3 Popular Email Marketing Services

Email marketing is where it is at! You can have small list and generate a lot of business from that list. Social media is still great but instead of putting content out there for the whole world to see knowing that fewer and fewer people are seeing it every day, put more effort into the content that your target marketing is seeing.

You may have thousands of followers on Instagram, thousands of likes on Facebook and millions of view on Pinterest but even if you only have a couple hundred on your email list you could be making a lot more money with your email list than all of your other social media combined.

After searching the internet, I found that email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools for small businesses. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing on average sees a 4300 percent return on investment (ROI) for businesses in the United States.

This is because email marketing is easy to manage, gives you full control, and allows you to establish a direct contact with your customers.

Now that you are considering doing more email marketing, what marketing services are out there?

I talked to several interior designers and came up with the 3 most popular email marketing services among interior designers. All three of them were listed in an article at wpbeginner.com.

CONSTANT CONTACT

Constant Contact is one of the largest and fastest growing email marketing services in the world. It is also the easiest to use and beginner friendly.

You can easily manage your email lists, contacts, email templates, marketing calendar, and more.

Each account gives you access to easy tracking and reporting, built-in social media sharing tools, free image library, list segmentation, Facebook ads integration, and a powerful eCommerce integration for Shopify stores. If you sell product from an online store this could be great.

Their Email Plus accounts also come with powerful features like email automation, surveys & polls, coupons, online donations, and subject line A/B testing which helps you send targeted emails to maximize your open rate.

Constant Contact offers unmatched support with live chat, phone calls, email, community support, and a vast library of helpful resources.

Aside from online training, they also offer in-person live seminars across the United States. This allows small businesses to quickly learn the basics of email marketing and start using it to grow their business like a pro.

For all the reasons above, several sites have rated Constant Contact the best email marketing service for small businesses.

Constant Contact has a 60-day free trial (no credit-card required). After that their pricing starts as low as $20/month.

CONVERTKIT

ConvertKit is a robust email marketing platform for professional bloggers, authors, and marketers. It is extremely easy to use and incredibly powerful.

ConvertKit allows you to easily offer content upgrades and incentives with email signup forms. It also comes with easy to manage auto-responders allowing you to send drip emails.

With ConvertKit, you can easily segment subscribers into those who are interested and those who have already purchased. This helps you increase conversions with automated emails that feel more personal. In marketing terms, this is called targeted email marketing.

ConvertKit offers email-based support and has an extensive knowledge base with great learning material.

ConvertKit offers a 14-day free trial, and their pricing starts from $29/month. They also offer a 30-day refund policy.

MAILCHIMP

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing service providers in the world primarily because they offer a forever free email marketing service plan.

Mailchimp comes with an easy email builder, autoresponders, segmenting contacts into groups, and simple tracking for analytics. It also allows you to setup delivery times based on user’s time zones, and you can setup segmenting based on geolocation.

You can easily integrate Mailchimp with WordPress, Magento, Shopify, and many other platforms.

When it comes to marketing automation features, Mailchimp platform is quite limited when compared to other providers such as ConvertKit.

In the recent years, Mailchimp has attempted to add many of the “advanced” features, but I’ve read some you have tested these and don’t feel that they are truly advanced.

Mailchimp support is offered by email, live chat, and a large tutorial knowledge base.

Mailchimp offers a forever free plan which allows you to send 12,000 emails for up to 2,000 subscribers. This plan is limited because you don’t get features like send-time optimization, advanced segmentation, multi-variate testing, etc. You are also required to display their branding in your email. Finally, support is restricted to email only which is fine if you’re a hobbyist but as a serious business, you need reliable support that you can count on.

Their paid plans start from $10/month for up to 500 subscribers, and the pricing increases in the increment of 500 subscribers.

As limited as Mailchimp sounds it’s still a great free option to get you started with your email marketing. As you grow you can upgrade to a different system if you chose. At the end of the day it’s your content that sells.

