Reasons Why Some Architects Are Poor at Marketing Themselves
Reasons Why Some Architects Are Poor at Marketing Themselves

Becoming an architect is a dream come true for a lot of people. However, getting a degree and perfecting architectural skills isn’t enough to succeed in the architectural industry anymore.

As architecture is becoming an increasingly popular calling for more and more individuals worldwide, architects must implement several additional steps to secure their success. Although there are many different properties aspiring architects can choose from, one of the most important ones is effective marketing.

However, most successful architects aren’t marketing experts, which is why it might be challenging for them to find the correct marketing tools and strategies that’ll benefit their business. In fact, some architects have a very poor understanding of marketing, which can lead to the failure of a company.

Below, we’ll cover the most common reasons why some architects are poor at marketing themselves.

They think they’re unique artists who deserve recognition on their own

Being an architect requires plenty of creative skills. More often than not, an architect is the most creative person among friends, family members, or any other kind of inner circle.

That can lead to architects feeling assured they’re among the most creative and unique individuals not only in their close group of people but in general. As a result, they might overestimate their skillset and believe they deserve recognition without any marketing or promoting efforts.

However, because this profession heavily relies on creativity and uniqueness, everyone employed in the architectural industry possesses more-or-less the same skills. Furthermore, all artists in the architecture field are unique in their own way and have something different to bring to the table.

Considering yourself to be a unique artist simply isn’t enough of a reason to make poor marketing decisions. There are plenty of talented, educated, and skilled architects out there, and they’ll easily take your potential clients by implementing the smallest marketing strategies as part of their campaign.

With elementary marketing efforts, even some extraordinarily talented architects can be overshadowed by average artists.

They don’t understand how competitive their industry is

Closely connected to the previous point, some architects fail to see how competitive the industry they work in really is.

What was once a rare calling that required plenty of time, resources, and education is now a popular field that many young people choose as their profession. Thanks to new education formats, such as online learning and alternative courses, more people than ever before can now find the time and resources to complete the necessary education and dive into the world of architecture.

Naturally, many individuals take the opportunity their ancestors weren’t provided with and choose to complete various formal degrees and alternative courses that grant them the ability to work as architects.

Over the last several years, the total number of architects has significantly increased. With more architects in the field, the industry is now a highly competitive one.

Unfortunately, some architects still believe there aren’t that many people with the same occupation as theirs, but the reality is different. The industry is likely to grow even more competitive in the future as architecture continues to advance and attract younger generations.

They have poor computer skills

Another reason some architects don’t have the much-needed marketing skills for their business is that they lack the necessary computer skills to complete such actions. In the past, a newspaper advertisement or a radio announcement was more than enough to boost the company’s visibility and attract new clients.

However, with newspaper and radio marketing being outdated a long time ago, newer advertising methods and technologies were introduced to the public.

Today, social media platforms and the internet are without a doubt the leading marketing sources for any industry, including architecture. Computer skills are essential to make digital marketing work, which is why architects who have poor computer skills can’t achieve the advertising results they aspire towards.

That’s especially the case with architects who belong to older generations. As they didn’t grow up with computers by their side and only learned how to use modern tech devices in their adulthood, most architects still don’t have the advanced computer skills that’ll allow them to promote their business online.

The lack of skills considered essential in the modern age can be the reason for poor marketing choices or lack of them altogether.

They aren’t keeping up with the trends

Besides the vast use of technologies and online tools, the present-day era is also known for fast-changing trends.

During their education, architects learn about the numerous architectural trends throughout history. Even though the trends existed then, they didn’t change so frequently, and all trends were typically headed in the same direction.

Nowadays, the trends change often, and they can implement various elements and trends from the past, thus creating a completely new hybrid trend. Moreover, current architectural trends and styles aren’t uniform, and they can be based on different properties, depending on the overall effect an architect wants to achieve.

With so many possibilities architects can choose from, a trendy and relevant design is more important than most architects realize.

If an architect wants to launch marketing campaigns that’ll be successful and turn profitable, it’s crucial to keep up with the latest trends and know what the clients seek in projects. By failing to follow the trending elements in architecture, marketing campaigns with a big potential might face disappointing results because of the outdated content shown to existing and potential customers.

They are focused on themselves, not the clients

Many architects make the same mistake at the beginning of their career, focusing on their business and architectural skills instead of focusing on clients and their requests. Some architects continue to make this same mistake years and years after starting to work on various architectural projects, continually failing to shift the focus from themselves onto their clients.

