You are sitting at your office desk, looking out the window at the landscape before you. Here’s one more day you’ll spend not working on any new projects – because there aren’t any. The old clients aren’t very active – the last you’ve heard of them was Thursday morning. They said they’d consider your offer but would like to compare it with what other firms offer. Still no news. You sigh, switch on the computer, and realize yet one more time that next month, you won’t be able to pay the rent for the office. Giving up on the inevitable, you open the Internet browser and start looking for a smaller office to move in.
Providing quality services at fair prices and being unable to find clients means the firm doesn’t know how to reach out to them. The key to success is understanding the techniques of marketing architectural services online.
Nowadays, the Internet is a common way to look for services. Therefore, it is crucial to know how to create an attractive image on the Internet and interact with your target audience. The architectural industry giants surely know how to generate customers on the Internet, which keeps bringing them a stable flow of clients.
1. Set Realistic Goals and Track Their Achievement
When it comes to marketing architectural services, you need to plan the growth thoroughly. Set a clear goal and plan how you’ll get to it step by step. Look at the current state of your social media accounts. Define the number of subscribers you need to get and plan the account growth month at a time. Then, decide how often to update the page and with what type of content. In addition, it is crucial to track the current performance from time to time. For instance, analyze the results of the social media campaigns.
2. Create an Avatar of Your Ideal Customer
The ultimate goal of the Avatar is to predict the online behavior of the target customer. It will give you the knowledge of your target customer’s wants, what language to adopt when communicating, and where to find them. To get that crucial knowledge, create a portrait. Remember the clients you’ve communicated with and write an entire detailed report. It must include the following factors:
- Name (Invented)
- Profession
- Income
- Family situation, Friends, Communication
- Brief biography (studies, career development): educational background, what the client excels at, possibly what they resent doing, what tasks they deal with daily
- Hobbies and Interests: what your ideal customer likes to do, where they spend their weekends
- Personal goals
- Life values
Based on this, you should deduce the answers to the following questions:
- What exactly would the customer want to hear from you?
- How does the ideal customer see your product?
A well-made avatar is like communication with an actual client – a gold mine of valuable information on this behavior. It gives insights into how the customer makes the purchasing decision, the client’s problems, and where they look for solutions. The success of the whole marketing campaign depends on the avatar.
3. Create a Lead-Magnet
Catch the interest of your followers. Give them something of value for free. For instance, a brief video course on how to choose an Architectural Firm. Or an invitation to a free event you organize – a conference or presentation that is interesting and useful to the client. The product shared must prove the company’s expertise and be of real value. To get it, the customer must leave their e-mail address – which is the final goal of the lead magnet stage. Once you have built a base, proceed to the next step of marketing architectural services.
4. Tap into the Power of Social Media
When the avatar is ready, it becomes clear what their favorite social networks are – Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, Pinterest, Houzz. Create an account with comprehensive information on your architectural company and fill it with valuable and relevant content. The posts should be short, impactful, and memorable. Set your posts apart with the architectural renderings of the project, panoramas, and animations. This way, the posts get more shares, the project – has more recognition, the page – has more followers, and, finally, the firm – has more potential clients. Social media exposure is one of the most important ways of marketing architectural services!
5. Build Trust
One of the first things a customer considers is whether they can trust you with their project. The solution to this problem lies in marketing architectural services online. Here’s how one can prove the reliability of the brand:
- Keep your social media accounts active;
- Create an impactful portfolio on the company website. Make sure to include 3D architectural renderings of the best projects in sufficient quantity;
- Answer all the comments and questions that visitors leave on your website promptly;
- Showcase all the rewards and certificates in your possession online to prove your professionalism and quality standards;
- Ask clients to leave the comments and post them on the website.
6. Use Email Marketing
Email marketing is an excellent and money-saving way of marketing architectural services. Having built a base of contacts, start sending them letters. These letters should contain valuable information and gently lead to a specific action. It can be a click on the link, a call, or filling out a form.
7. Don’t Forget about Modern Technologies
Technologies give you a competitive edge. Based on the avatar of your ideal client, understand the level of their technological mastery and what they expect to see on the website. Should it look business-like and high-tech, with numerous options and special effects? Or, maybe, emanate conservatism, be functional and minimalistic. The website is a visit card of an architectural firm. Make sure it works for the purpose of marketing your company’s architectural services!
To sum up, marketing architectural services is a strategy that requires time and effort but generates tangible results. It consists of a number of specific goals that need time and money investment. However, these efforts are measurable and will lead the firm to new customers and increased revenue. So, to achieve this, an architecture firm needs to set goals, have a functional and attractive website, create an avatar and a lead magnet, and work with contacts using the means of email marketing. It is also important to build trust through a strong online presence, particularly on social media.
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Nataly Cher
Senior Social Media & Email Marketer
Nataly's ambitious nature and creativity play a key role in her ability to create engaging content and highly successful targeted campaigns. Outside of the office, Nataly indulges her love of photography and plays with her joyful Jack Russel terrier, Mario.