Jen Grant

Digital Marketing, Blog Post 1,500 Words PROJECT SEO METADATA & CLIENT NOTES TITLE: How Architects Can Elevate Their Bottomline with Branded Storytelling FOCUS KEYWORDS: Storytelling in Architecture Architecture Marketing How to Improve Your Architecture Firm Website How to Market Your Architecture Firm AEC Firm Marketing SEO URL: /architect-marketing-through-storytelling EXTERNAL LINKS: • • • • https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/marketing-for-architects/ https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/inside-the-mind-of-a-creative-architect_o http://greenfieldbelser.com/big-ideas/why-brands-dont-stick-in-professional-service-firms-1 https://medium.com/@marketingmeetup/measuring-the-roi-of-good-corporate-storytelling-is-thisanother-tall-tale-1afcdf06d31a IMAGE LINKS: • https://unsplash.com/photos/S_VbdMTsdiA NOTES TO CLIENT: *REDACTED* J. Grant Page 1 of 6 Digital Marketing, Blog Post 1,500 Words How Architects Can Elevate Their Bottomline with Branded Storytelling Like most professional services providers, architects are marketing-averse. There’s a commonly held belief that if you are actively promoting your services, you are somehow not doing well enough to rely on referrals and word-of-mouth marketing alone Somehow, architecture marketing got a bad rap. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the most brilliant minds in architecture are increasing their ROIs by as much as 500 percent while ensuring their brands, and more importantly, their stories, connect with and occupy top-of-mind share among their customers and prospects. Here’s the deal: as architects, we are designers and creators that use specific methods to realize our craft. However, it’s still a creative process. It’s something the rest of the world recognizes, too. That’s why storytelling works so well for architecture marketing. Let’s take a closer look at what storytelling is within the context of AEC firm marketing: What Is Storytelling for Architecture? J. Grant Page 2 of 6 Digital Marketing, Blog Post 1,500 Words Storytelling for architecture is a narrative that firms can use to communicate a specific message to their target markets and customers. Stories are factual, but the teller may use emotion to elicit an appropriate response to connect with the listener at a deeper level. In marketing, stories also tie back into the central business objectives as well. How Storytelling Works Storytelling is a form of communication that humans have used since the beginning of time. The reason for this is because stores are easily understood by general audiences and acts as a universal way to communicate a point. Further, stories describe passion and stimulate the imagination. In a way, it’s like painting a picture on the canvas of architecture marketing with your words. The truth is that everyone has a story to tell, but it’s the subtleties in the way they say it that can motivate a person at a subconscious level to connect with an AEC firm marketing message. Storytelling comes in the form of: • • • • • • • • • Videos Presentations Blog Posts Bios Webpages Speeches Books Podcasts Newspapers How you can communicate your firm’s brand story is limitless. While it’s difficult to measure the real ROI of your storytelling efforts, you cannot ignore the efficacy of consumer behavior and human psychology. Across every product, service, and industry, one truth remains the same: we want more of the things that make us feel good. Stories can make people feel good. That’s how you make a genuine connection with your audience in a way that’s powerful beyond measure. Now that you know what storytelling is, you can now understand how to market your architecture firm through storytelling on your website. How to Improve Your Architecture Firm Website with Storytelling By now, it’s abundantly clear that storytelling is an excellent way for AEC firms to attach a special meaning to their company’s name or their personal brand. When it comes to your website, you can utilize storytelling in critical areas throughout including your: • individual profile and ‘About Me/Us’ pages J. Grant Page 3 of 6 Digital Marketing, Blog Post 1,500 Words • • • corporate and investor pages company culture descriptions goodwill blogposts You have many options available through your company’s page to incorporate valuable stories that delight and attract new client any time they read your pages. The results and benefits that your company can potentially experience are elevated through storytelling marketing for architects. Here are some quick tips that can help you create the best content marketing story for architects: 1. Relevance Creates Instant Appeal and Rapport A single story doesn’t appeal to every audience member. Nor should anyone expect it to function as such. The biggest takeaway is that your story must be relevant to your audience. Otherwise, it comes off as telling a weird, random tale, which is not the intended purpose, of course. You can determine what is relevant to your audience by conducting the necessary research. 