While it’s wonderful for an architect to achieve great success, architectural skills and achievements shouldn’t be the focal point of discussion between architects and their clients.

The same goes for marketing efforts. When coming up with a marketing campaign, many architects lean towards impressing the public with their previous successes and projects that did well.

Because of that, a very small number of architects try to respond to their client’s wishes and requests, which could be more important than the achieved success. That means the architects aren’t so focused on delivering customers’ requests as much as gaining personal or professional benefits from the project. Instead, the focus should be on the clients and the outcome they’re seeking.

They don’t use 3D visualization

3D visualization has become an essential element of modern-age architecture. The communication between the architectural artist and the client must be flawless for the project to meet everyone’s expectations. Without proper communication, disagreement, errors, and other issues are bound to occur during the construction phase.

3D visualization is exactly what makes this communication go smooth and seamless. Architects and clients who don’t speak the same language can easily communicate thanks to the 3D visualization technique, which contains detailed information about a project.

Furthermore, 3D visualization makes it possible for clients to get a visual idea of how their space will look once the project is completed. That’s extremely important for your clients who don’t have enough experience with architecture, as they often struggle with creating the general picture of a finished project in their heads.

Even for experienced clients who can visualize the idea without any aids, the 3D render is useful to catch possible construction mistakes and errors before they happen in real life and correct them before it’s too late.

Easy communication, fewer mistakes, increased time-effectiveness, and a considerable financial advantage are the main reasons why all customers searching for an architect strictly demand 3D visualization skills to be among the first ones mentioned.

Therefore, it can be said 3D visualization is an essential skill all architects must provide for their upcoming projects.

Marketing campaigns that don’t include 3D visualizations could discourage many interested clients from proceeding with their offer and instead motivate them to continue with a different architect who can surely bring all their visions into helpful sketches and designs.

They don’t network

We already mentioned the important role the internet and social media play in marketing strategies. As the most profitable marketing tools right now, social platforms are crucial for keeping the clients updated with your latest projects and for increasing brand visibility and easy networking.

Today, an online presence can dictate how successful a business can become, as they’re one of the most powerful networking tools out there.

Although helpful, portfolios and websites aren’t what the online presence is all about. Instead, social media platforms are the key to effective networking. Besides connecting with your customers, partners, and sponsors, you can also reach out to new audiences that haven’t had the opportunity to come across your business before.

Architects who don’t network can miss out on these advantages social media platforms provide to both architecture companies and freelancers.

They are lazy

Most architects had to go through rigorous exams and invest a lot of their time to turn their dreams of becoming an architect into reality. However, the truth is, many architects believe their studying days are over once they pass their final exam and receive their license for designing all kinds of buildings.

That explains why so many architects aren’t motivated to learn about new trends and necessities, including marketing basics. By becoming lazy to learn new material and strive for advancement, the lazy architects are ultimately dooming themselves to stay in the same spot for years and years or even downgrade.

Every profession requires its employees to continually go back, revise, and even build up on their existing knowledge to remain successful at all times.

They feel the world owes them something

The demanding learning courses all architects had to go through make some of them lazy and make certain architects feel the world owes them something for their long and exhausting years of studying.

As a result, some architects believe marketing strategies and campaigns don’t apply to them, as they should experience success without investing any effort into promoting their services.

While the road to becoming an architect requires some sacrifices to be made along the way, no architect should feel like they’re above everyone else just because they chose a certain path in their life.

They don’t understand marketing

Finally, some architects are extraordinary architects, but they simply aren’t cut out to lead a business and make smart marketing decisions. For good marketing choices, it isn’t enough to be good at what you do. Some less talented architects and artists will become more successful just because they know how to promote their business and lure in many new clients.

Marketing is an entirely different industry from architecture, and ambitious architects need to learn how to combine the two industries and make the most out of them.

Fortunately, marketing is something that you can learn. By investing some free time into learning more about core marketing methods and how different advertising strategies work, any architect can become an expert at promoting their services and finding their target audience.

Conclusion

If you’re an architect and you’re struggling to make it in the highly competitive market that’s already filled with numerous talented and experienced architects, marketing your way through success might be just what you need.

Even though marketing isn’t your calling, identifying why you’re making poor marketing decisions is sometimes more than enough to transform your advertising game and start promoting your architectural services in the right way. Profit and success will soon follow.