Now that you’re monitoring your online reputation with your new snazzy tools, can you remember that interior designer from Tucson who had the bad review written about her?  In my first post of the online reputation management series, I spoke of a designer that was raked over the coals (possibly deservedly or possibly not) for being unprofessional and inept.

If someone says something negative about your business online, what should you do?

Let’s face it, if you are a retail business or a company that gets a lot of traffic, you will probably get some bad reviews.  However, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, be sure to respond to those reviews or mentions.  A bad situation can actually be turned 180 degrees with offering a solution or offering to help.

Here are a few things to know about bad reviews online:

1. The writer may feel like they can hide behind a computer screen and when you publicly ask them how you can help make it better, they will back down and be sheepish.  You will also come across as looking good because your answer will be paired with their criticism.  For future onlookers, you will look like you tried to find a solution and that’s all most people want.
2. You may have legitimately done a very bad job and then you need to apologize and let them know that they are right.  Then be sure to list what you are going to do to make it better.
3. Go on the PR offensive.  Typically, there are plenty of people/clients out there thrilled with your service.  If the only person that has ever written about you online wrote something negative, appeal to your happy customers and clients, asking for their honest reviews.  Most of them will be glad to oblige and 5 positive reviews will quickly drown the negative.

In the very rare cases of libelous material, respond to the writer privately and ask them to take the material down.  If they don’t, figure out if you want to consult an attorney.  This happens very, very rarely so don’t lie awake thinking about it at night.

As a designer, do you find yourself asking “what do they have, that I don’t?”  What makes a well-known, or celebrity designer, stand out from the crowd, receive accolades, book contracts, and the like?  You work your fingers to the bone, burn the candle at both ends to visualize and design thoughtful, beautiful, sophisticated spaces, just as they do.

The difference just might be their mastery of the social media whirl, their presence on the major Social Media platforms; Twitter, Facebook, Ava Living, LinkedIn, or their focus on up-to-this-very-minute trends showcased in twice-weekly blog posts.

Case in point, Tobi Fairley, known for her signature look of fresh simplicity that is both beautiful and functional, launched her blog in September 2008.  Today, it is read in 95 countries!  She is dedicated to timely updates of her business Facebook page, which has just about 3,200 fans, and at least 3-4 tweets per day.  All of which allow her to remain engaged and committed to her base, potential clients, and any publications looking for content.  She has been showcased in House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Better Homes & Gardens, along with other local and national shelter publications.  She is seen as a taste-maker and a trend-setter.

But all of this takes time, energy and the search for trends and topics that are interesting, and if that candle is burning while you are hard at work on a project, how do you do it all?  Gibson Design Management, and our sister company, OttoPilot Media, are experts in Social Media.  We know how to move the pieces around the gameboard to maximize your visibility and your fan base.  We would welcome the opportunity to answer any questions, and help you through the Social Media maze!  Please contact Martha for details.

A series to get your creative juices flowing for your interior design firm’s blog.  [Click to see the introduction and first set of ideas, ideas #6-#10, ideas #11-#15, or #16-#20!]

1. A definition of trims.  Educate your readers and expand their vocabularies (tape, braid, lipcord, etc.).
2. Your latest project and an interview with the client.  This could even be a video.
3. Multiple arrangements for the same living room furniture.  Show 5 or 6 basic pieces and how they can be arranged in a basic room to show a very different look.
   

   Interesting furniture arrangements create new life in a living room. (Photo: Elle Decor)

4. Appropriate height to hang art.
5. How to choose a tile grout color.  When to use contrasting grout.  What to think about regarding maintenance.

Stay tuned for five more blog post ideas, coming next week!

Practical, judicious and well-dressed, Scarlett O’Hara embodies more than just the charm of a Southern belle.  Her character gives us plenty of business-savvy lessons to work with– applicable to any time period, and regardless of proximity to the Mason-Dixon Line.

Here are four lessons to be learned from Scarlett:

1. Be resilient. Scarlett did not have an easy go of it after the Civil War.  She was forced to work the fields and manage the house after the death of her mother and the onset insanity of her father.  Furthermore, she had not a penny to her name and was deeply indebted to the tax collectors.  However, she pushed through.  We’ve all lived through the last 2 years of a terrible economic storm.  Even without poor market conditions, businesses will go through very tough times.  Resiliency, and will power, can often be the only thing to push us through the difficulty when it seems like everything is going to mud.  Sometimes it is about putting one foot in front of the other when things are really dismal.
2. Dress the part. When Scarlett goes to Atlanta to visit Rhett Butler in jail and ask for money to pay the taxes on Tara, she dresses the part despite being destitute (and wears the velvet drapes that Mammy fashioned into a gown).  As Thomas Fuller said “Good clothes open all doors.”  When you want something from someone—a sale, an investment, etc.—you need to look and act like you will survive without it.  Dress the part, inside and out.
3. Think about it tomorrow. Some days are overwhelming.  If you think about eating the whole elephant in one sitting, you will be sick thinking about the enormity of your task.  Not everything has to be done today.  Don’t bury your head in the sand but give yourself a break and realize that you are one person with the same 24 hours that everyone else has.  As Scarlett says, “I’ll think about it tomorrow.”  Some days you should do just that.
4. Don’t be foolish chasing after something that is not meant to be. Occasionally, we all really believe that a certain product or service is what is going to be our savior for our company.  We continue investing money and time, putting other lucrative services and products on the back burner.  Be honest with yourself about what areas of your business are really producing revenue.  Focus a majority of your efforts there.  Don’t spend your business life chasing after Ashley when Rhett is really the best fit.

