The Art of Storytelling: Crafting a Compelling Brand Narrative for Your Interior Design Business

Every customer loves a good story. When your brand has a vivid, believable story behind it, it becomes easier to create an emotional connection with your clients. And when clients have a clear picture of your origins, mission, and values, they’re more likely to choose your brand over another.

The best way to cultivate a brand narrative that resonates with customers is to think of it as writing a good story. This story is one that you’ll tell over and over — in presentations, in blog posts, on interior design social media posts, and in meetings.

Whether you’re looking at how to start an interior design business or want to revamp the one you have, the right brand story is important. Take a closer look at some of the most critical considerations when crafting your brand story.

Connect With Your “Why”

When it comes to marketing for interior designers, it isn’t enough to simply have a brand story — you need a story that sets you apart from the competition. When you concisely and effectively convey both your experiences and your brand values, your potential clients will get a good idea of who you — and your brand — are.

Start by brainstorming your brand values. Do you emphasize the importance of delivering value to customers? Are you committed to sustainability and supporting local businesses? Developing a clear concept of what you stand for will help ensure your customers readily understand what your brand has to offer.

Develop Relatable, Memorable Characters

One of the most effective marketing strategies for interior designers involves creating a brand character. A brand character doesn’t have to be a separate character in the literal sense. If you run your own design business, chances are that your main brand character is going to be you.

But how do you make yourself seem relatable to your audience? The answer is simple: include emotions and experiences instead of just the facts.

For example, perhaps you want to describe how your brand was founded on your website. Detailing your education and qualifications is important, but those details are part of the general story. You’ll also want to go into why your personal experiences or background influenced your decisions.

Crafting a whole, three-dimensional character for your brand that potential clients feel they can relate to can go a long way.

Set the Scene

Have you ever read a book with descriptions so vivid you felt like you were in the story yourself? This is the effect you want to create with your descriptions — especially with your descriptions of the spaces you design.

Sensory details are of particular importance here. Do you create spaces with a variety of intriguing textures, for example? Do you combine quiet, neutral color schemes with bursts of bright shades?

Don’t forget to include how your spaces make visitors feel. Do your designs transport them to a quiet oasis in a chaotic world? Or do you prefer to inspire wonder with stark and inventive color schemes?

Build Suspense and Intrigue

Don’t give away the ending just as you’re starting to tell your brand story. You want to keep your audience members engaged and wanting more. The best way to do this is to strategically tease them with details.

For example, if you are telling your brand story as part of a speech or podcast, you could add a little hint of foreshadowing before mentioning a key point. Even something as simple as “that ability to do more with less would serve me well as I started my career” after sharing a personal anecdote can be an effective way to build suspense.

When audience members hear a statement like this, they might start to wonder — why did you need to master that particular skill? What happens next?

When you keep an audience engaged with your story, you keep them engaged with your brand as a whole as well.

Reveal Insights and Inspire Change

Don’t make your brand narrative an over-polished, shallow story that could have been told by anyone. Your audience isn’t looking for another cookie-cutter origin story. They want something with real substance that inspires them, makes them think, or teaches them something.

You don’t have to write out a detailed design philosophy to do this. One or two pithy observations or takeaways can be enough.

For instance, if your designs often deliberately include pieces from different eras, you could say something like, “The fusion of Art Deco and mid-century modern reminds us that human connection transcends time and place.”

Entertain With Style

If you’re someone who loves creative writing, you’ll have no problem with this part of interior design marketing! Flat, unimaginative storytelling will bore your audience and make them want to look elsewhere for a designer. After all, if you’re not excited by your business, why should they be?

You’ll want to make sure you maintain a distinct brand voice and creative flair throughout the process. Here are some suggested strategies to include:

• Similes, metaphors, and analogies
• Personal anecdotes
• Humor, if it fits with your brand voice
• Foreshadowing
• Vivid descriptions

Coming up with a consistent brand voice can be a challenge, especially if you haven’t done it before. Before you start writing, check out a few designers you admire.

Read their websites or blogs, check out their podcasts (if they have them), and skim their social media. Pay close attention to the written voice and storytelling techniques they use to keep their audience hooked.

A strong voice is especially important when it comes to interior design email marketing. If a would-be client opens up an email and sees dull and lifeless writing, they likely won’t read further.

Speak to Your Audience

Speaking of audiences — before you set out to craft your brand narrative, make sure you know your target audience and how to get through to them. For instance, if you focus on designing traditional office spaces for primarily older clients, you probably don’t want to use overly informal language riddled with slang.

If your business is fairly new (or if you don’t have a lot of marketing experience), you might not yet know how to find your target audience. A few strategies to consider include:

• Take a close look at your current client base
• Evaluate the audiences of competitors or designers with similar work to yours
• Create buyer personas
• Use Google Analytics to see who visits and interacts with your website
• Think about who is excluded from your target audience

Keep in mind that you don’t have to handle all of your market research yourself. In some cases, it might be worth hiring a freelance marketer to help.

Be Memorable

Make sure your brand narrative has a satisfying ending that will inspire your audience to further explore your work. Don’t forget that your ultimate goal is to create a brand story that your target audience will remember for the right reasons.

Even if they don’t need an interior designer at the moment, a compelling brand story might just make them think of you when the time comes.

Build Your Brand Story With Behind the Design

At Behind the Design, we’re dedicated to helping interior designers like you discover how to get interior design clients and build a successful business. When you sign up for our Build Your Brand Identity Beyond Logos CEU Course, you’ll learn how to build and implement the branding strategy you need for success.

If you’re ready to level up your design business, sign up today!