The Kate Show: Recent Episodes
Kate the Socialite
The Kate Show is a marketing podcast for interior designers, home stagers, professional organizers and window treatment specialists.
In every episode, Kate explains simple, no-nonsense ways to effectively market your business online. To learn more or read the show notes, go to www.katethesocialite.com.
"I don't have time for that."
"I'm too busy."
"I'm overwhelmed."
Have you ever felt this way? Time management is one of the most difficult and important things to master as an entrepreneur. It impacts how many clients we can serve, how well we can market ourselves to new leads, and even affects how we present ourselves as individuals.
I recently started doing a mindset experiment in which I stopped talking about how busy I was and I also stopped thinking that I didn’t have enough time to do everything. This experiment was prompted by my recent coaching experience — shoutout to Andrea Liebross Coaching — and I was intrigued. Could I, an overwhelmed mom, wife, and business owner who hasn’t slept properly since the summer of 2019, suddenly have tons of bandwidth? It seemed far-fetched, but I didn’t have anything to lose.
To begin my experiment, I didn’t remove any tasks from my to-do list. That would have been cheating. Instead, I stared down my to-do list (it was Friday, so I was in mom mode rather than work mode) and whispered to myself, “I DO have time for all of this, plus quality time with the kids.”
Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth. Yes. I was still stressed.
As the day progressed, however, I realized that I was getting everything done, even with the many interruptions that come with having two little kids. But instead of getting frustrated every time I had to stop what I was doing to break up a fight, kiss an owie, or serve up a snack, I kept repeating, “I have time. I have plenty of time.”
A few days later, my husband asked me if I had a busy day of work planned. I could see him already bracing himself for the answer of, “Yes, I have a ton of work to get done,” which would have been true.
Instead, I just shrugged and said, “I have the normal amount. No big deal.” It wasn’t a lie, I realized. It was all in how I chose to look at it.
In the weeks that I’ve been practicing the art of creating bandwidth, I’ve picked up on a handful of other habits that allow me to compress more productivity into each hour without operating from scarcity. I’m by no means an expert at this, but I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve experienced so far, and it reminds me of the Bible’s wisdom on this common human struggle:
“Be still, and know that I am God!” - Psalm 46:10
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” - Matthew 6:33
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28
Whether you subscribe to a Biblical worldview or not, consider this: the guilt, shame, and stress that come from poor time management and misplaced priorities are some of the lowest emotional frequencies. They weaken us. They make us susceptible to failure. They will damage relationships.
It is imperative that you get control of your time and put more generous boundaries on your bandwidth. Your life and business success, to a point, ride on that aspect of your character. To make it easier, today on The Kate Show I’m sharing seven habits I use to get more done in less time — without all the stress.
Have your leads slowed down in 2024? As the economy recovers from inflation, sometimes it feels worse even while it’s getting better. I say this not to discourage you, but to let you know that you're not alone. If your business lacks leads when you previously had plenty, it might not be “all your fault.” It could just be the ebb and flow of business.
That said, control what you can control. If you want to ensure you’re doing everything you can to nurture the growth of your business in the home industry, you need to remain proactive. If nothing else, put your extra downtime to good use by drilling down on your marketing and making it worth every penny.
On the other hand, if you continue to experience a steady number of quality leads coming into your business, don’t let yourself become apathetic toward marketing. Savvy entrepreneurs who understand the requirements of building long-term success will market their businesses non-stop, though the method will vary from season to season. If you want your business to stay in its growth season, this is the episode for you.
I once thought I could have it all — run a business, be a supportive spouse, keep my kids with me 24/7 until they started preschool, and still (somehow) squeeze in enough self-care to help me remember who I was apart from all those roles. Ha!
Needless to say, I was incredibly naive. For the first few years of becoming a mom, having already established the business, I thought I could work while the kids took a nap or played. I thought I didn’t need to “waste time” on doing things for myself out of pure enjoyment and frivolity. I thought I could be a great wife, mom, and CEO all at the same time. It was a lofty goal and, as I eventually — begrudgingly — had to admit, it was not a realistic goal to have.
In February 2023, I had reached a complete state of utter burnout after nearly four years of trying to do it all by myself, as though I were trying to earn a badge of honor for requesting and accepting the least amount of help possible. I was a natural at doing things the hard way, and I turned myself into a martyr. I kept a secret scoreboard of who was actually doing more around the house — me or my husband — and I felt the overwhelming desire to insert myself into every situation. I didn’t know it then, but I was incredibly controlling. It almost cost me my marriage, and it certainly didn’t make me a good mom or role model for my son and daughter.
I knew there had to be a better way to live, but I didn’t think I had the time or ability to slow down and figure it all out. How could I fix it when I wasn’t sure what the problem was?
“It shouldn’t be this hard!” and “I have no time!” and “I’m just trying to help!” were a few things I constantly said to myself between moments of lucidity and chronic exhaustion. After all, I had (and still have) a tremendous number of blessings: My family, their health, my health, a beautiful home, a successful business. Complaining about anything sounded very pretentious and entitled, so I tried not to say much. I just became a quietly bitter, stressed-out human being.
If you feel pulled in too many directions and if you constantly berate yourself for struggling so hard, or if you keep a personal scoreboard between you and your spouse (and frequently find them to be lacking) this episode is for you. The year 2023 was transformative for me, and I’m so excited to share with you what I learned in the hope that you will be able to avoid some stress and heartache.
Bad marketing advice is the reason I am developing frown lines. You should see me sitting at my desk, squinting at my laptop screen and doing a double-take.
“They’re telling designers to do WHAT?”
I’m pretty protective of you guys. I want your businesses to succeed. But when I first started, I fell for (and probably promoted) marketing advice that didn’t fit the home industry, too.
You might have realized in the course of running your own business that design firms, home staging companies, and pro organizing businesses aren’t like other companies. You’re offering, most often, an in-person service that is tailored to each situation and further customized to each person in that situation. Some of you are literally sorting through your clients’ underwear drawers (love you, organizers!).
Marketing such an intimate, high-ticket business means that general marketing tips might not be as effective for your business as they might be for the bookstore or restaurant down the street. If you’re wondering which marketing tactics you can avoid, this episode of The Kate Show is for you. Today, I’m reading through and reacting to some really poor marketing advice. And I’m providing alternative advice for every bad piece of advice that I address.
“Marketing feels gross,” I used to think.
In the early years of business, I didn’t know how to communicate my brand message…and I didn’t even know what a brand message was anyway. I felt so overwhelmed and drained by one steady thought: “How do I know if I’m doing any of this correctly when I can’t see the results yet? Am I just wasting my time and money on marketing?”
Ruminating on those negative thoughts felt awful, as you might have also experienced, and I knew there had to be a simpler way to find and convert clients that I actually liked working with. Fast forward a decade (yes, it took that long), and I finally had answers.
After providing countless marketing consultations, marketing plans, and strategies for interior designers, home stagers, professional organizers, and window treatment specialists, I was able to lay out a framework of marketing laws that can help nearly any home industry business make marketing easier.
If you’re ready to apply these laws to your own business, let’s dive right in.
Knowing what to say in your marketing is only half the battle. What about the words, phrases, or ideas you should completely avoid? Today on The Kate Show, I’m talking about the two key phrases you shouldn’t include on your website, your blog posts, your email marketing, or your print advertising.
I’m also sharing exact verbiage you can use to market your business in other ways, beyond everything you might already be doing online or in print.
So, today, I’m laying it all out there…no fluff, just tough love and action steps that will benefit you and your business long-term.
Ready for some real talk?! Here it is…
Have you made a monthly blog part of your marketing strategy yet? I could tell you all day long why you should, but until you see the results play out in real-time, you might wonder if you’re wasting time or you might question whether you're even doing it correctly. I get it!
With the majority of Google search results being blog posts, it is safe to say that blogging is still a relevant and smart way to get more of the right traffic to your website. But…blogging can also feel like one of the most tedious marketing tasks to check off the list. Today’s episode aims to show you a better way to blog.
Do you know why you should blog, how frequently you should publish a post, what to say, and how to make sure you are talking to your ideal client versus just producing content?
Whew — lots of questions and, on today’s episode, we have a lot of answers. Long-time listeners of The Kate Show might recognize today’s interview from a couple of years ago. I wanted to re-air this episode because the tips that my guest, Jaquilyn Edwards of Ochre & Beige, provides are still relevant today and they are things that every home pro should know.
You’ll hear Jaquilyn share helpful insights on topics such as why a massive readership of your blog should not be your goal, how long it takes for a single blog post to gain traction, and (this one is still a very hot topic today) what to do with a blog post after you publish it.
I’ve had the honor of working with home industry professionals across the globe, and what I’ve recognized is this: Whether you are an interior designer in Dubai or a home stager right here in Wisconsin, you (we?) all have similar challenges to overcome.
Often, our biggest challenge is ourselves. While this should be the easiest to fix, it’s often the most difficult because, first, we have to be self-aware enough to accept that perhaps we are the bottleneck, the sticking point, or even the saboteur of our own businesses.
In today’s episode of The Kate Show, I’m sharing the eight key phrases that people will say to me on discovery calls that help me predict whether their business is headed for success or failure. It is especially gratifying to work with these clients when they are open to self-reflection and committed to changing their mindset. If you hear yourself in any of the eight phrases I’m sharing today, don’t lose hope.
Marketing shouldn’t be hard. You don’t have to continue being swept away in a tidal wave of confusion and dollar signs when you think about your marketing plan. The amazing part about owning a business in the home industry is that, aside from making spaces beautiful and functional, your marketing is largely based on personal relationships.
That is so much easier than trying to market a business with overtly negative connotations, such as a dentist’s office or a law firm. You and your business are instantly and automatically associated with beauty and personalization — and especially in recent years — overall wellness.
But marketing might still feel like a drag. If that describes your situation, this episode of The Kate Show is for you. With this being my 250th episode, I thought it would be cool (and oh-so-telling) to re-release my very first podcast episode. I had to screen it first, because who knows what I said back in those days… Sheesh.
I hope you enjoy this episode and that it reminds you that we all have to start somewhere.
How many new clients do you get from referrals? I would guess that over 90% of your new business comes from this classic, solid, beautiful marketing strategy. It’s quite simple: Do a good job, and people will tell their friends about you.
But for some reason, we’ve been conditioned to believe that we should be getting clients from other sources, such as social media or search engines. If that describes you, I ask you to reconsider. The ironic thing about word-of-mouth referrals is that they will come at you from every angle, often disguised as coming from a different source.
Consider this scenario:
A lead finds you because someone in a Facebook group recommended you. Was that a social media lead or a word-of-mouth referral? It was a referral! That lead didn’t find you based on what you posted on social media, but instead because someone in that group recommended you.
And consider this scenario:
A lead contacts you via direct message on Instagram, stating that they’ve been following you for a while and their friend highly recommended you. Is that a social media lead or a referral lead? Bingo — referral again! They were following you forever, but they weren’t motivated to hire you until their friend made the recommendation.
If you are getting clients by word-of-mouth referral, you likely have a healthy business and solid brand recognition. Let’s capitalize on that, shall we?
Have you ever talked about something that made you sweaty? I both love and hate doing it. When I shared at the beginning of 2024 how I had (finally) stopped worrying about my business and boldly shared my faith, the response was — and still is — so encouraging. I was nervous to share something so personal, but I’ve received so many positive DMs and emails about that episode that I’ve decided to continue.
My tentative plan is to dedicate one episode per month to a more personal topic, with today’s episode being no exception.
This episode of The Kate Show is not like the others: Getting canceled, being a woman, being glad I’m not “enough,” and revealing some of the grossest marketing tactics currently being used in Western culture…those are just a few topics I’m covering.
You’ve heard dozens (or thousands?) of times about what you SHOULD be doing to market your interior design, staging, organizing, or window treatment business. But what about the pitfalls that can wreck your marketing momentum faster than a stick shoved through the spokes of your bike? (Ouch.)
Today on The Kate Show, we’re talking about the five common and completely avoidable mistakes that home industry entrepreneurs make in their marketing. Annnnd spoiler alert: This isn’t another episode in which I rail against social media. No, the pitfalls I’m sharing today are much more serious and more detrimental to your business than whether you should post another photo because a successful marketing strategy is about so much more than whether you choose to post pictures on the internet.
If marketing makes you nervous, if you tend to overthink it, if you constantly feel overwhelmed by it, this episode is for you.
Do you know the real reason why designers, stagers, and other home professionals avoid creating a marketing plan? They over-complicate it.
If you’ve ever thought that creating a marketing plan for your business meant that you had to know exactly which blog post topics, social media content, and email marketing subjects would be released each week over the next quarter — take a deep breath — you’re overthinking it.
Your marketing plan should be written in pencil, not permanent marker. You should be committed to that plan evolving, even while you’re implementing it. A marketing plan creates a big boundary surrounding and protecting all the things you CAN do while blocking out the “shiny object marketing ideas” that will only distract you.
Want to create daily TikToks for your business? Nope, that isn’t supported by the marketing plan because your ideal client doesn’t use that platform, nor is there any data to support that social media helps sell high-end home services.
Want to blog about your recent project reveal? Yes, that’s allowed by the marketing plan.
Been offered an ad placement in a local magazine? No, your marketing plan forbids you from competing with everyone else’s ad, especially since you wouldn’t be able to track that ad’s effectiveness.
Want to send a last minute email newsletter about a new service or product that you are offering, even though that wasn’t the topic you had planned for this month? Yes, your marketing plan supports the fact that you can change topics mid-stride as long as all topics relate to your business and your ideal client.
If you’re ready to create a flexible, practical marketing plan for your home industry business, today is the perfect time. In this episode of The Kate Show, I’ll walk you through exactly how to do it. As with most things in marketing, it’s actually far less complicated than most people would think.
Let’s do it!
I’m convinced that the worst part about marketing is just thinking about marketing. When I actually sit down and do it with a plan in mind, I feel great. And when it’s done, I feel fantastic.
You might not feel this positive about your marketing, and that’s okay. You don’t have to like something in order to do it. But…I do have five specific ways I address my own marketing that have made it far more enjoyable, successful, and most importantly, ensure that it gets done.
Today on the podcast, I’m sharing those five things with you — and as a heads-up — I don’t view them as optional or as just “good ideas.” If I didn’t do these five things, not only would I fail at marketing my own business, but I’d also fail at helping my clients market theirs.
These five actions I take to make sure my marketing gets done well and done consistently are pretty darn important, and you’ll want to take notes. Let’s get into them.
Do you ever worry that the economy is going to take down your business? Take heart. Some of today’s most successful businesses were started during the crash of 2008. While the economy might try to push your business off course, you get to push back.
Today on the podcast, my fearless, no-filter guest is going to show you how to ride the waves of an ever-changing economy without being flooded with fear and uncertainty. While her specialty is helping owners of organizing businesses, her bold wisdom and insight are also helpful for interior designers, stagers, and window treatment professionals.
Hold on to your hats, your hair extensions, and any other personal belongings, ladies! This is one heck of an episode.
If your New Year’s resolution is to revamp or uplevel your business in the home industry, I want you to pause for a moment.
You don’t have to reinvent your business just because the calendar has turned to January. Instead, you should look at your business objectively and focus on three key areas that might need adjustments rather than overhauls: Your motive, message, and method.
Before you can update your website with new branding or write another blog post or send another email newsletter, you need to assess whether what you want for your business is in alignment with what you’re saying and whether you’re saying it in a way that makes sense for the ideal client that you want to reach.
Today on The Kate Show, I’m going to walk you through a simple, three-step process that will help you know whether your business is set up for marketing success this year — and what to do if it isn’t.
