In my almost 30 years of being in the interior design industry, I have noticed that many do not know or want to learn how to embrace technology in a way that will enable their businesses to grow.
As a business consultant for the industry, I constantly witness designers, vendors, showrooms and even design centers thinking technology is just a tool that enables them to type, search and email.
Yes, designers are now using CAD, which I hate to say, when I graduated from design school CAD was not around and I used the old triangle and T square (which I still love using).
However, as a consultant who is hired to grow businesses, I also have to keep up with technology and understand its value as a tool that can actually grow your business.
I must say that I have gotten a lot of push back from some of my clients.
They do not yet see the value in blogging, Facebook, Twitter, article writing or any of the other Social Media tools.
I have even been told that "the jury is still out" on Social Media.
Many of these naysayers do not realize that email is considered a Social Media tool.
But they just do not seem to feel comfortable with this phenomenon.
It all seems so overwhelming..
who has time? I just want to say to the design industry...
it's all worth it! Social Media is not only a valuable tool, most of it is FREE advertising! When you put an ad in a magazine, do you REALLY know your ROI (return on investment)? And how much does it cost financially and in time? And marketing research shows that you must get in front of someone 7 - 13 times before they take any action.
Are there many design companies that can afford an ad campaign that large? Not in THIS economy! So I say, let us embrace all this new technology.
Let us use it for more than just placing orders, searching the Internet and email.
Let's get some value from it because it is a truly valuable tool, if used properly, in your arsenal of marketing efforts.