How Successful Interior Designers Use Public Relations to Build Their Business
The vast majority of interior design businesses are classified as micro-businesses. That means they have between 1-4 employees. It also means that most interior designers wear a lot of different hats in the operation of their businesses...interior designer, human resources manager, bookkeeper, and head of marketing.
Unfortunately, being responsible for multiple roles in their interior design business doesn’t mean interior designers are good at all those roles.
It should comes a no surprise to designers that interior design schools don’t teach aspiring designers how to mount a successful public relations campaign.
That’s why I sat down with Molly Schoneveld of The Storied Group & asked her all about public relations from the POV of an interior design business owner.
Here’s what Molly had to say…
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: What is public relations?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: Public relations is defined as “The state of the relationship between the public and a company or other organization or a famous person.”
The goal of traditional PR is media coverage through stories, announcing news, reaching the right audience, and influencing behavior by cultivating a positive reputation.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: Can you differentiate between good & bad public relations? I am assuming not all PR specialists are created equal. How do you judge a good PR strategy?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: A good public relations strategy is one that looks at your specific overarching goals and then develops a plan to help you reach those. For example, if you are opening a brick and mortar store, your goal is likely to drive foot traffic. That is going to be best accomplished by doing local media. National press is great for driving brand awareness, but it’s not generally the thing to focus on when you’re trying to reach people in your community.
An example of bad publicity is when clients try to respond to backlash themselves on social media without consulting a professional. I have seen SO many people get cancelled over really bad crisis management.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: How should a company create an effective PR strategy? How do you help them do this?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: This goes back to being really clear on what your goal is with PR. I was recently interviewed on LuAnn Nigara’s podcast A Well-Designed Business, and we talked a lot about the difference in simply getting a project published (a service I offer!), and wanting to become a household name. If your goal is to become known in the design industry, it has to first start with a strong point of view. The first question I ask potential clients is…what is your biggest goal this year, and what do you want to be known for. I then create a plan to help them get there.
A lot has to do with being strategic about the media we try to secure. For example, when I launched Hammer and Spear in the downtown LA Arts District, Urban Daddy was very much the “cool” way to announce news then. We decided to give them the exclusive over the LA Times because that choice in itself made a statement and attracted the exact type of client they wanted. You really need to know who you are trying to speak to and where are those people hanging out.
Are you someone who wants to be a thought leader in the interior design space? Then part of your strategy could be telling stories about what challenges you have overcome and lessons you have learned. My client Lisa Gilmore loves to share how she too her business from 850K to 2.25 million in a year by owning up to her mismanagement of money and learning how to do better. She speaks about this on panels and podcasts, which elevates her personal brand within the industry.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: How should a company analyze & edit their existing PR strategy? How do you help them do this?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: I think the first thing you need to do is get really honest about your current reputation in your area and ask yourself is it where you want it to be? Are you attracting the clients you want to attract? If not, why not? While traditional PR focuses so much on media relations and getting publicity, modern publicity encompasses so much more. Things like social media, photography, blogs, newsletters—all of these things need to be considered in your overall marketing and PR strategy. I help see blind spots when it comes to interior designers and the way they are marketing themselves, as well as point out what is possible that maybe they had never thought of before.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: How does (or how should) a company’s public relations impact the rest of their marketing strategy? How do you make sure marketing efforts align with the the public relations you want to have? How do you help them do this?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: PR (changing the story) and Publicity (getting earned media) is only one part of marketing and it can’t be the only part of marketing that you put any money or effort into. In order to get the best results from marketing, it requires doing the hard work of figuring out who you seek to impact and then putting yourself into their shoes to understand their deepest desires.
The media is so fragmented these days that it’s very rare to get “The Oprah Effect,” which is a phrase that refers to the boost in sales that followed an endorsement on The Oprah Winfrey Show that turned many lifestyle companies into multi-million dollar brands and many TV personalities into household names overnight (i.e. Nate Berkus). Today, your social media/photography/website needs to have a consistent brand voice and aesthetic, which can then be punctuated by the publicity you get. But it also will impact that kind of publicity you can get. You need have these foundational elements in a great place before you seek publicity.
I talk a lot more about marketing in a past newsletter for The Storied Group here.
