What’s news at Sounds Like Design?
The Sounds Like Design blog began in 2016 and since then we’ve covered business development and marketing topics, important policy and regulatory issues that affect the profession, and we’ve featured guest posts from several influential architects.
If you’d like to contribute to the blog about a topic or issue that you are passionate about, or think is important to share with your peers and colleagues, email us with your story idea, suggested images and proposed deadline, and we’ll collaborate to help you tell your story to a wider audience.
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3 ways to proactively seek new architecture clients
How do you identify and then make contact with potential new clients for your architecture practice? Borrow my journalistic skills and some tips from architect Monique Woodward of WOWOWA to proactively seek out new clients. The 3 tips in this blog post and video are especially useful in a pandemic, but can be used at any time to expand your field of potential clients.
What’s the problem with archi-speak (aka archi-babble and archi-jargon)?
What is 'archi-speak' and how can you avoid it in your communications, especially outward-facing messaging that is designed for audiences beyond the profession? This blog post describes 'The Curse of Knowledge' and how to remove it from your architecture communications.
How should you market your architecture practice with little money, but plenty of time?
If the cashflow in your architecture practice slows down, so you can't afford to photograph your latest projects, what marketing tasks might you do instead? In this blog post and video I offer three answers to this question, and some other suggestions about how to finetune your marketing in a pandemic.
Getting help for your architecture practice during the pandemic
Find out how to access help for your Architecture practice during the Corona-virus pandemic in Australia, including the latest federal government stimulus, marketing and comms advice from Sounds Like Design, and boosting your online capacity, via ASBAS.
How do you check your architecture practice website analytics?
This week I lift the lid on Sounds Like Design's website analytics, to show you where and how to monitor your website data for traffic spikes; how to create shareable content to increase your impact and reach; and I also provide access to my free Marketing Metrics tracking spreadsheet, to set you up for future success.
How can architects talk about climate change?
What does Australia’s low carbon future look like, and how can architects become agents of change to deliver it? This article - first published in The Architect - sets out five steps to communicate internally and to clients and the public about these complex issues.
Launching Brickworks' latest book: Materiality 2021
Last week I was honoured to launch Brickworks’ latest publication in Perth, at an intimate long table lunch held at the Brickworks Studio. It was attended by a select group of architects - some of whom designed projects featured in the book, and others who are creating innovative and inspiring projects using bricks and blocks. The new book is called Materiality 2021 and it features four projects from around Australia and the USA.
What’s your architecture origin story and how should you tell it?
You don’t have to be a Gold Medallist or a Past President of the Institute to share your architecture origin story. In fact, it’s a great way to explain your influences and inspiration to future clients, and to share insights about your philosophy and approach, and the values that guide your practice. This blog post explains why and how you should share your architecture origin story.
What do the Pritzker Prize headlines tell us about promoting your architecture?
Last week, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, from their eponymous practice based in Paris, won the Pritzker Prize. The headlines announcing that achievement underscore the importance of controlling the narrative around your work, so that your projects, practice and approach are presented in the ways you prefer. Read on to find out how to do that…
After your Awards entries are lodged, it's time to consider Publishing...
If you submitted a project to an awards program this year, now is a good time to think about having it published, before the awards are announced. That’s because once those announcements are made, you essentially relinquish control over where your project will appear, so get ahead of the curve with a publishing strategy that prioritises print features first.
What next for women architects?
Monday’s International Women’s Day lunch in Perth was a great opportunity to talk about women’s representation, discrimination and harassment, ambitions, definitions of success and non-linear career paths. The meandering nature of women’s career paths was touched on by both Tanya Jones and Suzie Hunt on the panel, and it was a key theme in Rebecca Moore’s keynote speech. Given current workplace challenges playing out in politics and on construction sites, what’s next for women and gender equity in architecture?
What are the best six channels to market your architecture practice?
Facebook’s drastic action - turning off the news - underscores one of the truisms of modern marketing: that you should use a mix of delivery channels to communicate with your audience, and you should ensure that you OWN your connections to your future customers and clients. This post outlines the six best channels for architecture marketing.
What’s happening at SLD HQ? (It’s not always smooth sailing!)
Today’s blog lifts the veil on Sounds Like Design’s marketing activities, to show that what may look like a swan gliding across a placid lake can often feel like a duck paddling like crazy, underwater. The article discusses three key areas - delivering your expertise online, e-commerce and customer relationship management (CRM) - and examines some challenges you might encounter in your own practice marketing.
Are you ready to go carbon neutral in 2021?
If your architecture practice is taking up the challenge from Architects Act to go carbon neutral, this blog post outlines a few key steps and provides links to resources that will help you start your low-carbon transition. These include Architects Declare AU’s Guide to going carbon neutral, and the new Business App from ClimateClever (disclaimer: I consult to CC on their comms and marketing).
3 ways to improve your architecture awards entries
Sounds Like Design’s 2021 Awards Workshop is jam-packed with insider knowledge, strategic marketing advice and practical suggestions that will help you to: improve your chances of winning an award; generate media coverage of your projects; and connect and engage with future clients. And you can earn CPD points!
Architect Talina Edwards rates SLD's Awards workshop 10 out of 10!
Talina Edwards attended the Sounds Like Design workshop, How to turn your Awards entries into Marketing Gold, in February 2020. She shares her feedback on the workshop itself, and the results she achieved by implementing the strategies and lessons she learned.
Do you want to write better awards entries?
In 2021, Awards programs will be subject to a range of influences and changes taking place across the profession and society more broadly, such as last year’s bushfires, the emergence of Architects Declare and draft revisions to the National Standard of Competency for Architects.
It’s possible to respond to these changes into your awards entries to make them more compelling - and to achieve better ROI on your entry costs - and this article describes how.
Did you know that marketing and business development are included in the new draft NSCA?
The revised National Standard of Competency for Architects contains important changes, including references to “client relationship management systems, marketing and business development” for the first time.
Sounds Like Design can help your practice develop and deliver new outward-facing marketing and communications messaging, in line with these shifts.
Are eCommerce trends changing the way clients find your architecture practice?
Does your architecture practice gain most new clients and projects via Referrals or your Website? Shifts towards eCommerce in retail and other sectors are prompting changes in consumer expectations that will affect architecture, so how do you find out if they are impacting your business, and then respond accordingly? This article provides pointers to your own data that can help to inform your future marketing strategy.
Do you have what it takes to talk about architecture in the media?
Last week’s wide-ranging and controversial discussions about architecture in the Sydney Morning Herald got me thinking that it would be great if more architects had the skills and confidence to speak to journalists. Here, I provide some tips on how to prepare for media interviews, or get the training you need to become a proficient media spokesperson.