Marketing Makeover Masterclass

Want homeowners to find you on sites they already trust—and choose you faster? We pull back the curtain on a marketing system built for design and remodeling businesses, where credible PR, a sharp website, and practical SEO work together to lift authority and generate better leads. Miriam lays out a step‑by‑step approach to fast media wins using HARO, SOS, and Qwoted, then shows how to pitch editors for regional features that actually drive local projects. She explains when a press release is newsworthy, how to craft it, and why newswires now matter as AI search leans on brand credibility.

From there, Jason builds the digital backbone: your website as the hub, brand consistency across pages, and portfolio updates that attract the right clients. We dive into Google Business Profile tactics that behave like social—weekly posts, Q&A, photos—and share the 90‑day path to measurable visibility. We install Google Analytics and Search Console, then translate the data into clear answers: which channels work, where visitors come from, and what content sparks inquiries. Along the way, we touch email strategy, social support from specialists, and paid ads that avoid common money traps.

Across the conversation, the theme is focus over frenzy. Pick three to five moves, ship them well, and stack proof of authority in places your clients already read. With weekly coaching, guest experts, and a nimble curriculum, you’ll have guidance to personalize your plan and scale what works. Ready to turn mentions into momentum and clicks into consults? Subscribe, share this with a colleague who needs a marketing reset, and join our newsletter or masterclass at designerdiscussions.com. Your next best project might be one credible feature away.

If you would like to get the links and show notes for this episode, click on the link below:​

• https://www.designerdiscussions.com/episodes/episode-154-Marketing-Makeover-Masterclass

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Join us for our weekly live sessions and workshops: https://www.designerdiscussionsmarketing.studio/pages/academy

Designer Discussions is an educational interior design podcast on marketing, PR and related business topics. We also provide in-depth, actionable products in the Marketing Studio including time-saving templates and guides to help design professionals grow their businesses.

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Designer Discussions is a partnership of three experts: Jason Lockhart, CEO of KABMS; Maria Martin, founder of DesignAppy; and Mirjam Lippuner, founder of Get Ink DIY

Episode Transcript

Jason Lockhart (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Designer Discussions
with Jason, Maria, and Miriam.
Today we are talking about amarketing makeover for design
and remodeling businesses.

Mirjam Lippuner (00:11):
Welcome to the Designer Discussions Podcast
with Jason, Maria, and Miriam.
Tune in each week where we talkabout marketing PR and business
advice for designprofessionals.

Jason Lockhart (00:26):
So a lot of you all have heard about our
Designer Discussions Academy.
So we now have a masterclassthat we're opening to everyone
so they can get a sneak peekinto what we'll be teaching, as
opposed to just hearing from us.
I'm gonna let Miriam start onsome of the areas that she'll be

(00:49):
talking on, and then I'll talkmore about what I'll be talking
about in the masterclass andultimately in the academy.

Mirjam Lippuner (00:56):
Yes.
Yeah, this is um exciting stuffbecause we've actually revamped
our curriculum a little bit fornext year because things are
always changing, and we reallytry to stay on top of the most
current and most effective ummethods and tactics in marketing
and PR for anybody who's in ourprogram.

(01:19):
This is gonna be year three forus, yes, um, teaching the
academy.
Um, and we really we know theformat works for the people that
are in it, so it's exciting tobe able to kick off another
round.
For those of you who don'tknow, um I am the PR specialist
um of the group and Jason is thedigital marketing specialist.

(01:43):
And we also are going to bringin um Maria for um tech and AI
content creation typeopportunities, and we're gonna
bring in a couple of other guestteachers um to teach about
sales and um maybe a couple ofother things.

(02:04):
It's it's a little bit of workin progress, but we try to keep
it current and we're we'renimble enough that that we can
switch things up as we need to.
But so I am going to befocusing on PR and I actually
switched up one of my topicscompletely for this year.
And what my goal always islike, so if if you think about

(02:27):
PR, it's like really what youhave to ask yourself is like if
a homeowner Googles you today,it's like what content is gonna
show up that you didn't postyourself?
If somebody else is postingabout you, it's a lot of the
time it's because of PR.

(02:49):
And really the definition of PRthese days is like it's other
people talking about you inplaces people trust.
So that can be magazines, newssites, podcasts, um, local TV,
blogs, um, anything of thatnature.

(03:11):
But it's it's all about thethird-party credibility that um
makes the content that otherpeople create for you so much
more um impactful than what yousay about yourself.
So why does this all matter?

(03:31):
It means that people trust youfaster, that you'll um have
better uh search results, and inthe end, you'll have easier
sales.
That's um the end goal of it'snot just for vanity.
It really there's a businesspurpose to it.
So what are the my I have threeum PR-only topics in the

(03:53):
academy and and I build themstrategically, kind of one on
top of the other, and and theybuild um and augment each other,
and they also work in tandemwith all the things that um that
that Jason and the otherteachers will be talking about
in the academy.
So it's a very holisticprogram.
The first thing I teach andthat we have been promoting

(04:17):
actually, because it's usuallythe class that we start the
academy off with, it's aboutgetting quick press.
And what that means, it's it'sabout reactive um media
opportunities that I help youfind.
So there's but reporters outthere that are looking for

(04:37):
sources and for information.
And you I teach you how to bean expert source for these
reporters.
And it's really easy.
There's we work with two tothree different platforms.
Um, one of them is called uhHaro.