Please let me know if you have any questions on how you can use email marketing to grow your business!

Project Management Software or Self-hosted, Which is Best?

Many interior designers use project management software such as Ivy, Studio Designer, Mydoma, Design Manager or another software. Last week’s blog post focused on the features of these project management systems.

What happens when you don’t find the right fit, or decide to do it yourself either with free programs or programs you already have? There is a group of interior designers that are doing this and are considered self-hosted. They don’t use any of the software options above to stay organized. So how do they do it?

MICROSOFT EXCEL

Most people already have Microsoft Excel and if you are good at it, it can be used to organize projects, orders, expenses, bookkeeping and a variety of other things in your business.

PINTEREST

You can create private boards to share with your client to house your design ideas and product choices for their design. You can also create a private board to create a library of your favorite and popular products and sources.

GOOGLE DRIVE

You can keep photos, stories, designs, drawings, recording, videos and more in your google drive. Your first 15 GB is free with a google account. This is also great for storing notes, spreadsheets, invoices, documents and correspondence with clients.

TRELLO

This free cloud-based platform is great for working with your clients to collaborate on projects. You can create boards, lists and cards to help you stay organized. Many of my virtual design assistants use Trello when collaborating with designers as well.

PAYPAL, VENOMO, WAVE

Create invoices and collect payments. These are free to use but some fees may apply for processing payments.

HELLO SIGN

Use this free service to collect digital signatures for your client contracts. Collecting signatures with this platform just became a lot easier.

MAILCHIMP

Free for up to a certain number of subscribers this service is a great way to get started with your email subscriber list. As you grow you may want to consider using a paid service for your email campaigns. Next week’s post will be on the best options for your email subscriber list and emails.

Best Project Management Software for Interior Designers

I work with a lot of interior designers and they use a variety of project management software including Ivy, Mydoma, Studio Designer, Design Manager and self-hosted.

Which one is best for you? Hopefully the information below will help.

Ivy
Ivy’s website states - Our platform is designed to take the pain out of administrative tasks and allow designers to focus on the work they love. You don’t just get access to the Ivy platform, but also to our incredible industry resources, and the most powerful and supportive design community.

I’ve been told that Ivy has a low learning curve and is the user-friendlier version of Studio Designer. Ivy works well with direct integration with QuickBooks online including easily accepting credit cards. Ivy allows you to view project timelines without added data entry because estimated ship dates automatically go on the Project Calendar. Ivy will continue to add functionality to make it a strong candidate for the interior designer’s use.

Although it may be user friendly, it does take two programs to do what Studio Designer can do in one. Studio Designer is more customizable; however, Ivy is still very popular among interior designers.  

Pricing: Basic $59/month or $599 paid annually

Essential $99/month or $999 paid annually

Unlimited $149/month or $1,499 paid annually

Plus, QuickBooks fees $40 per month

Try it: Ivy offers a 30-day refund.  www.ivymark.com/

As of March 2018, Ivy sold to Houzz and has some designers questioning their partnership and ethics.  I suggest doing your research on this before taking the plunge into Ivy.  

Design Manager

Design Manager is an all in one software for project management, purchase order tracking, accounting, reports, inventory. Since Design Manager isn’t super user friendly it is often used by established design firms. Their website claims 70% of interior designers prefer Design Manager over QuickBooks.

Design Manager is the leading project management and accounting software for interior designers. Created in 1984 to respond to the requests of local interior design firms, it expanded into a nationwide software company and became one of the first providers of cloud-based design software. Because design firms have specific needs that cannot be answered by conventional software, it is our mission to provide a product that is dedicated to serving the design community. We deliver software that saves time, money, and frustration, while eliminating countless hours of paperwork.

