What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the strategy to attract customers through quality, informative, helpful, and up-to-date content, during the research phase of their buying process. It creates awareness, builds trust, and establishes authority. It is more effective in asymmetrical information markets such as architecture and construction. Architects and other professionals hold most of the information. This makes it difficult for customers to make informed decisions, even in the current digital era.
Specificity Of Content Marketing For Architects And Architecture Firms
Since architecture is a unique field, content marketing can only have unique, specific traits to be effective in attracting customers. For clients, architectural design is a means to reach their goal of building, not an end in itself. The explanation is that the architecture market functions within the construction market.
Base notions to understand content marketing for architects and architecture firms
To understand content marketing, we must review some key notions, ranging from economics, marketing, and building industry.
Although this analysis seems centered on larger architecture projects, it adapts to all architecture niches.
A market is the meeting point of all transactions, where the demand meets the offer, setting prices as an equilibrium point. In our case (architecture), it’s important to remember that clients (buyers) resources depend on other markets (construction market).
Clients’ buying process
From a psychological point of view, all purchases start with the recognition of needs and wants. The second step is the search for information. After an evaluation phase, the purchase is happening. Finally, buyers evaluate their acquisitions.
- 0. Recognition of needs and wants (goals)
- 1. Information search (research)
- 2. Evaluation of alternatives
- 3. Purchasing
- 4. Post-purchase evaluation
This buying process is the same for all purchases and it is the buyer’s point of view. For architects’ clients, this process is a process within another process (building).
All content strategies have to adapt to this dualism of architecture and construction.
Asymmetrical Information Market
When professionals (architects, engineers, etc) hold most of the information, for clients is hard to make informed decisions. In architecture and construction industries, the barriers are the professional jargon, the lack of structured information, and the abundance of false knowledge.
Customers Learning Curve
Information research precedes all purchases, not only in architecture and construction. During this phase, potential clients identify pain points for their goals.
A Market For Lemons
The result is what George Akerlof named a market for lemons. Customers can’t make the difference between good quality (peaches) and bad quality (lemons). As a result, all products sell for the low-quality price.
The Sales Funnel
The sales funnel is the seller’s perspective of the acquisition and includes four stages:
- 1. Awareness
- 2. Consideration
- 3. Conversion
- 4. Loyalty
These four phases roughly correspond to the four of the buying process: awareness appears during the buyer’s research, consideration during the evaluation of alternatives, the conversion is the purchasing phase, and loyalty is a result of post-purchase evaluation.
Through content marketing, architects can create a sales funnel to attract a steady flux of clients and new projects.
Architecture Market Within Construction Market
Architects’ clients are individuals (B2C) and organizations’ representatives (B2B) who want to build. This is the final goal, not hiring architects or commissioning projects.
They circumvent their buying process to fulfill this goal.
On a larger scale, they act in real estate and/or other markets.
Potential Clients’ Research
So architects’ customers pursue their main goal, to build. Therefore, they conduct their research to get relevant information for the building (developing) process.
Clients Don’t Search For Architects
Only some savvy clients start by searching for an architect. But they are all looking for information on how to build.
Building Development Process
Projects Phases:
- 1. Conceptualization and Planning Phase*
- 2. Financing and Pre-Development Phase
- 3. Design and Approval Phase
- 4. Construction and Development Phase
- 5. Occupancy and Operations Phase
- 6. Post-Development Phase
* These terms do not refer to architectural concepts, or design, but to defining the scope and scale of an investment project.
Potential clients’ concerns relate to project feasibility, including costs & volumes estimates, land acquisition, zoning regulations, building permitting, contracting a builder, cost & quality control, real estate marketing, etc.
How Content Marketing Attracts Potential Clients For Architects And Architecture Firms
Quality content is nothing more than what potential clients are searching for.
Quality content attracts traffic
First, they want relevant information to check if their projects are viable, such as costs, building area estimates, land area, etc – Feasibility data.
Second, they are looking for technical information, regarding land acquisition, zoning regulations, building permitting, and other characteristics of the projects. It’s a conceptualization phase. This would be the time to hire an architect and request schematic and/or conceptual design services. But often, this is not the case.
A helpful content would not only provide this information but also a guide for all project’ phases. Most searches are rather chaotic. In fact, many potential clients just start to figure out what processes are ahead.
Potential clients already search for information regarding their projects
All purchases include a research phase when customers try to find out solutions to their problems. They need quality information to make decisions. This should be the content of your marketing strategy for your architecture firms. As architects, you probably already hold that information.
