Why Architects’ Marketing Has Poor Results

Architects don’t believe that marketing can attract clients and new projects for their firms. For them, nothing beats the old word-of-mouth recommendations. I know this because I am an architect myself. Somehow, we think this is a cheat, and the best marketing is our architecture speaking for itself.

Though many architects tried to market themselves and their architecture firms, they only had poor results. However, they get traffic and project inquiries when they try Google Ads. But nothing spectacular. So they remain reluctant. Why?

First, we should introduce a marketing concept. This strategy is Search Engine Marketing (SEM). It focuses on attracting Internet users who are actively seeking your services. So architects also focus on potential clients who are ready to hire an architect. They have a project. They are ready to buy. This is what marketers call user intent. Users who intend to buy.

Such potential clients don’t get one result on their searches, but dozens. From those results, they make a list of architects or architecture firms and compare them. They are picky.

For each project, a potential client compares 10-20 architects. Then they shortlist them to just 5. What are your chances of getting the project? I bet that for each project and each search, they can find a larger firm, a more experienced one, one with a better portfolio, a better price, etc, etc, etc. It is a tough competition. Getting the project from a single click is extremely improbable. You need hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of clicks to secure one project.

If we compare the cost of a single click with the value of an architecture project, the return on investment is simply huge. Thus, comparing the price of 1.000 clicks or 10.000 clicks can be frightening. Seeing how thousands and thousands flying away without results is difficult to watch. Although we are business owners, we are simply not prepared to deal with incertitudes. In our industry, every cent buys a measurable amount of goods and services.

However, marketing works. It works for every single industry. Marketing also works for architects.

Those clients that are so difficult to attract are very special. They are clients in the final stage of a buying cycle. They figured out what they needed to fulfill their goals: get an architect. But they had a long journey. They have a plot of land, the parameters of their project, cost estimates, etc. Those clients have a project, they have solutions for every single problem they identified. Now they simply need an architect to best fit their solutions into an architectural project.

However, to get all those answers, those potential clients did their research. They decided that building was a solution for their needs; they bought a plot of land, estimated areas and costs, found out how to get a building permit, etc, etc. What we can tell for sure is that they did not get all this information from an architect. If they got help from an architect, most likely they wouldn’t be searching for one. Right? They had other information sources.

But nothing stops an architect from providing the information that potential clients are searching for before they have a project. Doing that is marketing, content marketing. Only a small percentage of architects and architecture firms do that. They attract potential clients way before their competition.

90% of architects compete for 10% of the projects in a crowded market. 10% of other professionals help potential clients to figure out what they need to have a project. They are mostly Project Management firms and/or constructors. As a result, they have a say in what architect or architecture firm gets the projects. Only a small percentage of those professionals are architects. Don’t look at numbers, because nobody has the stats. But this is the scale of this phenomenon.

Content marketing for architects and architecture firms lets them target potential clients during their research stages of a buying cycle by creating quality, helpful, original, and informative content to attract them. Content marketing builds trust, establishes expertise, educates clients and the market, positioning architects as market leaders.

Marketing is the tool that lets architects help potential clients build. After all, what is an architect, if not the one who helps people reach their goals? Just think about it!

Both architecture and construction industries are asymmetrical information markets. This means that professionals hold the vast majority of information. This unbalanced situation has two effects. First, customers have difficulties to understand processes. Second, they can’t see the differences between good and bad options. In these conditions, informing and educating the market is not only an excellent marketing trick, but a duty for honest professionals. After all, clients have to make decisions and take risks. Helping them to make educated decisions is the best marketing, the marketing that not only works but also leads to better architecture.

Educated clients understand processes and roles, have realistic expectations, and are open-minded. Architects communicate better with such customers, eliminate stress, and focus on design. Architects and their trustful clients become partners beyond contracts.

Creating a marketing plan and adopting a strategy is the best opportunity for architects to question themselves what their business is. Is it design? Construction? No, it is the business of helping people build!