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Kick-start your veggie garden with Simply Green digital magazine

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a bowl of fruit and vegetable salad

© Provided by Independent Online (IOL)


The much-loved Simply Green digital magazine has been relaunched with its first edition – which looks at food gardening – going live Friday.

Editor Vivian Warby says she and her team are excited to bring the eco-conscious magazine back at a time when there is a growing number of people becoming more aware of the importance of living a sustainable life.

The team chose “growing your own food” as the theme for the first edition because “the appetite for urban food gardening has outlasted lockdown level 5 and today there are avid urban gardeners eating from their bounty planted in hard lockdown and new gardeners planting for the future”.

“We, at Simply Green, are thrilled about this positive sustainable element – an offshoot of the pandemic and we wanted to offer a simple guide to those wanting to start out on the journey,” says Warby.

“I hope you will find the magazine inspirational and empowering, as we start this journey together to make this a better, kinder and more sustainable world.”

In this edition – launched to coincide with the country’s celebration of Garden Day on Sunday – you will learn the basics of growing your own veggies in your backyard or on your balcony with topics ranging from composting to raised beds to vermiculture and permaculture to what to plant now.

“We have also included some delicious recipes to show you how simple it is to go from garden to plate.”

The magazine features The African Cookbook author Portia Mbau and her daughter Lumai de Smidt of the famous Instagram account @food.of.africa – on their garden-to-plate journey; and also delicious garden-to-plate recipes from well-known author/chef Sophia Lindop – author of the Lebanese cookbook Going Home. Amateur gardener Lieneke Dennis also takes us through a personal account of her entire lockdown kitchen garden journey from start to finish.

Elaborating on the Simply Green magazine Warby says it is a digital magazine, with a newsletter, a Simply Green members club and Facebook and Instagram accounts.

“It is aimed at the eco-conscious and green-minded consumer and industry as well as those wanting to live more sustainably and kindly on the planet and looking for ways to do this.”

Read the Simply Green magazine here.

Going forward, readers can expect the magazine to delve into topics such as green living; green homes; eco-friendly clothing; solar and wind energy; hemp and cannabis’ s future; living off the grid; dealing with water scarcity and climate change, among others. They also call on readers and eco-warriors to join them on the journey.

“We are really wanting to form partnerships and affiliations with our fellow eco-warriors and those leading the way in creating a sustainable planet.”

Please contact [email protected] or Features Editor [email protected] to see how we can work together.

“We hope to cover important discussions with industry leaders in bumper issues and we hope to show you how to live

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interior 

Acura MDX interior teasers reveal digital gauge cluster, massaging seats and more

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The MDX’s interior looks to be a big step up.


Acura

Acura released a bunch of new MDX teasers on Thursday, this time showing its next-generation SUV’s interior. We got our first glimpse at the new MDX last week, in a very rad teaser that looks like it’s straight out of an ’80s video game. We’re glad Acura is continuing that neon-esque theme with these new photos.

The new MDX will be revealed in prototype form on Wednesday, Oct. 14, but despite this not-quite-finished status, it should give us a pretty good idea of what to expect from Acura’s next-generation three-row SUV. For now, the company confirms the prototype will have open-pore wood, hand-wrapped leather with French stitching and quilted, massaging front seats.

On the technology front, the MDX looks to be chock full of the good stuff, with a high-definition infotainment display, 25-speaker ELS premium audio system, LED ambient lighting and a fully digital gauge cluster. It’s unclear if Acura’s infotainment technology will be any different than what’s found in the new TLX sedan, though the center screen looks a little bigger here in the MDX.

Overall, even in these teasers, we like what we see. The two-tone steering wheel is something you don’t commonly find outside of superpremium cars, and the stitching on the seats looks fantastic. The general cockpit design reminds us a lot of the TLX, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, even if the center stack is kind of busy and still has that huge Dynamic Mode knob right in the middle.

We’ll have the full scoop on the Acura MDX when it officially debuts next week, so check back then for more.

Acura’s next-generation MDX gets a major interior upgrade

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garden 

A Global Digital Media Network

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The Garden of Hope - The Pap Corps

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla., Oct 07, 2020 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Pap Corps Champions for Cancer Research will unveil the vision for its eagerly awaited “Garden of Hope” project at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Deerfield Beach, during a free, virtual event October 15, 2020, beginning at 6 p.m. The Zoom webinar, co-hosted by Sylvester Director, Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., will showcase beautiful renderings of the garden, which is designed to be a place of peaceful reflection, and will feature bricks, benches and plaques honoring loved ones, physicians, and volunteers.

