Markitecture Consulting

Make the Most of the AIA 2012 National Convention

2011-12-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited and honored to be helping the DC Chapter of the AIA in promoting the 2012 National Convention. Because of my involvement, I've been lucky enough to get a bit of a sneak peek at the awesome Host Chapter events the team has planned this year and thought I'd take a moment to share some teaser info and offer a little helpful marketing advice for attendees!

Registration isn’t open yet, but the chapter has lined up more than 100 educational tours and events, ranging from touring Frank Lloyd Wright's work to having a night out with the Nationals. So, once registration is open, it's probably safe to say that spots will clear out fast. Beyond getting registered early, here are three ways to increase the value of your trip to the AIA National Convention and get the most out of your time and investment.

Sponsor, and Do It ASAP
Sponsorships can be difficult to justify sometimes, especially when there are only limited ways to do so and few of them meet the demands of your marketing budget. However, this year there are so many different ways to sponsor that you can choose one that makes the most sense for you. If you plan to sponsor, do it EARLY to maximize the exposure you can get for your investment. Also, capture the effectiveness of your sponsorship by sending traffic to a landing page when possible, not just the homepage of your firm or business.

Volunteer
Sponsorships costs money, but volunteering costs nothing. In fact, volunteers save $50 off of their registration this year. The major benefit to volunteering is a richer connection with more business contacts though. It can sometimes be difficult to break the ice at a convention, but being a volunteer allows even the biggest wallflower to be a resource and opens up communication with peers you may never have met.

Get Up and Get Out!
The conference floor or classrooms are not the only place to meet people. Getting out and taking part in some of the tours can actually put you in a better, more comfortable networking environment, so that you have a chance to develop business while getting your Learning Units.

Useful Info
This wouldn't be a very helpful post if I didn't at least share some points of contact. If you think sponsoring sounds right for your firm, Jody Cranford is in charge of sponsorships for the chapter and she can be reached at 800-818-0289 ext. 101. The chapter also has a volunteer coordinator, Liz Reynolds, and she can be contacted at lreynolds@manceandassociates.com.

I hope to be able to share more info about the convention throughout the coming months. Be sure to check back and click this link if you'd like to view posts specific to the convention, I'll use the Label "AIA National Convention".

5 HUGE Differences Between Diversifying and Scattered Marketing

2011-12-11T21:11:00.001-08:00

Among a long list of words I'd like to ban, somewhere in the middle lies the word "diversify".

It isn't really a bad word, per se; it's just so often used incorrectly that I've grown to cringe when I hear it.

Investors diversify their portfolios, but they don't do it by buying every stock that they hear about on TV or read about on the web. They do it by selecting a few options that are strategically aligned with the rest of their portfolio - items that offset a potential weakness in their assets, or items that reflect a well-rounded approach to their financial goals. To buy and sell stocks based on what's "hot" is not diversifying, it's just trading.

In the A/E world, we talk about diversifying our portfolios in very much the same way. Unfortunately, for many firms the word is completely misused, and is more akin to just a scattered approach to marketing. So, I've compiled a list of the 5 differences between diversifying and pursuing every opportunity that comes through the inbox.

1. Diversifying Requires a Plan
If your firm is truly diversifying, it must do so in both the Business Plan and the Marketing Plan. In those plans, there should be specific markets to focus on, not just an overall revenue target. If your firm doesn't have one or both of these plans, there is a good chance it isn't diversifying.

2. Diversifying Has Nothing to Do with Chasing the Money
Chasing the next big public budget that's about to be announced is also not diversifying. It would be silly to choose to focus on a new client-type without awareness of what's going on in the market, but chasing budgets does nothing for your firm except keep you in constant flux and burn your marketing department out.

3. Diversifying Starts from Within
Diversifying is a decision that starts from within the firm and takes into account expertise, resources and your plan. Starting internally keeps your marketing messages honest, accurate and on-brand as you focus on new endeavors. Choosing to diversify based solely on what's going on outside of your walls is reactive, scattered marketing and never allows you to develop an expert presence with any client type.

4. Diversifying Is Not a Business Development Activity
Yep, you read correctly. Diversifying is a function of marketing, operations, finance - the entire organization - and it has very little to do with Business Development until the end of the cycle. A good BD professional can get in a lot of doors and help win contracts with new clients, but without the professional infrastructure and expertise in place, that win is unsustainable.

5. Diversifying Takes Commitment and Time
For an industry with such a long project life-cycle, often our marketing expectations are flat out unrealistic. Many firms begin with a plan and abandon it within six months because they haven't seen enough new leads. Strategic activities in professional services firms can take years. Diversifying means considering options like mergers & acquisition - things that aren't overnight decisions!

True diversification is an investment, and it can be a risky one that requires an immense amount of change in an A/E firm. If you find your firm discussing diversifying, but realize that you're not really putting much on the line to do it, there is a very good chance you're just pursuing work with a low hit-rate.

AEC Marketer as Webmaster

2011-11-15T20:56:00.000-08:00

The term webmaster isn't very commonplace in the A/E world anymore. In fact, I rarely hear it tossed around at all, even when talking shop with people outside of the industry.

Though they do still exist, the role of the webmaster as someone to "keep the website running and make content updates" seems to have fallen by the wayside. The immersion of easy to use Content Management Systems, especially open source ones, is one major reason for sure - but I would say more important is the increased focus that marketers must have on knowing the ins and outs of the web. This has really relegated the traditional webmaster role to that of just one task of an IT person or network admin.

Let's face it, the plates of marketers are getting LOADED these days. Proposal writing, business development expectations, collateral, branding, graphic design (often), the list goes on and on. And now it's a must for marketers to know their way around the web.

Even if your firm isn't active in social media, that doesn't mean you won't have to field questions about it. What about SEO...have you ever been asked by senior team members why your website doesn't show up at the top of their Google search results? (Perhaps it's better to say how many times.) If there's an update to be posted for a project description, does it go to the IT department or straight to your team?

Congratulations marketers! You are now the definition of a webmaster, on top of about a dozen other things. Embrace it. Become best friends with your IT team so you can understand the environment in which your most powerful marketing tool is hosted. Finally, be sure to do everything in your power to drive traffic through your website with your other marketing efforts in a targeted, specific way. It's likely the most measurable line item in your marketing budget.

You Talkin' To Me?

2011-11-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be the guest moderator today for the AECSM Tweetchat. It really was a fantastic group, including some of the best AEC social media folks around!

The session today was all about "Content Leadership" and there was conversation about what the heck that means, who does it and what types of "content" firms in the A/E industry find useful.

Sometime around the middle of the chat there was an interesting divide into two conversations.
1. Content leadership in the A/E industry with regards to content marketing - i.e. writing for our clients.
2. Content leadership in the A/E industry FOR the A/E industry - i.e. writing for other architects and peers.

I've been thinking on this one all night long and realized it not only made people take away very different things from the Tweetchat, but it also represents a HUGE difference in the approach of architecture firms that actively market and those that don't.

Who are we talking to?

In every page of your website, every brochure, every press release, every email, every...EVERYTHING, it's a must to consider your audience first. I strongly believe that the ability or inability to focus on clients first (or industry) in your content is what separates firms in a philosophical way.

As a small firm in the first years, is the principal
A. creating an umbrella to practice for themselves or
B. actually intending to grow a firm?

When writing a project description for your new Higher Ed project, are you writing about
A. the Golden Ratio and cascading structures or
B. the way your new student center works at peak hours on campus?

As a religious architect, are you more focused on
A. the Pritzker Prize or
B. the Faith and Form Church Architecture awards?

Do you care more about the opinions of your
A. peers (AKA your competitors) or
B. your clients?

The answers aren't all mutually exclusive, but if your firm isn't answering B at least some of the time then you're definitely missing out on the idea of "content leadership" and how to build reputation with your target clients.

Special thanks to Taryn Erickson for allowing me to host the #AECSM chat today!

Nope, No Original Content Here

2011-10-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

Social media, inbound marketing, content marketing...however you would like to approach it, many AEC firms struggle with one BIG problem. No original content.

As the conversation about web presence and marketing shifts to a blog or Facebook, many firms are quick to suggest that they have no resources to create content. They therefore dismiss a blog as an option in their marketing plan, and can even further dismiss other social media just by association.

However, even if you don't plan to employ a full-time blogger at your architecture or engineering firm, never fear! There may be more useful original content lying around than you think. Here are a few ways to still incorporate social media into your marketing strategy without the need to "feed the content beast" of a new blog with a dedicated staffer.

Tumblr - Even if your firm isn't planning to write a daily dissertation on "form following function" you can still blog and enjoy the benefits of developing original content. Tumblr is a less demanding style of blog where you can just share a photo of a project if you'd like (of course with some user-friendly captions or keywords). Then at the times when there is a little more to write about, there is a venue to share your post that's much more useful than a Facebook note or a company newsletter.

Newsletters No More - It may be time to rethink (or even ditch) your firm newsletter. The same content can become a weekly post on your blog that will have far more value from a search engine traffic perspective. You can still use email to share monthly highlights from your firm, but instead of making it a formal letter it can be a "blog highlights" style newsletter.

Content Switchboard - So nobody in your firm wants to write and manage a blog...so what! You can still become a hub for relevant info by using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. The important factor there is focus. If you'd like to separate your firm from the majority of Twitter users that just repurpose content, maintain a focus on your firm's brand, your target audience and your overall marketing strategy. Stay focused, relevant and tweet/post often to build fanbase.

Loosen the Reigns - Many principals react negatively to creating fresh content because THEY don't want to write it or don't have time. However, there are often plenty of untapped resources within a firm that would love to spend an hour or two a month contributing to a firm-wide blog. The keys for success for this approach include writing guidelines and a single publisher (perhaps a small group) responsible for keeping things moving.

Your A/E Firm's Brand Heptathlon

2011-09-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's funny where inspiration comes from, and how one part of life can parallel another.

A good friend of mine told me something, halfway in jest, within the first few months of knowing him. He said that he was confident that no one could beat him in all five sports of his personal Heptathlon. His Heptathlon includes:

Basketball
Soccer
Table Tennis (his words, I say Ping Pong)
Disc Golf
Racquetball

While one or two of those is questionable to include in a list of sports, I won't begrudge him his Heptathlon. Instead I'll move on to my point. He is sure that plenty of people can beat him in two or three, maybe even a few people can beat him in four, but nobody can beat him in all five.

Whether or not he is right, it's a great claim and honestly, I still remember it after years of knowing him.

In working with A/E firms that struggle with their brand and what actually makes them different from the competition, it makes a lot of sense to take a page from my friend's "book". Your brand isn't about one thing. Lots of firms can beat you at one thing.

I maintain that it's crucial to focus your marketing strategy on a limited number of industries and service types, but being the "school firm" only goes so far. I also believe that people are a huge part of the brand, but what firm is going to say that they don't (try to) hire the best people?

What makes your firm different, and what clients can believe in - that's your Heptathlon. It's the combination of things that you offer to a certain type of client that can't be recreated, even if it isn't five things. Maybe it's your experience in one industry + unique delivery method + project management + use of technology. Or maybe it's your relationships + regular communications + plus a unique approach to the entire building life cycle.

Whatever it is, that's what you want to find, and then capture it in a concise story ready for just the right type of clients to remember forever...and don't be afraid to throw Ping Pong in the mix when needed!

GoNoGoPro Goes Free AND Makes It Into Marketer

2011-09-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard the great news, GoNoGoPro has now gone on the market 100% free. No catch, no hidden sign on fees, we just want the industry to get the most out of the tool.

In tandem with that, even though not intentionally timed this way, GoNoGoPro was featured in Marketer magazine this August and I couldn't be happier! Feel free to click here to download a pdf of the article!

5 Google Analytics Tips for Your A/E Firm's Website

2011-08-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

I've never been shy about it - I love getting into the reporting details of Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Google AdWords...pretty much any nice analytical tool with a lot data.

Marketing results are often long-term or difficult to tie to dollar figures, so hard data that's trackable on a daily basis can be like gold. With that in mind, here are a few aspects of Google Analytics that I think firms in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry would benefit from if they took a closer look.

Click Patterns - In-Page Analytics
This feature has been in "Beta" for at least a year now - but that doesn't mean it's not incredibly useful. When you're looking at your website from an Information Architecture or usability point of view, this tool is awesome. It basically allows you to click through your entire site and see which links visitors are clicking on every individual page, as a percentage of total clicks and by total number of clicks.

This has endless applications, such as when you want to determine if your content is organized well, if you have the right content, if people are filtering down through your portfolio, etc. Beta or not, this feature gives you a lot of information on how people navigate your website.

Top Keywords
I have yet to work with a client that didn't want to talk about SEO, at least a little bit. "How do we drive more organic traffic to our website?" Well, even though SEO is a very technical gig, the roots of it are marketing and messaging strategy, plain and simple. Before you can drive increased organic traffic to your site, you have to be focused on what kind of traffic you want - and that means focusing your portfolio, your web content, your message...pretty much everything.

Effective SEO will obviously drive higher organic search engine traffic, but an even better indicator of the kind of traffic your firm gets is the Keywords section. The majority of firms I work with start out with at least 8-10 of their top 10 keywords being some variation of the firm's name. You can therefore make the assumption that the vast majority of people coming to your site already know you. That's not always a bad thing, but if you want your website to become a lead generation tool, then you can be certain that's not doing it. Launching significant marketing efforts (SEO, Social Media, etc.) should begin to change the keywords that show up in that shortlist. For example, you would start to see "health care architects northern Virginia" instead of "Denby Architects".

Traffic Sources
In my opinion, the Traffic Sources section is often overlooked. It is very important to determine where traffic is coming from beyond the simple breakdown that is displayed on the Dashboard. In general, the Dashboard shows three segments in a pie chart; Search Engines, Direct Traffic and Referring Sites. If you run a good campaign through MailChimp or another email provider, you might have a fourth.

However, going into the Traffic Sources detail can be eye-opening, especially if you are active in Social Media or pay for your firm to be listed in online directories. In fact, if you ARE paying to have your firm listed, this one area may be the single-most important factor for determining whether or not it's worth paying next year!

Filters
Applying Filters to your Google Analytics account is all about making your life easier from the reporting side of things. There are a couple key reasons to use filters.

The first reason: At least some percentage of your staff has your firm's website set as their homepage - it's a given. There isn't really much reason to do that these days, but I guess people see it as a brand building or loyalty thing. Those visits (every time they open their browser window during the day) falsely inflate your traffic, increase your bounce rate, decrease your average time on site and decrease your percentage of new visits - just to name a few. Use an "exclude" filter to cut out traffic from your office's IP address.

The second reason: Filters, combined with adding profiles, can easily help you pull reports on specific sections of your site. Want to know how much traffic your portfolio is getting? Have a blog integrated into your site and want to see a report on JUST the blog? Using "include" filters will help you look at these reports with minimal clicks and you can set up automatic emails or exports as well.

Dates
A simple one, but a good one. Google Analytics' default setting shows you the traffic for the most recent month. Additionally, it shows you a percentage change upon first logging in. However, your analysis shouldn't stop there. There are a few ways to slice date-to-date comparisons.

This month compared to last month - Very useful, but for any professional services firm, marketing results will rarely show immediate impact from one month to the next. Email marketing is one exception to that rule, but most other campaign tactics are going to have a more long-term impact.

This month compared to the same month last year - Absolutely a worthwhile comparison to make for firms working in the public sector (end of fiscal year spikes), and for firms that run regular campaigns, promotions or events around the same time every year.

The most recent 6 months compared to the last 6 months - Again, given the longer lead time of many marketing efforts in the built environment, this snapshot is more useful than a month to month comparison in my opinion. Is our firm showing growth, increased traffic, better keywords, etc. than we were 6 months ago? That's a stat to hang your hat on and include in a marketing report to the principals.

Experience or Expertise - Should you shave your portfolio?

2011-07-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

I've had a number of conversations recently about experience - project portfolios, resumes, etc. On the flip side, I've been challenging clients and connections to focus on expertise.

What's the difference?

Experience fills a resume; expertise builds a brand.

Proposals represent one of the very last chances that your firm has to share information with a client before a project award, and by their definition they have to show experience. Meeting minimum requirements for qualification means providing experience.

Expertise is what your marketing should focus on at every opportunity though, including before, during and after the proposal. The idea of focusing your marketing efforts on expertise means telling clients and potential clients what your firm is best at, not what you're good at.

What you are best at builds your brand, your reputation, your revenue and your profit. Everything else, the projects that you just can do, will always have a varying success rate.

The tough part - sharing your expertise, but not your experience means leaving stuff out. It means trimming your website, shaving your portfolio and rewriting your boilerplate without the laundry list of industries, project types and disciplines. It's a tall task, but a necessary one for an AEC firm to fully take control of its marketing.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Your Next Marketing Endeavor

2011-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

There is always something else to do.

There is always another RFP, another conference, another brochure, another meeting...another bright shiny object.

What distinguishes the bright shiny object from the light at the end of the tunnel is your marketing plan. There are five questions I think AEC marketers should ask before any new endeavor. I like to think of these questions as my litmus test. If the answers aren't suitable, we're probably doing the wrong thing.

What problem are we trying to solve? (This could be the client's problem, an internal communications challenge...anything.)

Who are we solving this problem for? (Be specific.)

Will solving this problem help us achieve our firm's business or marketing goals? (The goals have to be clear.)

Can someone else handle this task quicker, cheaper or better than we can? (Know your strengths and capabilities.)

If we have done something similar and were unsuccessful, what are we doing differently? (Learn from your mistakes and retool your approach.)

Pick Up the Pieces - Then What?

2011-06-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Let's say you're playing with Legos with your child and inevitably, they push too hard on the little piece with the two nubs and...SMASH. About the last twenty minutes worth of work is now lost. It's only happened a million times in my house.

Of course, it's my role (as the non-overreacting father that I am) to say "No big deal, we'll build it again even better!" Sometimes that doesn't cut it, but most of the time we're only derailed for a few minutes and we get back into building something totally different - and cooler.

But, it turns out to be a much bigger deal for everyone involved when we're working on something concrete. When we're working on a special, boxed set of Star Wars Legos with instructions, Lego Rebel Alliance pilots and a specific desired outcome...THEN we smash it. Ugh.

It's not about the tears though (my kids' or mine), we have a job to finish and we experienced a set back. It still doesn't change our desired outcome. We have a goal, we have instructions and just because we broke the wing off this X-Wing fighter doesn't mean we're going to use the pieces to build a boat. That would be unheard of.

The fact that we have:

a goal (finish this X-Wing)
a plan (90 page instruction booklet)
resources (somewhere around 7 million Legos and a lot of time)

...helps us be:

dedicated
bought in
focused.

Is AEC marketing so different? Without a plan, is your firm building a new Lego creation after every lost proposal? Without clear goals, does everyone want to build their own boat instead of working on the X-Wing?

There's No Shame in A/E Facebook Advertising

2011-06-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

Too often in client conversations does the notion of advertising get laughed off. The three main motivations for such a quick dismissal are:

Too expensive
No ROI
We don't need to advertise, all of our work is referral driven

I think I probably deal with #3 enough on this blog, so today I thought I'd look at the other two for a moment.

What normally gets dismissed is the idea of planned advertising or actually putting together a campaign. However, when a decent deal in a conference program comes up, firms are often pretty quick to throw out a few hundred extra dollars to maximize the impact of their attendance.

From my perspective, it's the "one-offs" that should be dismissed from the marketing budget, if your firm isn't willing to follow up with regular placements elsewhere. One ad a year in a program isn't doing much for your brand awareness and often in the realm of AEC marketing that's the only real reason we would advertise.

With all of this in mind, I couldn't help but highlight Facebook advertising as a cost-effective advertising option for architecture/engineering firms and contractors alike. With all of the targeting criteria that can go into an ad, the dollars are incredibly well spent - even when you only evaluate the impressions received. Once you start to look at social reach, long term fans and interaction...the value increases exponentially.

Whether you follow AdWeek/Vitrue and believe a fan is only worth $3.60, or you lean towards the higher $136.38 value that Syncapse came up with isn't really that important, because either way your ad dollars WILL result in fans - it's almost a guarantee (unless your ads are really off the mark, that is). Not to mention the metrics that Facebook offers allow you to constantly monitor, tweak and improve your ads - a benefit only larger agencies generally have when it comes to online display advertising. And just for the record, I love the new metrics dashboard FB recently launched, very nice.

