Architectural marketing is not something that is new. However, due to the lack of presence in this segment, architects often forget about the perks of promoting their work and how it can help them improve their overall standings in this highly saturated market. In fact, executing a great marketing strategy in today’s world cannot be seen just as an additional expanse, but as a long-term investment that will trace the path to success to every architectural studio that will use it, big or small.
But, in the real world, this story is a bit more complicated. In general, architects are a little weary of the thought that marketing is a crucial element in their future success. Often, they underestimate the important role marketing has in expanding their architecture business. In fact, even the ones who understand that marketing is essential for generating leads and conversions, as well as building new connections, do not fully engage in using every single tool marketing has to offer.
In their efforts to maintain their usual methodology, companies often knowingly abandon marketing practices, with the argument that marketing is something of a luxury that will only come later in their cycle of existence, or once their business is stable and thriving. This is wrong on so many levels and fails to acknowledge the ultimate feature of marketing: driving growth.
Therefore, architects do need to dedicate the same amount of their time and resources to marketing just as they do with their 3D modeling of buildings and tailoring floor plans.
In this article, we are going to talk about the tools that architects have at their disposal even if they are small entities that are just starting their journey on the market.
Social Media and Architectural Marketing
Although more and more architectural companies are nowadays, using social media to present their work before their desired audiences, it seems as though they do not fully engage in the entirety of its features.
Let’s face it; One of the most effective marketing techniques for architects is social media marketing. Social media gives you an excellent platform to present your work because it is frequently so visually appealing. And what better way to present a project or a design you have proudly worked on than through an appealing picture or graphic that will give your audience a glimpse of your work.
The other element is the social one. Social media networks are mainly used for communication with audiences as it gives an open channel that can be used for sharing ideas, and discussing certain topics. However, it is not enough to just have a social media account and do nothing. In order to get the attention of your desired audience, you need to be constant in your posting strategy and post fresh content every now and then.
Furthermore, you will need to take note of the nature of every social network. If you are on LinkedIn you will notice that this is a highly professional and business-oriented network that serves for people to share ideas and discuss business matters through interactive posts, videos, polls, etc. As a result, you ought to make use of it to network and create your influence in the segment of architecture. Architectural marketing is not just a paid ads campaign but a continuous set of posting practices that will make your business stand out.
Instagram is another network that can offer a more visual presentation of your work. Therefore, architectural marketing can find its eternal home here. Instagram is perfect for architecture studious that want to share their work with the world and offer their angle. With a thoroughly planned strategy, you can really gain a high number of followers which means a bigger audience will see your work.
Lastly, using social media could provide you with an advantage over your rivals. In fact, a lot of architectural firms do not utilize their social media accounts to their maximum potential. So, you can take advantage of this and fulfill the void left in the market in order to enhance your company’s reputation and build a strong brand.
Email Marketing and Architecture
Although it might sound like email is not in anymore, the current situation in the marketing segment tells a completely different story. In fact, email is still alive and thriving. However, the content of the email has changed the tempo in this area. As a matter of fact, the change can be traced back to the barrage of spam emails that are sent in only one second anywhere. This leads to user exhaustion and fatigue that make people believe that email is simply a spam advertisement that nowadays everyone gets in their junk folder.
But, there is a catch. And, of course, the catch here is the content itself. When sending an email make sure that it contains something that your reader can benefit from. The opt-in system is the best when building up the mailing list because this process will simply cover only those people that want to be part of your list.
Content Marketing and Architecture
Content is obviously the baseline of your architectural marketing strategy. Without meaningful content, successful marketing is simply out of the picture. By offering some valuable messages and material that is worthy of your visitor’s attention, you are making value for your business and providing the audience with something that can be easily memorized. For example, adding a blog section is a really cheap option for content marketing and can take your architectural business to another level.
This is true because blogging allows you to present your business and your architecture services to your potential clients. Despite that, in blog posts, you can also share ideas and opinions on certain topics from the architecture world. To summarize, businesses use blogs to build a certain image of their businesses, give them a pinch of personality, and create a credible image.
This will be very easy when it comes to the field of architecture as there are numerous topics that can be covered in these blog posts.
Once you publish your blog posts on your website, another thing you should do is share these posts on social media. This way you will get a win-win situation, using both content and social media as two different channels for the same goal.
Apart from blog posts, the architecture segment can also see benefits from creating videos, delivering photo messages, or even creating podcasts where different people will discuss architectural topics.
SEO
When speaking of architectural marketing content marketing can be portrayed as the body of your strategy. The soul part of your strategy will belong to SEO. Simply put, all of your created content will be nothing and will reach no one if it hasn’t been accurately optimized for the search engines where it is supposed to appear. So, if you want people to see your content out there, be sure to use a clever SEO strategy that will do just that. The frequent upgrading of your website’s content and the use of keywords are two crucial areas to concentrate on with SEO. A blog or other form of content marketing is the greatest approach to regularly updating the material on your website. Just be sure to concentrate on producing high-quality material.
SEO is a strategy that relays on keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that your potential clients might use to look for something that your content offers. The most optimal strategy is to have one main keyword that you will use throughout your content and several other additional keywords.
Newsletters and Architectural Marketing
Let’s say that your website is doing a great job at attracting new customers to your architectural business. However, retaining potential clients and keeping them engaged is another thing you should really think about.
People might engage with your website, and they may find it interesting, but after seeing everything they need, they will close it and even sometimes forget about it.
So, how can you prevent these slipping-offs even before your leads decide to use your services?
With a simple newsletter.
This magical electronic tool can keep your website visitors up to date about all your current and future operations. The only thing you will need is your visitors’ email addresses so you can start your daily or monthly send-offs. This will definitely help your business be easily remembered when architecture is in question. Therefore, this type of architectural marketing can open a lot of doors, and all you need to do is get creative with the wording and incorporate some graphics that will steal the attention of each recipient.
In a nutshell
Architectural marketing is a must-have if you want to score big in the architecture segment. It is not enough to just offer your services you’re going to have to earn your place on the market by fighting to get in front of your competitors. It is crucial that you take your time in developing a strategy that will best suit your way of doing business.
Experimenting with one of the above-mentioned tools will paint you a picture of how your architectural studio is performing on the market. Combining some of these approaches, or simply utilizing them all will definitely set your standings high up on the competition scale.
In the end, you will end up with a successful business and a desire to thrive further in the architecture segment.
