How To Grow Your Architecture Business Online

Two Key Factors That Will Help You Grow Your Architecture Business Online

Growing your architecture business can be tough. We’ve all been there. After all, we are architects not marketing experts. However, the digital world gives you the chance to market and grow your business in a very effective way.

The good news is that online you can target your ideal prospect very well and understand when that prospect is ready to buy. Those are the two key factors to a successful online architecture marketing strategy, targeting and identifying when a prospect is ready to buy.

Targeting Your Marketing

The first step is fully defining your ideal prospect. You need to understand who they are and what are the problems that you can solve for them.

For example, if you are a residential architect, your prospect might be a woman living in the suburbs. She could be between 30 and 55 years old. She has 2 children and lives in a specific suburban region within your market. Her husband has a job that pays over $100,000. They purchased their home a few years ago and are looking to make major improvements by adding on to the house. Their addition will expand the kitchen and living room and add on a new bedroom upstairs.

Her challenges are that she doesn’t know much about construction or even remodeling a home other than what she has seen on the various home makeover shows. She also doesn’t have a good handle on the actual time frame it takes for completion of the work. She knows the work will have substantial cost but doesn’t have any solid numbers yet.

Those problems are great subjects for blog posts. People often search Google for answers to their problems and questions. It’s a good chance for you to educate and help your ideal prospect.

Another tip is to make a list of every question that a prospect or a client has ever asked you. Each of those questions is a great subject for a blog post. Because if someone is asking you those questions when they meet you, there are many others typing those questions into Google.

You can see some examples of these types of blog posts here at our New Jersey Architecture website.

You should include a call to action in each of your blog posts. This call to action can be a download for an ebook or another offer of value that will allow you to capture your prospect’s contact information.

Understanding When Your Prospect Is Ready To Buy

The biggest thing the internet has changed is how people buy. Back in the pre-internet days when you wanted to make a big purchase, you got your information from ads and salespeople. You did research, but the sellers were in control. They disseminated all the information that you needed to make a purchase decision.

But now buyers do all that research on their own, so the power has shifted to the buyer. They are in control. As a result, buyers push back when you try to sell them before they are ready to buy.

To understand when a buyer is ready to buy, you must understand the three stages of the buyer’s journey. You can then use certain types of content to identify where they are in their buyer’s journey so that you can reach out at the optimum time.

Buyer’s Journey Stages

Awareness – Prospect has realized and expressed symptoms of a potential problem or opportunity. “My kids are growing and we feel so crowded in this house.” Great content types for the awareness stage are blog posts, videos, and social posts that address questions, pain points and problems of your prospect.

Consideration – Prospect has clearly defined and given a name to their problem or opportunity and is comparing vendors. “I need to put an addition on my house. What are the steps I have to take to make that happen?” Content types for the consideration stage are expert guides, comparative solution guides and webinars.

Decision – Prospect has defined their solution strategy, method or approach. “I’m comparing architects and evaluating budget.” Content types for the decision stage are related to price. Price is the last evaluation a prospect makes before purchasing.

One decision stage piece of content that we have had great success with is the Construction Budget Guide. It helps the prospect because it allows them to enter how much money they have to spend on a home addition. The guide then tells them how much house they can afford, plus it gives them estimated line items for all aspects of the project. But the main thing it does is tell us that the prospect is thinking about putting an addition on their home and they are trying to see if they can afford to do it. That’s the perfect time to reach out to them.

You can see the construction budget spreadsheet here on our home page.

Hopefully these tips will help you to generate more business from your architecture website.

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Mike Sweebe is the owner and creative director behind Prime Draft Studio, a New Jersey based architecture firm. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and is also certified with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Mike has 20+ years of experience and has worked on hundreds of successful architecture projects of all types. His work includes new homes, home additions, renovations, retail spaces, restaurants and much more.