How to promote your awards entries across the key architecture marketing channels

The Frilled Neck Lizard at South Perth Connect Canopies, a project by iredale pedersen hook architects, Place Laboratory and ETC, that won the Iwan Iwanoff Small Project Award in WA in 2020.

The Institute’s Chapter Awards season is in full swing – the WA awards were held online last Friday night – and SA, NSW, Vic and Queensland all taking place over the next week or so.

Chapter Awards ceremonies have already occurred in the ACT, NT and Tasmania; and the hotly contested and highly sought after HOUSES awards will be announced on 31 July.

In some states – NSW and the ACT included - People’s Choice votes will run for a few more weeks, giving those practices more time-sensitive opportunities to drum up enthusiasm and engagement around your entries.

At this point, most architecture practices should be switching into the post-awards marketing phase for any projects you entered into the Institute’s awards programs this year. 

And if you attended my Awards workshop earlier in the year, you‘ll have a good idea of what’s required in this post-awards phase, to make marketing gold from your entries. With the right preparation, you should be ready to create new marketing messages that will promote your awards activity across your other key channels, that is referral networks, email, social media and publishing, as well as your website.

It’s extremely important at this stage to ensure your marketing messages – and your delivery channels – are focussed firmly on connecting and engaging with future clients. This is not an opportunity to further build brand awareness among your peers: the awards programs and ceremonies do a great job in that regard, but now it’s time to speak to a wider audience about what makes your practice and projects interesting and appealing to future clients.

So check that your images and captions are framed around the needs and pain points of your potential clients. If you’ve done some brainstorming on your Ideal Customer Avatar, you’ll know exactly who those people are, and how to address them. Start by using words and phrases that are easily understood by non-architects, and use channels to deliver your messaging that those potential clients frequently use. 

The most valuable are your referral networks and email newsletters – (if you use them; many architects are not yet systemically employing these key channels). Use them to announce any awards or media coverage you receive, and to remind the people in your network that you’re still there, still operating and always keen to undertake new projects. 

The Seeking Digital Dashboard, part of my Marketing Metrics spreadsheet

Looking under the hood at your existing website traffic sources will help you discern which of your existing channels delivers the most visitors to your website. Analytics also provide insights into which visitors stay the longest and how many pages they look at. Ideally, you’d focus your awards promotion efforts on the channels that deliver the most engaged audiences, and tailor your activities around that performance data.

If you’d like to download my Marketing Metrics spreadsheet – which describes which channels and metrics to track, and how to access the various free analytics tools I recommend – you can grab it here.

Keep an eye on your analytics going forward too, to see where you gain traction – maybe your awards-focussed social media posts and email articles will generate website traffic spikes; or prospective clients might contact you to start a conversation; or people already in your orbit might express renewed interest and commit to new work on a previously shelved project.

From a marketing perspective, awards don’t usually result in a flood of new projects (lead generation), but they certainly help with brand awareness, so don’t waste this opportunity to promote your practice and projects, if you have some good news to share.

If you’d like to find out more about how to use the Six Channels method to promote your architecture practice, check out my Review + Reset comms package, here.