2. Tells Stories Strategically to Reach Your Goals Storytelling is strategic and not a source of goodwill that Millennials made up. It has an approach like no other area of marketing. Your stories must feed into the goals of your business objectives. For example, if you want to build your brand’s social awareness among an audience, maybe your efforts include sending an email to your list explaining why you choose a particular non-profit and what it means to you to support their efforts. 3. Tell Your Story with Your Audience’s Belief System in Mind You want your services to fit into the lifestyles of your audience. Your stories need to elicit the same fit. Taking your customers’ and sales prospects’ belief systems into consideration, you can elevate your performance exponentially. Some people also call this pandering, but if it’s honest and sincere, then there is nothing wrong with this approach overall. For example, if you want to connect with young people, you might tell stories about your life as a young, hopeful architect. So, after deciding how you will incorporate storytelling into your brand, you may want to consider the types of stories you tell. We did the heavy lifting for you and provided a few starter packs below. 3 Types of Stories You Can Tell to Easily Connect with Your Audience Coming up with story ideas is half the battle. For example, if you decide to tell a story about a client project from his or her perspective, you can ask questions about his or her experience during the design process. The point is that you need to dig deep and get at the heart of the matter by gathering information and listening. J. Grant Page 4 of 6 Digital Marketing, Blog Post 1,500 Words However, there are a few frameworks that you can use to tell a story about your firm. Here is a more indepth explanation of them below: The Classic Plot The Classic story framework is akin to a classic tale that you read in school. Only this one is non-fiction. There are common elements through your story that include a hero (presumably you), a nemesis, and a loyal sidekick. It’s the story of your journey through struggle and eventually prevailing in the face of evil. If this sounds a bit dramatic for architecture, you are correct. However, there are ways in which you can draw upon the elements of The Classic to tell a story about a project. Perhaps, you took over a project that was failing in some way, and you offered a creative solution to mitigate your client’s losses. So how is this any different from a typical marketing message? Perhaps in your story, you use empathetic language that gives the reader a bit of insight into who you are as an individual or brand. Letting someone in is a vulnerable act even if only for the sake of marketing your services Data that Tells a Tale Storytelling with data is an exciting and enjoyable approach to the architecture industry. Instead of emotions telling the story, it’s the data that tells the story to elicit the feelings. Mind-bending stuff, huh? Evidence-based success stories and research-driven design offers proof that consumers need to feel comfortable with an architecture firm before buying from them. Data is part of that resolution. Architects can use data storytelling through case studies, long-form blog posts, and emails to communicate with customers directly Dialogues that Give Us a Behind-the-Scenes Look Conversations allow us to take our customers and prospects to a place that isn’t easily seen in plain sight. If you can give your audience a sense that they are ‘eavesdropping’ on your company discussions, it can become a powerful way to connect with your target market. Perhaps you share what happened during a critical meeting or situation that raised a question from an open, raw perspective. You can share your response along with proposed resolutions and the resulting outcome. People love to listen to stories that let them in on a ‘big secret.’ Stories Ideas with Multiple Uses J. Grant Page 5 of 6 Digital Marketing, Blog Post 1,500 Words The preceding examples of storytelling options work well for multiple media sources, whether you are conducting a television interview or posting to social media. You can even prepare one story type beforehand so that you always have one ready to go on the fly. Final Thoughts and Considerations on Storytelling in Architecture Marketing At first blush, it may seem silly that an architecture firm, especially ones with austerity and pride, struggle with the efficacy of storytelling. It’s not anything new. Storytelling is as old as time. People connect with them now as they did in the past. It’s the only thing we can seem to understand as a unified species. If you have a sense that storytelling might work for your AEC firm, trying incorporating some of the techniques described in this article. While it's not a method that every firm wants to use, every firm should want to tell their story in a way that aligns with their overall marketing message. The connection with your audience is too strong to ignore. The idea is to be real and not take yourself too seriously. How you feel about the story you are telling is going to sit beneath the surface, so make sure your thoughts are positive, and your mind is open as you share from your perspective as a fallible, honest human being. J. Grant Page 6 of 6