why this worked for me.
another experience that I remember was I was on an HGTV show before I officially started my design career. And by being on that show, it actually got me more experience and more attention from Consumer community at large, and it really spearheaded my design career and got my foot in the door with so many different people, including.
A fabulous LA design firm that I started working for [00:04:00] after that show had aired, because that particular firm had seen that episode. And I became friends with them through other friends, and then we were able Chit chat. And then they said, oh, I loved your show. And then I casually said, well, you know, if you're ever thinking about bringing on another designer in LA, let me know, because I was not living in LA at the time I was in Florida.
And again, that simple technique of just marketing and always putting my best foot forward, led to a phone call about. two months later, I would say. asking me come and interview for a position. again, another way that you're always selling yourself, always selling the positives of how you can benefit others.
As a team, as an employee and as a company.
And most recently a big marketing effort was put forth when I published my first book and I do not have a literary agent. This book publishing deal was strictly done with myself and my husband. we developed a detailed marketing plan and a book pitch for my current publisher, Who agreed [00:05:00] to publish my book. And it turned into a great lesson for me in the fact that if you do present yourself well to other people and you continue to present the benefits that you are going to bring to other people and what. Rewards you were going to give them and you come from a serving mindset. We're going to talk more about that too.
Then the rewards are beneficial and everybody does benefit from the arrangement. And that is exactly what happened from my book. So I'm very proud of the effort that I put forth It wasn't just a simple, yes, you've got the deal. It was a lot of back and forth. It was a lot of preparation on my part. And I'm going to do an entire episode down the road about how I got my book published, what went into that and all of the details behind it. But I did put forth a lot of marketing prior to getting the book deal, which did help my publisher understand what I was bringing to the table for them and how I was going to help make the book successful.
Dolly Parton, I don't know if you guys know she is one of my favorite human beings on the planet. I love her for her business [00:06:00] acumen. I love her for her humor. I love her for her singing.
I love her for everything, but she has this thing that she says this little saying she has a lot of them, but this one that I particularly love when it comes to marketing, she just says, sometimes you got to toot your own horn. Because if you don't, nobody knows you're coming. And I think that is so true.
We get so wrapped up in what other people are going to think, and we're afraid to say. What we have going on, and we're afraid to say what exciting things are happening because of fear of looking as if we're bragging or, being, overly boastful. And it's not the case, you're just stating the facts. And you do have to toot your own horn sometimes. And if you don't toot your own horn, you need to hire someone who will toot your horn, AKA publicist.
So there's a lot of different factors in there, but I do feel at the very root of that, you can act as your own publicist a lot of times, and you can act as your own best marketing person, your own best marketing. Expert. And you should definitely toot your own horn. So today, All of that being [00:07:00] said, all of those lessons I've learned over my career and my life and all the things that I've done to market myself and my companies. I've owned several companies and design, as you guys might know is a second career for me. My first career was in business. And marketing side again has always been a part of me.
But today I wanted to share with you my top five marketing tips for any business. Now these are marketing tips that have definitely worked for me. Me and in many of the businesses that I have worked in and owned, but specifically for my design business, but they do work for any type of business that you're working in or that you own because marketing is marketing. and the five marketing tips that I have for you today will definitely apply towards any business. So listen, closely, take some notes. and I hope that these help you to market yourself better and to market your company better.
First you have to believe in yourself and what you do. I mentioned this on a previous podcast, but it's so important that you believe in yourself. You believe in what you are selling. You [00:08:00] believe in what you're doing. I have worked for a lot of companies over the years before I started my own specific business that I'm working in now.
And it wasn't that I didn't believe in the product. I did believe in the product, but I didn't enjoy. The product that I was selling to people, I knew that it worked and I knew that it was something that would help other people. because I had seen it work before, but it just wasn't something that I was passionate about. And when you're not passionate about what you are selling to other people, it comes through on the other end and everyone can see that they understand it and you have to be passionate about it.
And you have to know about it. You have to know every single detail about it, and you have to believe in yourself when you are selling that to other people. So when you're marketing yourself and when you're marketing your company and marketing, what you're doing, you truly have to believe that what you are.
Telling the world is so great and wonderful. You have to deep down believe that it is true because if you do [00:09:00] not, then no one else, will you also need to sell a solution, not a service. This is important because many times we can sell a service so as a designer. I could sell interior design services very easily.
