The Use of Social Media as a Marketing Tool - Research Paper Example

? Marketing Techniques for Grad Show Interior Design al Affiliation Marketing Techniques for Grad Show Interior Design Marketing is a salient part of a business success. Interior Resource design Agency (2013) reports that in order for businesses to success, other people must know of the existence of the business and the things that the business provides. Marketing is particularly very important for interior designers who wish to build a strong brand image and make a name for themselves. However, the first step to making this a reality begins by developing a business marketing strategy, which would help the designers rise above their competitors in the market. The marketing strategy adopted must be in tandem with the business plan. This discourse seeks to explore the best marketing strategies that the interior Grad Show can employ in marketing its interior design projects. To begin with, the world has witnessed rapid technological advancement over the past few decades. The technological advancement has particularly impacted on the way people receive information. Today many people rely on the television, the internet, and radio as the main source of information. Therefore, interior designers must take advantage of technology to reach out to people from all over the world. However, the first thing that interior designers must know is that pictures of projects that had been done before, during and after the construction are of great interest to the audience to whom the interior design is being marketed. The audience at the expo would want to know the designers sense of style and capabilities. Most prospects today search for such information using Google Image to find the design example for comparison (PRK, 2013). Therefore, the first thing that Grad Show interior designers will employee to market its works is to begin by creating an account on various social media networks. It will be appropriate to begin by creating a Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin accounts. However, it will also be advisable to consider You Tube, Houzz and Pinterest, as well as the SlideShare. The designers will use these social media platforms to search for the competitors in the market using keywords such as #interiordesign on the Twitter and searching the company name on Facebook. These sites will give the designers a good platform of where to see the actions of competitor interior firms. It would be crucial to pay much attention on those interior design businesses that excel to see the style and how frequent the posts on each channel (Du Sautoy, 2009). The designers will also have a closer look at what they normally do to keep into contact with their clients. This will be helpful in telling those things that can work and those that are likely to fail. The use of social media as a marketing tool will be so beneficial to the business because it will drive prospects to the company’s website (Interior Resource design Agency, 2013). The good thing with the use of social media as a marketing tool is that it works well in tandem with the traditional ad techniques to produce ‘top-of-funnel’ sales interest (Du Sautoy, 2009). Since each network has etiquette, the designers will have to learn and follow all that which is required. The Grad Show will have to be clear about the goals it intends to accomplish and think of social media as a powerful tool in its marketing plan. It will be very crucial for Grad Show interior designers to come up with a website that has landing pages developed to capture leads that are flowing from the social media posts (Conway, 2012). These pages normally work best when they have peculiar offer in the network in the form of free download to teach the company’s prospects. The designers will ensure that downloads contain important information that be of help to the designers prospects. The social media-marketing plan to be adopted must also have unrestricted means of sharing and posting portfolio of the works already produced by the designers. Videos will also have to be created using iMovie and voice over. The designers must also ensure that transcript of the voiceover is posted on the You Tube to enable the designer’s project have a search engine optimization credit. The Grad Show interior designers will have to ensure that photographs that are to be posted on the You Tube are sharp, well crafted, and taken from a tripod level. The designers must be cautious not to post poorly taken photos since such images would only discourage clients showing interest in the company’s works (Conway, 2012). It will be very critical for the Grad Show interior designers to take images with the intension of demonstrating creativity. Once well-crafted images have been found, they should be posted within a portfolio on the company’s website with alt tags, Meta data, and descriptions (Du Sautoy, 2009). The company should also use a high-ranking keyword on the website as this will make searching the images easy to prospective clients. Grad Show interior designers will also have to take advantage of the available social media platforms that are designed specifically for interior designers to have a wide reach. Houzz is one such social media platform designed exclusively for interior designers, resident architects and building designers. Using this site as a marketing tool will enable Grad Show interior designers to exchange ideas and develop a portfolio that demonstrates their creativity and capabilities. Research has proved that Houzz is a powerful