Potential clients reward helpful persons with their trust
A few helpful pieces of content that solve a potential customer’s problems is more than enough to build authority and credibility. Users learn to trust you, as they get useful information.
A trustful person is more likely to accept more of your views, extending to architectural design and other future solutions to adopt.
As a result, your website visitor – a potential customer – will trust you and want to attract you as a reliable partner for his or her project. Is your content genuinely helping? Is your intention to help them build? Do you have the knowledge and skills to be helpful further? Your content just proved it!
Potential clients perceive their attempt to build as a series of problems. Their decisions depend on quality information.
As a result, they search for solutions to their problems. Quality and optimized content get their attention.
Helpful content either solves their problems or guides them to solutions. They learn to trust the architect who helps.
Hiring the trustworthy architect is the next logical step. Content marketing is the best way to get new clients and projects.
You are more than an architect. You are a trustworthy partner!
Content Marketing Rule #1:
Targeted Message
It’s important who your target audience is. Are they families who want to build a house? Are they businesses who want to build an office building, developers, or corporations’ project managers?
Target your desired audience!
Content Marketing Rule #2:
Search Queries
Remember the asymmetrical information? People don’t search for terms we use. Most likely, they would search for „building distances to the fence” rather than „zoning regulations”.
Answer their questions!
Content Marketing Rule #3:
Keyword Research
Nobody says and searches for „multi-unit residential building”, but for „block of flats”.
The first term is in Architecturese, and the other one, in English.
Use their language!
Platforms for Content Marketing for Architects
Content Ownership
We live in the Digital Era and consume content on various platforms. The main difference of all media platforms is the ownership. All websites and blogs you create are your own, as long they are under your own domain name.
For all other platforms, the tech corporations own them. They do not own only the platform, but they have rights on your content; they can delete your content, shut down your account, or store it online without your consent.
Fast Consuming Vs. Evergreen Content for Architects
Social media content is a fast consuming content. Most of it has exposure for about a day, even less. YouTube is an exception, as visualizations keep adding for a long time.
Content Marketing’s Consistency
It’s easy to set a website, a blog, and social media profiles. But often this is a waste of efforts. Content marketing for architects is a marathon, not a sprint. You will need marketing plans and strategies, as a content marketing plan to include all platforms.
Architecture Firm’s Website
The best place to create content is your architecture firm’s website. It should be the spine of your marketing efforts. All other content should support it, link it, and contribute to your architecture brand awareness.
On your architecture firm’s website should be:
- Portfolios
- Services
- Architecture firm’s description, history, accomplishments
- Staff
- Mission / Believes
- Contact
Architecture Firm’s Blog
It’s not important to call it blog, it can be an article section, news, etc What is important is containing the quality, helpful, informative, educational content.
- How-to articles
- Case studies
- Projects news in all phases
- Construction Insights
- Architecture Insights
- Construction and Real Estate Surveys
- Repports
This is the content that can be easily optimized for specific queries, targeting keywords and long-tail keywords, especially for the evergreen content.
Architects’ Blogs
Create blogs / personal pages of all the staff as sub-domains, even for junior architects.
They can contain personal presentations, links to their social profiles, etc. But those posts can present their activity within the firm:
- Projects insights
- Projects’ Problem-Solving
- Construction site visits
- Personal architecture posts
Also, such personal pages can list the projects and roles that the architect was involved. Of course, all posts should link to main portfolio, service, and firm’s pages.
Content Marketing Rule #4:
Don’t indecently promote yourself!
Content marketing is not for indecently promoting yourself! Don’t sell!
Content marketing aims to show how architects’ services and design help people build better, faster, affordable, and sustainable. Marketing is about solving people’s problems. Other people’s problems, not yours or your architecture firm’s problems!
After all, an architect is a professional helping people build, as it would be impossible without an architecture project.
When you create content for your architecture firm’s marketing, remember this:
How can help?
Content Marketing Rule #5:
Content And Linking Structure
As you create more and more content for your architecture firm’s marketing, keep a clear content structure in mind. This is why you should have a consistent linking policy across platforms.
Your message is that you help people build, right? I’d like to point out that the way you help is offering guidance and services. As a result, you create a great architecture for your clients.
Your services are the tools you are offering them, while your projects are nothing else but case studies of how you do it.
All other content, optimized for search engines (SEO) should link to your services and portfolio pages (case studies). Meanwhile, both your services pages and your portfolio pages have to aggregate this SEO content.
Benefits Of Content Marketing on Architecture Firms’ Webpages and Architects’ Blogs
Exposure – Content Marketing attracts organic traffic to your architecture firm’s websites and architect’s bogs.
