Seven Architecture Firm Branding & Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Have you ever struggled with any of the following?

• Do you feel that your clients don’t understand your role in the design process?
• That they don’t understand the value of the architectural services you provide?
• That they fail to see all the complexity of all the work that goes into a design?
• Are they impatient and mostly concerned about the end product?
• Do they see the builder/contractor as more central to the success of the project?

For many new to the world of hiring an architect, they might know they need an architect—but often they don’t actually understand why they need one.

In fact, we found the following results from a survey commissioned by InBuilding.org to be shockingly eye opening:

• 72% of respondents were unaware that architects apply for planning permission
• A staggering 86% had no idea architects select and manage contractors
• Less than one fifth knew architects prepare construction drawings
• Only 9% understood that they control site budgets
• 15% didn’t even know that architects design buildings.

For some of your prospects, the assumption may be that they just need some drawings to move forward with a project.

For others, they may see hiring an architect as a "necessary evil," usually because they don't understand your role in the design process.

Commoditization tends to happen when they don't see a clear difference between you and the other options available to them.

In their minds, they need an architect, so any architect will do.

If your firm isn’t effectively communicating why you’re different and why you can provide them with a better service over your competitors, then they are not likely to see your true value—which is so much more than a list of services.

This results in them seeing you as a commodity—and the only difference between one commodity service and another is price.

And when you’re competing on price alone, it’s just a race to the bottom. 

Your work, your team, your firm, is so much more than a dollar figure.

To stop appearing as a commodity, your branding, your website, and your marketing materials need to differentiate you from the crowd. 

This is where many firm owners get stuck, so here are some simple strategies for architecture studios to consider:

• Answer the key questions that are important to your clients, use FAQs to reassure clients that you understand exactly where they are coming from.
• Talk about your expertise and experience in the context of carefully crafted case studies and testimonials, rather than sharing lengthy resume-like bios.
• Showcase your team, talent, and culture to appeal to a wider range of personalities, rather than only showing your senior partners and principals.
• Communicate your unique capabilities to make it clear that what you do is the best of the best.
• Don’t be afraid to say exactly who you work for—if you’re a specialist, say so.

Be sure to show them why your firm is the perfect fit for their project.

The clearer you are, the easier it will be for your ideal client to realize you’re the right choice for their next project.

Learn more about the 10 Questions an Architecture Firms Need to Ask Before Hiring a Web Design Agency here.

When we knowingly, or unknowingly, emulate another firm, in terms of their language or tone, it ends up confusing the people we’re trying to attract.

This look-alike architecture firm marketing approach is seen over and over again in architecture—and we certainly saw a lot of it with the 550+ architecture studio websites we looked at.

A lot of this is down to the misunderstanding that your portfolio images should do all the talking, and that the written content is not that important.

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

The type of content you include on your site has far more value than your imagery. There are two key reasons why:

1. Portfolio Blindness - Many clients looking at your portfolio are not looking for anything specific, they just want to validate that your firm is capable of good design. In the process of comparing several firms, they may look at hundreds of images (yours and other firms). It can be overwhelming looking at so many images, and this causes what we refer to as 'portfolio blindness,' making it more and more difficult to recall details related to specific images, like which firm created them. The best way to combat Portfolio Blindness is to include detailed written descriptions with photos, or to put them into context with case studies or testimonials. Combining verbal and visual cues will help them to better recall your firm. According to a recent Harvard University study, case studies are the type of content that interest buyers the most. (blog.kolau.com).
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - If your site is not properly indexed by Google, you won't get found online. Unfortunately, Google cannot scan your portfolio images and understand them. This is why written content is so crucial. Based on our research, using the TOP 20 terms related to the topic "architect near me" there are more than 65,000 monthly searches across the USA. Now consider that these are just the TOP 20 terms, out of tens, if not hundreds of thousands more. This means there are millions of searches for architects online each month. If you can't get found online, you are missing out on important opportunities.

Many of the firms we evaluated said the same basic things, used similar language and vocabulary, and had the same style or voice—how are architecture clients meant to distinguish firms if they all sound the same?

When it comes to descriptions on firm websites, similar industry catch phrases are often used—usually because it was seen on another architecture website (yes, we asked).

When you write your content the right way, it’ll speak directly to your ideal client.

You should be talking about what sets you apart from your competitors. 

Writing with passion about what you do, who you serve, and how you better the world through that work is one of the essential elements to writing persuasive online content. 

