IG vs. Email Marketing: A Year-Long Experiment

Instagram vs. email marketing: which do you think had more impact on our bottom line?

I never intended this to become a 10-12 month-long experiment — or that I’d be telling you about it. But when I sat down and did the math, the numbers told a story that was painfully clear. And I knew I had to share it.

Meet the experiment…

1) FIRST, WE PRIORITIZED INSTAGRAM FOR 6 MONTHS

Frequency: For 6 months (starting around September 2023), my team and I created new IG content 3x/week. 

The Content: Stories about our services, snippets from our insightful blog posts, inspiring quotes, peeks into our team members’ days, and more. We even made a few reels that I wasted WAY too much time on. 

Effort Level: 10/10. Everything we did was beautiful, on-brand, and thoughtful. 3 team members, including myself, collaborated.

The Results: We got likes and engagement, started conversations, got a few new followers, and felt pretty good about ourselves. 

Added New Revenue: $0. Yes, you read that correctly.

Did Instagram increase our visibility? Sure. Did it remind our existing community we’re alive and well? Absolutely. But did it bring any new or repeat business to Ochre & Beige? Noop.

2) THEN, WE TRIED MORE FOCUSED EMAIL MARKETING

Frequency: 6 months, about 2-4 newsletters per month. More, if we have something important to say.

The Content: I’ve shared personal stories, thought leadership topics, our own helpful blog posts, information about our services, some lifestyle content (books, travel), and invited conversation.

Effort Level: 10/10. Our Creative Director, Kait, and I pour our experiences and ideas into each and every newsletter to make it as valuable for you as possible.

The Results: We’ve seen significantly more engagement via email than on IG: direct responses, questions, kind words from those who resonate with our content, sign-ups for our free events, and YES, booked services with past and new clients.

Added New Revenue: New bookings totaling $30K and counting.

Now, big picture, $30K is not a large amount of annual revenue — most of our projects come from referrals, just like a lot of designers. But compared to $0 from our IG efforts, email marketing wins by a landslide. And we’re just getting started.

OUR APPROACH TO NEWSLETTERS FOR INTERIOR DESIGNERS

Every marketer has their own approach to sending out newsletters, largely dependent on what they’ve seen success with. Here’s what we’ve seen success with among our interior designer clients:

• Roundup style newsletter (“the charcuterie board approach”)
• Project reveal newsletter
• Services feature newsletter
• Blog post feature newsletter
• Invite to book a consultation
• Announce open spot for project (to past clients + leads)

These topics work together to educate and inspire your audience, as well as nurture potential clients into inquiry calls on your calendar. (If you’re interested in getting our support with custom newsletter creation, we would be delighted to chat with you. Reach out to us here, and let’s chat.)

WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE A MAILING LIST YET?

It is never too late to start one. Here’s what I recommend:

First, you have past clients who have hired you. As your clients, they have given you permission to email them, BUT we always error on the side of asking for consent. Our suggestion is to add them to a list and send them a thoughtful email like this:

Hi [NAME],

Hope you’re well, and thank you again for [insert what you worked on together, such as “such a wonderful project together”]. I’m writing to you now because we have some exciting updates in the works, including our new monthly publication, being released soon: [insert name of your newsletter].

Inside you’ll find: [insert bullet point list of what’s in it for them, such as “project stories to entertain you” and “tips you can use right away”]

I am confident you’ll find it interesting and inspiring, but if it doesn’t feel like something you’d be interested in, please feel free to opt out below at any time.

Thanks again for your support, and I can’t wait to share it soon!

Yours,
[Your name]

Second, do the same for any professionals you’ve worked with and ensure their consent as well. You can adapt the email template above, just make sure the list of “what’s in it for them” is tailored to apply to them. You now have a good start to your mailing list.

START BUILDING YOUR MAILING LIST ON AUTOPILOT

If you don’t have a highly targeted Lead Magnet on your website yet, you are missing a huge opportunity. Yes, the term “Lead Magnet” might feel icky, but the really, really good ones (i.e. a luxurious high-end magazine) stand out, make you look good, and get subscribers.

More importantly, they attract and nurture the type of client you love to work with.

I highly recommend getting one of our Lead Magnet templates. We have high-end magazines targeted at attracting Families, Professionals, and Retirees, as well as a more general Case Study Lead Magnet, in case you serve multiple ideal clients.

Bonus: These each come with a Welcome Sequence designed to nurture potential clients from “interested stranger” to booked inquiry call on your calendar. This is the best and easiest way to grow a mailing list of perfect-fit clients on autopilot.

There you have it—the power of email marketing and how to easily get started. Good luck, and as always, we’re here if you need us!

Xoxo,
Jaquilyn