We may be living through turbulent times, but one thing that has remained a top priority to UK consumers is staying on top of the latest interior trends.
Image source: Unsplash
Now that spring has officially sprung, many people across the nation will be embracing the longer days and warmer weather as a sign to start refreshing their homes. In fact, Google Trends data shows a spike in searches for the term ‘decorating’ during the months of March and April each year – so it’s clear that we’re ready to start the season with décor tweaks, and a touch of feng shui to transform your space for spring.
With this in mind, our PR team experts have pulled together their insight on the tactics and strategies we’re seeing work particularly well in the interior space right now.
Unique and insightful expertise
It’s never been quite as difficult to cut through the noise in the media, and being able to offer useful insight that’s interesting, unique, and actionable is really going to help to elevate your story.
We’re seeing more and more demand for an authoritative voice, in both proactive and reactive content, so being able to offer this first-hand is so important. This is particularly sought-after in an industry such as home interiors, where we know journalists and content creators are always on the lookout for emerging trends and interesting cost-saving hacks.
Whether you have an expert voice in-house already, or you need to look at bringing on board an external stylist or interior designer, it’s worth considering how you can make use of their insider knowledge as part of your content and outreach and add authority to your expertise.
Reactive PR can be your superpower
Whether you’re an old-school PR or a newbie, you’ll know that media monitoring and staying on top of the news agenda is vital in this fast-paced digital world. However, knowing how and when to react can be a real game changer.
You need to know your industry. Whether it’s bedrooms, kitchens, or flooring, being able to identify the key trends within your niche is so important. Do your research, consider whether you have any interesting sales data or strong imagery available to match a trending topic and, as always with reactive PR, make sure you’re quick to jump on the topic with something unique to offer.
In particular, we’re seeing a spotlight on celebrity homes. With many famous faces sharing their luxurious abodes on social media, journalists are looking for interior experts to share their take on the specific décor used and reveal how to recreate a similar look in your own home. This tactic is key to ensure your experts stay relevant in the industry.
Make it evergreen
Of course, not every piece of content can be evergreen, especially if you’re working with emerging trends, or constructing a newsjacking piece. However, we’ve had some great success stories from content being picked up weeks or months after initial outreach and it’s likely due to journalists being busier than ever before.
If you’re not getting the pick-up you expected but you’re confident that you’re pitching to the most appropriate, relevant contact and have something unique and interesting to offer – fear not! Your story may have been stored away to be used later down the line, especially common for tip round-ups from numerous experts in one article.
We’re finding that content featuring unusual cleaning hacks, budget-friendly jobs, storage solutions or trend predictions – longer-term rather than immediate trends – tend to perform particularly well in this context.
Be tactical when it comes to creative campaigns
There has been a lot of debate of late in the PR industry about whether creative campaigns have ‘had their day’, and this seems particularly significant in the interiors space in which journalists favour quick content. Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion, one thing we’re finding is that being creative can absolutely work and can be a great way of generating results in the interior space. However, we need to be tactical about how and when we launch these types of campaigns.
Creative can come in a range of formats that help tell your story; it could be creating video or photo content to accompany your story, using mood boards to visualise and bring ideas to life, or even developing a new product or range as part of a bigger, brand building tactic.
With many looking at social media as a means of interior inspiration, using customers as case studies is a powerful way to visualise your brand. Using creative videos and images, utilise renovations or installations to showcase your unique offering, accompanied by expert quotes from interior experts.
It might not be feasible or appropriate to launch a ‘creative’ campaign every quarter, but when done correctly and alongside other tactics, these campaigns can be hugely successful and beneficial.
Is there a monetary element?
The cost of living is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and that includes the media. From large-scale renovations to quick and easy decorating hacks and budget-friendly DIY jobs, if there’s potential to add a monetary value to your content, it’s worth putting some time into working out the numbers.
If you’re able to share tangible budgeting tips or money-saving advice, such as tactics to reduce your heating bills, as part of your campaign, it can really help to enhance your story and will provide you with additional angles when it comes to outreach.
Don’t forget the basics
Home interior content and advice should be useful, inspirational, and practical. It might sound simple, but always make sure your press release has strong imagery and, where possible, features bespoke shots that highlight your key product area, with the relevant captions and prices included.
Try to feature additional brands or voices too so that the story isn’t too promotional or one-sided. If you feel like you’re trying to shoe-horn a brand into the story, it probably isn’t going to work, but creating a naturally flowing piece with helpful advice, case studies and stunning aesthetics is the ultimate goal.
Summary
Hopefully this piece has provided you with some helpful insight and tips to consider when planning PR activity in the home interiors industry.
One thing that’s important to take into consideration is that no two strategies should ever really be the same; you should always take your brand’s goals, aspirations, and priorities into consideration when planning, and be sure to work closely with your SEO team too. As always, remember to keep ideas and content relevant to the brand too.
Remember to revisit your strategy regularly, and be honest about what is or isn’t working and what is helping to drive organic performance. If you’re finding that reactive commentary is proving to be hugely successful in driving results, it may be worth putting more time into this tactic as opposed to creative-led campaigns.
There’s nothing we PRs love more than a good newsjacking opportunity and to keep on top of all the upcoming national days, weeks, and months, we’ve created C3 Newsroom – sharing all the latest opportunities across a range of sectors with our ‘always on’ approach.