Tomorrow is National Martini Day, but today is National Splurge Day (or National $plurge Day).  It’s probably fitting that a drinking holiday comes the day after a huge spending holiday.  You will likely need a drink after the fortune that you spend, or at least think about spending, on a great day of stimulating consumption.

I asked a few of our team members what they would splurge on today.

Martha's splurge- a vacation ending in Savannah, Georgia

“A 2 week vacation along the East Coast – New York to Savannah, Georgia, visiting museums, historical sites, etc.”  – Martha Kirkpatrick, Director, Member Services

“Haha I will try to think of something other than the iPad… although let’s be honest!” – Amanda Butterworth, Senior Director, Creative Services

“I would upgrade the rest of my flights in 2010 to First Class.  I might also buy some new Ferragamo shoes so I’m flying in style.”  – Yours truly (Alexandra)

“Prada shoes.” – Andrea Gibson, Advisor

Amanda's splurge- An Apple iPad. Photo: wired.com

On this spending day, I also started thinking about what I would really want to splurge on for Gibson Design Management or any of our other companies.  (more…)

A guest blog post by Gail Doby, ASID, Design Success University

I’ve been an interior designer for over 20 years, so I’ve had plenty of time to make these mistakes.  Here’s a startling statistic (and I’ll bet it is higher during this recession) – 62.8% of all new businesses fail within 6 years according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and 96% fail within 10 years.  That means you’re lucky to be one of 4 out of 100 to make it past 10 years…or is it luck?

What if you could avoid the mistakes that these business owners made?

I’d like to see you avoid them, and if you’ve already done a few of them, now you can learn what not to do so you don’t waste your valuable time and money:

1. Not having a written “ideal client” profile – If you don’t know who your ideal client is, how can you tell other people who they can refer to you?  If you’ve ever had the client from &%$&, (or more than once) the key is to know what you don’t want in a client as much as what you do want.
2. Not knowing the lifetime value of your client – If you’ve been in the business even a few years, you can add up your billings and divide by the number of clients to get your current lifetime value.  You should also look at how long they stay as a client.  These two metrics are critical in your business planning and if you have this data as part of your Business Dashboard, it will help you grow your business. (more…)

The to-do list can be a daunting document.  For every one item you check off, you probably add two.  For many of us, it is far longer than the number of hours that we each have in our days.  The question then is: “how can we set up a strategy to prioritize the to-do list so that you are best utilizing your time”?  Think about ROI (return on investment) as your ROT (return on time).

Too Familiar?

Here is a new system that we created within our company.  I suggest that everyone have the same 3 categories across the team, but that the prioritization is role-specific.

Determine your 3 categories that all of your actions fall under (or should fall under).  In our company, I determined the following as our 3 categories:

1. Revenue producing:  an item on the to-do list that will bring money into the company
2. Service-related:  an item on the to-do list that will make our members or clients lives and businesses better
3. Brand awareness and networking: actions that will help build our brand throughout the industry and beyond

Based on your list, prioritize your categories.  My particular role in our company is bringing in new business and also long-term strategy.  If my role was to service our clients and members more directly, I would prioritize the categories differently.  Therefore, my category prioritization is as follows:

1. Revenue production
2. Brand awareness, strategy, and networking
3. Service

Determine some examples of what each category would entail.  For example, I would use the following examples for our company:

1. Revenue production: sales calls, creating letters of agreement, invoicing, etc.  For your firm, this might also be billable hours or creating proposals.
2. Brand awareness, strategy, and networking:  arranging presentations at design centers, writing blog posts, staying connected with my professional network, etc.
3. Service:  adding functionality to the website that would improve the client experience, monthly member calls, etc.

A few more ideas:

• Establish a “D” category.  There will naturally be things that fall into the “Other” category.  We call those category “D” items.  These will still need to get done but in the prioritization exercise, they will be the items that are least important to your business.
• Every time you add something to your to-do list, make sure that you put a letter next to it or color code it.  This will show you where you need to be prioritizing and what items can be downgraded.

For more great techniques to work smarter, I suggest Gina Trapani’s columns at FastCompany.com. What systems do you use to prioritize your laundry list of to-dos?

Unless you’ve been stuck under a pile of F. Schumacher sample books for the last two years, you have probably heard of the social media phenomenon with the cute bird mascot.  Twitter is a micro-blogging site that allows you to post status updates that range from personal (“Why are there so many crumbs in my purse?”) to educational (“Pantone announces its new color for 2010 is turquoise”) to conversational (“@gibsondm That was a great article about 5 steps to start Twitter”). Your tweets are limited to 140 characters.

