Marketing Tips to Create a Buzz About Your New Architect’s Firm
Getting desirable and profitable new work is indicative of a successful marketing effort. To create this level of success, you need to work towards setting your firm apart from the rest and gain recognition from your clients.
When you are working hard to establish your architecture firm, one of the key aspects you cannot ignore relates to professional liability insurance for architects. This form of insurance protects you against the financial liability of defending yourself against malpractice lawsuits relating to the service that you provide as an architect. From project delays, overruns of budget to mistakes from a contractor, there can be many factors that can lead to a lawsuit.
8 marketing tips to elevate your architect’s firm
Strategic planning: The foundation of marketing success lies in strategic planning. Evaluate your firm’s strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, and business goals. Many architect firm owners undertake planning activities themselves while bigger firms assign these tasks to the marketing staff.
The size of your firm determines whether you will conduct your marketing activities in-house or outsource it to consultants. Smaller firms tend to employ external consultants as employing full time marketing staff may not make sense at the initial stages. Outside consultants can handle a range of marketing and PR activities including strategic planning, marketing research, brochure design, website design and events.
Be on the lookout for speaking opportunities : A great way to reach out to multitudes of people is to take up speaking opportunities. For instance, you can attract the attention of a school administrator who may want to talk to you about a potential project in the school.
Look into registries: You can also make use of the state, local, and federal registers which have a list of proposals and qualifications, Construction Marketing Data (CMD), local construction newspapers/journals, and other publications.
Network: Networking is the ideal way to get leads from existing clients, other consultants or influential contacts.
Present a paper: Attending conferences that serve a wide variety of clientele such as local and federal government, libraries, education, museums, historic buildings, facility managers across industries is an effective way to generate leads. Here, you can reaffirm your existing client relationships while cultivating new ones. You can also gain recognition by giving a lecture or presenting a paper at a conference about an innovative practice, design or process that you have developed.
Build an image: As an architect firm, you need to master the art of PR or public relations. PR is about establishing your architecture firm’s image, branding and spreading the word. In addition to getting your work published in the newspaper, trade press, or other media, PR also involves managing your website, photo shoots, firm’s newsletters, award submissions, advertising and special events. These activities can also include serving on the panel of design juries, writing for magazines or journals and taking up memberships of professional organizations.
Focus on digital marketing: In the digital era, it is crucial to have a professionally designed website and to be present on various social media platforms. Your website should be one that can be easily updated and contain a library of information that includes case studies, new products or creative solutions, recent news on your firm, reviews and a page that showcases your portfolio of current and past work
Use cutting edge technology: Learning 3D-modelling and visualization tools can help your architecture firm gain a competitive edge over others. With the latest software, you can produce animations or high-quality renderings that help you make impressive presentations to prospective clients.
