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Business & Tech

Designers, Customers Connect Online

Springfield-based home remodeling firm uses blogs and online tools to reach customers.

Husband-and-wife team Joe and Stephanie Gillin started Grande Décor as a way to merge their professional careers. Stephanie, a trained architect, and Joe, who was running his family’s construction business, launched the company about seven years ago.

“When we got married and started having our children, we just realized that we had too much going on and we weren’t really happy with what we were doing,” Stephanie said. “We realized that what we really want is to work together.”

Using their combined talents, Grande Décor specializes in remodeling kitchen and bathrooms, though the Gillins have done other residential ventures, including basements and decks.

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Though Joe primarily does the installations, and Stephanie the design, she says that the business has no real divide.

“I love design and I think that he’s started to fall in love with it, too,” she said. “It’s something we’re both very interested in.”

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That love for design is what motivated Stephanie to launch a blog on the company’s website. She uses the blog to help connect to the customers the company already has, and to find new ones.

“Our mission statement with the blog is all about educating the consumer,” Stephanie said. “Really, I just want people to know why they’re picking what they’re picking.”

She says that the blog is an organic way to educate people about the home design options that they have.

“People have a million choices,” Stephanie said. “This is what I do, so I know what I’m talking about. I know how to weed through this content intelligently, because that’s all I do. And I wanted to give my clients that expertise.”

Sample blog posts include features about ways to clean and protect new kitchen cabinets, how to pick out the right sink for your kitchen, and even some of her family’s favorite recipes.

“I just genuinely love houses, and I really like writing about my passion,” she said. “While I’m educating clients, I’m also educating myself, because I’m the one doing the research for the blogs.”

Stephanie said that though the blog is extra work, it’s been a useful tool for the business and a cost-effective way to use their marketing dollars.

“The calls are coming in,” Stephanie said. “People are finding us through the blog, and that’s been turning into business. Especially since we’re locally-based, it definitely helps to have people find us online more easily.”

While the Gillins continue to utilize more traditional marketing and advertising tools, such as church bulletins and postcard mailings, Stephanie said the company is committed to maintaining its online presence.

“We try to link everything we do back to our website, so that at the end of the day, our customers are going there to find all of our content,” she said.

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