We have reached the end of 2020, and as anxious as we are to rush into 2021 and leave this dumpster fire of a year behind us, I want to challenge you to audit your interior design brand. This year is one of the best years to make an audit. Before you write me off as crazy, 2020 has been hard on everyone, but if your business is still standing and you’re headed into 2021 with vigor (or even wary optimism). then we need to look at what worked for your brand, what didn’t, and how to build on that into the coming New Year. So let’s audit your interior design brand, shall we?
Investing in a professional to go through this audit with you can be incredibly beneficial to find and repair holes that need fixing. However, if you’re busy finishing client projects and don’t have tons of time to dream and plan for next year, maybe you need a shortcut that’s simple, quick and easy. So let’s dive in, and take it nice and easy with one category at a time!
This isn’t the kind of post you just read and move past. Pour a cup of coffee, grab a pen and start making some notes.
Download an easy checklist and worksheet to help you do this on your own.
Audit Your Client
It may seem odd to think about auditing your client list, but you need to identify who those unicorn ideal clients are so that you can begin attracting them to your brand. It’s ok if you don’t know right now exactly who those clients are. Answering these questions will help you determine some common threads of the right and wrong clients for your business.
When you really do the work to get to know your ideal client, you will realize the best brands are more about their clients than themselves. You can tailor your copy and visuals to their exact needs if you know who they are.
- Are the a majority of the inquiries you are getting good fits?
- Are clients hiring you but then becoming difficult to manage and/or not seeming happy with the final product?
- Do your clients respect your expertise and value your advice?
- Are you excited to work with the referrals sent by current clients?
- Do your clients have the budget needed for the work you provide?
- If you think about your very favorite clients you’ve worked with, what did they have in common?
- If you think about your troublesome clients, what did they have in common?
- Write down 3 words that describe the clients you are currently working with.
- Write down 3 words that describe the clients you would like to work with.
- How similar are your sets of words?
Audit your messaging
You want your messaging to be clear and consistent no matter where your clients come into contact with your brand. It may sound a little different on Instagram than it does on LinkedIn, but it should look and feel like the same brand. This will help you to attract those dreamy clients AND keep them engaged long enough to actually get on the phone with you. Inconsistency in your messaging is the quickest way to lose potential clients.
- Read through your latest 6 Instagram posts and blog posts. Do they all sound like they came out of the mouth of the same person? Are they conversational?
- Read your website copy. Is it a more buttoned-up but similar feel to your Instagram feed?
- After reading through all of this content, write down 3 words that come to mind.
- Assess those 3 words. Are those what you want to be known for?
Audit your visuals
Again, consistency is the key to strong branding. Each piece of your brand ties into and elevates one another. Your visuals and messaging go hand-in-hand, so it’s essential that they’re speaking the same language with the same personality. Your visuals communicate in a different way than your words, but make no mistake about it, they do plenty of communicating. Particular colors and fonts have distinct personalities and evoke specific emotions, many times much quicker than your words can.
- Do you have a consistent color palette across all of your brand pieces (social media, website, print materials)?
- Those colors DO NOT need to be exactly what you would use in clients’ homes, but do they coordinate with a typical palette you’d use in a home?
- Write down 3 words that describe how those colors make you feel.
- Do you have 1 to 3 fonts you use consistently across all of your brand pieces (social media, website, print materials)?
- Write down 3 words that describe how those fonts make you feel.
- Compare the words for your color palette and fonts. Are they similar?
Audit your logo
Your logo is such an important piece of your brand. It’s oftentimes one of the key elements potential clients will see first. You need to make sure it attracts the right clients, is cohesive with your overall style, has personality and sends a message. Tall order, right?
- Does it represent your style as a designer?
- Does it function well large and small, horizontal, and vertical?
- Do you have multiple versions?
- Does it pair with a tagline that makes clear what you do and connects emotionally with your ideal clients?
- Are you proud of it? Don’t discount how important this is!
- Write down 3 words that describe what it makes you feel.
Assess all of your descriptive words
Ok, you’ve come up with plenty of words at this point. Now is where we take action. This collection of seamingly meaningless words can tell you a lot about your brand.
- Write down the words you wrote in each section all together.
- Are they similar?
- Are they words that describe how you actually want to be perceived or just how you’re perceived currently?
- Do the words make you feel excited or are they kind of ho-hum?
- Do the words fit with your personality, values and the service experience you provide?
If there is a big disconnect between all of your words, then you may have a consistency problem. If your visuals and messaging aren’t sending the same message, then your potential clients might be very confused about who your business is. And confusion never leads to sales. Especially in our uncertain economy, money is spent with trustworthy brands, and how can a potential client trust you if they don’t know which message you are sending is the real you? Consistency is the #1 problem in most brands.
What if your words are pretty consistent, but it doesn’t describe the brand you want to have? Or worse, it’s describing a brand that the clients you really want aren’t attracted to.
First, don’t flip out. Your best bet is to tackle one area at a time. You can likely tweak a few things in each area to get closer to where you want to be. I always recommend starting with figuring out who that ideal client is, then move to messaging, and then tackle your visuals last. Visuals tend to be the hardest to tweak objectively.
What do you really want your brand to be?
Now put everything away based on what you have currently and write down the 3 words that you truly want your brand to express. If there is a chasm between these words and what you came up within your audit, then it may be time to think about a rebrand.
There isn’t anything wrong with being in this place. It’s completely natural for your brand to evolve through the years. However, in order to continue to grow you have to close the gap.
I would love to help you do just that, you can book a brand audit with me here. All you have to do is fill out a short workbook, and then we’ll pour over your website and social presence together in an intensive workshop-style, 1-hour call. You’ll receive a copy of the recording plus a detailed list of action steps to move your brand forward in 2021. I’m only offering a few of these sessions the first two weeks of January, and at $297, it’s the most economical way to work with me, so hop to it! These sessions are open to interior designers and other creative professionals.