So, AEC marketers, I urge you to take a second look at your marketing budgets and consider whether or not a $500 ad spend in Facebook over the course of a month or two isn't more valuable than that $500 conference program spot with a shelf-life of about two days. When it comes to ROI and cost effectiveness, there are few options out there that offer both and with so much control.

Award Winning Fluff

2011-05-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

I remember several years back, working in-house and hearing the word "fluff" tossed around a lot. More specifically it was "marketing fluff." Being a marketer, I never particularly cared for the word because it was the term people used to describe the writing in proposals, brochures and other pieces we were working on in the department.

We didn't write fluff!

So, what is fluff, and how do we keep from writing it? I couldn't help but include a snapshot from a recent SMPS DC golf tournament. My foursome had the honorable distinction of being the last place team in the tournament. Hey, somebody has to be last, right?

But we weren't just last, we won an award for being last! I have to smile when I write this, but I am now an award winning golfer. And if I had to write a resume to be a physical education teacher, or golf team coach, couldn't I technically include the words "award winning" on my resume?

The example is obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek and I would never do that, but the truth of the matter is that many AEC firms can say they're award winning. If you open the statement up to say "award winning staff", probably almost every firm can say it.

Your writing stops being fluff when you tell clients what matters to them. To do that, you have to choose which clients you're writing for and include the details. If your firm wants to dominate the education market, don't say you're award winning, say that you've won eight awards for educational facility design in the past five years. The details matter to your clients.

And for the record, my kids loved the new golf set!

Not Just An Architecture Website - But One With Information Architecture

2011-05-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

I've been lucky enough to work on several websites lately. But...I'm not a designer. I'm also not a programmer.

So what, you ask, could I possibly be doing for a website project if it's not one of those two things? Information Architecture.

Not to overstate the importance of information architecture for websites (as a whole and in the A/E industry), but if you jumped right into the design without carefully focusing on your content first, you very likely did not get the most out of your redesign budget.

Here are three reasons why focusing on your IA first is a must:

1. Gets Buy-In from the Team Earlier
If you're like...well, pretty much any firm, everybody in the office will have something to say about your redesigned website. That will never change. Hopefully though, you've assembled a small team in charge of the actual approvals and design process and those folks are your real stakeholders. Even when you assemble a great team, the design process can languish on with "I don't like that", "Oh, I thought we were going to include a movie like this site has" and "Where's our Twitter feed?"

Bringing this team to the table to talk about functionality, content, hierarchy and organization before the first project photo is placed in a design file will help prevent those comments. It's easy for people, especially creative-types to get swept up in looking at nice designs and not realize that some important functional elements were left out.

2. Saves Time and Money During Design
Having your IA completed before beginning the creative process gives your designer a clear map of what they must include on the site, how important it is and how it should work. This usually prevents at least one, if not multiple rounds of revision during the design process due to items that fell off the radar. Fewer revisions means less money, especially if you're working with a high-dollar agency for your new site or you're having a site built with a Content Management System (CMS) back-end.

3. Optimized and Timely Content
Focusing on your sitemap and finalizing it before the design begins is key. Yes, it does save time and money to not have to revise design files numerous times - but, the big benefit is that when done properly you have a powerful checklist to manage your content. If you have to rely on project descriptions from your engineers or architects prior to launching the site, it's easy to track that missing content with a well defined sitemap and provide milestones and due dates before the design team is ready to program the site.

Being able to look at your entire sitemap on one screen also helps you optimize content from the usability and search engine perspectives. Page titles, keywords, and headers can all be defined in a robust content inventory file and you can even visualize how users may or may not be able to find certain pieces of content easily from other related portions of the site. How nice would it be to work all of that out BEFORE the site is ready to launch?

And Many More...
These are just three of the many reasons to take a strategic marketing approach to your new website before focusing on the aesthetics. Think how many firms a few years ago might have chosen not to use Flash if they would have realized they wouldn't be able to send a link directly to a project description on their website?

The bottom line - the better the IA, the more effective the website is as a marketing tool for your entire team.

The Truth About Focus

2011-04-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

I spend a good deal of time at speaking engagements and client meetings talking about focus.

Your firm's marketing plan - needs focus.
Your website content - needs focus.
Your social media approach - needs focus.

As I sat in a meeting recently though, I watched the word "focus" take on a separate meaning to the person I was speaking with. Focus became synonymous with a tunnel or a box - and as our conversation progressed I could see that all he was thinking was, "Oh no, we can't do anything outside of this focus."

What is Focus?
When your eyes focus on an object (unless you have a vision impairment) you still see other objects and the majority of the surrounding environment. To focus on something just makes it the clearest portion of what you're looking at and the one that your brain is taking in the most information about.

Focusing your firm's marketing should be no different. To focus your marketing efforts on a specific industry (or a set number of industries) doesn't mean that you cut off ties with the rest of the world. It just means that your firm:

Takes in the most information about that industry
Looks at it the longest
Has the clearest view/understanding of it

Proactive vs. Reactive
Having a focus allows your marketing team to be proactive instead of reactive. Sure, it's possible to respond to every RFP that comes in the door. (Reactive) But it's not possible to research every client, project and industry that those RFPs represent ahead of time. (Proactive) It's also not possible to position your AEC firm as an expert for every client, project and industry. (Proactive)

Proactive marketing is what drives new leads and builds brands. It's the type of marketing that depends on plans, budgets and resources to get done or else it never makes it to the to-do list. It's also the type of marketing that keeps firms busy when everyone else is reacting.

Roadblocks
Where many firms struggle is in being afraid to focus efforts on one or two industries, for fear that it will prevent other work from coming in the door. "Well, we do have a few university projects in our history. What if we get more or somebody comes to our website and doesn't see those projects?" This fear or thought pattern is a roadblock to proactive marketing, branding, positioning and more. It also keeps the marketing department on their heels because there is no priority except the next deadline. Any client is now a potential client! This makes decision making and problem solving extremely difficult.

To give a simple example - it is incredibly hard for me to walk into a cluttered, messy room and get my son to clean it by asking him to "clean this mess up." However, it's much easier if I ask him to pick up his legos, then put his soccer stuff away. He can process the job because he has focus. Before providing that focus he didn't have priorities, and all he saw was a mess of things in his room that could be addressed but he had no idea where to start.

As adults and marketing professionals, it's not such an elementary definition of focus, but it's a similar concept. If the firm has no focus, we can't provide marketing strategy or complete tasks as efficiently or successfully. We're looking at a room full of clutter! Where do we start? Which items are the highest priorities?

Focus Leads to Success
The AEC world is filled with talented marketers. Focus isn't very abundant in the industry though. Architects and Engineers are taught to figure out how to create spaces and solutions regardless of the environment they're in (but with respect for it). As such, they are trained to believe they can DO any project, so why not GO after any project?

That can make for successful projects, but very unsuccessful marketing.

Marketing success comes with focus, because as marketers we understand that what's important is not what we can do, or how much we've done - it's what we can do best and who's looking for it.

Connecting the Dots with Your Social Media

2011-03-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Let's imagine that your firm has...

a website
an email marketing account
a facebook page
a twitter account
a blog
...maybe more?

Are they each on their own little island?

One of the best things about Social Media is the ability to connect one information source or marketing channel to another with very little effort. Especially as time goes on, more APIs (application programming interface) are written and social media platforms are getting more sophisticated.

If your firm does happen to have a number of online profiles and assets, be sure to maximize those by allowing visitors, friends and fans to find the other assets without looking too hard. Sure, a few icons will meet the minimum requirements, but why not include custom Twitter or Blog feeds directly on your homepage?

You may also have a few hundred fans on Facebook, but haven't turned them into anything else yet. Go ahead and include an email signup form on your FB page to give people the chance to know more about you, without having to look. If you use an email provider like ConstantContact or MailChimp, they already have the Facebook apps created and ready to install on your architecture or engineering firm's page!

Without some integration, your web presence is no more than four or five accounts/sites sitting on four or five different servers. Maximize the impact of those accounts and increase your search engine rankings by connecting them, driving traffic amongst them and integrating them in real-time ways whenever possible.

Top 4 Reasons to Better Target Your AEC Marketing

2011-03-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the easiest things to say, but hardest to do, is to actually target your marketing efforts. I find that time after time clients (and most companies period) are much more comfortable with the concept of marketing to their top industries or target audiences than they are with the practice of it.

It isn't generally hard to find the target audience, define them or even identify the right methods of reaching them...the hardest battle is normally the idea that we don't have to market to all of the other people that may, at one point, some day, for some reason be interested in our services.

It's a hard battle, but it's a truth.

Successful marketing is targeted, and there are many reasons.

Cost efficiency - Most firms would scoff at the idea of placing a print ad in USA Today. "Why would we do that? We're wasting our money to reach all of these people who would never buy our services!" But it generally isn't a big deal to go after proposals with a very low likelihood of award, or create brochures and web content targeted to clients they have little to no experience with. These activities are still wasting resources, even if not at the same magnitude as a pricey print ad.

Brand and Messaging - Let's trade this statement,
"We're a full-service, multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering firm that can tackle small and large projects on budget and on time."

For this one,
"We're the premier multi-family residential design firm in the Orlando, Florida area, responsible for more than 1,000,000 condo units in the city and surrounding communities."

Which one has more impact? Which one can the competition say? A well defined brand, means a well defined target and a firm that is willing to say what they are the BEST at, without having to include the things they're good at.

Leads Are Better Qualified - Not that many A/E firms are having a problem with too many leads these days, but when leads do come in, it sure is nice when they know what you do. A lead that has a chance to easily decipher what your firm is best at via readily available marketing and STILL calls, means they are interested in exactly what you deliver. And referrals? Well, they will still come in. If a firm comes highly recommended by another client, they will still get the phone call, even without the brochure for exactly the service and industry the client may be looking for.

Enhanced Web Presence - If you work for an architecture firm, Google "multi-disciplinary architecture firm " with your city, state and try to find yours in the list. If you really want to draw in new leads from marketing efforts instead of pounding the pavement and going to every networking event, an improved web presence (with at least a little bit of SEO) is pretty important. Every firm website can't be appealing to every potential client searching for information on the web. So it's up to each A/E firm to cater web content and social media efforts around the topics that matter most. Around 70,000 blogs are launched every day. If you had to tell a story on a blog regularly, what would it be? Remember that your firm's goal isn't to compete with every other firm out there, it's to compete with firms that focus on your target audience. The others are just noise.

Marketing isn't hard. Targeting isn't hard. But targeted marketing requires discipline and above all else a little trust that the research, planning, experience and hard work will pay off in the long run!

How To Brand Like an Architect

2011-03-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across a few videos from Mr. Doug Patt's "How To Architect" series on YouTube, and I have to say I was surprised (and impressed).

I was surprised at how well he put together simple instructional videos on such a detailed topic.

I was surprised at the large following and subscriber-base he's achieved.

And I was also surprised that an architect has gone out on a limb to communicate with the masses about a topic that many feel so personal and somewhat guarded about.

As I read over message boards and blogs of people discussing the sanctity of architecture, the uncertain future of the profession for many young people, etc.; many of them have a negative slant. In particular I recall a long stream of comments blasting any other profession for even trying to use the word architecture - software architecture, information architecture, for example. It's incredibly refreshing to see an architect communicating his craft and passion lovingly with people and being so eager to share what it's all about.

Not to mention, he specifically states what he does and loves to do - residential architecture. While I'm certain that Mr. Patt may be very capable of working on large commercial projects, he doesn't feel the need to tell everyone that he can and does in his profile. He has a well focused personal brand.

Well done Mr. Patt. Keep up the good work.

Linchpins, Role Players and Peters

2011-02-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

Linchpins
A little less than a year ago I went to hear Seth Godin speak at the Warner Theatre. It was awesome. He was promoting his Linchpin book with a tour and the program was really entertaining, engaging, exciting and a ton of other adjectives that start with an E.

When I left the event, I was energized (I swear I'm not doing the E-word thing on purpose now), and couldn't wait to implement some of the new ways of thinking about business and problem solving. However, by a little later in the evening when I was talking to my wife about the program, I couldn't help but think, "If even half of the people in Warner Theatre were ACTUALLY linchpins, DC would be a changed place in no time."

I mean no disrespect to my fellow attendees, but playing devil's advocate, not everybody in that room was destined to be a linchpin. Not everybody has what it takes or there would be no "doers." And just because we pay money to hear Seth speak (or buy his books) doesn't mean we are going to leave that room and change the way we work, live, think, problem solve. Linchpins are rare.

Role Players
Fast forward to today, literally earlier tonight. I'm playing indoor soccer with a group of friends in an organized league. Now you should know that I haven't played organized soccer since I was about 13 and as I remember things, I used to be pretty good.

I am currently...not good. But that's ok.

Even though I am entrepreneurial in spirit and always want to try to run things by nature, this has been a fantastic exercise for me in reminding me how to be a role player. I'm turning out to be a better sweeper (defense) than I expected, at least for now. More importantly, I'm learning how to settle into the team, do one thing and try to do it well. I'm finally feeling better about myself when I leave and I'm not scoring goals. I'm contributing something crucial for our team.

Peters
A great friend of mine emailed me last week and jokingly referred to his office as a great case study for the Peter Principle. I provided a link, but the brief explanation is that people continue to do their jobs well enough to get promoted, and then the cycle repeats - do well at your job, get promoted. The cycle continues until the person is finally promoted into a job where they fail, usually because they are promoted to a position that they aren't qualified for and haven't been properly prepared for their new responsibilities. Many businesses are filled with "Peters".

So...
While these three principles are really applied to individuals, I wanted to apply them to firm-wide behaviors and more importantly AEC firm brands for illustration purposes.

A firm that has a strong grasp on its brand and knows how to only pursue its strengths can be a linchpin in the industry. They can change the game, apply new technologies, dominate a particular type of project delivery because they know their clients intimately. They will get more opportunities to try the experimental or risky jobs because of their reputation. They will become known for being the best by doing something nobody has ever done, or by doing something others have done in a completely new way.

Firms that struggle with prioritizing their target audiences, chase any number of opportunities that come up and market only reactively are likely to become role players. Now sometimes a role player can be a strategic move (say you're partnering to build a client relationship or experience in a new industry), but for the most part the role player will probably compete on cost, be included to fill the necessary number of bids, or sustain a book of business based on being the go-to firm for a few clients. They may actually be great at certain projects or industries, but won't be able to capture a market leadership position because they are afraid to discount other clients or industries.

Finally, Peters can be the firms that focus on only one or a few industries but don't continue to develop their staff for the next shift in the AEC community (tech shift, generational shift, project delivery shift). Similar to role players, existing long-term relationships are likely the only source of business, but eventually clients' needs shift, competition increases and Peters can't deliver the projects like they used to. Eventually, this pattern puts this type of firm in a scramble to get new work when relationships disperse or clients retire.

Do these three categories leave a little gray area? Sure. But I'm willing to bet that a high majority of firms are on the path of one of these with their brand and marketing efforts - how about your firm?

A Logo Story

2011-02-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

In the face of numerous consumer brands getting bashed for launching new logos, I thought it fitting to talk about what a logo story is, and even share Markitecture's.

The Logo Story
Every logo should have a story. It helps employees believe in the brand, it helps clients understand your history and mission, and at a minimum it combats people saying they don't like it during the design phase! (Notice I said combat, not eliminate.) People are always going to have differing opinions on design decisions. However, if your logo has a story that closely aligns it with your brand then quite frankly, it doesn't matter.

Why choose these colors?
Why choose the font?
What does the icon mean to your company and how is it aligned with your brand values?

And what about the brand? In the case of Starbucks, coffee IS the brand (to most people). So why would they remove coffee from the logo? My take is that Starbucks is actually rebranding - not just changing their logo. And yes, those are two totally different things.

I believe Starbucks is moving the company away from just coffee and is trying to reposition itself as more of a destination by controlling and focusing on other aspects of their brand. Selling merchandise, music, alcohol, increased food selections...these are all steps in the direction of branding Starbucks on environment, lifestyle, and comfort - not coffee. If that's their goal, then the logo redesign is a part of a strategic rebranding and makes sense. Whether or not it's wise or will dilute their loyal following remains to be seen.

Markitecture's Logo Story
Now, for a peek inside of Markitecture.

The logo for Markitecture represents the merging of Marketing and Architecture - two of my passions, as well as the overall mission of the company, to infuse the AE industry with more strategic marketing practices.

The font was chosen to mimic architectural lettering, like you might see on CAD drawings. It's a little wider/more horizontal than most fonts, which tends to happen when you first learn how to "letter" in architecture school instead of "write". (at least it did for me)

The icon is a subtle one, but it is actually a section icon used to denote where a cross-section is cut on a plan, so you can look for the sheet/drawing to correspond with that slice. The section icon is also in the middle of Marketing and Architecture to further illustrate the connection of the two.

Finally, the color palette is black and a sort of orange/goldenrod type of color. I wanted something warm to reflect the brand personality, but also practical and functional.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'd be curious to know the story behind some of architecture's biggest logos...

Planning Your A/E Firm's New Website? Don't Forget the IA!

2011-02-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

The A/E industry is loaded with some amazingly talented designers - in the built environment that is.

However, when it comes to architecture firms and their websites, it can be quite a different story. Try searching for "architecture, websites and suck" in Google. The results ain't pretty.

Here's one of my favorite reviews from a very reputable source - Fast Company.

I actually mentioned this particular article in a recent SMPS Chesapeake presentation. My favorite quote from the piece was:

"It's pretty fun to zip through, too, with the images standing up like little structures themselves, giving me the feeling that I'm swooping down over city blocks like Spiderman. But if I'm visiting your site, it's a good bet that I'm not Tobey Maguire. I'm probably a wildly wealthy potential client who wants to send one of your past projects to my business partner."

I think that about sums it up, really. The point is, you should be designing a website for your clients or other members of your target audience. Not for your peers. Additionally, you should be ORGANIZING your site for these people as well.

Launching a new website is just as much about the technology platform, the sitemap, the navigation, the searchability, the content, the social media integration, the features and functionality...as it as about aesthetically pleasing imagery and visual effects. Actually, more so.

If you're getting ready to launch a new website and your design team, whether it's in-house or an agency, doesn't start with the Information Architecture (IA), then stop what you're doing. You could call Markitecture of course :-), but whatever you do please don't design a new Flash website with hidden navigation, a long intro movie and every project you've ever worked on. I don't want to see your exciting new website mentioned in any of those Google results.

Architecture Firms Using YouTube

2011-01-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

At a recent SMPS DC Tweetup, we had a great conversation about metrics and goals when it comes to social media and A/E firms. As a part of the conversation, a great friend from SmithGroup mentioned their series of videos on YouTube, so I thought it would be worth a share here.

For their videos, it isn't all about the number of views, it's about the goal of the piece. In some cases, your project video can actually help your client out just as much as it does your firm. I like the below video as a good example of that.

Sure, any time you can put out good content, it helps your brand, your search engine rankings, etc. Sometimes, it's nice to help promote your client as well though!

Feel free to take a look at SmithGroup's YouTube Channel for more great project vids!

The Importance of Follow-Through

2011-01-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

As we dove headfirst into our own kitchen renovation last week I started to get very excited about the progress. Within just a day or two all of the demo was done and a few days later new floors and drywall are in. It’s amazing how fast it went.

But then I realized how much is really left to do. This renovation, just like any successful campaign or project is about follow-through and details. Our kitchen isn’t completed until the last piece of door hardware is installed and the last backsplash tile is set. That means that even though so much has happened in a week, it’s all of the small things that have to happen in the next 3 weeks that really matter now. Each one of those events are dependent on several before them; they take time, attention to detail, and coordination with multiple vendors.

I’m often saying how similar marketing and AEC industry professionals really are from a project management standpoint, and I think our project is a great example.

Imagine that an immense amount of effort and time go into a plan – a marketing plan or a set of drawings – but then the job suffers in the execution. Maybe we lose sight of the goals. Or we throw all of our money at conferences instead of a new website. Perhaps we sit the plan on the shelf now that it’s “done” and don’t bother using it as our barometer to gauge future decisions. What are we left with at the end of the year? A marketing plan that didn’t work? Or was it tactics that weren’t in line with the proper strategy?

The point I guess I’d really like to get across with this post is that, while I usually write about the importance of developing a strategy to guide your marketing tactics through the year, the tactical execution is just as important. The two have to be of equally high quality to create consistent marketing success – and they have to be in line with one another if you want to measure your success against your expectations.

AEC Social Media - Do Ya, Do Ya, Do Ya?

2011-01-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

I love social media and watching AEC marketers and consultants alike use it to forge new, exciting relationships and of course business leads.