Members and non-members of The Pap Corps are welcome to participate in the event and support cancer research through the brick campaign. To learn more and register for the event, visit https://www.thepapcorps.org/.

“We are delighted to announce that construction will commence on the ‘Garden of Hope’ this fall,” said Susan Dinter, chair of The Pap Corps. “The garden will offer a place of tranquility and peace for patients, family, and all who visit the campus. The Pap Corps is honored to be spearheading this important project, which welcomes donors to create an enduring legacy while supporting the next survivor.”

The “Garden of Hope” has been a dream of the non-profit since the Deerfield Beach location was named The Pap Corps Campus in 2016 after its historic $50 million dollar pledge to Sylvester, which is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in South Florida, and only the second one in the state. The garden will feature a stunning, bronze-colored fountain, benches, plaques with inspirational sayings, and a pathway of multi-colored bricks engraved with personalized inscriptions and dedications. The area will be surrounded by lush landscaping, including shade trees and flowers. The design concept was created by the architectural firm of Curtis & Rogers, the construction firm is BDW Construction, and completion is anticipated in Spring 2021.

“‘The Garden of Hope’ reflects the immeasurable generosity and conviction of The Pap Corps as we accelerate our efforts to eradicate cancer,” said Dr. Nimer, M.D., who is also the Oscar de la Renta Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. “We are deeply grateful for their visionary partnership and the profound impact it continues to have on research excellence and patient care at Sylvester.”

Opportunities to support the project are open to all and include the purchase of dedicated bricks, as well as pre-sale on benches for phase two of the project. Thanks to early contributions, all the benches in phase 1 are sold out, with some remaining opportunities to purchase plaques on the Fountain of Hope and Wall of Hope.

“Purchasing a brick allows you to honor a significant person in a permanent fashion, while also supporting The Pap Corps’ mission to fund cancer research at Sylvester,” Dinter continued. “This campaign is more crucial than ever, as donations to cancer research have been dramatically reduced since COVID-19. We encourage everyone who would like to do their part in eradicating cancer to join us in our quest.”

Bricks are available in size 4 x 8 for

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garden 

How Kimberly-Clark navigates a digital ecosystem where every ad platform is a walled garden

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Deprecation of third-party cookies is a topic that has loomed large over Advertising Week, as marketers grapple with the sunsetting of a widely adopted tactic for engaging consumers online. Kimberly-Clark Corp., the owner of household brands like Huggies, Cottonelle and Kleenex, is investing in new ways to wrest more control over first-party data in response, a process that executives said is complicated and will require the organization to act more independently than it has in the past.

“It’s such a pivotal time for CPGs right now. CPGs are starting to double [down] on the importance of owning the consumer relationship,” Josh Blacksmith, senior director of global consumer relationships and engagement at Kimberly-Clark, said during a livestreamed conference session with Salesforce on Monday. “If we were to leave this, in perpetuity, in the hands of our retail partners, they’re sort of focused on the next transaction.”

It’s a seismic industry shift that is in some ways constricting the ad market, as the digital sector — now the dominant one by ad spend in the U.S. — sees its biggest players shore up their already-outsized strengths. Such changes could have a particularly sharp impact on the packaged goods category, which has historically depended on external partners as data sources and is also contending with a radical move toward e-commerce and direct-to-consumer services.

Adding another layer of complexity to the mix is the push by retailers to set up their own digital advertising businesses to rival the likes of Google, Facebook and especially Amazon. Walmart has quickly built out a marketing platform, adding an omnichannel analytics suite last summer, while other companies, including Target and Kroger, have similar offerings. Advertising Week, all-virtual this year due to the pandemic, has several sessions led by Walmart Media Group and an entire discussion track sponsored by Roundel, Target’s media network.

“Essentially any platform we’re advertising on today is setting itself up as its own walled garden,” Blacksmith said, without naming specific brands. “It’s not just about the Facebooks and Googles of the world; it’s also about … our retail partners.

“We’re spending a significant amount of money because we believe that our frontline consumers are also shopping inside those experiences as well,” he added, calling out the company’s higher investments in areas like paid search.

Lofty goals

The death of third-party cookies, expedited by the introduction of data privacy laws like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, will bring about some painful changes for marketers that have built their skill sets around the tactic. Not all of those changes will be bad, panelists said.

“It’s almost like now, without having an email address and owning the relationship, you can’t actually do the brand marketing you’ve started to build all the muscle around over the last decade,” Blacksmith said.

While the transitional period away from cookies is already bumpy, the bigger picture could serve to benefit marketers like Kimberly-Clark that are aiming to improve the efficiency and quality of their media.