While this article is not about why to use Twitter, I must devote one quick paragraph to my soapbox. Twitter has helped grow our business. I’ve hired people that I first interacted with via Twitter, created business relationships, found clients, been interviewed for USA Today, been interviewed for a marketing book, and more. If you still don’t get how it can help your business, email me and we’ll discuss.

Getting your feet wet with Twitter is the right way to start.

Here are 5 easy steps:

1. Go to http://twitter.com. Click on the big button that says “Sign Up Now”.

2. Select a username. Your username will also be called your Twitter “handle”. You’ll want to choose something that is close to your name or close to your company name. Make it as simple as possible. If I could do it all over again, I would have chosen my name “alexandragibson”. Unfortunately, that name is no longer available and I’ve developed a following with my current handle—@gibsonmd.

3. Write a profile and upload a picture. Be sure to do this before following anyone. Your profile is limited to 160 characters; I suggest using a mixture of professional information and personality. My profile is:

CEO of Gibson Design Management; MP for Gibson Design Group; social butterfly; type A (personality not blood); competitive horseback rider; martini drinker

4. Enter your first tweet. We typically write things like “Just getting started on Twitter. Thanks @gibsondm for teaching me! ”

5. Start following people. This will both mean that their tweets will update in your newsfeed and that they will be alerted that you are also on Twitter. If I know that my friend Bob Willywog is on Twitter, I can find him by clicking “Find People” and entering his name. If I just want to start following people in my town, in my industry, or who have similar interests, I go to www.twellow.com and run a search. This will search profiles for your keyword.

If this all seems overwhelming, don’t despair. Contact us about our social media services. We can hold your hand through not only getting your business set up but also on how to use these tools to improve your marketing.

I was recently looking for a good, comprehensive list of social media books to add to my bookshelf (and to hopefully get around to reading!).  Lee Odden from TopRank Online Marketing sent me this list:

• Cluetrain Manifesto – Rick Levine, Chris Locke, Doc Searles, Dave Weinberger
• New Rules of Marketing and PR – David Meerman Scott (video interview)
• Do It Wrong Quickly – Mike Moran (Mike’s guest post)
• Join the Conversation – Joseph Jaffe (interview)
• Groundswell – Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff (interview with Charlene)
• Personality Not Included – Rohit Bhargava  (book review)
• Tribes – Seth Godin
• Here Comes Everybody – Clay Shirky
• Age of Conversation – Gavin Heaton, Drew McLellan (100+ contributors)
• Social Media Marketing An Hour A Day – Dave Evans
• Secrets of Social Media Marketing – Paul Gillin
• Naked Conversations – Shel Israel & Robert Scoble (Video interview with Robert)
• Freakonomics – Stephen Dubner & Steven Levitt
• Buzz Marketing – Mark Hughes
• Radically Transparent – Andy Beal & Judy Strauss (interview with Andy)
• Web 2.0: New Tools, New School - Gwen Solomon & Lynne Schrum
• The Long Tail – Chris Anderson
• The Wisdom of Crowds – James Surowieki
• Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business – Larry Weber
• Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking – Andy Sernovitz, Afterward by Guy Kawasaki (interview with Guy)
• Social Media is a Cocktail Party: Why You Already Know the Rules of Social Media Marketing – Jim Tobin, Lisa Braziel (TopRank is quoted on back cover)
• Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide: Business thinking and strategies behind successful Web 2.0 implementations – Amy Shuen
• Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs – Brian Solis, Geoff Livingston (video interview with Brian)

To read his full blog post, click here.  Thank you Lee for this great list!

Gail Doby, Chief Vision Officer of Design Success University, and Nika Stewart, The Designers’ Success Coach, are co-hosting an exciting event that you don’t want to miss–The Interior Design Summit on October 28, 29, & 30.

Click here to learn more

This three-day event is unlike anything that has been done for the interior design industry to date. They are interviewing 11 speakers (so far) that are top-selling authors, business consultants and agents to celebrity designers, and other amazing guests that are sure to help you grow your interior design business.

What is unique about this event is that you can listen to this from the comfort of your office or home during these three days. No travel expenses, just a nominal fee for the event and you will receive recordings so you can listen again at your convenience.

Here are some of the things you will learn:

How to book yourself solid

How to market so you don’t have to “sell” to get clients

How to build amazing referral partners that send affluent clients to you

How to create your marketing plan to get a steady flow of business

How to work with the ultra-affluent clients – how to get them and how to serve them…learn what they are looking for in an interior designer

How to use newsletters to stay connected with your prospects and clients …without having to write!

How to use social networking to create an online portfolio especially if you don’t have a website

How to build your personal brand so prospects and clients immediately know who you are and what your business represents

How to build a great team and manage your staff effectively

How to streamline the parts of your business that you don’t enjoy

And much more…

Save the dates and plan to make this an event in your office by bringing in lunch and having a discussion (with yourself if you work solo, or with your staff) to create a winning plan to take your business to the next level.

Click here to learn more about the event