Combined with other inbound marketing techniques, social media is a very powerful beast. (The basic idea behind content-generated marketing, or inbound marketing, is to provide valuable content and draw in traffic because of it. Check out HubSpot for more info.) Social media helps that in many ways. From a search engine and branding perspective, blogs and twitter are great. From a networking standpoint, LinkedIn and Facebook are two of my faves for generating dialog and interaction.

How these tools are used is up to you and your marketing goals...and there are plenty of firms and people out there doing a great job right now in this area of marketing.

BUT...sometimes it reminds me of the old cartoon of Spike and Chester. Here's how:

Joining a networking group of architects or marketers to participate, add value, meet new people is how it's supposed to work. Then, when relevant, responding to questions or starting timely discussions makes a lot of sense and builds your reputation as an expert in a certain subject matter.

When things go awry though, it turns out to be more like "Hey everybody, look at me!" or "Hey Spike, do ya, do ya, do ya?" I see this happening when people tweet (and retweet) nonstop about themselves and their press releases and also when marketers hijack discussion boards with their own questions and then proceed to answer them themselves.

Not that every time this happens, it's a travesty. After all, you are supposed to get out some info on your own firm as well. But the point is, if the content or questions are engaging or relevant enough, you won't have to keep it going. It will take on a life of its own. If your first crack at it didn't work, move on. Try another topic at another time.

I think my takeaway is that you can't force your message on people in opt-in communities and social media environments. You just get "hidden", blocked or kicked out. We're all trying to build relationships and business and we have to do so by being genuine and patient, not by being Chester.

What Now? Architecture at a Crossroads - Commentary

2011-01-04T10:55:00.001-08:00

First - Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading and sticking with me since 2009 and I'm looking forward to a great 2011.

I'm not a big "Resolutions" person, but I think the blog in 2011 will see more posts and commentary on other industry happenings, articles, etc. and I definitely hope to solicit more comments from you all on those posts!

I just finished reading Architectural Record's "What Now?" piece and I'm left wanting more, or maybe expecting more.

As I look over the "What Next?" section, there are highlights on Structures, BIM, LEED, Big Firms, Cities, Economy...but what about the aspects of running an architecture firm like a business? The Economy section is really the only part that deals in detail with topics not related to the professional side of the practice - but it doesn't tackle anything that individual firms, partners or principals control.

Did AR miss the opportunity to highlight how firms are marketing themselves (if at all)? Or streamlining processes to cut costs? Or how the implementation of a new, expensive CRM has or hasn't improved performance? How about a case study on what successful firms did in the last two years to prevent closing their doors or being bought out by a "Big Firm"?

When examining the "What Next" I really do feel there has to be a segment on what firms can do or will do to operate as successful businesses. When pubs like AR think like that, maybe more firms will too?

Thoughts?

In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

2010-12-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

My son has recently become a huge fan of Star Wars, which means I have recently become a huge fan of Star Wars. I guess there are plenty of worse things, right?

The other night we were watching Episode IV (what our generation knows as the actual first Star Wars) and I caught a scene that had me laughing until I cried. A stormtrooper walks through a doorway and clocks his head on the door. Here it is, for your enjoyment.

I still can't watch it without a chuckle.

Anyways, the reason I'm sharing it (besides spreading the joy) is to pose a question. Star Wars had a resurgence in popularity to a whole new generation which allowed them the chance to edit this scene upon re-release. But Lucas' team didn't. Why?

My vote, in marketing terms, they knew their target audience. They knew this scene probably makes the movie BETTER to many people, instead of worse.

When it comes to branding, and understanding your target audience - a great brand goes way beyond the normal "our people", "responsiveness" and "good design." It has to do with the small details of your firm that you may not even necessarily control, but your clients can't do without.

Working Globally: How to Successfully Engage Clients Anywhere (once they already know you...)

2010-12-03T07:11:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading a nice post on AIArchitect entitled Working Globally: How to Successfully Engage Clients Anywhere.

The timely piece is a great look at many tips and tools for managing international projects, written mainly because a lot of firms have found themselves pursuing new work overseas during the slow US (and global) economy. However, I think it misses a huge opportunity to discuss what happens BEFORE the project. After all, the title of the piece is about successfully engaging clients.

Here's a brief blurb from the opening:

"...along with many of our competitors, as the domestic market slowed we compensated by pursuing work overseas, particularly in the Middle East and Asia. The work ranges in size from millions of square feet of institutional work to small satellite offices for an existing client. The one thing that all of these projects have in common regardless of size is that they are regionally unique. We had to learn how to manage them on a case-by-case basis."

There are several items mentioned in the opening that scream "marketing" to me but the piece really only delves into the management aspects of the projects - not the initial engagement of clients.

Increased competition
Pursuing new markets (specific markets, not all projects)
Diverse service offerings
Culturally and regionally sensitive communications

When it comes to actually winning the project - these items aren't overcome without a sound brand or marketing strategy. I mean to take nothing away from the billable team that delivers top-notch work; but the communications strategy needed to overcome those bullet points is how the successful engagement has to begin.

Increased competition in your own backyard is a challenge for all firms, especially in recent years. Many great firms haven't been able to overcome it successfully. So, is it really just a skilled team and good project management that wins jobs with two major factors in play: increased competition AND a brand new market?

I say no. The difference (or at least the big one) between firms that win the work and don't isn't just skills, nor is it resources/size. It's powerful, dedicated, engaging marketing.

GoNoGoPro Demo Video

2010-11-19T09:04:00.000-08:00

We're very excited to announce the first online demo video for GoNoGoPro. The video is 8 minutes in length and covers all of the basics of the tool - allowing viewers to understand the software well enough to sign up and set up right away!

Enjoy!

We Don't Need a Hero - But We Do Need a Champion

2010-11-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest roadblocks to marketing success is a lack of buy-in from non-marketing staff. A more positive way to phrase that is, one of the most important things marketing needs to succeed is…a champion.

I don’t mean a great marketing director or CMO. I mean a great CEO, principal or other senior team member that is in fact, not a marketer at all. As I’ve said numerous times, marketing isn’t about a one-on-one sales relationship and it is never a one person job – even if the marketing department only has one person. Marketing is an organization-wide initiative because every team member represents the brand, the message, the commitment to project delivery, etc.

A champion is crucial.

One big reason is that marketing success often requires process change or “doing things differently.” And doing things differently is hard. When the request or command only comes from marketing, it is sometimes easily set aside by billable employees with other priorities. When that request is powerfully and consistently backed by a champion outside of marketing, it has more weight. This isn’t because “the boss” is now asking people to do something. It’s because staff has the ability to hear why this request is important from someone that has been in their shoes before. It’s easier to get on board when numerous people are saying it’s a good idea, and when those people represent a variety of backgrounds.

Think about some of the simple business processes that we as marketers have to endure. How do we get staff to update their resumes? How do we get PMs to provide project descriptions for the website? How do we get people to review/weigh in on new opportunities (one that is near and dear to my heart thanks to GoNoGoPro)? Like it or not, these are business processes, and ones that have to be addressed somehow. Generally, marketing achieves more success in getting these things done efficiently when it’s not JUST marketing asking for it.

Another reason a champion is so important, is that marketing can’t have a “place at the table” all the time. During those times when impromptu project meetings happen, or the Principals get together but marketing isn’t represented, the champion has the ability to carry the torch and know what marketing can do and how value can be added. All it takes is “This is a great idea, we should let marketing take this report and clean it up a bit,” or any number of other suggestions. The idea is that marketing’s capabilities are being considered, even if the marketing department isn’t in the conversation. Then, obviously it’s key that marketing deliver on those promises.

So, as marketers, what do we do to create a champion?

Find a senior team member that already has a sound approach to marketing or works with your department often.
Get them involved more in what your team does. Show them the exciting new thing you just did, even if it isn’t for their department.
Make sure they’re in the loop when you develop new pieces or processes and get their feedback on how they may or may not be useful.
Don’t abuse the relationship – a true champion will go to bat for you when you want to make changes for the better, but pick and choose your battles wisely.

It shouldn’t be “us” and “them” when it comes to marketing and billable professionals, and the most successful marketing teams keep that from happening. Having a champion greatly helps bridge the gap between the two sides of the table and often prevents things from getting lost in translation among teams that have very different daily objectives.

A Firm By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet

2010-11-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

I've had three or four blog posts half-started in my head for the past week, but none of them really excited me. A quick look at Twitter tonight and I received all the motivation I needed.

I've blogged before about the importance of a name, when it comes to defining your brand.

I then saw a really nice article a few months ago about firm naming in NY Times (thanks to Twitter).

Well, tonight I saw a tweet from a "social media guru" that was using SurveyMonkey and his thousands of Twitter followers to help him choose the name for his technology start-up. At least I hope it was his, and not a client paying him for his guru-level expertise.

I have all kinds of problems with this method. So, as a follow up to some of my previous thoughts about AEC firm branding and naming, and a reaction to this tweet tonight, I offer the following advice.

1. Your firm's name is yours
Don't allow the masses to pick the best name for your firm. Develop certain aspects of your brand, what you stand for, what type of services you plan to offer before you pick a name out of a hat - EVEN IF it turns out to be your own last name(s).

2. Develop a little background or story
The survey said nothing more than choose the name for a "software start-up." People are choosing a name based on phonetics - no back story or brand story for the firm or for any of the naming options. When you finally settle on the right name, you'll know it's right because you will have an engaging story to explain it. In a year, or ten years, when somebody asks you where you came up with the name, who wants to say, "I let a bunch of strangers pick it through SurveyMonkey"?

3. If you must...use a focus group, not just a group
Focus groups don't usually have a place in picking a professional services firm's name, but if for some reason you do go that route, there is a science to it. At least create a focus group of your peers or potential target audience. The mass request to more than 20,000 followers had no focus to make the results the least bit useful. The answers are anonymous and could all be received from people that have no technology background or no need to buy software.

4. Pick a name that can stand the test of time
Rebranding or changing your firm's name is a time-consuming and expensive process. You don't want to have to go through it just because your name doesn't sound cool anymore. Letting the masses pick your name is a sure way to get something that nobody actually likes (thanks to Groupthink) or is right in line with a current trend. Which means the name won't keep its attraction for long.

Regardless of which side of the argument you fall on - partner names on the door vs. non-partnered firm name - be sure that you choose a firm name that resonates with your brand, your team and your audience. If not, there is an upside. At least you can find some great stock logos out there (like the one above) to match the stock name!

Why buy the cow...

2010-10-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

Last week we had an excellent SMPS education program here in DC about Architecture firms using social media. As with many programs, the event was live-tweeted. During the event, a fellow industry tweeter (not present at the program) sparked a conversation about the intellectual property concerns and the negative revenue impacts of tweetchats and live-tweeting. His points and concerns were that people don't have to come to events if they are tweeted, and perhaps more importantly, there are copyright concerns when people repurpose a presenter's info via tweets.

While I respect the position and agree that these are some very valid concerns, I couldn't disagree more. Here are a few reasons.

1. Watching a movie preview isn't the same as going to a movie. A stream of one-liners is a teaser and increases interest more than it communicates overall intent/content.

2. Moreover, Twitter is kind of like hearing a bunch of people paraphrasing the movie's one-liners anyways and interpretation is inevitable when we boil down a slide into 140 characters.

3. If 20 attendees tweet about an #smpsdc event, each with an average of 100 unique followers (assuming that industry tweeters will have some overlap in followers) more than 2,000 people are exposed to interesting content and its association with our chapter. And that number is conservative given that many have thousands of followers.

4. Protocol for tweeting events is pretty simple...at least reference the presenter, event and/or venue. Most folks abide by that, so there isn't really a concern of "stealing" content.

5. As a writer, presenter and consultant, I would love to have twenty people tweeting about an event that I'm speaking at for two hours. It indirectly ties back to #3 above, but isn't the exposure and dialogue the whole reason we present?

6. People don't get CEU's for following a Twitter stream.

The conference, seminar and panel discussion world has changed significantly due to social media, as well as our understanding of intellectual property. But even by older standards, unless someone is literally recording and posting the conversation and slides during a presentation, there is no cause for concern. It's no different than having a discussion about a presentation during an intermission or around the water cooler on Monday morning.

Disney-izing Your Brand

2010-10-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to have a wonderful vacation with my family last week. For my first time, and my kids' as well, we went to Walt Disney World in Florida. It was an amazing trip, and so much fun, even for my wife and me.

There is maybe no better case study for branding than Disney. But while on our trip, I realized something kind of surprising - and obvious.

Disney is a magical place. However, everybody is not always happy, kids are whiny sometimes, and there is an occasional complaint about lines. Shocking, right?

What is so powerful and magical about Disney (and their brand) is that EVERYBODY decides to just let it go. Kids still cry and throw fits, but within minutes they're over. Parents still get frustrated, but they all seem to say "I'm not letting this ruin our time at Disney."

Disney marketers create an environment of magic, they tell everybody it's magical, the word magic is everywhere...and people believe in the magic, even when normal frustrations arise.

Now, not that the typical AEC firm has to be magical, but you do have to be something. Whatever your "something" is, to be well branded, it has to be a part of every aspect of your firm's culture, communications, graphic identity, recruitment, project delivery and more. The only way your clients will believe your brand, is if you and every member of your team believe it.

Long Term Benefits to a Better RFP Review and Decision Process

2010-09-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

With the official launch of GoNoGoPro only days away, I couldn't help but write a post detailing some of the long term benefits to using such a simple, yet powerful tool. Sure, the day-to-day use will save time, money and likely prevent your firm from going after ill-suited opportunities (not to mention babysit your kids and change your car's oil)...but what about the strategic benefits?

During the numerous demos and client conversations I've had about the tool, some great benefits and uses have come up. Here are just three of the many ways that GoNoGoPro does more than help your A/E firm evaluate RFPs.

1. Improve Accountability

GoNoGoPro has robust reporting that goes way beyond measuring hit rate. Your A/E firm can run reports to ensure the right stakeholders are seeing the right opportunities - and better yet, they are evaluating them and participating in much needed firm dialogue.

2. Monitor Client Activity

The competitive landscape for architectural and engineering services has changed dramatically in the past few years. More competition, tighter budgets, fewer projects...even if your firm is in a "go after it all" mode right now, you can't be forever. GoNoGoPro's reporting allows you to compare the number of RFPs you've evaluated against the number you've pursued AND against the number you've won. This is where the typical CRM tool falls short - even if it has a pipeline feature. Knowing what you've evaluated helps determine the abundance of projects in a given market. CRM tools don't house that piece of information since you usually only input items after you've written the proposal.

3. Enhance Strategic Marketing

Beyond knowing which clients actually have work, you obviously want to know how much you have pursued and won. GoNoGoPro allows A/E firms to not only track this information, but analyze it by industry or project type to make better marketing and operations decisions. Is your hit rate incredibly low in an industry that you used to dominate? Did you significantly invest in a new market last year and need to determine the ROI? Marketing in our industry rarely, if ever, has a one-to-one ratio with new projects. GoNoGoPro's reporting allows your firm to easily capture marketing success over a longer term and plan for the future with good information.

Be sure to check out the website for GoNoGoPro and, of course, if your firm would like a demo we're only an email away! Look out for our launch on 10/10/10!

Sending Mixed Signals

2010-09-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I walked by a neighborhood barbershop, and for the first time in all the years that I've lived here I noticed that they also sold hats. I had to chuckle.

Why would a barbershop sell hats? I imagined that somewhere along the way the owner decided maybe they could make a little extra money and hey, people were already "thinking about their heads" when they were in there, so why not?

As funny as it was to me - maybe not that funny to anybody else - I couldn't help but think about it from a branding or marketing standpoint. To me, it tells me that I should be worried about the haircut I would get there. Perhaps enough people had bad haircuts and demanded hats when they left that it became a necessity?

So I thought next how many times do we, in the AEC community, send mixed signals to our clients?

How about the General Contractor that positions itself for luxury/high-end work but offers handyman services?

Or the award winning, multi-disciplinary firm that only features two people on the website that are both in the same discipline?

Or the dedicated government contractor that doesn't list their contract vehicles anywhere?

What clients see, hear and think about your firm IS your brand. What you think about your firm may or may not have anything to do with it, unless you can eliminate mixed signals and consistently communicate the right brand attributes.

When Do You Need That By?

2010-09-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Working as a marketer, whether in-house or on the agency side, when colleagues or clients come to me with a request there is one thing that I ALWAYS insist on giving or getting before I start work - a due date.

As projects get more complex, you need more due dates. They're never so simple that you don't need at least one though.

Clearly communicated due dates do a lot for marketers. They help us manage time and priorities appropriately. They help us communicate with clients or stakeholders better. They allow us to manage expectations. They allow us to under promise and over deliver - to sound cliched.

Perhaps most importantly, they prevent micro-managing. Nobody likes to be micro-managed. Due dates let over-anxious managers know a time when they're allowed to check-in. "We set a date of XX. If I don't hear from him by then, I can follow up."

From an internal perspective, in an AEC firm the clients are almost always senior, highly billable team members with a lot of balls in the air. The worst part...their deadlines are usually contingent on other people meeting milestones on time, which rarely seems to happen. So, if marketing can be the one area that establishes deadlines and always hits them, it makes life just a little easier.

I've worked with a lot of vendors and partners, and inevitably, the ones I continue to call on will provide me with schedules, or at least a date that I know I can see progress by. The ones that can't commit to a date are the ones that scare me.

Is Your Firm Making an Impression?

2010-09-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

The last three weeks have been pretty difficult for my five year old son. He has been to the ER twice now for head injuries, once for stitches (bike accident) and another for the medical glue (playground accident at recess). Needless to say, we’ve all been pretty upset about it and we’re a little on edge now every time he starts running.

For him though, the most upsetting part wasn’t the injuries, but the fact that he had to go to the hospital. The first words out of his mouth after the bike wreck were “I don’t want to go to the hospital!!” Of course, it broke my heart knowing we’d have to go because he was hurt pretty badly. He then cried again when we had to go to the doctor to remove the stitches, even though it wasn’t a painful process.

What does this have to do with marketing for A/E firms you ask? Well, maybe a lot. It’s been weighing on me for a while now, how do we convince our son that the hospital and the doctor’s office isn’t that bad, if the only time he has to go is when he’s sick, hurt or getting a shot? We can’t. We have even tried giving him “treats” after every visit, but it doesn’t eliminate the negative impression.

I’ve decided that we have to get him to see the positive sides of those places by taking him at other times. Maybe we can go visit a friend’s new baby, or work out a deal with the doc that we can go and check his height for fun or something. (Not certain they’ll go for it, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?)

So here’s the parallel I draw for the A/E industry, and the question I ask. If your prospective clients only hear from you once a year when you’re looking for work or they have a new RFP out, what kind of impression do they have of your firm?

The Tiers of a Good Go/No-Go Process

2010-08-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of demos for GoNoGoPro the past couple weeks, and the demos have led to some awesome questions about the RFP decision-making process.

Whether formal or not, all firms go through some sort of a process to decide which jobs are worth pursuing. During one of the demos, we had a long conversation about what criteria were the "right" criteria to use for the firm's decision and why we chose the ones we did for GoNoGoPro.

After a great discussion, and a little further reflection, I thought it made for a nice post to explore the criteria that are worth making your decision on.

I think of the process in the following tiers:

Filter criteria - Filter criteria are simple and generally have "yes or no" answers. These criteria should be easy to communicate, so that if any one person in the firm served as a gateway for new opportunities, they could easily rule things out.

Filters likely do not have any bearing on the client's decision to hire you, they are more about your internal goals. These would be statements such as, "We only pursue jobs over a million dollars." The client isn't going to make their decision to hire you based on this, but you would filter a lot of jobs out based on this. Client type or target market may or may not be a filter criteria as well, it just depends on the rigidity of your firm's marketing and business development strategy.

Client-focused criteria - Client-focused criteria aren't always so easy to answer, but they can be. An example of a client-focused criteria would be, "Have we worked with the client before?" The answer to this question factors into the client's perception of you. As the old saying goes, "It's not who you know, but who knows you that matters."

Client-focused criteria are what GoNoGoPro is based on. Filters come and go, and may change based on your marketing strategy or business plan. Client-focused criteria are what the experts write about in almost every issue of SMPS Marketer.

Now, what's worth measuring? Pretty much any data that isn't ruled out by your filter. Even if the contract amount isn't a part of your evaluation, it does make sense to track it and observe patterns and hit rate over time. The better your data, the stronger your filters become.

Strong filters mean less time reviewing opportunities that shouldn't make it in your inbox in the first place!

