We are a very small landscape architecture/visualization office looking, like most businesses, to expand our reach.
We have our eyes on several metro areas within about a 150-300 mile radius.
So far, our marketing has consisted of email blasts, approximately quarterly, and of course maintaining our website/online portfolio, social media, etc. We've also advertised in local publications such as the Chamber Magazine and even tried the newspaper. Both print publication brought little to no ROI. Surprisingly, social media has probably garnered the best leads--although most, if not all of the work has been within our immediate area.
Has anyone out there had success with post card type mailers, other forms of advertising?
Our ideal client would be developers, as we would like our focus to be on master planning, site planning, street design, and public spaces. I suppose our second focus would be on smaller municipalities for planning/streetscape design assistance, parks, etc. Alternatively, we would also ideally reach architects and other AEC professionals, though in my experience this typically leads to residential work.
There are, of course, always RFP's and Competitions, but in my experience both of these avenues cater more toward larger, more established practices and are almost always a waste of time without an 'inside line.'
My thought is to get to the RFP level we need to build a stronger private portfolio..perhaps I'm wrong?
There's an old marketing axiom: "People do business with people they know, they like, and they trust."
You probably need to start focusing on ways to actually meet the people you want to serve. Pick one prospective new market to start, begin identifying specific firms (and individuals) in that market that meet your target client profile and then start figuring out ways to get in front of those people with your pitch.
Print media and social media can't replace personal contact - although those mechanisms can provide some limited support in spreading your brand and message.
Right up my alley. Postcards were my secret. You can reach about 100 people for about $100. Mail was my secret; nobody mails anything anymore, but people still get and look at their mail, virtually no competition. Get 100 cards, get some cool stamps (maybe something like this) then mail 5-10 per week. In the following week plan a marketing day and make cold personal calls to each…doesn’t matter if they aren’t there, leave something, then follow up with a phone call for an appointment. Been told that my efforts triggered decisions to see me.
One example of my success…sent a card to a university architect, next week I made a cold visit (2.5 hours away)….when I walked up to the receptionist there was my card laying on her to-file basket, asked for the guy, he came out, we met….landed a $13.8 million dollar library. All of your ideas are solid but nothing lands it like postcards. Quiz is right, got to get face-to-face and this is the most effective and cheapest way to do it.
If you're going to attempt marketing by mail or social media, IMO you have to do more than just distribute some sort of puff piece. Give the recipient some meaningful reason to spend more than a nano-second looking at what you send. Usually that means providing something like a brief, but well written, article describing how you solved a client's problem or a well written essay on some design / construction topic that might be of interest to your target audience.
Years ago, my firm promoted our services by publishing a free quarterly newsletter (which is a LOT of work) in which we'd provide 3-5 short articles that covered meaningful information useful to our primary market. We did this for about 6 years and we came to discover after a time that most of the people on our carefully crafted mailing list actually kept a file containing all of the newsletters they had received -- for reference purposes.
When we eventually decided to stop publication of this promotional piece, we were stunned by the number of telephone calls we got over the next year from people - many of whom were not active clients - asking why they had been dropped from our mailing list and what it would take to get back on. Those calls actually gave us a great opportunity to do some one-on-one marketing - and the caller already was predisposed to think highly of our firm's expertise (else they wouldn't have bothered to call).
File, Carrera, quizzical-- Thank You for the feedback.
I was under the impression that the return on mailers was something like 1-2%, which isn't so great if you're hoping for callbacks, but not bad if I look at as you both describe--a means to get a meeting.
File--We have been doing just what you describe with our social media and email blasts--crafting short stories, observations, interesting facts, etc. I agree and can clearly see that social media posts with a little deeper content gets a much better reach than simply posting up some renderings...
Thanks again for the feedback. I am going to give the mailer idea some further thought...who knows maybe some archinect members will get one..
Larchinect, nobody is going to call you, at least don't plan on it. I used to have a 1/100 rule, for every 100 contacts you make you will get 1 project. "Contact" takes many forms. Look at how many projects you had last year and multiply that by 100 and that's a good place to start on how many contacts you need to make this year.
Admittedly, I'm pretty introverted, but not painfully shy. I think I was holding out hope that the phone would, literally, start ringing off the hook without the need for me to go out and shake more hands so to speak. So much for that..
...thinking a little more about this... How do you convert a 'drop in' meeting to a 'sale?' Do you simply let the conversation evolve organically? Ask specific questions? Tell your own story?
I think I'm a decent conversationalist and dont have a problem with the old "...well, let me know if we can lend some assistance..' type line, but find that that one rarely leads anywhere substantial. Maybe I just need to be patient..
Very shy myself, about killed me to get out there. In later years I hired a gal that had great social skills and I could make the schedule and she'd make me go... took her with me mostly to events... she would work the room and find somebody important then tell them "I want you to meet someone" then come get me... usually hiding in a closet:) This is tough stuff for us architects we're not built for this. Don't discount this idea either, it worked.
Just saw your most recent post.... it is organic... always learned all I could about an individual and company.... read a little about their industry.... easy today with the internet it only takes minutes, hell I used to have to go to the library. Then when you get in it's all about them.... its all about asking them questions.... tell them something you read about their industry and ask them what they think about it.... the object is to try not to say too much at all... it'll come around to you, just wait for it..... hell that university architect talked about is career for an hour (with my help) and I don't think asked me much of anything then said "got a project coming up that you might like (etc.) send your stuff in for an interview", hell I didn't even have a website or a brochure, just a spectacular postcard... why did that happen? Like said it was because he liked me and he liked me because I showed interest in him first. Just remember that was 1 in 100 and I did a lot of 100's.
