I was catching up on my industry reading the other day with Qualified Remodeler. Does that surprise you? You thought I only read design publications, not nearly. We are in The Lifestyle Industry and that means architects, designers, stagers, organizers, contractors, builders, developers, real estate professionals, and home furnishing retailers and suppliers. Stop operating in a vacuum and realize that you are part of the vital mechanism that delivers the American Dream of home ownership. It isn’t house ownership for a reason. It takes all those professionals to turn it from a plot of land with a plan into a home.
What’s my point? The article mentioned two competing contractors that had teamed up to effectively market themselves to a shrinking prospect base. They realize that they each had unique strengths and by leveraging these they’d go a lot farther than battling it out solo. It is working for them. So, how can you leverage your brand? Build a team of complementary professionals that work with the same target you do.
That means when you create meaningful relationships that are reciprocal with any of the aforementioned (okay replay, architects, contractors, designers, stagers, organizers, builders, home furnishings retailers and suppliers, and real estate professionals) you will be able to leverage your branding opportunities to a wider prospect audience. Want to see it work?
Now the chances are you aren’t going to team with more than 3-5 fellow professionals. Each of you has been faced with shrinking market share and reduced budgets, yet you still all need the exposure and coverage. Do it together. That means creatively working on joint advertising, home show opportunities (a booth is a lot more affordable when split 3 ways), brochures with a panel on each of you, direct mail to your coordinated lists, and more. You could even do this with someone as close as a competitor if they had a niche you didn’t.
For example as a designer if you specialized in color and a colleague emphasized window treatments, these are complementary to each other. As a contractor if you specialized in dry wall and a competitor specialized in paint, perfect complement. As a home furnishings retailer if you focused on lamps and lighting and paired with a furniture resource and again with an accent and accessory solution. You are crafting one-stop consumer solutions. This will eliminate the shopping and provide cost effective and talented resources meeting consumer demand. Get it? Leveraging your brand is the key to surviving tough times. Together we’ll all go farther.
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