Ask the AACA to add “business development and marketing” to the National Standards of Competency for Architects (NSCA)
Did you know that in December 2020, the draft NSCA that was issued for public consultation included a performance criterion (PC) about business development and marketing?
It was the first time these critical topics had been included in the NSCA.
PC13 called for architects to: “Be able to implement relevant client relationship management systems, marketing and business development.”
You can read our blog post from December 2020 that outlined the changes - and why they were significant for architects - here.
Unfortunately, PC13 was not adopted in the final version of the NSCA in 2021, but it may still be included in a future update if there is sufficient demand and support from the profession for that change to occur.
So if you’d like to request that PC13 - or a PC that focuses on business and marketing knowledge and skills - is included in a future update of the NSCA, you can send an email to the AACA to express your support for this change.
We’ve prepared a sample email here, and you can customise it as you see fit, and email it directly to the AACA.
If you have any questions about this campaign, feel free to email Rachael by clicking this link.
This change could take some time to come into effect. But what if you need help with your practice business development and marketing now?
Sounds Like Design can help in the meantime
We offer two services that enable architects to learn new skills and change their mindset around business development, marketing and communications:
The first is an online CPD course – Architecture Marketing 360 - which will plug gaps in your knowledge and give you the confidence to strategise and delegate these tasks, either to external consultants or members of your team, in the future. The course is based on Sounds Like Design’s proprietary Six Channel System, and the processes that we developed to help architects navigate the complexity of the modern marketing landscape, which help you build a pipeline of clients and projects you love working on. You can click on the link above to find out more about the CPD Learning Outcomes, where to purchase, and how to access the self-guided program.
We also provide an in-depth one-on-one consulting package – Review + Reset - which takes place over 3 months. It’s a deep-dive into your current business development and marketing strategy and activities. Together we’ll co-create a new strategic blueprint for your practice, so you can delegate and digitally transform key tasks, to free up your time for more of the creative work that you really love doing.
If you’d like to get more clarity around which of these services is the best fit for you right now, you can take our quiz, here, and your results will point you in the right direction.