Pricing:

DM Cloud $39.99/month

Pro Cloud $54.99/month

Save 10% by paying annually

Try it: They offer a free trial at https://designmanager.com/

Mydoma

Mydoma is a great organizational tool for your interior design projects.  Many designers love the systems and processes and creating automations so that your business runs easier and Mydoma helps with this.  The Mydoma platform helps with the onboarding process, a place to keep project info (ex: space info, before images, measurements, inspiration images), and a place to collaborate with your clients.  Using Mydoma you are creating an online design studio/project binder to collaborate with your clients.  You can have new clients sign contract, fill out onboarding questionnaire, and send initial payment all within the program.  Great if you do e-design or smaller design packages.

This software is limited if you run a full-service interior design firm.  And the accounting is in QuickBooks, so it requires double entry for products.  

Pricing: $59 per month for Pro, plus QuickBooks fees $40 per month

Try it: Free 30-day trial. www.mydomastudio.com

Studio Designer

Studio Designer claims to be the leading application for interior design professionals. It provides project management and accounting systems for its users. In 2016, it created a Vendor Portal and Client Portal. In 2019, version 2.0 is a new streamline look and efficiencies.

It is a very robust and extensive program for every operation a design firm could face.  This is a one-stop-shop for all your interior designer application needs.  Because of this Studio Designer can feel overwhelming for a novice designer.  It is an accounting program and project management program wrapped up in one.  You can manage your entire business from this program.  Accounting, Expediting, Ordering, Timelines, Reminders, Logistics, Inventory and so much more. 

This program is very technical, and you may need an accountant that specializes in the program.

Pricing: Basic - $35/month

Professional - $45/month

Try it: Studio Designer does not offer a free trial, but they do offer pro-rated refunds, if you wanted to try it for a few days for a few bucks.  www.studiodesigner.com/

DesignDocs

DesignDocs is a total project management and online accounting solution for the interior design industry. Founded by a husband and wife team (a Chartered Accountant and a Designer), DesignDocs provides a full suite of business management tools for interior designers. Additionally, the system gives access to valuable financial reports so designers can gain a strong understanding of their profit margins and identify areas in their business where they can increase revenue. 

The software is ideal for full-service design firms who are looking to increase profits, improve their operational processes, and/or scale their businesses. Pricing: Solo $69/p month or $708 paid annually

Professional: $98/p month or $1,056 paid annually (minimum of 2 users)

Try it: Free 14-day trial. www.designdocs.com

Self-hosted

I know more and more interior designers that are going to a self-hosted type of program. They use landing pages on their websites, Pinterest, spreadsheets and processes to stay organized and on top of their businesses. This isn’t for everyone but if you are looking for a cost-effective way you may be interested in checking out a self-hosted system. Next week, I’ll be writing about how the self-hosted system works and why it might be beneficial to you!

As always, feel free to reach out if you have questions!

Client Facing Emails for Email Subscriber List

In an effort to continue to make my clients’ lives easier I’m always looking for better and more affordable ways to help them. One thing that continues to come up in our businesses is social media. Social media is ever changing and as more and more accounts are added and more and more people jump on the platforms it’s getting harder and harder to be seen. And not only is it getting harder to be seen, the platforms are being bogged down by glitches and days where posting is almost impossible.

I’m not saying that the internet is perfect either, but more and more companies are going to start going to email subscriber lists to stay in front of their target markets. Once you start using an email subscriber list you will be amazed at how quickly you’ll start getting clients. Now it doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen much more quickly than posting on social media. After two years of posting on Instagram and getting zero clients I decided to start an email subscriber list. Two months after starting that list I got my first client, a few weeks later I got another and so on. The growth potential with a subscriber list is far greater because you are targeting a smaller very specific group of individuals. These are people who asked to be signed up for your emails, they are interested in you and follow you and for some reason are more likely to do business with you when you send them an email versus you putting something on social media.

The best ways to grow an email subscriber list:

1. Get your landing page out there - Whether it’s attached to your website or blog or other, get it out there in Facebook groups and on social media. People will check out your website.

