Do you repurpose your architecture awards entries for business development?

The Institute’s National Awards were presented two weeks ago, marking the 40th anniversary of the program. According to jury chair Alice Hampson: “These awards attest to our profession’s inventiveness, imagination, pulchritude and multiplicity.”

“Collectively, this year’s awarded works exhibit the richness, intelligence, viscerality, complexity, individuality and delight of which Australian architecture is capable,” she added. 

This year the Institute’s National award winners were selected from a field of 807 entries across Australia; these were whittled down to a shortlist of 57 finalists via the State and Chapter awards held earlier in the year.

The numbers may be daunting, and while it’s true that the chances of winning an award against so many contenders might be slim, there are plenty of other reasons to enter awards programs apart from taking home the main prize. These include:

• the possibility of local, state and/or national media coverage;

• being included in physical or digital exhibitions, alongside your peers;

• the prestige bestowed upon your practice conferred, just from participating;

• the possibility of winning a state/territory award or commendation;

• highlighting a project typology where you have particular expertise, and that you’re keen to work on again, in future; and

• showcasing an innovative design solution or approach that sets your practice apart from others.

The Monash Wxxxxe Building for Technology and Design by Grimshaw in collaboration with Monash University won The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture. Photography by Rory Gardiner.

And it’s not just the Institute’s awards that offer these benefits, either.

Several other programs announced their winners in recent weeks, including The Design Files, ArchiTeam and the Sustainability Awards. These include a range of categories that enable practices to draw attention to individuals either at the beginning or peak of their careers; or to showcase residential projects in higher and lower budgets brackets; or to showcase innovation and contribution to the profession.

With all of the awards announcements complete for 2021, and the Institute just opening its 2022 program for entries again, it’s already time to start thinking about how to make the most of this year’s entry and turn your attention to next year’s programs.

Awards can be time-consuming and costly to enter, so how do you make the most of your investment?

And perhaps a more important question if you’re thinking about your awards within your practice’s broader marketing strategy: is it possible to leverage your awards entry – and any success you achieved – into new clients and projects?

In the past, architects have largely viewed awards as ways to enhance their branding and raise awareness about their practice, but in this digital-everything era, you can also use your awards for business development purposes, to generate new clients and projects.

I developed a CPD Workshop to help you increase your ROI on awards, because entering awards can cost practices thousands of dollars each year. In fact, your awards outlay may be the largest single expense in your annual marketing budget, so it makes sense to leverage that investment long after your submissions are lodged. 

In my CPD Awards Workshop, I encourage architects to prepare their awards entries with three main audiences in mind: the jury; the media; and your future clients. By carefully framing your entry text, you can speak to each of these audiences simultaneously.

Think about the money and effort you invested in your past awards entries, including photography costs; time spent preparing your entries; your client’s time and any cleaning costs they incurred; time spent presenting to the jury, and showing juries through your project, whether that’s in person or electronically.

So how do you repurpose your entries (and promote your wins!) as part of your business development?

You can repurpose your entries into content for other marketing channels such as your referral network, email newsletters, publishing, social media and your website. Don’t be afraid to shout your success from the rooftops!

Rather than just copying and pasting your entry text though, you’ll make more meaningful connections with future clients if you frame your content in a client-centric way. Doing so will help future clients to recognise themselves in your stories and posts, and feel comfortable about making contact with you to discuss their upcoming projects.

It’s likely that you didn’t place much emphasis on addressing these future clients in your entries this year, so from this point forward, you should reframe all of your outward-facing communications to speak directly to them. I explain how to do that in this blog post.

But before you start that reframing, you need to first identify who your ideal client avatar (ICA) is, for each of your awards projects. For education projects, you may be addressing school principals or government procurement managers; for residential projects you might be speaking to empty nesters, for example. 

Next you need to determine the key message that you wish to convey to each ICA about the project, your practice and/or your process, and any awards you won.

Once you have determined your ICA and key message, you’re ready to select the best delivery channels to deliver that message to them. It’s important to meet them where they are (rather than expecting that they will magically find you on your preferred platform, which might be Instagram).

The Floating Sauna Derby by Licht Architecture won a National Commendation in the Small Project Architecture category at the 2022 Awards. Photography by Anjie Blair

Why should you reframe your awards entries to speak to your ICA?

It’s fairly common for architects to pitch their Awards entries – and a lot of their marketing materials – to appeal mainly to jurors, and other architects who speak the same language as you. But doing so means you risk excluding a broader audience – including potential clients – from understanding and engaging with your message.

Architects already know the value of good design, but in my experience, they sometimes struggle to convey that message simply to others, especially people outside the profession and beyond the construction industry.

In essence, your marketing materials should contain both big picture thinking (about why good design matters) and specific messaging about your practice and projects, and details about any awards that you won this year. 

This multi-layered approach will help you to expand your influence and reach - both beyond the profession and the awards programs (which tend to be very industry-focussed) to connect and engage with many more people, some of whom may be interested in engaging your practice.

In the digital era when consumers expect to be able to freely engage and converse with brands and services they transact with, your awards entries should deliver value in three key ways: 

• enhancing your practice’s reputation; 

• generating media coverage for your projects;

• AND working hard as a form of business development, because new clients and projects are the lifeblood of your practice.

It’s also useful to remember that awards and the jury citations that accompany them are a form of ‘social proof’; that is, they add a layer of credibility to your practice and projects that is extremely valuable in the eyes of your future clients. Of course, you need to translate your awards success into messaging that describes how your practice and unique approach will benefit your future clients, and to do that, you need to speak their language.

Making this switch – from addressing jurors and peers to addressing your ideal client – can unlock significant value in your awards investment.

With just a few small tweaks, you can repurpose your Awards entries to promote your practice in ways that will connect with and attract the types of clients you’d like to work with in future; and the types of projects that are both financially sustainable and enjoyable for you and your team.

And the best news? You can do this whether your entries won you a medallion, a named award, a certificate or commendation, or absolutely nothing at all.

Beaconsfield House by Simon Pendal Architect, winner of The Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award – Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions). Photography by Rob Frith.

Are you ready to get a head start on your 2022 awards?

If you didn’t enter any awards programs this year, but you’re starting to think about next year’s entries, you can get a headstart by downloading this year’s 8-step guide. If you start working on your 2022 entries before Christmas, you’ll give yourself time to be much more strategic about next year’s entries.

As I mentioned, if there is sufficient interest in the 2022 CPD Awards Workshop, I’ll be updating this guide soon, but it contains the key dates and tasks you need to get underway right now.

Feel free to get in touch via email if you have any questions about the workshop or awards generally - I’m happy to help!