Your site’s content shouldn’t be ‘borrowed’ from the website of a firm you admire—because: 

1. You’re not that firm

2. It's an SEO nightmare

Google will reduce your rankings in its search engine if you use 'copy-cat' content, making it even harder for your firm to be found online. If you do manage to attract a client through using text modeled on another firm, it’s probably not going to be a match made in heaven.

(While you may be thinking, "Of course, I would never do that, it's plagarism," we've bring it up because we've seen too many examples of this very bad idea in action.)

Make sure that the text on your site is unique to your firm so that you come across as authentic and true to your firm's values and beliefs.

Be unique and speak to your ideal client to do your firm justice.

Does this situation sound familiar?

Things are going well with your firm, you have plenty of word-of-mouth projects, they may not be exactly the projects you want, but you are paying the bills, so things are okay.

We see this a lot when it comes to architecture firms.

Firms are getting plenty of referrals, repeat clients, and other types of passive opportunities.

They may not be the projects or clients they really want, but hey, it's work, right?

This leads to what we define as a passive approach to marketing and business development.

The bills are getting paid, so firms put off developing a clear strategic marketing plan.

We refer to this as "Hope Marketing."

Essentially, you're just hoping that the stream of new business will continue.

However, relying on passive opportunities can present the following risks for your firm:

1. Unpredictable, unreliable, and inconsistent project pipeline - When you rely solely on word of mouth referrals, you are at the mercy of your referral sources. If the referrals don't come in, opportunities dry up. You never know when a current source will move on to another role, retire, or choose another architect.
2. Bad fit projects - Relying on referrals has another, often overlooked consequence. Sometimes you get bad referrals, and if you rely solely on referrals you don't want news getting back to your referral source that you passed on a project. We've heard from many firms that took on projects for this very reason, and more often than not, those projects end up costing firms money.
3. There is no safety net - Without a consistent inbound marketing plan, you are at greater risk to external factors like economic slow downs, or global pandemics. In a 2020 study, almost 80% of firms surveyed had experienced project delays as a result of the Covid pandemic, while almost two thirds were impacted by site closures. Some 37% of architects have been hit with project cancellations. Strategies for architecture marketing are about building awareness and growing your influence—these things take consistent effort over time. If your referrals suddenly dry up because of a slow down, and you do not have an effective marketing strategy in place, you'll be in free fall.

The solution is to make sure you have a clear strategic marketing plan in place. 

For those unfamiliar, this may sound complicated, but it doesn't have to be that way.

A simple marketing plan can include:

1. Making sure that your website is kept current by reviewing and updating it once every month or quarter.
2. Add to that a regular cycle of social media posts published a couple of times a week.
3. Adding a monthly or quarterly email to current and past clients, partners, and prospects is a good way to stay top of mind with your target audience(s).

Taking an active role in attracting and communicating to your target audience(s) will help you maintain and strengthen these relationships.

It can also help to demonstrate your expertise, know-how, and talent, which will separate you from your competitors. Learn more about how to find Architecture Clients here.

This is the failure to be clear about what you do and who you do it for—usually seen on a firm’s website, or when they’re engaging with referral sources.

If you’re not clear on what you do and who you do it for, you can’t effectively communicate the right message with prospects and partners.

The result is that they won’t understand why choosing you is the right option for them. 

If a referral source doesn’t know what to say about you and your firm, how can they know when a connection is a good fit for your firm? 

When communicating about your firm, you need to be able to clearly and concisely explain what you do and who your ideal client is, so your contacts can effectively get your firm referrals.

It also needs to be in simple, easy-to-remember language.

Here is a really simple framework to follow:

I/we help (or work with) [YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE] who are [DESCRIBE A PROBLEM THEY HAVE]. I/we help them [DESCRIBE THE RESULTS YOU PROVIDE THEM] through [METHODS/TOOLS YOU USE].

The idea is to clearly communicate who you want to work with, the problem you help them solve, the results you can provide them, and how you do that.

Recently, we helped an architect apply this model to her firm:

We help [SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNERS AND RECENT RETIREES] who [WANT TO BUILD THE COASTAL HOME OF THEIR DREAMS]. We help them [EXCEED THEIR EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT'S POSSIBLE] through [AN ARCHITECTURAL PROCESS WE CALL 'THE ART OF JOYFUL LIVING'].

Coming up with your own version of this framework will help you clearly communicate what you do, who you do it for, and how you do it.