Right. I'm an interior designer. I'm going to sell you an interior design service, but I would rather sell a solution. To your problem. That is what clinches the deal. It is that emotional attachment. It is the resolving of a problem that a client has that will get them move forward with closing the deal.
for instance, if I'm talking to a homeowner and I present to them, my design services, here's how I'm going to renovate your kitchen. It is An island. It has five seats on it. There's a banquette. There's pendants, there's a refrigerator, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's all the things. Those are just facts. Right? Those aren't anything emotional. however, if I sell them on the fact that you can sit here, Have dinner with your family. Every single member of your family can sit at this island. You can serve them dinner from the other side, [00:10:00] have plenty of space to chit chat. As you're preparing dinner. No one has to sit in a different room. Everybody can sit there.
There's an area for your other child to do their homework. They don't feel like they're away from you while you are preparing dinner. It just conjures up this feeling that I know that most families want to have. They want to have this group environment. They want to have this.
closer relationship. We had this happen with a client and the house was very large lots of spaces where people can hang out. However, after chatting with the client, we realized that what they really were searching for. I was a closer relationship with their family and therefore. We devise a brand new kitchen that did solve this problem. And after that, we had a spot for every member of the family to hang out in the kitchen. And it was so fantastic. We would come over after the house was finished and every member of the family was in the kitchen. Hanging out.
there was refrigerator drawers for everybody's drinks. There was a place to do homework. There was a place to bill pay, everything that needed to be there was there. There for everybody [00:11:00] to hang out and the mother was so happy. So sell a solution to the problem that people are looking for.
Rather than just selling your services. Anybody can sell a service, you have to sell a solution
okay. that was number five, believe in yourself and what you do now. Number four. Separate your ego from marketing and selling. this is something that I had a really big problem doing in the beginning because our ego is such a part of everything that we do in our lives every day. But what we have to stop doing is we have to stop taking things personally.
When a client says no. When someone says they don't like something, when someone disputes what we are saying, We have to stop taking that personally. It is not a personal attack and it's something that I do. Is I basically developed this persona. That is still me, but it's this braver more confident, more articulate me.
And it ends each call with a [00:12:00] successful outcome. So whatever I'm speaking to someone about, if it's a sales call or a marketing call, It is this. Higher level of myself that even I am not aware of. So it is almost like this persona that I take on this Superman character, if you will, that is going to achieve everything that I want to achieve with this marketing pitch, with the sales call.
by having that in my head, as I'm going into that again, I'm not a different person. I'm still myself. I'm just putting myself up on a higher level to where Am going to achieve the outcome that I want to achieve And to where my ego does not get in the way. If someone says no, or they do not like something, so please stop taking things personally. Because every, no is a step closer to a, yes. I know. You've heard that in the past, but it's so, so true. I once had a business that I owned, where it was literally door to door and I would go door to door and I would sell advertising on a printed publication.
And every, no that I got was hard in the beginning, but I did know that every [00:13:00] no, taught me a lesson to grow, to learn, to change what I was saying to adapt my pitch, to maybe say things differently, to get to a yes. I knew that all of those nos were going to eventually lead me to a yes. So if I went through the day and I had eight nos, At that point I needed, my closing ratio was about 10 nos to one. Yes. And if I was on no number eight, I knew that I had probably had two more nos to go before I could get to it. Yes. So I would tweak my little spill a little bit. Find out a way to introduce myself differently, maybe highlight a different part of my presentation and then on number nine and number 10, I would get one step closer to closing the deal. those nos will lead to a yes, because you were learning something about yourself. You are learning how to better present yourself and you are learning how to. Better relate to the person that you're speaking with, And we really have to be chameleons as salespeople and as marketing people. Because when you are marketing yourself, you have to adapt to whomever you're speaking [00:14:00] with everyone, perceives things and receives things differently. And I find that if you can quickly pick up on. to whom you're speaking with, you can adapt your language. You can adapt your body language to that person and better relay your information to them and hopefully get to a, yes, a lot quicker, but don't take things personally. They're not personally attacking you At that point, if they don't know you, you were just someone else pitching something to them. And by the way, even if they do know you, even if it's a client and they poopoo one of your design ideas, don't take that personally, either. That is not the intention of the client, giving that information to you.
The intention is. They are giving you their opinion, which is a valid opinion, and you need to respect that. I also want to remind you don't get defensive or weak be strong in your stance and in your pitch and in your pricing, never get defensive enough to start fighting back And never get so weak that you lower your price or make huge concession. don't start trying to fight back with people when they start giving you all of these reasons that they don't want what [00:15:00] you're trying to market to them. It's okay. You need to be strong in your stance. Proud of what you're selling, proud of what you're marketing and don't give in.
