It’s time for some fresh thinking about what you sell and who you sell it to.

The secret to selling value and netting higher margins has already been cracked by suppliers of other interior materials, like carpeting, ceramic tile, wallcovering, and solid surfaces, so let's learn from their lead.

1. Remember, you don’t sell materials. You sell design solutions.

Materials can be commoditized. Design solutions cannot. You’re here to solve the problems they face every day – durability, design, consistency of design, availability, value, project-wide matching and design synergy.

2. Go to where they are.

Material Intelligence partners with media that the design community already knows and loves, because designers won’t read an unfamiliar, industrial trade magazine focused on a narrow range of woodworking materials.

Interiors & Sources, on the other hand, has a high level of reader loyalty because it covers all of the matters and materials working designers work with every day. Its BPA-certified circulation is the heart of our target market. Check out their circulation and reader buying habits here.

3. Don’t tell them; show them.

Getting the attention of the A&D specifier is actually quite simple – just show them examples of how your materials have been used in projects and applications similar to theirs.

Far more effective than investing in glitzy display ads, a project profile or designer testimonial has more impact, and is filed and shared for reference when a new or unfamiliar material or application is covered. Glitzy ads are great if you’re already getting all the editorial you need in a market. We’re not quite there yet.  

Material intelligence is here to help, as a resource for first-rate editorial and professional photography created to put the emphasis where it belongs – on the role your materials play on furniture and in interior design.