2. Offer a freebie - Some offer a free style quiz or free download on how to choose a paint color or some other helpful tip for signing up for their email newsletter.

3. Write engaging content - This is the place where most designers get tripped up. They either don’t have time to write the content, they don’t like to write, or they struggle to come up with topics to write about.

The engaging content is where we are here to help! I am creating a place on my website where my clients can go to download inexpensive client-facing emails to use in their emails! Yes, that’s right. The emails will be written for you and less expensive than hiring a copywriter to write custom copy.

If you are interested in hiring a copywriter to write custom copy, we do offer that service as well, it’s up to you which you prefer!

Now, does inexpensive client-facing email content sound like something you’d use? If so, let me know. I’ll announce when that portion of my website is ready. I’m so excited to help interior designers get in front of more people and grow their clientele. It’s what I do best!

Establishing Credibility in Interior Design

Establishing credibility is extremely important in growing any business. You want people to know who you are and why you’re the expert. There are several ways to establish credibility in interior design and I’m going to share three of them below.

One of the best ways to establish credibility in any field is getting published.

It may not be as hard as you think to get published. Research your local newspaper, magazines and even regional magazines. I was able to get published in a local magazine called Definitive Woman simply by reaching out and asking if they’d be interested in an article about interior design. Not only were they interested, they were interested in several articles. I wrote articles about creating a home office that inspires and how to refresh your winter décor. I also reached out to a more regional magazine covering a few upper Midwest states called Lake and Home Magazine and they were interested in articles, too. I’ve written several articles for them on refreshing your home’s exterior, hottest new design trends in 2019, creating a master bedroom retreat, the best indoor plants and fireplace styles.

I do not get paid for these articles but I’m also not paying to be in the publications either. Paying to be published in something is called advertising.  I find that publications that do not pay for articles are also easier to get published in. I read both magazines that I reached out to … so what do you read?

I’ve also seen personal interest stories about interior designers in newspapers. Your newspaper is always looking for fun things to write about. What’s your story? Would you be willing to share it with your local reporter? It’s worth a shot to ask.

Another way to establish credibility is by being on a local news or television program. I personally know people in the financial industry, psychiatry and interior design fields who live close enough to a local program to go in and talk about and/or demonstrate things. You could go on television and talk about how to style a coffee table or pick a paint color. With the popularity of interior design shows today I bet you could find a station who would love to have you appear.

The third option is hosting workshops. People who love DIY interior design love workshops. You could host one or do a series of them. You might even be able to partner with a community education program in your town. My town offers a variety of adult education programs on cooking, photography, cake decorating and more. A workshop would be a face-to-face opportunity to really drum up some business.

Being read in publications, seen on television and hosting workshops are all great ways to establish yourself as an expert in interior design. Once people view you as an expert they are more likely to work with you!

Enjoy Summer & Grow Your Business!

Summer is here and it’s a crazy, busy time of year. The kids are out of school, summer vacations are in full swing and everyone has ball games, golf outings, beach days, family reunions and more! It’s a time to enjoy the beautiful weather and take that vacation so you can come back to the office renewed and ready to move mountains. Did you know that summer can also be a great time to grow your business?

With everything else going on don’t just put your business on autopilot to get through the summer. Take advantage of the tips and tricks below to make the summer of 2019 your best summer yet!

1.       Get organized! Take a few hours and get organized for the entire summer, yes it’s possible! Get your schedule on your calendar for the next three months! Carve out some time in your schedule and get it done.

 2.       Prioritize! Now that your calendar is booked solid with everything BUT work, prioritize. Do you really need to do EVERYTHING you have on your calendar? What are the most important things? Leave those and either put the rest as optional or better yet, forget the rest.