marketing tool for interior designers who tend to reach a wider audience (Interior Resource design Agency, 2013). This site is not only fast, but also very effective. Therefore, grad Show will certainly benefit superbly by using Houzz as one of its tool for reaching a wider audience in Canada and the entire world. Flickr is also another powerful social media network that Grad Show interior designers will have to consider as a marketing tool. Flickr is precisely a photo sharing site will certainly enable the company have a wide viewing (Du Sautoy, 2009). Research conducted recently showed that Flickr has over 52 million registered users. In addition, the site has over 80 million visitors globally (PRK, 2013). This site gives interior designers the opportunity to interact with consumers and exchange visual pictures and testimonials. Taking advantage of this site will give Grad Show designers the opportunity to demonstrate a wide a variety of portfolios of its works. Pinterest is another powerful social media site that Grad Show can take advantage of to market its interior design works. Pinterest is a site that provides users with an easy way of posting images of their works. In this regard, the site will provide Grad Show interior designers with an opportunity to organize and share photos the works it has produced as an individual portfolio under the heading ‘pinboards.’ The Pinterest gives people a platform where to plan innovations or new home designs, organize their favorite styles, as well as perform decorations (PRK, 2013). As such, one can easily search a photo of architecture on pinboards designed by other individuals to get a sense of ways in which individuals collect images. Apart from using the social media as a marketing tool, Grad Show interior designers can also consider adopting free publicity marketing strategy. The TV, radios, and newspapers, according to Interior Resource design Agency (2013), are also suitable marketing tools. As such, the designers should consider taking advantage of press releases and other media public relations to showcase their creativity and works. For instance, millions of people today view TV. In fact, almost every household today has a TV. As a result, seeking an opportunity to have public relations in the TV will give Grad Show designers to reach wide audience across the country and beyond the borders. The interior designers can use this opportunity to showcase their creativity and the works they have done (Interior Resource design Agency, 2013). This strategy has the potential of making the interior designers make a name for themselves and their brand. Additionally, Grad Show designers can take advantage of the media to advertise through commercial ads. Even though this might be expensive, its long-term benefit is quite greater than the costs likely to be incurred in advertising the works. Ads can be put on the newspapers, magazines, and TV with pictures showcasing what the designers have to offer (Conway, 2012). This will make the designers become known to many, thereby helping in generating client interest towards their works. Grad Show interior designers can also market its work effectively by organizing seminars and workshops. Research has shown that seminars and workshops are some of the best places to market interior designers and other creative works (Interior Resource design Agency, 2013). As such, it will be highly advisable for the designers to create pictures of the works it has done all this far and present them at a seminar or workshop Grad Show interior designers can also use direct mail, including professional bios, bronchors, and other related marketing tools to reach its targeted audience. These tools will provide the designers with the opportunity to reach a wide audience according to the targeted group, income, and location (Conway, 2012). Otherwise, Grad Show can use commercial accounts, which have also proved very effective in marketing interior design works. This would require creating an account and building relationship with clients, including contractors, property developers and managers, as well as realtors. In conclusion, marketing is a very important tool in business. Marketing helps in making the business known to people and the products that the business has to offer. Marketing is particularly important for interior designers since it make known the works of the designers with regard to style and creativity. This is important since it helps in luring clients towards the works of an interior designer. However, to reach a wide audience, interior designers must adopt effective marketing strategies. Some of the strategies that have proved effective for marketing interior design creations include the social media, TV, radio, public relations, print media, seminars, and workshops. References Conway, M. (2012). Interior design firms: visual marketing plan strategy. Retrieved from http://info.means-of-production.com/blog/bid/206035/Interior-Design-Firms-Visual-Marketing-Plan-Strategy Du Sautoy, V. (2009). 7 marketing strategies for interior designers. Retrieved from http://blog.kothea.com/2009/11/06/marketing-strategies-interior-designers-consider-these-areas/ Interior Resource Design Agency (2013). Interior design marketing: Developing a strategy. Retrieved from http://blog.idratheagency.com/2011/04/interior-design-marketing-developing.html PRK (2013). How promoting your interior design business can improve your profit. Retrieved from http://prkradio.org/?original-techniques-to-build-a-high-growth-interior-design-company&id=9749 Read More