Tricia Topping (Carlyle Associates) is the author of INTERIOR DESIGN: Visual creativity and online media – a PR match made in heaven
INTERIOR DESIGN
The Chapter
We live in an age in which the selfie and the image reign supreme: an image is now worth more than 1,000 words. Every sector of the property industry is touched and enhanced by interior design: from offices to penthouses, interiors and architecture are the businesses to watch in the 21st century. This chapter describes an industry now shaped by digital media but also how traditional communications have an important role to play in promoting interior design.
The Author
Tricia has over two decades’ property marketing experience across the residential and commercial sectors. Previously chief executive of TTA Group (now Chime Communications subsidiary Good Relations Property), she founded Carlyle Consultants in 2013. Her love of property, art and interior design inspired Tricia to create Luxury Topping, a newsletter which focuses on ‘the business of luxury’. Tricia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Directors’ Circle of the Victoria & Albert Museum, a Freeman of the City of London, and judge of both the International Property Awards and the What House? Interior Design Awards. Tricia won Marketing Firm of the Year at the Influential Businesswoman Awards in 2018 and Best Luxury Product Marketing Agency, South East in 2019.
An interview with the author
What would you say are the key principles of good property PR?
Ability to listen, get out on site and absorb the client’s business.
What are the key issues that interior design faces?
There are enormous issues facing the interior design sector, from shortage of clients, materials and the failure of business due to Covid19.
What changes do you expect to see in the next decade?
More dependency on social media, on-line promotion, and definitely more concern for the environment, buying less but buying well.
What does the PR industry need to do to move with the times?
Look at their image, train staff and think of the environment.
What does the interior design sector need to do to move with the times?
Use more environmental fabrics, stop fast fashion in interior design, work responsibly.
How important is creativity in what you do?
Very important, combined with business sense.
What are the key learning points that are communicated in your chapter?
Use social media, and think of a home as a home.
Which communications tactics / methodologies do you feature?
The amazing opportunities on the internet, even more so with Zoom.