(04:57):
It stands for help a reporterout.
It's been around for a longtime.
The other one is called Sourceof Sources, S-O-S, and it's kind
of grew out of HARO.
And then the third one we useis called quoted.
That's Q W O T E D.
And those there's many otherones out there, but we focus on

(05:20):
the ones that are either free orhave free options and that are
the easiest to use and that Iknow from experience are gonna
get results.
So the it's simple that youfind um the question from the
reporter and you send them ananswer.
And then you wait and see ifyou get picked up or not.

(05:42):
So there's no back and forthnormally.
It's like question, answer,media coverage.
And you're not gonna getcovered every time you do this,
but if you do it consistently, Iguarantee you 100%, you're
gonna have your first what wecall the ascene in that you can
add uh to your website in notime.

(06:05):
The second thing I teach isabout media pitching
proactively.
This is when you go out and youfind um a journalist that you
know covers um maybe homedesign, um, maybe trends, maybe

(06:25):
some local regional topic.
You know that they cover whatyou want to pitch and you go
reach out to them.
And basically you send them anemail with information about
what you'd like them to coveroften in the academy.
Obviously, it's a project.
Like if you have some fantasticproject that you'd like to get

(06:48):
featured in a regional magazine,that's um really the the core
of what I try um to teach peoplebecause regional coverage is
what drives your business.
Um, as a designer or modelingbusiness, like your clients most
likely, not always, but mostlikely they're gonna be in your

(07:08):
area and that's where you wantto grow.
So that's the second thing weteach.
And you can extrapolate this topitching media to be included
in a TV show.
You could do it's really um thesame thing if you pitch a
national magazine.
So I I teach the concept ofpitching and I help you find the

(07:31):
right context at the same time.
Then the third um topic that Iteach is about press releases.
And this is I added this to ourcurriculum for this year
because with the recent changein how search works, with um the
LLMs and AI search being moreand more prominent, it's

(07:56):
becoming increasingly importantto be present on a lot of
credible platforms online.
So you as a brand can and andas a business can be pulled into
these search results whensomebody is looking for um
potential um partners for uh anupcoming kitchen remodel or

(08:19):
whatever maybe.
So it's and writing pressreleases has also become a lot
easier with AI because you can,I don't recommend that you have
AI do all the work and you stillhave to think about what angle
you want to have, um, what'sgonna resonate.
But basically, a press release,it's a very formulaic um

(08:42):
announcement that has a specificstructure.
And it used to be whatcompanies would send out, and it
still is actually.
I write a lot of press releasesfor a lot of my brand clients,
but it is an announcement ofsome sort.
So it has to have a news value.
It can't be just anadvertisement.

(09:02):
You know, there's gotta be someinteresting information in it.
And what I teach in the academyis gonna be not just what the
format needs to look like, butwhat types of content are
relevant and and and a good fitfor a press release.
So once we have the pressrelease, we have the idea, we

(09:26):
have it written, um, then youwant to send it out to your
local media contacts, which Ialso help you find.
And then there's um the extra,the bonus option, so to speak,
is to put it on a newswire.
And putting it on a newswiremeans that you put it into this

(09:47):
system, you have to pay somemoney for it.
Um, and then you are gonna seeyour press release go live on
probably 150 to 200 websites,like all at once.
If you've never seen it, it'squite miraculous.
So I will um talk about thedifferent options that we have
in that space too.
And it's um it's something thatit's not a must-do, but it's

(10:12):
it's a nice add-on.
And it really it's it's there'smore and more um proof that um
tells us that actually thatreally helps with the way that
the current search environmentis functioning.
So yeah, those are the threethings um that I teach.

(10:33):
And we talk a lot.
It's like the I don't justteach this in the three months
that I I'm actually giving thetraining, but if you decide PR
is something that you want tofocus on, you can be in our
program and we have weekly callswith Q ⁇ A's and and workshops,
and you and I'm really alwaysavailable to ask any questions

(10:55):
about that, then.
Yeah, so those are the threethings.
And we also have some other umtrainings that I am involved
with that are about planningyour whole year for marketing.
That's one Jason and I dotogether.
Then Maria and I talk aboutcontent creation and tapping

(11:17):
into the trends that are umaround in our industries
throughout the year and how toleverage that for different
things.
So that's um a lot of what Italk about in the academy, and
I'm gonna hand it over to Jasonso he can um tell us the
exciting things that he's gonnabe teaching you.