Builds Authority, promoting you and your firm as industry experts.
Leads Generation. Educational, useful content attracts potential clients during the research phase of buying process.
Content Marketing Builds Trust. All purchases are acts of trust. Both parties involved into a transaction have to trust each other.
All those benefits add in time. Content marketing requires patience and consistency. To get quick results, you can use a bit of advertising.
Instagram Content For Architects
Perhaps Instagram is the first choice of architects on fast content platforms. Great for visuals, both pictures and short videos, as for building a fan base.
Although Instagram is an excellent sales platform, I don’t think developers hire architects on it. But It could be a great asset in brand awareness.
Facebook Content For Architects
Facebook is the fast content platform by definition. But company pages can be useful in promoting teasing content.
Also, Facebook groups can gather communities built around different topics. Architects can either contribute to these discussions, or initiate them.
YouTube Content Marketing
YouTube content gets organic visualizations. Also, it is an excellent host for embedded videos on your platforms (websites and blogs).
Beside architecture visualizations, an architecture firm can host a video blog, podcasts, etc. Basically, You can repurpose all other content formats into video.
Pinterest Content For Architects
Pinterest is a search engine for images. But also, is a great social media platform that simply allows users to pin images to their profiles, each pin being a link to the page containing the image.
Architects can post almost all their visual media on Pinterest, portfolio images, blog post’s visuals, e-books’ and whitepapers’ covers, etc.
LinkedIn Content For Architects
LinkedIn is a very special place. Professionals all over the world use it for carrier advancement. If you are targeting professional clients, as developers, builders, project managers, this is the place where almost all of them are present.
Linkedin offers some great features such as groups, articles, and companies pages. It host both fast content, as evergreen articles linked to your profiles and webpages.
LinkedIn promotes original content written for the platform, and you easily get organic exposure to industry professionals.
Guest Posting Content Marketing
Marketers say that guest posting is a link building strategy. Indeed, it is! But also it is a great opportunity to post relevant content on specialized websites and portals. Quality content is quality content, no matter where it is. High authority domains have a lot of traffic, and all good titles get clicks.
Although backlinks to your architecture webpage are gold, the content quality is more important.
Don’t miss a chance to write for quality specialized portals, national media websites, not even advertorials!
Content Marketing Rule #6:
Repurposed Content
Every time you write a blog post for your website, create the content for social media platforms, and long or short form videos for YouTube.
WordPress plugins can post automatically on few platforms the same time you publish a new webpage or blog post.
Create content for all platforms at once!
Content Marketing Rule #7:
Use Platforms’ Algorithms
Social media platforms don’t like when you grab their users out of the platform. So they better organically promote the content that keeps the users on the platform.
Use the content to grow your followers, as a base to promote important content when it’s necessary!
Feed platform users with content!
Content Marketing Rule #8:
Boost your social media content
As the organic traffic is very low, boost constantly your posts on social media. If engagement grows for specific content, spend a little more on it!
Social media platforms like engaging content and they organically boost it when they smell success. This is the principle behind viral reach.
Boost engaging content!
Types of Content for Marketing An Architecture Firm
Marketing is the art of helping people solve their problems. Content marketing is how architects and architecture firms showcase how they already did this countless times,
1. Portfolio
Portfolios are the greatest opportunity to showcase your experience, development process, including design and construction, and problems you solve trough your architecture services.
Use each project’s page as an aggregator: architecture, renderers, videos, design process posts, building permitting posts, services provided, problems solved, etc.
Read how to turn your portfolio into helpful content!
2. Services Pages
Services are not something we sell, but solutions for people’s problems.
Conceive your services as a natural flow of solutions to building problems, from idea, development stages, design, contracting builders, costs’ estimates and cost control, quality control, marketing solutions for lease and sell buildings, etc!
3. Keywords And Long Tail Keywords Targeted Articles
Internet users search for specific terms. Some of those users are your potential clients. More and more, they ask questions. But all those searches are questions looking for answers.
Search engines rank pages that offer compelling answers to those queries.
But those pages are entry points to your websites, contributing to a smooth learning curve for your potential clients, as they consume more of your content.
4. How-To Guides
Large categories of potential clients don’t know the steps ahead of them, from idea to building completion. Just pick one information of these processes, and only a few heard about it. Most likely, their information is false or incomplete.
Architects can assume an educational role, writing such guides. They can be e-books, articles, blog posts, infographics, PDFs, videos, or short videos.
Understanding processes helps clients to work better with architects.
