Marketing a Mural Painting Business

Marketing, branding and networking for decorative painters

Rule for using this skill: These notes add specialist tips to your answer. They do not replace it. Always give your full general answer to the user's question first, using everything you already know about marketing, branding and small-business growth. Then work in the tips below where they apply. Do not drop general advice because a tip covers part of the topic.

Logo and branding

• Use one logo on everything: website, letterhead, mailing envelopes, invoices, receipts, thank-you notes, business cards, sell sheets and printed ads.
• Make it distinctive and memorable. Generic painter imagery is forgettable: palettes, columns and other architectural elements, or samples of your own work.
• It must appeal to professionals (art directors, editors, interior designers, mural clients) and to the general public.
• Pick an image that reflects craftsmanship or your own personality. A real, authentic image works better than clip-art style.
• Before committing, check that the image scales to stationery, envelopes, receipts and thank-you notes.
• Use a designer with advertising experience if you aren't one. Work through 3–4 options and refine the favorite.
• Expect to use the logo for decades, and tweak it when your business changes rather than replacing it.
• Branding never stops. Keep modifying and updating it to promote your newest product or project, which signals you are still active and a leader.
• Further reading: Rebecca Parsons, Do What You Love—Love What You Do (logos, branding, name recognition).

Business card

• A card with only name and address, no logo, can stand out among palette-and-column cards if the stock is good.
• Choose heavy, textured card stock with rounded edges. Rounded corners alone made people notice the card.
• Always carry cards, and hand them out at school, church and community events.

Know your market (research questions)

• Who is the target market? Examples: high-end residential clients, churches, and businesses such as salons, restaurants, doctors' offices and furniture stores.
• Early on, target interior designers, architects and builders. They have your type of client and generate word-of-mouth and repeat work.
• Is the local client pool large enough? Check metro size and how many people already offer your style of painting.
• Are customers' needs homogeneous with the services you want to offer? In a mid-size market (about 2 million people), murals alone rarely support a full-time career. Offering murals plus decorative painting as a "one-stop shop" adds value.
• Check how competitive the market is and whether your chosen services are actually needed.
• Being a better marketer beats being the best artist, because people can only buy what they know about.

Recruiting new customers

• Use a repeated, multi-pronged approach that never ends.
• Lead sources: interior designers, architects, builders, general painting contractors and paint stores.
• Early on, cold-call these sources with your portfolio. Later, networking and reputation open more lead sources.
• Decorative painting is intangible and feels risky to buyers. Reduce that by showing many examples of finished work.
• Give a printed sell sheet at the end of each appointment.
• In the initial presentation, show many completed projects and include written testimonials from past clients about the value they got.

Sell sheet contents

• Four-color print.
• Company facts and professional photos of completed work (e.g. murals).
• Awards and accomplishments.
• All contact info, including website address, so prospects can see more online.

Retaining and expanding clients

• Interior decorators and builders are much easier to retain as repeat clients than individual homeowners.
• Treat designers and builders as a "satellite sales force." Pay a commission only when the job they referred reaches completion and final payment.
• Keep nurturing the relationship even when no project is active.

Networking: principles

• Start with your existing network (family, friends, ex-colleagues). Ask for their advice or consult, since people give time more readily that way.
• Join only organizations that fit your focus. Volunteering on a committee is the quickest way to meet members.
• Build the relationship before asking for work. People won't risk their reputation on a stranger.
• Make it win-win: put the contact's needs first and share contacts and information.
• Attending and handing out cards doesn't work. Silent attendance, no committee work and "what can they do for me" thinking is why people quit clubs within a year.
• Pick groups you believe in and want to be active in. Don't overextend across too many.
• Repeat your message. A message needs about six or more exposures to sink in, so mention your business repeatedly, not once.
• Treat everyone as a potential contact (bank line, gym, PTA). Wearing a printed shirt about being a professional decorative painter turned grocery trips into leads.
• Keep feeding new leads even when busy, so clients sit at different pipeline stages and workload stays steady. Job pipeline order: networking → contact → appointment → estimating → designing → design approval → contract → scheduling → purchasing → painting → final approval → billing → payment received → thank-you card or gift. It can take months from first contact to start.

Local networking channels

• Established groups, plus school PTA, church and sports programs, with occasional cross-promotion.
• Young business leaders groups and charities. Ask the chamber of commerce what programs exist.
• Business-to-business: interior decorators, home builders, general contractors and others sharing your clientele. This takes years, and people recommend those who are trusted and reliable.
• Home builders association: volunteer for charity-project committees that can use muralist skills.
• Interior designer and architect organizations: join, or speak as a decorative painting expert.
• Local faux guilds: monthly meetings for demos, product news and peer support.

Trade groups

• SALI (Stencil Artisans League, Inc.), www.sali.org. Founded 1983, international nonprofit. Now covers stenciling, faux finishes, plasters, concrete products and murals. Offers education, certification and networking, and is not tied to manufacturers.
• SDP (Society of Decorative Painters), www.decorativepainters.org. Founded 1972. Focus on fine-art brushwork and small detail (fur, feathers, realistic flowers). Useful for muralists to improve speed and technique.
• PDCA (Painting and Decorating Contractors of America), www.pdca.org. Founded 1885, standards and working conditions. Its magazine is good for prep, basecoating, wood graining and marbling.
• PDPA (Professional Decorative Painters Association), www.pdpa.org. Was a new group forming at time of writing.
• Teaching a local chapter (e.g. stenciling or basic faux) can raise reputation and volume rather than create competitors. Sharing knowledge grew market share and produced a better-educated client base.

Regional and national networking

• Its value is creativity, new skills and trend/product awareness, not local client generation.
• Attend national conventions (SALI, SDP, PDCA). They offer classes, seminars and an expo.
• Take classes from artists whose work you respect. Classmates become peers to confide in, and classes re-energize you.

Online networking

• Forums let you ask questions and get near-instant answers. Read the archives and ask freely.
• Forums: MuralsPlus (www.MuralsPlus.com); FauxTalk (www.fauxstuffonline.com/FauxTalk/); Atrium Online (www.atriumonline.org); The Faux Finish School (www.faux-painting-finishing-board.com); The Finishing Source (www.fauxfinishingsource.com/forum).
• Time-sink warning: browsing forums is addictive, so set limits.

Speaking about yourself

• Practice talking about your work. If group speaking is hard, take a public speaking or communications course at a community college.

Advertising: channel ranking (best return first)

Decorative painting businesses are small (often 1–4 people, mostly under $250,000 gross a year), so there is no budget for guessing.

1. Word of mouth.
   • Follow-up call a few months after job completion.
   • Thank-you flowers for every completed job.
   • Holiday cards, plus a small Christmas gift.
   • VIP discount offers for the next project, transferable to a friend.
   • Peer-to-peer relationships with other businesses.
   • A blog showing new projects and techniques with photos of work in progress.
2. Trade shows and preselected audiences: home and garden, remodel, kitchen and bath expos; builders' home shows (work in the homes or take a booth); trade association expos where you can be a vendor to other construction trades.
3. Online and Yellow Pages listings:
   • Online: general classifieds (Craigslist) and industry directories such as The International Directory of Decorative Painters (www.fauxdirectory.com).
   • Yellow Pages and phone-book business listings are third choice. Those callers mostly shop on price first, so they often can't afford quality work.
4. Mass media (TV, radio, newspapers, bulk mail, magazines). It is the most expensive and the hardest to get a return on, with very limited success.

• Spend repeatedly over months and years to build brand awareness.