For most interior designers we talk to, referrals are the number one source of new business.

What could be better? People who know and like your business tell their friends and colleagues (who are likely similar to them) about your interior design business and then your pipeline fills with ideal clients. 

According to a Nielsen report, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than all other forms of marketing. And, referral customers are 50% more likely to make a purchase than non-referral customers (McKinsey & Company). 

Unlike other marketing strategies, it doesn’t cost anything to ask existing customers for a reference. To be honest, it’s probably the lowest hanging fruit in your entire business. 

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Starting an interior design business can be overwhelming, with so many factors to consider and so much to do. Sure, you have the passion, you’ve learned your craft, and you’ve done your research, but how do you bring in new interior design clients when you don’t yet have a portfolio and are just getting started?

We asked interior designers who subscribe to The Weekly Install® to share what worked (and what didn’t) when it came to booking those first few clients. We compiled their insights, added a few of our own, and have some helpful tips for interior designers who are just launching or looking to grow their businesses.

Special thank you to all the interior designers who responded to the survey and gave us permission to share their insights.

The Best Place For New Interior Designers to Get Clients

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After my restorative and impactful solo business getaway in January, I decided to make it a tradition to get away for a few days every quarter to focus on the business and reset. I just wrapped my second “getaway,” and once again, it was amazing. 

A little backstory before we dive into my takeaways:

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Revenue is the lifeblood of any business, and many business owners are perpetually focused on how to create more of it. So, as an interior design business owner, if there is another means of bringing additional revenue into your company rather than just design services and products, you want to know about it, right?

Affiliate marketing involves promoting and selling another company's products or services for a commission. You, the designer (or anyone really), would promote certain merchants’ products to your audience, and if someone in your audience purchases a product you have promoted, you would receive a percentage of that sale. This is a way for an interior design business owner to generate income simply by recommending products to their audience. 

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Running an interior design business can often feel like feast or famine. You’re either crazy busy or panicked because you have no upcoming projects in your pipeline. 

So, if you feel like your workload or revenue is inconsistent, it’s likely because you stopped marketing when you were busy. The key is to engage in ongoing marketing efforts to continually fill your pipeline so you don’t experience extended periods of the famine part of this cycle. This is true in the lean times and the busy ones!

YES, I know. Sometimes, it feels like you cannot possibly add one.more.thing to your day. But guess what might be around the corner if you dismiss marketing altogether? Yup, that famine thing. To build a continual stream of new leads, it’s critical to market your business regularly.

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Keep reading for my top five marketing strategies for interior designers to generate more new business in the upcoming year. Here goes.

01 | Clean Up Your Interior Design Website!

Your interior design business website should never be considered something you can ignore after it’s up and running. It requires a bit of ongoing maintenance.

You should regularly review the portfolio images and content on your website to ensure you are (i) attracting the ideal clients you want and (ii) repelling the types of clients and projects you don’t want. You know the ones I’m talking about: The ones who …

• … ❌ want to know what your discount is on furnishings …

• … ❌ want to know whether they can shop with you …

• … ❌ want to know whether you will lower your fee because they can’t afford you …

• … ❌ want to know whether you will give them copies of YOUR invoices from vendors 😱.

You want your interior design website to repel those types of people. (Note: There is certainly a market for this type of client and a service type that can help them; it’s just not you because if it were, you wouldn’t be reading this blog). 

The thing about attracting the right clientele?

It’s a self-sustaining strategy. 👏👏👏

Huh? 

What does this mean? 

Likely, the biggest source of new clients for your interior design business comes from repeat clients and referrals, right?

🔁 So, the better the clientele you bring in, the better your pipeline becomes.

🔁 And your pipeline clients become the clients who will refer you later on.

🔁 Good clients generate more good clients.

🔁 Good clients say yes to your designs and go all in.

🔁 You then photograph those completed designs.

🔁 Your portfolio gets better and better.

🔁 And then your clients refer even better clients, and your portfolio brings in more ideal clients, and then you can publish those projects, which expands your network, brings in more clients, and so on, and so on ...

… you level up your company client by client. 

