How To Get Your Design Brand Noticed on Pinterest
We all want to book more customers and clients.
Simply, because without incoming new business, we really would not have a business to even speak about.
Our customers are the main backbone of our ecosystem - in which our clients are the ones that drive us to do better, create better & step out of our comfort zones to advance our services.
But more and more, I am finding a lot of small business owners, in particular, creative entrepreneurs such as web designers, interior designers, and graphic artists - are stepping into their own and starting their own businesses after years of yearning to be their own boss.
You have finally pulled the plug and hopped on the train of entrepreneurship!
But, once you got there, you quickly realized that marketing your creative business is not as easy as you had hoped, especially if you have never felt comfortable showing up in video on Instagram or YouTube.
Because of this, you draw back your talents & stress over the end results of obtaining clients.
I want you to know that there is another solution to the heartache you’re currently experiencing and it all has to do with Pinterest.
Pinterest marketing is one of the BEST places for visual creative entrepreneurs to be on.
If you’re really passionate about what you do and your end goal is to book clients for your services, then I’m giving you some key strategies you can use to get your design brand noticed on Pinterest & book your next client.
Audit Your Pinterest Account
I created a blog post on the steps I take when I’m auditing a Pinterest account that you can find here.
I also created a Pinterest Account Audit Roadmap you can sign up to download and start using that will give you the basic understanding of what actions you can take to start looking at your Pinterest account from a strategic level. You can sign up for the Pinterest Account Audit below.
I’ve come to discover that when creative entrepreneurs want to start using Pinterest to grow their business, they often forget to step back and analyze their OWN Pinterest account.
One of the main things I like to ask anyone is what are the main goals they are wanting to use Pinterest for? Is it increased awareness? Online visibility in your niche? Email conversions?
When you have your goals set out, then you are able to critically audit your Pinterest account and see where you are and what steps you can take to improve to attract your dream audience.
Get Clear on What You Want
As a creative entrepreneur in your niche (web design, interior design, graphic design, artist) you generally know what you want to create and the reason behind why you want to create your product.
The difference between Pinterest marketing and using it as a creative entrepreneur is that you now have to know WHAT you want people to do when they come across your pin.
I have found a lot of creatives who design the most amazing (and very beautiful!) Pinterest graphics, all for their impressions and link clicks to fall short of their goal of conversion, mainly because they are not communicating with their respective audience what they want them to do!
For example: if you have a free downloadable checklist for your audience to sign up for, you need to mention that in your design. You have to be very direct and to the point and not make your Pinterest graphic title too airy that it does not communicate the action you want them to take.
As a business owner, your main objective is to convert your prospective audience into a) a paid lead or b) get them on your email list so you can offer them our amazing products and nurture them to build the like, know & trust factor.
When you fail to take into consideration the directness of your messaging, your pins can fall flat. You may get a lot of ‘closeups’ (which mainly are people clicking on your pin to take a closer look at what you are offering) but not many click-throughs or saves.
Making your message very clear in your Pin title & Pin description will help your audience to know exactly what you are offering and what you want them to do. When this area is overlooked, we can then get very frustrated with our efforts on Pinterest and not try different strategies to get us the end result we want.
Design to be Different
When we are designing our Pinterest images, I want you to think about what your audience would really like or what they would be inspired by.
We need to keep in mind that Pinterest is a visual discovery platform - people are heading to Pinterest to find exactly what you are offering them!
For example, your audience is having a hard time decorating a small corner nook in their home because they have had to change their work setting from being in the office to being at home ever since the pandemic happened.
They are not sure what to do & they are unsure what types of furniture they purchase to suit their budget or better, what furniture will even fit in such a tiny space!
This is where YOU come in with your ninja-like design skills to really wow them and show them what is possible in their home.
With this information, you would design your Pins differently from what you usually see in the home or search feed.
Are you seeing Pins that are mainly pink or mainly white? Have you seen split-image pins that show the before & after or are you mainly seeing static pins?
Essentially what I’m trying to say is to design your pins to stand out in the search feed! Try story pins, video pins, or add animation.
As designers, we are always looking for new ways to show who we are & with Pinterest, it’s no different.
Because Pinterest is a visual platform, I encourage you to use your imagination and design your Pins in a way that speaks to your brand but also that piques your audience’s interest.
Create Boards based on your Content Pillars
Hold up…wait a minute…
I know you’re probably wondering why I’m bringing up content pillars in this post but I’m telling you, my creative friend, you need content pillars on Pinterest because, with the new Pinterest algorithm, content is queen!
Let’s look at it this way:
You’ve just started your Pinterest account and you’re working on curating your account to attract your dream clients or customers.
You’re randomly making boards based on what you see others in your niche doing with their Pinterest account, so you figure, why not - I’ll add a Houseplants board too!
But my friend, you’re going about this the wrong way…
How do you expect to attract your dream client based on what someone else decided who their dream client is?
You need to curate your boards based on what you do, what you blog about & what your content pillars are that will attract your ideal audience.
Now, you’re probably wondering what is a content pillar, and I’m going to give you the quick Coles Notes version (am I aging myself talking about Coles Notes??).
