Getting help for your architecture practice during the pandemic
During this current corona-virus crisis, there are lots of ways you can access help for your Architecture practice.
Government assistance for architects
Probably the most significant lifeline is the federal government’s economic stimulus package for businesses, which aims to help employers to keep employees on the payroll, with subsidies of up to $1500 per fortnight per employee, if you can demonstrate your turnover has dropped by 30% as a result of the crisis. More information is available here.
This $139bn business-rescue package was unveiled on Monday morning, and is in addition to the measures announced last week, which Warwick Mihaly unpacked here.
Refine your practice marketing strategy
You may also be looking for some help to improve or enhance your business strategy, and the training I’m giving for the ACA tomorrow provides advice around positioning, and marketing and communications.
This webinar was scheduled last year, before the virus hit, and so it’s focussed on Awards, but I’ll be talking about comms strategy more broadly, including defining your Ideal Customer Avatar and Unique Selling Proposition, as well as getting published and how to post on social media, so it will be useful even if you didn’t enter any Awards programs this year.
[If you would like to access a recording of this training, you can purchase access here]
Tap into the ASBAS consultancy
Next, if you’re keen to improve your business presence online, you may benefit from the consultancy I’ve been using to enhance my own online offering this year. It’s a federal government-subsidised consultancy called the Australian Small Business Advisory Service, or ASBAS.
They offer services across the following areas:
websites and selling online;
social media and digital marketing;
using small business software; and
online security and data privacy.
To be eligible, you have to running a for-profit business with less than 19 FTE staff, or be a sole trader - which means a lot of Architecture practices qualify!
I’ve accessed two ASBAS consultants here in Perth - one who helped me make changes to my website and Facebook presence, and another who helped me create copy for the Awards workshop that I presented online in February. As a journalist, I’m used to writing in a very news-focussed way, and so it was great to work with a different style of writer for that particular business need.
Once you’ve completed the eligibility requirements, the first ASBAS session costs just $44 for an hour - and you can access consultants remotely and they can share your screen using Zoom. Subsequent sessions are $66, and there is a limit of 2 sessions per month, but your advisor can request more on your behalf if you have a time-sensitive project to complete.
I’ve found this service invaluable and can’t recommend it enough.
[Please note: This service is currently being restructured and may not provide the same offerings after 1 July 2021.]
Tune in for my weekly Live Q&As where I’ll answer your architecture marketing questions on Facebook
The last source of help is a new service I’ll be offering to Architects starting next week, in my Facebook group Architecture Matters by SLD. I’ll be hosting FREE Live Q&A sessions every week to answer your questions about marketing and communications, so you can jump on at the nominated time and ask me a question, or send your queries ahead of time via email, and I’ll provide guidance and tips to help you enhance the way you connect and engage with future clients.
I’ve been writing about Architecture and construction for 18 years, and working directly with Architects and the Institute here in WA over the past four years, and I’m really keen to share my comms and strategy knowledge, to help practitioners weather this storm and come out the other side stronger.
I’ll post details of the date and time on Facebook and Instagram ahead of the first event, so keep an eye out if you’d like to join me live, or you can watch the recording in the Facebook group afterwards, at a time that suits you.
[These Q&A videos are now included in the blog posts so you can watch them here on the website.]
That’s it for the moment, but please let me know if you have other resources to share with your peers, and I can include those in this Friday’s issue of The Drill.