Ultimate Guide to Marketing for Architects
Ultimate Guide to Marketing for Architects

As the world is making a final push towards complete digitalization, no matter what type of business you might be running, creating a robust online presence is critical. There are millions of architects around the globe, so you have to make sure that your marketing campaigns are in tune with the latest marketing trends.

You can become successful with the right mix of digital marketing strategies across multiple channels, including social media, websites, paid ads, blogs, and everything in between. Keep reading, and we’ll tell you what to do to increase your online visibility and attract more customers than ever before.

Define who you are

There are many different types of architecture out there, so the first thing you should do is to define who you are and what type of designs suit you. Some architects focus on interior designs. Others show their skills in exterior design, while some focus only on large office buildings and so on.

No matter how talented you might be, you can’t possibly excel in each of these categories. Before you can start organizing successful digital marketing campaigns, you have to set clear goals and put some extra effort into finding your place in the industry.

The idea is to show people that you’ve got the right skills, extensive experience, and a professional approach. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and try to imagine what they would like to know and see before offering your skills to anyone. Take a look at a few competitor websites, and you’ll see that they all share a professional look.

Once you define your area of expertise and feel confident that your existing work can prove your claims, you can start building a strong online presence. Defining your goals is the first and the most important step you’ll build your entire professional career on, so take your time until you’re 100% sure in your decisions.

Market on social media

Social media are the perfect platforms for advertising your persona, services, and designs. Architecture is primarily a visual practice, and what better place to showcase your work than on websites such as Facebook and Instagram? Not only that, close to 3 billion people all over the world use these social media daily, which means that you’ll have a vast reach if you set your pages up correctly.

However, social media platforms can help you with so much more other than simply sharing your designs with the world. You’ll get the chance to communicate with people directly, connect with other architecture experts to share experiences with, and even find inspiration.

There’s a ton of reasons why you should start building your brand on social media. Even if the initial feedback isn’t all that positive, you’ll know what to change and where to aim your future campaigns to get better success.

Social media platforms are also excellent for advertising your work. By using advanced algorithms, you can make sure that your ads target the right people. If they like your work, they will join your pages, review your posts, and contact you for more information. With a little bit of sweet talk and the right approach, you can land many projects on social media.

Build a website

Of course, you can’t run a successful online campaign of any kind without a modern-looking website. A website is not just a place where people can go to contact you. It’s also a platform to showcase your work and create a professional image about your entire company. It will also help you increase brand exposure and generate leads.

A well-designed localized website will help you position yourself as an industry expert. All your potential customers will have your website to refer to. With the right design, a responsive build, a smooth user experience, and proper SEO optimization, potential customers will trust your skills and capabilities much easier.

Not to mention that you’ll have another channel where you can provide excellent customer service and support. With that said, you should keep your website as simple as possible. Focus on getting your message across as clearly as possible, and keep adding new content and ideas all the time.

Websites can be expensive, and they usually require a team of developers to set up, but the investment will be more than worth it in the long run. One thing is for sure – you can’t run a successful company of any kind without a website.

Create a flawless portfolio

As we mentioned earlier, architecture is highly visual, so you’ll need an excellent portfolio to prove your skills. It’s simply a necessary tool that helps you showcase your strengths and skills. However, you can’t just upload all your renders to an online portfolio.

You have to consider many different factors, including what your clients want to see, your website’s overall design and style, and most importantly, you have to tell your story using images.

Start by thinking about what your ideal client would want to see. For example, if you design office building interiors, upload only your best designs showcasing your skills. Be selective and pick unique and top projects from before. You don’t want to clutter your portfolio with simple jobs. That would only water down your best work.

It’s always better to pick five top-notch designs than upload 20 or more average ones. Lastly, make sure that the design of your portfolio complements your brand as much as possible. Use the same fonts, color palette, images, and other details to get that clean, professional look in the end.

Network with other professionals

During your online marketing campaigns, you’ll run into other architects, brands, and pages that share similar content. That will help you meet the right people, which can significantly impact your overall success.