Happy New Year! How stressed out are you about 2024?
Has worrying about your business or life at large become your primary creative venture? You might be feeling just as I was: Exhausted. Drained. Frozen — and not in the “let it go” or “let’s build a snowman” kind of way. Like me, you might have climbed the mountain of self-helpism only to find that the view from the top was actually really cloudy and that you didn’t feel any more confident about your business or any less worried, either.
In reality, we as American entrepreneurs don’t have a lot to complain about. We have the freedom to pursue our dreams, and with that comes all the personal baggage. There truly is no differentiation between personal and professional life, and the spillover from one to the other is real (and can be a struggle).
Today on the podcast, I’m taking things in a very personal direction. You guys know I’m a follower of God, and you also know that I don’t keep quiet about it in my brand. This episode is about sharing my very personal, vulnerable story with how I finally stopped being a control freak and a worrier in regard to my business.
I felt the need to share this because I speak with many of you who seem to have the same sense of anxiety over your own businesses. You overanalyze every marketing decision you make, fearing that one wrong move will halt the growth of your business. Or you worry, as I have, that the success you’ve worked so hard to achieve could disappear. It’s not a fun way to live, let me tell you!
Until recently, I considered myself a professional worrier. I thought of nearly every possible bad scenario and came up with a solution for it even though those bad things never actually happened. However, something else was happening at the same time and it was causing needless turmoil and preventing me from the full experience of a great business and a great life.
Ironically, the better things became in my business and life in general, the more I worried. I worried about losing it all by some uncontrollable calamity or by my own poor choices. Was I being a good enough mom, or will my kids end up in therapy? Am I making the right business decisions, or am I going to self-destruct? How do I know if I’m actually being my best self? I had the constant feeling of impending doom, like I was walking the edge of a cliff and was always one or two wrong moves away from slipping.
Sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? But I’m pretty sure this sort of thing is what our culture would classify as “anxiety.” While anxiety can be worsened by chemical factors, poor diet, or a lack of proper rest, anxiety is also an illness of the soul, an illness that impacts every choice we make. And that’s why today we’re today about worry, the solution for it, and what to do in our businesses when we feel completely bewildered about what to do next.
It has taken me almost a decade to realize all the things that I’m going to share with you today. If you are a worrier, take heart. If there is hope for me, there is hope for you. Thank God that every day is a new beginning because there are still days that I have to go all the way back to the basics and remember why I don’t have to choose worry or anxiety anymore. That’s why I’m creating this episode, for myself as much as for you.
Starting a brand new business brings up a lot of emotions for most women. We question our worth. We aren’t sure how our clients will ever take us seriously. We question our abilities. We aren’t sure how much to charge for our services.
And yet, we are so excited to be doing the thing we feel called to be doing. We can almost taste the success. We can almost smell that delicious scent of victory.
But…how do you bridge that gap? How do you go from clueless about running a business to curious about how many more amazing things you could accomplish if you moved forward with confidence instead of confusion or fear?
Today’s guest on the podcast has not only grown her own thriving design business, but she also hosts a podcast for design newbies and offers resources tailored to their needs. If you are new to the design industry and looking for a roadmap that will show you how to set up your design business properly, this episode is for you.
Friends, this is a special episode for me. Not only do I get to interview another wonderful client of my agency, but I also get to rant with her about the importance of offline marketing (and how to do it correctly). Plus, she shares her emotion-free way of addressing leads who fuss about her prices — while she keeps her dignity and her confidence firmly intact.
If you’ve struggled with confidence in your business, especially around “putting yourself out there” or charging for your services, this is the episode you need to hear.
Running a virtual agency means that I rarely get to meet my clients in person, but today’s podcast guest is both a client and a personal friend of mine. She’s someone I aspire to be when I grow up (despite my four-year-old reminding me that I’m “already a grown-up”). Today’s guest is the perfect example of how we’re never actually done growing as professionals and of how much potential we all have when we stop putting limitations on ourselves.
Georgiana Schwandt is my valued friend and client. She and I have been on multiple coffee dates, discussing life and business and dreams for the future. Her granddaughter and my daughter performed in the same ballet recital last spring. And now that my family has settled into our new home in the land of pines, Georgi’s incredibly successful window treatment business, Incredible Windows, is outfitting my whole house with Hunter Douglas window coverings.
I’m honored to do life and business alongside Georgi, and I’m often blown away by her poise and the elegant simplicity with which she runs her business. If you’ve been looking for a way to grow your window treatment business, consider her your muse. I’ll be asking her everything, from how she became a Hunter Douglas dealer after retirement to how she grew her small and mighty team. I’ll also be asking her about her best tips for scaling to multi-six figures while working part-time hours. You won’t want to miss this!
When I had life and business coach Andrea Liebross on my podcast in February 2023, I didn't know that I'd end up hiring her almost immediately after we were done recording her interview. Because, let’s face it, there are A LOT of coaches in the world, and many of them help their clients create amazing success.
But Andrea was different because she really seemed to understand the dramatic plot of the modern female entrepreneur. She went straight for the heart of most of our problems as female entrepreneurs... Our thoughts! She was ruthless in that interview, and I encourage you to go back to Episode 221 and listen to it if you haven’t yet.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one blown away by her incredible wisdom that day, because I keep hearing from more of you guys who have also started coaching with her.
Six months later and halfway through my own coaching journey, I have become Kate 2.0 — I'm confident, I'm the CEO, I'm thinking bigger and with more clarity about my business and my personal life.
I wish I could bottle the results I’ve gotten and inject them into your bloodstream like an IV, but since I can’t do that, I thought I’d just have Andrea on the show again.
If you feel stuck in your life or business, you need to hear my second interview with Andrea.
Starting a home staging business is flat-out overwhelming, whether it's your second career or your first. If you wish someone could give you a sneak peek into what you should do when you're just getting started, or if you feel stuck after trying to grow your staging business for several years, you need to hear today's episode.
Today, I have successful home stager, former realtor, and hyper-focused business coach Marianne Cherico on the podcast to dispel the myths and help you navigate the hurdles of running and growing your home staging business.
I love it when technology and design mesh in a way that makes sense, helps businesses grow, and brings happiness to design clients. If you feel the same way, you’d better stop what you’re doing and listen to this interview.If your clients struggle to visualize the design ideas you present to them, despite your great presentation and beautiful mood boards, you know this is a sticking point in your workflow that has the potential to result in smaller sales or slower projects, namely and largely due to client indecision.What if there was a way to walk them through the end result of their designed space — but before any labor had begun? Thanks to today’s guest, now you can.Stream The Kate Show wherever you get your podcasts.
You might be familiar with the term “glow up” when it comes to personal appearance and lifestyle. But have you ever applied that same concept to your business? At the heart of it, glowing up involves taking small, definitive actions that improve your overall quality of life, appearance, and presence.
While this episode isn’t about adding a “hot girl walk” into your morning routine, though the viral 4-mile walk probably wouldn’t hurt any of us, it is about self-care from the standpoint of entrepreneurship. As business owners, we tend to think of ourselves and our businesses last. Our businesses get any leftover energy we have after working with clients. Our businesses take the brunt of our experiments, and after a while, things tend to start looking a little haphazard and neglected.
Are you ready to refresh your business and renew the excitement you have for it while giving your professional confidence a little boost? Let’s do it!
Interior designers, home stagers, and organizers, if you’re overwhelmed with work in your business — client work or internal work — you might not need to hire another person. Perhaps you just need better processes and some automation. Perhaps you’re spending too much time doing things that don’t even need to be done. (At all. By anyone.)
Or, it’s also possible that the tasks you’re doing really do need to be done, but would be better done by someone else so that you can stay in your zone of genius, doing what only you can do.
Yet another possibility is that your current team dynamic isn’t working. Perhaps your design assistant isn’t as capable as he or she needs to be. Maybe you spend too much time babysitting your assistant instead of delegating to them.
Maybe you would love to hire another person (or your first person) but you aren’t sure which position to hire first, how much to pay them, where to find them, or how to train them. Meanwhile, you run around like a headless chicken in your business, trying to wear all the hats and be all things to all people…and it’s slowly killing you.
Wouldn’t you love to know where to find the next person your business needs in order to grow? And wouldn’t you be even more relieved to know that your hiring needs could be satisfied just by adopting better systems and processes?
If you are concerned that a lack of processes or people is holding back your business from the success you know it can achieve, you won’t want to miss this episode. I’m talking with Jessica Harling of Behind the Design about all things people and processes.
You’ve heard about SideDoor — the completely unprecedented online tool that lets you sell trade-only products through your website. You might have an account with them. Perhaps you’ve even made a few sales from your curated collections, but how can you truly make it a viable income stream and put all of its features to good use?
Today I’m speaking with Chad Smith, Director of SideDoor. He shares valuable insights into how the most successful interior designers and stagers are using SideDoor and the new features SideDoor offers that you might not know about yet.
I’m honored to continue Socialite’s media partnership with SideDoor, and I would be using their platform without a doubt if I ran an interior design firm. As it is, I run a mere marketing agency instead and have to admire them from afar.
Home stagers and interior designers, you should give this platform serious consideration. This interview will have you racing to your computer to create a new SideDoor collection.
Mind control — the moment you read those words, you likely had a negative reaction in the pit of your stomach. But here’s the funny thing about it: If you can control your own mind, you become the hero of your own story and a legacy for thousands of others, but if you try to control someone else’s mind, you are the villain in a hundred stories.
The concept of mind control, or controlling what we think about, has been painted in a bad, mad-scientist light. Its counterpart, mindfulness, usually gets all the praise as a trendy buzzword.
Don’t get me wrong, mindfulness is great. But…
You need to have full control over your own thoughts if you want to have great marketing. Someone with poor control over their thoughts will struggle to make decisions, will lack confidence, and will be easily swayed by what everyone else is doing. They will find it difficult to stay true to their ideal clients’ needs. They will run full force at marketing without a strategy or a reason behind what they are doing. They will burn themselves out.
And that’s why, friends, today on The Kate Show we are talking about the 5 mindset shifts you need to make if you want to stop stressing about your marketing and start growing your business instead.
This episode is politically incorrect, non-sugarcoated, and might be exactly the kick in the pants you need to become what I’ve always known you could be.
If you’ve been running a business in the home industry for more than two years, you’ve likely run into some nuanced marketing questions, such as…
“Which blog post topics will resonate most with high-end clients versus the DIYers that I don’t want to attract?”
“Which marketing tools do I actually need? I’d rather not be working with 15 different platforms.”
“My pipeline dried up after years of getting business primarily from referrals. What now?!”
If you’d like to hear the answers to these questions, and more, you won’t want to miss today’s episode of The Kate Show.
Do you have a burning marketing question? Today is your day. In this episode of The Kate Show, I’m answering 10 of the most-asked questions I get from all of you. I’m covering things like, “How can I quickly get my next client?” to “How can I get more contacts on my mailing list?” as well as some hard-won marketing tips from other home professionals who’ve created their own success.
This was supposed to be a rapid-fire Q&A, but…I went on a few rants and there will be a follow-up episode with 10 more not-so-rapid-fire Q&As.
Enjoy!
One of the most frequent requests I get from interior designers, home stagers, organizers, and window professionals is this:
“Can you create a marketing plan for me?”
The short of it is, yes, I spend a lot of time doing this on private consulting calls with my Vault members. The longer version of it is… Why don’t I just pull back the curtain on my easy, six-step strategy process so you can do it yourself? Even if you choose to have me do it for you, you’ll be able to come to our private calls feeling prepared and empowered rather than overwhelmed. Getting rid of the overwhelm is essential if you’re going to move anything forward in your business and become profitable.
Today on The Kate Show, I’m detailing the exact steps you need to take to get your business from rudderless and feeling lost at sea to actually sailing toward your target with a compass that points true north.
If goal-setting feels confusing, obscure, or even scary, you need to hear this episode. If marketing makes you cringe because you have no idea what you’re doing and you’re overloaded with too many ideas and conflicting information, this episode will bring you clarity. Let’s dive into it.
I never thought I’d be talking about robots and artificial intelligence on this podcast. But, here I go. If you’ve heard of ChatGPT-4 (for the sake of brevity, I’ll just call it ChatGPT going forward), you’ve likely also heard that some businesses are attempting to let this AI create all their marketing content. If you think that sounds amazing (and who wouldn’t?), you might also wonder if it’s too good to be true (a sign that you’re a smart human).
Because ChatGPT is still quite new, I decided to interview the bot itself on all things marketing. Primarily, I wanted to know whether it was smart to allow ChatGPT to do time-consuming marketing tasks, such as writing entire blog posts.
Secondarily, I was curious. As a techy person, I’ve largely considered technology to be my friend, but ChatGPT had me feeling a little apprehensive - because if a robot could create free marketing content in seconds, would that content even be effective? Was there a right and a wrong way to use AI in marketing?
ChatGPT was refreshingly transparent when answering my questions. By the end of the interview, I found myself saying niceties such as “please” and “thank you” and got weird satisfaction from watching it type answers to my questions at a scintillating rate. Here are the results of that interview. Enjoy!
Are you frustrated by a lack of results in your marketing, especially when you feel like you’ve been doing everything right? Or perhaps you don’t know if you’re doing anything right but since you’re trying so many different things, one of them is bound to work…right? Not quite.Today on The Kate Show, I’m breaking down the things that you should be doing to market your business in the home industry, as well as a few reasons why these great marketing strategies might not be working for you and what you can do about it.Additionally, I'm also going to explain the difference between marketing and advertising because thinking those two are synonymous causes a lot of confusion. I had no idea that advertising and marketing were different things when I first started my business in 2014. Back then, I often aired on the side of “advertising” and wondered why my business wasn’t growing.
If you've been struggling to get your first client or if your ultimate goal is to attract the high net worth client but all your online marketing methods are falling flat, you need to meet today's guest on The Kate Show Podcast. Self-made international entrepreneur, interior designer, and architect Nina Parvaresh pulls back the curtain on how she broke into the ultra-wealthy demographic (think: Dubai, Milan, and locations in Saudi Arabia) without any initial connections.Nina also generously shares her current marketing strategy, the reason designers should be confident BEFORE they are successful, and so many other pieces of advice that I know you're going to love.
Guys, the marketing landscape is shifting. I started to feel it personally in late 2022 when I all but stopped using social media for my business. After that, my own business continued to grow by way of new clients, opportunities, and brand sponsorships all without social media. It felt weird and it was honestly just a test. (In case you're wondering, I now only post an old-fashioned image and caption on Facebook and Instagram once or twice per week.)My test, which I affectionately dubbed "I'm tired of posting," was effective and the results are in: Even though I run a completely online business and have a target client (you!) who regularly uses social media to make buying decisions, it turns out that I don't need social media to grow my revenue. This fact was further verified when I looked at where my leads were coming from: firstly, this podcast; secondly, word-of-mouth (by way of Facebook groups, industry associations, and client referrals).On today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing both the expected — and the shocking — information about email marketing that will directly impact how you get new clients in 2023 and beyond. (I would also like to note that the data I provided in this episode was sent to me personally by a contact at Tidio. They aren't paying me to talk about them, but I want to give them all the credit for putting together comprehensive information about email marketing that is actually EASY to understand. Kudos, Tidio!)
"I need more website traffic," is a common statement that hits my inbox from interior designers, home stagers, and organizers who want more clients. However, many business owners aren't aware of their existing website traffic stats. This presents a problem: Unless you know where you are, you can't know where you need to go."I look at my website analytics, but I can't make sense of them." Relatable much? If either of these situations describes you, prepare to be enlightened. Today on The Kate Show, I'm breaking down the website traffic and analytics mystery. You'll learn where to find your website data, what parts you should focus on, and how to improve them overall so that you can get more of the right leads coming to your website.
