 |
| A survey by Pauley Creative |
“Most Architects use Twitter to
keep up with the latest industry news and network with industry peers. 95% of
Architects do find Twitter useful, primarily for the reason that it’s quick and
easy to share information and keep up with the latest news.”- A survey of Pauley
Creative on UK Architects who
are on Twitter to find out how Architects use Twitter.
In the age of fast changing technology, globalization, liberalization, privatization and competition; architects and designers are bound to change the way they plan, manage and act on their marketing strategies. I’ve put together 5 key trends that I see for the next 2-3 years for marketing architectural services:
1. BIM (Building information modelling), lean construction and sustainable building design – will be major architectural trends in the industry. Those who master these will steal all the business from the rest of you very soon. If you haven’t been thinking of these yet, start soon.
2. Collaborations: In the world of specialization, it is impossible for one person to know everything and anything. Clients feel more comfortable working with firms that have different experts for different tasks. So, it’s time to team-up!
3. Value-added services: Clients really do expect architecture firms to be able to give them good estimates of project costs before they make a contract with you. Most small design firms do not have this expertise. There are many other value-added services that you can think of to satisfy your client’s expectations and be more competitive.
4. Project Management: Project management is in itself a separate profession. But, who can be a better project manager than an architect? For small and medium size projects, clients will be ready to pay an additional fee for an integrated project management services by the architectural firm. Firms with better management services will be highly competitive than others who will still follow the ‘design-only’ route.
5. Social networking: If you are not on Facebook / twitter / linked-in / other social networking pages yet and haven’t started your own blog so far; then START today! You will come in the way of your company’s future, if you are not networking online. It will be one of the most useful networking tools in the future for marketing your services.
“Anything new today will be obsolete tomorrow.”
I believe that in today’s world of fast-foods and lighting fast communications, it is not feasible to plan the future of a firm anything beyond 3 years. Keep your eyes open to new emerging trends in the industry and make CHANGEs to your firm’s strategies.
It may be possible that after investing months of efforts, you may not receive the results that you expected immediately. But I assure you that the well-defined marketing strategies will bring results that will lead your company to a stable position.
Further Reading:
[1] Research Report: 2012 market research report on architectural services in U.S.
[2] E-Article: Marketing trends for the future
In the age of fast changing technology, globalization, liberalization, privatization and competition; architects and designers are bound to change the way they plan, manage and act on their marketing strategies. I’ve put together 5 key trends that I see for the next 2-3 years for marketing architectural services:
1. BIM (Building information modelling), lean construction and sustainable building design – will be major architectural trends in the industry. Those who master these will steal all the business from the rest of you very soon. If you haven’t been thinking of these yet, start soon.
2. Collaborations: In the world of specialization, it is impossible for one person to know everything and anything. Clients feel more comfortable working with firms that have different experts for different tasks. So, it’s time to team-up!
3. Value-added services: Clients really do expect architecture firms to be able to give them good estimates of project costs before they make a contract with you. Most small design firms do not have this expertise. There are many other value-added services that you can think of to satisfy your client’s expectations and be more competitive.
4. Project Management: Project management is in itself a separate profession. But, who can be a better project manager than an architect? For small and medium size projects, clients will be ready to pay an additional fee for an integrated project management services by the architectural firm. Firms with better management services will be highly competitive than others who will still follow the ‘design-only’ route.
5. Social networking: If you are not on Facebook / twitter / linked-in / other social networking pages yet and haven’t started your own blog so far; then START today! You will come in the way of your company’s future, if you are not networking online. It will be one of the most useful networking tools in the future for marketing your services.
“Anything new today will be obsolete tomorrow.”
I believe that in today’s world of fast-foods and lighting fast communications, it is not feasible to plan the future of a firm anything beyond 3 years. Keep your eyes open to new emerging trends in the industry and make CHANGEs to your firm’s strategies.
It may be possible that after investing months of efforts, you may not receive the results that you expected immediately. But I assure you that the well-defined marketing strategies will bring results that will lead your company to a stable position.
Further Reading:
[1] Research Report: 2012 market research report on architectural services in U.S.
[2] E-Article: Marketing trends for the future
Related Blogs:
- Why marketing is important for Architects?
- What is different about selling design services?
- Naming your firm
- Finding your Gap
- Let’s find a client
- Why pricing is marketing?
- Marketing Plan – not a tool, but a need
- Is “ Marketing ” for Architects?
- 'Identity' based Marketing Tools for Architectural/Design Firms
- To BE or not to Be an Advertiser!
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