8 ways that architecture practices can benefit from blogging (aka content marketing)

Blogging consistently on topics that interest your prospective clients can help you build trust and authority.

This article is about the art and science of blogging, which is also known as "content marketing". Blogging is one of the key modern marketing methods that businesses can use to build trust and authority among their future customers and clients.

Chances are you’ve heard about blogging and you may even be aware that it’s an important part of your overall marketing strategy*, but perhaps you’re not exactly sure how to use it, or what it can do for your practice..

One of the reasons that blogging is so effective is that it can be used as both a “push” and “pull” marketing activity. What does that mean?

• you can push new blog posts out to your audience via email newsletters if you have a list of subscribers, and

• blog articles can pull new potential clients towards your website, when those people are searching online for answers to their questions and problems.

In fact, when done well and executed as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy, blogging can help to enhance your project pipeline and win more of the projects you love working on. However, most architecture practices don’t produce blogs consistently, preferring to focus instead on other marketing channels such as social media, publishing and awards to raise awareness of their projects and services.

So I’ve put together this list of some of the key benefits of blogging or content marketing, which you can use to introduce your practice, explain your services and approach, and articulate what sets you apart from others.

Here goes...

Blogging in a client-centric way can enhance your reputation as an expert in your field.

1. Blogging or content marketing establishes and/or enhances your reputation as an expert in your preferred typology or sector. And when you share your knowledge and experience with future clients, you make yourself approachable and accessible, so those ideal clients might be more willing to connect with you, because you've already begun to establish trust. 

(Caveat: you have to use language your future clients will easily understand - and publish your articles in places they can read them - for this to work!).

2. Blogging with SEO keywords helps your future clients to find you in a crowded online marketplace. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and once you know which keywords your clients are searching for, you can use them throughout your blogs and in the metadata fields on your website (metadata are the main fields that Google crawls).

(Fine-tuning your SEO strategy requires specialist knowledge and customised research about your most suitable keywords; I cover this in my CPD marketing course and I carry out that research for my clients in Review + Reset).

3. Regular blogging signals to Google that it should frequently crawl your website, and provides data that helps Google to categorise what you do and who you serve. Taken together, these factors can elevate your website in Google's search results, and may help to boost your practice above your competitors. 

(Remember: 85% of Google users only look at the first page of results, so if your practice doesn't appear on that first page, it's unlikely you're being considered by those future clients).

4. Blogging with your ideal clients in mind invites them to visit your website and encourages them to engage with your content. This reinforces the notion that you "get" them and understand their issues and concerns, and that you're a good fit for their next project.

(And Google prioritises websites that have great performance analytics - ie websites where visitors spend time reading and exploring - so the more "sticky" your website is, the better your search rankings will be).

Ilianna Ginnis was featured in Australian Design Review after writing a guest blog for Sounds Like Design.

5. Blogging or content marketing can open doors to new opportunities, such as invitations to speak at events or to appear in publications. This will spread your stories even further by expanding your audience reach and propelling your messaging into new markets.

(Need proof? After Ilianna Ginnis shared her origin story on the SLD website, it was picked up by Australian Design Review, and now she's speaking at an MPavilion event).

6. Blogging helps to grow your email list, especially if you provide relevant resources that help your ideal clients to find clarity and progress their aspirations and projects.

(My article on Marketing Metrics for Australian Design Review illustrates this point - it was seen by architects who hadn't yet heard of Sounds Like Design, and some of them joined my email list to access the tracking spreadsheet).

7. Combining blogging with email transforms social media followers into loyal subscribers, and some of those might then choose to engage you. 

(If you blog on topics that interest your ideal clients, you can ask them questions to find out more about their needs, objections and pain points, and - by fostering this two-way discussion - you enhance the "know, like and trust" factor. Some of your subscribers might take the next step and make contact by phone, then set up a meeting, and then engage you for their next project).

8. Friends and strangers could share your blogs and articles via their social media networks, thereby amplifying your message with a dollop of social proof, and yet again projecting your message into uncharted territory. 

(This blog about shareable content provides an outline of the six steps that can increase the chances of your content going viral).

Blogging or content marketing - when underpinned by a solid strategy and carried out consistently - can help you transform your architecture practice. Rather than thinking that you have to say yes to every inquiry (because you're worried about when the next client will materialise), you can build a project pipeline that enables you to become more discerning about which clients you choose to work with in future.

Put simply, the process looks like this:

More followers = more subscribers = more inquiries = more leads = more enjoyable and profitable projects.
 
These are just some of the benefits of blogging or content marketing for architecture practices. If you know of others - or you've experienced some of these in your own practice - I'd love to hear about them. Send me an email by clicking here.

Interested in our business development and marketing services?

I offer three services to architects, ranging from two-hour Acupuncture Sessions to the three- month Review + Reset consulting package.

• If you’d like a short, sharp injection of architecture-specific expertise – to talk about any business development or marketing issues you’re grappling with – you can book an Acupuncture Session here. You can choose the topics we discuss, and tap into my knowledge, experience and connections to access insights that are customised for your practice.

• I also run Architecture Marketing 360 – a CPD course for architects based on the six-channel system – and you can join the priority waitlist for the next intake here.

• If you’re interested in my consulting package, you can find details about Review + Reset here. (I have a waitlist for new Review + Reset clients, and that’s what I aim to help you achieve for your architecture business, too).

• Lastly, if you have any questions about this blog post, or any of my services, please click here to email me. I’m always happy to hear from architects who want to improve the way they communicate their value to future clients.

*Blogging or content marketing sit within SLD's Publication channel, alongside the more traditional media coverage of your projects in magazines and online. Publication is one of the six key channels in Sounds Like Design's marketing system for architects - the others are Referrals, Email, Social Media, Awards and Website. You can learn more about the channels and how they work together in this blog post.