Do you ever feel like growing your business is an insurmountable task? Maybe you have young kids and no extra time. Maybe you're working out of your garage. Maybe you don't "come from money" or you have very few connections. If you are feeling discouraged or intimidated by your lofty business goals, you need to hear the wisdom shared by today's guest.Today I'm talking with Taylor Angel of Angel's Linings. Not only is Taylor the third generation in her family-run, multi-million dollar business, but she's also the vice president of a brand that eats five-star reviews for lunch.When you've been in business as long as Angel's Linings (a whopping 45 years), you learn a thing or two about what does and doesn't work. If you want your startup business to become the legacy company that fuels generations to come, or if you need to breathe new life into an older business, this episode of The Kate Show is for you.
Do overthinking, stress, and worry describe your day-to-day while running your business? Do you feel the need to clone yourself just to keep everything together?If so, today's episode of The Kate Show is for you....and for me. I'm not sure if I've ever had a podcast guest pinpoint SO WELL the exact issue that so many of us female entrepreneurs face: Overthinking, which leads to stress, which leads to stalling, with leads to nothing getting accomplished except poor decisions or chronic indecision.
How do you market your business if you've relocated? There's nothing worse than getting to a new location and having the stress of moving and unpacking, only to realize that you have no projects lined up and not so much as a warm lead in your inbox.But there is good news! This discouraging situation is highly preventable. If you've already moved and haven't done any of the marketing preparation I am sharing today, don't worry. You can play catch-up. However, I do hope you're reading (or listening to) this 3-12 months prior to moving.The action plan and timeline I'm going to give you in this episode are intended to help you make sure you have one or two clients already lined up. If you are about to relocate your business, you need to read (or hear) this.
Are you feeling uneasy about whether you are doing everything you can to market your design, staging, organizing, or window treatment business? If so, it's time to refocus. Don't let yourself get stuck in a rut, doing the same marketing tasks over and over without ensuring that one flows into the next and that you can track the appropriate results.Spoiler alert: Not every marketing activity should result in new clients. For example, pinning on Pinterest will not directly bring you more clients, but pinning your blog posts will increase your website traffic, which is crucial for getting those coveted clients.If you are feeling frustrated and confused by the lack of results in your marketing, consider today's episode the pause button. Let's assess what you should be doing and how it should all work together to grow your business.
Today's episode of The Kate Show isn't a tutorial on how to be a great mompreneur — because I actually have no idea how to do that. Instead, I'm sharing a few of the struggles, solutions, and boundaries I've uncovered thus far in my journey. If you run a business and have kids or plan to in the near future, it's time to listen up. It's about to get real.
Have you ever wished you could hire someone to help with your interior design firm without having to spend weeks training them or months holding their hand? If so, it's time to consider skipping your next intern and jumping straight to a true, experienced professional. Today's guest on The Kate Show is easily seen as the fairy godmother of interior design businesses. She's experienced, she adapts to your business, and she will make your business more efficient while helping you stress less.
If I could go back to 2014 and give myself some words of wisdom as a new business owner, I'd have a lot to say. I'd give myself a heads-up on every mistake the "older" me would make and share how the "younger" me could avoid those pitfalls. The thing is... Those experiences, especially the bad ones, brought me something incredibly valuable as an entrepreneur: Wisdom.My friend, today's episode of The Kate Show is for the newbies. If you recently started your journey in the home industry, as in, you launched your business less than two years ago, you'll want to listen closely. I'm not dropping any wisdom that is new to the face of the earth, but if you can take a nugget of something with you to make your journey easier, then my job will be complete and I'll shut down my podcast. Just kidding, I have a lot more podcasting to do.
Do you use Linktree in your Instagram bio? While it's popular and seems like a great idea, Linktree is actually taking all the traffic that should be going directly to your website. This is no fault of Linktree; it's just how technology works. Rather than using a third-party tool like this to redirect your social media fans to wherever they need to go, and thus lose the website traffic, you should instead be using a page on your own website for this exact purpose. Today on The Kate Show, I'm showing you exactly how to set up your own version of Linktree and why pit really, really does matter.
In the interior design world, delays and backorders happen, even on a regular day. Add into the mix both economic and political global upheaval — with a dash of supply chain issues — and you've got yourself a cocktail that isn't all that easy to swallow. How do you keep track of which products or materials are ordered, en route, delayed, or delivered? You might have to hire a team member for that position or somehow squeeze it into your already-full schedule. Or...you might want to work with a specialized company. Interior designers, meet MaterLog, your single contact to track all of your deliveries and help you troubleshoot issues as soon as they arise. Today I'm speaking with MaterLog founder, Mariah Samost, on how their system works, why they created it, and how many hours per week it saves the stressed-out interior designer.
"I need an email sequence, but I'm not sure what it should say."
If you've ever thought about this, you aren't alone. Unfortunately, there are many coaches and online course creators who will try to convince you that your home industry business needs a long, complex email sequence in order to generate leads. While this might be true of other industries, it's not an effective strategy for interior design, window treatment, home staging, or organizing businesses.
Not only does that advice result in a massive amount of work for you, but it also annoys the heck out of the unfortunate souls on your email list. Annoyed people won't hire you. If you want to stop sabotaging your leads and putting a big, heavy roadblock in your sales funnel, you need to hear this episode of The Kate Show.
Today I'm sharing the three-part email sequence your home industry business should be using. Email newsletters and email marketing in general are powerful tools, but they can't be used in the exact same way across all industries. The home industry is cultivated by relationships and referrals. Waves of marketing emails will quickly wipe out what you've built, but a steady and reasonable trickle will promote long-lasting business growth.
"Live and learn," has been the most cliché and yet the most accurate theme of my life, and I know that I'm not alone in this. Today on The Kate Show, I'm getting personal with you and sharing some of my top regrets — and top wins — since starting my business eight and a half years ago. Why talk about my regrets? Because those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it (another cliché that I firmly believe). If I said I wouldn't do anything in the past differently, I would risk bringing the same old baggage into my future. On the other side of that argument, however, are the things I would do again — the things I am proud of — the things that I didn't think I could do until I did them. If you've made mistakes despite your best intentions, or if you've made great choices without even realizing it, this episode is for you. It is my hope that you will feel seen, heard, and encouraged to keep moving forward in your business.
As someone who runs a marketing agency, I often work with home professionals who are trying to sell a digital product. I KNOW it can be difficult, especially when you are first getting started. Unfortunately, selling digital products isn't as simple as creating a PDF and setting a price on your website. Today on The Kate Show, I'm walking you through how to create, set up, market, and sell your first digital product. I'll be sharing a list of tools I recommend for creating and delivering your product, as well as how to get more eyes on the product itself. If you've dreamed of selling digitally but didn't know where to start, or you've tried and felt stuck, this episode is for you.
Does your interior design, organizing, or home staging business seem to get clients from Instagram? While we don't see this very often in my agency (nor do my colleagues in the marketing industry) we do come across the occasional home pro who gets good clients and projects from Instagram. By the way, this episode is a continuation of popular episode #164 entitled, "3 Reasons Luxury Interior Designers Don't Get Clients from Instagram." While some of the data in that episode will be repeated here, this episode has been updated to reflect 2022 and include additional information.
Many moons ago, I had my friend and business partner Jaquilyn Edwards on the podcast to discuss our venture together. Years later, that venture is thriving (and growing our members' businesses!), plus, we are always looking to take it up a notch. Today on The Kate Show, Jaquilyn and I will be discussing blogging for the home industry in more depth than you might have heard before. While our last interview on the podcast was about blogging basics, today's conversation is at the next level. Our discussion ranges from learning the benefits of using our blog post builders to going fully custom with your blogging, the actual purpose of a blog post, what to do after you publish one, and so much more.
Get ready to take some notes — and stick around for a special promo code at the end. Jaq and I would love to work with you for the betterment of your business marketing.
Nearly every interior designer, stager, window specialist, and organizer has a Google Business Listing. If you don't, you need to set one up immediately.
Not only does your business get placed on the map when people are looking for your specific set of services in their local area, but it's also a place to collect client reviews and share photos, events, and blog posts. Having a completely filled-out Google listing for your business enhances your credibility.
However, most people don't take full advantage of their Google Business Listing. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing eight ways you can optimize your listing for the specific goal of increasing your website traffic. Once those leads are on your website, it is your website's job to convert them (so you'd better have a good one!). But let's start at the very beginning. You have the unique opportunity to tell the biggest search engine on earth how to help new leads find you. Let's take advantage of this top the max, shall we?
No one is an overnight success, yet some people have had their success brewing steadily on the back burner for years before really cranking up the heat and stepping into the spotlight. Interior designer Sara Lynn Brennan is no exception. I might be biased, as my agency has had the honor of working with Sara off and on throughout the years, but I do think she is a stellar example of what you can accomplish when you take ownership of your own success, ignore the naysayers, and let your passion fuel you. Today, I'll be asking Sara in-depth questions regarding the story behind her success, her ideal client, and her systems and processes. If you are just getting started in your interior design business or you feel stuck in a rut with your business of several years, this episode of The Kate Show is for you.
Today on The Kate Show, I have the huge honor of introducing a new online tool created by my dear friend and confidant, Michele Williams. Her online financial dashboard tool makes it kindergarten-easy to actually understand the budgets, trends, and health reports of the money in your business. If you're like me and don't have "a head for numbers" — or you're just sick of analyzing spreadsheets and like to be efficient — welcome to Metrique, the financial dashboard for service-based businesses.
Sustainable, non-toxic building materials are hot right now...and will be trending for all the right reasons for the foreseeable future. As your clients become more attuned with protecting their homes from carcinogens and other chemicals often found in flooring, your need to source from reputable retailers will only increase. Whether you focus on biophilic interiors, green design, or just want to be done with off-gassing materials, you need to consider using Revel Woods hardwood flooring for your next project. Today on The Kate Show, I'm quizzing Revel Woods founder, John Dupra, on exactly why and how his company decided to partner exclusively with interior designers to develop their own lines of this ethically-sourced, sustainable, non-toxic hardwood.
Do you wish your interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment website would get more traffic? Optimizing your website for search engines is a must. However, search engine optimization (SEO) isn't just about using the right keywords.
SEO also includes making sure your website loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, accessible to those with eyesight disabilities, and easy to navigate. Navigation requirements include putting buttons and headlines in the right places...using enough of them, but not overcrowding the screen.
If you've been told that having good SEO means adding new pages to your website for each location that you serve or that you need to pay for vague services like keyword monitoring, you need to hear this episode. Today on The Kate Show, I'm busting five SEO myths that are hurting home industry professionals like you.
I've been building my business for over eight years, and scaling has been the plan for about the last six of them. A few years into scaling, I had numerous other business people say things like..."That idea won't work." Or, "How are you able to offer these services at such a streamlined rate? My team would need to charge at least $1,000 per month for blog posts, email marketing, and sales funnels. It's really suspicious."
Well, any good business coach will tell you that each service you offer should have its own repeatable, well-documented process. Not only does this keep you on track with a good handle on your schedule, your capacity, and your income, but it also makes services easier to hand off to team members or freelancers. Add a few automated systems in the mix and, boom, you're well on your way to scaling! Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing practical ways you can set up systems and processes in your home industry business so that you can operate as a soloprenuer or small team without drastically limiting your revenue potential.
Today, I'm talking about geofencing: What it is and when you would or would not want to implement this advertising technique in your business. This topic was suggested by my agency's wonderful client and good friend in real life, Georgiana Schwandt. Georgiana runs Incredible Windows here in Wisconsin...as her third career. ?? Her energy is inspiring and her work ethic is extraordinary. She's always keeping her hand on the pulse of the dynamic home industry, and I wasn't at all surprised that she knew about geofencing and wanted me to discuss it.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the success secrets that our ideal clients have used again and again to go from basically broke to barely finding enough time to drink their morning coffee. If you've questioned whether having a great website, consistent email marketing, and even a solid blogging strategy will actually grow your business, hold on tight.
Have you ever considered starting a podcast? I've been contacted by a few of you who are actively planning the launch of your podcasts and feel confused about the technical side. Plus, you're wondering what to do if you run out of things to say. (You won't, by the way. ??) And you're curious how important sponsors are.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm answering all your questions regarding podcasting. Let's jump right in!
It isn't every day I get to host an accomplished, award-winning interior designer on the podcast, and Michelle Lynne did not disappoint. With her Texas charm and no-nonsense approach to business, she and I hit it off the moment we first met back in Palm Springs last fall.
I wanted to have Michelle on the show because: 1) she runs a profitable design firm without a huge team, and 2) she bases her design business coaching on the principles she had to learn the hard way. The best lessons come from mistakes — and could that mean learning from the mistake negates the mistake itself? To a point, yes, and that is what good entrepreneurship looks like.
A successful business isn't born overnight, easily, or automatically.
A business, be it in design or staging or organizing, is built successfully by a business owner who is humble enough to pivot when things aren't working and brave enough to charge forward when things get difficult.
And they WILL get difficult. That's the nature of business. Michelle is inspiring because she's currently "in the moment" with running two businesses, maintaining a marriage, and raising a toddler. Her design business has survived many economic ups and downs, and her coaching company seeks to help you scale and do the same.
"How can I create a marketing calendar for my business?"
I get asked this question by entrepreneurs across the home industry, from interior design and staging to organizing and window treatments. I love when people ask this question because it shows that: a) they want to take real action in their marketing, and b) they recognize that marketing should be intentional, not haphazard.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the marketing calendar I recommend to nearly all my agency's clients. Whether you are DIYing your marketing or ready to outsource everything, you need a plan that fits your business model and makes sense for your goals.
Branding is not your logo. I used to think having a logo was the core of having a brand, but I didn't realize until years into running a business that the logo is just the icing on the cake. If you've ever worked with a branding professional, you know about the lengthy and in-depth process you must go through for a graphic designer to understand your brand. The logo, while often the most exciting part of the branding process, is one of the last things to be created — and for good reason.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm walking you through a branding checklist that will help you determine whether you have a brand or just a logo. I'll give you action items with every step. As a result, you'll be fully prepared to bring your new brand into the world (or run to your nearest graphic designer because your old logo no longer aligns). ?? Once you understand your own brand, you'll find that marketing is so much easier.
Rather than blasting your ears with more marketing rants today, I'm shifting focus to a much more personal topic: My maternity leave! With our second baby due in June 2022, I am faced, yet again, with planning for a 3-month leave. Because many of you are soon-to-be mothers or hope to be, you might be wondering how (and if) it's actually possible to take 12 weeks off when you have your baby while also running your own business.
The short answer: Yes.
The long answer: Well, that's why I'm making this episode.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing how I plan for maternity leave without reducing revenue or short-changing my agency's clients. In fact, if you are a client or member with us, you'll feel reassured after listening to this episode. Even though I'll be re-prioritizing my time this summer, you will remain a high priority to my agency. I couldn't do this without my team and a whole lotta automation. Let's dive into it.
Several years ago, I made the executive decision to design websites exclusively on Squarespace. Prior to this, my agency was designing websites on nearly any platform, largely Wordpress. However, we kept running into the same issues... Issues that cost my team hours of time and our clients hundreds of dollars. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing exactly why we recommend Squarespace over WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and Showit.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm going to show you exactly how you should use social media as a home industry professional and what you should and should not expect from it. Spoiler alert: If social media is causing you stress, you are doing it wrong.