3.       Outsource! Summer is a great time to start outsourcing some of your time consuming tasks. Most people don’t realize that there are several things they do that can be outsourced such as 3d renders, cad drawings, social media, presentations, purchase orders, proposals, blog posts, vendor management, etc. The beauty of working with a highly skilled virtual design assistant is they will help you manage your days and weeks. They will help take a lot off your plate. Get more done this summer by hiring a virtual design assistant that can do the dirty work while you take more time for yourself doing what you love whether that’s growing your business or a day at the beach or on the golf course!

4.       Take a day off! I recently read in Inc. magazine that 42% of American workers do NOT take their vacation days! Everyone needs to take days off to relax the mind, body and soul, these days are extremely important if you want to continue to succeed. Your mind and body need rest. I am so relaxed when I’m on vacation that I typically come up with some of my best ideas. Take a journal with you on your vacation and write what comes to mind. This way you won’t stress about forgetting your great ideas and you can truly relax. You don’t have to take a week-long trip somewhere, you just need to get away from work for a few days. Working vacations don’t count – many employers are starting to frown upon those anymore. J

5.       Just do it! You know that thing you’ve been planning and researching and finding every reason in the book why not to pull the trigger? May it’s learning a new language, or taking a trip overseas, perhaps you want to go sky diving or plant a vegetable garden. Whatever it is - just do it! Many people waste time just hem-hawing around and never really do anything about it. There comes a time when you just need to pull the trigger. Why not now?

6.       Have fun with marketing. People are in better moods in the summer – they might get your humor so try that fun marketing campaign you’ve been wanting to try. Summer opens people up to wanting to try new things so why not your service, get out there and make it happen!

I hope you enjoy your summer this year and grow your business! You can do both!

Attract MORE Clients with Your Personality!

I was visiting with a friend the other day about her daughter’s upcoming wedding. Her daughter was trying to find a photographer and so she checked out a couple local photographer’s websites. Both photographers had gorgeous photos so either one would’ve been great – but who did she choose? She chose the photographer who made two references to Michael Scott’s character from The Office on her website. The bride-to-be was a huge fan of The Office and figured that she could get along great with anyone who loved Michael Scott.

There is a lot of great talent out there and so when you offer a great service you also have to offer something of yourself. People want to know who you are, what are your likes and dislikes, they want to resonate with you.

Don’t be shy – be proud of who you are and shout it from the mountain tops. Your spirit animals will find you!

If you are struggling about what to put in your website or marketing copy think about your likes and dislikes – those are easy to convey. Also, think about what you like about other people’s websites. You do business with a lot of people – why do you use that contractor, vendor, client management software or in your personal life why do you use the local services you use?

Think about if you were searching for a service and you found too people who could offer a similar service for a similar price with similar customer service – what would make you choose one over the other? I’ll tell you – the brand. The brand is what you use to choose and the brand is YOU!

Create your own unique brand to stand out from the competition. If you attract people like you – you’ll enjoy working with people like you. 😉

As always, if you need help with copy, let me know! I’m a nerd when it comes to writing creative copy.

Would YOU Use This Service?

As my company grows, we are trying to help even more interior design clients. A lot of our clients use their Elite Design VA for AutoCad drawings, 3d renders, social media management, mood boards, floor plans, affiliate links, administrative tasks and more. In an effort to better help interior designers I’m trying to come up with other beneficial services to make your life easier. Would you be interested in either of the services below?

Email content – these would be client facing emails that you can purchase to use for your subscriber list. You would be able to use these emails as is or edit to your liking and add images or video. They would be inexpensive and assist in your email list planning. If you do not already have an email subscriber list, you need to start one! This is an amazing tool to stay in front of the people who want to hear from you.

Video content – showing your face is becoming more and more important. People want to know who you are, so they feel more comfortable about doing business with you. You would be able to purchase client facing video scripts to use to create your videos. You would then be able to start a video series or video blog, add a video to your website, add videos to your social media or blog posts. I love watching videos of designers on Instagram while I do my treadmill workout in the mornings. It makes the time go so much faster and if you have a love/hate relationship with exercise like I do it’s great!  I hear from so many people that they would love to do videos, but they don’t know what to say or what to talk about.