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kitchen 

BARBARA’S BLUE KITCHEN at Aurora Theatre’s Our Stage Onscreen Digital Series

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An Experimental Production of Barbara’s Blue Kitchen Kicks Off The Our Stage Onscreen Digital Series at Aurora Theatre

BWW Review: BARBARA'S BLUE KITCHEN at Aurora Theatre's Our Stage Onscreen Digital Series
Chloe Kay
Photo by Casey Gardner

News flash: We’re in the middle of a pandemic. That means there are no benches and chairs to sit on in your local Barnes & Noble. Baseball patrons are made of cardboard. And the theaters are closed. This last one stings the most, but the best Atlanta theaters are adapting to fill the void left by the absence of live theater. We’ve got drive-in cabarets. We’ve got outdoor opera. And we’ve got a variety of online stream-from-home offerings, including the new Our Stage Onscreen Digital Series at Aurora Theatre, a series that brings performing arts to homebound season supporters and new audiences while providing a safe workspace for Atlanta theatre artists. The inaugural offering, streaming now through October 4 for a hefty $30 rental fee, is Barbara’s Blue Kitchen, a fun – if slightly underbaked – musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Lori Fisher. The small-cast musical works hard to conjure up a slice of homespun Southern life through portraits of workers and customers in a small Southern diner. A brave Chloe Kay, the actor who plays all of the characters in the beautifully rendered diner, works hard to deliver an engaging evening of for-the-screen theater, but this first outing is hindered by technical challenges and, regrettably, by the fact that producing theater specifically for the screen is a tricky tricky business.

The musical tells the story of Barbara Jean, the owner of the small-town diner that serving up more than just their famous Mudslide pie. It’s also serving up all of the gossip in the small town of Watertown, Tennessee. We learn that Barbara Jean’s on-again-off-again hairstylist boyfriend, Lombardo, beloved if only for the fact that he’s been able to cover Barbara Jean’s bald spot, is taking another girl on a Bahaman vacation. We learn that little Tommy Lee’s stomach hurts on the outside from the 23 stitches he got after his dog, Killer, bit him and that it hurts on the inside from eating almost three hamburgers. And we learn that Miss Tessie’s husband died from botulism after eating spinach dip at the Happiness Home retirement community even though he didn’t like vegetables.

There’s a lot to like about the 2002 musical. Some of the quirky songs like “I Want My Kidney Back” and “Women Aren’t Supposed to Go Bald” showcase, as the titles suggest, wonderfully inventive lyrics. That’s the greatest strength of the musical. The homespun flavor of the news that travels through the diner is also fun, though, as often happens with Southern comedic dramas, it’s peppered with words like “critter” and “ain’t” that feel overdone. The book features a radio host, played here by a second actor, who is integrated in an interesting and atmospheric way as he offers up small-town advertisements, jingles, and apologies.

The biggest problem with the musical is that it doesn’t manage an actual

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garden 

Darden: Digital More Than Half Of Off-Premise

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Darden Restaurants reported on Thursday (Sept. 24) that over half of its combined off-premise sales at its three largest brands during the company’s fiscal Q1 were completely digital.

The company, whose brands include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House and other popular restaurant chains, also said it was implementing mobile technologies to make it easier for customers to say when they have arrived for dine-in or curbside pickup.

CEO Gene Lee said on an earnings call with analysts that the health and safety of its staff and customers remains the company’s top priority. “Following CDC guidelines and local requirements, our teams continue to practice our enhanced safety protocols, including daily team member health monitoring,” he said.

Lee also noted that the company continues to set up its dining rooms with social distancing to ensure a safe environment while maximizing allowable capacity. He indicated that an essential part of that work is implementing booth partitions to accommodate more diners where permissible.

Despite the pandemic, Lee said Olive Garden managed to open three new restaurants during the latest quarter, while LongHorn Steakhouse opened two.

However, same-restaurant sales were down 28.2 percent for Olive Garden during the period, as well as 18.1 percent for LongHorn Steakhouse, 39.1 percent for Darden’s fine-dining segment and 39 percent at its other businesses.

Still, Darden said it fully paid back a $270 million term loan, as the company enjoyed “steadily improving cash flows in the quarter, and increased confidence in cash flow projections.” The firm added that it currently has access to $1.4 billion in liquidity — $655 million in cash and $750 million available via a credit facility.

As for its overall results, Darden reported diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of 28 cents on total sales of $1.53 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings per share of 5 cents on revenues of $1.56 billion.

Darden also declared a 30-cent-per-share quarterly cash dividend payable on Nov. 2 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 9.