If you are a brand strategist and you frequently blog about branding, design, colors & typography and you have grown a following to your blog based on what people are liking & saving from your domain, then you should start creating boards specific to those content pillars.
Similarly, if you are a graphic designer and you frequently work with small business owners who are starting out and your specialty is packaging, menus & web design elements, then you should be creating Pinterest boards based on what you offer and what you're educating your audience about through your blog posts.
The same visitors to your website who love what you do on your blog or what you have to offer will love what you curate TO ATTRACT THEM on Pinterest.
This is key to attracting your dream audience and building a strong foundation on Pinterest and I’m sure once you make these small tweaks to your Pinterest strategy, it won’t be long before someone reaches out to you for work.
Don’t Forget to Research Your Keywords
You will often hear me speak about Pinterest keywords because they are very important.
When you are trying to draw in your prospective clients and audience, you need to understand what it is they are looking for when they are visiting Pinterest.
That’s where your research for Pinterest keywords comes in.
For example, if you are a watercolor artist and you want to know what keywords your audience is looking for, simply type it into the search bar!
For research, I would take my keyword watercolor artist and pop that into the search engine. What you’ll notice is something that is very similar that happens when you search for something on Google (because Pinterest is very much a search engine like Google & YouTube) - you’ll see a drop down of keywords.
If you want to expand further on your watercolor artist keyword, hit Enter and you’ll see a new slew of keyword tiles just under the search bar that can be added.
The search bar will provide you with the most insight as to what’s popular and what’s currently ranking high in Pinterest. Don’t get too caught up with other SEO keyword tools you see or hear out there.
Start your research with Pinterest because this is the actual tool your audience is using to search for a solution to their problem.
Is Pinterest good for designers?
Pinterest is one of the best places for designers or visual artists to showcase their work, build a following, and start gaining traction on their website.
There are so many amazing designers that I have found who are Pinterest sharing their work and making connections with new clients.
Sometimes it’s hard for designers to think that Pinterest is a good platform for them to be on, mainly because everyone is on Instagram, Tik Tok, or YouTube.
Although these platforms have been very profitable for some designers, Pinterest really allows for a greater sharing ability and is one of the best places to be on when one of your main goals and focus is to increase your website traffic.
But I want to share a very impressive case study with you about Emmy Jones - the designer behind Emmygination and how she got discovered on Pinterest by Anthropologie.
You can read about her amazing story here but essentially, Emmy became a brand designer for Anthropologie Beauty because she pinned her designs to Pinterest and it was picked up by someone on the Anthropologie team!
Emmy was a young freelance designer who would work odd jobs she could find on Dribble & Behance (some of the biggest online design communities for designers).
She was tired of working these low-paying jobs making $200-$400 dollars a month and on top of that, she wasn’t working with her dream clients.
So Emmy took matters into her own hands and decided to create a passion project that focused on the exact type of content and designs she had a passion for which was beauty products.
She created Beauty Bar - her first fake brand and portfolio piece and it’s this project that literally changed the course of her design career.
As I mentioned, her story is so inspiring but it goes to show that when you are intentional with what you create and put on Pinterest, you can be discovered and book your dream clients!
Sounds good, but how can I use Pinterest like a pro?
There are so many ways you can start using Pinterest like a pro and gradually grow your brand awareness online. I’m going to break down some of the most important things you should be focusing your Pinterest account on as a designer:
Pinterest SEO
You need to make sure you are using proper search engine optimization (SEO) and you are targeting the right keywords for your account.
Once you have a good idea of the proper keywords you want to rank for, make sure to add them to every important touchpoint on your account such as your pins and your descriptions.
Pin to the Most Relevant Board First
I’m not sure if many people know that you should pin your content to the most relevant board first before you schedule out your content to other boards that your content might be relevant to.
The reason for this goes along with Pinterest SEO. When you pin to this most relevant board first, you signal to Pinterest what the context of your content is about, which is why it’s so important you have board descriptions and they are keyword rich.
This assists Pinterest in gathering more information about your content and then making sure it can send your valuable information to the right people.
Just like Google, Pinterest likes specificity and if you are confusing the algorithm, then Pinterest can’t share your information the correct way to the right people.
Start using Idea Pins
Ideas pins (formerly called Story Pins) are where it’s at.
Idea pins are the newest feature that Pinterest has added to their platform and it’s taking off wildly with creators.
This new feature is very much like Instagram Stories where you share inspiration, behind-the-scenes aspects of your business, or creative processes to build trust & brand awareness with your audience.
And to the designers in the back who are saying they don’t like Idea Pins because it doesn’t have linking capabilities (which is true - you cannot add a destination URL with Idea Pins), the whole purpose of Idea Pins is to inspire your audience to check out your account and more of your content which leads to your audience to head to your website.
Pin fresh content
Just like Pinterest likes specificity, it also loves fresh content.
The more content you add to Pinterest, the better as this signals to Pinterest that you are continually creating valuable content to serve your audience, and you are not pinning the same content over and over again that your audience has seen a million times before.
Pinning fresh content helps to provide a better user experience (which is what we want to provide in the first place). The more satisfied your audience is, the better it is for your follower growth and account impressions.
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