Wouldn't marketing be easier if you just knew what to say...ahead of time? Planning your content marketing in advance is smart for two reasons: First, it allows you to marinate on the topics ahead of time and avoid writer's block when the time comes to create. Second, it allows you to batch create content. I've adapted the process my agency uses for content planning into something that makes sense for home professionals like you. If you are looking to create cohesive, professional marketing content for your interior design, home staging, organizing, or window treatment business, you need to hear this episode.
As you assess your expenses in the New Year, you might be wondering whether you're paying too much when you combine the costs of the dozens of online tools you use to run your business. Whether you use multiple platforms that happen to offer the same features, or you simply don't need the features you first thought you needed, now is the time to clean house.
On this episode of The Kate Show, I'm walking you through how to assess and downsize the number of paid online tools you use, and pay for fewer (but more premium) tools that will get you further ahead in business. It's time to stop overpaying and underusing.
Can you spot a "bad client" a mile away? For years, I struggled with this and still occasionally let one slip through. After assessing my own misjudgments (late night worrying about how on earth I got my team into such a predicament, basically) and after speaking with many of you who have generously shared your "nightmare client" stories, I thought it was worth an episode. If you are new to the home industry, or if you keep working with PITA clients (that's pain-in-the-ass, in case you're wondering), you might be relieved to know there are clear red flags, and even some yellow caution flags, that should alert you to proceed with caution or simply end the interaction. Let's talk about them.
Your costs need to increase, and you aren't sure how to tell them. Lead times aren't getting any shorter, and demand remains high, at least for now. How do you expertly explain to your upcoming and current clients that they might have to pay more and wait longer for their projects to be completed?
Today on The Kate Show, we are discussing exactly that, along with handy scripts you can copy and paste. If you struggle to find the right words, consider this your own personal podcast episode.
If you've heard the phrase, "Mindset is everything," and felt a little confused about what to do with that fact, this episode of The Kate Show is for you. Today, I'm having another conversation with fellow home industry marketing entrepreneur, Salimah Mamdani, about all the mindset shifts that need to happen if you are trying to grow your business as a designer, stager, organizer, or window treatment professional.
If you're flat-out scared to stop chasing every advertising and social media opportunity, but you're also exhausted from keeping up with the constant changes, you need to hear this episode. Today, I'm sharing five popular marketing tactics I don't use to market my own business. Trust me, you'll be surprised by what I don't do. I hope it gives you the freedom to "cut the fat" from your own marketing task list and simply focus on what has actually been proven to bring you new clients.
Do you struggle with how to price your services as an interior designer, home stager, window professional, or pro organizer? The real issue isn't how to price, but instead how to take control of your perceived value. Perceived value is another way of stating "how valuable you appear to be" to a potential client. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the top nine mistakes that are damaging your perceived value as a professional. Are you making any of these? Let's find out.
Whether you are an interior designer or not, if you would like a real-life perspective on how to thrive amidst discomfort in your business and flex your faith vs. worry muscles, this episode is for you. Being invited to speak at this high-level retreat in the distinguished Kimpton Rowan Hotel was a huge growth marker for my business and quite an honor. I had amazing conversations with luxury interior designers from Orange County and beyond over the two-day retreat, and I walked away with a deepened appreciation for the hurdles one must jump over to become a successful designer.
I'm not sure which is more difficult — figuring out a topic for a newsletter or blog post or actually writing the darn thing. Do you struggle with this, too? If you know what you want to write about but can't seem to craft the words around it, or you can't figure out what topic to write about (much less how to write it!), you are in the right place. Today on The Kate Show I'm sharing 10 blog post topics and 10 email newsletter topics, each with general outlines to get you started.
This episode of The Kate Show is for any interior designer, home stager, window pro, or organizer who worries that she'll never be successful, or that the success she already has simply won't last. For those of you who might no longer experience these struggles, you will find much camaraderie in this very personal, transparent episode.
The home industry is crazy right now. I have seen most designers, stagers, and beyond fall into one of two camps: Either they are wildly busy and losing their minds, or they are scrambling to make ends meet and wondering if their businesses will last through 2021. If your goal is to help your home industry business create steady revenue even when the economy does weird things, you need to hear this episode.
Often, the key to success in business isn't about knowing the right people, but about being the right person — one that is willing to learn and work hard. If you are looking for a legacy business that exemplifies empowerment, look no further. Today on The Kate Show, you'll learn that most of the obstacles we face as aspiring entrepreneurs are internal. What we believe about ourselves and the world around us holds us back. If you think you can't do something because: 1) You are too young or old, 2) You were born into rough circumstances, or 3) You don't look like everyone else in your community, well, then you are in for a really strong dose of hope and a whole lotta elbow grease. Let's get into today's conversation with Roger.
On today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm speaking with Openhaus co-founder Carson Clement. Rather than simply showing your customers a photo of your SideDoor product, Openhaus 3D home tours will let you show it in your client's actual home. This gives context to what you are selling and can make that sale so much easier. If you aren't selling products, Openhaus can be a great way to showcase your portfolio with professional, immersive virtual tours.
Today on The Kate Show, I am speaking with the charming Rick Campos of Design Biz Survival Guide. If you've ever felt like you and your design firm needed a survival guide, well, you were right. Building a strong business and creating a lasting legacy requires a community. In this interview, Rick shares deep insights on the struggles that home professionals face over and over again, why he calls himself a "recovering interior designer", and how he can help each of you move forward. Don't miss these words of entrepreneurial wisdom.
Guys, SideDoor recently released the best feature ever. You can now embed your collections and products directly into your own website. SideDoor's new iFrame embed feature is so exciting to me as a marketer because it makes implementing and selling products so much easier. If you haven't at least investigated this platform yet, you need to before you get left behind. Today, I'm going over my suggested step-by-step process for selling with SideDoor. It's one thing to have an amazing tool like this at your disposal, and it is quite another to actually start making sales. If you nail it, you can truly set your business up with a brand new income stream that doesn't require hours of unbillable time.
You have a great lead magnet on your website. But... No one is signing up for it. If this describes you, stick around. Today on The Kate Show, I'm revealing the three primary actions you need to take in order to get people to sign up for your lead magnet. You already know this, but I'll say it anyway: You can't set it and forget it. No matter how wonderful your lead magnet is, you still have to promote it in order for it to do its job.
The idea of marketing your business so that you can continue to grow when you are already being pulled all over the map (mentally, creatively, financially) doesn't seem feasible. Or does it? The truth is you can trim and lighten your marketing workload by letting go of a few mindset traps that our modern business culture has built around us. If you are ready to get minimal with your marketing, this episode is for you.
The feast to famine cycle (or the many clients to no clients pattern) that is so prevalent among designers, stagers, workrooms, and organizers can easily be circumvented. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing two productivity routines that I use in my own business to ensure I am never marketing more or less than what I should be, regardless of how many or how few leads are coming into our pipeline. While these productivity routines apply to nearly any creative business, I'm sharing them specifically from the perspective of applying them to the home industry.
If you are ready to refresh your social media, your content marketing, your website, and your client process with beautiful verbiage and flowy-yet-crisp designs, this episode of The Kate Show is for you. Get ready for your marketing to be completely transformed. Today, by popular demand, we are revealing a completely new marketing resource for interior designers, home stagers, professional organizers, and window treatment specialists.
Curious whether your website is making even just one mistake that is preventing your business from growing? In today's episode of The Kate Show, you'll learn the answer to this question.
Have you ever wondered how you could up-level your paid client consultations? Whether you are an interior designer, home stager, professional organizer, or window treatment specialist, your consultation time is valuable. If you aren't already charging a premium rate for those consults, you'll need to after gleaning all the wisdom from today's interview.
I can't believe how much time I used to spend marketing my business. Before I ran a marketing agency, I ran a copywriting business. A failing one. Looking back, all that wasted time and money was a rite of passage. I didn't know what I didn't know, but now that I know it, I'm sharing it with all of you. I'm that weird marketer who tells you to spend LESS time on your marketing, not more. If you are struggling with marketing overwhelm or flat-out marketing discouragement, you need to hear what I'm about to say today. You might be doing a lot of marketing tasks that you simply don't need to do. And you might be outsourcing tasks that don't even need to be done — by you or by anyone else.
As an interior designer, home stager, professional organizer, or window treatment business owner, you have too many responsibilities and not enough help (or time) to keep everything moving forward. Because of this, if you're anything like me, you may have started relying on apps for, well, everything. Today I'm sharing 10 amazing and fairly new apps, plus five core apps, that you and your home industry business will love. And they don't involve launching any tech devices across the room.
You started a business and now you are questioning everything about your identity. Your skills, your talents, the value you bring to the world — everything you once believed about yourself is now held in question. And the insecurities you had previously? Well, those have likely gotten worse. If this sounds like you, you need to take a few deep breaths and listen to this episode. I'm not going to give you some feel-good advice or tell you things that aren't true. I'm going to share something about imposter syndrome that the internet forgot to mention.
Today's topic was requested by successful home stager Theresa Ceglio of We Stage Jacksonville:
Home stagers get a lot of push back in this hot seller's market both from the agents and home sellers. They feel they don’t need to do anything to their listings or properties because everything is selling so quickly. I work with agents that see the value in staging and won’t take a listing if they won’t stage it.
How can we as stagers really get through to those who are leaving so much money on the table? They have the stats, they see what’s happening and I know they know what other agents are making in extra commissions but they just don’t budge. We educate constantly but so many are missing out and that translates to us missing out, too.
If you're a home stager who is getting frustrated with the realtors in your area who simply don't seem to value staging, this episode is just for you.
If you don't have a defined sales funnel for your home industry business, you'll find that marketing feels very difficult and expensive. You might even feel like nothing is working - which is not a great feeling to have! I've talked for dozens of hours on the importance of having a sales funnel, and today I'm breaking down the framework of an ideal home industry sales funnel. Consider this a template for getting more leads, faster. This is your roadmap to marketing that is fruitful and measurable.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing a lightweight business model that has become popular with home professionals who want the flexibility of working remotely, but they don't want to offer e-design. The cool part about this consultancy business model is that you can still meet with clients in person, just as you would for a normal, on-site consultation. But unlike traditional services, you wouldn't then need to do all the planning and sourcing for the client - unless you wanted to offer that upgrade. Don't miss this transformational episode.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing five key areas in your marketing that are likely far too generic. If you are suffering from a lack of clients, despite an overall booming home industry (circa 2020 and 2021), the issue might not be external (i.e. the economy, your location, YOU). The issue could very well be that you just aren't vocalizing what you want. Today, let's put a voice behind those internal needs and desires and make them external declarations.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing 4 simple ways you can connect with followers. This will push you out of your comfort zone, as it should. This will help you achieve the goal of higher interaction rates on your posts, and it definitely isn't magic. It's about being a real person. It's about being yourself.
Are you stressed out because you aren't getting new clients from social media? Today's episode of The Kate Show might be one of the most enlightening episodes I've ever selected for the show. Listen to it, and you'll walk away with an entirely different perspective on what social media is actually supposed to be doing for your business.
Airbnb, VRBO, and the entire short-term rental market are BOOMING. As an interior designer, home stager, or professional organizer, there is no reason why you can't get in on this action. So if you are looking for a new niche, this might be it. Today on The Kate Show, I am interviewing two pioneers in the short-term rental entrepreneurship space, Annette and Sarah of Thanks for Visiting. This info-packed episode will inspire you to niche down and scale-up in the right ways - right for your brand and right for your host-clients.
As our businesses shift and grow, it is possible to outgrow your original ideal client. On today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing a strategy that will help you redefine your ideal client, restructure your flagship service offering, and actually speak directly to your leads in a way that makes hiring you not just a want but a need.
In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm teaching you how to become the home professional who knows the right people. If you've listened to Episode 153, in which I shared actual scripts for connecting with referral partners, this episode is not a repeat. Rather, it builds off the methods and strategies I shared previously, with specific positioning toward realtors and similar professionals. Business is about relationships. When you embrace this, the likelihood of your business growing quickly will greatly increase.
Blogging is so impactful that you know your home industry business needs it, but you're wondering how you can reuse the content you've worked so long to create. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing easy tips for reusing your blog posts as marketing videos. Don't worry, the process is short and sweet. In fact, your biggest hurdle won't be filming the video, but having the courage to hit "record." We're going to talk about that, too.
Writing blog posts for your interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment business doesn't have to become your next part-time job. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing everything from blog post writing strategies to best practices that can directly impact your SEO and result in faster content creation.
Pinterest is quietly making changes to its platform. While they have a right to make these changes, you have a right to be aware of how they intend to use your content and how those changes will directly affect your marketing as a home industry entrepreneur. Today I'm sharing a summary of these Pinterest changes and what you can consider changing in your Pinterest activities to potentially offset or circumvent any unwanted outcomes. The information I'm sharing today is crucial.
Specificity will grow your business in the home industry. Having a signature service will grow your business. Niching down and scaling up will elevate your brand, resulting in more referrals, better marketing, and amazing collaborations. No one knows this better than today's guest, Salimah Mamdani of Fully Booked Designer. Whether you are new to the home industry or you've been running your business for a few years already and are tired of slow growth, you are going to learn so much from Salimah today.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing one such tool with you: Canva. Though a fun and lighthearted tool, it can do so much more than help you create your next social media post. Whether you have the free version of Canva or you've drunk the Kool-Aid of Canva Pro (I have! No regrets.), you are going to learn something new today about how Canva can serve you better.
Do you struggle with writing social media captions for your home industry business? It's rare that I meet an interior designer, stager, decorator, or organizer who says they love it. Today I'm sharing 36 caption prompts for Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. These captions are taken straight from Socialite Vault and, if you are a Vault member at any level, you get these captions prompts as a bonus to your membership, plus a corresponding social media template for each one that you can modify to match your brand in Canva.
Have you ever struggled with what to say on your website? Do you ever worry about your SEO? The majority of interior designers, stagers, organizers, and workroom owners I speak with would say yes to both. Copywriting can be difficult, especially when you are trying to write something about your own business, or worse, about yourself. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the copywriting prompts we use to create beautiful, SEO-sharpened, sales-driven websites for home pros. When we create custom websites, we handle all the SEO and copywriting. When someone purchases one of our website templates, they get access to these prompts in addition to their beautifully designed website template.
Whether you've just started your business, have recently moved to a new state, or are looking to break into a new market, getting your first few clients can feel like an insurmountable task. How do you find those new clients when no one knows your name yet? Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the strategic referral alliances you need to make and exactly how you can make them.
If you listened to my previous episode regarding how to turn your home industry knowledge into a paid membership, you won't want to miss this sequel. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the steps you'll need to take in order to effectively brand and market your membership. If you aren't sure whether you are well suited to launch a membership around your design, staging, or other home industry expertise, skip back to Episode 151 of this podcast first.
Since the launch of Vault, my peers in the industry have asked me about the technology and processes I use to make it all work. Today, I'm transposing that information into a plan that is specific to you, the home industry professional. If you are passionate about what you do and want to serve people at a higher level while using the one-to-many business model, this episode is for you. Whether you want to run a business-to-business membership like we do here at Socialite, or you prefer to run a business-to-consumer membership, the advice, tools, and strategies I'm sharing today will help you get started.
In today's episode, I'm sharing the issues and gross privacy violations that Facebook implemented on its Instagram platform, why it is upsetting, and how it will start affecting businesses.
Do you ever feel like you have to use dozens of online tools and platforms just to keep your business organized? If you could bundle all your design business, team management, and project management tools into one tidy package, would you do it? I know I would! Today, I'm chatting with Timothy Murenzi of Indema about why his new platform is an industry-disrupter taking interior designers by storm. Don't miss this goodness!
