Marketing to Specifiers
Marketing to specifiers. It can be a hard one to sell. But we all have to do it. Suppliers do it to high-end interior product makers, high-end makers do it to the specifiers—interior designers and architects, they do it to developers and developers do it to the end-users. It never ends – ultimately we all have something to sell and therefore we have to tell people about it. Without exaggeration, most specifiers probably receive about 10 pieces of marketing through the post every week. 90% of this goes straight into recycling, not even read… so how can we avoid that?
Let’s start with the DON’Ts
1. Don’t try to sell to specifiers all your stock in one go. Designers and architects never think to themselves when specifying: “I need a new door handle, I’ll go to my library of 3000 product catalogues and look for one.” If you send them a large glossy magazine with different style taps — chances are it’s going into recycling. It is not feasible for them to keep everything and if it’s big and bulky, they probably won’t.
2. Don’t start your cover letters with “To whom it may concern” or “Dear Sirs”. If you haven’t gone to the effort to target them personally, why would they bother to read your letter?
3. Now you may be thinking “I don’t have time to work out the name of every director, designer, and architect in every company” and we understand that because we often think the same. However, someone once explained this to us with a simple question. Would you rather have 50% of 100 people read your marketing material or 5% of 1000?
Traditional methods of Marketing to specifiers
1. The single most important, simplest and cheapest.
Include your business card. Many would argue that changes in technology mean business cards are declining. However, many of your prospects are of an age that still has cardholders packed full of suppliers that they still revert to when we need something.
2. There is something to be said about the tactile experience of a beautifully considered, printed business card.
After all the value of materials used in many interiors projects and the overall fees involved with high-end specified projects mean that every touch-point is a valued experience; each touch-point an opportunity to instill your values in the mind of the prospect.
3. If you are going to send something, make it easy and worthwhile keeping.
Many design professionals and specifiers have A4 lever arch files where they keep ‘stuff’ that has piqued their interest. It’s likely to be their scrapbook of ‘stuff’ that might come in handy, so take advantage of this knowledge. Include swatches, maybe small samples, good details, perhaps specification details – information that they’ll need — not large photos of existing projects — they are able to get a fuller picture of case studies via your website.
4. A leave-behind
Beyond product literature, consider the aspirations and position of your prospect, if a gift or other leave-behind is going to stand the test of time, and be favoured, or better still given pride of place on their desk: be brave and considered in the both the quality of the keep-sake, its idea and its execution.
Digital methods of Marketing to specifiers
1. Email Marketing
Your contact list will be your best asset, and this will continue to be the case for years to come. Email marketing promotion is a highly effective tool in ensuring that your products and services stay relevant. The most effective campaigns for interior products and furniture companies are the ones that regularly send emails to their subscribers every time a new piece of content is created. Using automation software such as HubSpot or Mailchimp will allow you to reach out to your audience with relative ease, allowing you to spend time on other pressing issues (like writing content!)
2. Keyword focus
Achieving page one of Google requires you to have a firm understanding of the role that keywords in your interior and furniture product content marketing strategy. The focus keyword or key phrase is the search term that you want a page or post to rank for most. When people search for that phrase, the ultimate aim is that they find you.
For your interior product content marketing to stand out, make effective use of keywords throughout your content. This doesn’t mean only plugging them in the main body of your copy. Optimising your page’s Header Tags with your keywords ensures the best possible chances of Google crawling your page’s content. The research that goes into identifying appropriate keywords is vital. Plug a keyword that’s too broad and you run the risk of not ranking at all; the search volume will be too great. On the other hand, if you plug a keyword that’s too niche, there just won’t be a lot of people on the planet searching for it.
3. Considered headlines
You have five seconds, maybe less to for someone to decide whether they’re going to read your post or not. Does that mean you have to shock? Does that mean you have to conjure up a wacky headline? Well… sometimes. Of course, you want to spark interest with your readers. You want to create content that delivers a lasting impression. You also need to stay true to your brand voice.
But, as an interiors product or furniture manufacturer, you’re not trying to create click-bait. Your intention isn’t to generate tonnes of traffic. Yes, traffic is good, but only if it’s going to lead to profitable action. We recommend that you make your headline clear and to the point. What problem or pain point are you trying to solve? Contractors, architects, and specifiers are ultimately looking for solutions, so how is your content going to address this?
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