How We Help Your Architecture Firm

Working with us starts with a deep discussion. It's probably very similar to how you start with your clients, the difference is that we are asking you the questions. We refer to it as an intensive brand positioning session.

We sit down with you, usually over a casual video call, and we dig into everything: your purpose, your goals, your finances, your frustrations, your ideal projects (as well as the clients who drive you crazy), and the clients who truly value your sage advice and extensive experience.

We're looking for the golden nuggets, the "ah-has," and the core elements that you know make your firm different, but that you've struggled to communicate to your ideal future clients.

One architect told us she'd been “running a business like a charity,” for more than a decade. She was a talented, published, award-winning architect, but she was barely paying herself. She didn't need better design skills. She needed someone to hold up a mirror and say, “Here's what's actually going on.”

That's what discovery does. It shines a light on the things you aren’t seeing yourself, because you’re too close to it.

Another client, Dawn Zuber of Studio Z Architecture, said our process felt a lot like what she does for her own clients: being heard, understood, and taken care of. When we presented back who her firm really is, she cried (the good kind of cry).

What You Get When You Work With Archmark

• Clarity about your firm’s real strengths and its blindspots
• An honest assessment of what’s working and what’s not
• A solid, strategic foundation that everything else builds on

Here's where most firms get it wrong. They cast as wide of a net as possible, and then wonder why they're attracting the wrong clients and projects. We don't simply help you open the tap, inundating you with as many leads as possible. We help you precisely define who your firm is for, so more of the right clients show up, wanting to work with you.

This isn't "woo woo," marketing theory. We bring your team together and work through it, systematically, using our proven process that has helped hundreds of firms like yours. Over the past ten years, working exclusively with architecture firm owners, we have learned to ask the the right questions:

• Who are the clients and projects that make you want to leap out of bed in the morning?
• What do those clients appreciate and value about the work you do for them?
• How do they think, and what motivates their decisions when hiring an architect?
• What are the obstacles and roadblocks standing between them and the outcomes they really want?

For one firm, we defined their ideal prospects as the “cultured client.” These are educated, well-traveled people who collect art and see their home as a creative expression of themselves, not simply a transaction. For another firm, we discovered the real problem wasn't too few leads, it was far too many bad-fit leads.

Mike was fielding 500 inquiries a year. Nail salons. Corporate interiors. Projects that had nothing to do with the custom homes and major renovations he wanted to design. After getting specific about who he serves, his conversion rate went from 5% to 60% (with far fewer "can I pick your brain" free chats with wrong-fit prospects he would never work with), to paid consultations with his ideal future clients.

What’s Included When You Work With Archmark

• A detailed ideal client profile your entire team understands
• Messaging that attracts the right people and filters out the wrong ones
• The confidence to say no to projects that don't fit

Awards are nice, and publications look great on your wall. But prospective clients don't hire an architect for what's in their trophy case. They hire the architect that understands their problem, and can communicate how they will guide them to the best solution.

To guide you to the best solution, we use a proven messaging framework utilized by thousand's of businesses world-wide. In fact, our CEO is a certified StoryBrand Guide, trained to help you articulate your firm's message in a way that puts your prospects at the center of your marketing, rather than your credentials. The idea is to pull them in, by focusing on what they need and want, rather than trying to push your accolades on them, in the hope that they will see you differently that the other firms they are considering, who are pushing the same.

Through our process, we will help your firm:

• Identify the key problems you solve, in a way that resonates with your ideal clients.
• Clarify the outcomes you deliver, and the pitfalls you help clients avoid.
• Communicate the transformation that you guide your clients through, and the better life they can look forward to.

This is where firms go from sounding interchangeable to sounding like the obvious choice.

The client in the preceding quote had done a systematic search. He started with Google. He checked the AIA directory. And he systematically eliminated architects whose websites were full of jargon, outdated portfolios, and self-congratulatory messaging. Chris's site won because it spoke directly to the client, with clear messaging and an obvious next step.

For SARCO Architects in Costa Rica, the messaging shift produced a 191% increase in website visits and 21 new keyword rankings within 90 days. More importantly, a client in Chile reached out specifically referencing content and projects from SARCO’s website, actual proof our messaging efforts were doing their job.

What You Receive When You Work With Archmark

• A clear brand story and messaging framework
• Website copy that speaks to your ideal clients (not other architects)
• Positioning that differentiates you and your firm in your market

Some of our clients have been with us from the start (2016). We've watched them grow from scrambling for any project that comes along, to confidently (and politely) turning down work that doesn't fit. From hoping the phone rings to choosing how best to grow (because they have more of the right work than they need).

When Barron Schimberg came to us, he was taking whatever projects came through the door, mostly local office improvements and restaurant renovations. We helped him get clear on his real mission: ground-up commercial work. We rebuilt his LinkedIn presence, growing his network from 200 to over 1,000 connections in three months.

Just two weeks into that campaign, Suncoast Humane Society reached out. Schimberg Group landed its largest project in the firms history, a ground up, 84-acre animal rescue center and clinic campus with a budget of $13 million. It landed right at the peak of the pandemic hit, when most firms were fighting to survive.

When asked what he'd tell another architect considering Archmark, Barron's answer was two words:

What You Can Expect When You Work With Archmark

• An ongoing strategic partner who knows your business inside and out
• Regular progress check-ins and course corrections that move your firm forward
• Someone in your corner who's invested in your long-term success, not just the next invoice