Branding for Architects

The Architect's Guide to Effective Branding

7 Steps for Architecture Firm Branding

Branding for architects isn’t just about having a beautifully designed logo. In fact, when it comes to promoting your architecture firm, a distinctive brand is fundamental to communicating what makes your firm unique and different.

In our experience branding and rebranding architecture firms, construction companies, and home service providers over the past ten years, we have developed a strategic process that makes branding easier than expected and reveals surprising results.

In this article, we share the same steps we take with our clients so you apply them to your own branding efforts.

1. Identify Your Goals

Get SMART about your goals!

2. Know Your Audience

Vital to a successful architecture branding strategy is understanding who is — and who isn’t — your ideal target audience.

Think about it, a commercial architecture firm needs to attract a different client persona than a residential architecture firm.

It's not enough to just hope the right client stumbles upon your services. In fact, hope is not a marketing strategy. To find your clients, you need to get out there and get in front of the best audience based on the expertise, experience, and services you offer.

Narrowing in on your target audience is equally important when you're trying to grow and expand your brand. You need to be as specific as possible to order identify who your brand needs to connect with.

Start by answering these questions:

• Who is your ideal client?
• Where are they?
• What do they do?
• What problem do you solve for them?
• What information do they want?
• Where do they get information?
• What social media do they use?
• How do they make decisions?

3. Construct Your Brand & Your Brand Story

4. Design Your Brand’s Visual Identity

A few words about Architecture firm websites

Your website may be the first encounter a prospect has with your architecture firm. You'll want to make sure your brand is well-represented by your website, and that the site provides an accurate — and appealing — first impression of your firm.

Six essentials of any good website:

1. Be easy to navigate, not overwhelming or confusing.
2. Clearly state what you do and why it's important to them.
3. Have an obvious, quick way to contact you.
4. Be professionally designed, built to look good, and function properly on all devices (mobile responsive design).
5. Feature relevant, timely, and keyword-rich content.
6. Include up-to-date security settings.

Your website can and should play a major role in helping you attract and land new business!

(Read more about maximizing the value of your website)

5. Consistency is Key to Successful Branding

With all the effort you're putting into creating your architecture firm’s brand, consistency will help you get the greatest long-term impact and value from your brand. Brand guidelines will help you keep up with a clear branding style. In fact, sticking to your brand guidelines will help differentiate you from others, whether you’re a solo architect or run a large firm.

Along with those brand guidelines, have a process in place to make sure your portfolio and website are kept up to date and in line with your brand.

If there are changes happening in your firm, make sure they are reflected on your website, resume, or business cards. 

When you give branding the same attention to detail that you give your project design and management work, your clients — and prospective clients — will see and value that professionalism.

6. Be Social

7. Create Brand Ambassadors

Branding for Architects

When it comes to building your architecture business, start by setting clear goals, identifying your audience, knowing your brand story, creating a visual style and brand to match.

Archmark works with architects to help them build a strong brand foundation for business growth, establish authority to take a leadership position in their market, and create awareness that attracts qualified leads and better clients.

We focus on how to build up your business, so you can focus on leading your firm. It starts with a free 20-minute architecture marketing strategy call to find out if our branding and marketing process are a good fit for you!

Learn more about How To Build a Strong Architecture Brand here.

You don't have to do it alone! Archmark helps architects and designers build and succeed with branding and marketing. Find out how we can help you. Schedule your 20-minute intro call today to see how we can help your architecture firm go even further.