Content Marketing for Architects

Welcome to the BEST content-marketing newsletter aimed at architects and the marketers who serve them.

In each issue, you’ll find insights and tips you can use today. My goal is to reduce the time, effort, and money you put into marketing, so you can boost your visibility, reputation, lead generation, and profitability.

Got suggestions for upcoming issues? Email joel@joelhoekstra.net. Happy reading.

—Joel Hoekstra

Writer & Strategist

www.joelhoekstra.net

3 Ways to Instantly Improve Your Firm’s Website

LEAD WITH YOUR BEST PROJECT PHOTO.

There’s a reason why the top image on a web page is called the hero. It should command attention and inspire confidence. Choose a photo that showcases your firm’s design chops.

DO

• Use a wide-angle shot to provide context.
  

• Include humans if possible.
  

• During a must-win pursuit, consider swapping out the image with a matching project type. You never know when a prospective client might review your site!

DON’T

• Use detail shots, floor plans, or renderings.

CRAFT A CLEAR ABOVE-THE-FOLD HEADLINE.

An effective H1 (if you don’t know the term, ask Dr. Google) is straightforward and succinct: Tell the world what you do and who you do it for. Make sure the H1 is visible “above the fold” (an ol’ timey reference to newspapers) to instantly assure visitors that they’ve landed in the right place.

DO

• Be direct about what you do. (“We design breath-taking hospitality spaces.”)
  

• Confirm your target client. (“We design dazzling interiors for fast-growing hospitality firms.”)
  

• Follow it with a list of beneficial outcomes (i.e. how you save clients time, money, worry, etc.).

DON’T

• Be cute. Or clever. Clarity always wins.

USE FORMATTING TO IMPROVE READABILITY.

Website copy is rarely read carefully—it’s scanned, until we come across the thing we’re looking for. Bullets, boldfaced fonts, and even indents and paragraph returns help break up dense blocks of text and sign-post the contents of a page.

DO

• Use boldface or underlining to highlight “don’t miss” information.
  

• Replace list-y items with bullets or, if ranked or sequential, numbers.
  

• Be consistent in formatting subheads. (Use the same font, face, color, etc.)

DON’T

• Rely heavily on italics. Online, it looks weak and thin.

Expert POVs

Recommended books, podcasts, and videos for content marketing

READ

Get Growing: Get Clients, Grow Faster, and Spend Less Time Selling
by Dean Seddon (Wiley, 2024)

The simple secret to most marketing is focusing on the client’s needs. (So why do most firm websites focus almost exclusively on their own capabilities?) Seddon’s book does a great job emphasizing the centrality of client concerns. Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“The heart of outcome-focused marketing and selling is empathy. To sell outcome you must first understand the problems and desires of your target market. What keeps them up at night? What are their aspirations? Where do they want to be in six months…? Once you gain clarity on these points, you can align your product or service as the ideal tool for the transformation they desire.”

WATCH

Business of Architecture videocast

BIG and Business of Development with Iben Falconer, former head of marketing and business development, Bjarke Ingels Group

Falconer, who has worked at a handful of top design shops, including BIG and SOM, does a great job of explaining the basics of marketing—in a way that architects can understand.

LISTEN

AEC Marketer podcast

The Role a Copywriter Plays in Website Design with Ben Culbreth

Want to understand the value of good writing in educating your clients? This episode checks all the boxes for solid, useful information.

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