9 ways that architects can create customer-centric marketing messages

In my post about the unique value that architects bring to projects - a few weeks ago - I said that I’d give you some insights into how to frame your marketing messaging - including social media posts and blog articles - in a customer centric way.

What do I mean by putting your customers or future clients at the centre of your messaging?

Basically it’s about placing yourself in your clients’ shoes and framing your messaging to speak directly to their problems, concerns, issues, possible objections and pain points, around the product or service that you provide.

I know that a lot of architects find the topic of modern marketing pretty confusing, perhaps even a bit confronting, because it seems like there is so much to learn and implement, so I want to make this easy for you to put into action.

Basically, consumers today expect to be able to connect and engage with brands and services they transact with. Setting up a two-way dialogue across social media, email newsletters, and your website helps to build the Know, Like and Trust factors that underpin e-commerce.

Architecture as a profession is late to the party on this, and it risks losing even more market share to competitors who have advanced online and e-commerce strategies, but it’s not too late to adopt this approach now.

This expectation on the part of customers - that brands and service providers will “get” their issues and offer solutions to solve them - is one of the key reasons that I recommend you intimately understand, map out and then clearly articulate who your ideal customers are, and what services you offer to them.

In modern marketing, it pays to be able to clearly articulate what you do, and who your service is for.

That’s because when you have a well-defined ideal customer avatar (ICA) -  including details of their age, gender, location, budget, education and interests, risk profile and key considerations - you’ll find it much easier to envisage that person when you are preparing messaging for - whether that’s a presentation, blog article or social media post - and you’ll be able to speak directly to them.

It’s also helpful to have a thorough understanding of your USP - or unique selling proposition - because the factors and attributes that set your practice apart from competitors are the qualities that will make your offer appealing to your ideal customers.

So this approach to modern marketing is based on a deep understanding of your unique selling proposition and your ideal clients. Your knowledge of these factors and attributes - and your ability to clearly convey them in your communications - will help to position your practice in a crowded field of competitors.

Adopting this approach also requires you to believe that there is enough work to go around for your practice AND the others competing in your market segment; assuming that each practice (or non-architect competitor) can clearly articulate its value, which is not always the case!.

Draft your copy and then reduce the word count by 50%.

So once you have a handle on your ICA and USP, how do you create client-centric messaging?

1. Start by envisaging your ideal client – their problems, possible solutions to those problems (including your service and others) and what they are striving to achieve. When you start writing, switch the focus away from your practice – “We, our” - and towards your ideal clients – “You, your” - in your messaging.

2. Appeal to your clients’ emotions: how do they feel before they decide to embark on a new project?; how might your process and outcomes make them feel while it’s happening, and after the project is finished?

3. Focus on benefits – that’s the value you add to the service you provide - not features. You can get to the nub of benefits by asking “So what?” when you come up with a feature that you’d like to promote.
   For example: Your practice can expedite DAs through council; so what? That leads to lower holding costs for your clients and reduced stress while they wait for approval. Or your track record on delivery is “ahead of time and under budget without compromising quality”. So what? That leads to immediate cost savings and mortgage savings over time, and your clients can move into their renovated home faster. Keep asking “So what” until you arrive at the most compelling benefits.

4. Use simple language and avoid archi-speak, so that your ICA can easily understand your key points and important details in your messaging.

5. Incorporate quotes and testimonials from your past and existing clients. Showing (not telling) how your approach and solutions have benefited others is a very compelling and convincing way to demonstrate the value of your service. Your ideal clients will recognise their own problems, challenges and issues in the stories you present about your past clients.

6. Draft your text and then go back and edit what you’ve written, to reduce it by up to 50% while still maintaining meaning and clarity.

7. Include a Call to Action - what do you want your ICA to do once they’ve read your message? Call you to book an initial consultation? Sign up for your practice newsletter? Like or save your social media post? Tag a friend? Spell out the action that you’d like them to take.

8. In the early days, when you are just starting to use this approach, ask a non-architect to review your messaging, to make sure that your meaning is clearly expressed, and that it’s easy for your ICA to understand. Remember, your ideal client probably doesn’t have the same level of familiarity with general design concepts - or your unique process - as you do.

9. Publish your message to your chosen channel - ie social media, your blog, practice newsletter, a webinar, etc - and be prepared to engage with responses, questions and comments from your ICA.

That’s a nutshell explanation about how to communicate directly with your ideal clients. I recently had a client of mine - an architect - tell me that using this method on an Instagram post boosted their comments and engagement by a factor of about 6, over previous posts. I wasn’t surprised to hear that, because in this digital-everything era people buy from people, and they especially like it when you speak directly to them.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to apply these principles, I go into more detail - including how to define your ICA and USP, and how to connect and engage with them using my six-channels system - in my course, Architecture Marketing 360: a CPD course for architects..

You can find out more information and enrol here, if you’d like to learn more about how to use modern marketing techniques to promote your practice and win more of the clients and projects you love working on..

And remember, I use the same modern marketing methods to connect and engage with my ICA - that’s you! - as I recommend you use to communicate with yours, so if you’d like to dissect this blog post, you’ll find most of the 9 tips I’ve outlined at work, here.

Let me know if you found this article useful, by leaving me a comment below, or sending me an email.