How I market my architecture firm is a question that I have been asking myself since I was in architecture school. But I think I am not the only one. Almost all architects still try to answer this one. This is why I created marketing-for-architects.com.
The most effective strategy to market an architecture firm is helping your clients through content marketing. I will explain why I think this is the best way to do this.
First of all, let’s clarify a few things. It might sound outrageous, but it’s primarily plain psychology: Although we think that we help our clients with our amazing design, we don’t. Well, we do, but this is not our primary tool. This is the one we prepare for in schools. And this is the one we think is most helpful for our clients. But we are wrong.
When a person decides to build, her goal is not the building itself. It’s what she achieves with that building.
If a family builds a house, it’s not about the house, it’s about their home and the quality of their family lifestyle. But, if a client makes houses to sell, it’s about the profit, although they will be someone’s home. It’s a subtle nuance. Your services consist of design, but what matters for the clients is how much you are going to help them achieve their goals.
If a client’s concern is affordability, it also has to be yours. If it is energy efficiency, your concern has to be the same thing.
When a client wants an energy-efficient building, he won’t search on Google for you or your firm. Most likely, he won’t look for LEED Architects or another kind of certified architect. He will search for solutions to his problem.
Create your marketing content thinking about the construction phases, from the idea to the last construction details. Now picture your future clients asking about these phases. This is the process (project)-based marketing.
So when you market your architecture firm, you should provide information on how the prospective client can build an energy-efficient house. But write about energy consumption, insulation, ventilation, and amortization of costs.
Think in their terms, not yours!
You can also write about nZEB, passive houses, solar, and LEED or BREEAM certifications if you are certified. But do that after you wrote about his concerns, not instead.
It’s better not to picture them as prospective clients. Just think, you provide a quality information service with only one purpose: to help people build better. You will make a change, and this won’t go unnoticed.
Don’t forget to mention all the other pitfalls they might encounter. Also, provide useful information. Keep in mind that you want to help them. Just help. Don’t sell anything.
Next time, they will most likely look for you. Do you know why? Because they trust you now.
I spoke with many architects. They had two main objections:
- What will stop the visitors from your website from taking the information and doing the job by themselves? First, they do need design services, right?
- They were reluctant because they thought that people would consume the information they provided and they would hire another architect. This might happen, sure! But why on earth would someone choose an unknown person when they already know someone they trust? Besides that, if you don’t provide that useful information, you won’t be considered for a second as a viable option. So, what do you have to lose?
As I already mentioned, this is content marketing: You provide content that will help your prospective clients. (You can check my favorite website on this topic, here).
Also, think about your marketing strategy. Won’t you want to have a constant flow of clients and new projects, through your website? This is the inbound marketing for architects.
Although there are many types of content you can create (posts, videos, podcasts, PDF guides, Infographics, pictures, etc), they do not serve the same. Our work best generates images, either pictures of buildings we design, or renderings. Videos are also quite easily available, as now it’s easier than ever to produce in-house quality animations.
But our design’s images are not quite helpful for most of the clients. Of course, they help you express your experience in different types of architecture programs. But they hardly tell how you solve similar problems.
To help, you can use your portfolio to illustrate how you helped in other cases. It’s true, an image is worth a thousand words. But different people read different paragraphs from the thousand-word texts.
I think blog posting still is the most effective content. First, it stays there for years. If well written, it can bring more and more clients.
The blog posts are easy to turn into answers to frequently asked questions. A proven SEO tactic is to write articles that answer specific Google queries.
Imagine a simple concern: how much does it cost to build a house, right? This is a common query. People use Google to find out an up-to-date answer to this legitimate concern. It’s your mission to help them. Do it!
Google will help you rank if you provide a good answer. You have to provide original research and an in-depth analysis of costs. You can compare different costs from your previous work, telling what increases and what decreases the costs. Also, the content you write has to be optimized for the search engines.
This is a good example of quality content. It anticipates your prospective client’s concerns. This is the way you help them. You do. You also can provide insights into how your architectural design approach makes a difference.
Videos are also very effective. But people will most likely expect a written report, not a video.
It’s also true that an article needs months to rank properly. But you can also promote the article just for a few bucks.
Getting your post on the first Google page as sponsored results doesn’t cost much. The tip is to promote it for “houses construction costs in the Atlanta Area in 2022″. If you will compete for” architect in the Atlanta Area”, this is a competitive niche. It will cost more and the results won’t be quite satisfactory. Also, good traffic for your article will increase your page authority, and you will rank better for the “architect in my area” search queries too!
Let your prospective clients know that they can contact you! This is important! Very important! Actually, this is the purpose when you market your architecture firm, right? To get new leads.
It’s both important to help them and to let them know you are available for further information. Let them call you, email you, or ask for a visit to your office!
Content Marketing for Architects
If architects want to attract clients, they’re not many solutions. All marketing teachings say you have to explain the benefits of your services to your potential clients. But, as potential clients perceive their projects as problems, they are actively searching for solutions. Content marketing creates optimized content for them, guiding them to the solution, the architects’ services.
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