5 ways to level up your firm marketing

There's no denying a slowdown in building and architecture this year, with all forecasters predicting moderate growth. As London-based architecture marketing strategist Ayo Abbas says, "There seems to be a lot of uncertainty on both sides of the pond. It's just a question of, where do we focus? How do we get things moving?" 

The answer—in good times and bad—is always marketing.

The focus of your marketing strategies should be on creating relationships and sharing your value with “ideal” clients. "The more you can share up front, the better your relationships will be and the easier it will be to win those clients," says Tyler Suomala, a former architect and the current owner of Growthitect, a business consultancy for architects. "You want to be top-of-mind when they're thinking about an architect." 

As you build your strategy, connect it to goals—getting X number of new ideal clients, targets on the number of leads you want to generate each month, a conversion rate percentage. Says Suomala, “Focus your marketing attention on effectively bringing people further down the funnel and getting them closer to the point where they need your services.” 

Here are five suggestions for reaching the people you want to work with—who want to work with you. 

Name your "X factor"

Where do your highest quality leads come from? “Word of mouth and referrals,” Suomala says. “And these typically go dry when the economy is struggling. It’s important to take control and not wait passively for referrals.”

Have a referral system in place, says Nikita Morell, a New Zealand-based copywriter and messaging strategist for architects. “And don’t just wait until the end of a project. Let clients know you’ve enjoyed working with them. Give them a compliment and ask if they’d give a warm introduction to someone you think might need your services.”

And make your firm easy to refer. "The best way to do that is to stand for one thing and be associated with one thing. I call it the 'architect's X factor,'" Morell says. “It’s something you want to be known for, one thing that sets you apart. And don’t get hung up on typology, that is, don’t say, ‘It can’t be residential because I do commercial.’”

How do you find it? Morell believes your "X factor" sits at the intersection of passion, demand and proficiency. “Maybe it’s your design philosophy, your service, your openness and transparency, your deep understanding of local context,” she says. “Whatever you discover, clearly communicate that 'X factor' on your website.”

Share your value

An email newsletter may seem old school, but it's a great way to share your value. Use a newsletter as a “direct conversation, with the emphasis on the word ‘letter,’” Morell says. “The reason for a newsletter is to build trust and familiarity. It humanizes you and offers an emotional connection.” 

Don’t narrow your options to just pretty projects. Suomala suggests mentioning a trigger that might have come up for an ideal client and then talk about how you helped them solve that. “A newsletter is really more about sharing value and putting the client first,” he says.

Try sending out a newsletter once a month—but no need to brand it that way and put pressure on yourself; just be consistent as you can. Build a cache of recipients’ addresses by offering relevant content on your website that prospects might want to have come directly to them. “Getting into someone's inbox once you have their email is significantly easier than getting a follower to see some content that you posted on a social media platform,” Suomala says. You’re in control and not beholden to someone’s algorithm.  

In addition, says Abbas, an email newsletter offers one of the highest ROIs for any type of marketing. In fact, a recent survey of marketers done by the email marketing solutions company Litmus found that for every $1 spent on email marketing, there’s a $36 return. 

Use AI to your advantage

If you've noticed less traffic to your website lately, it may be because artificial intelligence (AI) is putting paid to the days of SEO and keywords. Search for something online and up pops an AI-generated summary of what’s available—why bother going to a website? If you don’t want to let AI drive decision making, you’ve got to find ways to use it to your advantage. 

When it comes to marketing, “You can use AI to help you define, understand and research audiences and where they hang out,” Abbas says. If you do mostly commercial architecture, you might find that LinkedIn is a better place to be than Instagram, where homeowners are seeking information. 

Try it for idea generation, Abbas suggests. Prompt it with something like the following, she says: “'I want to target homeowners. Can you tell me some of the proof points or challenges that these groups would have?' AI can help you build that out, help be a starting point. Then you add in your own knowledge and thoughts and ideas, and you build it into a bigger thing.”

Use it to brainstorm marketing suggestions. For example, says Morell, who offers a masterclass in ChatGPT for architects, "You can tell it you’re a residential architect based in Sydney. Your competition is X, Y and Z. Here are ways I’ve marketed in the past and this is what worked. Then tell it to give you 10 new marketing ideas. Or ask for a list of 10 podcasts you should get on or 10 events you could potentially sponsor.”

To make AI an asset, learn the best ways to prompt the system and ask the right questions for the information you want. The more context you input, the more relevant the output. And don’t forget the editing step. AI still needs human intervention. “If you’re not going to use AI you are missing out,” Morell says. “Especially if your competitors are doing it. You might as well at least play with it. Give it a go.”

Recycle your content

You’ve likely been creating digital content for years in the form of blogs and have a huge library. “But you're not getting the most juice for the squeeze right now when it's just sitting there in a blog on your website,” Suomala says. And yet, you’re still talking about many of the same problems that you’ve solved for clients. “Reformat and recycle your blog content as short-form content you can use for LinkedIn and Instagram posts,” Suomala says. “And with the right prompting, you can use AI to help you repurpose blogs and create high-performing content for other formats.”

Ultimately, in the new formats you can direct traffic back to your website, “an asset that you own and where you are in control,” Abbas says. 

Be a storyteller

Across all the various marketing elements—newsletters, blogs, social media posts, etc.—the best way to engage your ideal client or turn a prospect into an ideal client is through storytelling. While text has its place, video plays a key role. 

Suomala suggests using video to build familiarity with your personal brand. “People associate that with the services that you can deliver and the way that you think through things as an architecture firm owner,” he says. And videos don’t need to be polished. “Create rudimentary, even iPhone-facing videos, just talking about the challenges that you help your clients solve and the outcomes that they're able to achieve because of that,” Suomala says. Or showcase your creativity with process videos highlighting what inspires you, material samples on your desk, artwork and doodles. 

People want to buy and work from other people rather than from companies. “That’s a huge benefit of video marketing because you can put your face out there and someone can actually see you speaking and interacting with them through the screen,” Suomala says. “Using video as an opportunity to build that relationship with your audience is really effective.” 

As you move forward, remind yourself that “your marketing messages should educate, entertain or inform,” Morell says. Then, “if you can align your market, the message and the media, you’re good to go.” 

Stacey Freed is a freelance writer covering architecture and design. She lives in upstate New York.