Boost Your Architecture Firm’s Marketing by Leveraging Your Local Expertise

Chances are good that your approach to architecture helps answer at least one of the major challenges facing local businesses and homeowners where you live. Every town faces a range of issues such as growing pains, limited space, economic challenges, environmental and sustainability issues — some are more complex than others.

Big cities and small towns pursue downtown revitalization projects, coastal communities face water-front erosion and sea-level rise concerns, and housing and transportation challenges are just some of the critical needs that present great opportunity for architects to lead the way with their practical expertise and visionary thinking.

Take what you know about the issues, and what you know how to do, and get out there and share it:

Raise your profile as an architect and a local leader

• Get published locally - Engage your local audience and increase credibility for your architecture firm by reaching out to local and regional newspapers, lifestyle, and business publications. Offer to write an article on one of those local issues. Depending on the issue and your firm, you can go for a neutral informative article or write more of an opinion piece and clearly take a stand for your firm.
• Speak to local organizations - Not everyone loves public speaking but the benefits of getting courageous enough to step on the stage can be worth it. Looking for opportunities to speak to groups and associations, such as ASID, BIA, NAHB, and ULI are great starting points. However, also look for opportunities to to get in front of local business leaders through Chambers of Commerce, Rotary, and and professional networking organizations.
• Be social - Build your following on social media by focusing on the platforms your prospects and partners are most likely to use. For example, Facebook or Instagram may be best for residential architects to attract homeowners, while Linkedin may be the right place for commercial architects to connect with business owners and executives. Find ways to use social media to show off your personality and call attention to your local roots — even adding hashtags with a more local feel, such as #FloridaArchitecture, #ClevelandArchitect, #SmallTownArchitect, #RestorationArchitect.

These approaches work because it’s about educating people by sharing your insights and expertise, so be sure to avoid pitching or selling in these situations!

How do local conditions influence your design decisions and materials selection? What do you do to design more efficient and sustainable buildings?

What are the latest developments and technology in architecture, and how are you adapting to those in your firm?

For example, one of our Florida-based clients regularly shares her experience and answers questions about designing for the tropical climate — how she designs homes for waterfront and beachfront environments and low-lying sea-level locations, that can take the constant heat and humidity, and even the winds and rain, and the occasional hurricane.



Know what's trending and talk about it. Consider how you can add content to your website that relates to those topics of local interest. By being the architect who shares that specific expertise, you can help set yourself apart from other firms in the area.

What are you known for? What’s your take on architectural design? Does it embrace or challenge local or regional traditions? Or do you break with the established ideas and look to bring a different style and approach to the community?

Do you design buildings that are recognizably "signed" by you? Maybe it's your choice of cladding materials, or floating walls, or suspended ceilings, or atriums and natural light. Whatever it is, find ways to showcase that unique aspect of your work — and attract the kind of clients who value what you do.

Look at opportunities to translate big picture ideas and trends to fit your clients’ needs in the local market. While it may seem that design  in New York or Los Angeles, London or Tokyo are world’s away from your local building needs, you can be the architect to bring new perspectives to the local market.

Even if you design for a variety of projects, get clarity about that special something that shows it’s your work and not someone else.

Make Your Local Expertise Part Of Your Strategic Marketing Plan.

Being an architect — whether you work locally, statewide, nationally, or even internationally — requires you to know what marketing techniques work best to help your firm to stand out from your competitors and make an impression on your ideal prospects.

Archmark specializes in branding, websites, and marketing strategies to help build more profitable architecture firms.

We work with architects to help them establish a strong brand foundation for business growth, demonstrate their authority to take a leadership position in their market, and create awareness with the right audiences to attract qualified leads and better clients.

Archmark focuses on how to build up your business, so you can get back to leading your firm.

It starts with a free 30-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.