"How can I get consistent, high-quality leads for my design firm?"
This question popped up in my inbox recently. It's one I've been asked many times over the past few years, and it's one that every entrepreneur in the home industry should be asking. If you don't have an email list, but you know that you should be using email marketing to bolster your home industry business, you might feel defeated or stuck before you even begin. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the exact steps to take if you want to get your first handful of email subscribers, whether you've been in business for years or just launched.
As an interior designer or home stager, you might love the hands-on projects - the ones that put you in the same room with your amazing clients. Or maybe you're trying to scale up your design consultancy. Or maybe you have no idea where to put your efforts or what you'd really love to do yet. Before you become overwhelmed or feel like you need to let go of your traditional services, hear this: You can still offer the same services - or not - in conjunction with your Side Door revenue stream. Today, I'm sharing how you can use Side Door for your own financial gain.
As a self-employed interior designer, home stager, or organizer, who is funding your retirement? The short answer: You. But...are you actually? Whether retirement is decades away or just around the corner, you have the responsibility of funding it. Today on The Kate Show, I'm chatting with Tony Pochowski of Thrivent Financial. Tony is the fiduciary for mine and Matt's personal investments as well as our business investment accounts. Friends, this man knows the investment world like none other, and he is one of only three entities in my life who sees the inner financial workings of Socialite. In a sentence: I trust him and I recommend him to all my business friends.
If you are being told that affiliate marketing is passive (or have figured out that it isn't), this episode of The Kate Show is for you. Today I'm sharing what it takes to earn real income from affiliate sales, from the effort you need to put into the stats you need to hit. Because I believe in alternatives and solutions and real income strategies, I won't be leaving you on a depressing note. Maybe affiliate marketing is still going to call your name after you hear this episode, but if it isn't, I have a new suggestion - one that could transform your business with truly passive possibilities.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the four primary reasons why marketing your new business might feel absolutely terrifying and why your inner confidence might have suddenly taken a plunge. Spoiler alert: It's normal - but it doesn't mean you should stay in that place. After this episode, you'll walk away with just a little more courage, a lot of companionships, and an actionable, short to-do list to kickstart your confidence.
Not every home industry business owner will need the exact same first hire and not every entrepreneur will need or want to hire an employee when hiring a subcontractor is so much more freeing. I've hired and fired (ugh) over the past few years and each decision, each movement, made my business more profitable and lowered my stress in the long run. If you are experiencing the growing pains of needing to hire another person but not wanting to increase your overhead, this episode is for you.
As we wind down the crazy year that 2020 has been, I want you to be prepared for what is coming. If my last episode has you thinking that you should delete your social media (because so many of you tell me that you'd love that kind of freedom - and I don't blame you), deleting isn't really the solution. It is more about redirecting and slightly diversifying your social media marketing. I cover what to do and how to be successful in today's episode.
Social media is an ever-changing landscape, and if you've been trying to use it to market your design, staging, or organizing business, you might have noticed that the rules are being altered at an increasing rate. It is with mixed feelings that I outline the changes coming to Facebook and Instagram, specifically, as we wrap up 2020. Get ready for some legal jargon and a simple explanation of how the changes to the world's favorite social platforms will impact how you are marketing your interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment business online.
"Working less and producing more is possible, even with a little one." In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing with you how I work as a mom and an entrepreneur. I'm giving you tips on how you can batch-work your business (my batch working process on a monthly schedule!), especially if you have little kiddos to help you get ahead of things and allows you to turn out better content as business owners.
If you are looking for inventive ways to serve your ideal client and set yourself up for a new year of pre-booked projects, you won't want to miss this episode of The Kate Show. I'm sharing actual holiday-themed service packages that you can sell on your website (or through My Doma, DesignFiles, etc). Plus, each package is easily adaptable to the post-holiday world with just a few wording changes.
Branding is more than a logo. I didn't understand this for the first few years in business. Now, I can call it what it is: Branding is the personality of your business. While I've since designed brands and helped name and launch businesses, branding is honestly not my scope of genius. Because this is such a huge topic, I've brought in Jill of Jula Paper to talk about all things branding.
Don't miss this episode on all things branding for your interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment business.
Trying to pick the best email marketing platform for your home industry business can be daunting. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm comparing and contrasting the differences between the two key players, FloDesk and Mailchimp, and wrapping it all up with my suggestion on which one you should be using - and why - when marketing your design, staging, organizing, or window treatment business.
We've been programmed to answer the question, "How are you doing?
" with an instant, "I'm doing great. How are you?" It's time to stop lying to ourselves and others in the name of nicety. If you are a business owner and parent, you are likely more stressed out right now than ever before. I feel you, and I have some tips. From how to plan your week and balance parenthood to true self-care beyond those cliched massage appointments, I hope you'll get at least one takeaway from this episode that will make this week just a little more manageable for you.
Figuring out what to say in an email newsletter can leave many home industry business owners feeling bewildered. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing actual scripts taken from four of some of the most-loved email newsletter templates in Socialite Vault. If you want to see the design and layout of these scripts in a clean and crisp newsletter format, scroll down to watch the video tour.
As a professional organizer, you are eyeballs deep in all things systems as you develop ways to organize and sort your clients' spaces. But how are you organizing your business? Do you have processes in place that streamline your client process, create a great client experience, and enhance your professionalism?
If you feel like your business needs a little help leveling up, you're going to love today's guest on The Kate Show.
In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing the first thing you should do to market your business, which is entirely dependent on your ideal client, and how that will impact the other pieces of your sales funnel.
If you've ever felt overwhelmed and bewildered by marketing and growing your home industry business, this episode is for you.
Are you unsure about what to post on Instagram for your business? Whether you are an interior designer, stager, organizer, or window treatment professional, you've likely voiced concerns for your social presence.
I'll be answering your concerns in today's episode while also sharing the exact social media posting schedule you should follow to make the most of your social presence without living your life on the 'gram. The proprietary social media schedule that we use for our own clients - and our own brand - here at Socialite covers the three main categories your social presence should include, specifically if you are in the service-based home industry. From those categories, we've built out the number of posts you need to publish each week, right down to what you should say, and how you should say it.
Setting up more than one income stream is a great way to bolster your design, staging, workroom, or organizing business in new ways. Aside from offering virtual consultations, coaching and mentoring can be used as alternate income streams. If you've been asked more than a few times about your success in business, your processes and systems, or even the hands-on work that you do (from creating complicated window treatments to how you conduct your client discovery calls and consultations), you could easily package that information and sell it to your less-experienced peers.
In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm explaining the simple, efficient method you can follow to package and sell your experience and knowledge, thus creating a sustainable and truly passive income stream for your business.
You might think, "I'll just never retire."
But you will. You'll retire from one career to something else. What will you do with the business you built? Will you try to sell it, only to realize you don't have any of the right systems or infrastructure in place to make it sellable? Will you let it fade into oblivion, as though it never existed in this world, sell off your equipment, shut down your office, and go on your way?
Say it isn't so. If you want to sell your business eventually, you have to build it the right way...right now. This heavy topic isn't one that I can take on myself, and that's why I've brought on today's special guest.
This is one of those topics that I didn't want to talk about for a long time, but a desperate Google search of, "What to do when someone copies your business" yielded sparse results and made me realize that I needed to create this. If you are wondering, "Did someone copy Kate's business?" You'd be correct...about five times over.
I hope this never happens to your business. I hope you never experience that queasy feeling that climbs higher and higher in your throat when you realize that someone actually attempted to use you as their entrepreneurial shortcut. However, if it does happen to you, I hope you'll find some camaraderie and comfort in what I'm sharing today.
After designing around a hundred websites for the home industry, my team and I know what a website needs in order to effectively sell your services and packages while creating a great and memorable brand experience. Because my website design team often has a waiting list that is months long, I knew there had to be a better way to serve more of you without decreasing the quality or effectiveness of our websites. Thanks to Squarespace, my dreams of delivering a grab-and-go website (designed by us and tailored to you) that is built for both SEO and sales have been realized.
Wait, you were dreaming about this, too? Sweet. Catch the details on this episode of The Kate Show, including how it works, what is included, and whether it is a good option for your business.
A few years of marketing your business has likely taught you that certain marketing ideas just don't work for everyone. Plus, they can actually hurt your business and result in a huge waste of time or money. Today, I'm sharing 17 marketing myths that I've had to navigate as an entrepreneur in the home industry. If you find that you're using a few of these tactics, don't feel regretful. Find an alternative. I'll share more about that at the end.
Everyone and their cousin seem to have added virtual interior design services to their design businesses. Well, almost everyone. There are a few designers who've said, "I get why my colleagues are offering e-design, but it just isn't for me."
If this describes you, you are going to love my conversation with today's guest. British business strategist, Maria Mustapha, is going to map out how interior designers can diversify their income without adding virtual interior design. I'm just as excited as you are to learn what Maria's going to share. I knew when I met her that she was going to be a breath of fresh air to both the podcast and this post-pandemic world we are just now starting to navigate in the home industry.
In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing how to know if you need an email sequence for your design, staging, organizing, or window treatment business. How you use email marketing is entirely dependent on your industry, your client, your deliverable, and your overall goal.
If, after learning the qualifiers for an email sequence, you realize you definitely need one, you are in luck. I'm also going to give a simple outline for what those emails should say and when you should implement them.
If you've never worked with a marketing agency, you might have a few qualms about just handing over your brand to an outside party (or maybe you can't do it fast enough?). If you've already worked with a marketing company and were less than satisfied with the results, you will have a whole other mindset, both of which I will address in this episode.
And if you're curious about what it's like to work with Socialite, let's chat business, marketing, and how we can help.
As an interior designer or home stager, your website is both an online portfolio and a sales person who never sleeps - or at least- it should be. If you are looking for a new website and trying to sort through the dozens of website designers vying for your attention, you'd do well to narrow them down with a quick interview process.
The process I'm sharing with you today includes 10 primary questions to ask; questions that will no doubt cause you to come up with more of your own. And if you're ready to get a new website or revamp your current site, this episode is for you.
If you've delayed taking photos of your interior design or soft furnishing projects, you'll be scrambling to contact a photographer after you hear this episode. From helping you earn a place in your favorite shelter magazine to truly becoming known for your beautiful design work in the home industry, having an experienced and professional interiors photographer on your team isn't just a game-changer. It can transform your business, make your marketing easier, and cultivate free publicity (and who doesn't love all those things?).
Today on The Kate Show, I'm speaking with Emily Followill of Emily Followill Photography. She has a special place in her heart for young or new interior designers and approaches each photo shoot as its own editorial masterpiece. If you're looking for a proven way to reach high-end clientele, you won't want to miss Emily's helpful photography tips.
Do you want to reach more clients in the high-end, luxury demographic? The majority of design firms, staging companies, and custom workrooms that we serve here at Socialite would say, "Absolutely!" If this desire aligns with your business, too, you might be wondering how to find these high-end clients or, going a step further, how to delight them to the point of being referred to their friends and family.
In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing 5 key steps you can take toward reaching more high-end clients. Each tip is easy to implement, whether you are a solopreneur or a team of 20.
Pinterest is a powerhouse for increasing website traffic - you know this. What you might not know is that Pinterest has made some updates to how it prioritizes content. This impacts how you use Pinterest to market your business. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing all the Pinterest updates, including why pinning your portfolio images and blog posts repeatedly - yet in different formats - is an important and easy way to use Pinterest correctly for maximum exposure, repins, and website traffic.
Branding is more than just a logo. For years, I really didn't understand this concept. What makes a "good" brand and how exactly does that impact your design, staging, or workroom business? Great question; there is no short answer. A brand is equivalent to a personality. Your personality is determined by how you carry yourself, how you dress, how you spend your time, how you interact with others. Your business has a personality too. Visually, this looks like a logo and a consistent use of the same font and color palette. Practically, this also includes what you offer, how you offer it, and to whom.
How do you create a second (or third or fourth) income stream as an interior designer? Until recently, the only answer to this question was, "Go set up affiliate links in your blog posts and hope you get enough website traffic to make it worthwhile."
Ten months later, and your website traffic is nowhere near the necessary 100K views per month, and your affiliate links haven't made any money.
Fast forward to the spring of 2020, interior designers now have another option: SideDoor is paving the way for trade-only brands and manufacturers to remain exclusive to practicing interior designers, preventing large corporations from selling direct-to-consumer.
The coronavirus was a great multitasker - did you know that? While it was running around scaring the pants off people (and apparently wrapping them in excess toilet paper), it was also doing a few other crazy things, specifically in the business world. I can guarantee that business owners, especially those of you in the home industry, are going to do certain things differently as we navigate this post-corona world.
Yes, you know the economy shut down for what felt like an eternity. You might have had to lay people off that you hope to soon rehire. Some of you chose that time to retire because it was a simple sidestep that you'd already been considering. Whether your business has been pushed back to ground zero or held tight to its former position on the mountain during this time, you know that the new normal is looking very, very different. Let's dive into what happened and what to expect.
I can't tell you how many times someone in the home industry has told me, "I ran a Google ad and it didn't work." Sadly, I've seen people spend thousands of dollars on Adwords, only to receive zero customers. ZERO.
If you're befuddled by Adwords, if you have no idea how to use Google Analytics to your business's benefit, and if you aren't sure why you need a Google business listing, you'll love this episode. Google has created a powerful suite of tools meant to help business owners have a more successful online presence. As with any real-life tools, however, you have to know what you're doing in order for any of it to actually work. If you're confused by these tools or if you know just enough to be dangerous, you're going to walk away from this episode armed and ready to bolster your business online.
If your website is just sitting there looking pretty but not sending you any new leads, you know you have a problem. You might have the best website design in the world, but no website in the "history of never" has automatically generated leads by itself. You actually still have to work for it.
In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm breaking down the obscurity around lead magnets and explaining why getting your website to generate leads is pretty much impossible without one. Ready to fill your pipeline and turn your website into a powerhouse? Let's do it.
Like most of you, I'm emotionally and mentally exhausted from hearing, reading, seeing, and saying the words COVID-19, coronavirus, and pandemic. I have deep empathy for anyone affected - both personally and in business. Before I discuss how to move forward during and after "The Pause", I have to give a huge shout out to my followers and Vault members who have remained steady and committed to their businesses.
This situation was alarming on many fronts and we are now beginning to pick up the pieces, restarting our economy here in the U.S., and moving forward. If you are living in a country that is still in the midst of the madness, take heart. There is an end to it. There is hope. God has not forgotten you.
In today's episode of The Kate Show, I am sharing my best tips on how to regroup, regenerate, and how to make your business even more resilient in unexpected situations.
Running a business is the best, the worst, the most rewarding and the most dangerous (to your personal) health. Just ask John Dupra of Revel Woods.
In today's episode, we're getting the scoop on John's work-induced hospital stay, the devastation and roller coaster ride that almost always accompanies entrepreneurship, and an honest look at the realities of running a business when outside forces are directly working against you.
"But is email marketing even relevant anymore?"
"I don't want to send email newsletters because people already receive so many emails."
Ever thought this before? I sure did! In fact, I believed these myths for several years, significantly slowing the growth of my business in its early phase. Now, I know better. Admittedly, I missed a lot of new business during that time.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the main, proven ways email marketing will grow your business long after the infatuation with social media has ended. This information is not based on my opinion - or anyone else's - but on actual, proven facts.
I've received many questions from my clients and members over the past several weeks regarding how they should handle the pandemic as it relates to their clients. While the questions have been varied, they all have one overarching theme.