5. Industry Insights, Surveys, And Reports
Many architects’ potential clients need statistic data such as building costs in a specific area. This information is very important for their decisions.
But architects and architecture firms can aggregate reports on various markets, and conduct their surveys on specific markets.
Published as periodical whitepapers, press releases, etc, such content can attract buzz, contributing to brand awareness and market leadership.
7. Testimonials, Clients Interviews, And Walk-Troughs
Many testimonials are fake online, especially on scam websites. But true testimonials, interviews with clients and walk troughs of completed buildings are very convincing.
Such content is very sharable, as even clients would share it with friends, colleagues, and families. Beside that, such actions are true client satisfaction feedback, helping you not only to promote your architecture firms but also to improve your client’ relationship.
8. Design Process, Building Permitting, And Constructions Insights
Weekly, or even daily posts documenting design phases, building permitting, and construction stages could be a very interesting content for your marketing.
First, it helps potential clients to understand processes, while linking to important pages as portfolios, services pages, etc.
Second, in time they turn in case studies for each phase, as for each project.
9. Architecture Firm’s Insights
People like to do business with other people. Dealing with companies, they also like to know about a firm’s culture, people, etc.
Often, potential clients don’t know how many professionals are involved in a project. It comes as a surprise! However, it is important to see that a firm nourishes is not only a business but also a collaboration, learning, and personal development place.
Content Marketing Rule #9:
What are the benefits of working with an architect?
Nobody would use a service without getting benefits from it. Architectural services are not an exception!
Content marketing has to explain the benefits of working not only with an architect, but with you!
Show your potential clients the benefits of working with you!
Content Marketing Rule #10:
Information for your potential clients
Show them what the processes are, and the logical sequence of future steps!
Explain the complexity of design and building, and how informed decisions are the path to success!
Educate your potential clients!
Content Marketing Rule #11:
Case studies and insights
Turn everything into a case study! Tell them how your services and design solve problems!
Make everything about them, not you! Your architectural design is key for cost control, better lives, sustainability, you name it!
Be humble, but point your solving problem roles!
Content Creation In Marketing For Architects And Architecture Firms
Nothing Is More Important Than Content Quality
Maybe I didn’t say it clear enough: The quality of the content you create for your architecture firms’s marketing is the most important factor.
Sometimes, a single blog post attracts a constant flow of clients and exciting new projects. Only one!
A striking perspective, a set of ingenious tips, a compelling analysis, a viral infographic, who knows? Maybe a how-to guide?
The Internet is a crowded place. Everybody creates content, good content, bad content, boring content, content, and more content. Most of it is the same reheated soup, nothing new, nothing interesting.
Don’t create content for the sake of the content! Don’t write thin blog posts that add no value to your visitors!
Architecture firm’s clients are already lost in the information desert. They are thirsty and hungry for quality information. They need help, and, in their way, they are asking for help.
Set Your Content Marketing Goals!
The first step to the success of a content marketing campaign for your architecture practice is to set attainable goals. It’s virtually impossible to conduct marketing and get airport projects, when your experience is limited to house additions.
But you can get more projects like those you already have, and a little more, new house projects. It’s marketing, not a miracle!
Target Your Market Segment On All Process Phases
Potential clients can use an architect’s help on all building development stages: idea, feasibility research, technical research, conceptual design, architectural design, contracting builders, etc
Market segmentation is a powerful tool for architects to attract new clients and projects.
Local, Regional, And National Targets
Nobody would use Google if trying to find house construction costs in Chicago suburbs, you would get results that have nothing to do with your local market. Useless, right?
Even if a potential client does not mention their location, old Google knows and serve local results. But always helps if you geographically contextualize your content.
Design A Logical Structure For Your Content Marketing
Potential clients arrive on your architecture firm’s website through various pages. From that point, they have to enter, more or less, on a funnel conducting to conversion.
Each content they consume has to lead them to a structure that serves both their research, describes their logical steps, and guides to next topics.
Create A Content Plan For All Platforms
Creating chaotically content for your potential customers is the most common mistake. You risk wasting your efforts, missing a logical structure, and losing focus.
A content plan keeps your marketing on track and helps you reach your milestones. Also, your architecture firm’s visibility consistently grows as you follow the plan.
Set A Content Schedule And Stick To It!
Time is also an important factor for your architecture firm’s content marketing. Social media platforms, and Google and Bing bots appreciate a consistent posting schedule.
For social media, the organic reach depends on regularity and posting hours. Active websites rank higher in search engine results pages (SERP).
Good Images And Videos
We are architects so I don’t have to say how important visuals are. But I am going to say it, anyway!
