I have a lot to learn about effective marketing and communications. Yesterday, for example, Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter subscribers received an eletter that, well, didn’t make the grade. There was too much ask, not enough give (of the right kind) and, frankly, I failed to truly communicate my message effectively.
Conversely, I’ve been impressed with the techniques at architectsmarketing.com. There you’ll find some really well-designed Internet marketing, designed to grab you into revenue-generating programs and services. Of course, like most good internet marketing deals, especially for professional service sales, there is plenty of free gives, like the report: The ?Top 10 Places for Architects to Generate New Clients In 2014 ?by Richard Petrie, who describes himself as the “world’s top architect marketing consultant.”
He also asserts his report “cost over $500,000 to write” (elsewhere he asserts the cost was $300,000) ?and adds this remark that reminds us that great leads for professional services arise from a diversity of sources. “I don’t know any one place to get 10 leads a month, but I know ten places to get one lead a month.”
Petrie is working with a couple of other consultants, Eric Bobrow?and Enoch Sears. The group has designed things so that various links and referral points lead to some of the same sites and landing pages.
It’s all quite slick, from an internet marketing perspective.
I’ll respect the copyright, but since the landing for the free report isn’t password protected, have provided a direct link here to save you the marketing bumph and need to disclose your personal information. ?(It wouldn’t hurt you to sign up for their list, if you wish, of course, as the content is indeed really useful.)
What is the number one marketing strategy, then, in Petrie’s opinion?
He calls it “the Monkey’s Fist.”
Here?s how to do it. Instead of marketing your firm, try marketing problem solving information about design, building and renovating that answers the questions and solves the problems of your ideal clients. This will position you as the expert. The key is to only provide this information in return for the prospect?s contact details and permission to send it through ? just like the way you got this report (I practice what I?preach).
This is called lead generation marketing and can transform an architect?s business overnight.
This is a unique strategy.
While everyone else is marketing themselves, you are marketing educational tools and resources that help people get clarity, make decisions and move forward. By building an educational service in front of your architectural service you become one of the ?good guys ?and gals?.
Petrie outlines sis?reasons for the strategy’s effectiveness:
- Who ever educates the market owns the market. Experts educate, sales people sell (we want to be seen as the expert not a salesperson)
- People will willingly give their name and contact details for relevant educational material, typically 10x more than traditional marketing.
- Because we are offering educational materials we capture people earlier in the process when they are doing research. At this early stage they are less likely to be talking with other architects so we have a chance to establish a relationship first.
- Because we are educating we help to shape the buying criteria of what prospects should be looking for in an architect. Done well you would be the only architect in the world who meets the criteria you suggest 🙂
- People who request appointments after they have been through your education and indoctrination process are better quality clients, you have pre-trained them.
- You can automate the education process to a greater or lesser degree.
The report has several additional ideas, worthy of your consideration.
Maybe I’ve shortchanged the consultants’ “squeeze page” by sending you directly to their landing page/report without the proper sign-in. If they ask me to take this post down, I will. I admire their marketing ingenuity, however, and appreciate they really have things much better than I do. So much to learn . . .
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