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NEW PYMNTS STUDY: LEVERAGING THE DIGITAL BANKING SHIFT – SEPTEMBER 2020  

The September 2020 Leveraging The Digital Banking Shift Study, PYMNTS examines consumers’ growing use of online and mobile tools to open and manage accounts as well as the factors that are paramount in building and maintaining trust in the current economic environment. The report is based on a survey of nearly 2,200 account-holding U.S. consumers.

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kitchen 

America’s Test Kitchen Names Kevin Pang Editorial Director of Digital Content | News

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BOSTON, Sept. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today, America’s Test Kitchen named Kevin Pang as its Editorial Director of Digital Content. Pang, a James Beard Award winner, worked at both the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times and is widely recognized for creating The Takeout, a successful food site he launched for The Onion Inc. He is currently a contributor to The New York Times Magazine.

Pang has directed a documentary film on Netflix chronicling the startup of a Chicago restaurant, hosted a television show about cheeseburgers in Chicago, and produced a podcast that explores the craft of writing. In his newly created role at America’s Test Kitchen, Pang will be responsible for developing and executing a content strategy to grow the audience for the company’s websites and social and video platforms. His new position takes effect on November 2.

“Kevin has been telling the stories of how food shapes the way people live for the last fifteen years. He has a knack for creating engaging content and has the digital business acumen that we need to continue enhancing our online presence,” said Fran Middleton, Chief Digital Officer of America’s Test Kitchen.

“Kevin has a demonstrated track record of growing online audiences,” said David Nussbaum, Chairman and CEO of America’s Test Kitchen. “Our digital businesses now represent more than 40% of our revenue. Kevin is the person to help continue to build a culture of innovation that will accelerate the growth of these businesses.”

Pang started his career as a journalist at the Los Angeles Times, and then spent eleven years at the Chicago Tribune as a reporter and restaurant critic. He is a five-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award in journalism, including a 2010 win for “The Cheeseburger Show.” In 2015, his documentary “For Grace” premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival to critical acclaim and just completed a four-year run on Netflix. 

Pang joined The Onion in 2016, where he founded the food site The Takeout and served as its editor in chief. Under his direction, the site attracted over 6.5 million unique monthly visitors and was ranked in the top 25 global food sites according to Comscore. Pang was most recently Creative Director at M. Harris & Co, a Chicago-based marketing firm. Pang was born in Hong Kong, raised in Toronto and Seattle, and earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Southern California. He is currently pursuing his MBA at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

“America’s Test Kitchen has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has helped me wow friends at dinner parties, make my picky eater son try food he never would’ve given a chance, and made me a better cook with every dish I try,” said Pang, 39. “My goal is to help people fall in love with the ATK brand, as I have. It’s about reimagining the content we

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house 

Democratic groups launch digital ad blitz to flip Texas Legislature

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Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

A coalition of groups working to flip the Texas House is unveiling a $1.1 million digital ad campaign backing 11 candidates.

With Democrats nine seats away from the majority, the program targets some of the most competitive races, according to details first shared with The Texas Tribune. The beneficiaries include contenders such as Joanna Cattanach, the challenger to state Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-Dallas, and Akilah Bacy, who is running for an open seat in Houston.

The members of the coalition include the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee. Also involved are the Future Now Fund, The People PAC and The Creative Resistance.

Each of the 11 candidates has been endorsed by at least one of the coalition groups.

The majority fight is drawing increasing national investment. The Democratic super PAC Forward Majority announced earlier this month that it would spend $6.2 million across 18 races, while the Republican State Leadership Committee said days later that it would plow more into Texas than any other state this fall and top the Forward Majority investment.

“I feel good about where we are,” NDRC campaigns director Garrett Arwa said in an interview. “I think that for us, the evidence is in the fact that we are rolling out a program of this magnitude, with the number of partners we are rolling it out with.”

Arwa said the ads will be “largely positive” and, in general, will spotlight the candidates’ backgrounds, biographies and qualifications. “This is very district by district, this is very candidate by candidate,” Arwa said of the messaging.

Here are the 11 candidates benefiting from the digital ad blitz:

  • HD-26: L. Sarah DeMerchant, who is running for the seat of retiring Rep. Rick Miller, R-Sugar Land.
  • HD-64: Angela Brewer, who is running against Rep. Lynn Stucky, R-Denton.
  • HD-66: Sharon Hirsch, who is challenging Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano.
  • HD-67: Lorenzo Sanchez, who is running to unseat Rep. Jeff Leach R-Plano.
  • HD-92: Jeff Whitfield, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford.
  • HD-93: Lydia Bean, who is running to defeat Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth.
  • HD-97: Elizabeth Beck, who is opposing Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth.
  • HD-108: Cattanach, who is opposing Meyer.
  • HD-112: Brandy Chambers, who is challenging Rep. Angie Chen Button, R-Richardson.
  • HD-134: Ann Johnson, who is running against Rep. Sarah Davis, R-Houston.
  • HD-138: Bacy, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston.