✏️ PRO TIP: This is also why nailing your discovery process is essential. Bring in bad-fit clients and projects, and you’ll slowly see things fall apart. 

So, here are the things to regularly evaluate about your interior design business website:

• ✔️ Are all images aligned with your ideal clientele and the projects you want more of? If not, remove them. If there are images of styles or rooms you don’t want to design anymore, take them off. If there are images of project types you no longer want to take on, scrap them. And make sure you are regularly adding new content from your recently completed projects. The images you show on your website should make dream clients say THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT” so that you can simply say, “Perfect. This is exactly what we do!”.

• ✔️ Does every page have a call to action? Based on my experience with many interior design business owners, the answer is probably “No.” Thankfully, this is a fairly easy problem to fix. Make sure every page includes something like “Join my email list,” “Download this awesome thing,” “Learn more here,” “Book a call,” or “Fill out a project inquiry form.”  Go through your website now and make sure every page leads potential clients to where you want them to go. NO DEAD ENDS ALLOWED!

• ✔️ Is each page current? KILL THE “COMING SOON” pages and the blog page with only two posts dated from 1999. YEAH, byyyyyyyyye. Obsolete content does you no favors. It may indicate to clients you aren’t in business, you’re not a “real business,” you don’t pay close attention to details, your company and style are outdated, or you just don’t care because your business is a (gasp) HOBBY. 😱😱😱

• ✔️ Is there a current professional picture of you? Not a headshot from the car. Not a selfie. Not a photo from 20 years ago. Not a stock image. YOU YOU YOU. Remember, the deciding factor for someone debating whether they want to work with you usually comes down to their perception of you, the designer — do they like you, could they see themselves working with you, do they have a vibe with you, do they trust you? You must show yourself on your website to allow these initial connections to form. And, there is NOTHING, I tell you, NOTHING more shocking than when you see someone in person for the first time and they look NOTHING like their photos. Talk about a business catfish moment. No thanks! 

• ✔️ Do you have a contact form that looks completely #basic? Please, please have a beautiful contact form with real questions!! No more “name, email, message” — YAWN, BORING ← this isn’t serving anyone! (Read some other contact form mistakes that make us cringe here!) Remember, in the interior design industry, how things look is everything. Your site should be beautiful and customized. Make sure your contact form has questions that are specific to your business, your client, AND your services. Let this interaction with your company be beautiful and branded, instilling trust in the potential client that you actually WILL get their message and respond. When done right, your contact form should save you TONS of time and give you an abundance of clarity in a potential project’s fit for your company.

• ✔️ Are you leading people down a rabbit hole on your website? Hopefully not, but I see this A LOT. Anywhere your potential client links to from your site should be current and active. Don't send them to a Pinterest page you never use. Don’t send them to FB if you don’t post there and aren't engaged. Don’t send them to any 3rd party site that isn’t specific to you and your business.

Why is this all so important? The fact is many people are fearful of working with an interior designer because they have been screwed in the past.

• Maybe a previous designer ghosted them.

• Or showed up with a $20k rug and an invoice and said, “You owe me.”

• Or maybe a previous designer was completely unresponsive until it came time to get paid and then hounded them non-stop.

Keeping your website up to date (which is, in essence, a potential client’s only window into your world) tells potential clients that you are actively present as a service provider and you take your business (and the details) very seriously. This builds trust. This shows you are a real business. This is an excellent customer experience.

🔑 Read the rest of the tips inside The DTS Files — my members-only collection of advanced strategies, industry insights, and behind-the-scenes advice for running a profitable, elevated design firm.

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If you’re like every other interior design business owner out there, you have likely established an income goal for the year. Maybe it’s BIG. Maybe it’s a stretch. Or maybe it’s safe, achievable, something you know you’ll be able to hit because prior year data indicates you will. 

Whatever that number is doesn't really matter. What matters is whether you have the right projects and activities mapped out to achieve those numbers.

If you’re an interior designer trying to break down your financial goals into actionable steps, I’m going to show you how you can reverse engineer those goal numbers to come up with a solid marketing plan for your year. 

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