Don't fight back and don't lower your price and don't make any big concessions just because that one person did not agree with what you're saying. And lastly, stop a comparison with competitors or others. It will get, you no where if you're comparing yourself to what another company did. or, what one of your quote unquote competitors did . And then even if the other person that you're speaking with is trying to compare you to another company, it is not probably apples to apples, and that company does not run their company the way you run your company. And that person does not market their company the way that you market your company. So Stop the comparison with others. Stay true to yourself. And stay strong in what you believe and what you are presenting. Separate your ego from your marketing and selling is number four.
Number three, know who you are marketing to, which for me means my ideal client typically. So that is the [00:16:00] person that I'm trying to market my company to online digitally. It is the person I'm trying to market my company to at. Any speaking engagements typically. And I want you to think about that person you are marketing to when you are marketing your company. And of course it could change. Like for myself, of course, I have my.
Business courses that I teach two designers and to creatives. that is a different ideal client than when I'm marketing my design business, which is a consumer driven business. my design business is marketed to my ideal design clients, Where my business courses and my online digital courses are marketed to the design community and other creatives. think about who you are marketing to. It's very critical that your message stays the same. It is consistent, and that you always have that ideal client in mind when you are marketing your company, it makes what you're saying, come out so much easier you never really have to stop and think about what you're saying because it does flow naturally. I also want you to think about, long-term not a quick sale. Long-term is always the end game. You want repeat [00:17:00] clients. You want referrals? You want people to say, oh my gosh, I had such a great experience with this company, with this person. You're not just out for a quick sale. I want people to remember my company, not only as great designers, but also as great human beings. And that should be the goal for all of us. I want all of the warm and fuzzies. I want all of the hugs when they see us out in public. And I want a long term relationship
I want a relationship that turns into referrals that turns into. Thank you, is that turns into birthday wishes. That turns into holiday wishes. You get what I'm saying? So think longterm, when you are marketing to your ideal clients.
Here's a few other clients selling techniques that I think could help emphasize partnership. I love the word partnership. I have it on my website. It is a value that I hold true to my company. And working with anyone is a partnership. I'm not a dictator. I'm not going to tell a client what to do, and I'm not ever going to work with someone who I don't feel that will also bring value to the [00:18:00] relationship.
partnership is super important. So try to emphasize the partnership when you're working with your ideal client. Next empathy always have empathy. When you are partnering with people, empathy shows that you care, empathy shows that you understand and empathy shows that you have been there and done that. Transparency and honesty is also something that you guys know I hold true to. and it's a very big value for me by always being transparent and honest. I never have to come back and worry about something that I said, something that I did. You never have to backtrack. You never have to cross out something and fix it because what you said the first time was the truth.
And it was honest.
Listen more than talk. This is hard sometimes. Um, especially for me because I do like to talk, but it is important that we listen more than we speak. And I think the rule is about 80 20. If you can listen 80% and speak 20%. Because by listening, you're going to be able to adapt what you were saying back to the person and cater your presentation and cater your marketing [00:19:00] to their needs. So always listen to what people are saying.
And if they're not telling you. Ask for feedback, ask for feedback in a newsletter, ask for feedback on a social media post. Don't be afraid to ask for feedback and don't be afraid to listen to people when they are giving you that feedback. also just relax and be yourself. It's important that we just chill out. Be ourselves.
Take a breath. It's not like we're presenting to the president of the United States. this is a moment where we can put our best foot forward and the more you do it, the more you practice it, the better you're going to be and more relaxed.
You're going to be. I find the more nonchalant, The more relaxed I am when I sell. And when I market my company, The more receptive everyone is who receives that message.
educate yourself on various marketing techniques, such as digital in person newsletter, email blogs, social media. You get the picture. These are some of my favorite ways, and I'm just wanting to highlight couple of those, but they're really all valid [00:20:00] ways to market yourself and your company. And if you're not doing some of these or all of these, you really should try to employ some of them.
Digital marketing is super important. It's really just where marketing is these days, almost everything is digital marketing. I also don't want to negate the in-person marketing. I love in person marketing. I love going to events. I love shaking hands now that we can do that again. I love walking up and introducing myself to people.
Telling people about my company about myself. Nothing has a better retention than when you can share a personal story with someone let them know something about yourself that causes something to stick in their brain to remember you long after that introduction is over. And I find that a lot of times at industry events where there are cocktail parties or where there are luncheons, those are great places to do.
In-person introductions.
