Marketing - Advertising and Social Media Continued...

Some time has past since I last wrote about ways to promote my business and how to proceed with the many options of social media. Here is the update. I am still overwhelmed by the may options that the internet provides in order to promote, grow, conceptualize, market and advertise my business. I realized that as wonderful as it is to have options, not every one of them will be helpful to my business. Now, that may seem obvious to some, but when every entrepreneur around me is tweeting, creating fan pages, blogging, creating Google Ad words, hoping on to foursquare or whatever the next craze is, it is hard not to feel the nagging guilt that you must also be keeping up with the "Joneses." Constantly.

I decided to evaluate my business model again and try to get rid of this social cloud tweeting around my head. (pun intended.) I realized that although it is great to develop myself as a brand, my time is better spent and my sanity is better saved if I choose a select 2 or 3 mediums to develop instead of spreading myself and my time too thin by developing too many networks that go nowhere.

What I have chosen to focus on at this time is:
1.) My blog, of course. It is a great medium to discuss relevant business topics, and give design advice to my readers.
2.) Twitter - At first I didn't really get Twitter, but now that I have a blog, what a great way to promote it along with be able to connect with my readers in a brief and succinct manor.
3.) Linked In - I do have a linked in profile but until recently have not really gotten involved with groups or discussions. I think it may be a great way to network with other business professionals.

I had also previously mentioned that I have tried paid advertising on a site called Interior Design Directory.
So far, I have not received any calls or leads that I know of from that site. I will let it play out of the year and see if anything comes of it.

I also started a Facebook page for Conceptual Interiors Inc., but haven't been able to keep up with the updates (fortunately because I have a lot of work at the moment.)
This will remain on the back burner until the other 3 can be developed and managed more regularly.

Although I am working on those media outlets above, I don't believe that they will bring me any direct business for awhile. It is more about building a name and a brand, which I do think pays off in the long run if handled correctly. What I do think will work and what I plan on working on next will be Google Ad Words. This way, I can manage my own advertising campaign and hopefully reach a targeted and specific client looking for my services as an interior designer.

Now that I have decided on a select few outlets for the time being, I hope to be able to strongly develop my brand while having time to actually do real business.

Modern Colorful Photograpy For Your Home

I have been busy shopping for artwork for a client of mine and I found a great company that I thought I would share. They are called Art:Addiction and they have some really interesting photos of flowers, wildlife, and architecture that have a unique modern twist to them. The images are extremely high resolution and can be modified to any size within proportion. They can also be cropped to your liking.


Another great use for this artwork are their headboard size images which are great over your bed. They come about 60"x18" and again, they can be altered in size to accommodate your room.



I love the rich, saturated colors that really come to life on the wall. They have a great way to mount them on acrylic boards so that you don't need a frame which gives the artwork its more modern look. If you do want a frame, you can look through their selection of wood frames in order to add a more traditional or transitional touch to your space.