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How to market your Architecture firm to bring in awesome work

Today on Design Under Influence we’re very excited to welcome guest Bryon McCartney, the Chief Creative Strategist and co-founder of ArchMark.

ArchMark is a specialized marketing agency geared towards architecture & design firms. We’ll be talking about how to grow your company and how technology can help you do so!

Growth and technology are intimately related to your business.

Small to midsize marketing firms usually spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on marketing, especially when you factor in the salaries of those responsible for outreach. Most firms spend somewhere between 3-10% on marketing, depending on the size of clients they are trying to land.

In today’s world, relationship-building is still extremely important in attracting and retaining clients. But that’s more of the business development side of your business — the reactive side.

Marketing, on the other hand, is all about generating new leads to help your business grow proactively. The more your company wants to grow, the more you’ll have to spend on marketing.

Many architecture and design firms aren’t taking a proactive approach to grow their business. In order to get more bid opportunities, you have to go out there and get them.

You need to be active in showing that you have the expertise needed to match potential client needs. In order to grow, you have to pave the way forward to get people interested in having conversations.

So, how do you do it?

The starting point for any firm is your web presence. This isn’t to be confused with your website — web presence is a much bigger umbrella. You want to be sure that your presence works as part of your sales funnel to lead people to your website.

Once someone reaches your website, you should have mechanisms in place to capture leads. This is done through gathering interest through things like:

  • Subscription to a newsletter
  • Scheduling of consultation calls
  • Downloadable pieces of content that deliver value

All of your content marketing should be aligned with your company’s mission and goals. If you consider yourself a thought leader in workplace improvement, for example, you should have blog posts on your website that talk about that.

At the end of the day, you are trying to present yourself as a solution to an ideal client to address a particular challenge that they’re facing.

You don’t need to be everywhere solving every problem. You want to implement focused outreach that is targeted specifically at your ‘perfect’ client.

Position yourself as an expert. Craft a clear message. Be passionate about the solutions you’re presenting and let that shine through in your content. That’s how you reach big-fish clients that help your firm grow.

When you create messages that resonate with target clients, they’re going to come to you as someone who can answer their questions. They’ll want to be guided. They’ll treat you as the expert that you are!

Many architecture firms are concerned that too much focus on a particular type of client could jeopardize their ability to land other projects.

But the opposite is actually true.

When you position yourself as an expert, people see you as a level above everyone else.

When you position yourself as a generalist, you blend into the pack and don’t stand out.

Don’t fall into the entrepreneurial trap of casting too wide of a net! Make people take notice of your messaging, and let them come to you!

Once you’ve attracted a new client and served them well, they’ll refer you to other clients. The growth becomes exponential and organic.

If you’d like to get in touch with Bryon McCartney to consult on how your firm can grow through a dedicated marketing strategy, visit the ArchMark website or send him an email at: bryon@archmark.co.

Or head over to LinkedIn and search brilliantbryon in the search bar. It’s time to start the conversation about marketing as a growth strategy for your firm!

If you have questions or need help please reach out to us. ArchIT specializes
in providing IT services for architecture, design, and engineering firms.