In today's unconventional episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing the best advice I have on navigating this issue in your business circles, from clients to colleagues and vendors. Bear with me. This topic isn't normal, and it isn't exactly comfortable, but that's how the world is right now. When I am repeatedly asked a question from my community, I do feel it is my duty to give an answer. Here it is.
Does your business feel like it has too many moving parts? If you have started outsourcing your marketing, rendering, bookkeeping, or other tasks and feel like it's all too much to manage - almost as much work as if you were still doing all the work yourself - you need to make a crucial new hire in your business.
You need an online business manager (OBM). If this sounds like something you need in your business, stop floundering and start listening. Today on The Kate Show, I'm chatting with Stephanie Holmbeck, former interior designer turned business manager for design firms.
"How do I get more people into my furniture store?"
"Can you help me increase foot traffic in my window treatment showroom?"
In an age when you can order just about anything online, you might think your brick-and-mortar store has been given a death sentence. However, that actually isn't the case. The era of prolific online business simply means an offline business needs to have an online presence. Don't worry, I'll explain how it works in today's episode of The Kate Show, along with how to monetize your location in other ways and generate some basic PR.
Today is part 2 of How to Sell Online Design & Staging Packages. If you're a note-taker, please pull to the side of the road. I'm going to share so much information, so many resources, so many examples... If you've been thinking about selling your interior design or home staging packages on your website, you will have no excuse to put it off after you hear this episode.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing the main things you'll need to effectively sell online staging or design packages, from consults to designer-for-a-day to anything else you can put in a tidy, sell-able package. I'll start by covering the basics that you'll need, everything from the technology to the marketing strategy.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm chatting with Julia Bocchese. She is an SEO consultant for creative small businesses. Her goal is to make SEO approachable and easy to implement for all small businesses so they can reach their ideal clients organically.
My conversation with Julia focuses heavily on actionable ways you can improve the SEO of your website and give Google the information it needs to send you the right leads. We also discuss how you can avoid being scammed by unethical SEO companies who take your money, promise you many leads, and never deliver. Julia gives you the tools necessary to be your own SEO advocate.
"You really need a CTA." What the heck is a CTA?
CTA simply means, "call-to-action." That, my friend, is a technical way of saying, "dear potential client, here is the next step you need to take if you want to work with me."
Today on The Kate Show, I'm simplifying the call-to-action overwhelm and giving you specific steps and scripts you can use to add the right CTA to your marketing efforts.
Back in episode 73 of this podcast, many of you heard me describe how I was preparing my business and my team for my new role as a mom. Now that my daughter Sadie is six months old, I'm reporting back with what worked, what didn't, and what I'm doing differently.
Let's talk business and babies.
P.S. Shout out to all the mompreneurs who have reached out to me since I made my motherhood journey public. The struggle is real. The joy is real. Thank you for letting our stories mingle.
On this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing the struggle and angst that I faced as a new business owner six years ago in hopes that it will encourage you to keep going, continue doing things that make you ridiculously uncomfortable - and know that the payout will be so much more than you ever imagined. The first two years in business are often the HARDEST you'll ever face; they can make you doubt everything about yourself. At the same time, they can also make you emerge stronger and more confident than you ever thought possible.
Today, I'm covering the other pages of your website: Your about, services, process, and contact pages, along with a few extras. If you're getting a new website or think you might need to at least update your verbiage, you're going to get way too much information from this episode.
"Words are hard."
I read that sentiment on a social media post recently and couldn't help but laugh. It's true! Unfortunately, words are one of the most overlooked aspects in the home industry marketing. Using the right words can make the difference between landing a new client or losing a lead...
Words matter.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing simple and easy tactics for adding the right words to your website. Since your website is the mothership of your brand and the most popular piece of your marketing - even to your local client base - making sure your website isn't deterring business should be a top priority.
I never thought I'd be here. To be honest, I started podcasting with zero expectations. One HUNDRED episodes later, I've learned a few things and even landed in the iTunes Top 200 Business Podcasts accidentally. If you're up for an honest little chat on the pros and cons of podcasting and the tremendous impact it can have on all things business and marketing, stick around.
If the new year has you ready to de-clutter your home, your office, and your brain, you've likely started to wonder if you can de-clutter your marketing, too. Short answer - absolutely. If you are ready to simplify your marketing and do only what brings you joy, you're going to love this episode.
Have you ever been presented with a sponsorship, advertising, or partnership opportunity and felt unsure how to navigate that decision? Ha, same here. At face value, sponsorship opportunities look amazing - as they should. The organization or company offering the sponsorship to you has the responsibility of "selling" that slot to you and will likely promise you all sorts of new clients if you just write them a check.
...but will the act of slapping your logo all over their event materials actually grow your business? That's the question I'm answering today on The Kate Show, along with how to make confident choices when it comes to approaching or accepting referral partners.
Do you want to become well-known as an interior designer, home stager, or custom workroom? Do you want to be memorable, personable, and magnetic to your target client? Do you want to inject your business with high octane, proven-to-work marketing? Yes? Me, too. What I'm about to share with you is oddly simple and, financially, so attainable. But don't let it fool you. It will do wonders for your marketing. That's right, I'm talking about photos of YOU, or more specifically, a lifestyle photo shoot.
If you are trying to reach high-end clients, increase your rates, or establish your credibility, you're going to love this episode. Today on The Kate Show, I'm chatting with Ashley Uhl. She specializes in helping interior designers create amazingly simple (and simply amazing) client experiences that will help you stay organized, look professional, set expectations, and provide your clients with a delightful experience.
Guys, I am seriously over-the-moon happy that Instagram is finally taking steps toward removing their most addictive and harmful feature. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing how this change will affect your business Instagram account and what you need to do to be ready when your likes disappear.
We try to help people, right? Sometimes it just doesn't work out, despite our best intentions. In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing why you might be attracting bad clients unknowingly, the red flags you should watch for when entertaining a new prospect, and how to handle them when they slip into your schedule.
Blogging is a marketing beast that scares many interior designers, home stagers, and workrooms. It requires consistent creativity, a knowledge of SEO, and at least a decent amount of writing ability. With all these things in mind, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of starting a blog, especially if you aren't sure what to say, how often to write it, or where to source your photos. More importantly, you might not even be sure whether having a blog is necessary for your business. I mean, what exactly does a blog do and why should it matter to you?
AirBnb is taking over the hospitality industry. These hosts are ready to make money. As designers and stagers, you are the perfect professionals who can help them maximize the aesthetics and comfortability of their spaces, which leads to more bookings and higher rates for the host, which circles back to you, greatly increasing the value of your services and the price you set on them.
Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing my top tips on how to create service packages that AirBnb hosts will love at prices that benefit both you and them. I'll also be sharing how you can get in front of the AirBnb host and the adjustments you'll need to make in your marketing.
If you're on the fence about creating a team to support your business, if you still wonder whether you should be doing it all to "save money," or if you want to build a team and don't know who to hire first, you're in luck. Today on The Kate Show podcast, I am sharing the top subcontractors you should considering hiring to further your business. Plus, I'm sharing the contact info of several of the subcontractors I use virtually so that you can consider hiring them, too.
Tough conversations in business are unavoidable. Whether you are dealing with a disgruntled client, a wayward employee, or an off-the-rails subcontractor, you know that sometimes you just have to put your game face on and have "the talk." On today's episode of The Kate Show, my guest - a business coach for woodworkers - is sharing his simple formula for difficult conversations. His straight-forward approach and clear rules of conduct will help you communicate under tense circumstances without losing your cool or your business relationships.
Have you ever been told that your business idea, new service offering, or passion project won't work? Unfortunately not every entrepreneur in the home industry has a support network behind them, especially if they attempt to do something that no one in their family, social circles, or industry has accepted as "normal."
When you're doing something different, you'll be treated differently. Sometimes the objections we hear or the well-intentioned, "That could be a good hobby for you but..." can take the wind out of our sails.
In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing how that odd or innovative business idea you have could be downright game-changing, how to test it, and how to silence those who would derail you from it while maintaining your own confidence. Let's get started.
If you're on the fence about creating a team to support your business, if you still wonder whether you should be doing it all to "save money," or if you want to build a team and don't know who to hire first, you're in luck. Today on The Kate Show podcast, I am sharing the top subcontractors you should considering hiring to further your business. Plus, I'm sharing the contact info of several of the subcontractors I use virtually so that you can consider hiring them, too.
I am an achiever, a reformer, and a thinker. How do I know this? I've taken several different Ennegram tests and those results consistently appear. If you don't know what the Ennegram is, you're in for some breaking news:
The Ennegram can be traced back to ancient Syria and Egypt and is a personality analysis based on a person's weakest points or the areas they need to improve. Each of the nine personality types have their own struggles: Anger, pride, and envy are a few of the key components.
However, don't let the negative origins of the Ennegram dissuade you. If you decide to take the Ennegram test, you'll learn more about yourself, the areas you can improve and grow, and the reasons for your little quirks and nuances. It's a fascinating journey in self-discovery, and it can help you focus on what you are good at in business and let you know where you need to outsource.
What does it take to become an HGTV interior designer and receive public acknowledgement from the Real Estate Staging Association as one of the most influential people in the industry? My special guest, Rachel Moriarty will tell you. I have been following Rachel for years and was completely floored when she became a customer of Socialite. I mean, can I just be a fan girl for a minute?
I had the opportunity to interview Rachel as part of the Socialite Vault Influencer Program and knew I'd need to have her on The Kate Show to more fully capture her business wisdom. Rachel has myriad of experience growing a design brand, generating publicity, and even developing her own line of mosaics. If you want to follow in her footsteps, today's episode will show you how to get started.
Whether you're a new interior designer, home stager, or workroom owner...or you've been in business for decades, you may find a time when your business is crickets. No projects on the horizon, no leads coming in.... And you might start to worry. However, worry is not a good revenue generator and also tends to kill any creativity left in your brain. The decisions any of us make from this mindset tend to be regrettable. To avoid regrets and, ideally, to avoid the "famine" entirely, I'm sharing specific actions you can take to prevent, end, or recover from a dip in business.
Do you ever get the feeling you aren't doing enough to market your design, staging, or workroom business? Wouldn't it be nice to have a checklist that could tell you, in mere minutes, whether you were on track for success or dangerously close to derailing? In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing an 11 question checklist to help you determine the marketing and well being of your business.
"Should I make it obvious on my website that I am a one-person business or will that discredit me?"
"How can I get clients to take me seriously when I only just graduated from design school?"
"How can I reference my past careers without harming the validity of my current home industry business?"
These are the questions I receive from entrepreneurs in the home industry. No matter how long or short you've been in the business world, you've likely experienced the insecurity that comes with starting something new. I get it. We like to anticipate how we will be received and, if possible, prevent any negative assumptions or judgement.
However, we are often far to judgmental on ourselves. What if I told you that being a one-person business was sometimes better than having a team of employees (Bigger teams, you have benefits, too, and there is nothing wrong with you.) What if you could speak about your skills confidently, even if you just graduated or recently changed careers? You get to control the first impression potential clients receive of you and your business, and you also get to help them determine whether to feel confident in your ability...or not. It's all in the wording.
While your actions must back up whatever you're claiming, don't make the mistake of downplaying or discrediting yourself through negative connotations. Today on The Kate Show, we're talking about confidence and marketing - the two things most female business owners lack - and what to say when you or a client are questioning your abilities. You'll want keep these scripts for future use.
Video is a big deal, but it doesn't have to be a colossal undertaking. Today on The Kate Show, we're chatting with home stager Tori Toth on why she started using video in her marketing and how it has helped establish her as a home staging influencer. Tune in to hear her realistic tips and strategies for becoming confident on camera and crafting a succinct message that your viewers can't stop watching.
Here's the truth: It's the small, seemingly insignificant things that will grow your business and multiply your marketing the most. Success doesn't lie in that one big event, that one special magazine feature, that collaboration, or that TV spot.
Marketing your design, staging, or workroom business right into a state of success depends on the small details, the things you do consistently, the things you do wholeheartedly without wavering.
Well, this was fun! I asked you all on social media to send me your burning questions about marketing, about growing your business, and my personal life. This episode is full of easy-to-use marketing tips and juicy details about me that you either always wondered or never wanted to know. If you don't know me yet, you'll feel like you do after hearing this episode.
As an interior designer, home stager, or workroom owner, your project portfolio is one of your greatest marketing tools. Today, I'm sharing how you can leverage your portfolio - whether it is large or small - for the biggest and best marketing impact. We will cover the big things you should always do before and after adding new project photos to your website, how to make them work for you across Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook, and why telling the story behind each project is absolute marketing gold.
When was the last time you gave your business marketing a check up? Much like having a physical done with your primary care provider, doing a check up on your marketing is preventative and serves to actively improve your business. Don't wait for a lack of leads or new projects before you assess your marketing, because that would be "too late" and make it harder for you to dig yourself out of that hole. Instead, remember that the current success of your business is because of the marketing efforts you put into place weeks or even months prior. Marketing has cumulative effects rather than instant ones, and that is why you can't credit your current success with current efforts. Look retroactively at your marketing track records so that you can plan proactively for the future you want to have. In this episode, I'm teaching you how to do a marketing check up, circumvent a lack of clients, and prepare for success tomorrow by taking action today.
Do you find yourself constantly starting at ground zero when brainstorming what you should post on social media, put in your newsletter, or write about on your blog? As interior designers, home stagers, and workroom owners, you already have way too much on your schedule. Reinventing the wheel with your marketing shouldn't be one more thing that eats up your time.
On this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing my top tips for recycling the marketing content you already have, why most marketing content is never reused enough to be effective, and best practices around when and when not to reuse your content.
When I ask home industry business owners what their marketing goals are, I often hear the same answers:
"I want more clients."
"I want bigger projects."
"I want to get featured by shelter magazines."
However, these are dreams, not goals. A goal is something that has a step-by-step plan leading up to its front door. For example, if I said I wanted to spend two weeks in Ireland for vacation, that would be a dream. If I booked a plane ticket, planned my itinerary, packed my bags, and started driving to the airport, that dream is now a goal because it is actually happening.
If you're wondering how to set goals for your home industry business, you'll love this episode of The Kate Show.
As an interior designer, home stager, or workroom owner, do you have a mailing list? I ask this question of my new clients often. ...And I'm often met with raised brows, followed by questions such as:
"Why do I need a mailing list? I have social media followers."
"What if my contacts don't want to hear from me?"
"Isn't email marketing outdated?
These are valid questions, and ones that need answering before we can delve into exactly how to grow your mailing list. If you're ready to discover how many more projects you could be getting each month just by using and growing your mailing list, you'll get so much value from this episode of The Kate Show.
Do you run a soft furnishings workroom? Do you struggle with marketing? I get it. After speaking with countless workroom business owners, I recognize the special challenges you likely face when it comes to marketing your business.
Whether you serve residential clients, trade-only, or both, you'll find this episode of The Kate Show to be a helpful, actionable plan you can implement right away to start marketing your business more efficiently.
As many of you know, I'm due with my first baby in July 2019. As I'm preparing for her arrival, I realize that now is the perfect time to share a bit more about my business model, my team, and why motherhood won't be taking me away from entrepreneurship. (Shout out to all my working moms who hustle hard and hug their kids every day. Balance isn't perfect, but you make it look good.)
If you're curious about my leveraged, passive income model, the team that runs it, and why my business was built for motherhood from day one, you'll love this episode.
Social media stresses out most interior designers and home stagers due to the lack of professional photos in their arsenal and perhaps, the even greater issue, the fear of not knowing what to write along with those photos even if they do exist.
