3 Keys to Building Your Interior Design Brand

Your brand is one of the most powerful tools you have to attract and engage clients. With so many channels available today to communicate with prospective clients and market your services, having a strong, unique brand that will help your firm stand out from the competition is more important than ever.

A strong brand has many components, such as high-quality graphics and imagery, a clear and concise promise, and a solid reputation for delivering on that promise. What sets some brands apart from all the others and makes them truly unique, though, are three key elements. They are to be Authentic, Compelling, and Transformative. If you want a great brand, you need to ACT.

Express your true self

In all the history of the world, there is and only will be one you. What makes your brand unique is what you personally bring to it. Your brand should reflect not only your talents but also your passion for design, your unique perspective and tastes, and whatever other values, ideals, aspirations and goals motivate you in your work. Forget about fads, trends and fashions. Those come and go. The foundation of your brand needs to be your deepest, most authentic self.

Interior design is very personal. Prospective clients want to feel that they can identify with the person who is going to make changes in their cherished environment. It won’t take long for them to discover whether you’re the person your brand purports you to be and whether they can trust you to deliver what you promise.

Be irresistible

Ask yourself, why should anyone hire me? I hope, and I believe, that you can come up with a compelling answer to that question. The operative word here is “compelling.” Your brand promise needs to draw prospective clients to you by satisfying some need or desire they have that other designers do not or cannot satisfy.

What do you have to offer prospective clients that will tip them toward choosing your firm over another? It could be your approach to design, your salesmanship and professionalism, an amazing team of designers and contractors, outstanding client service and follow-up, a willingness to work closely with the client, flexibility in selecting and sourcing products, an appreciation for local culture and history, a respect for family traditions and heirlooms, a specialty in sustainable design, or a keen and innovative eye for detail, color and pattern. Whatever it is, you want to push it to the forefront of your branding and marketing.

Make a difference

Any designer worthy of the designation can change a look. Let prospective clients know what you can do to transform their lives. Show and explain to them how your design will make their environment more compatible, comfortable, livable, functional, inspirational, sustainable, healthier, safer, and beautiful.

What matters most will vary from client to client. From a branding perspective, the crucial message is that you don’t just design spaces; you improve and elevate clients’ quality of life.

Whether you’re a solopreneur or the principal in a firm, as a creative you are your brand, regardless of whether it is your name on the shingle or not. Decide what it is about you that you want prospective clients to know and trust, then ACT to create a brand that embodies and celebrates those qualities.