10 ways that your future clients are NOT like architects (and how to tailor your comms to enhance trust and connection…)

Architecture marketing that is focussed on attracting and winning new clients and projects is all about making connections and engaging with people who want and need the services you provide. 
Photography: Adam Jang on Unsplash

Let’s address the elephant in the room first.

Most architects don’t like being marketed to.

Most architects can spot overt marketing and sales tactics at 100 paces, and they eschew messaging or content that deliberately sets out to convince them to buy something, whether it’s a pair of shoes or a window system or a software subscription.

This aversion to being marketing to often co-incides with an aversion to marketing themselves - the old adage that “the work should speak for itself” still applies in many modern practices.

This means that other service providers are much more adept at marketing themselves than architects - and consequently, they capture the attention - and intention - of your future clients.

So how can architects overcome their own aversions to marketing and better connect and engage with the people who most need the skills, knowledge and experience that only architects have?

This list sets out 10 ways that your future clients are very different from architects, and provides suggestions about how to embrace marketing so you can attract and win more of the clients and projects you most love working on.

They don’t know that “the work should speak for itself”; they want to hear from you - the architect - because you are the person they’ll be working alongside for the next 2-3 years.

Your challenge is to step out from behind the safety of your project images and connect on a person-to-person level.

They are not averse to being marketing to; they want to follow you on social media, visit your website, subscribe to your emails; so they can learn more about what you do, how you do it, who you serve, whether your services can help them to solve the problems they are facing.

Your challenge is to overcome your distaste and distrust of marketing - which might be stopping you from engaging and connecting with your future clients, in ways that feel comfortable and natural for them.

They don’t speak your lingo; if you drop into archi-speak or technical jargon - slipping in words like tectonic and fenestration - they are likely to glaze over and scroll on by. Nobody wants to be bamboozled by intimidating language.

Your challenge is to strip out insider-language and knowledge to make your communications and messaging more appealing to more people (especially the ones you most want to work with!).

They don’t have endless time, attention and bandwidth to discuss the merits of superb detailing, or the poetics of space; short attention and a plethora of messaging across countless channels means that you have to deliver punchy and targetted messaging designed to land with your intended audience.

Your challenge is to create carefully framed messaging that appeals to your audience, and addresses their problems, painpoints, objections and aspirations, so that your solutions and services are seen as the no-brainer choice.

They don’t know what they don’t know; you have 5-7 years of training in architecture, they have next to no experience of inhabiting well-designed spaces.

Your challenge is to help them understand the power and magic of what you can deliver, at various points in their customer journey, without overwhelming them with extraneous detail.

They don’t know many architects; you spend most of your waking hours in the company of other architects - you may even have an intimate relationship with an architect - but with only 20,000 registered architects in Australia (and possibly another 20,000 who are trained but not registered) most people don’t have direct experience of talking to architects on the daily.

Your challenge is to make yourself appear accessible and personable, someone they can easily talk with, build rapport with, and place their trust and confidence in.

They don’t have any direct experience of working with an architect; if architects design only 3-5% of housing, that’s 95-97% that is designed without the input of an architect. Most people have zero experience of engaging an architect, and then designing and delivering a project together.

Your challenge is to spell out your process - in client-centric language - so they can see, feel and touch what it will be like to work with you at every step of the way.

They have shaped their perceptions of architecture, design and construction from popular culture, ie The Block and similar TV shows; so they think design is inconsequential, that projects come together quickly on site, and you can make significant decisions on the fly.

Your challenge is to educate and inform them around common pitfalls and problems, and to provide confidence and reassurance that you can deal with anything that arises on their project (especially nasty or unexpected surprises).

They believe the tropes that architects will blow time and budget expectations; they don’t realise that usually it’s clients who either had mismatched expectations about their preferred spend and their desired outcome (the champagne brief and beer budget) or that once they get started, they add more space, more expensive fixtures and finishes, and that scope creep is the main killer of tight timeframes and budgets.

Your challenge is to break your process down into manageable bite-sized pieces with fixed price fees at the outset, so they can get clear on their budget, scope and brief, and build trust and confidence in your ability to help them deliver on their dream.

They don’t see you as being elevated above everyone else in the design and building ecosystem; you’re just another person who may or may not be able to help them solve their problems. If you come across as elevated, elitist or arrogant, that’s a huge turnoff for most potential clients.

Your challenge is to accentuate the value of your network - the trusted consultants, builders, tradespeople and suppliers that you work with - and emphasis how you can guide them through a daunting, stressful and overwhelming process with ease.

And I’ve added one more key difference between architects and your future clients, as a bonus, which is…

They think that architects only design houses for rich people; awards programs and publications amplify big-budget, showstopper projects that lie far beyond the reach of most prospective clients.

Your challenge is to showcase, highlight and amplify all the ways that you work with people who don’t have limitless funds - or view themselves as a “patron” of architecture - the ones who want a service that marries function, aesthetics and environmental concerns, and is cost effective, easy to access and that will deliver them some unexpected delight.

So how can you rise to these challenges?

You may be able to adjust your current approach to marketing to tailor your messaging towards your future clients in a more targetted way.

Understanding who your future clients are - and what’s unique and special about your own services and approach - is key to this reframe.

If you’re not sure how to create the kind of messaging that will connect and engage with your future clients, you may be interested in our CPD Express training - How and why to build a client pipeline.

Find out more and buy the training here.

Find out more about our specialist business development and marketing services for architects:

Sounds Like Design developed the Six Channel System of business development and marketing for architects, to help practice owners, principals, directors, those responsible for bringing in new business - and anyone who looks after marketing and communications within a practice - to create or enhance their new client and project pipeline.

Our system and approach is all about helping you to win more of the work you love, and we offer four main services in Mini, Small, Medium and Large sizes, as follows:

• Mini - purchase an Architecture Marketing Scorecard here and Rachael will privately review your online presence - including your website, social media profiles and email newsletter if you have one - to see how it’s performing as a new client pipeline. You’ll receive a video recording and a PDF scorecard to with tips and suggestions to make improvements and enhance your ability to attract and win more of the clients and projects you love working on.

• Small - book an Acupuncture Session here - this is a one off (or regular) 1-hour Zoom meeting with marketing mentor Rachael Bernstone, where you can discuss any architecture related business development and marketing topic of your choice, including Referrals, Email marketing, Social Media, Publishing, Awards, Websites and more.

• Medium - enrol in Architecture Marketing 360: a CPD course for architects here - our online, self-guided CPD course sets out the basics of business development and modern marketing for architects (everything you didn’t learn in your degrees!) and takes as little as three weeks to complete. Then, start your implementation and you’ll see results in just three months. It will help you build a client pipeline, and you could even start a waitlist.

• Large - Enquire about Review + Reset - our one-on-one consulting package with Rachael here. In this three-month, intensive, fixed price package we’ll co-create your Business Development and Marketing Blueprint, so you can confidently build your client pipeline and delegate tasks to your team members or external marketing providers.