The Four P’s of Marketing Design Services
This section relates to marketing design services for interior design companies.
Marketing has a very common system which has been named the four P’s. These relate to elements of the marketing mix, which means the things that go into a system for marketing. So it is not that complicated in its concept and as it relates to a particular industry, in this case interior design and architecture, it will become more and more apparent how each category of the marketing mix is defined for our specific business.
Marketeers use this system and adapt it to many types of business and products and that is their skill, however for ourselves I will give examples and ideas on how you as a designer can develop your marketing systems using these tools. When we refer to these definitions it is to our business only, the business of interior and or architectural design. This article is not about generic marketing but what we do and need to do to facilitate a healthy design business using marketing.
The Four P’s of Marketing Design Services are as follows:
Product, Place, Price and Promotion
Product
So to the first P our product or products. As designers obviously we do a great deal more than design and one of our jobs as business people is to let our potential clients know exactly what we do. You will need to think about what services you provide.
Place
This is where your business stands within the market. It includes its geographical location but also as a service industry your place within the market. eg do you work in high end interiors, housing only, commercial, hospitality and what is your business location in relation to those markets. For example is it sensible to be a commercial office designer and located within a large housing project area?
Price
This is the amount that you charge for your services or as is usually the case what the market will pay for your services. There is a key element here. As part of the marketing mix and how you promote or sell your business services, price will be determined on the maximum the market will bear. Your goal is to ensure that the markets perception of your business is that it is very valuable and offers things that other “similar ” businesses do not.
Promotion
Here we are going to explore different ways that you may promote your product/s. This is the fun part of developing and fine tuning the other parts of the mix and what will ultimately give you sales results.
Find Ways to Market Your Design Business
Business Networking for Design