Does this describe you? If so, you know that attempting to write a solid social media caption is hard work. Perhaps you, like me, have been tempted to post the photo of a designed or staged room and simply write, "We love this space!" ...And leave it at that.
However, there are a few problems with this approach and there are even more easy tricks you can use to make writing social media captions easier, faster, and more effective. I'm diving into all of this on today's episode of The Kate Show.
Have you been looking for a way to take your interior design or home staging business to the next level? Some of the most lucrative business ideas can be implemented within an existing business and marketed to your existing audience, and this new business venture is no exception.
Most of us are familiar with AirBnb, the revolutionary hospitality platform that allows home owners and property managers the opportunity to rent out spaces to short-term guests and make nearly a completely passive income doing it.
The buck doesn't stop there, my friend. Today on The Kate Show, I'm sharing how you can leverage the hospitality revolution to the benefit of your home industry business.
As a home industry professional, you know how much your client's experience with you matters from day one. In fact, the ease with which you bring them into the fold of your company speaks to your level of professionalism even before your creative work has had a chance to shine. Not only will your on boarding process shape your client's expectations, it will also create a lens through which they will view your work, for better or worse.
Do you have an on boarding process? Do you know what an on boarding process is or why each step matters? I'm sharing all the details and resources for creating a stellar client on boarding process today on The Kate Show
If you're ready to develop a mission statement for your interior design, home staging, or workroom business - one that cuts the fluff and focuses on the heart of what you do - stay tuned. This episode of The Kate Show takes a magnifying glass to the often overlooked mission statement and analyzes why it is a necessary component of every successful marketing strategy.
"I spilled wine on her white sofa...and she laughed."
That was the subject line of one of my most successful email newsletters. My customers used it to introduce their clients to the wonderful joys of Crypton Fabric, resulting in custom furniture and re-upholstery projects. Open rates went through the roof anytime the email was sent - and it didn't matter or big or small their mailing list was. Two years later, that newsletter is still one of the most popular in the Vault. (Vault is my online marketing platform for home pros.) Today, I am sharing this newsletter and several other highly effective ones with you, and I'm deconstructing each one to help you understand why they continue to be excellent revenue drivers.
After this episode, you'll want to implement these tips in your own business marketing, and I have no doubt you'll do so successfully. Be sure to subscribe to The Kate Show podcast on iTunes / Google Play.
Are you so burned out and bewildered by the 1,000+ pieces of marketing advice flying in your face that you don't know what to do next? Are you so overwhelmed by marketing or even just your own client load that the thought of cranking out a blog post, a newsletter, or a month's worth of social media is completely ludicrous?
If so, it's time that you partner with a marketer. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm digging into exactly how to find the right social media manager, website designer, and marketing consultant, including what signs to look for and what questions to ask. Be sure to subscribe to The Kate Show on iTunes / Google Play.
Did you know that Pinterest is a great way to promote your new line of home furnishings, your blog, and even your portfolio? While you might know it as a social platform, Pinterest is actually a search engine and an absolute powerhouse when it comes to sending the right traffic to your website.
If you write blog posts that get very little attention, if your lead magnet isn't attracting new email subscribers, and if your website traffic overall is low... You need Pinterest. Learn how to use Pinterest at a deeper level in today's episode of The Kate Show. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes or Google Play.
In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm pulling back the curtain on what marketing fear is, how to know if you have it, and how to address the real root of your fear. (Spoiler alert: Your fear isn't really about marketing.)
Remember, if you have to lower your rates to land a project, you were chosen because the client believed you were "cheap." Don't blame the client; that's exactly what you told them! It sets the precedent for a project and a client relationship based on you working many unpaid hours, lowering your already low confidence, and allowing yourself to be taken advantage of by a bargain hunter who got exactly what they wanted.
If you've been in business for a few years, you've likely served many wonderful clients. Wouldn't it be great to work with them again? While they might not be ready for another batch of window treatments, another staging consultation, or a renovation, they likely could use one of your other services.
This episode of The Kate Show spills the secret of how to reconnect with clients from long ago and either work with them again or ask them to refer you.
When a client tells me that her past ad runs resulted in next to no phone calls, I know that at least one of these pieces was missing. While I'm not a huge fan of paid advertising in general, I do know how to make an ad work, and we're diving into every detail in this episode of The Kate Show.
I recently came across a blog post written by an interior designer that explained her reason for leaving Instagram, thus removing herself from social media entirely. It intrigued me with its refreshing perspective and made me dive back into the basics of modern marketing to answer the BIG question...
Is social media really necessary to market your interior design, home staging, or workroom business? The short answer: No - but you will need to employ other tactics to reach new clients if you decide to forgo social media.
Today's episode of The Kate Show covers the ins and outs of marketing your business without social media, how it impacts the rest of your marketing, and whether you are a good candidate for breaking up with the social game.
In this episode, I share 20 business marketing and management tools that will help make your home industry business more organized, professional, efficient, and profitable. Best of all, most tools are free or extremely affordable, and all have the potential to leave you feeling better about your self and more confident about where your business is headed.
…and that is priceless.
Did you know that your level of confidence determines how effective your marketing will be? This is good news and not-so-good news for interior designers, stagers, and workroom owners.
Why? Because mindset issues can’t be overcome by outsourcing, covering them up, or pretending they don’t exist (been there, tried that!).
In this episode, I provide a 9 question quiz to help you determine whether you lack confidence, and I also provide a clear plan that you can use to start building your confidence and get your marketing on the right track.
As an interior designer, home stager, or workroom owner, you likely fall into one of two categories:
You do email marketing on the regular
You are skeptical about email marketing
For those of you who already send email newsletters, prepare to take notes as we discuss 13 ways you can get more people to open each newsletter you send. For the rest of you who are unsure email marketing can even help your business, prepare to change your mindset about email newsletters. The stats are in - and they all point to email marketing.
Have you ever been tempted to copy and paste your recent interior design, home staging, or workroom business blog post into a newsletter and hit send? Me, too. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work well for a number of reasons. Blog posts and email newsletters are not interchangeable. In fact, they play starkly different roles in your marketing. If you try to substitute one for the other, you’ll start to wonder as, I did…
“Why is no one reading my blog?” “Why is no one opening my newsletter?”
Are you freaked out about your marketing? Marketing anxiety can come from four places: a lack of knowledge, not using a plan or setting goals, watching your competition too much, and trying to do it all yourself when you just don’t have the time.
In fact, many of the interior designers, home stagers, and workrooms I speak with are in the awkward phase of, “I know what I should be doing, but I don’t have enough time to do it and I feel like it will be too expensive to outsource.”
…So, they freak out about it.
Regardless of is causing your marketing anxiety, today’s episode of The Kate Show will help ease your stress, clear the mental clutter, and drive you back to the basics of marketing - you know- the parts that actually grow your business.
While you’ve been marketing your design, staging, or workroom business online, you’ve likely faced another hurdle: offline marketing. In today’s episode of The Kate Show, I’m shared the four steps to creating an offline marketing strategy that puts you in front of your ideal client, earns their trust, and puts them on your project schedule.
“Marketing takes too much time.”
“I tried ______ to market my business and it didn’t work; I’ll never try it again.”
“If I want results, I need to spend money on ads.”
Ever caught yourself thinking these things? I hear them all the time from interior designers, stagers, and workroom owners. Marketing has been painted as being difficult and expense (mainly because marketing / ad / PR companies want you to justify spending a lot of money with them….just saying).
Here at Socialite, we do things a big differently. The basis of our brand is, “Marketing isn’t magic, but it IS easy.” I live out that philosophy in my business every day, and today on The Kate Show I’m sharing a few ways you can adopt this mindset, too. Once you do, marketing will become less time-consuming, less expensive, and you might actually like it.
I’ll bet you can think of at least one person who talks about themselves…a lot. I’m also sure you’ve noticed how difficult it is to have a relationship with that person. Whether they realize it or not, talking about the subject they know best, themselves, is a great people-repellent. In business, this is also true and not only comes at the expense of potential relationships, but also at a loss of income.
The first thing you say in your website, social media, or email newsletter verbiage makes it clear where your heart is and what your intentions are. It either enhances the rest of your message or voids it.
Because I’m running a business, managing a team, and working with customers (hey, aren’t you doing that, too?), I have to be strategic about how I spend time marketing my business. I can’t do everything, and I sure wouldn’t want to try.
In today’s episode of The Kate Show, I’m sharing 10 ways I’m not marketing my business. I hope this rebellious episode gives you the freedom to stop wasting time on marketing efforts that are a waste of your day and your resources.
Are you confused about SEO? Are you worried that your interior design, home staging, or workroom website won’t be found on the first page of Google? Just like social media, SEO has been over-complicated, overthought, and completely blown out of proportion. In fact, SEO anxiety has driven many business owners to spending hundreds of dollars they’ll never get back, all in the hope of “getting on the first page of Google.”
Do you ever wonder if half of your marketing efforts are a waste of time or money? You should. Learn how to assess and address this issue in today’s episode.
As a business owner who has become very open about faith and business over the past couple years, I’ve gotten a radical perspective on faith and business. Surprisingly, I’ve realized that the more personal I make my business, the more people want to connect with, partner with, and work with my brand.
I’ve also discovered some non-offensive, effective ways to share my faith. In today’s episode of The Kate Show, you’ll hear my reasons for making faith the compass of my business as well as how my customers directly benefit from it.
Are you about to get a new website? Make sure it is designed correctly from day one by avoiding these top 20 design mistakes. These mistakes are far too common on interior design, home staging, and workroom websites. I’ll bet your site has at least one of these faux pas.
Are you looking for a solid marketing plan that actually makes sense for your home industry based business? After providing many marketing consultations, I’ve been able to layout a framework of fail-proof principles that can help nearly any interior design, home staging, and workroom business create a marketing plan that works for them.
Want to hear the worst piece of business / marketing advice floating around right now?
“I try to keep business and personal totally separate. It isn’t professional to talk about myself as part of my business.”
Following this mindset leads to poorly branded interior design, staging, and workroom businesses. It leads to shallow marketing (or a gross lack of marketing since the business owner will often find herself at a loss for what to say next). A lack of personality in your business can even lead to sporadic clients or ho-hum projects.
Many of you have heard my personal stories before. Each story I tell has been able to resonate with customers across different countries, nationalities, and belief systems. It’s often the reason people initially contact me before ultimately becoming a customer. What I’m doing isn’t new or original. I’m just allowing my brand to be vivacious and engaging. The only way to do that is to put a human (me) on the front line.
You should be doing this, too. Vulnerability is scary, but so are lifeless businesses.
In this episode, I'm sharing why and how you can start sharing your stories, even if you don't think you have a story to tell.
When you know exactly who your target client is, you’ll find that writing a social media caption, a blog post, a newsletter, and new website copy becomes simple. Why? Because it’s easier to talk to someone than it is to talk to no one.
Are you currently serving no one in your business? If you define your ideal client only by their budget and location, you don’t have an ideal client. Chances are high that you’re casting too wide a net…and yielding an unsatisfactory number of fish…if you catch my drift.
In today's episode, I'm spilling all the secrets on defining your ideal client, marketing to them easily, and how all of that will transform your business.
In this episode of The Kate Show, I discuss every big question I’ve ever been asked about email newsletters and email marketing in general. After meeting hundreds of interior designers, home stagers, and window treatment workroom owners who struggle with email marketing, I was able to pinpoint their biggest problems.
In the words of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, “Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.”
If you need to prepare your SEO for a post-Google Plus world, or if you just want to know how you can easily improve your business’s ability to be found on Google, this episode is for you. Today on The Kate Show, I explain how to add SEO to your portfolio images, blog post images, and why the headings in your website copy matter to Google.
What happens when a former Google employee and founding member of Youtube sets her sights on the interior design industry? To sum it up: You get DesignerInc., the Amazon of the trade-only interior design industry.
DesignerInc.com is the most comprehensive trade-only marketplace for the interior design industry, and it is free to all registered interior designers. Amassing hundreds of thousands of trade-only furniture and decor products from over a 1,000 vendors, DesignerInc offers the only seamless online solution to source and purchase furniture and decor, and it is a cost effective, smart, marketing channel for trade-only manufacturers with an audience of nearly 10,000 registered designers.
Interior designers: Get your free account at www.designerinc.com.
One of my biggest regrets in business is not sending my own monthly newsletter from day one. After I realized how powerful email marketing was, I started offering email newsletters services to my clients and eventually moved those email templates to a membership platform.
The impact was astonishing and led to the birth of Socialite Vault, a suite of marketing tools that serves home industry professionals in every major English-speaking country.
Socialite Vault contains everything you need to market your business in the home industry: -Email newsletters -Social media images and captions -Lead magnets
(and coming soon)
-Moodboards -Brochures -Client onboarding packages
Check out how the Vault can grow your business by starting a 14 day free trial at SocialiteVault.com.
Lead magnets are a great way to attract more interior design or home staging clients. These handy little marketing tools provide immediate assistance to your potential clients and address their pain points. Lead magnets made you look professional and contribute incredible value to your sales funnel, even when you are trying to reach clients local to your area.
Today on the Kate Show, I’m talking all about what a lead magnet is, what it does for your business, the anatomy of a successful lead magnet, and how to create one for your own business.
Do you ever feel pressured to implement every piece of marketing advice that falls into your lap? Does the pressure to keep up with your colleagues on social media - only to see zero results for your efforts - feel exhausting? Today on The Kate Show, I’m sharing a unique way to approach marketing your interior design, staging, or workroom business.
It’s called backwards marketing. (I coined the term; ya heard it here first!
Finding the right vendors for your interior design projects can be difficult. Who should you trust? Will they value your business as a long term relationship? Will they respect your professionalism and add value to your client experience?
These are just a few of the questions I asked Revel Woods co-founder John Dupra on The Kate Show. If you’re looking to expand your interior design services and provide a more well-rounded experience for your clients, you need to meet Revel Woods.
Check them out here: www.revelwoods.com/pro-account
Whether you’re a new business owner in the home industry or a longtime entrepreneur looking to revitalize your pipeline, your business will grow from collaborating with other businesses and brands. In fact, marketing your business in this way is more lucrative than paid advertising and can also help bolster other areas of your marketing, such as growing your social media channels, expanding your mailing list, and increasing traffic to your website.
In this episode of The Kate Show, you’ll learn how to choose and approach a brand partner (script included!), how to determine the nature of the partnership, and what to offer your new audience as a collaborative partner.
Do you need a new website or logo? Ensure that your project turns out well by getting familiar with the design processes of both. In this episode, I'm sharing the unique client process we use here at Socialite to make sure our clients' brands and websites are successful, beautiful, and functional.
Be sure to check out the show notes at katethesocialite.com/the-kate-show to access the helpful resources mentioned in this episode.
For the past 30 days, I've been running a social experiment that determines when / what we should post on social media and how that translates to more $$ in our bank accounts.
Not only have I been posting a photo of myself or my family every day for the past month, but I have also been writing long and meaningful captions. Yes, it was a lot of work. Yes, I was nervous.
...And now that I know how it affects the bottom line of my business, there is no way I'm going to quit.
Marketing is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you approach marketing with the mindset of, "This is going to suck," then yes, it will be an awful and depreciating experience for you. However, if you approach marketing with the mindset of, "I'm here to help a specific group of people in the best and most authentic way possible--I just need to find them," you'll find that marketing becomes less like running in place and more like sprinting toward a specific goal.
In this episode, I share the biggest mistakes I made early in my business with the hope that you won't repeat them. I also take care of a few business "housekeeping" issues that you absolutely must address well before you take on your first client.