Environmentally Sensitive Marketing?

2010-08-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

I'm lucky enough to be involved in three client social media/web strategy campaigns right now, all at varying stages. Each of them have distinct goals, communications styles and audiences.

As the strategy for each has been finalized, I find it amazing how different the messages really are. Just as architects can't design in a vacuum, marketers can't market in one. A beautiful building can seem out of place and become an eyesore if placed in the wrong environment. A well-crafted campaign or website can stick out like a sore thumb if it isn't targeted appropriately or launched in the right places.

I've started thinking of developing a good communications plan or strategy as being an environmentally sensitive designer, obviously not in the "green" sense, but in the observant, respectful, community friendly way. There seem to be a lot of parallels between designing buildings and designing communications for me. After all, they're both about creating a community dialogue of some sort, right?

Any fellow marketers see parallels? Feel free to comment!

Your Business Card is...Architecture

2010-08-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

I've been meeting some exciting and creative people lately. Inevitably, if we're meeting at a business function we do the whole "business card exchange thing." I love it when I get a business card that's square, or shorter than usual...or anything different. It always reminds me of this guy.

This video cracks me up. Going through architecture school, we would get bombarded by professor commentary if we didn't have some sort of justification for our design decisions. Evidently, this guy can at least justify his with his ego.

I always wonder what the reason is for the unique sizing of a business card when I receive it though. Is your firm smaller than average? Do you specialize in square buildings? Do you only hire skinny people? Or do you just want to be different?

I'm obviously just having fun and I'm all about creative positioning, but it means a lot more when the marketing and graphic design decisions made for your firm are based on a sound brand. At least you have a story to go with the card.

Does Your AEC Firm Have a Fear of Commitment?

2010-07-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

I've found that the AEC industry is an amazing beast when it comes to commitment. Where else can it take more than 6 months (or a year) to win one job, but we expect marketing efforts to produce 1-to-1 results in 6 months or less?

Marketing professional services firms takes time and consistency, both of which are necessary if your marketing efforts are to make an impact. A great strategy can go down the tubes quickly if there is no consistent execution and timeline. Likewise, brilliant execution is wasted if it only happens once and then your firm is never heard from again.

As marketers, we need to commit - to our budgets, our campaigns, our newsletters, our target audiences, our websites - for a longer period of time and measure our successes and failures by the quarters or years, instead of by the months. This length or level of commitment is driven by a multiple of our clients' buying cycles.

When we simply respond to an RFP, we've hit the tail end of the buying cycle. As we all know, this rarely works out unless there is a prior relationship. It's what we do after the loss that shows our commitment to the client though. The day after the job is won or lost is the first day of the next buying cycle for your clients. If they don't hear from you again, you likely won't factor into the next decision. If they hear from you consistently during the next year, you have gained awareness and proven a level of commitment to understanding their needs.

I've recently launched a postcard campaign that highlights three distinct marketing vehicles. All three of these play a part in showing clients how committed you are to their industry/needs - your website, your social media presence and your proposals. Obviously there a number of other ways to impact a potential client's perception of your firm, but these three specifically are arguably the most widely used and can be uniquely crafted to show commitment to your clients.

When it comes to assessing how successful your marketing efforts are - whether one of these three or not - be sure to ask yourself how committed your firm is to the target audience. If you're confident in your commitment, give your efforts ample time to work their magic.

Perfect Timing - When Your Firm Should Communicate

2010-07-15T00:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend, my family and I had a blast at Top Golf, a local computerized driving range and miniature golf course. My five year old son and three year old daughter have been asking to go back every day. So, my wife and I (mostly me) thought it would be a great idea to head back over there this evening after work and try to have some more fun.

The result: nowhere near as fun. Although the weather was about the same, if not a little better, the experience was underwhelming. The place was packed, the service was slow and the kids were flat out exhausted from a long day of sun and preschool. My wife made the joke that "it was a good thing this wasn't our first time there, because if it was I would have sworn it off."

She was right. If this was my first experience I might not have gone back. I definitely wouldn't have rushed back three or four days later. That led me to think about the importance of timing in everything - including communications. So, I thought I would prepare the below list of the best times to communicate with your audience based on popularly accepted stats:

Best time to send an eblast - Mid-week eblasts usually have the best open rates.

Best time to tweet - Everything I've seen/read points to about 12 noon East Coast time in the US.

Best time to do a direct mail campaign - Avoid major holidays unless you're doing a holiday mailing. If you are doing a holiday mailing, a popular sentiment is to pick off-beat holidays to make a bigger impact or gain more awareness.

Best time to seek PR or earned media placements - Approach the media when you have a unique and timely success story, not just something big "coming up".

Best time to do a blog post - Regularly. Every blog is different, but to develop followers and a consistent audience your timing needs to be somewhat predictable or people won't keep checking back. Feeds and following tools help, but not everyone uses them. I try to post 3-4 times a month personally. Some folks post daily. Just be consistent.

Best time to launch a new website - When your team is embarrassed to send people to the site, it's already too late. But, if you're not yet in that boat, you should expect to redesign your site when the technology and style are outdated. As an example, Flash sites were all the rage several years back, but with the emergence of Google Analytics they have become relatively useless for tracking (without a lot of work-arounds). A simple, well-designed site can last a while, but most will start to look outdated within two-three years. Content should be updated regularly though, whenever you have something new to communicate.

Best time to go to Top Golf in Alexandria, VA - Not after a full day of school.

Three Events - One Big Topic

2010-07-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to announce three upcoming presentations/webinars that I will be giving in the coming months! As luck would have it, all three of my talks will be on social media in the A/E industry. With three presentations about a month apart, I sat at my desk thinking "how on earth will I be able to make these all different?" After a bit of soul searching though, I found a way to cater each presentation to its venue a bit and I think they should all be a lot of fun.

Optimizing the Use of Social Media for A/E Firms
Webinar hosted by ZweigWhite on August 25, 2010
Registration Info Here
This presentation will focus on the pitfalls of social media and the realistic expectations that firms should have with regards to resources and commitment.

The Business of Architecture: Firm Development, Effective Marketing and Attracting Clients
Four day web conference series hosted by Elevation Research Group September 13-16, 2010
Registration Info Here
This presentation will focus more on the resources available to firms and strategic ways to approach social media in our industry.

Architecture Week
A week of lectures and tours hosted by the Potomac Valley AIA, October 18-22, 2010
Registration Not Open Yet
This will be a more hands-on and specific look at social media for local AIA members.

How Much Do Your Proposals Cost You?

2010-06-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

There are a few ways to determine the importance of a strong Go/No-Go decision process for your architecture, engineering or construction firm. Regardless of how you look at it though, the fact is it's important. For this particular post, I'd like to focus on the financial reasons to tighten your firm's process.

First, a few quick stats from 2009's Industry Outlook (ZweigWhite).

77% of firms planned to expand marketing activities
65% of firms planned to team more often (not joint venture)
54% of firms planned to enter new markets

These statistics have at least one thing in common - more proposals. The question is, at what expense?

Cost per Proposal
I wanted to take a whack at the average cost per proposal. Since I'm writing in gross over-generalizations, I'll try to stay as conservative as possible. That way I can end by saying "it's AT LEAST this bad." Here is a quick estimate of hours for a public RFP response.

Marketing Staff - 30 hours
VP or Exec Input - 10 hours
Senior Billable Staff Input - 5 hours

Now, we can use direct labor rates to calculate costs, or we can use fully-burdened rates that would be used for pricing out jobs (since there are billable people involved in the process). Just to be conservative, I'll use mid-range direct labor rates.

Marketing Staff - $25/hour
VP or Exec - $50/hour
Senior Billable Staff - $40/hour

This brings the total labor cost of a proposal to roughly $1,450. Again, this is a conservative estimate, but depending upon the size of your firm and type of proposals you submit, it's not a bad number to work from. (I know there are some firms out there that spend ten times this much effort on a large contract.) This also doesn't account for any production expenses that may go into submitting numerous hard copies, etc.

Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost means the cost of NOT doing something else. (huh?) So, if we assume that each proposal costs us $1,450 in labor, opportunity costs means that we are also "losing" money by not having those people do something else more productive.

For the marketing staff, the time would likely still be an overhead cost. That does not, however, justify the "marketing doesn't have anything better to do" mentality. It just means that in this example, I don't want to make a bold assumption that the marketing team would be landing a big contract with that 30 hours.

We can assume though, that roughly 50% of the executive's time could be billable and 90% of the senior staff's time could be billable. Using those percentages and fully-burdened labor rates, we can say we are losing $1,290 more in billable time.

Controlling Costs

Our total cost per proposal is now roughly estimated to be $2,740.

During the last two years, many firms found themselves in a frenzy, chasing after any project that they were capable of completing. However, for every wasted effort, the firm may as well have written a check for $2,740. A tight Go/No-Go process could save any given firm in the tens of thousands of dollars per year in productivity. Even though the labor expenses would be the same on the bottom line, the effort wouldn't have been wasted on opportunities that may have been dismissed with a thorough screening. It would have been redirected to something more fruitful.

Controlling costs doesn't have to mean eliminating them. It means looking at where money is spent and making sure it's used effectively. Following a Go/No-Go process is not only a wise marketing decision, it's a wise financial decision for AEC firms.

Remove Foot from Mouth

2010-06-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share one of my wife's favorite stories about me from architecture school. It actually turned out to be one of my classmates' favorites as well - at my expense unfortunately.

I was in Professional Practice, the class that was supposed to expose us to life as a practicing architect. During that one class we were reading an article about urban redevelopment written by some pretty well-revered Chicago area architects. The article was interesting enough at first, but as I read on, the language started to get a little more "fluffy" from my perspective. The piece went from a useful essay to a flowery case study.

As our professor called on us to all stop reading and start sharing our opinions, she opened with "So, does anyone have any thoughts on the piece?"

I've never been one to hold my tongue, so I jump-started the class discussion with "Blah, blah, blah!" (literally, that's what I said)

The professor was a bit taken aback and asked me to explain. I expressed my frustration with the almost transcendentalist writing, which was supposed to be about a relatively practical topic in a practical class...not quite so politely probably.

I was at about my fourth sentence when one of my best friends flipped to the back page of the article and quietly pointed to the authors' names. Who else would they be, but my professor AND her husband.

Foot. In. Mouth.

I learned something very important that day. Use whatever information is given to you...ALL the information given to you, before you enter into a discussion. As a marketer these days, that is still one of the most important lessons I've learned.

It means learning everything you can about a potential client before your first meeting.

It means using and applying market research to sell a marketing plan up the chain of command.

It means having the most well-rounded view possible of a client before presenting them with branding recommendations.

It means tracking, analyzing and reporting on pretty much everything you do so you have a strong understanding of what works and what doesn't before proposing new efforts.

And of course, it means reading the byline before you start bashing an article unknowingly written by your professor.

The Taste Test for Your AEC Firm

2010-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

I had another blog post in the works when a friend shared this great piece on their Facebook wall.

The Essence of Pleasure by Jonah Lehrer

I couldn't help but scrap my other post (or at least put it on hold) to jump on this topic for a few moments. The Essence of Pleasure briefly promotes Jonah's new book while sharing a few experiments from Yale and Cal-Tech pyschologists and neuroscientists. One such experiment is an "oldy but a goody" that has been recreated in a number of different environments, all with similar results. Here is one anecdote shared in his post regarding the expensive vs. cheap taste test:

Twenty people sampled five Cabernet Sauvignons that were distinguished solely by their retail price, with bottles ranging from $5 to $90. Although the people were told that all five wines were different, the scientists weren't telling the truth: there were only three different wines. This meant that the same wines would often reappear, but with different price labels. For example, the first wine offered during the tasting (it was a cheap bottle of Californian Cabernet) was labeled both as a $5 wine (it's actual retail price) and as a $45 dollar wine, a 900 percent markup. All of the red wines were sipped inside an fMRI machine.

Not surprisingly, the subjects consistently reported that the more expensive wines tasted better. They preferred the $90 bottle to the $10 bottle, and thought the $45
Cabernet was far superior to the $5 plonk. By conducting the wine tasting inside an fMRI machine (the drinks were sipped via a network of plastic tubes) the scientists could see how the brains of the subjects responded to the different wines. While a variety of brain regions were activated during the experiment, only one brain region seemed to respond to the price of the wine, rather than the wine itself: the medial orbitofrontal cortex, which is believe to "integrate" sensory information with our expectations. In general, more expensive wines made the medial orbitofrontal cortex more excited. The scientists argue that the activity of this brain region shifted the preferences of the wine tasters, so that the $90 Cabernet seemed to taste better than the $10 Cabernet, even though they were actually the same wine.

In reading the comments on the post, there are numerous people arguing that true wine connoisseurs would be able to tell the difference, the machine messed with taste buds, etc. Regardless, in one way or another, it has been proven over and over again that people convince themselves that the more expensive object is usually better.

As I often do, I'd like to challenge people to apply this to B2B marketing. More specifically, apply this to the brand of your AEC firm.

If we believe in the research (which I do), then let's replace the word "price" in this experiment with the word "value." I think it's safe to say that price is just one way that we determine value. When we do that, we focus the conversation on how to position our AEC firm brand as the most valuable - regardless of what we charge for our services.

A whole list of questions comes to my mind when I think about firm branding in these terms:

Does your firm LOOK expensive, even if it isn't?
Are you providing value-adds to your clients, or just finishing the job?
Do you appear bigger or more established than you are?
Has a client or potential client ever told you that?
Have you ever won a job over a larger competitor, or one that was less expensive?

When your brand is managed well, your firm's value is maximized specifically in the eyes of your target audience. That means they choose you because you're the premium choice based on their perception, and that also means that a deep understanding of your target audience is crucial for a powerful brand.

Repositioning Your Firm - Without Changing A Thing

2010-06-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight, as my family and I ate dinner on the deck, I noticed our bottle of OFF! on the table. Aside from the usual "special formula" and "family-safe" marketing copy, one thing that really stood out were the words "WEST NILE VIRUS" in all caps. We actually bought the patented anti-West Nile Virus version?!?

The smaller (not quite fine) print above reads "Repels mosquitoes that may carry". So, basically any mosquito spray that can claim to repel mosquitoes, can make a similar claim. It's not untruthful, it's just slightly misleading if consumers don't read the packaging carefully.

Putting the potentially ethical issues aside for a moment, I wanted to highlight something that SC Johnson's marketers did well. They repositioned their product without changing their brand. As consumer needs adapted (i.e. a recent focus on West Nile Virus in the mainstream media), they updated their messaging without departing from the core brand values for the product line. In fact, they didn't even have to change the product! I don't have any prior knowledge of the OFF! products' actual brand platform, but I would imagine it includes things like "increasing safe outdoor time and mobility for families."

While marketing for products and services often differs, putting this in terms of an AEC brand isn't that large of a leap. The industry changes regularly based on technological developments, environmental pressures, governmental regulations, building codes, etc. Successful firms follow those changes by building the appropriate capabilities internally, but ALSO adjusting their positioning in the marketplace.

Your firm's brand is made up of a mixture of things, one of which is a dedication to your target audience. Depending upon how well that audience is defined, you should be able to adjust your service offerings and your messaging without losing the essence of what has always made your firm successful.

Why Your Architecture Firm Shouldn't Start A Blog

2010-05-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

As I logged in tonight to work on a blog post, I took a quick peek at a few other blogs I follow, or at least read off and on. While looking at the dates of the last few blog posts, I realized most of them hadn't been updated in months.

The discovery lead me to wonder how long the average blogger keeps up their trade. I wouldn't be myself if I didn't share a few pieces of info with you.

First, is an older post from problogger.net that analyzes the age of the top 100 blogs from Technorati back in 2006. Although the post is old, I wouldn't be surprised if the analysis is still pretty close to accurate. The average age of the blogs in the top 100 was only 33.8 months.

Second, and perhaps more telling, is this article from The New York Times. Based on data (again, from Technorati), this article shares that 95% of blogs are abandoned or not updated within the past 4 months.

Why? The truth of the matter is that keeping a blog going is a lot of work. Without dedicated resources, clear expectations and strategy to guide blogging, it's very easy to run out of content or just flat out loose interest. Not to mention, when running a blog for a firm, turnover plays a factor. If one person on staff is the "keeper of the blog" then the blog is pretty likely to die when they leave the firm.

I'm not 100% serious when I say that an AEC firm shouldn't start a blog, only 95%...(kidding). But I do stand firmly by the belief that nothing in marketing is worth doing if you can't sustain it. I would never recommend beginning a monthly newsletter unless there were resources committed to keep it going. A blog can have even more of a need for content, and doesn't automatically start with an opted-in list of readers.

Building traffic takes time, building content takes commitment, and building a reputation through your blog takes being a part of that top 5%.

Are We Diversifying or Just Chasing Everything?

2010-05-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

I've never really been a huge fan of the word diversifying. As an in-house marketer, it meant something totally different than say...an investor.

The concept behind diversifying is to prevent significant losses if one stream of income dries up. Who wouldn't like that? It's like the antithesis of putting all of your eggs in one basket. Sounds good enough.

My main concern is that the term is often used (or mis-used) in the AEC industry to describe frantic chasing of any and all opportunities that involve "work that we can do." In the past two years especially, it seems like a lot of firms are diversifying. In fact, I just attended a wonderful SMPS CEO panel discussion a few weeks ago in which the word was thrown around a lot. I left thinking to myself, when is someone really going to explain how they decided to diversify though, and how did they incorporate strategic marketing to make those decisions?

The truth of the matter is that far too many firms (not necessarily those on the panel) aren't actually diversifying. Most are just chasing after jobs outside of their target market because the ones they usually win aren't coming in the door. Imagine an investor that saw their stock start to dip, so they took all of their resources (money) out of that one stock, and spread it around to four other stocks evenly. Unfortunately though, they knew nothing about those four stocks except what they saw in the past week in the news...no 52 week range, no market cap, no P/E. Would you call that diversifying?

Marketing is the same way. Firms have a fixed amount of resources (people, time, money) and diversifying isn't as simple as going after the latest RFP that comes out. The differences between a shotgun approach and actually diversifying are research and strategy. Firms that successfully diversify find markets that make good business sense for them, not just ones that have a new job opportunity.

Everything I need to know about marketing, I learned from being a dad

2010-04-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

While I do love working in the AEC industry, there isn't anything I love more than my family. I'm the father of two little ones, both under five years old, and they keep our house buzzing. My wife and I are constantly trying to figure out creative ways to get them to listen to us, stay out of harm's way, stop picking on each other, etc. One thing we've learned in our time as parents is that communication is EVERYTHING, not just what we say, but how we say it, when we say it and to whom.

Then the other night it dawned on me how similar marketing is to being a Dad (or Mom). Thus, the list of parenting, err...uh...marketing tips below was born. Enjoy!

Set a timer - Regardless of what activity we're doing, with two kids we have to manage expectations. Part of that is communicating how long we're going to do one activity before switching to the next. It seems simple, but without timing, marketing plans are no more than a to-do list that never has to get done.

Use words they can understand - There are all kinds of grown-up words for going to the bathroom, but when I need my kids to go, I say "go potty" and it works. Be direct with your client communications and use words they would use themselves.

Be consistent - Pretty self-explanatory, but difficult for both parents and marketers. Marketing shouldn't only happen every once in a while. It's a constant and your success depends on repetition and consistency.

Be creative - Doing the same things every day is boring. Kids and clients both will tune you out if you say the same thing in the same way day after day, month after month.

Contingency plan - Things don't always go as planned...actually, they rarely do. For kids, you might need a change of clothes half-way through the day, for your marketing efforts, you'll probably need a change in focus half-way through the year.

Capture (and share) the memories - I've never been a "picture" person until I had kids, now I can't get enough. When it comes to marketing, the memories are really about the success stories and the metrics. Capture them, enjoy them and share them with the rest of your team.

Now...if anybody has any marketing-related advice that applies to me getting my kids to actually go to sleep, that would be great!

Social Media Lies: "Social Media Is Here To Stay"

2010-04-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

A Guest Post By: Matt Handal

One of the lies you will hear about social media is "social media is here to stay." if you consider what people are actually talking about when they say "social media," (as explained in my Definition of Social Media post) the statement is ridiculous. In the world of technology, nothing is truly "here to stay." On the world wide web, staying power is rare. Your ability to stay around often relies on your ability to turn a profit or your ability to sell your site to a big company who can absorb your losses. This usually hurts the site more than it helps it.