And by the way, these in-person introductions, don't always have to be trying to sell something to someone it could be when you are possibly looking for a licensing deal. looking for someone to partner [00:21:00] with as an ambassador, you get the idea. So always be again, putting your best foot forward.
Have a personal story to share about yourself that will cause that person to remember you. If you're not doing a newsletter, I do suggest that you do one to your database. If you don't have a database. Then I suggest that you get a database for your email list. to do that, you need to get a call to action.
You can put a call to action on your website. You can just simply add a CTA as they call it. And that CTA could be a little freebie that you give out to someone. And then by giving out that freebie, such as on my website, I have my top five tips to design, like a pro. and by entering their information, they are added to my email list, but then they also get my little booklet gives my top five tips to design like the design pro. So you can come up with whatever you want. I like to rotate mine out. I have several, but you can come up with whatever you feel comfortable with, how to design the best kitchen layout, whatever works for you, but come up with a call to action That will grow that email list. you can use things such as Flo desk. You can use MailChimp. Lots of [00:22:00] software out there that can help you grow that list. But I do encourage you to really work on growing your email list. And when you get that email list grown, you can start nurturing to those people on the email list via a newsletter.
And everyone loves a newsletter, keeps them up to date about your company, what you have going on, but it also lets them know if you need to offer them something. Or if you want new business, whatever you're trying to do in a, again, non pressured way that newsletter is a great way to do that. by having that email list, you are becoming a trusted advisor.
To the people who have subscribed to your list. I also love a blog. I love our blog. We have such a good time writing our blog. We update it once a month. And our blog has become really popular. We have people who read it and we have people who offer to actually pay to be on our blog because of the rating that it has and because of the SEO that it has developed. So I encourage you to, even though it feels a little old school, I encourage you to add a blog to your website.
It's not very complicated.
And write about what you [00:23:00] know, write about things that you feel the public wants to know, write about things that you want to do to grow your business. If you're looking for a partnership, if you're looking for a licensing deal, if you are wanting to add a new service to your company, write about it.
It will get attention. And then you need to share that on your social media, share that in your newsletter, share that online, all these places that we have talked about, marketing yourself. You can share that blog in those areas. so I do encourage you to write a blog. It is one of those long-term things that is just worth doing. And if you're thinking John, I don't have time to do a blog. I barely have time to work with my clients.
Trust me. If I have time to write a blog, you have time to write a blog and the way that you do it as this, you sit down and you block off two or three hours of time once a week. Once a month, whatever you need and you batch, so you write four or five blog posts for the upcoming months. At one time, so here's how we do it. At the end of every year, we will forecast what our blogs are going to be for the upcoming year. And we [00:24:00] basically make a calendar with our blog topics on it. So January, February, March, all the way through the end of the year, we come up with a topic each month and then We review it with the team to make sure that it does sound appropriate for that month. then we pre-write all of. The blogs as much as we can. Now, there are times of course, when we can't get them all written, but we do try to batch them up and have them ready to go. We just wrote one for instance, in July, we're in July right now, we just wrote one about travel and how travel influences design.
Because people are taking vacations. obviously there's holidays that come around. We all know Christmas happens in December every year. if you're going to write about the holidays, then you can write about the holidays in January for the upcoming end of the year. you can batch these blogs up and have them ready to go when you need them ready to go. So you're not waiting until the last minute you have them ready to go on your website.
And if you're confused about how to write a blog or even where to start, just keep it simple. Write it as if you're talking to your best friend. keep them around 500 words or [00:25:00] so, and also be sure to break them up with some nice photographs of your projects. It just adds more to the interest factor of it. And it also helps to promote your projects as well.
And don't forget. Good old social media. There's so many ways to market yourself on social media. Now, of course, with threads, the new threads is out there, which I'm not too sure about yet if it's helping me to market or just helping me to have fun with people that I enjoy, but regardless it's there, but social media is of course, a big component in marketing techniques.
And you should use it as part of your marketing. Don't. do what a lot of people do and have social media as your only marketing It should not be your only marketing plan. You should have a mix of a lot of things such as Google ads and. Your blog and your newsletter and your in person, but social media should definitely be part of that. Now, if you're looking to learn more about marketing, there's lots of ways to do that. Of course you can take online courses. I offer them, you can read digital marketing [00:26:00] blogs. You can listen to podcasts about marketing only, so just spend some time and educate yourself further on marketing techniques. And I feel like it does always change I try to keep myself up on various marketing techniques and I actually try to experiment with them on my own so that I'm not just telling you what to do. I'm practicing what I preach. Typically if relay something to you guys, it's something that I have tried myself and either succeeded or failed.
