SOCIAL MEDIA ZEITGEIST

 

Most built environment firms are not very good at marketing, let alone digital marketing. And there’s a multitude of reasons why I’ve come to this conclusion, including:

– practices being stuck in the past, with old approaches to marketing that worked 5 or even 10+ years ago. Social media platforms are ever-evolving. LinkedIn alone introduced over 200 features in 2023.

– very few practice leaders are digital natives; therefore, there is a reluctance to grasp and understand the nuances of digital marketing and how it could be a game changer for their business.

– being complacent, too reliant on previous marketing successes and seeing no reason to change their tactical approach.

– a reliance on ‘we’ve always done it this way’ and not understanding why they should/would invest in digital as this ‘isn’t how we do business’.

– not having the right team with the right skills to deliver digital marketing well.

The next-gen of architecture leaders is already here and snapping on the coat-tails of traditional practices. They’re digital natives who have always had the internet and relish using it to take a digital-first approach to their service delivery models and marketing, and the old guard can’t afford to rest on their laurels.

 

Blending traditional and digital marketing…

While the importance of face-to-face interactions for marketing and business development will never totally be replaced, the reluctance of many in our sector post-COVID to shift back to how things were pre-COVID, feels like a backward step.

The technological advancements necessary to keep businesses afloat during 2020 have seemingly come to an abrupt halt for many. The strides made in digital marketing shouldn’t be an either/or when compared to more traditional in-person marketing methods. But both approaches should boost the impact of the other and create a compounding effect.

A change of mindset is needed. Architecture firms often see marketing as a costly overhead support function. But more forward-thinking firms are now changing this narrative towards one that centres on value creation and revenue drivers for a business. By using a mix of digital and traditional marketing channels, practices can gain significant traction with their marketing.

 

Here are some ways that architecture firms can create more value through their marketing…

 

1. Market to your clients as well as your peers: It’s all too easy to deliver marketing that only works for your peers rather than your target audience. No matter what type of marketing you’re doing, my advice is always to consider whether your target audience is actually there. For example, if you design sustainable homes – your audience is more likely to be on Instagram rather than if you design commercial offices targeting city centre developers – then they’re more likely to be having conversations on LinkedIn.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Websites are your online shop window: Websites deserve as much care and attention as you put into other marketing activities. It’s not a case of once it’s built your target audience will come. A website needs ongoing maintenance, resources, and new content to feed it and keep it alive in Google’s eyes.

But how do you make your website work harder? Professional architects are used to talking about the front-end visual aspects of websites as it appeals to their design sensibilities, but how much do you know about what happens in the back-end of the website and its overall performance? Questions such as where your traffic comes from? What content is leading to the most conversions and what are the most popular pages on your website? These are some of the questions you should know the answers to.

Your business website can be used for various activities, from clients verifying your credentials to targeted landing pages that help drive sales conversations and conversions.

A well put together service page optimised /set up correctly can be a good source of leads for people looking for that precise service at that time. Or you can run dedicated campaigns where you target visitors from social media with a form for something they want (a guide, a checklist or hosting a webinar etc). They share their contact details, which you can market to them via.

 

3. Search engine optimisation (SEO) to rank higher on Google: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and I think the best way to describe it is that SEO is all about getting yourself ranked on Google. So how can you do this? It’s important to understand that a lot of website ranking is not solely down to your actual content, but also involves keeping on top of the back-end basics, and making sure your site is fast, and operates well.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you’ve got the right tools in place so you can understand how your website is performing in terms of SEO. The main tool that you can use is Google Search Console, it’s free and you can easily set it up just by going to Google and searching for Search Console.

Other areas of opportunity for SEO include local SEO whereby you maximise your practice profile via Google My Business and using search terms and keywords linked to the geographical location where you operate.

 

4. Going direct with email: Not many people in the built environment industry make use of email marketing at all, let alone do it well. Monthly or quarterly newsletters or simple email updates that share useful information and ideas with your target audience. When your email lands in your target audience’s inboxes, you know it’s going directly to them rather than being at the hands of an algorithm that selects a small section of your available audience to show your content.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Building your sphere of influence: I’m a huge fan of influencers – and no, I’m not talking about Kim Kardashian here, but more about those micro-influencers in our sector who can motivate change in others.

Who are our changemakers and leading thinkers with a strong digital influence? Who’s leading the conversations that move the needle for the causes, issues and approaches people adopt and follow?

For a construction technology firm, my research on concrete micro-influencers was game changing in terms of getting them to raise their visibility directly to the innovators in the engineering sector. Collaborations also work well.

 

 

 

6. Putting a face to a name via video: With AI’s rise, particularly in content creation, it is harder to stand out. This is where video content is starting to come into its own. And no, I am not talking about the highly polished content shot by a professional videographer of pristine projects. I am talking about something more gritty, honest and real. Talking heads of you and your team explaining who you are and what you do, live videos where you interview clients, and short videos about how you tackle a problem. Even animations that show your working process.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Social media is getting more personal: Social media platforms are ever-evolving, and as they’re free to use for the masses, it pays to understand what tactics and strategies are working now. For example, on Instagram, the impact of your main feed is negligible, so don’t waste your time honing that to perfection. If you’re after growth, then reels are likely to be an area of focus, and collaborations are another option that Instagram is championing.

On LinkedIn, there is a major shift towards employee advocacy, where people are being given the platform to share their stories and experiences. This makes sense when you realise that people do business with people. Have you considered how you can support your employees more to drive traction on LinkedIn?

 

 

In summary, marketing is all about value creation. And if we look at it through that lens, our approach changes, and along with that, respect for us as a profession. Taking a value-driven mindset to marketing, where marketing sits at the top table, builds marketing strategies and tactical approaches based on the overall business strategy and goals, should be what it’s all about.

 

Ayo Abbas is an award-winning built environment marketing consultant with over 23 years’ experience working across the construction sector. Since 2020, she has worked with 5 of the top 10 UK engineering firms including Arup, Mace, McLaren Construction and WSP developing strategy, content and campaigns. https://www.abbasmarketing.com/