Let's look at Myspace. Remember Myspace, one of the biggest sites on the web? It used to be the bees knees and mentioned regularly on the nightly news (just like Twitter). What happened? Quite simply, Myspace did not have a sustainable business model. So they simply sold the site (and all its user data) to Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp. Facebook came along, out innovated Myspace, and became much "cooler." Everybody switched to Facebook. Myspace should have seen this coming, because it did the same exact thing to Friendster. Can you see a pattern?

LinkedIn, on the other hand, has been a profitable business from very early on. This may indicate more staying power. Twitter, which was started by the same guys who started Blogger.com, has a business plan that revolves around making $1 from each of its users. Twitter hasn't figured out how to do that yet. The rumors of acquisition are already surfacing. Will people always use these platforms? I have no idea.

I'm not saying that social media will be blowing like dust in the wind. What I'm saying is that nobody who is telling you social media is here to stay is qualified to predict the future of the tech sector. In my opinion, if you make a statement that you are not qualified to make, it is a lie. Making statements like this is fine unless you are directing someone to make business decisions. Look in the SMPS marketing handbook’s social media chapter (page 248). It recommends you make a Myspace page for your firm. It was written last year.

As a marketer, producer of the Construction Netcast podcast, contributing editor of SMPS Marketer, co-author of the Marketing Handbook for the Design & Construction Professional, and Twitter.com’s @MattHandal, Matt sure is busy. But never too much to answer your questions at mhan7474@yahoo.com or post at http://www.helpeverybodyeveryday.com/, where you can sign up to receive his weekly articles.

Who cares about your website if you are just THAT good?

2010-04-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

It's a fantastic time for John Hillman, the 2010 ENR Award of Excellence winner. His patented Hybrid Composite Beam finally hit a big wave of industry coverage and attention - earned media - which is beyond comparison with regards to gaining credibility from potential clients and colleagues.

His 14 year journey definitely got my attention. The ENR article describes his trials and tribulations and makes it sound like he's finally going to come out on top, with a well-revered and much needed new product.

I came across his story first in the McGraw-Hill Construction newsletter, clicked through to the ENR article, but then what? My next reaction was to go to his website and check out how he has chronicled the development process, how he markets the product and to whom, etc.

Unfortunately, that's where my search stopped. He does have a website, but it isn't much of one. I was a little disappointed to see that though. The best possible situation after a large amount of media attention is a high traffic volume to your website and of course, phone calls for new work.

I can't help but fall back to many of my earlier posts and so many discussions that I have had with clients and potential clients alike. Did his website get him this award? Obviously not. But his lack of a marketing presence may in fact prevent him from getting many of the calls and follow up leads that he would have gotten.

His online presence doesn't say "ENR Award of Excellence winner," it says "struggling start-up that may or may not still be in business."

I mean no negativity in this post. I think it's fantastic that Mr. Hillman's passion and determination are beginning to pay off. I just wonder if more savvy marketing, or just more attention to marketing period, could have positioned him to win this award sooner or at least make a significant difference for him after this point.

I'd love to ask any readers' opinions on the subject! Does HC Bridge Company's website matter? Is the product so technical that marketing presence as a whole isn't really that important? I know what I think...how about you?

Does Your Website Have A "Select Clients" List?

2010-04-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

The "Select Clients" list is a pretty common phenomenon when it comes to AEC firm websites. The conversation internally usually revolves around a few key points:

1. We want to include all of our big clients on our site...

2. But wait, we don't want to include ALL of our clients...

3. And we want people to know we can do work like this...

4. But we don't want people to think we CAN'T do this...

5. And we definitely don't want to write-up every project we've ever worked on.

Thus the list of select clients is born. The uncategorized list that shows the firm has provided a wide range of services for clients of all types in multiple markets.

But what does the list really say about your firm?

From my perspective, the problem with providing an extensive list of ALMOST all of your clients is that it has too much irrelevant info, and not enough relevant info.

When working with clients on their websites, a large part of the exercise is defining the target audience(s) so that everything can be designed and written from their point of view. It's really difficult to work in that state of mind though! It's so much easier to just organize things how you look for them or write things in words that you understand.

So, thinking from your potential client's perspective, what are they looking for when they are viewing the experience or clients section of your firm's website? Recent, relevant experience.

Unfortunately, the long list of client names doesn't provide any information of value in their quest. They may be able to discern that you have worked for some clients with similar needs, but they won't be able to tell what kind of work you did or how long ago. Especially in the public arena, you're only as good as your last three-five years, so why include the last ten years worth of clients?

What to do instead? That depends on the strength of your project experience and your marketing goals. However, the idea is that the majority of your site should have enough information to impress your top three audiences (ideally the ones that make up 70-80% of your revenue). As things change, and your client list shifts, update your site to reflect the shift.

Until they shift, don't spend valuable time and effort marketing to the wrong clients!

Tell Me Something I Don't Know Mr. Marketing Guy

2010-03-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

If you ask the average AEC firm partner, they'll say they know their audience. They'll also say they know their capabilities, they know the contacts, they know the market, etc. These are very true statements for the most part.

Well, why then, do people hire marketing consultants? After all, aren't these basically the things that any marketing consultant is going to waltz in and regurgitate after a few meetings?

I hope not.

As a marketing consultant, I cringe when I hear about the perception that marketing and branding professionals just capture what people say in interviews and turn it around in a document. That's not what we do - at least not most of us. A good strategy is about the details, their analysis and unique recommendations based how those things fit into the big picture.

So, for any interested AEC industry folks, I thought it was worthwhile to cover a few of the basics that go into a REAL strategy document so people can know what to expect.

You may know your website - but do you know which pages are the most popular? If you're a federal government contractor, do you know whether or not people are hitting your site from a government IP address? Do you know the last time you had a spike in traffic and why?

You may know your competitors - but do you know what content they have on their sites that you don't? Do you know how closely aligned your brand is with theirs or how easily potential clients get confused between you and them?

You may know your clients - but do you know the right ones? Do you know who really makes buying decisions? Do you know why they called you in the first place? Or why they call you back?

You may know your capabilities - but do you know what your clients are asking for? Do you know how to describe them to an uninformed audience? Do you know what your clients call your services and how that differs from what you call them?

I could go on...but I'll spare you! The point is, the devil is in the details. Perhaps more importantly, the devil is in ALL of the details. It is easy to find out the answer to any one of these questions, but the point of a strategic consultant is to pull all of these things together and make recommendations based on experience, industry understanding and knowledge on what works best for what audience.

If you're hiring a worthwhile strategic consultant, they won't just tell you something you already know - but they should tell you plenty of things you wish you knew sooner.

Three Types of Internal Marketing Your Firm Should Be Doing

2010-03-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of articles and webinars on how to make your entire firm into sales people. The thought behind many of these courses is that the more people that are selling on behalf of the firm, or at least reaching out, the more new projects your AEC firm will win.

Well...I won't say I disagree, but I will say that I don't like playing the numbers game when it comes to sales. Meaning, my approach is never to go after every job, with the hope that you win one out of ten.

However, I do feel that internal marketing and communications are incredibly important. With that in mind, here are three types of internal marketing that successful firms employ.

1. The marketing department needs to communicate with employees, not just clients
Everyone in the company should know what you're going after, what your latest big win is, what your exciting new target markets are...maybe even what conference you're going to next. The reason is, that you never know what connections people may have that they never even thought of as leads...but they actually are. Newsletters are good, but can sometimes be too time consuming and hard to pull together regularly. Find a way to communicate with your team in a timely and realistic manner.

2. Leadership needs to "second" what marketing is doing
Firm management has to be vocal about supporting marketing, and the overhead expenses that come with it. There are times when overhead is questioned in any architecture firm or construction company, but it is leadership's responsibility to assure everyone that there is a strong sense of purpose and that the expenses yield results in the long term. A well-crafted marketing plan is always a good thing for leadership to point back to.

3. Sit in on project meetings when possible
It may not seem like marketing necessarily, but it is important. Sitting in on a few project meetings has several benefits. First, it builds trust amongst the team. Doing it once won't work, but if it becomes a regular thing it will improve communications. Second, you learn more about what the firm really does. Even for more senior marketers that may understand the industry very well, there is much to be said for learning a little bit about the specific projects and headaches that your coworkers face. Finally, you may get some ideas about new ways to market the firm. You never know what problems may pop up during a conversation that you can help solve through a new communications piece, additional market research or even a blog post.

Marketing internally can be as beneficial as marketing externally. Break down those cubicle walls and begin a better dialog with your coworkers to help you understand more about your clients!

But I'm Just A Part of the Choir

2010-02-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy receiving my issue of SMPS' Marketer in the mail. I read it more regularly than most publications I receive, to be quite honest. In each issue, there is usually at least one article that excites me or makes me feel like blogging. This time was no different.

Ron Garikes' piece "We Don't Need No Stinking Marketing Plan" was a great read and it made me think to myself, "Awesome...he totally gets it." Of course, as the title of this post suggests, he is preaching to the choir.

Then my excitement was slightly tempered when I realized that pretty much everybody that receives Marketer is part of the choir. I honestly don't think I've met a marketer in the industry that didn't WANT a marketing plan. There have been plenty that didn't quite know how to do it, didn't have the time or weren't able to build consensus with firm management...but I think most marketers at least wish there was a plan.

Garikes' sample excuses were great as well, (including the one about hiring an "overpriced consultant"). I've heard all of them myself plenty of times.

The concern I have is that the right people aren't reading this article, or whole magazine actually. Articles like this need to be in Architectural Record or in AIArchitect. Marketing efforts (whether plans or their associated tactics) fizzle out when buy-in isn't there from the top, rarely from lack of effort on behalf of marketing departments. In fact, part of why consultant efforts can be so successful is that it sometimes takes an additional expense hitting the bottom line before leadership takes things seriously.

So I guess in closing I'm asking all of my fellow marketers to put your issue of Marketer on a Principal's desk, opened to your favorite article. And to my fellow writers, let's try to get published in the publications that our bosses read, not just our colleagues.

How Can My Architecture Firm Use Social Media - Part 2

2010-02-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Way back in April of 2009 I wrote this post on how architecture firms could use social media. Interestingly enough, it's still the most traveled post on my blog through organic search traffic.

I figured it made good sense to update that post a bit. For one, it's pretty old...I mean, how much has changed since April of last year in the world of social media? Also, my post at the time was much more tactically focused. The suggestions I provided were really just ways to "dive in".

For this post, I'd like to highlight a couple strategic ways that architecture (or any AEC) firms can use social media. More specifically, here are a few examples of goals that AEC firms may have, and how they can use social media to achieve them.

Approach New Markets - The dialogue created by social media is a powerful tool - not just in terms of networking, but also for monitoring, researching and analyzing trends. If you're focusing on a new market, your firm can use social media to build your understanding of the priorities in that market/industry, as well as learn how to "talk the talk" appropriately. If you are really into the research, using a tool like ScoutLabs is a phenomenal way to gain insights and see what people are REALLY talking about.

Expert Positioning - If you're amongst the firms that have been able to clearly define your areas of expertise or service offerings (meaning that your website doesn't list every project and project type that you've ever completed), the use of social media can go a long way to help you establish yourself as the expert in a certain area. For a smaller residential firm, the example from that earlier blog post about being a neighborhood expert applies. For a larger firm, it may mean beginning a blog, ning community, and/or tweeting about acoustics engineering. The idea isn't that you need a million people to follow, it's that the right people appreciate what you have to share.

Develop New Skills - On the flipside of the expert coin, is the ability to tap into vast resources that you would have never known existed prior to social media. Just to use an example, there are currently 73 twitter users tagged in wefollow under BIM. A large number of these users are experts actively seeking dialogues with other people on how to better use BIM, what the benefits are, what the best training courses are...and better yet, just flat out sharing small tricks they've learned over time. Why not start there if your firm is considering a large investment in new technology this year? The same applies for project management, photoshop, CAFM and others.

As with any marketing, the best way for your firm to use social media is going to be based on your firm and its goals. There is no question though, that social media can and does have a place within your firm's overall communications goals, it just has to be harnessed properly.

The Missing Ingredient - Eggs

2010-02-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of meeting a very nice gentleman recently. The owner of his own mid-sized residential construction firm, he self-admittedly had never marketed in more than twenty years of business. Our conversation progressed well and he mentioned that he was actually quite interested in discussing marketing and marketing strategy with me because his business suffered this past year, as did many firms. Although he was interested in marketing he very quickly dismissed the word branding...he knew for sure that wasn't what he needed.

He continued to list a few things he'd done to market himself.

He launched his first ever website last year. It didn't "bring in enough sales" so he decided there was definitely a problem with the design and therefore redesigned it.

He signed up with a few local referral services that pre-qualify leads for him and take a cut off the top of the contract amount if a job works out.

Last but not least, he's been purchasing pay-per-click advertising, such as Google AdWords and the likes.

The overarching theme in our conversation was that he wasn't very pleased with any of his results. He then told me a few things that he knew he needed - Search Engine Optimization was at the top of list. He was determined that Search Engine Optimization was the key to unlock the hidden potential in his contracting company's website.

SEO will not do the trick.

His missing ingredient is not a tactic, it's a strategy. For the first time in more than twenty years, he is marketing his company out of necessity, but with no clear direction. He has decided to focus on all of the things that people tell him he should be doing because they are important ingredients to marketing success...but he's missing the one major ingredient that makes things stick together - eggs.

Marketing strategy and brand strategy are the ingredient that hold your "dish" together. With no clear message, brand platform, unique value, established goals/metrics, etc. his marketing efforts are scattering around the area without reaching the right clients or telling them why he's the right choice for them.

I hope to have a chance to partner with this company sometime in the future. I think for now though, he is busy shopping for other ingredients.

The Evidence of Influence

2010-01-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

About a week ago I came across this HubSpot post showing that websites influence 97% of clients' purchasing decisions (survey by RainToday.com). The best part of this survey from my perspective was that it was focused solely on professional services, completely eliminating the argument of many nay-sayers that statistics are often skewed by product companies.

The survey hits on a very important point that I try to reinforce with clients and colleagues all the time.

Marketing is not only about the immediate ROI, but must include longer-term and softer metrics.

Your AEC firm's website is only one tool in the marketing mix, but it can be pretty easily extrapolated that other marketing channels have similar influence (some perhaps more successful than a website, others less). I'd like to draw a few parallels to other channels.

Online advertising - There is a great deal of importance placed on click-throughs and conversions. However, a solid ad buy of a couple hundred thousand impressions provides influence, name recognition and brand building that needs to be measured through client sentiment and long-term growth. That also means sticking with it over a period of time, so that it has the chance to work. (Remember that compared to a website, almost any other marketing channel has a shorter lifespan)

Social media - There are any number of articles and blog posts about calculating social media ROI, and plenty trying to get firms to STOP doing so in the first place. Looking solely at influence, your blog, Twitter account(s) and Facebook pages all cast a net. They don't HAVE to result in direct sales for them to be successful or worthwhile. They allow you and your firm to have more connection with your audience, and therefore more influence when it comes time for them to make a buying decision. On the flip side, when done poorly or started but then abandoned, they do just what a broken down website does. They serve to discredit your firm, or at least raise red flags that demand further investigation.

I often tell people that a great website probably won't "win" you any contracts, but a poor website can definitely lose them. It's nice to have a survey that, in my opinion, backs that up with good, professional service-specific numbers.

How to Market to the Federal Government, Not Just Sell

2010-01-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

The following is a piece written for a white paper series on marketing to the Federal Government. It includes info for professional service companies, as well as product companies, but it is still very applicable for the AEC marketplace.

When it comes to measuring your company’s performance year-to-year or quarter-to-quarter, you likely view several metrics. The financial ones are pretty cut and dry. They’re based on revenue, costs, profit or some combination of factors that are ultimately summed up with a number.

Sales or business development activities tie right in to those reports. Most of the time, a lead is identified, efforts are invested in developing that lead and a sale is either closed or lost. Whether your company is a product or service driven business, this holds true. Those leads translate to a direct impact in your reporting and ultimately your bottom line. It’s quite tidy actually, and assuming the products or services you sell are high quality and the Federal Government needs them, it can be easy to determine when sales efforts have not been effective. A change can be made (whether sales person, client or your offering) and then your company can try it all over again, hopefully with an improved result.

What does vary between product and service companies are: the length of the sales cycle, whether you have a long-term client relationship, a repeating sales opportunity, chances for additional work or chances to sell new products. These factors are unique to company, product, service and the client agency. It’s the responsibility of a great salesperson or sales team to account for these differences in their approach and deliver sales growth single-handedly, correct?

Not exactly.

Enter Marketing…
The direct relationship between sales calls and bottom line is in fact, not all that direct. A 1:1 ratio between sales efforts and sales lost/won wouldn’t take into account the factor of marketing.

Ask yourself the following questions:

How many sales or contracts were closed on the first contact with a new client?
What do your clients know about you that you or your sales person didn’t tell them directly?
Have you ever lost a sale because the client was misinformed about a perceived strength or weakness?

Whether you are aware of it or not, your company has a brand and a marketing presence…even if it is defined by a severe lack of one. The space between new lead and signed contract is only one gap where marketing is already affecting your company’s performance. There are numerous others, including before you ever introduce yourself and long after your first job is done or product is delivered.

If “sales” is what happens when you’re doing a pitch, “marketing” is what takes over after you leave the room…and probably had something to do with how you got there in the first place.

So How Do We Market?
Marketing to the Federal Government takes a lot of time and effort, but you have several things going for you that private industry doesn’t have. For starters, you know there are spending cycles and there is no shortage of information available about your client and your competition. Following are the key items on your to-do list if you want to market, not just sell, to the Federal Government.

Do the Research
There is so much information on Federal contracts available it is mind-boggling. Choosing a tool to streamline your research efforts is important, so that you don’t waste countless hours sifting through the wrong information. I recommend FedSources IntelliSearch. Effective research should tell you the following about your clients at a minimum:

How much they are spending on your product or service
Who the actual buyer is
Who was doing the job or had the contract before you

Of course, you can dig for hours, so start with an idea of what you need. Think about research objectives specific to clients and keep them within a similar timeframe of one another, so you can analyze “apples to apples.” It’s also a good idea to get a macro-level result for reference. For example, it may seem at first glance like the Department of the Army is a huge buyer of your products, when in fact if you searched at the Department of Defense level you would realize that the Army is the smallest buyer in comparison to other branches.

Create a Strategy
Armed with clean, consistent numbers, you now need to analyze them and determine the appropriate way forward. That initially means which clients are the right fit for your company. This is a crucial area where marketing strategy enhances your sales efforts. Cold calling and the law of averages will only get you so far. Understanding how the government buys can help you rule out agencies that aren’t strong targets. Develop your target audience based on the same criteria that they use to select their vendors:

Location
Prior experience with the agency
Contracting vehicles or purchase ability

Once you know whom you’re marketing to, it’s time to fine-tune your research and create a list of specific tactics to help you reach those targets. Tactics could include attending the right events, direct mail campaigns, seeking out partnerships, social media outreach and any number of other communications efforts. Your tactics should always include keeping your contact information updated on in any number of directories, such as CCR.

Develop Your Message
What do you want to say to your potential clients? If you have a sales pitch or an elevator speech already developed, what is it really saying about your company’s products or services? Where many sales efforts fall short isn’t in the pitch, it’s in the supporting materials. If you communicate your most valuable points verbally, but your website, proposal, brochure or ads don’t carry the same message, your efforts aren’t as successful as they could be. The most successful government contractors know how to consistently communicate several key items at every touch point with the client:

Accessibility – which contracts, schedules or contract vehicles do you have
Federal Government experience – agency client list, years in business
Value – what you do that offers unique value to their agency

Just as an exercise, take a quick review of the websites of the top ten Federal Contractors from FY 08. With only one or two exceptions, you can find a list of their government contracts in one click. Of course they each have their own way of communicating their experience and value right up front as well, mostly with photographs of seasoned employees and recent project work, not just text.

Execute the Plan
Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of life is showing up.” While marketing isn’t quite that simple, if the strategy is already developed and the message is crafted, the execution really is just about showing up and following through. Marketing has to be a constant and repetition is crucial, but that doesn’t mean running the same ad every month for years on end. Your marketing strategy should contain a mix of tactics, and repetition comes when you execute all of those tactics at various times, with the goal being that the same person sees your name in a variety of locations. Seeing a person or object in the same place repeatedly develops an expectation (think about children not realizing that teachers have “other lives”), seeing a familiar face in numerous locations develops recognition.

