My friend Aimee recently moved back to Alaska after living in Spain.

It wasn’t the plan.

Spain was supposed to be the new “forever home.” They’d been planning this move for years. That’s why before she and her family moved overseas, they sold almost everything they owned.

Things changed, and now they’ve moved back to the States and bought a house, facing a Very Empty House.

They also have a teenage son, busy careers, the kind of family caretaking demands that come with being middle-aged, and approximately zero free time to furnish an entire home.

Did I mention they’re in ALASKA?

That adds an extra layer of fun, because it turns out many of the furniture companies the rest of us take for granted either don’t ship to Alaska or charge a small fortune to do it.

When she told me the woes of facing that empty house, my business brain immediately thought:

This would be the perfect marketing angle for the right designer!

Not necessarily a luxury designer – though it could be. I didn’t tell you anything about her lifestyle or budget.

Not necessarily a full-service designer – though it could be. I didn’t tell you anything about how much of this project she’d love to offload, and what she’d feel value in paying for.

But not necessarily a veteran designer either. And THIS is where I think the opportunity gets really interesting!

Imagine a designer who offers overwhelmed new homeowners an “easy button.” Someone who understands the challenges of furnishing a home in Alaska and can help a busy family make good decisions, source appropriate furniture, and actually get it into their house without spending a fortune or waiting forever.

Even a newer designer with great organizational skills and solid sourcing knowledge could offer a service like this. You don’t need 20 years of design experience to solve this particular problem!

The point is that no matter who offers the service, the specificity of the service is So Much More Marketable than “I’ll help you create a home you love.” It gives someone a reason to call, because you know how to help them exactly the way they need, at exactly the moment they need it.

Will that keep you from doing bigger, more involved design projects? Of course not! It might actually be how you land those projects down the road.

You’re literally helping someone through a moment of home-making crisis. Years later, when the kids move out and they’re ready to dress up the empty nest or finally tackle that kitchen renovation, guess who they’ll call? 😀 (And if you did your job really well, they may even be able to reuse some of the big pieces you helped them source all those years ago!)

(If you’re curious about Aimee and our international adventures, we co-host a podcast called Bonjhola. We started it when she moved to Spain and I moved to France. More than 100 episodes in, the big thing we’ve learned is that expat life doesn’t always go according to plan!)

What Makes Someone Decide to Hire an Interior Designer?

When interior designers think about attracting new clients, they often start by defining a demographic.

“My ideal client is a homeowner, aged 40–60, with a household income of $250K or more.”

Okay, fine. But there are thousands of people who fit that description. Most of them are NOT looking for an interior designer today.

Something needs to happen in their life that creates a problem they want help solving.

I mean, no one looks for an orthodontic surgeon… until they need one! 😅

That’s what marketers call a buying trigger.

For residential interior designers, common buying triggers include:

• Moving to a new city: They bought a house, but their furniture doesn’t fit, they don’t know the local stores, and they’re busy settling into a new life. (This was me when I moved to France three years ago. And to top it off, I didn’t even speak the language! 😩 )
• Starting or growing a family: The guest room needs to become a nursery, or the living room needs to survive two toddlers and a Labrador. This described a LOT of my clients when I ran Seriously Happy Homes!
• A major career change: They’re starting a demanding new job, working from home, or finally earning enough money to invest in furniture that doesn’t require an Allen wrench.
• Becoming empty nesters: The kids are gone, and suddenly the house can be designed around what the parents actually want!
• Buying a fixer-upper: They love the potential but don’t know where to start, what to prioritize, or how much any of it will cost.

These are all moments when interior design can go from a nice-to-have luxury to a solution for a very real problem.

And when your marketing names that problem clearly, the right person is much more likely to recognize themselves.

“OH MY GOSH. THAT’S ME. I NEED THAT!”

That’s a far more powerful starting point than simply announcing that you offer residential interior design services.

Your Geography Can Be a HUGE Part of Your Interior Design Niche

Here’s what makes Aimee’s situation especially interesting. If she lived in a major city with dozens of furniture stores and easy shipping, furnishing her home would still be a big project.

But she’s in Alaska.

That means the question isn’t just “Which sofa do we want?” It’s “Which sofas can we actually GET?”

A designer who understands which vendors ship to Alaska, how to manage freight costs, what can be sourced locally, and how to avoid expensive mistakes could offer something incredibly valuable.

✨ That’s local expertise. And local expertise can be a competitive advantage! ✨

It’s one of the five ways I teach interior designers to distinguish themselves in my Nail Your Niche program. And you don’t have to live somewhere as logistically challenging as Alaska!

