Marketing Lessons from the Eternal City: Rome

Note: This content originally appeared in the July 2024 issue of our First Friday newsletter. Subscribe below to receive your own copy of our monthly newsletters with stories, insights, and advice for interior designers.

Four years ago, I wrote this blog post about places designers will love in Rome, complete with must-see destinations, mistakes I made (like visiting a crypt full of bone furniture), and top-notch food recommendations courtesy of my native Italian husband.

Well, I had long since forgotten it existed, until a couple of weeks ago…

During a strategy call with a long-time client, she told this story about her designer friend:

The designer found our blog post about Rome, poked around our website, discovered our portfolio, stumbled across her own friend’s (our client’s) project case study, and then reached out to her to about it. Which then came full circle back to us.

Wild chain of events, right? More importantly, I remember how much WORK this blog post took.

I had to go through all my travel photos, pick the best ones, and edit them. I had to format, resize, and label them for the website. I conducted extra research to figure out the names of places I didn’t know while there. And more.

I remember thinking: Is anyone even going to read this?

When you spend time on your own marketing, you might wonder the same thing: Do people even care?

Consider this your sign: They care.

What if no one is replying to your newsletters? Or blog posts?

This isn’t the first time we’ve received positive feedback on a blog post. Or a newsletter. Or a social media post. However, it’s more likely that we won’t hear anything at all. And that’s so, so normal. (Though when we do hear from you, it absolutely makes our day!!)

But just because no one is responding doesn’t mean people aren’t reading, absorbing, or being touched by your message. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort. It is.

Creating content that is personal, timeless (like the Eternal City), and tailored to the people you love to serve is always a good idea.

It connects and shows you care.
It provides memorable value.
It offers up a little piece of what makes you you.

You might not see results right away. You might not hear direct feedback very often. (Check your analytics for the real story.) But, as this situation reminded me, it does make a difference.

I hope this story inspires you to continue showing up and continue serving, because providing value to your audience, your prospective clients, is always going to pay off.

Cheers,
Jaquilyn