Both options would be housed on my Elite Design Assistants website in the form of digital downloads. Since I would upload them as I write them, they would be a lot less expensive than hiring a copywriter to write custom copy.

Please let me know if you would be interested in a service like this and let me know if there are any other ways we can help.

Have a great day!

Xx Danae

7 Hot Affiliate Vendors

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make money just because people purchased products from links you placed in your blog posts and emails? That’s how affiliate marketing works. It’s great passive income and a lot of interior designers are looking for more ways to make money. Affiliate programs are a great way to make money in your sleep. Quite literally, your clients and followers can purchase items you are promoting 24/7.

The companies below have great affiliate programs that your fellow interior designers use and love! I did my own research and am not receiving any compensation from these companies to have them listed here. After visiting with several interior designers these were the Top 7 hot affiliate vendors they shared with me. They are listed in no particular order.

 1. Boutique Rugs- Boutique Rugs is one of the more popular ones I’ve come across. They offer amazing rugs, have great customer service and pay an affiliate commission of 7%. You can get more information at https://boutiquerugs.com/affiliate-program/

2. Amazon – Doesn’t everyone use Amazon, anyway? Why not use it for your business. A few of the interior designers I reached out to loved Amazon. As you can imagine you can find a wide variety of items and with affiliate commissions of up to 10% it’s worth a shot. For more information - https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

3. Bellacor – Lighting, furniture, décor and more. Bellacor pays up to 8% affiliate commissions when a client purchases from your link. Click for more info - https://www.bellacor.com/affiliate.htm

4. Curtain Works – This company has all the window treatments your clients will ever need. They pay 10% commission and offer a wide variety of ready-made curtains at competitive prices. Here you go - https://www.bellacor.com/affiliate.htm

5. Jonathan Adler – If your target market loves mid-century modern this affiliate program may be the one for you! Think luxury, smart design and colorful optimism with a 6% commission. Check it out here - https://www.jonathanadler.com/affiliate-program.html

6. Lulu & Georgia – This home décor company seems to be a favorite of several of the interior designers I spoke with. They offer a wide variety of super stylish décor and offer a 10% commission. Learn more about their affiliate program - https://www.luluandgeorgia.com/affiliates/

7.  Serena & Lily – This company always makes me think of a breezy California style. Their products are definitely casual coastal. They have a 9% affiliate commission and more information here - https://www.viglink.com/merchants/35595/serena-and-lily-affiliate-program

Let us know if you need help setting up your affiliate vendors. That is one of the many services we offer our interior design clients at Elite Design Assistants!

Make More Money By Outsourcing

Running a business is a challenging career choice and those of us that do it, know that we continuous try to come up with ways to make more money and save more time. I am in the business to make YOU more money and to save YOU more time.

How do I do this? One of the ways is by offering a service to you that you can resell to your clients for a profit. For example, let’s say you want to offer 3d renders but you don’t have time. We can work with you to create a package that you can sell to your client where your Elite design assistant does the renderings for you. The image above is just one example of a 3d render created by one of our virtual design assistants.

This works with floor plans, mood boards, shopping lists, etc.

A second example is to outsource some of your billable hours to your design assistant. This way you can charge your clients for the work your assistant is doing. You are charging your rates and paying assistant fees. See the margin there?

Also look at where your clients are coming from. If you want to grow your business hire an assistant to market in that area, for example – if most of your business is coming from Pinterest, hire an assistant to manage your Pinterest account to grow your business. If you are getting business from your email list but don’t have time to create the email content, hire an assistant to create your email content, schedule and manage your subscriber list.

There are so many ways to generate more income and more time, you just need to be smart about it. Take a look at your business and see where you can increase revenues by hiring an assistant.