Something I say a lot is not to share a lot of other designer’s work on your own social media platforms unless you have already amassed a large following. Why? Because if someone comes to your page, they will have no idea who YOU are as a designer. Is your photography up to par? This has a huge impact on whether or not your projects will be published. I recommend photographers all the time to clients and help them hire interior stylists to make sure their photos will be up to editorial standards. Photography is often the thing designers get wrong—especially if they want to be published. I help my clients know what they need in order to up their chances.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: Can you explain how great public relations could transform their business...their perception, quantity & quality of clients, etc? How important should PR be to their marketing efforts?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: Publicity is what will give you credibility in the industry. If you have designed an incredible project with a unique story, posting to your social media and website will only take you so far. Getting visibility in a design magazine generally also comes with social media amplification from that media outlet and often times, in their email newsletter too. So your project is getting far more reach than you could ever give it on your own. For many designers, getting published is one of the things that helps them stand behind their rates and attract better clients.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: If you were starting to work with an interior designer…
How does the process work?
What would you do for them?
What would be expected from them?
How do you describe success...what should they expect...best case scenario?
What would it cost & what kind of return on investment could they expect?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: I am mostly taking on new clients right now for my project placement service because the simple fact is that PR is expensive and doesn’t make sense for a lot of designers to have on an ongoing basis. It’s best to make the investment when you have a news hook (book, product launch, store opening) or when you have a project worthy of being published.
For my retainer clients who do have many press-worthy projects during the year, there is homework required for us to keep them in the media. What you put into it is often what you will get out of it. We pitch our designers for expert opinion pieces, podcasts, panels, conferences, showhouses etc but we have to know what our designers are currently loving, what they are seeing a lot of, what color paint they recommend, etc.
We have a client questionnaire when we begin and also schedule a kick-off call to establish pitch angles and your zone of genius so that we can develop evergreen pitches—this also helps cut down on how much we bug you for information! We also stalk our clients on social media and have been known to screen shot the stories they share to help us with a pitch!
The way I measure my own success is if I am able to consistently get my retainer clients publicity and opportunities that help build the momentum they need to take their business to the next level.
Sometimes publicity can be life changing—in the case of Hammer and Spear, when I got their first studio project in AD, it gave them the footing they needed to be taken seriously by the high-end design scene in Los Angeles and attract more clients.
If you’re tying publicity to the launch of something, it can be the difference of people knowing about you vs. nobody knowing about you.
Sometimes the ROI is not as obvious—sometimes what publicity does for a designer is give them more confidence, and the ability to make decisions from a place of expansion (rather than fear). That is so powerful.
PR is an investment. My monthly retainer service is anywhere from 6K-10K depending on scope of work.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: The relationship between an interior designer & their clients is based on a high level of trust. Most interior designers get new clients leads from referrals. People trust those referrals from friends & family. On the other hand, HGTV et al have created a group of celebrity designers who are known because of tv appearances. After watching a season of a design show, tv viewers feel they "know" these designers.
Am I correct to assume that a good PR campaign is similar in that it builds familiarity & respect around that client designer who starts appearing in various media outlets thanks to your work?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: Yes, one of the biggest things publicity does for a person is give them credibility to get other opportunities. Whether you dream of being invited to appear on industry panels or to have a product line, having the media to back it up will help. PR is basically your reputation and perception. When people see you in a magazine, provided the story is positive, the perception is that you are someone worth paying attention to.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: Most interior design firms are hyper local. How does public relations help a business that does business in one geographical area?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group: I have design clients all over the country and I very often recommend that our efforts be focused in their local area. As I mentioned before, local press can often times have the biggest impact if you’re looking for direct ROI.
Douglas Robb - Interior Designer: Who are some of interior design clients you have worked with?
MOLLY SCHONEVELD The Storied Group:
Many others but this is a start!
About Molly
Molly Schoneveld is the founder of The Storied Group, an award-winning public relations firm that bridges the gap between entertainment and lifestyle.
She got her start at powerhouse entertainment firm PMK, where she worked with A-list talent, producers and directors, which gave her a deep understanding of the work that goes into building personal brands with influence, and how influencers can help build brands.
She launched renowned design firm Hammer and Spear in the LA Arts District, putting husband and wife team Kristan Cunningham and Scott Jarrell on the map as pioneers on the forefront of the DTLA design renaissance.
Contact Molly
Website: www.thestoriedgroup.com
Email: Contact Molly
Blog: www.thesoughtafter.com
Instagram: @thestoriedgroup
Facebook: @thestoriedgroup
Linkedin: @the-storied-group