Measure Your Results
This would be far from good marketing advice if I didn’t tell you to measure your results and actually apply your metrics to make better decisions next year. Marketing decisions should become more informed every year, and thus more effective and efficient. Even though marketing doesn’t always tie directly to a percentage of revenue growth, there are still several metrics to let you know if your message is reaching your audience. Some specifics to look at include:

Contracts unique to new target markets (instead of overall revenue growth)
Web traffic (direct click-throughs from ads or partnerships)
Web traffic (improved organic search results for a newly designed site or revised content)
Hit rate or effectiveness on proposals (Macro-level: year-to-year comparison, Micro-level: specific to client-type)
Leads generated

There is no shortage of metrics, but it’s important to apply them in a useful way. Again, not all metrics will translate directly to the bottom line.

When It’s All Said and Done
The goal for all businesses is sustainable, long-term growth through brand recognition and an improved reputation. Successfully doing business with the Federal Government takes time, a thorough understanding of the landscape and a combination of sales and marketing working in concert.

Reconnect with your prospects - before it's too late

2010-01-12T21:47:00.000-08:00

A good friend and colleague of mine passed on a funny and/or disturbing story...depends on how you look at it.

Their firm had a relatively manageable mailing list, roughly 1,000 names or so. They've been mailing promotions, holiday cards, newsletters, etc. to this list for years. He said the list usually gets updated based on returned packages, with a few manual reviews every now and then.

As a "strategic" marketing move for the year (he was quite sure to point out that it felt a lot more tactical than strategic), the firm was combing through every name on the list to ensure they were accurate. Much to his surprise, on only his fifth name into the list he uncovered an out-of-date contact. No big deal, really.

However, he discovered that the contact had passed away...seven years ago. While this clearly pointed out that somebody hadn't been taking care of the list very well, it more blatantly showed how out of touch the firm was with their prospects.

For most firms, last year was all about cutting expenses, yet still trying to bring business in the door - in any way possible. But how many prospects, leads or potential clients are already on our lists that we haven't even bothered to make a personal connection with? These are people that are pre-qualified, know who we are, have received our mailings and have maybe even received a proposal from us before. Nothing says "we really want to work for you" like submitting one proposal and never calling again, right?

I'm not suggesting that regular follow up phone calls are the way to go for every lost contract, but it is important to stay in touch with the people that you really see as prospects. The moral of the story to me was, if they are a good fit for your firm, make an effort to keep in touch. If they aren't a good fit, don't put them on your list in the first place. It might save you seven years worth of wasted mailings.

Relationships don't create themselves

2010-01-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

Several months back I wrote a post about firms being more selective in their RFP responses. The post basically said, "stop wasting time chasing opportunities that you have no chance of winning." Oddly enough, a Facebook fan (and close friend of mine) commented on the post that "going after any work at all is generally encouraged". Their comment was basically the antithesis of what my post was all about! However, with the way things went in 2009, that was the sentiment of many firms. "Hey, we can do this work. We should submit a proposal!"

Fast forward to today, when I received the latest issue of Marketer. The cover story was a fantastic read and hit the nail on the head - firms are wasting time on proposals and BD efforts with no strategy! W. Bruce Lea and J. Rossi gathered excellent statistics on what firms that actually WON work were doing well.

Without giving away too much of the article, the firms that won jobs overwhelmingly had developed client relationships pre-RFP, had multiple meetings or get togethers pre-RFP, and had opened the door to multiple points of contact with the client pre-RFP (amongst other things).

There are two ways to look at those survey results. The first is that clients make decisions based on referrals and prior working relationships - that's it. Fortunately, that just isn't the case.

The second way to look at those survey results is that a coordinated marketing and communications campaign actually does work. Please note, I didn't say sales or business development campaign. Sales is only one aspect of the big picture.

A coordinated marketing strategy will help identify new clients before the opportunities arise, so that genuine relationships can be developed. That strategy will include sales efforts or calls inevitably, but it should also have the right mix of networking events, client-focused messaging, direct response outreach, advertising, social media...the list goes on.

Yes, getting new work for your AEC firm is all about the relationships you develop before the RFPs are released...and that's exactly what your marketing strategy should focus on as well.

Vote for Markitecture's Blog!

2010-01-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

If you're a regular reader of the blog and enjoy what you read, I'd love your support in this Best Construction Blog competition from www.constructionmarketingideas.com! Click on through and vote today!

Additionally, if you haven't checked out the blog, run by Mark Buckshon, I recommend it. There are plenty of thought-provoking posts and lots of well-rounded info about marketing in the AEC industry.

So you do this for a living?

2010-01-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

Let's say that you were a contractor, but you let your own building lapse into disrepair. Or perhaps you're a mid-to-large sized commercial architecture firm with a poorly designed office. What does it say about your company, your brand or your dedication to quality work? As professional service providers, you generally are expected to show yourself off well when you have the chance to do things your way, i.e. your own offices. If you don't, you miss the opportunity to show just how great you really can be.

My intention isn't to single out those of you that haven't been upgrading your offices :-), but it is to point out a flaw in what many businesses are willing to accept when they choose marketing consultants.

I recently came across a "creative consultant" that specialized in social media strategy. Fair enough, there are only thousands of people (all with varying levels of marketing expertise) jumping on that bandwagon right now. However, this social media consultant touted some amazing stats that I wanted to share.

200 followers on Twitter
1 blog with a total of 3 posts...ever
0 functioning website

Now, I personally am a big proponent of having the right fans/followers instead of a huge amount. I believe in being pretty targeted, perhaps even to a fault. However, the complete lack of a website and a sparsely populated blog are hardly acceptable if you are a social media guru. Granted, these few stats don't tell the whole story, but they paint a pretty good picture.

To me, the comparison is this: Professional residential contractors lose jobs all the time to guys working "out of the back of their truck." Likewise, residential architects lose jobs all the time to contractors that say they don't really need an architect. Sometimes that works out just fine. Often it doesn't. The hope is that all of our clients take the time to research and "background check" the important purchasing decisions they are making to select the option with the best value, not just the one with the best price. In the marketing world, that means at least taking a peek at their website, blog, etc. to determine what kind of marketing advice they follow themselves.

Does your firm have a 2010 marketing budget yet?

2009-12-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

The past year has been a brutal one for the AEC industry, to put it mildly. Overall, as a response to the tough times of 2009, cutting marketing expenditures probably made good sense for a lot of firms.

However, as many firms look towards the new year with the clear goal of “we need to do better than last year,” it’s crucial that they prepare a detailed marketing budget. Marketing planning often falls by the wayside because of the high level of uncertainty, but at a minimum, a budget should be prepared to help guide spending decisions in 2010.

Why is a budget important?
Every project that you undertake as architects, engineers or contractors has a budget. Clients demand it so that they can plan, set aside funding and measure the project’s success. Marketing efforts should be no different.

Developing a budget ensures consistent activity. Relationships rarely develop from one call, one ad, one conference or one mailing. A budget, accompanied by a marketing plan, allows firms to outline multiple touch points with the same audience. A budget also provides a figure to measure effectiveness against. ROI is not the end-all-be-all of metrics, but it is one important yardstick to use when evaluating and planning your firm’s marketing efforts.

What do we base a budget on?
Depending on how detailed your firm’s business or financial planning process is, you should develop a marketing budget as a percentage of revenue, not just assign a dollar amount. Industry averages range from 5-10% of net service revenue. Those vary based on which survey you use or region you work in. You also have the choice of basing your budget on next year’s projected revenue or historical revenue numbers.

What should go into 2010’s budget?
Marketing next year will be mission critical, whether you believe that the market will have a drastic upswing or times will continue to be difficult. Coming out of a year like 2009, clients will have a built-up need for your services and funding will eventually come, so a detailed budget will help you make the most of tight marketing dollars.

Know When To Say When - Research Responsibly

2009-12-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

When it comes to market research, there is no shortage of information that would be helpful for your architecture, engineering or construction firm. Let's face it...there is ALWAYS another competitor popping up, plenty more clients to chase, elusive funding streams, etc.

Who has time for all of that? Even with a dedicated marketing team in-house, there are deadlines to meet and proposals to submit.

I had a discussion with a colleague this week about just when to stop. How do you know when you have dug deep enough? If market research efforts can be contained and defined, they can be a lot easier to tackle quickly. Here are a few pointers that help me know when to say when.

1. Set time limits - Research is often about past performance. Digging back farther than two to three years for most things is a waste of time. Some government contracting info might be worth a deeper dig, if you're looking at 5 year IDIQ's for example.

2. Constantly ask yourself what question you are answering - It is easy to get mired down in everything that is out there. If all you set out to do was review info on your top five competitors, don't get roped into looking up the top ten.

3. Think lowest common denominator - Only record info that you will be able to capture about all of your research subjects (whether they be competitors or potential clients). Research is most useful when you can compare it to other subjects. Set out to find the same ten pieces of info about all of your subjects, instead of just blindly recording everything you uncover.

4. Use other resources - If you are a busy principal, Marketing Director or Business Developer, you likely have a long list of questions you wished you knew the answer to...but just don't have the time to find out. Hiring a third party to do market research makes a lot of sense - they have the procedures in place and often have paid-for-services that grant them access to information faster and easier. Don't be afraid to ask for help!

The point of market research is to enhance your business' decision making. It's important to know when you have enough info to make an informed decision so that you can make it quickly and move on to the next task at hand.

The Lumenhaus and Marketing

2009-11-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

Being a Hokie Architecture alum, I couldn't help but follow the story of the Lumenhaus as Virginia Tech's team traveled to DC for the Solar Decathlon.

The marketing part of me, Pamplin MBA at Tech as well, found a whole new take on the story when reading the alumni magazine. "Bringing Lumenhaus into the Light" provided a great flipside to the coin. I found several aspects of the article, and the competition overall, worth posting.

1. It is fantastic to see "communications" as its own category for the Solar Decathlon. This is a great testament to the competition, as it truly is about more than just design. Even though the category was worth less than 10% of the overall score, it still emphasizes to teams that branding, marketing and communications is important regardless of how strong your design is.

2. I still stand by the importance of students in fields such as architecture, engineering, building construction, etc. taking courses in business, marketing and management (just as I mentioned in this older post). Quotes like this one from the marketing professor really stand out:

"my branding talk probably sounded like something from an alien planet to them."

3. For a US DoE contest, international teams showed very well.
• 4 out of 20 teams were from the non-continental US
• 2 of the 4 captured top 5 honors
• The only European team to enter captured the top spot

4. The differences of opinion between marketing and architecture seem to start even before the professional world! Although, I can't give the marketers credit on this one...Lumen Home sounds a little clunky.

The latter was key, as it resolved a major difference of opinion among the students. “The marketing majors wanted to call it ‘Lumen Home’—because consumers go home at the end of the day, not to their house. The architecture majors felt that ‘home’ was too, well, homely! Not at all capturing the modern, technical advances the house offers. ‘Haus’ was the perfect compromise.”

Overall, I'm of course proud of my Hokies even though this wasn't their best showing. Most importantly, I'm glad to read about a mesh of the marketing and architecture world to make a project better though.

For more info on the Solar Decathlon, visit: http://www.solardecathlon.org/

The 25th Hour of My Day, I'll Use for Marketing

2009-11-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

I don't think I can name a single client that has said to me "I have more than enough time to 'do marketing' but..."

Regardless of ample resources, a full in-house marketing staff, or even an incredibly slow time around the office, it always seems that AEC firms just don't have enough time to get everything done that they would like to when it comes to marketing. There are any number of reasons for this problem.

For starters, there is ALWAYS somebody that you could be marketing to. This pretty much makes it a never-ending task and therefore it is one that you can never exactly finish. How frustrating right? Why can't we just check marketing off the list and move on to the next item?

Additionally, marketing is often something that falls into the important but not urgent category. That is unless we're talking about conferences and proposals, the two most deadline driven marketing activities for firms usually. Consequently, that is why most marketing departments spend a huge percentage of their time on those things.

But, in the spirit of not bringing up a problem without a solution, I've prepared the following list of ways to help you and your firm find more time to market.

Make it urgent
Your marketing efforts must be time sensitive. Set deadlines for even the small tasks, and publicize them to the whole team. Rely on the pressure of a looming deadline and a team full of managers with expectations to drive you to get things done without letting extra days and weeks go by.

Invest time up front
A big difference between the pros and the amateurs in any field is preparation. The carpenter that reviews an entire job and gets their materials list together at the beginning of the job is the most efficient and most profitable in the long run. The same is true for marketing. Marketing efforts should begin with a clear scope and deliverables. Investing the time up front to capture those things saves time in the long run.

Delegate...no REALLY delegate
Delegating is the most difficult at two times 1. When roles aren't clearly communicated. 2. When specialties are confused with everyday skills. The last one seems to come up pretty often and here's one example. Professional copywriting is a skill. However, almost everyone has a copy of MS Word and can hammer out a few paragraphs. Being able to let the writers write saves managers countless hours on things that may not come naturally or aren't their strong suit.

Automate
There are certain things that should be done every day, every week, every month, etc. One example may be monitoring contracting opportunities (for firms that focus on the public sector). Automating tasks and/or doing them in a regular rhythm makes you more efficient and makes them easier to digest. Five minutes reviewing opportunities reports pushed to your email every morning takes less time than combing through weeks of them at once or searching online databases after the fact.

Everybody has thought to themselves that there aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done, and marketing is often the first thing pushed off until tomorrow. With a little luck (and maybe some process changes), the above may make the days seem a little longer...in a good way.

The Electronic Holiday Card

2009-11-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

'Tis the Season.

I just had a fantastic networking/brainstorming meeting last week with an excellent group of AEC marketing folks in DC. Interestingly enough, the topic of holiday cards came up and I was surprised how many firms were not doing anything at all, and even more surprised with how many were taking the path of the electronic holiday greeting.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to touch on the e-version of this annual project...after all, most folks are probably in the middle of it right now.

My personal opinion of the electronic holiday card is that it's a no-no, and in some cases may actually do more harm than doing nothing at all. In my experience, many firms try it once to save money, but feel it was a mistake the next year. While technology is dominating communications on so many levels right now, the tradition of holiday cards is still just that...a tradition. And although the concept of a personalized card coming from a firm is a step away from the typical family to family greetings over the season, it is very much about opening a warm wish in the mail. (I promise that the USPS is not paying me for this post).

So, what to do instead? Here are a few tips to save a little money if you decide to spread holiday cheer in hard copy.

Pare down your list...significantly. Top 100 people (or maybe top 1,000 if you're with a larger firm) and that's it. Regardless of your bottom line you should be able to afford a nice card to the top 10% of your contacts.
Send the cards out with bulk rate stamps instead of first class. It saves a lot when you have a large mailing list.
Allow each department or program area to take responsibility for their own holiday card expenses (not their own messaging or cards, just the size of their list).
Scale down your project. If you usually send gifts, send a custom designed card. If you usually send a custom designed card, order some this year.
Cut down on labor costs with tight project management. Set deadlines with principal buy-in, broadcast them to all stakeholders (in this case people signing the cards) and then stick to the schedule.

There are several ways to cut marketing expenses, but cutting holiday greetings shouldn't be one of them. If your firm is considering an electronic option this year, be sure to track all expenses accurately for comparison to the print option and consider pitching the idea of moving the holiday card to an Operations budget, since there really shouldn't be much of a sales/marketing slant to the piece anyways.

The Value of Reputation...and Marketing

2009-10-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks I've been in search of several different service providers: accountants and programmers to name a few. In each case I reached out to my network as a first step. Who do I know that may have used these services recently, and whom did they call?

My friends and colleagues put me on the right path with their recommendations but my journey didn't stop there. After I received a few referrals, I spent time searching these people/businesses on the web to find their websites and/or any social media profiles they may use to promote themselves.

As I took a step back and thought about how I came to my final decision, I realized the parallels between my own search and what I emphasize to clients regularly. While there is no denying that businesses in the AEC industry rely on referrals as a large percentage of their revenue, it is still very often their marketing efforts that either seal the deal or turn people away. Let's not forget how often people seek out multiple referrals or opinions before they make a decision as well.

Have you ever had a colleague or client tell you that they recommended you to a friend, you should expect a call...only to never get a call? Plenty of obstacles may have gotten in the way of that call, but the firms with the best marketing and communications strategy are doing everything they can to remove those obstacles. A strong cohesive marketing message not only helps land a client the first time, but reinforces their referrals to help develop future business.

But all the Architects are doing it!

2009-10-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

Jumping off the social media bridge

I'm the first to admit that I'm kind of a nut about my website and blog analytics...almost obsessive about it really. I love looking at traffic swings from day-to-day, month-to-month and beyond. Of course, who doesn't love to look at a good benchmark comparison as well, right?

One thing that is a constant trend when I'm looking at search engine traffic is social media. Roughly 60% of my search engine related blog hits are the result of a keyword search for architects and social media, in some combination. I find that even more interesting considering that I don't REALLY love posting about social media all that much. I don't mind it, I just don't want to constantly tweet about tweeting and blog about blogging so to speak...it gets kind of repetitive after a while.

Well, I guess this is my obligatory blog post about blogging...and stuff.

As architects, engineers, developers, builders, etc. continue to dive into Twitter and Facebook, I just want to ask three questions to help you find your way. Actually...just the same question three different ways.

1. Why am I doing this?
Because everybody else is? Because I have something unique to share? Because I think I'm going to get some business from it? There really isn't a wrong answer to that question. It's ok to jump on the bandwagon, as they say. Just figure out what the answer is and make sure that you're working towards a goal...as any time that you spend doing THIS, you're spending time not doing THAT.

2. Why am I doing this?
Whatever your role is, if you're the main tweeter, blogger...how come? There's a reason that you have chosen (or someone else chose you) to be a voice for your firm or the industry. Share information and create fresh content that is valuable to the rest of us based on your personal experiences. Other professionals that are at your level in their organization will value your insights more when they believe you feel their pain, whether you're a CEO, Project Manager or Marketing Director.

3. Why am I doing this?
Don't confuse activity with progress. Retweet because it's something of value or interest, not just to make sure you tweet 25 times a day. (*disclaimer: Some seasoned tweeps may disagree with me on this, and that's ok.) Before posting your next blog entry, see if there is a timely reason to write something new. i.e. Big conference next month, good article in the latest Marketer that made you think about things differently. For me, as a social media-wielding professional, I prefer to give a good mixture of my own original content and forwarded or RT'ed info. Everything you send shouldn't necessarily be "advancing your goals" specifically, but you also don't want to inundate people with so much information that they stop paying attention to the original thoughts that actually came from you.

I guess when looking at the growing number of AEC industry professionals using social media, mom's question "If everybody was jumping off a bridge, would you do it?" applies now. I'll liken a good strategy to a bungee cord on this one, and say, "Yes mom, I believe with the proper equipment, I would."

How much more can we say on a booth display?

2009-10-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Depending upon your particular perspective, conferences can be a necessary evil or a welcome opportunity for networking and business development. Regardless of how you view them, if you exhibit at any conferences at all, you've grappled with booth design, how many brochures to take, which stress squeeze-balls to give away...etc.

All serious make or break decisions...right? Truthfully, for services organizations how much you say can detract from what you say with your booth.

I once worked with a client on "developing a conference experience," not just a booth. Our strategy included everything from what to take, how to set it up, how many stools to put in the booth...the whole nine yards.

The main problem we kept running into was the booth content. They couldn't imagine having less than a hundred words on their booth. Their concern was that anything less couldn't communicate what they did in a unique, yet quickly understandable way.

So what was the solution? They were right. A booth backdrop can't communicate everything that your firm does and it isn't supposed to. It is only a backdrop after all. Booths with too many words either distract or blend in with the busy conference surroundings.

The strongest booths are designed (and written) to attract attention and make people want to say "so, tell me what type of work your firm does." That's the best intro you could ask for.

Service Is Still King

2009-09-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Most of my posts focus on the importance and benefits of marketing for businesses in the architecture, engineering, construction and real estate industry.

Where does client service fit in? After all, it isn't really related to marketing, right?

People often think that referral business has little to do with marketing and branding, and everything to do with quality work. While the quality of work is utterly important, it isn't the only reason for a referral.

Client service = long-term relationship building. Taking care of your clients and letting them know just how valuable they are, keeps them coming back for more and it's what makes them remember and refer you. Your reputation for client service IS your brand, just like your quality of work is.

How defined is your expectation for client service? How can your firm control your brand through day-to-day interaction?

Communication. Defining your brand doesn't just mean making sure your logo is used consistently. The strongest brands filter through to every activity and the strongest leaders communicate the expectations. Many companies define behaviors such as:
• Client calls are returned within a day, without exception.
• Every project begins with a bound document with job roles, contact information, schedule...
• Every client should be taken to lunch monthly during the duration of their project.

