What do Sarah, Christopher and Rebecca say about the Architecture Marketing 360 course?

Are you ready to take control of your business development and marketing, and start to build a pipeline of clients and projects you love working on?

That’s the purpose of Sounds Like Design’s Architecture Marketing 360 CPD course, which outlines the six-channel system - designed specifically for architects - and provides the knowledge you need to connect and engage with your future clients.

Some of the architects who took the course in 2020 provided feedback, describing how the course helped them approach marketing in a new and empowered way.

Sarah Hobday-North

Sarah Hobday-North, Value Architects Group

The main marketing topics or problems that I wanted to learn more about in the course were Websites and Email.

The mailing list feels daunting, and how to leverage a bit of a mystery (less so now... but still a big task for a sole practitioner!). Another motivation for doing the course was to get an overview of the options for marketing, know the tools, make fewer mistakes, and not go down so many rabbit holes. It’s a good way to achieve sole practitioner efficiency.

The course contained the right amount of detail; any more and I'd be swimming. I'm still unsure about how to get baseline analytics. Websites is a big topic!

I’m finding the supplied workbook with links is very good. I can dip back in when I do marketing work for guidance. 

Now I feel like I know what to do next, to ramp it up. It’s trial and error, but at least I’m moving in the right direction.

I thought the course contained a lot of info and access to Rachael to ask questions. I’d recommend it to other architects because you don't know what you don't know. And we need to know how to communicate our value, not take it for granted (because no one else does).

Christopher Hewson

Christopher Hewson, Architect Hewson

Before taking the Architecture Marketing 360 course, our practice marketing was very basic and ad hoc. Over the past 12 months, I have completed lots of small projects that were really photographable, but I didn't have a strategy at all.

I wanted to learn more about Websites and I had no idea what SEO was. Now I understand that SEO is continual, and I all of this action can take months and even years to eventually filter through Google. And I’ve managed to look at lots of architects’ websites and checked out their keywords and rankings.

Doing the course has made me realise that my website has maybe come to the end of its life and I need to redo it for the future. In terms of the course content, I’ll be focussing on ICA, Referrals Social Media and Website going forward.

I feel better prepared now, knowing it’s an ongoing thing, not an overnight thing. 

I recommend the course to other architects because I realise now that it’s probably better to get a professional to handle marketing, because many of us practitioners are not in the league of others who have an SEO manager, and publicists, in all reality.

Rebecca Christianson

Rebecca Christianson, Christianson Architects

Before taking the Architecture Marketing 360 Course, I hadn’t spent enough time on the marketing side of our practice, and was keen to know where and how to start.

At the beginning, I was worried it might be a little overwhelming and I may not be confident (or have the time) to implement all of the ideas. The fact the course timing was flexible (i.e no fixed times to complete, no live teaching) was a big plus as I could take it at my own pace and not feel like I'd wasted money if couldn't attend 'live' sessions.

The marketing topics of most interest to me were utilising social media effectively, and setting up a new website and the course provided lots of great detail on both.

I got a lot out of the longer (50 mins) bonus website video – it was one of the best parts of the course – because it explained how to check analytics etc. I  would struggle to fully understand this (and how to do it) without the video guidance.

The Facebook group conversations were useful too. If we weren't under lockdown with young children in the house, maybe a few live Zooms would have been good to meet other participants face to face. But for me personally at the moment, it worked better not having to be available at specific times.

The course presentation style was great: informative but not overwhelming. It really helped knowing that Rachael also struggled with some of the content when she began.

Looking ahead: my main focus is on completing our new website and launching live so I can start to understand the analytics side. I will continue to use social media sporadically, and see setting up regular email newsletters combined with regular website blogging as the next step. Email was an area I had never thought of, but now I can see how it can benefit our practice.

Our first residential project is currently being built so we will use the referral method with those clients/builder/suppliers as much as possible.

Now I’m excited to start implementing the changes and more confident to do it, however I’m also aware that it won't happen overnight and need to dedicate ample time to integrate the ideas.

I recommend the course to other architects because I thought it was excellent value for money, and the resources provided will be very useful for months, and probably years to come. 

I have found the idea of marketing overwhelming but this gives very simple steps to implement new ideas.

If you’re interested and would like more details…

You can enrol in the self-guided online program - Architecture Marketing 360: a CPD course for architects - and get started straight away, here.

And if you have any questions, please email Rachael at hello@soundslikedesign.com.au.