Do you struggle with planning your social media content? As an interior designer, home stager, or window treatment workroom, what you post on social media directly impacts the type of clients and projects you will receive. Creating a strategic content calendar protects you from falling into the trap of only talking about your services, sales, or promotions. Instead, a content calendar helps you attract the right clients and projects, catch the eye of shelter magazines, and actually contribute to the bottom line of your business through social media.
What if.... Working with a business coach pushed you to the next level of success?
What if... Working with a business coach actually increased your long term profits?
This success is the result for thousands of interior designers, home stagers, and workrooms who partner with coaches to grow their businesses.
If you're ready to grow your business from the inside out, build a team, and develop processes that ensure consistency, you need to hear this episode.
Have you tried (and failed) at blogging for your interior design, staging, or window treatment business? Blogging can be difficult if you don't know how to structure each post, what to write about, or how often to post new articles.
In this episode of The Kate Show, I chat with my best friend (in real life) Jaquilyn Edwards of Ochre & Beige.
Jaquilyn is a blogger for interior designers. Browse her services and samples here: www.ochreandbeige.com
The episode is sponsored by My Design Assistant, virtual assistant services for interior designers: www.mydesignassistant.com
I stared at my Instagram empty schedule for the month and gulped. Here I was, an experienced marketer, and I had no clue what I wanted to say in that given moment. Call it the result of hormones (always a good excuse), brain fog, or an overly packed schedule--I had a bad case of marketer's block.
Fortunately, I've gleaned tips on how to conquer this and come up with a few of my own that I still use to this day. Best of all, they are applicable to your home furnishings business, too. Let's dive in together.
Paid advertising has its time and place, but not as often as you'd think. Advertising is also not a replacement for genuine marketing. If you're ready to learn when, where and how to run a successful ad--and how to recognize when it's truly a waste of money--this episode is for you.
*If this podcast is helpful to you, would you please leave me a review on iTunes? It really makes a difference!
Do you overthink your decisions in business? raises hand Yep, I lean toward indecisiveness too, and I've found a four step process that helps me strategically navigate my options and make a decision that I can walk away feeling confident about--without all of that false "buyer's remorse" getting in the way.
If you tend to ask handfuls of people for their opinions before making a decision, if you lack confidence, and if you feel guilty easily, this episode is for you.
Subscribe to The Kate Show on iTunes or Google Play. This episode is sponsored by Your Business Partner, business coaching for interior designers.
How long has it been since you updated your professional bio or the About page on your website? (If your answer makes you cringe, you're in the right place.) Your bio can be a powerful part of your marketing, the piece that convinces clients to fall in love with what you do because of who you are.
One of my listeners emailed me recently and asked the question I'd been only vaguely answering up to this point:
"How did you become okay with being successful, making money, and not feeling guilty? How do you reach the point of feeling valuable and acting like it? I try so hard to do everything right, but I can barely make ends meet after all these years. Am I simply not meant to be successful?"
Here is the tale of a girl who came from nothing, who believed she was nothing, who felt unloved, unsuccessful, and trapped in an endless cycle of try-fail-repeat.
Spoiler alert: You'll love the ending. I made one "simple" mindset shift that redirected the trajectory of my business and, more importantly, forever changed how I view myself.
This is an excerpt from my masterclass, "Marketing Your Business Beyond Social Media," as part of The E-Design Experience seminar weekend.
Have you been wanting to launch your e-design business or add virtual interior design to your service packages? Whether you're a total newbie or an experienced traditional designer, this episode will help you set up a sales funnel to sell your e-design services on autopilot.
Does Facebook Live scare you? I get it. I used to get heart palpitations at the mere thought of doing a live video. However, after a few tries, I started to get comfortable with it. Facebook Live became more conversational and less scripted for me--and in today's episode I'm sharing exactly how I made Facebook Live easy and fun.
Do you avoid looking at your Quickbooks account? Do numbers make your cringe? Are you unable to pay yourself consistently as an interior designer, stager, or workroom? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you likely have negative money mindset, one that will continue to stunt the growth of your business until you choose to overcome it.
Are you trying to attract high end clients for your interior design or home staging firm? Your visual presence and client process matters. If you're still emailing client documents and designs, hold up right there. If you're still constantly updating your client on the status of his/her project and wishing you could find an easier way to stay organized while allowing your client to require fewer hours of your precious time, this episode of the Kate Show is for you.
I chatted with fellow lady boss Albie Buabeng of Albie Knows Design and founder of The E-Design Experience, a virtual seminar and society centered on helping interior designers launch and grow a profitable e-design business (or simply add e-design to their list of services).
Albie's innate business sense, intentional moves, and tough but honest questions catapulted her from one industry to the next. Looking back, she noted that all of her "random" experience came full circle and culminated in the niche-focused virtual interior designer and entrepreneur that she is today.
Now, Albie is sharing her hard-won knowledge about e-design and pulling together other professionals from both inside and outside the home industry in her action-packed, two day seminar, The E-Design Experience.
If you've been wishing for a way to increase your income, do less travelling, and live life on your own terms, this episode of The Kate Show is for you.
Do you use Pinterest as part of your marketing strategy? You should be! Pinterest is a great way to send traffic to your website, increase your publicity, and get noticed by your ideal client / shelter magazines. In this episode, I share how you can grow your Pinterest profile to 100K hits per month, increase your web traffic, put your pinning on auto-pilot--and yes--give you a blueprint of exactly what you should be pinning and how often.
Get all the Pinterest details and resources mentioned in this episode at KatetheSocialite.com.
Websites are meant to be more than just beautiful, digital renditions of your brand. They should also become a beacon to attract your ideal client. When a new lead visits your website, they should be able to immediately recognize themselves, their pain points, and how you solve those points.
As you likely surmised from the title, this episode is a personal one. I'm excited to share with you the results of my recent diagnosis (after over a decade of illness) and the immediate treatment I received.
Side note: I recently mentioned my treatment protocol in my Facebook group and received many prayers and concerned responses. Just know that I'm doing really well and that I appreciate your support. The tricky thing about chronic illness is that it doesn't always debilitate a person. To the naked eye, they might not even appear to be ill. Such is the case with me. I don't share my story because I need help or want pity. I have a team of medical / naturopath professionals who are guiding me, and I'm still able to mentally and physically work. I'm sharing this because anyone with IBS, colitis, Crohn's, celiac, dairy / gluten / egg intolerance, and other autoimmune diseases also have this disease. In fact, my disease is the cause of most autoimmune diseases. If this disease is treated, the other diseases will be healed. More people need to know about t
Today we're on the podcast talking all about how interior designers can easily and affordably set up their virtual interior design services or full-fledged e-design business. In a cultural that lends itself toward the DIY'er and in a climate where designer pricing is being overturned by mega-corporations, Designfiles.co stands as a strong yet flexible tool that allows designers to leverage and grow.
Are you obsessed with getting more fans on social media? If not, do you wonder why other people seem to be chasing the status of "social media influencer" down a long, black hole? This race to some unknown finish has pressured some businesses to buy likes / followers, post polarizing content, and join Instagram pods--all for the sake of reaching that elusively high follower count.
Have you ever wanted to take all of your interior design or home staging knowledge and sell THAT instead of trading your hours for dollars? This business model is a monthly, subscription-based form of leveraged income. Some may refer to it as passive, but even passive incomes require regular maintenance. If you have a good relationship with technology, at least three years of design or staging experience, and can commit to spending a month or two setting up your subscription model, you will then be able to run it effortlessly for years to come. Speaking from my own experience, you'll spend a few hours per month updating the content and a half hour per day on customer service. Not a bad gig!
This episode of The Kate Show is brought to you by TryInteract.com. When they reached out a few month ago and asked if I would join their influencer program, I was overjoyed. This amazing online quiz platform has the ability to grow any business owner's mailing list, and they already have template quizzes created for interior designers.
Whaaaat?!
Interact was co-founded by small-town-boy-turned-Cali-entrepreneur Josh Haynam. Today on The Kate Show, I talk with him about the nitty gritty details behind online quiz creation and why human psychology plays an important role in its effectiveness.
Our conversation covered his entrepreneurial journey, how small town life prepared him for success, the role faith plays in running his start-up and, of course, some handy tips on how to create an online quiz that your potential clients just can't resist.
If you just started your interior design or home staging firm, you've realized a few things (and if you haven't yet...spoiler alert!).
You are going to feel like you need to explain your reason for existing. You are going to feel uncomfortable and fake when you tell people what you do. You are going to feel judged. Period. You are going to feel like your IQ dropped the day you launched your business because you have so much to learn. You will feel sick about sending estimates, invoices, or verbalizing your pricing structure in any way.
AND THIS IS OKAY. You're normal. Even the most successful business owners go through these exact stages of self-doubt, self-deprecation, and self-judgement. It's important for you to realize, however, the common denominator in those terms: Self.
With the recent upheaval of Houzz and IvyMark, the interior design industry is #shook. Oh, and #woke, if you want to go with straight up Generation Z lingo. Interior designers and their counterparts are on edge and scrambling to vet their vendors (perhaps a little too late) in an effort to protect their clients' information and their pricing structures.
Resources Mentioned in this EpisodeHeadline analyzer | Co-Schedule
Create blog images | Canva
Hire a professional blog writer | OCHRE & BEIGE
Google+
Google communities
Google+ post scheduler: Hootsuite (free)
Today I'm taking a break from hardcore marketing topics to get personal, real, and raw with you. I started my business four years go, and it has been quite a journey. In year one, I was a newly wed, a college grad, and I had four thousand dollars to my name. In year two, I rebranded, refocused, and basically started over. In year three, my husband was able to quit his day job in order to pursue his own dreams, and I was finally able to say adios to the many part-time jobs I had.
Now it's year four, we are building our dream log home, and our lives are drastically different. How did I get here?
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
My business coach: Michele Williams of Scarlet Thread Consulting. Get her coaching program right here.
Newsletters / social media posts for interior designers and home stagers: www.katethesocialite.com/newsletters
Have you noticed the plethora of marketing advice being thrown around on social media? Me too. Some of it is so smart and so brilliant that it makes me proud to count myself among the ranks of "marketer."
But not all advice is sound. In fact, I've seen and heard a few marketing tips lately that have been proven to do more harm than good. I know this because I've either tried these tips myself or because my clients have come running to me for help after trying them.
Let me be clear: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm sure everyone has a reason for imparting specific pieces of advice. However, it is my job to warn you if I see you being (potentially) led astray by the latest and greatest marketing ploy.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Email newsletters for interior designers and home stagers: www.katethesocialite.com/newsletters
Social media posts and captions for home professionals: www.socialitevault.com
Top 30 Instagram Hashtags for Home Pros: www.katethesocialite.com/top-30-hashtags
Professional blog writer for interior designers and home stagers: www.ochreandbeige.com/
A couple weeks ago, my husband and I attended a build, remodel and landscape show here in Wisconsin. Aside from being a huge production, the show was also full of dynamic booths--some really amazing ones and some really awful ones. We ended up spending five hours at the show (thanks to good beer and good friends), and I picked up some alarming do's and don'ts about expo and trade show marketing along the way.
Get My Top 30 Hashtags for Home Pros on Instagram: www.katethesocialite.com/top-30-hashtags
Marketing your interior design or home staging firm requires a healthy balance of both online and offline marketing strategies. In today's episode, we're talking all about how you can increase your know, like, and trust factor by creating lasting and profitable relationships with realtors in the various cities and suburbs that you serve.
If you need a steady stream of high-quality referrals, if you don't have time to chase down new leads that--let's be honest--may not even hire you...this episode of The Kate Show was created specifically for you.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode Socialite Subscribe | Email newsletters for interior designers and home stagers www.socialitesubscribe.com
Socialite Vault | Unlimited social media posts for Instagram, Facebook & Google+ www.socialitevault.com
Real Estate Organizations | National Association of Realtors
If you are trying to grow or sustain your interior design business, you need to make sure you aren't self-sabotaging. For example, if you or your website use the phrase, "We design spaces based on your lifestyle," hold up! In this episode, I explain why this phrase cripples your potential new client's ability to confidently hire you.
Aside from that, we all know free consultations are not the best way to land new clients--at least not good ones. I spend the latter half of this episode explaining the difference between a "discovery call" and a "free phone consultation" and why one is absolutely detrimental to your business while the other is an absolute rockstar at driving the right clients to your doorstep.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
Socialite Subscribe | Email newsletters for interior designers and home stagers www.katethesocialite.com/newsletters
Socialite Vault | Unlimited social media posts for Instagram, Facebook & Google+ www.socialitevault.com
The Kate Show | Episode 4 Wondering how to get more high-level clients so that you can focus on the quality--not quantity--of your design or staging projects? Today we are talking about the amazing selling power of specificity. The more specific you are with your brand and service offerings, the more your interior design or home staging firm will grow.
In a coffee date style conversation format, I share with you the details my entrepreneurial journey, from the hills of southern Wisconsin where I grew up, to my current location (where I ran my online business without real internet for over 3 years) and I explain exactly how being specific skyrocketed my business. Best of all, I show you how to adapt that strategy for you home furnishings business.
If you came from humble beginnings... If you feel like technology is against you... If you want to increase your prices (but are afraid to)... If you can't figure out how to attract more of the right clients (and repel the bad ones)...
...this episode of The Kate Show is for you.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode Socialite Subscribe | Email newsletters for interior designers and home stagers
www.katethesocialite.com/newsletters
Socialite Vault | Unlimited social media posts for Instagram, Facebook & Google+
www.socialitevault.com
Facebook Zero (the affectionate term we marketing peeps are using for Facebook's latest algorithm update) is making sure that Facebook business pages are seen less and less if they don't post real, engaging, or inspiring content.
So...how can you make sure your fans still see your posts?
Post great content. Don't be salesy. Don't resort to "engagement baiting," as that will result in Facebook making sure no one sees your posts. If you post amazing content but still want more engagement, you can pay to boost your posts or place an ad.
Be Responsible for your social marketing and keep in mind that you don't own your followers on Facebook or Instagram. In fact, the only digital marketing platform you own and control is your mailing list. If you don't have a mailing list, you need to compile one and start sending a monthly email newsletter as soon as possible. Social media will always change, but email marketing won't (and hasn't changed for many years).
Use social media resources that have professionally prepared Facebook and Instagram posts for you to use. This frees you to focus on Facebook Live without having to worry about what to post during the in-between times.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Unlimited Social Media Posts for Interior Designers & Home Stagers | www.socialitevault.com
Email Newsletters for Interior Designers & Home Stagers | www.socialitesubscribe.com
In this episode:
95% of your Facebook fans don't see what you post
Why your fans won't even know you are reusing posts
Why the platform Meet Edgar is genius for your biz
How to instantly get more attention on Instagram with one post
The coolest Facebook live video I've ever seen (by a home stager!)
How to reuse a 5 minute Facebook live video as a blog post (and later repost it to other social media platforms)
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Meet Edgar | Facebook & Twitter management platform
Anchor.fm | Easy podcasting (app)
BoardBooster | Pinterest scheduling
HopperHQ | Instagram scheduling
Socialite Vault | Unlimited Facebook, Instagram & Google+ posts for interior designers and home stagers
Socialite Subscribe | designed, written, formatted email newsletters for interior designers & home stagers (fully customizable)
Not sure what to post on social media for your business? Wondering how you can get the most results from doing less marketing? This episode is for you!
Resources:
Marketing services | www.katethesocialite.com Email newsletters | www.socialitesubscribe.com Social media posts | www.socialitevault.com
FREEBIE: Get Free Social Media Posts for Your Design / Staging Firm at www.socialitevault.com