When DIY Marketing Makes Sense

Diy Marketing Business

When it comes to marketing, most tasks are best outsourced to pros. Hire an agency like ours, and you’ll see your business grow without you needing to do anything — except cover the bill, of course. You’ll see the results, and you’ll be thankful that you can focus your attention on running your business and taking care of your clients.

But, and this is a big but, no marketing agency, despite what some claim, is going to make you Insta-famous without your engaged collaboration.

We have a track record of delivering a steady stream of new project leads to our clients. Yet some designers want something else — they aspire to fame, recognition, and notoriety.

So, if your goal is to get your work on the cover of Arch Digest or your face on HGTV, you’ll need to be personally involved in building your brand. You’ll need to find your voice, express your individuality, and then have a team like ours work on amplification of your message in a big way. Help is available for each step, but you must give it your undivided time and attention to successfully progress.

Interestingly enough, the route to celebrity is also the route to building a marketing presence on a shoestring. If you don’t have any budget yet aspire to build your clientele, the very same method can take you to your destination. (It’s like getting off the train a few stops early).

Diy Digital Marketing

The formula for this DIY aspect of marketing is to find one platform or medium that you can use as an outlet for expressing your passion and expertise, and to be absolutely persistent in your postings. And, this DIY content creation requires dialoguing with your audience so that you can accommodate their interests, growing into becoming the online personality that they most favorably respond to. Think of Trump at a rally: he circulates through topics and words until the crowd responds. Then he knows that he can use those words to elicit a given response on demand. That is how marketing works. (Marketers call it A/B test).

In the search engine results for major cities, you find designers that have earned top positions via one or more of these methods:

  • A strong, long-term digital marketing investment
  • A strong, long-term PR investment
  • Perseverance in DIY content creation

Each path has its own pros and cons. Of the three routes, a digital marketing investment is often the quickest to yield sales leads. A PR investment tends to work best for the rare designer that offers something truly unique or exceptional. And, DIY content creation is best for the designer with something to say and a ton of perseverance.

Our articles are typically about what we know best: digital marketing investments. We create campaigns utilizing search advertising, SEO, and much more. In this article, we are stepping outside of our domain, and will instead listen in on a fascinating conversation between two DIY content creators — Tobi Fairley and Lauren Liess.

Lauren was recently the guest on Tobi’s podcast, and she shared about her journey from neighborhood designer to HGTV personality, author, and product designer.

Lauren’s journey wasn’t easy or quick. But, her relentless hard work, perseverance, and patience got her blog visibility, which led to media mentions, a book deal, and, eventually, a show on HGTV. Listed below are excerpts from the interview highlighting the hard work behind the glamor and success. (We do recommend listening to the whole podcast).

Lauren

Image Source: Tobi Fairley

Lauren: I started blogging from the basement, and I read some article where it was like, if you write 30 posts, that’s when you’ll start developing a following. And I’m like, okay, I think this can help my business. So, I had this goal to write 30 posts and started doing it a few times a week. I probably spent 20 to 30 hours a week on it, and it was in the middle of the night. It was crazy to get it going.

I think it was right on my 30th post, Washington Post picked up one of my blog posts and did an article on it, and then I got a total influx of readers. And with that, I’d been sharing client work on there, and so, then I got more clients from it. And eventually, Shelter magazine’s publication started reaching out.

When we were just starting blogging, we were thinking, no one’s reading this. I’m just kind of writing to my grandmother and her friends. And then, you’re like oh wow, people are actually reading it and feeling a connection and it’s bigger than you think.

Tobi Fairley Podcast

Image Source: Tobi Fairley

Tobi: I remember those days, and I had my daughter, we would work all day, and then I would get home, and I would feed her. I would get something to eat, and I was literally back on the bed or in a chair with my laptop and working for four, five, six, eight more hours until one or two in the morning. It was literally like two full-time jobs.
It was hard. It was awesome and hard at the same time.

Both Lauren and Tobi are successful businesswomen, and both worked hard to achieve their success.

To garner the visibility required to become an influencer, you need a dedicated plan for regularly posting and publishing your work on your blog, social media, or other mediums. You need to find your angle, your topic. You need to decide if you are going to educate or entertain, or possibly both. And, then you need to put it into action as if there was no Plan B.

If you are persistent and offer something interesting or visually intoxicating, you’ll find that people start to link to your website and you’ll begin rising in search engine results. You’ll also find your social following growing like wildfire. Once your visibility hits the next level, you’ll enter the radar of editors, producers, and manufacturers, and will benefit from all the good that can come of that.

If you choose this path of DIY content creation, be relentless with your schedule as this path is often derailed by apathy and a lack of discipline. It really takes personal power to succeed on this path.

Client Expander Exclusive Marketing Services

It can get overwhelming to do all of this yourself, which is where a blended approach works best: a digital marketing agency like ours – Client Expander – can help. We specialize in marketing for home pros and have the experience and expertise to build your brand by promoting your blogs, social media, and portfolio to your target audience. That way, we collaborate on creative direction – you focus on the content while we focus on the technical aspects of marketing promotion.

Or, if DIY content creation isn’t your cup of tea, we offer a hands-free approach to marketing where we cover all of the bases including SEO, social media, blogging, and Houzz optimization.

If you’re looking for support, we’ll be happy to answer any questions and offer our advice. You can schedule a consultation here.

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Ken Lewis Client Expander CEO

Ken Lewis

MANAGING PARTNER & CHIEF STRATEGIST
Marketing for the Home Improvement Industry

Ken offers unparalleled marketing from a uniquely informed vantage point that arises from advanced SEO and marketing expertise, a deep knowledge of home improvement marketing, the know-how of being a third-generation family business owner, and experience as a consumer of luxury interior design.

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