Your showroom displays help sell your design skills and products to customers, but how do you get those customers into your store in the first place? Business consultant Paul Da Silva talks marketing
So, your showroom is all set up. Displays are in and looking great. Staff are poised and ready to start selling. Processes are set and in place. Now, you just need customers.
There are many different ways to increase your brand, both online, and also in the ‘real world’.
Online platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, Houzz, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc are excellent places for showcasing your work. You can provide images, showing the customer’s journey, from the initial home measure to the finished project. And show every step in between.
You decide what does and doesn’t get shown, and you can post as much or as little as you’d like. And even more important than showcasing your work on social media, is letting people get to know you and the team.
Now, I have a confession to make, I hate promoting myself via video or audio online. You’d be lucky to see a photo of me that isn’t my stock image that gets attached to everything.
But people not only want to see the amazing results you can give them, they want to see the team behind them. Posts that show the people behind the business usually get a lot better engagement than photos of completed projects.
Alongside the fantastic jobs you have completed, make sure you have plenty of fun posts to show the customer why they should be shopping with you. It could just be the difference between you and a competitor.
Mind you, learning the algorithms for each and every social media platform is like a science.
Marketing consultant Hayley Simmons is an expert in this field and whenever I speak to her, it just makes me realise how much is involved.
When, where, how and who to post to? Marginal gains are very important in social media, and experts like Hayley know that it’s better to post at one time than another. Also, there are other things to consider such as commenting on other people’s posts, what to share and what not to share, and the importance of links to and from your own website.
If this isn’t an area you know well, employing somebody to manage your social media pages could see a massive upturn for little outlay.
Paid advertising online seems to bring mixed results, but I hear more people complaining than praising the campaigns. Customers like to see authenticity, and they are acutely aware when they are being sold to.
Post a good mix of content, and post often, and it will increase your brand awareness.
Other channels
As well as social media, there are many other options for promoting your showroom or business.
I run a training course that goes through 50 Low Cost Marketing Ideas to promote your KBB business. I could run another course with the 5,000 I tried that didn’t work!
When I worked for large national retailers, I usually wasn’t given a local marketing budget and much of what I did had to stay below the radar. But I had massive results from very cost-effective methods.