Whether you’re an interior designer, fashion designer, architect, or something in between, it’s imperative that your business stands out and makes a statement. How are you doing in this area?
4 Ways Your Design Biz Can Stand Out
There’s a lot that goes into building a successful brand. To pretend everything hinges on one key element would be a foolish oversight. But it’s also unwise to ignore the importance of certain factors – such as visibility.
In crowded design niches, you have to stand out from the crowd. And while you may have an idea of how this works visually, there’s also a technical side of things. In order to help your design business stand out, you must master the following:
1. SEO 
Those three dreaded letters – S–E-O – aren’t something most business owners and designers want to think about. It’s a very technical aspect of marketing and visibility that requires specificity and attention to detail. But it’s not as daunting as many make it out to be.
As Bambrick Media explains, “Search engines use off page signals, including backlinks, shared content and brand mentions on social media, to judge the quality and relevance of your site.” The same goes for on page signals. And at the end of the day, that’s really what SEO is about: Proving that your site is reliable and relevant.
Most designers are intimidated by SEO and avoid it like the plague. However, the best thing you can do is take action. In particular, focus on the following:
- Get an idea of where you stand by using a simple tool like Alexa or Google Webmasters.
- Develop a list of keywords that you believe are important to your business and target them with natural content built around key topics.
- Create a white hat link building strategy where you get other websites to link to your pages naturally. (This builds credibility.)
Once you take these simple steps, you’ll realize that SEO isn’t really as intimidating as it seems. The more you do, the greater control you feel.
2. Branding 
Most designers understand what they do. Web designers design websites. Interior designers decorate homes. Fashion designers put together looks. But in order to refine your brand, you have to understand the why and how behind your brand.
To make your brand stand out, ask yourself the following:
- What problem are you solving for your clients?
- Why are you solving this problem for your clients?
- How (specifically) do you solve this problem?
Armed with the answers to these questions, you can come up with unique branding that stands out and drives traffic to your business.
3. Customer Service 
“All customers have an expectation of great service and will not put up with waiting in long lines or receiving poor responses from representatives,” entrepreneur Larry Myler writes. “Around 75% of customers state that they consider customer service a true test of a company’s competence.”
This includes 75 percent of your customers! If you’re trying to get by on your product alone, you’re missing a huge piece of the puzzle. Devote your business to better service and your brand will naturally become more trustworthy in the eyes of your target market.
4. Content Marketing 
Content is currency in the world of online marketing. Not only does it matter for SEO purposes, but it’s also an integral connector between your brand and customers.
According to marketer Jean Ban, exceptional content marketing does three things: (1) transitions from a hard sell (“it’s about me”) to a soft sell (“it’s about you”); (2) engages customers with useful content that relates to their buying process; and (3) connects your content to other content to continue informing and influencing customers long after purchase.
Begin by creating onsite content on your own blog and website. You can then link to this content via guest blogging, social sharing, and other backlink strategies.
Get Ahead of the Game
A quality value proposition and compelling product are obviously paramount to success in the design industry, but you also need to perfect the technical details that impact online visibility. From SEO and branding to website development and content marketing, make sure you’re well versed on what it takes to push your brand to the top of a crowded field.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