By connecting with other professionals, you’ll get to see what they are doing to be successful. However, you’ll also gain access to an unlimited source of inspiration, and if you want, you can also contact other architects and exchange experiences.

Some of them might even offer you a few projects that are outside of their area of expertise. Once you get into the right architectural circles, you’ll get the chance to expand your online presence even further.

For example, you can share your work on other pages, which can help you find clients, but more importantly, you will get feedback from other established professionals. The bottom line is – you’ll get more details about your work and architecture in general, and that is always a good thing.

Use the newest technologies

There’s no doubt that new technologies are driving the entire industry forward constantly. By implementing VR, AR, and 3D rendering into your campaigns, you will show the world that you’re in tune with the latest trends. As a result, your brand and your work will look even more professional.

Most clients want to see that their architect understands the latest trends and uses all the available tools during the design phase. Newest technologies will give your work that wow factor to make a massive difference in your long-term success.

By impressing your customers, you’ll be able to build a strong online presence for your brand, which will undoubtedly help you land better clients and bigger projects.

Keep an open mind

Whatever you do in your marketing campaigns, you should always find ways to expand your skills and abilities. Keeping an open mind to new ideas, designs, and types of work will help you build your skills according to the latest industry trends.

Furthermore, some clients might contact you with some crazy ideas that might seem impossible at first. Those projects are often the ones that can help you a lot in the long run. If you manage to put their ideas into functioning designs, you’ll prove your worth and show the rest of the world that you’re able to cope with demanding design ideas.

However, you should keep an open mind when it comes to online marketing as well. No matter how good your marketing campaigns might be, you should know that the trends keep changing every year. A campaign that helped you attract many customers in one year probably won’t get the same results next year. Stay on top of the game and keep evolving your marketing campaigns according to the trends.

Add some publications to your resume

Building trust with the online community is a must if you want to run a successful architecture company. An excellent portfolio will help you a lot, but nothing has as big of an impact as having your work published by one of many architecture publications. It directly correlates with connecting with other professionals online.

Once you build a relationship with other professional architects and publications, you can ask them to review your latest work and publish their findings in popular online magazines. That way, your clients will know that you’re the real deal. Once your clients see that your work is considered a big deal in the architectural community, they won’t need much persuasion.

If you manage to get your work published, you will have all the proof you’ll ever need. If your work gets published regularly, you can expect to land better clients and bigger projects.

Have a lead generation strategy

Making sure that you generate enough leads will have a massively positive effect on your overall success. It’s one of the oldest marketing strategies used by architecture firms, and it’s still used because it gets the job done. In fact, many architects use lead generation as their primary marketing strategy because it offers results the fastest.

Lead generation can be done using a few different methods. The most popular method is called cold calling, and it’s done through a few different stages. First of all, companies collect data on as many individuals as possible. Then they use the collected data, couple it with information about their services, and call people randomly offering those services directly. You need only a few positive calls to secure projects that will last for months. The problem with this method is that most people don’t like to be disturbed by a phone call.

With so many different digital marketing strategies available, you can advertise your services through multiple channels. Use everything you can, including social media, paid ads, and a compelling website, to increase the number of leads you generate.

You can contact a digital marketing expert and ask for more advice on how to run a successful marketing campaign. Remember that your ultimate goal is to inform as many people as you can about your services. With that said, you should be prepared to sort through a ton of unqualified leads until you find the ones that really matter.

Conclusion

It takes a lot of effort to create a successful marketing campaign in a saturated market. As an architect, you’ll be competing against tens of thousands of other professionals, all looking for their slice of the pie. That’s why you have to use all the available tools and methods to get ahead and secure a safe future for your brand and company.

By combining paid ads, social media marketing, SEO, a well-designed website, and even cold calling, you can make sure that you always have a project to work on. With that said, you should start small and gradually build a strong online presence and a recognizable brand.

Put some extra effort into your marketing campaigns, and you’ll be able to build your name faster than you think. Good luck!