And I will let you know which one of those it is. But I'm always learning and always growing from all of these sources.
of course, AI is out there now, and we can jump on over to one of those AI sources And it can help us to write a blog post, be careful when you do this, that you're not plagiarizing someone else's words because what is on the AI is just being pulled from other sources. But I don't say that you can't take that as a starting place from it.
You can actually go there and have it help you write a blog, go to an AI chat and say, write a 500 word blog about. X Y and Z. And see what happens. at least it gives you a rough outline [00:27:00] for it and gives you the premises. If you have nowhere to start and not an idea of what to write about. I also wanted to mention if you're a little apprehensive about writing or maybe writing is not your forte. There is something called the Hemingway editor and it's the Hemingway app.com just like the, the writer, but it is a writing tool and it basically analyzes your text for readability and it offers suggestions for simplifying and clarifying what you write.
it does that by highlighting complex sentences. But you're a passive voice and other common writing issues. And it gives you alternatives it's online. It's a web based tool and you can also download it on your desktop, but it's named after Ernest Hemingway, obviously.
Because he wrote very clear and concise So if you're worried about writing in a clear and concise way, and you don't want to repeat yourself, or maybe you just want to. Check up on yourself. Try the Hemingway app.com. It does help.
And we've made it to number one, I'm going to review the top four first. Number five, believe in yourself and what you do. Number four, [00:28:00] separate your ego from marketing and selling. Number three, know who you are marketing to.
Number two, educate yourself on various marketing techniques and number one, drum roll, please.
Turn your selling and your marketing on autopilot. Ah, what does that even mean? Right. I know I came up with this term because I hated always be selling because it just sounded obnoxious. So I decided to rephrase that into autopilot selling and I'm going to tell you what that means. So my number one tip from marketing yourself and your business or anything is to turn it on autopilot. And here's how you do that. I want you to sell and market yourself and your company in a way. That is a natural extension of yourself. It's not obnoxious. It's not overbearing. you're coming from a serving mindset. You are serving the person and by coming from my serving mindset. You were always going to be selling. You are always going to be marketing when you don't even know that you're doing it. And I love autopilot [00:29:00] selling because you are putting your best foot forward in every situation, whether you're at a chamber of commerce meeting, whether you're at the grocery store, whether you're on the phone, on a zoom call, it doesn't matter.
You are the best version of yourself And you are the best person to market and represent your company and by extension your brand. here are ways that you can turn yourself on autopilot selling and marketing. Be honest, be transparent. Be clear. You've heard me talk about this before. It's worth repeating again.
There are three PS that I love that always win over in any selling or marketing situation. Personality, have a personality, be interesting. Be yourself. Your personality is what separates you from others. So show that when you are marketing yourself and your company, Positivity be positive. Nobody wants a Debbie downer be positive And be excited about what you are presenting. And the last one is proof show. Some proof that what you were saying is true
next, you've heard this before. Know what you are selling, know your product, know your service, know your company, know [00:30:00] yourself, know what you are selling. I also want you to know and sell your special sauce. What makes you special? What makes your company different? Yes. You might be an interior design firm. Fine. There's lots of those. What sets you apart from someone else? Do you have systems and processes?
Do you have a certain design style? Do you have a certain team? What do you do? What does your company do that sets you apart? And what is that special sauce and how do you present that to the world? how does that set you apart from other people?
On that note, by the way, sometimes that special sauce is something that you think that everybody has, but it really is not. So look deep and figure out what that special sauce is. That special ingredient that you have,
and really hone in on that when you are marketing
And lastly, continue to learn and grow just as we talked about before, always learn and grow. You're not going learn everything about marketing and sales right now, and then say, that's it. I'm done forever. It's always changing. There's going to be something new on the horizon tomorrow. I [00:31:00] promise you.
But All we can do is learn about it and then implement that into our companies when, and if it happens. So just be prepared to know that change is inevitable, and we are going to work those into our marketing techniques. But the basics of what I presented to you today will always apply to every single aspect of marketing your company.
Well, there you have it. I hope you've enjoyed today's episode about marketing yourself and your company, and can take these tips apply them grow your business And to be a little braver and to be a little stronger and what you were presenting when you are showing your wares to the world, remember be proud of what you've done. You've worked hard to get your company to this level. You are the best spokesperson for your brand, and you should always always be putting your best foot forward
And that is it. I will see you next episode of the designer within podcast. Thanks so much for listening everybody. see you soon.