Established in 2011 and based in Cheltenham, The House Ministry is an award-winning, full-service interior design studio. Its small team specialises in creating a luxurious, yet effortlessly comfortable and welcoming, look and feel for the family homes of discerning clients across the Cotswolds and beyond.

Over the years, the business has gained an enviable reputation for taking the time to truly understand each household’s needs and delivering high-quality client experiences that always exceed expectations.

Yet founder and senior design director Julia was struggling to express how this depth of expertise and attention to detail genuinely sets The House Ministry apart from other interior designers.

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Existing copy wasn’t capturing imaginations

No matter how she tried to approach writing the copy for her website, Julia felt it was falling short. She’d worked through several iterations of the home page – adding extra information, changing wording around, cutting sections out – each time ending up frustrated that it wasn’t quite what she’d hoped to create.

She knew it sounded overly stiff and formal – but was struggling to find a solution that felt just right.

All the detail was technically accurate. But it felt very functional. It factually explained what she and her team do, and the sorts of projects they work on, but it didn’t really hit the mark.

There was no storytelling. The copy wasn’t compelling and it didn’t capture the imaginations of the ideal clients she wanted to reach.

The House Ministry would often make it onto the shortlist of interior design studios that a homeowner might initially choose to approach for a quote. But the website simply didn’t reflect the personal touch and seamless end-to-end service that would immediately position Julia and her team as the superior choice for busy but motivated potential clients.

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A turning point and a true lightbulb moment

I first met Julia in a business coaching group and while she was quietly exploring the idea of working with me, she signed up to attend my masterclass on the power of writing with personality and impact.

That session proved to be a turning point, and a big lightbulb moment for both her and her business.

“I knew the value of good copywriting, but I hadn’t met a good copywriter before!”, explains Julia. “Your masterclass changed everything for me – I could instantly see that you had that ability to think deeper and write copy that creates a clear difference and stand-out impact.”

That expertise was exactly what Julia was looking for and she immediately signed up to work with me.

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A whole new approach to a high-end proposition

Initially, Julia simply wanted help to revamp the copy on the homepage of The House Ministry website.

Homeowners would likely be investing tens of thousands of pounds with her business across a period of several months for the design and delivery of re-imagined, fully furnished living spaces. So she wanted to make it clear – in an eye-catching and equally reassuring way – that clients could trust her team to provide exceptional ‘everything handled for you from start to finish service’ as standard.

As we were talking about her ideal clients, recent high-end projects she’d handled and the real reasons why homeowners chose to work with her team over other interior designers, it became clear to me that an umbrella theme would help bring the whole business value proposition together.

I asked Julia how she’d feel about this (“That sounds wonderful!”) and proposed a powerful new positioning line to proudly express and claim the distinguishing factor that truly sets her team apart:

Discover a distinctly different approach to interior design…

Suggesting this overarching positioning to instantly differentiate their approach became the starting point for re-working the existing homepage copy to reflect and align with this theme.

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Taking it to the next level

Thrilled with the new look and feel of the homepage copy, Julia also asked me to transform a number of other key pages of the website.

Looking back, she reflects that part of problem she’d previously been experiencing was due to her use of AI to help her write.

During one Copy Café Clinic call, she shared a web page that she wanted me to work on by saying: “This one’s a bit ChatGPT!” Okay, that’s a good description…

Julia admitted using the AI tool to help her formulate her thoughts on what she wanted to say, but she’d found that while what it produced was factually correct, it didn’t have much of a personal feel. (Hear more about Julia’s take on this in the video below.)

I was able to change that – enhancing both personality and impact in a way that resonated with both Julia and her ideal clients – within the space of just a few hours. “You’ve taken it to the next level.”

Julia’s conclusion on the value of working with me? “You have to realise that you need expert help to get a result that’s substantially better than you can get doing it yourself. Yes, it’s an investment. But you’ll end up saving lots of time, effort and faffing around with trying to nail it yourself when you’re busy servicing clients too – and you’ll get something so much better and much more ‘you’ for it.”

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