4 Tips for the Best Brand Partnerships for Interior Designers

July 8, 2022

For interior designers, brand partnerships can be a great way to reach new customers, build your reputation, and offer additional value to your customers – and some can even save or make you money! You may be thinking “I just run a small interior design business, I’m not a brand!” But you’d be wrong (sorry! )

And why’s that? Because your interior design business’ name, logo, slogan, location, prices, reputation, etc. are all a part of your brand. Now that we’ve cleared that up, what are some examples of these partnerships in real life in our industry? Glad you asked!

There are many different kinds of brand partnerships for interior designers but here are a few examples

A home stager partners with a real estate agent to give each other referrals.
A designer who partners with, or becomes an affiliate of, their favourite vendors to use their products, and in exchange receives discounts or some sort of other form of compensation.
A decorator partners with a local retailer to run a giveaway for one of their products. The decorator receives a gift card or a free product to giveaway to their followers and the retailer gets exposure to these followers.

So you’re thinking of working with a partner and wondering if it’s a good idea? The quick answer: absolutely! Brand partnerships can be incredibly beneficial. But it’s important to make sure you’re partnering up with the right people or brand to ensure things are mutually beneficial, and, that things run as smooth as possible!

4 tips for the best brand partnerships for interior designers

The partnership should be mutually beneficial
All participants in the arrangement must benefit and those benefits should be of similar value. If your business is benefiting substantially more, your partner will likely not put much effort into making the partnership work. They may also grow to resent you, which can lead to distrust. And if we reverse those roles, if your business is benefiting less than your partner, you are being taken advantage of and it may be time to renegotiate terms. Some partnerships may require only a very passive involvement which means the payoff for both parties for the effort can be great, but the next serious thing to consider then is to…
Choose a partner that aligns with your brand
When your clients see the partnerships you have in place, it should make sense to them. If you’re helping to promote your partner using your own assets and the fit doesn’t make sense you come off as phony. Nobody thinks twice when your dentist gives you free toothbrushes and sample sized toothpaste but if instead your dentist gave out coupons for candy at the end of your cleaning, you’d feel like they weren’t looking out for your best interest. Colgate makes sense as a partner for your dentist, Cadbury doesn’t. Keep this is mind and choose partners whose products and services could genuinely provide benefits to your followers, customers, clients etc.
Your partner should be trustworthy
Reputation can take years to build up, and can be torn down in mere seconds. If you can’t trust your brand partner, how can you expect your clients to? Do some research into your potential brand partner and, if they’ve partnered with other designers or businesses, speak to them if you can. A trustworthy partner could be a great asset. If you endorse a product that dramatically improves your clients’ lives they will look to you as a person who gives solid advice and makes their life better. They will trust you. They won’t care about you benefiting from endorsing the product as long as the product is actually great and your recommendation is coming from a genuine place. No matter who you partner with there’s always going to be at least a small risk, because you can’t control the actions of others. In addition to the points above, a contingency plan is necessary, which brings me to my final note.
Protect yourself with an agreement
It doesn’t need to be complicated, but you should definitely have an agreement in place for any partners you work with. I would be wary of anyone who refuses to have some sort of formal agreement in place, especially if money is going to be changing hands. Full disclosure, we’re not lawyers or legal professionals of any kind, so seek out professional help if you need it. But, we’ve worked with a few of these agreements before, and some things that tend to be included are:
- Dates that the agreement will be effective for.
- Clauses that allow either party to terminate the agreement in special cases.
- When and how any funds will be paid out if applicable.
- How and where your assets (e.g. logo, brand name) can and can’t be used
Make sure you have all the information you need in writing before working with a partner, it will help to protect both of you and help to manage expectations.

* One more thing, you should definitely disclose if you are going to be receiving compensation in exchange for your endorsement! If it’s discovered after the fact, it can make you look bad (and depending on where you live it is also likely a legal requirement!)

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4 Tips for the Best Brand Partnerships for Interior Designers

There are many different kinds of brand partnerships for interior designers but here are a few examples

4 tips for the best brand partnerships for interior designers

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