In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing how to know if you need an email sequence for your design, staging, organizing, or window treatment business. How you use email marketing is entirely dependent on your industry, your client, your deliverable, and your overall goal.

If, after learning the qualifiers for an email sequence, you realize you definitely need one, you are in luck. I'm also going to give a simple outline for what those emails should say and when you should implement them.

If you've never worked with a marketing agency, you might have a few qualms about just handing over your brand to an outside party (or maybe you can't do it fast enough?). If you've already worked with a marketing company and were less than satisfied with the results, you will have a whole other mindset, both of which I will address in this episode.

And if you're curious about what it's like to work with Socialite, let's chat business, marketing, and how we can help.

As an interior designer or home stager, your website is both an online portfolio and a sales person who never sleeps - or at least- it should be. If you are looking for a new website and trying to sort through the dozens of website designers vying for your attention, you'd do well to narrow them down with a quick interview process.

The process I'm sharing with you today includes 10 primary questions to ask; questions that will no doubt cause you to come up with more of your own. And if you're ready to get a new website or revamp your current site, this episode is for you.

If you've delayed taking photos of your interior design or soft furnishing projects, you'll be scrambling to contact a photographer after you hear this episode. From helping you earn a place in your favorite shelter magazine to truly becoming known for your beautiful design work in the home industry, having an experienced and professional interiors photographer on your team isn't just a game-changer. It can transform your business, make your marketing easier, and cultivate free publicity (and who doesn't love all those things?).

Today on The Kate Show, I'm speaking with Emily Followill of Emily Followill Photography. She has a special place in her heart for young or new interior designers and approaches each photo shoot as its own editorial masterpiece. If you're looking for a proven way to reach high-end clientele, you won't want to miss Emily's helpful photography tips.

Do you want to reach more clients in the high-end, luxury demographic? The majority of design firms, staging companies, and custom workrooms that we serve here at Socialite would say, "Absolutely!" If this desire aligns with your business, too, you might be wondering how to find these high-end clients or, going a step further, how to delight them to the point of being referred to their friends and family.

In this episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing 5 key steps you can take toward reaching more high-end clients. Each tip is easy to implement, whether you are a solopreneur or a team of 20.

Pinterest is a powerhouse for increasing website traffic - you know this. What you might not know is that Pinterest has made some updates to how it prioritizes content. This impacts how you use Pinterest to market your business. In today's episode of The Kate Show, I'm sharing all the Pinterest updates, including why pinning your portfolio images and blog posts repeatedly - yet in different formats - is an important and easy way to use Pinterest correctly for maximum exposure, repins, and website traffic.

Branding is more than just a logo. For years, I really didn't understand this concept. What makes a "good" brand and how exactly does that impact your design, staging, or workroom business? Great question; there is no short answer. A brand is equivalent to a personality. Your personality is determined by how you carry yourself, how you dress, how you spend your time, how you interact with others. Your business has a personality too. Visually, this looks like a logo and a consistent use of the same font and color palette. Practically, this also includes what you offer, how you offer it, and to whom.

How do you create a second (or third or fourth) income stream as an interior designer? Until recently, the only answer to this question was, "Go set up affiliate links in your blog posts and hope you get enough website traffic to make it worthwhile."

Ten months later, and your website traffic is nowhere near the necessary 100K views per month, and your affiliate links haven't made any money.

Fast forward to the spring of 2020, interior designers now have another option: SideDoor is paving the way for trade-only brands and manufacturers to remain exclusive to practicing interior designers, preventing large corporations from selling direct-to-consumer.

The coronavirus was a great multitasker - did you know that? While it was running around scaring the pants off people (and apparently wrapping them in excess toilet paper), it was also doing a few other crazy things, specifically in the business world. I can guarantee that business owners, especially those of you in the home industry, are going to do certain things differently as we navigate this post-corona world.

Yes, you know the economy shut down for what felt like an eternity. You might have had to lay people off that you hope to soon rehire. Some of you chose that time to retire because it was a simple sidestep that you'd already been considering. Whether your business has been pushed back to ground zero or held tight to its former position on the mountain during this time, you know that the new normal is looking very, very different. Let's dive into what happened and what to expect.

I can't tell you how many times someone in the home industry has told me, "I ran a Google ad and it didn't work." Sadly, I've seen people spend thousands of dollars on Adwords, only to receive zero customers. ZERO.

If you're befuddled by Adwords, if you have no idea how to use Google Analytics to your business's benefit, and if you aren't sure why you need a Google business listing, you'll love this episode. Google has created a powerful suite of tools meant to help business owners have a more successful online presence. As with any real-life tools, however, you have to know what you're doing in order for any of it to actually work. If you're confused by these tools or if you know just enough to be dangerous, you're going to walk away from this episode armed and ready to bolster your business online.