Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Lockhart.
Jason, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in Gardena, California where he grew a love for design and architecture. I received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Then I went to get my graduate degree in City and Regional Planning from Ohio State University. After graduate school, I moved back home to Los Angeles and worked for Steven Wen & Associates (architecture/planning firm) where I worked on a variety of projects both in the residential and commercial space.
After five years in private practice, I moved back to Baton Rouge to teach at the School of Architecture and School of Interior Design at Southern University (SU) and Louisiana State University (LSU). In addition to teaching, I was the Assistant Director for the Urban + Rural Community Design Research Center (U+R CDRC), where we focused on community development in the north Baton Rouge area. During that time, we developed a community plan that was adopted by the City Council, the first of its kind by any university entity in the country. In academia, I rose up the ranks to become an Associate Professor. While teaching, I partnered with some of my classmates to start an architecture/planning firm called Sinektiks LLC. in 2007. Through Sinektiks, we have worked on a wide variety of project types which have consisted of single-family homes, multi-family homes, hotels, mixed-use projects and schools. Several of which had a project cost over $20 million dollars.
In 2013, one of our design colleagues asks us to do some marketing for them. After a few months of success, we have referred several other designs and home remodeling professionals, and that was the start of Kitchen & Bath Marketing Solutions (KABMS). KABMS offers specialized digital marketing solutions for the Interior Design and Home Remodeling Industry. With our 20 years of industry and marketing experience, we succeed where other marketing companies fail because we understand the industry and use our extended track record to get results. The three areas where we excel with our clients is Value, Results, and Customer Service. To enhance our value proposition, we joined the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) to become active members and share our knowledge with members of the association to grow their businesses from a marketing, branding, business development and public relations standpoint. We develop CEU’s (Continuing Education Units) on a continuous basis for the NKBA and I am also a badge holding NKBA Sales and Marketing Specialist. We aim to help you grow your design and remodeling business whether you work directly with us our not.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Owning a business is never a smooth road and there have been many challenges along the way. Speaking specifically on what has taken place during COVID had an impact on many of our clients and us. We had to pivot the way we worked with clients, the way we market to prospects and how we network. In terms of clients, a portion of our marketing that was aimed at physical marketing material has shifted to digital and more ad spend and developing ways to better engage clients and prospects on social media platforms. Our experience in the digital space has helped us and allowed many of our clients to have success in a time when they thought growth would be difficult. In terms of marketing to prospects, many of our past clients have been gained through in-person networking, being live at trade shows, and physically being able to meet with potential clients. With COVID, the emphasis on virtual meetings has grown and being able to connect with prospects through video meetings has been critical.
We’ve been impressed with Kitchen & Bath Marketing Solutions, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Kitchen and Bath Marketing Solutions offers specialized digital marketing solutions for the Interior Design and Home Remodeling Industry. We succeed where other marketing companies fail because we understand the industry and use our extended track record to get you results. The three areas where we excel with our clients is Value, Results, and Customer Service. Kitchen and Bath Marketing Solutions offers a complete suite of digital marketing services to help interior designers and home remodeling professionals boost their brand recognition, promote their services, and convert casual onlookers into customers. Our Services include: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Social Media Marketing – Pay-Per-Click Advertising – Video Marketing – Email Marketing – Reputation Management – Website Design – Digital Renderings – Customer Relations Management System (CRM) – Campaign Tracking – Public Relations (PR) – Consulting We are known for providing value, results, and excellent customer service. We approach all clients as a team. Their campaigns have the support of multiple team members on the inside. Everything we do is tailored for optimal success together. Every client gets a dedicated Account Manager (Team Strategist), their main point of contact which centralizes all communication. The Account Manager coordinates with the rest of our team (Sales & Ops Support, Director of Strategy, Team Specialist, Writing Team, Client Success Manager).
What sets us apart from other digital marketing agencies is our expertise and value. Since we only work with design professionals and remodeling companies, we know the space and use that knowledge to maximize success for our clients. Since I am also a partner in a design firm, I see the challenges our clients on the marketing side see and we are able to better adapt and pivot when we see industry shifts. On the value side what sets us apart is the fact that we love to teach and educate (coming from my education experience). We have a resource library (http://kabms.com/resource-library) that we update 4-5 times a month we new information (training videos, articles, webinars, etc.) to help businesses grow. This information is free of charge and we want to help business owners succeed whether they work with us or not.
In addition, we are continuously developing CEU courses for design/remodel professionals that aim to grow their knowledge in the area of marketing, business development, PR and branding. I also published a book in 2020 with our years of knowledge in the space to help designers and remodelers, which is called “The Complete Guide to Internet Marketing for the Kitchen and Bath Industry,” which is available on Amazon or Audible. I am most proud of our client’s success. Our client’s average over 40% year-over-year growth. We take our client’s success seriously and along with increasing their sales, we build long-lasting relationships as a part of their marketing team. I want the readers to know that we are an agency that cares. Some digital marketing agencies treat their clients as another revenue-generating account number or an opportunity to beef up their client list. Our primary interest isn’t winning industry recognition or boosting our profit margins, it’s earning our clients’ trust, giving them a great experience, and helping them achieve the results they seek. Our client’s design and remodeling business matter to us, and we look forward to helping them shine. Also I can’t state enough that our value proposition on developing free ongoing industry resources in the area of marketing, business development, PR and branding is a way for us to help companies in the space whether they work with us or not.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
We define success by helping our clients have success. Our client’s average over 40% year-over-year growth. We take their success seriously and along with increasing their sales, we want to be their marketing team of choice going forward.
Contact Info:
- Email: jason@kitchenandbathmarketingsolutions.com or jason@kabms.com
- Website: kitchenandbathmarketingsolutions.com or kabms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kabms_com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KitchenAndBathMarketingSolutions/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_1DTXgAIKGQHuj_qnqgrEQ?guided_help_flow=5&disable_polymer=true
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Internet-Marketing-Kitchen-Industry/dp/B08B33T68J/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=jason+lockhart&qid=1593547466&s=books&sr=1-3