Jason Lockhart (11:38):
Sure.
All right.
So what I usually cover is allof the digital marketing
aspects, and I usually startwith website because that if
you've if you've ever heard meon on the podcast or you ever
heard me present live, I alwaystalk about your hub is your
website.
And that's where I always liketo start is making sure you have
the website foundation right,because every all the other

(12:02):
marketing we talk about afterthat usually is to drive traffic
to your website.
And so that's where I like tostart.
I like to talk about thebranding, how making sure that
your brand resonates acrossplatforms, and then that all
starts with the website, makingsure it's up to date.
You have all of your up-to-dateprojects on there, uh, you have

(12:25):
any of your client testimonialsor anything like that on there,
making sure that your websiterepresents you the right way so
you can attract the rightclient.
So that's where I always liketo start.
Then after that, I usually gointo SEO, search engine
optimization.
Now, a lot of people have heardthat SEO is dead.
No, it's not, it's justevolving.

(12:46):
And a part of that is AIsearch.
And AI search actually tiesinto what Miriam talks a lot
about.
It on the PR side, a lot of thementions in the press are
tagged by AI to help show youover other websites.
So that's a part that we talkabout in SEO.

(13:06):
But we start with the GoogleBusiness Profile because that's
one of the foundational aspectsof SEO is the Google business
profile and making sure you havethat up to par, making sure
you're treating it like a socialmedia platform.
I talk a lot about how tocreate content for that
platform.
And usually within 90 days, youshould see some activity from

(13:29):
that.
So I talk a lot about that.
And then from the SEO and theGoogle Business Profile, we get
a little bit into analyzing theanalytics.
So we look at what's happeningwith your site, and we ensure
that you at the main level justhave Google Analytics and Search
Console installed on thewebsite, and then we look at

(13:49):
what does all of thatinformation need.
Take all of that information,dissect it, and understand who
comes to your website, howoften, where they come from, and
what they're looking at so youcan understand is your marketing
working?
Because you can tie everythinginto Google Analytics and who's
coming to your site.
So we talk a lot about that.

(14:10):
And then after that, we talkabout other marketing factors,
email.
We talk a little bit aboutsocial media.
This year we're gonna actuallyhave a social media expert on to
actually help with that topic.
One of the months, I actuallyspent a whole month just on
other topics, just on othermarketing strategies that we do

(14:30):
not talk about in the academy.
So last year we actually didsome time on paid ads.
We don't talk a lot on that,but I actually had Vanessa in
who runs all of our paid ads.
So she talked a lot about ifyou're gonna use Google ads, uh,
if you're gonna use LinkedInads, Facebook ads, any of those,
what are the strategies andwhat are the tactics you need to

(14:52):
you need to use so you do notwaste money.
Because that's what oftenhappens when we work with
clients on our own, or when Iactually talk to remodelers that
do a lot of their ownadvertising, they tell me about
how they waste money, and that'swhat we're gonna talk about,
helping you understand the taxthat will help you get what you
want and not waste a lot ofmoney.

(15:13):
So that's what we're gonna talkabout there.
And we're gonna also haveguests on to talk about scale.
So that's just an overview ofwhat we're gonna cover in the
mastermind.
We can have you understand whatwill be happening in the
academy.
Did you have anything else youwanted to add, Miriam?

Mirjam Lippuner (15:28):
No, I just wanted to say that I think we've
seen from experience that thepeople who go through the
program, even if if you can'timplement everything at once,
but if you go in and you pickand choose, say, the the three
to five most important thingsfor your business and you
implement them, I think that'salready gonna put you ahead of

(15:51):
most of the other people um inyour market.
So it's um it's it's a littlebit of an investment in terms of
time.
Um and it's it's priced veryaffordably at just under 500
bucks um a month.
So I think if marketing and PRis something that you're

(16:11):
interested in improving, yeah,come, you know, come join us for
a masterclass or um reach outto us and we can always hop on a
call too.

Jason Lockhart (16:21):
So we just had a masterclass, and if you didn't
have a chance to join that one,we are gonna have a few others.
So be on the lookout for whenwe have those.
We have been uh having that inour social media.
Be on the lookout for that soyou'll be able to see when you
can attend that or reach out tous.
You can email us at designerdiscussions at gmail.com to find

(16:42):
out when we will have the nextmasterclass, or if you want to
have more information.

Mirjam Lippuner (16:46):
Join our newsletter.
Yeah, you know, yeah.

Jason Lockhart (16:48):
Join the newsletter as well.
We'll be promoting all of thisso you can hear more about when
we have the next masterclass,and if you want to have more
information on the academy aswell, just reach out to us.
That's all we want to talkabout today.
So we hope to hear and see fromyou in two weeks on designer
discussions.

Mirjam Lippuner (17:03):
Your business is unique and your marketing
should be too.
Discover how to personalizeyour approach for SEO, PR, and
beyond to attract more of theclients you love to work with.
In our Academy membership withus Designer Discussions podcast
hosts as your personal coaches,we show you how to customize

(17:23):
your marketing.
With weekly live sessions andexclusive community, practical
resources, and expert guidance,we're here to simplify your
marketing and boost yourbusiness.
Sign up atdesignerdiscussions.com or
follow the link in the shownotes.

Maria Martin (17:40):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Designer
Discussions and all of thehelpful information.
Subscribe to our podcast, leaveus a review, and share it with
your friends.
We look forward to having youback next week.
For more information on thepodcast and the marketing
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