Erica Gelman carved out a significant place in the luxury residential design industry through perseverance and by keeping her eyes on the prize. If you’ve set your sights on the luxury market, you need to understand the mindset of your ideal audience, the art of niche marketing and how to create the right brand.
In this episode, Erica Gelman, founder, and principal designer of Erica Gelman Design walks us through the ideal strategy to help you build, grow and market your own luxury design brand.
The art of overcoming failure
A luxury brand doesn’t just happen. It takes a lot of failure to learn how to become more intentional at telling a consistent story that attracts larger scale projects.
Intention comes from experiencing different types of projects so you can learn the ropes, understand clients, develop your sense of style, and discover what types of clients and projects make you happy.
However, you need to accept you will fail along the way and that your business will continue to evolve as you evolve as a designer and a person.
Branding yourself through intentional marketing
Branding yourself is all about understanding how to take the best elements from your first small projects and show off your unique style. You want to reflect a certain caliber in your work so your designs shine.
When you set perimeters for your work and can envision where you want to be, then you can start creating a brand that becomes intentional in every design you do regardless of the project’s scope or budget. Whether it’s your use of color, high-end features like custom furniture and built-ins, or bold accents like wallpaper, every project you do should have something that fits into your portfolio and tells a consistent design story.
Putting it out there to attract your ideal clients and projects
Just because you haven’t yet completed a high-end bathroom or something even bigger like a whole home project, doesn’t mean you don’t have something worthwhile to share. By actively discussing your ideal project at every opportunity, you can start to get people thinking of you in those terms.
For example, if you’ve fallen madly in love with a luxe wallpaper, post an image or video of it on Instagram explaining why it’s an ideal find for a romantic, high-end bedroom. When you put your ideas out there, you’re planting ideas that can lead to your next real-life project.
Know your differentiator
Your differentiator can be a lot of things. It might be your bold approach to design. It could center around a unique process that helps ensure your clients feel comfortable with new ideas. It might even be a brand philosophy based on collaboration with a key team of fellow designers, high-end vendors and trusted experts who contribute to your luxury look. Discovering your unique value proposition helps drive your messaging and sets you apart as a go-to luxury designer.
Define your ideal client to attract your ideal client
Your ideal client fits a certain profile but should also have some leeway slightly outside that perimeter to help you grow. They are defined based on things you’ve learned from past clients such as a certain age group, a certain lifestyle, and of course a certain level of budget and project type you prefer.
By defining your ideal client, you can fine tune your marketing to a) use the channels they are likely to frequent and b) set the tone for your brand using the language, images, tone, and manner that will resonate with them.
Qualifying your ideal clients
Not every client who reaches out to you will be ideal. As a result, you need a process to help qualify them. Although this can feel awkward, it’s best for both of you to ensure you make a good fit.
Having realistic conversations with each client, including frank discussions about the project and budget, ensures you’re on the same page. For example, you can help guide people to make the right decision on their own by offering a per square foot dollar amount required to achieve their design goals. If they’re still on board, you’ve established transparency that allows you to communicate honestly as the project progresses. If the cost is too much, you save time for both yourself and the prospect.
Courage to rebrand
Rebranding comes out of the need to pivot your business whether it’s because you’re failing to attract the right clients, feel uncomfortable with your brand, or are changing your offering. You need the courage to recognize when things aren’t working and take the necessary steps to help redevelop your brand to meet your objectives. This can happen several times as your business grows and changes and that’s okay. It’s part of the journey that gets you where you want to be.
Knowing how to market your brand
The most important element of your brand is creating a narrative about your projects, the people behind the scenes, design benefits and what it takes to get the look your followers love. These are the things that resonate with people and make content and social media essential to your branding strategy.
Your narrative takes many forms such as:
- Sharing a day in the life of your design company
- Showing a design rendering in its earliest stages and following it through to completion (even if it’s over months or years)
- Sweating it out on a job site
- Personal clips doing things you love
- Establishing your expertise such as discussing the latest trends you’re loving, using new materials, overcoming design challenges, etc.
Your continuous story provides the special, intentional moments that create connections with people. Mixing up media with images, carousels, reels, video, and text also contributes to effective branding. The key is to remain authentic in your narrative, adding aspects that help educate your followers, and being consistent in showing up to remain top of mind.
PR can also make a big difference when sharing your narrative. However, it needs to be timed right, as it is expensive and can be time-consuming – not ideal when you’re first starting out.
Never drift from your goal
Social media keeps you connected so you can keep your eyes on the prize even when things aren’t going your way. Being present and building an audience through connections and relevance keeps you working towards your goals, even if you feel you’re shooting too high.
Remember, you don’t need high profile projects under your belt to convince people you can manage their projects. Everyone needs to start somewhere. Putting it out there by constantly sharing your aspirations can help make it happen one project at a time.
Episode highlights
Here’s some of the highlights from my conversation with Erica:
- 6:50: The art of overcoming failure
- 15:16: Branding yourself through intentional designs
- 20:19: Putting it out there to attract your ideal clients and projects
- 22:48: The importance of process and giving your client’s courage to go further
- 30:11: Define your ideal client to attract your ideal client
- 34:05: Qualifying your ideal clients
- 38:05: Courage to rebrand
- 44:08: Knowing how to market your brand
- 1:05:20: Never drift from your goal
Need help with creating a luxe brand interior design website? Set up a conversation with me today.
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