Depending upon your business, services and client list, some of the above may not make sense or aren't realistic. However, in some form or fashion, these service-related behaviors should be defined and communicated to your team in a way that is unique to your firm.

I'm sure we've all had partners and clients miss appointments or fail to follow up on important deliverables...I've probably had three in the past month. But for you, and your business, is that how you want your brand to be remembered? If not, how are you communicating that to the rest of your team in a way that is empowering and engaging rather than restrictive and cumbersome?

Learning from Consumer America

2009-09-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's a fact that marketing for professional services (especially firms in the AEC industry) is a whole different ball of wax than consumer product marketing.

It is also a fact however, that decision makers "buying" services are people, just like the consumers that buy products. So what can the architecture and engineering industry pick up from consumer marketing during this recession?

Since the recession hit there have been a large number of consumer rebrands effecting almost every major industry: apparel, food, grocery, hospitality...the list continues. Rebrands are EXPENSIVE, especially for a major corporation with stores (or products in stores) across the globe. Why are all of these large brands willing to sink so much money into a new brand in the middle of a struggling economy?

The reason is that marketing and branding are important. Not just important, crucial. Even to an already educated or aware audience, a rebrand provides new top of mind awareness for companies. The cost to rebrand a chain such as Holiday Inn, is well worth it now that consumers who have driven by the same Holiday Inn everyday notice it again. What was once an almost unnoticeable fixture on your daily commute is now a new icon that catches your attention.

Just getting new attention isn't worth a rebrand, it has to be a part of a larger strategic decision. However, the point is that companies that are respected as smart marketers and understand their audience also understand the need to continue and even increase their marketing efforts in a down economy. The result is more control of the advertising space, increased marketshare and a position as the right choice in tough times and when spending picks back up.

How is your 2010 looking?

2009-09-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

According to the Consensus Construction Forecast from a few months ago, next year still isn't looking wonderful for the industry...at least the nonresidential side.

So when we're so busy thinking about making it through this week, next week, next month...how do we think about making next year successful? How can we see the forest when there are so many trees in the way?!

One of the most important aspects of business or marketing planning is setting time-sensitive goals. Everyday you might make a to do list on post-it notes, and while this isn't exactly business planning, let's consider it micro-planning for this post. The list is usually very specific, and likely things that have to be done that day, or at least that week.

Your post-its are your trees.

I had a discussion this week with a colleague that said "I just don't have time to write a business plan. It takes so much work." So, I offered this advice to her...don't write a plan.

To begin making your 2010 plans now, try working the way that you already do. If you're a post-it note fan, for every note you write of to-dos, write another one with longer term items. You can group your posts however you like. Maybe one note includes marketing goals, another includes client targets and another includes operations related needs. Then, over time begin to fill in the gaps on those post-it notes with quick ideas on how to achieve them, details on costs, etc.

Don't worry if you hate post-its. If you're a sketchbook carrier (like I am), then pick a page at the back of your sketchbook and do the exact same thing. Write down a few notes at a time, leaving space to come back and fill in info later. The whole intention of the exercise is that you spend time looking at the long-term without being overwhelmed by the aspect of writing something definitive.

Before you know it, you'll have a "forest" of post-it notes that you can organize and type up to create your 2010 marketing or business plan. You will also have spent as much time planning your future as you did planning your day.

How Can My Firm Benefit from Hiring a Consultant?

2009-08-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

I decided to write this post as a follow up to a few conversations I've had in the past two weeks. I thought the subject matter (although a bit self-serving, I'll admit), was a great one because so many people have asked questions about When or Why to hire a consultant.

While many firms have a regular practice of hiring consultants for certain functions, it can be difficult for others to switch gears from thinking that every firm "need" is one that must be filled with a full-time body. Some AEC firms may have more than enough work to sustain a person, or an entire marketing department...others don't have that luxury. However, not having forty hours worth of "need" per week, doesn't mean things can't still get done. It also doesn't mean that billable or senior team members should spend ten of their hours picking up the slack. This is one key time when a consultant is a great option to supplement your firm's existing capabilities.

Here are some ways that hiring a consultant can add value to your team:

Efficiency
Not the way you think. I would never say that a consultant could work more efficiently than any given in-house team member. The efficiency comes in to play when there are deliverables piling up that aren't being taken care of. Many companies tend to wait until there is so much work to do that a new hire is the only way to get it all done. (Think: "We really need to be marketing to this industry, but we don't have enough work/money to hire somebody just to do that.") Working with a consultant is a great way to take care of those needs as soon as they arise, and only pay for the time it takes to complete them.

Cost
Hiring a consultant on retainer or a per project basis can save a significant amount of money when compared to the salary of a FTE. Variables such as level of effort, period of performance and specific deliverables are all negotiable to maximize value and there are no overhead/benefits/taxes to add to the expense of a consultant.

Single Subject Expertise

Needs occasionally arise that require a deep knowledge of one specific subject or experience with a certain type of campaign. (i.e. social media or government contracting) It may make the best business sense to bring on a consultant to work with your existing resources (whether you have a marketing team or you, yourself are the resource) to take your efforts to the next level in that area. Training existing staff to become proficient in new areas is definitely a viable option, but depending upon timing it isn't always the best choice.

Available Resources, Research or Tools
The number of marketing services, research software and contract information portals available is mind-boggling. Your firm could invest the money to purchase or subscribe to any number of them, or you could work with a consultant that has already captured those fees in their costs. This eliminates a few additional items in your marketing budget, but also prevents you from signing up for annual subscriptions or software licenses that sit idle for 80% of the time.

While my area of focus is marketing, the above points apply to all manner of consultants, human resources and accounting are two other examples. It is a great business decision to wait until a sustainable workload exists for a new hire, but until that time, don't let the project needs or maintenance back-up for the rest of the team.

Frank Lloyd Wright as a Marketer?

2009-08-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Frank Lloyd Wright, "the greatest architect America has ever produced", is revered for his practice of organic architecture. His attention to the site and surroundings of his works often inspired the outcome of his buildings greatly.

As I read this article in the Washington Post, Wright's Bold Vision for Reshaping the Capital, I couldn't help but think about Wright as a business person or marketer though. To my knowledge even the world's most famous architects usually aren't known for their business prowess. Why not?

I believe it's because the two ideas seem to always be placed in opposition. A great architect or artist cares only about their craft, a great business person cares only about making money. If anything, I think this article actually served to prove that the two can co-exist.

For everything that we've come to know of Frank Lloyd Wright's works, this project proves his attention to efficiencies in business, marketing, sales and even bottom line.

Interesting points from the article:

Wright pitched the same building design to three different locations, New York, DC and eventually Oklahoma. Organic architecture or not, this is efficient.
Even with a good idea that his project would never get built, Wright went forward with it as an effort to gain media attention and break into a new market.
As a way to protect his business and his investment in the project, he hired a Private Investigator to get background on his business partner.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the Wright was as good a business person as he was an architect obviously. However, I do think the "greats" had a little better grasp on their marketing and brands than we hear about in school.

Clear Ways to Measure the Success of Your Marketing Efforts

2009-08-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Proving the success of your marketing efforts can be a moving target. While most AEC businesses wish it was as simple as "Hi, I'm calling because I saw your ad..." it rarely is.

Because of the complex and often indirect nature of successful marketing campaigns it is important to assign accurate metrics, and those metrics shift depending on the type of marketing or campaign you're executing. The following are different ways to define success when marketing your professional service firm.

Direct Metrics
These are the first level of data available from marketing efforts. Direct metrics would include new leads from advertising, click-throughs, new contacts/opportunities from conferences and Google Analytics. These are often what people look for at the end of the year, or "budget time" but they are far from the only way to determine success.

Market Comparisons
Market comparisons may seem like a "soft" metric, but in actuality they can be quite telling when used appropriately. Comparing company growth against industry averages is especially helpful in slower economies or times of decline. While your firm may have set an objective for 10% growth, not meeting that doesn't mean that marketing efforts were ineffective. If industry revenue is down 10% for the year, then just maintaining company size is a success. Additionally, market comparisons have to be done over an extended period of time for them to be valuable. Since marketing isn't the same thing as sales, there could be 6 months or more before the impacts are seen for a professional service provider.

Campaign Goals
The other side of the coin from market comparisons are internal campaign goals. Campaigns are designed to have a beginning and an ending with clear goals. Those goals may be as bottom line-related as new contracts, but may also be more relationship-oriented like network developed or other results for a social media effort.

Buzz
There is a reason that PR agencies exist. Earned media is extremely valuable and is a fantastic reputation builder. Earned media placements such as mentions in trade magazines, or at best feature stories, are often more likely to drum up a lead than advertising. Social media campaigns can produce a different type of buzz, but still equally as valuable. The quantity and quality of placements, retweets, followers and press mentions are crucial metrics to monitor.

Launching and executing a successful marketing effort doesn't always equal an immediate increase in revenue. However, when looking at the entire picture and evaluating by the right metrics, it's very possible to determine a clear success when you have one.

What to ask for in a business development person.

2009-08-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

I know hiring a business development person CAN work...but often it doesn't. With firms across the country looking for new ways to bring in contracts, a business development person is a likely scenario for many. If your business, whether an architecture/engineering firm or construction company, plans to hire a business development person, here are some things to demand for success.

1. "Set up meetings with true potential clients, not just partners."
Partnering is an ESSENTIAL way to develop new business sometimes, especially when looking into a new industry or target market. However, meetings where the other party has a vested "selling" interest themselves are only one piece of the puzzle. If your new BD person communicates what you do in a way that clients want to hear, eventually they will get in the door with actual clients.

2. "After three to six months, know our capabilities."
By definition, you probably aren't hiring an architect, engineer or builder to do your business development, you're hiring a sales person. Three to six months is a more than reasonable learning curve for them to become comfortable discussing your capabilities as a company though. If after that amount of time they are still asking questions on what you can do in-house versus subbing out, they haven't taken the time to learn your business well enough.

3. "Ask for our marketing plan, strategy or specific goals."
A business development person should be confident in their ability to succeed as long as they are given the right tools. Those tools have to include measurable goals and a marketing plan or strategy to guide their efforts. If a new BD person walks in the door and doesn't ask for those, or at least develop some of their own, you need to provide them.

4. "Work within our marketing language."
If you've positioned yourself as an innovative problem solver your new BD person shouldn't say you're a cost-efficient design alternative. Once you've briefed them on how you want clients to perceive you, preferably with a well developed message platform, they should have a clear framework on how to communicate with new leads.

While business development people often tend to operate on an island because of their singular mission, they need the same guidance and support as any other employee. Make sure you don't cycle through sales person after sales person by giving them the tools they need to succeed.

What's in a name?

2009-07-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

I’d like to throw this post out for fun to provoke a potential shift in industry thinking about AEC firm brands.

In a utopian society, every project your firm completes would:

Evoke an emotional response
Leave a lasting impression
Be relevant to, yet remarkable amongst, its surroundings

Most of us will never be able to say that every project we've worked on has done that. Some of them...but not all.

When considering your firm's brand and specifically the name, the same criteria should apply though. Take any random sampling of architecture firm names and a large majority, more than 80% in my experience, are the name or names of the partners. What does this actually say about your brand? In essence, the name says more about the principals, than the principles.

Professional services firms (of all types) have intricate brands because they are often based on people, not products. The questions need to be asked, "How should my clients and potential clients feel about or react to my firm's name when they here it?" And then, "Does our firm's name impact those reactions?"

Only after those questions, among others, have been answered, should a firm settle in on a name.

Why Do We Really Need A Strategy?

2009-07-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

If you're like many other firms, you've had one of the following things happen:

A website redesign with several false starts (or maybe even never gotten off the ground)
A brochure or mailing campaign that everybody grumbled about under their breath after it went out
New stationery or logo roll out that half the people refused to use

For many, the website one in particular may hit home. Everybody has an idea about what the new site should look like (I mean, we do all use the web so we know what people look for, right?). Every project has to be represented. Every industry has to be mentioned. Often, before you know it, the site has taken on a life of its own and becomes everybody's project. Unfortunately, the next steps are either huge project delays or a website that nobody is quite happy with. I actually just spoke to a highly acclaimed design firm last week that was even fired while still working on the early stages of the homepage!

So what went wrong? Regardless of the communications vehicle, firms need a cohesive brand and marketing strategy. Now more than ever, especially with individuals acting as company brand stewards through social media, EVERYBODY in the firm needs to understand the communications strategy if they are...communicating.

Applied to the website analogy, a clear brand platform and marketing strategy will do the following things:

Provide a point of reference to justify decision making - "Is this in line with the brand?"
Clarify what industries and projects are the most important to present to the public - "Is this project related to the type of work we are pursuing?"
Put decisions in the perspective of the target audience, not the employees - "Who do we want to receive our communications and what do they need to hear?"
Make content coming from numerous sources more consistent - "What language, tone and writing style do we follow?"

While many of these things may seem intangible or immeasurable, the true measure of success is in time and money saved. A strong marketing strategy minimizes internal revisions, decreases marketing project timelines and cuts back unbillable hours from managers and principals that likely have billable work to do.

Thoughts on the RECORD's 2008 Top 250 Firms

2009-07-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

As I read over the article and list of the Top 250 Firms (by revenue) in Architectural Record, I actually found the reader comments to be more in tune with the industry sentiment than the ENR list itself. (Be sure to read a few, there are some doozies...)

The truth is that while the top 250 firms may show a revenue growth, they don't represent the industry as a whole well because it is such a small portion of the architectural talent available, which the author eludes to. Just as an example, a quick search on the AIA's "Find an Architect" for DC shows that there are more than 200 firms in DC alone.

So what are the big ones doing so well that they realize growth (at least in revenue, if not workforce) while so many other firms are going under?

Branding and marketing.

The firms that top this list invest in themselves and they have brands that are known even to people outside of the AEC community. They aren't doing things that the smaller firms can't do though. The key is developing a marketing plan (and budget) that makes sense for the scale of your firm.

As a firm principal, ask yourself: If you really want to grow by 50% in a year, how much more are you willing to invest in marketing to do so?

A Fun Look at the Differences Between Architecture School and Practicing Architecture

2009-06-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

As someone that decided by the age of 10 that I wanted to be an architect...I thought I would take a break from the serious marketing strategy posts for a humorous look at the differences between life as an architecture student and life as an architect.

So I offer you my top ten list of differences:

School: Everybody assumes you are great at math because you're an architect.
Work: Engineers assume you have never taken a math class ever because your design ideas just aren't possible in their eyes.

School: You learn about architecture as one of the most revered professions in world history, along with doctors and inventors.
Work: Some days you feel like most clients would probably just try to do your job themselves if they knew CAD.

School: All-nighters were the norm and after a long night of work, you had peers and professors critique your work and offer feedback.
Work: All-nighters are still the norm, but the next morning you hear that the deadline has been moved because of changes in scope and you have to do everything over again...tonight.

School: You sketched, drew, water-colored, made silk screens and modeled to flesh out your design ideas to enhance the inhabitants' experience.
Work: You sketch, draw and model to figure out how to fit the extra bathroom stall needed for code requirements.

School: Your friends all thought you were going to make tons of money when you got out of school.
Work: Your friends still think you make tons of money, but you just don't buy anything because you're into modern, minimalist architecture.

School: You hoarded and read oodles of books on architectural theory and the design process.
Work: You forgot to return those books to the architecture school's library, so you still have them on your shelf at the office.

School: You took few, if any, tests in your design studio and graduated with five letters after your name, BARCH.
Work: You take a huge series of exams, and if you pass every single one of them, you get to add two letters, RA.

School: You added angles and features and unique materials because they helped express the design or addressed a societal need.
Work: You VE every unique material and non-90 degree angle out of the design because it doesn't fit the budget.

School: You used words like evoke, express and feeling.
Work: You use words like budget, zoning and code.

School: Your friends in other majors were out to dinner and partying while you were in the studio working to meet a deadline.
Work: Your friends in other professions are out to dinner and partying while you are in the studio working to meet a deadline.

Please, feel free to add more in the comments!

Half Time - How Your AEC Firm Can Finish Strong in 2009

2009-06-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

In honor of the conclusion of the NBA Finals and the fact that we are rapidly approaching the end of the "first half" of 2009, I thought it only fitting to dedicate a post to closing out the year strong (not a Lakers fan, but they DID close strong).

If the first half of the year has been a difficult one for your firm, you're not alone. But, it's time to get to the locker room and evaluate where things have gone wrong and where they can improve for the second half. Here are a few topics to cover during the locker room debrief.

The Game Is NOT Over!

This recent stimulus article from Architectural Record breathes a little life back into the situation. There is plenty of opportunity still knocking, but it might not come from the same avenues that your firm is used to. However, you and your marketing team have to make a change between the first half and the second half if you want to see a difference in the firm's bottom line.

Evaluate Your Game Plan

What do you change? Take a close look at your marketing plan for the year. Put all pride of ownership aside and evaluate which efforts have worked and which ones haven't. For example, just because your firm doesn't have a large advertising budget, doesn't mean you didn't waste a lot of money from January to June. Are you going after projects that are outside of your traditional target market? If you're winning that work, change your marketing plan for the remainder of the year to include more focus on what you're winning. If you're losing that work, stop chasing it! You probably had a reason for defining your target markets in the first place.

Go To Your Bench

Teams need strong leadership, no question. Great leaders know when to rely on the strength of the rest of the team though. Look to some of your stronger role players for skill sets that your firm may be able to market in a different way. In the example from the AR article, interiors may typically be just a piece of larger projects for your firm, but in the second half, it may be worth it to market those services on their own to drive smaller and quicker turnaround projects for your design firm.

With or without the sports analogies, every company needs a pause at this midway point through the year to make swift and strategic marketing decisions. 2009 is far from over and with some major and/or minor adjustments, firms still have the opportunity to finish in the black.

Is Federal Government Contracting for Us?

2009-06-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

Focusing on a new target audience can be an ominous undertaking. Regardless of the new direction, there is much to learn to ensure that you are making a good decision and that your firm appears genuinely qualified.

When going after government work for the first time, it's even harder. Beyond a slim portfolio of A/E projects for the federal government, there is also a not-so-slim learning curve of jargon, acronyms and forms galore. So, how do you know if going after Federal Agency design work is for you? Here are a few questions.

Are you looking for a "quick fix"?

A/E services in the Federal arena have a LONG lead time. Just like projects in the private world they don't always get off the ground, but even if they do, it could be months or longer before contracts are awarded. Additionally, there is time needed to ramp up just to qualify for government work. So if your firm is looking for new markets to fill gaps in the next few months, the Federal government won't fit the bill.

Do you have time to market?

Put quite simply, pursuing Federal A/E projects isn't designed to be just a small part of your efforts. One of the reasons that most smaller companies solely contract with the government is that they don't have time/manpower to market to other industries too. With the access to public information comes oodles of reports and websites to sift through to find the RIGHT public information. And then you have to do something with it! If you have the time, it can be very worthwhile though.

Are you willing to play second fiddle for a while?

One of the best ways in to Federal contracting is as a sub to a more established A/E/C firm. Unlike in the private world, a great presentation can only get you so far. Prior experience reigns supreme and without it, most agencies can't even look at you. Joining an existing team as a subcontractor or specialist builds your SF 330 resume and your relationships, both of which are crucial if you would like to win work as a prime eventually. If your firm is willing to work on architecture or planning projects where you aren't the lead, that's a great place to start.

The nation is all-a-buzz with talk of stimulus funded projects and increased Federal spending. The firms most likely to take advantage of it will have a well-crafted strategy and long-term view of how to approach Federal agencies for work.

Why do I have to be so specific?

2009-06-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

One of the most commonly asked questions I hear about Markitecture is, "Why focus on such a specific market? Isn't that kind of limiting?"

It's also one of the first responses that firm management has when the advice to them is, "Choose only one or two specific target markets."

So...why?

Money

Segmenting your market offers huge benefits when it comes to maximizing your marketing budget and time. For example, a clear focus on institutional design as a firm means far less wasted effort on RFP responses where you aren't quite qualified but you think you have a good shot anyways. It also means fewer marketing dollars spent on advertising or events outside of your main area of focus.

Message

Your content can be (and has to be) specific to your clients' needs. Messaging written to highlight your strengths and primary areas of expertise lends more credibility and eliminates the "fluff." Fluff proposals sound something like:

XYZ Design is a 15 person multi-disciplinary architecture firm that specializes in projects in the residential, mixed-use, commercial, institutional and educational markets.

