Using Pinterest to Attract New Clients

The incredibly talented Margot of Margo Madison Creative is a graphic designer who has been creating gorgeous invitations for special events for over 15 years.  This experienced business owner saw how Pinterest could help her business be even more successful. Margot shares with us how she uses Pinterest to attract new clients and to it helps her to work with work with existing ones.

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Margot Madison: How I use Pinterest to Work with My Invitation Clients

I feel pretty lucky to have been a part of Pinterest in the early days. A photography friend invited me in and I was completely hooked from the first Pin! Finally, that weird folder on my computer desktop with random images and no links could be tossed away in the digital trash! I loved that I didn’t need to bookmark every image because I could easily link back to the original site for more information or inspiration. I was enamored by the variety of ideas I found and curated lots of boards for my work and personal inspiration.

But soon I realized that Pinterest was a also great place to “work” with clients. I design custom wedding invitations. When I meet with a client in person, we discuss themes, styles and colors that the bride has in mind for her wedding. But since the Internet expanded my business outside of my city, I found that communicating with brides over the phone or email was challenging.

A bride might say that her wedding colors were pink and gold, but not having seen any swatches, it was difficult to discern just exactly which pink she wanted. Was it blush or cotton candy pink? Bright gold or antique gold? I didn’t think the guessing game was the best way to do business, so I was looking for a new way to communicate style and color with clients.

The solution was to get together on Pinterest and start speaking in Pins. Brides would either share the boards they’d started, or I would start one for us and invite her to join in the pinning. It was great when the secret Pinterest Boards came out so that brides felt more comfortable knowing that their ideas were confidential. On our shared Pinterest board, I could see that the pink of her bridesmaid dresses was blush pink and definitely not cotton candy pink. I could get insights into the style of her wedding by the images she could post from other wedding websites and inspirational photos.

These insights were so important to me because I could design something that she loved from the start, rather than taking “shots in the dark” design-wise. I would also stay engaged with my clients by adding my own pins that enhanced the concepts I was developing for her event. For instance, if I saw a great table décor idea, I would pin it to our board and add my comments or suggestions and possibly my resource on where to buy it.

This client specific pin board idea worked so well, I began curating Pin boards that were not directly related to a current client, but to a particular theme that was trending. Instead of just pinning the invitations from my Etsy shop to my more generalized “Event Inspiration” or “Beautiful Paper” Pinterest boards, I pinned the travel themed invitation into “Travel Themed Wedding” Pinterest board. Most brides are excited but overwhelmed by all the options available for their wedding décor, so this way of curating ideas to their specific them was really helpful.

These theme-specific boards promoted my business in two ways:

1.     I could draw in new clients by drawing attention to the invitation amid the other inspiring and helpful photos on my Pinterest board. I also avoided the obnoxious “look at my product!” pins by merely including them within a helpful source. (I also pin other invitation sources too).

2.     I would then list the link to the Pinterest board in the sales copy of my Etsy listings. Brides were not only getting an invitation, they were also receiving the benefit of my experience in the event designing world to help them with their other décor ideas after they bought the invitations.

Using Pinterest has made such a huge impact on my business marketing efforts and I’m so thankful. I have increased my market reach with very little effort (and what effort I do put in, is fun anyway, so it doesn’t feel like “work”). I know Cynthia always says “Don’t Just Pin it, Do it!” but my motto is: “Don’t just do it, PIN IT!”

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Cynthia here again. I think it’s absolutely fabulous that Pinterest can help an entrepreneur like Margot grow her business, don’t you? Has Pinterest helped you? You could help others by sharing your story too just like Margot has. Give me a shout at cynthia(at)ohsopinteresting(dot)com and let’s talk!

Be sure to check out Margot’s other beautiful creations at Margot Madison Creative and let her know you read about her here. You can also thank Margo through a Tweet: Thanks for sharing your Pinterest story on On So Pinteresting Margot! (click to Tweet)