If you’re a business and want to use Pinterest more it’s always useful to see what others are doing. The Gifted Few is an online interiors business which has been using Pinterest for a few years so has a very interesting story to tell.
Check out how they got started, what they do know and what it means to their business. If you want to give Pinterest a go for your business but don’t know where to start, read on…..
Tell us a little about your business and your background. How did you get started with an online business and why did you choose this path?
The Gifted Few is an online interiors boutique with a focus on cool lighting, awesome homeware and beautiful gifts that we source from designers all over the world. I (Aaron) run the business with my partner Sarah and we are just entering our sixth year.
We started the business out of frustration with our then working situations.
I have a background in retail and marketing and Sarah had always worked for her dads engineering supplies business (in finance specifically) and we both wanted to be the master of own destinies, so to speak.
We both shared a passion for classic design and when we started the industrial interiors trend was everywhere, so we started out sourcing and renovating vintage industrial lighting but we soon found that this didn’t satisfy our love of more contemporary design and wasn’t a very flexible as a business model.
We decided to branch out and started finding loads of really cool, young and independent designers and exciting brands and here we are today.
What are the general pitfalls of marketing an online business in your experience?
We started out on eBay and whilst it gets lots of criticism, it’s a very easy platform to understand and get good results from quickly but what we didn’t understand was how hard that is to replicate with a dedicated website.
EBay and Amazon may charge you 10 or 20% but they do all the hard work of finding your customers for you.
The two biggest lessons we have learned is don’t underestimate how much time and money it costs to market a website and don’t trust huge, expensive agencies when they promise they can make your business a success if you pay the big money.
That said, don’t be afraid to find and pay an expert if you don’t understand something.
Over time we have built up a good network of freelancers that we work with on all the aspects of the business we aren’t as specialised in.
We have a great graphic design team, a Pinterest consultant (the brilliant Jen Stanbrook obvs), a great PR team and a newly appointed marketing consultant and now we feel like we have the right people around us to take us to the next level.
You started using Pinterest to promote the business a few years ago – how did you get into this and was it difficult?
I think we started using Pinterest because it felt like something we ‘should’ do for the business but it was probably the platform we understood the least.
People tend to focus on followers and having been working with Jen for a couple of years now that couldn’t be farther than what we should have been doing.
So, no, it wasn’t difficult but that was because we weren’t doing it right or any real goals linked to what we doing.
Its still a tricky platform in my opinion as its not really social media and actually more akin to SEO in how it works.
But with Jen’s help and expertise we have really started to understand how to harness what is probably the most important platform for the interiors market.
What are the benefits of using Pinterest – what convinced you to invest time and money into making it work?
One of the biggest benefits is that once you understand how to do it it’s really easy and with a few hours a week it can be a great tool for both brand awareness and driving quality traffic.
I think what convinced us is that we saw lots of brands that we identify with using the platform really well and also (and this is really important) we found ourselves constantly being inspired for our own home and thought “hang on, if we are using the platform to find ideas and products then so is our audience”.
Was a bit of a light bulb moment for us in terms of understanding how a savvy, online audience shops.
Tell us about how much time you spend on Pinterest for your business each week or month? How does that compare to other marketing tools?
I spend about 3-4 hours a week I think. Sometimes a bit more but not lots more.
That time includes graphic design (using canva rather than Photoshop so its really easy), research and scheduling.
One of the things Jen has taught me is how to really take advantage of Tailwind to save time and understand what works and what doesn’t. It’s really an invaluable tool.
I think one of the things we have really started to understand is that you can’t see one platform as separate to others but all part of a holistic strategy.
More and more we are looking at ways that we can integrate all our activity into one message or at least set of messages.
What kind of return do you see from using Pinterest and how will you develop it during 2019?
Hopefully big ones! Haha!
No, in all seriousness, we are hoping to drive some quality traffic and get the brand and what we do in front of the right audience.
The key lessons we have learned is to be patient and creative and don’t be afraid to experiment and tweak till you start seeing results.
And the biggest bit of advice I can give anyone who wants to get started is to pay Jen for a couple of hours training. Not only is she great fun to work with she really knows her stuff!
Find out more about The Gifted Few HERE
And follow them on:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegiftedfew/
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/TheGiftedFew/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegiftedfew
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gifted_Few
Join me for a LIVE Maximising Pinterest Traffic Masterclass on Wednesday 30th January 8-9PM GMT to really understand how to master Pinterest.
Click HERE to find out more and book your spot
All images courtesy of The Gifted Few