While your fifteen person firm may represent project work in all of those markets, fifteen people probably aren't specializing in that many different project types. Perhaps more importantly, as a prospective client reading your proposal, I likely only represent one of those! If you're clear and concise about your target market, you can write proposals that are honest and specific. If you find yourself not able to be specific, you might be outside of your main target audience. (Of course, a strategic focus on a new target market is the exception because you know you're outside of your traditional market)

Metrics

Being strategic in your approach, and specific in your actions allows you to measure things every step of the way. Concentrating on only certain markets means you can track your success, benefit from and benchmark against industry data, and correct the ship if you're going off course. If all of your marketing reports are just a mixed bag and your mailing list includes everybody you're ever worked with, you can't gauge your effectiveness as well.

For most firms under the national or multi-national threshold, the truth is that it would be very hard to specialize in and service six completely different target audiences. Yes, it IS a bit limiting to focus your marketing efforts on a smaller sample of people...it limits your losses, your expenses and your time spent barking up the wrong tree!

How to Make a Business Development Position Work...

2009-05-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

So, I've written a few posts previously that came out slightly on the negative side of hiring a business development person in an architecture firm.

I thought it would be a good idea to share a few thoughts on how to actually make it work. I'm in the midst of watching one such decision/hire go terribly awry and it has driven me to create the following brief "do's and don'ts" list.

DO - Formally introduce the new person to the entire team, and explain their presence in the firm. It may seem elementary, but since many BD people are hired on part-time or on a commission basis, management can often think it's unimportant to treat them like a real team member.

DO - Set up specific times with all key people in the firm to meet with them. Principals, Managers, Directors, Marketing Execs...anybody responsible for bringing in new contracts or being a first line of communication with prospective clients has valuable information for the new BD hire. Formalize the orientation so that every player knows their role and sees the value. (Remember - some of your senior team may feel threatened by the new position, so involving them in the process can help ease the worry of being replaced or outdone)

DON'T - Expect them to start making calls right away. Unless you really want a cold caller, this is a waste of time and can do more harm than good. In the first few weeks your new sales person should be learning all about your AEC firm, your culture, your projects...what makes you, YOU. Think, "If a prospective client answered the phone and actually engaged them, would they know enough about my design firm to answer any questions?"

DO - Give them a marketing plan and/or brand guidelines to follow. If you're tagline is, "Breathtaking design" they shouldn't have, "Design that takes your breath away" in their email signature. Even more so than most new hires, this person will have contact with the masses, so they should understand who to target and what to say.

DON'T - Isolate them from marketing and vice versa. A new business development person should have a great relationship with your marketing team and the two parties should develop goals and projects together. It's also important to outline just how much weight they have with marketing. Extra conflict can arise when there is a big BD meeting and marketing can't drop other priorities to accommodate a last minute presentation.

Selling architectural or engineering services is a tall order. Relationships and referrals usually dominate, and the typical sales cycle can be very long depending upon the project type. Hiring a successful business development person is possible, but it takes a clear plan and supportive team to make it happen.

My firm is all over social media...we just don't do anything else.

2009-05-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Architecture firms, just like most other businesses, are either active in the social media landscape or wondering whether they should be. With floods of media attention in the past several months about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn...(not to mention the massive amounts of Tweets about Twitter itself), it's now widely accepted that social media marketing is an important element in your firm's marketing/communications mix.

But it should be just that...an element in the mix.

Social media marketing has a small negative impact on your AEC firm's bottom line. That low cost is especially attractive given the current economy. However, the firms that will survive and thrive will still include marketing efforts via more traditional channels. Why should you include more "expensive" marketing tactics in your budget this year?

Hit 'em where they ain't!
If your competition is funneling all of their attention into the biggest and best social media campaign, a well executed outreach effort using other media is amongst less clutter. Please don't confuse this point as saying "Don't use social media." Embrace the newest marketing channels, just don't neglect the old ones.

They may actually be LESS expensive than they were.
Ad space, conference registrations, exhibitor fees...they all add up quickly. They are also all having to "sell harder" now than in the last few years. Early bird rates are being extended and print ad rates are being discounted. Just asking a few questions of your rep could save money but keep your firm's name in front of your clients.

Different strokes for different folks.
The fact is that your entire target audience is definitely not covered by social media marketing methods. Regardless of the demographic you are pushing your message to, there are plenty of people that want (and need) to see it, but just don't know it. That's the place where more traditional marketing, advertising and sales kicks in.

A marketing mix is so-named because it is just that, a mix. Neglecting a well-rounded strategy in favor of trimming costs is likely equivalent to a short-term gain, long-term loss.

So, I just got back from the conference...now what?

2009-05-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

It's the first Monday after the AIA 2009 National Convention. If you're anything like me after every conference/show, you came home with a few conference bags, a lanyard, some cute giveaways...and a stack of follow ups. Also, if you're anything like me, the stack of follow up items will stay tucked away in your sketchbook or on papers balled up in the aforementioned conference bag (at least for a few weeks)! After you're done playing "catch-up" on email, here are a few things that I WISH I would do right away after every show.

1. Make a list
While everything is still fresh in your mind, and you're excited about the new connections you made and ideas you heard, write them all down. Nothing major, no "conference report", just a quick list of the things you want to remember.

2. Check it twice
Once you've finished making a list, go back through and sort it by category.

Ideas (things to tell the rest of the office about, new technologies, project improvements)
Personal Development (good books you heard about, things to dig into on your own time)
Leads (may be job opps, may be partners/subs)
Networking (not leads, just people you met that you want to stay in touch with)

3. Find out who's nau...just kidding; Prioritize
If you've really maximized your time at the show, you may have a lot on the list. Be realistic. Not every person you met is worth a follow up, not every book is going to get read this month. Take a look at your list and determine what you really can accomplish and what's the most important.

Your schedule after the show isn't any more flexible than it was before, and for the first few days back it's probably less! Making a good follow up list ensures you won't forget the things that matter most and it is a lot easier to keep referring to than that stack of papers.

Three Communications Tools All Residential Architects Should Have

2009-04-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

For an architect, working on residential projects can be extremely rewarding...and extremely difficult. Even though the number of stakeholders on the client side is pretty low compared to commercial work (usually just a husband and wife), decisions aren't necessarily any easier. After all, your project is likely the most important thing they have going on in their daily lives, not to mention one of their largest investments. So, how can you manage their expectations and minimize one or two headaches along the way? Here are a few tools that can help.

1. A "Why Hire an Architect" Handout
The AIA website and your local AIA chapter's website have this info in various forms and capturing it on a brief printed piece that you can hand to first-time clients is very useful, even if they have already made the decision to hire you. It is important for a client to understand why they hired you, what you can do, or even why they hired you instead of a non-licensed alternative from the beginning of the project.

2. A Process Handout
You know your jobs inside and out but clients might not. From experience, I can also say that it is terribly difficult to explain working process to a client when you're in the middle of it. A simple process sheet that explains the basic steps along the way is a great tool to hand to a new client. If they already understand how everything will go - no problem; if they have never built a new house before - they now have a basic understanding of when they will have to approve design decisions and materials, when the project can be bid, etc. as it relates to their overall project timeline. It doesn't have to be too detailed, just enough info for them to get the order of operations.

3. A Phone/Email List
I know it seems a bit cliche, but as the architect you set a clear tone as the project lead by gathering this info and giving it to a client. You also have a chance to save yourself some time by letting the client know who they can call for various types of questions. Are you doing the CA? Are there several people in your office that can answer project specific questions? Will the client have to call utility companies towards the end of the project? Is there an HOA involved? Delivering all of these points of contact in one location might save you several returned phone calls along the way.

These tools are all simple to pull together and only one of them has to be updated for every project. The hope is that a little bit of effort up front, can help manage expectations and save a lot of time over the life of the project.

Have any other tips you've picked up along the way? Feel free to leave them in the comments section for others to benefit from!

Are our architecture schools teaching us enough non-architecture?

2009-04-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading an article from Architectural Record about the current job market and its impact on young to mid-level architects.

With Jobs Scarce, Will Young Architects Flee the Profession?

The article is interesting on a number of levels, including some of the statistics (in Q1 of 2009, A/E firms cut 88,000 jobs...wow). However, what caught my attention most is the question, "What are our schools preparing young architects to do instead?" The best architecture programs are amazing at producing designers, thinkers, artists (I applaud my alma mater Virginia Tech for this). Very few are known for their ability to prepare intern architects for some of the other professional aspects of the career though. How many of us had management or marketing classes as a regular or required part of our curriculum for example?

The lack of exposure to some of those aspects of the corporate world produce back-up plans like many mentioned in the article: homemade ice cream maker, ski instructor, pastry chef.

At the risk of sounding anti-creative program (I'm totally not!)...would it be out of place to include a business or database class in all architecture programs to prepare our young architects with related, but non-design skills?

A slow economy shouldn't mean tight lips in your A/E/C firm

2009-04-22T19:43:00.001-07:00

I've been lucky enough to work with/for some wonderful design and creative companies. Luckily, in most of my experience, communication with and amongst leadership in the smaller companies has always been easy for anybody within the org. However, I have noticed some very specific behavioral trends when times are tough. The following points are "things to avoid" that I've noticed from an internal marketing and communications standpoint.

1. A significant increase in closed door meetings

When doors are closed, people talk...and I don't mean the people in the meeting. Employee loyalty and confidence decrease when there is a noticeable increase in long, closed-door meetings.

2. Falling back on the "old guard"

Companies develop management teams for a reason, and people take pride in their involvement in corporate decisions. However, when revenue or profits dry up, it's common for business owners/Principals to fall back on the one or two people they know and trust best. This is a mistake for a number of reasons. First, it isolates the rest of the team that have a vested interest in the direction of the company. Secondly, it stifles the creativity and idea generation that a multi-disciplinary management team brings to the table. Finally, it often puts the pressure on just the same two or three people involved over and over again, which isn't a great model for corporate or professional growth.

3. All projects get caught in bottlenecks

Because the same two or three people tapped for major decision-making are also usually key parts of company operations, the increased focus on management meetings creates a bottleneck in getting both billable and non-billable work out the door. This means, marketing projects take longer or may even get held up altogether. It also means that proposal responses slow down, project reviews and approvals slow down...and that leads to lower profit on projects because teams are sitting around waiting! It turns into a self-fulfilling problem.

Sustaining or growing an A/E/C firm in a slow economy is difficult, but it is crucial that the team that's involved during the good times, is involved during the bad. Sharing the workload and increasing communications empowers and motivates a good marketing and management team.

Leading, Award-Winning, Cutting Edge and all around the cat's meow

2009-04-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

How many of us have used at least one of these in our marketing materials?

We are a cutting-edge design firm focused on providing top notch design...
We are a leading architectural firm in...

Our award-winning team of designers and engineers...

There isn't anything wrong with these statements necessarily, but we can't let our marketing efforts or proposals rest on something that 95% of our competition can say. When competing for the attention of a potential client, it's important for us to maximize every word, because we never know when they may click-off of the site, or close the proposal.

Here's one sample leading sentence that I grabbed in a quick Google search:

XXX is a full service, award-winning firm with experience in planning, architecture and interior design.

Whether you are leading, award-winning, full service...or all of the above, these words aren't really distinguishing you from the pack. If you're firm has been in existence for twenty years and you've won one award, then you can say that you're award-winning. What exactly does full-service mean in our industry, especially if you aren't a design-build firm?

At the risk of dating yourself, it would mean much more to say "A 2008 winner of the AIA Honor Awards for Architecture, our firm..." even into 2010. This is an award that a potential client can look up and see just how prestigious it is. If you didn't happen to win an award that you find prestigious enough to tout, it may be best not to have award-winning be your opening line. When the award gets too old, just update your web/proposal content.

The idea behind good AEC marketing isn't to "sell" your firm (insert pistol fingers and clicking sound with mouth), it's to differentiate your firm. I'm also definitely not suggesting that you don't tell the world about your accomplishments, I'm suggesting that you tell them about your specific accomplishments.

Tell them what you do best!

How can I get my whole AEC firm to help me market?

2009-04-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

I just read a very nice article from Rena Klein on AIA's website, "Get Your Firm Ready for Recovery." She does a great job of explaining the benefits of sharing project management responsibilities across firm staff through a matrix management approach. It is generally very easy to get staff to take on additional responsibilities and even be excited about it, if your firm's culture is one that notices people's contributions and rewards them (whether through professional growth, financial compensation, recognition, etc.).

Aside from operations or project-focused changes, marketing is obviously a crucial part of protecting your firm from the ebbs and flows of the market. In a small to mid-size firm though, there may be only a handful of team members with marketing responsibility (if it's even more than one). How can people that don't typically market, become Brand Stewards for your firm? How can we share the burden of marketing across multiple team members?

1. Treat marketing as a part of professional development

Although the licensing exams don't have anything about marketing in them, becoming well-versed in marketing is just as crucial for a Principal-to-be as good project management. Allow team members some wiggle room on their billable goal if you have a marketing-related task to tackle and get them involved.

2. Be sure your message is consistent

Before allowing members of the team to head up projects one at a time, make sure that everybody knows the firm's message platform or some variation. i.e. If your goal as a firm is to be THE luxury residential design firm, your team should know how to say that consistently regardless of who is doing the talking.

3. Play to your team's strengths

If you already have one or two social media guru's in the office, tap them to develop/monitor a social media campaign. As long as you've done number 2 above, your firm can benefit from additional outreach and you can ask the person(s) to present regular results or updates on your online presence.

4. Build on previous experience

Each person you hire brings with them unique experience. If you're trying to break into a new market, see who you have on your team already that may have a relevant background. If their up for the task, work with them to develop a plan to tackle the new potential client list; they may have good marketing ideas from their previous firm.

Creative problem solving almost always benefits from a team effort, and marketing is just that. Just as you sit down to embark on your next marketing endeavor by yourself, think about your entire team. There may be somebody worth pulling into your brainstorming session.

Just go after everything, right?

2009-04-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

With backlogs drying up for firms everywhere, there is an increased pressure on every RFP response or proposal for new work. There is also a tendency to go after everything that comes in the door. Every new lead seems to be one worth following up on, because it could at least be a job to keep people busy.

That actually isn't the case. Marketing budgets are being scrutinized more heavily than ever and time charged to marketing, whether from marketing staff or billable professionals, makes up the majority of most AEC firm budgets. So every hour spent responding to a shot-in-the-dark RFP is valuable, because it's an hour that could be spent doing something else AND because it hits a marketing budget that could be on the chopping block in a few months.

Additionally, other firms are out there scrapping for new work right now too. So, the odds (that weren't great in the first place) are now likely worse because competition has increased. Your proposal may have just become one out of twenty, instead of one out of six.

When firms develop a strong Go/No-Go criteria for proposals, they should stick to it even in the tough times. There are reasons that you win new clients, and those reasons should be your criteria for determining whether a new opportunity is a strong potential or a waste of time.

How can my architecture firm use social media?

2009-04-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out How Can My Architecture Firm Use Social Media - Part 2, it's newer.
Or view all blog posts on social media for architecture and engineering firms.

There are scores of companies trying to figure out how they can harness the power of social media. Architecture and engineering firms are no different. So, how can an AEC firm use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs...and whatever else may come next? Here are three possibilities.

1. Chronicle a high profile project
Use a combination of Twitter and a blog to keep a running record of your project from concept to completion. Regular communications can keep people coming back for more, give potential clients an inside peek at your process and document your project's lifecycle.

2. Become a neighborhood expert
Create a Facebook group for a local neighborhood and begin gathering and posting information about the history of its planning and architecture. The project will grow over time, develop a local following and establish your firm as the place to turn for design in the area.

3. Recruit
Although hiring might not be on the forefront of everybody's mind right now, talent is out there and your firm will eventually need it. Try launching a social media campaign to give new recruits some insight into your firm, your people and your projects. How you decide to drive traffic is crucial, but once they get there, videos or a Facebook Page are great venues to show your personality.

Is Green enough of a differentiator?

2009-04-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

Identifying your firm's brand is all about honing in on what makes you...you. This means being realistic about what you do well and not so well as a company. More importantly, it means determining what you do better or different than everybody else. That's a tall order, and often the end result focuses on very special talents within your team, or specific expertise that no other firm can match.

So, does your latest project's LEED certification make you THE green firm to call? Unfortunately not. While it is incredibly important that potential clients know your firm is up to date on the latest trends and that your new projects push for Gold or Platinum certification, that is not what sets you apart and is not something to build your brand upon.

Riding the "Green" wave can only go so far, because everybody else is on the same wave...and quite frankly they have to be. Your marketing efforts have to go a step further by positioning your firm as the best firm to call for XX type of project, and the icing on top is your LEED Accredited team.

Is marketing taking away from the art of it all?

2009-04-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Very few architecture or engineering school programs focus on how to run a business, and even fewer actually discuss marketing. Why is that? Is marketing sort of like cheating on your profession? Or maybe at least admitting that the artistic aspects of the profession aren't enough?

Nope. As architects, we're trained to problem solve, think creatively, respect our environment...all wonderful skills. We can be left though, with the notion that when we do all of those things very well, people will seek us out. The truth is, just because we are extremely good at our jobs, doesn't mean anybody will know about it.

As we all know, there is a point where design and creativity meet with (not collide with) the need to manage projects and run a company for AEC firms. Just as most firms embrace the need to train project managers, there is also a need to communicate the firm's successes, credentials and capabilities in a way that speaks specifically to the right target audience. Additionally, that communication has to be just as creative and unique as the work itself for maximum benefit.

Top 100 Architecture Blogs

2009-03-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just thought this was worth sharing with everyone. There is an interesting mix of blogs listed here, and a nice categorization.

Top 100 Architecture Blogs

Why hiring a Business Development person doesn't usually work.

2009-03-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Quite often, firms that struggle with marketing seek out a new hire...a "closer."

The strategy is this:
1. Hire somebody dedicated to bringing in new business and new business only
2. Tie their compensation to their success
3. If they don't work out, they get cut within a year or two; if they do, we're in the money!

This Business Development specialist is essentially a sales person. I'm actually not saying "never", but here is why, when this position is filled as knee-jerk reaction to tough times, it very rarely works out.

The A/E/C industry is a professional services industry...not professional product. Our project lifecycle is generally MUCH longer than our sales cycle and in such, more emphasis is placed on the personal relationship with the architect, engineer, Principal, project manager, etc.

When dealing with products, it is the norm to buy from one place/person and seek out support from a completely separate one (maybe even one in a call center halfway across the world). When dealing with a service, the person that delivers the service should either be incredibly knowledgeable about the service or the one actually doing the work.

Think about the doctor as an example. The doctor checks you out, looks over your records, tells you what's wrong, prescribes medicine and you're all better. When you later have a follow up question about your health, you wouldn't expect a completely separate doctor to answer it...and definitely not the person in accounting.

Professional services such as architecture are very similar, but there is usually a team of acceptable people to call on. However, once the project kicks off, that team almost never includes the Business Development lead. They are off focusing on bringing in other new business and generally don't even know what happened to the project once the contract was signed.

In the end, when people choose your firm, they choose to work with the people in it. Potential clients need to be marketed to (not reeled in) and then communicated with by the team of professionals that will deliver for them at the end of the day.

When business developers are a strategic part of the marketing and project team, they have a much better chance for success. When they're hired in a reactionary manner and used as an auxiliary sales force, it isn't likely to improve your client relationships...or hit rate.

Unique Positioning - But At What Expense?

2009-03-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

I recently had a conversation with some DC area architects about this post:

architecture at the farmers' market

This young intern architect did a great job at finding a low-cost way to get attention. It's actually turned into much more of a PR success than a marketing one. (ie, he's gotten much more free press out of it then paid attention from ads, etc.)

As he notes himself though, what DOES it do for/to the profession? How many architects are silently fuming that a non-licensed architect four years out of school is offering professional advice for a nickel?

Truthfully, it doesn't matter. He is filling a need in the industry that wasn't previously being met. In an almost "Target-like" move, he is bringing design to the masses in a non-intimidating way. As long as he is providing decent advice, he could be doing a great service to the industry. He could be educating people about the process, overcoming some misconceptions that people may have about architectural professionals, and even adding some design sensibilities to everyday homeowner problems.

The challenge for him and his new partner now is, how do they overcome the identity that they have set up for themselves? The 5 cent advice booth doesn't translate well into a profitable business unless the brand is managed well. They have to make a jump from low value consultation to high value (or at least medium) design services. In an industry where homeowners often just let the contractors/builders make design decisions for them, that could be a tough challenge.