Emotional Marketing for Architects
How to Put Your Heart into Your Marketing
What do you love about working in architecture?
Now look at how you present your firm to the world — your website, your social media, your blog, professional listings, business cards, brochures, and even how you talk about your work.
Have you successfully connected what you love about architecture with how your firm is marketed?
While there are plenty of technology trends and changes that can help with your marketing efforts, the one trend that can help your marketing succeed has little to do with technology and everything to do with heart. It's really about making and improving emotional connections.
The shift to creating marketing with more emotional engagement isn't just a trend that will come and go. It's here to stay.
How can an architect use "marketing with heart" to make those emotional connections with prospects and clients? Start by being
Bolder,
Braver, and Better!
Bolder Content
There's a competitive advantage for the businesses that most effectively engage the hearts of their ideal clients.
We’ve done this with our own clients. For example, one home builder focuses on building and remodeling custom homes. When we redesigned their website, we used original photography and created specific messaging to show how they offer a less stressful, more personalized solution to building that dream home.
For your own firm, how can you can incorporate emotional experiences that connect with your prospective clients? Your website is a good place to start. Make it more personal by sharing your stories and revealing your firm's personality.
- Share stories of client success — and how you helped them overcome a challenge. In business, those emotional stories help you explain how you solve the problems that keep your clients up at night. Include quotes from your clients to let them tell the story in their own words.
- Share your own stories — why do you take on the work you do? What drives you to keep going? How is your approach different from others? Be bold and share the good and bad, the ups and the downs. If your firm is involved with non-profit or community efforts, or you actively mentor or teach, share those stories of connection and heart!
Braver Blogging
It's time to be more original and proactive about creating content for your blog. This is your platform to express all the things that make your firm unique and desirable. Be brave and share your opinions and ideas, even when they diverge from the ordinary — because you want to be seen as anything but ordinary.
- Inspirations and frustrations — What's sparking new ideas and directions in your work? What challenges are blocking progress in your market?
- Trends you love. Trends you hate. — Be honest and stand for what matters to you. There is not shortage of design and building trends for architects to love or hate. And making your position clear is one more way to attract the right kind of client.
- Q&A – Answer the burning questions that you get asked almost every time in those early business development conversations and at networking events. This is a great way to communicate your architecture firm's value and expertise!
- Guest Posts — Invite team members, collaborators, suppliers, clients, and others to write or co-write a blog post. The more comfortable you get with blogging yourself, the easier it becomes to add other voices and perspectives.
Not only does your blog help you establish a clear identity for your architecture firm, it also creates a clear path to your website, your online doorstep. People searching for information and answers on the internet will find your blog posts and be drawn deeper into your website. A blog is a great first step for online lead generation!
Better Social
First, you do not have to be on every social media platform. Pick one or two, and do them consistently well. Be sure to pick the social media platform your ideal future clients are most likely to be using every day.
In addition to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, and YouTube, architects have other options, such as Houzz and Architizer, for sharing project portfolios and expanding their online presence.
Following these few simple rules can help you make those social media platforms worth your time and effort:
- Posts should always include a great visual. Use original images (photos, drawings, graphics) and take time to make them reflect the visual identity of your architect firm's brand.
- Use posts to drive people to your website. Include links to your latest blog post, project update, or landing page with a specific offer. Unlike social media accounts, your website is the once piece of online real estate you own and control. Use social media to make it inviting and easy for people to get there!
- Curate with care. If you are sharing links to websites other than your own, use the post to add your own comments and opinions.
It's Your Turn!
Go ahead, put some heart into your marketing! Start small, with just one of these ideas. Get comfortable and then try another.
If you get stuck or don't have time, or you're just not sure where to start, we're here to help. It's what we do every day.
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.
Learn about the 5 Keys to Consistent Architecture Firm Branding here.
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 review call to help you:
- Get clarity on why your current digital marketing efforts aren't working
- (re)Define your competitive advantage
- Discover insights into your ideal clients that you never would have thought of on your own
Find out how we can help you. Schedule your strategy review call today to see how we can help your architecture firm go even further.