• Maybe you serve a neighborhood filled with historic homes where nothing’s square and every renovation includes a surprise.
• Maybe you work in a dense city where getting a sofa up 19 floors requires HOA approval and a crane.
• Maybe you specialize in remote vacation properties where half your income comes from replacing things renters destroyed, stained, or stole. (Seriously, what is wrong with people? 🤨 Still, it’s a steady income. 😂 )

When you understand the challenges that are specific to your location, you can build services and marketing around solving them. The key is to get specific about which problems you’re equipped to solve, not simply announce that you’re a designer who happens to work in that area.

Make It Easy for the Right Client to Recognize Your Services

Imagine Aimee is looking at two interior design websites.

The first says:

“Full-service residential interior design.

Thoughtful, personalized solutions, beautiful, functional spaces.

Because your house should feel like home.”

Okay. Sounds nice.

The second says:

“Just bought a home in Alaska?

Need help figuring out which furniture companies will actually ship here?

We source from suppliers that can actually deliver.

Let’s get your new house feeling like home before school starts and winter sets in.”

HELLO! Which designer do you think she’s going to remember?

The first one said something any designer could say. The second one described her actual problem.

That doesn’t mean every designer should specialize in people who just moved. But if you love helping families settle into new homes, why wouldn’t you make that obvious?

BONUS ADVICE: Don’t Make Potential Clients Guess What They Can Afford

Here’s another interesting layer to Aimee’s situation. It’s one I identify with, too.

We’re all around that 50-year-old milestone, at a stage of life where buying good-quality, grown-up furniture is a realistic financial option. (Between you and me, it’s a little unsettling when you realize you’ve reached a level of success when you can afford a REAL sofa. Adulting is strange.)

But even if someone has money to invest in furniture, that doesn’t mean they think they can afford an interior designer.

They may imagine that hiring a designer requires a $100,000 furnishings budget, a six-month project, and permission to throw away everything they already own. Meanwhile, you might offer exactly what they need for a fraction of what they’re imagining!

• Maybe you offer a furniture plan and shopping list.
• Maybe they can hire you for a focused design consultation.
• Maybe you offer complete design and procurement, taking care of the sourcing and deliveries, and it’s actually within what they can afford AND want to spend.

Your job isn’t to convince everyone to hire you. It’s to help the right people recognize that you offer a solution that fits their needs and budget.

THAT MEANS PUTTING PRICE SIGNALS ON YOUR WEBSITE!

Yah, yah. I know the arguments… “I don’t want to scare off potential customers.” “Every project is different.”

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. It sucks to call someone only to find out you literally can’t afford them. It makes you feel awkward, even embarrassed, and frankly, wastes everyone’s time.

It ALSO sucks to find out you could have afforded something but never explored it because no one told you it was possible, and you were too shy to ask!

I am a huge advocate of putting prices, starting prices, or meaningful investment guidance on interior design websites. (I wrote more about that in Should Interior Designers Put Prices on Their Websites?.) Don’t make people rule themselves out before they’ve even had a chance to understand what you offer.

Here’s How to Put This Into Your Interior Design Marketing

Take a look at your favorite clients, especially the ones who were excited to hire you and a joy to work with.

Ask yourself: What happened in their lives that made them need my help RIGHT THEN?

Did they buy a new house? Have a baby? Get promoted? Retire? Finally get fed up with living in a home that didn’t work?

Then take that insight one step further. Can you create a service, website headline, blog post, or social media message that speaks directly to someone in that situation?

For example, instead of:

“Whole-home furnishing and interior design services.”

Try:

“Just moved into a new home and don’t know where to start? I’ll help you create a furniture plan, prioritize your purchases, and make your house feel like home without spending every weekend shopping.”

Now your reader knows EXACTLY why they might need you. And if you can combine that message with expertise specific to your location, even better!

Not Sure What’s Keeping Your Interior Design Business From Growing?

Maybe your marketing isn’t reaching the right people. Maybe your services aren’t clearly communicating their value. Or maybe you’re getting plenty of inquiries, but something is going wrong between the first conversation and the signed contract.

Those are different problems, and they need different solutions!

That’s why I created my free What To Fix Next? Business Diagnostic Quiz.

It’ll help you figure out whether your biggest opportunity is attracting better-fit clients, improving your onboarding process, or helping clients make decisions once the project begins.

Because you don’t have to fix everything at once. You just need to know what to fix next.

💛 Rebecca