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interior 

Chapter II Digital Through Customer Service”

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Minister of Interior presides at PWA Technical Affairs Day: “PWA : Chapter II Digital Through Customer Service”

In response to the PWA 4.0 policy to cultivate digitisation, the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) launched Technical Affairs Day 20 under the theme, “PWA : Chapter II Digital Through Customer Service”. With the aim to boost the organisation’s learning culture, the discussion forum took place 11 September 2020 at PWA head office.

Dr Songsak Thongsri, Deputy Interior Minister explained that, “PWA is a state-owned organisation, governed by the Ministry of Interior, responsible for basic water infrastructure provision for the public in 74 provinces across the country, so not including Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samutprakarn. ‘PWA : Chapter II Digital Through Customer Service’ is part of ongoing efforts to create and support a sustainable learning organisation by providing all staff in our central and regional offices as well as the public and private sectors opportunities to acquire and implement information technologies and innovations, upgrade customer services, and so on.”

“PWA: Chapter II Digital Through Customer Service provides a platform to support PWA human resources development. It enables staff to apply new knowledge to improve operational performance. This leads to providing higher quality services to the public. It also drives PWA to forge ahead with digital transformation while maintaining its status as a major national infrastructure provider in compliance with the national strategic plan.”

Kritsada Sunkhamani, Deputy Governor (Technical Affairs) and Acting Governor, added that, “PWA’s three-year strategic plan involves focusing on creating learning culture, customer-centric service provision, and quality of works. Technical Affairs Day conforms to social distancing measures to safeguard participants’ health. This involves utilising channels such as Facebook Live broadcasts as an online forum, for example: ‘PWA by New Normal’ led by Cee Chatpawee Trichachawanwong (Cee Chatpawee); ‘Quality Water Works delivered to your home’ led by Atichart Chumnanon (Aum Atichart); and ‘PWA Direction amid New Normal’ led by Asst Prof Dr Buppa Lapawattanaphun, Lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Arts, University of Thai Chamber of Commerce.”

“The initiatives thereby build knowledge and comprehension of PWA waterworks production standards among the public while PWA employees’ performance and efficiency is enhanced in terms of water quality and services as prescribed by PWA mission and vision, all for the benefit of consumers.”

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interior 

6 Effective Digital Marketing Tips for Interior Designers

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Gone are the days when people used to explore magazines or books to get inspiration for interior design.

The internet has become the main source to get ideas on any topic. As business owners, that means potential customers are browsing Google daily to get inspirations for interior design.

When growing an interior design business, the first question you should ask is, "How do we reach clients and introduce them to our interior design services?" The best way is digital marketing. Digital marketing alone can offer your interior design business a lot of benefits. It can help display your work, meet potential clients, attract new visitors, and get more business leads all at once. The only challenge is to ensure that the digital marketing strategy you're using is effective enough to achieve and optimize all these things together.

Here are some digital marketing essentials you should use in 2018 to maintain your lead flow and get profit. A strong digital presence takes a lot of effort and time to develop, but these online marketing strategies will provide instant positive results. Have a look at these interior designer marketing strategies:

Build an effective website:

In digital marketing, there is a range of marketing channels but the first point of interaction between a business and a lead is a functional website. This is where people go to learn more about your business and who you are. Your website is an introduction to your services and a showcase of your work. It's also the spot for visitors to reach and find you when they are looking for the services you provide. Remember, your portfolio is an important part of your business website. Make sure to add some professional images showcasing your greatest works. Try using infographics for better explanations. An impressive website helps you turn your awesome business ideas into a successful brand.

Start blogging:

Blogging is one of the best ways to share your expertise and talent. Start blogging and update your blog once or twice every week for optimal results. You can write anything on your blog you want to write. You can write about your services, share past projects or case studies or simply tips on home decoration. Be professional and post only meaningful things. Make sure your audience realizes how highly experienced you are in your field through your content.

Use social media:

If you don't have a business account on social media, go and create one now! Account creation on social media is completely free and a great way to stay connected with your target audience and leads. Upload your best project photos to Instagram and Facebook with interesting content to grab your followers' attention. Post photos of your current projects with catchy taglines. If your followers find your posts attractive, they might share them with their followers too! Pinterest isn't a social media platform, but it's a great spot for interior designers to be found. Create boards with photos of well-designed homes and rooms including your past and …

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