Use only the best photography, good renderers, compelling graphics, and quality videos! Don’t be afraid to use your phone either! People like snap shots, selfies. It’s not about the pixels.
Please don’t post visuals without telling what your users should look at! Images are worth thousand words, but everybody reads too little and between the lines.
Optimized Content And Human Audiences
Content gets more exposure when it is optimized for search engines. But don’t create it for crawling bots but for your potential clients!
Insert professional concepts in optimized content that gets traffic. Then, send your visitors to the professional, quality, and helpful content. This way you are educating your visitors.
Your clients are not the ones who consume a piece of content, then leave. Your clients will visit again, and again, for months before contacting you.
Measure, Analyse, And Adapt
Content marketing brings results for architects and architecture firms in time. After a while, potential customers will phone or Email you.
But, periodically, you can measure results in terms of website traffic, social media visualizations, followers, subscriptions, etc. Many analytic tools can show you what content attracts more visits, users’ behavior, bounce rates, etc.
Adapting or refreshing your content, posting schedules, target other keywords, and modify your content plan are normal.
Costs of Content Marketing
Content Marketing Costs More Time Than Money
Content marketing costs for architects and architecture firms are one of the lowest possible. At its best, the costs go down to almost zero, reduced to websites resources – domain name, hosting, and maintenance.
The explanation is that good content marketing gets results organically. Quality content magnetically attracts potential clients, and they easily convert.
But content creation takes time, especially quality, original, helpful, informative, and in-demand content. It costs consistent efforts to create, adapt, illustrate, publish, and maintain it.
Efforts, Time, And Patience
Also, organic traffic grows over time, as it takes months to rank in search results.
Mistakes are unavoidable. After all, marketing is only theoretically a science. Its execution is an art.
Content marketing builds authority and reputation for architects and architecture firms.
But to build a reputation, you need time, it’s impossible without time!
Speeding Up Content Marketing Results
The good news is that you can speed things up a little! This even have a name.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
This pretentious name points at nothing else than search sponsored results. This is an option to be in the search engine’s results page even if your organic position is on the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th page.
The reward of your content creation effort is that Google prefers to display high-quality content even on those sponsored results. Even in their case, users experience is the main care. They want them to be happy with the results of their searches.
If Google users don’t like the sponsored result, they won’t use the engine anymore.
User Experience
Search engine users search for webpages containing the information you offer on your architecture firm’s website. So the sponsored results don’t bother them.
As Google (or Bing) users, their experience is satisfying. As architects’ potential clients, they get also a satisfying result. So it is a win-win situation.
SEM Costs
Depending on the competition for a specific search, a click can cost just a few bucks. You set the budget. You can spend a few hundred or thousand a month.
Content Marketing Benefits for Architects and Architecture Firms
By leveraging content marketing, architects can effectively enhance their brand presence, attract and retain clients, and ultimately drive business growth.
1. Building Trust and Credibility
The main benefit of content marketing for architects is building trust and credibility. Both trust and credibility are essential traits in commercial contracts.
In services sectors, such as architecture is, they play a more important role.
2. Showcasing Expertise and Creativity
Architecture is the art of problem-solving, requiring both expertise and creativity.
Content marketing is an effective tool for demonstrating our skills and proving our excellence and ability to help potential clients.
3. Improving Online Visibility and SEO
Great content attracts online traffic. Potential clients get to hear about our architecture firm as they are actively searching for information on their projects. An improved online visibility is nothing else than the awareness stage of a buying process.
4. Engaging with the Audience
A genuine desire to help encourages potential clients to engage with architects during their research.
They ask questions, guidance, and make earlier contact with us, the architects, but at their own pace.
5. Educating Potential Clients
Content marketing educates potential clients, growing the overall community’s knowledge of architecture and design, construction, building development processes, etc. After all, it sets new market standards.
6. Differentiating from Competitors
The higher standards raised by quality content leave competitors behind. Our architecture firms differentiate through the care for clients’ success.
Sharing information builds a project-partnership between architects and customers.
7. Building a Community
Especially social media content marketing builds communities around your architecture practice. But also webpages and blogs’ content make people bookmark and subscribe. On all platforms, they like, share, and comment. Those tribes that you lead spread your message even further.
8. Lead Generation and Conversion
Last but not least, content marketing brings new clients and exciting new projects. They are clients who thoroughly inform themselves on project, better understanding their roles, and the architects’ roles. They are trustful and good clients. After all, the main goal of marketing is lead generation and conversions.
Please subscribe and share this page!