When you make contact (either through media, by phone or in person) with a prospective client it's incredibly unlikely that person's going to have a project to award at that particular time. If you accept that idea, then what's your real objective?
It's my view that your main objective at every 'touch' is to reinforce your qualifications (and likeability) so that when that client DOES have a project you're one of the architects they absolutely want to consider. This takes a lot of 'touches' plus tremendous organization and persistence. One way to view this is "marketing is a marathon, not a sprint" - it's exceedingly rare to get a new project right out of the blocks, so you have to keep making those touches until they pay off.
Totally. It has been my understanding that consistent contact might even be more important than the content of the communique--the idea being that next time an opportunity arises you're the first person they think of. But sure, it's probably good if you can help them respect and 'like' you too..then they might even 'want' to hook you up...I think it's becoming clear..
Thanks for starting this thread. Winter is the (very) slow time for me & I'm busting my a$$ on marketing, which feels a lot like throwing spaghetti at the ceiling and seeing what sticks.
One thought I've had - but haven't tried yet - is sending handwritten letters (instead of slick postcards). It's more time consuming, but more likely that people will open them. You are planning on doing targeted research on the clients you want to work for anyway, so why not send them a personal letter? If you are doing 10-15 a week, it might be even manageable. You can get nice letterhead and envelope (I'm thinking something that looks more "personal" than "corporate" but it might depend on your target market...) and I like the idea of doing something nice with the stamp(s).
I agree - face to face marketing is incredibly stressful. You might try joining a toastmasters group (basically, a club that practices public speaking) or a BNI group (a club that practices public speaking AND tries to feed business to each other). I've done toastmasters in the past and am currently doing BNI. Heck, even work on going to the free (or cheap) marketing "events" in your city. These are a bit of a waste of time (you meet a lot of financial services creeps and pyramid schemers) but you can get practice with giving your elevator speech and handing out your card.
Remember though, if you do a letter/card, then follow up with a call - with the goal to be setting a meeting with your potential client - then you aren't cold calling. And the goal should be learning about what the client needs (maybe their "pain points") so you can help meet their needs. It's an info session, not the hard sell for a job. The job comes later - after 5 or more contacts.
keep coming w/the ideas. I need them!!
The process I outlined above is one I'm working on. No real success yet.
Very shy myself, about killed me to get out there. In later years I hired a gal that had great social skills and I could make the schedule and she'd make me go... took her with me mostly to events... she would work the room and find somebody important then tell them "I want you to meet someone" then come get me... usually hiding in a closet:) This is tough stuff for us architects we're not built for this. Don't discount this idea either, it worked.
Like the idea of hand written notes, I use executive stationary (7x10) and use note cards (4x6) more... can get some great ones from architect bookstores. They also sell "with complements" cards that you can attach to an article or picture. Don't agree at all that mail doesn't work.... built my whole practice around it... the idea is to do what others don't... the least a postcard campaign can do is get your name out there.... hell of a thing to meet someone and they never heard of your firm. BTW, I sent out 1,000 cards per month, every month, following the idea that whenever they decided they needed an architect I was there when nobody else was... have found my cards pinned to workstations, people said they saved and collected my cards.... have never seen another architects card pinned to someone's wall.
Carrera, could you post an example of one of your cards? Or explain what you put on them? I'd think a lot of glossy cards w/a flashy picture of a building you'd done would just end up in the trash. How to get them to actually look at it and keep it and to even call you?
Gruen - Best not to make something complicated out of it…I used to know, but the average recipient looks for maybe 15 seconds then it might hit the trash, but that’s ok, it did its job. My only main objective was name recognition…ever go to an event and someone asks you what you do…you say “architect”….they say “oh, which firm?”…then you tell them and you get that peculiar look? Well, you don’t want that, ever. What the cards did is show a recognizable building with our name attached and the recipient says to himself “oh, that’s who did that building” – job done. Do that 12 times a year and somebody is going to get it.
Our campaign spanned 8 years, cards went out every month like water torture…if you do 1 or 2 cards a year I wouldn’t expect much. Below is a good example from the midrange of the campaign which changed some over time and included invitations to art showings we put on 4 times a year. Cards were 8 ½ X 6 but if I did it today I’d go larger maybe 6 X 11 and add some color shots to the back. Colors are off (crap scanner) and color shots have yellowed in storage, but they are a solid grayscale/sepia mix. Balthazar Korab was our photographer, knock-out photography is essential. Best place to get cards is Modern Postcard. Remember the 1/100 rule and remember that you’ve got to go get them, but when you do they’ll know who you are.
Thanks so much as usual Carrera. Your insight and willingness to share is much appreciated.
We've written out a plan based on your recommendations. My interpretation:
1. Build a contact list, based on geographic area and client/project types
2. Develop post card mailers, double sided, showcasing a few work samples and introducing our practice.
3. Follow up with calls to set up brief intro meetings--'we would love to have the opportunity to propose...' Be genuinely curious about each clients practice, etc.
i have been thinking we should be able to make around 4-5 meetings in a single day if we keep them fairly brief and simple. I'm thinking our master contact list for this exercise might max at around 100-150 unique contacts, probably would have to meet over a period of weeks, months..
im thinking of doing a few versions of mailers tailored more closely to work they may be most interested in--we do :
1.illustration/3d graphics with a site/landscape bent,
2. landscape architecture ( site design, grading, planting, construction docs, etc),
4. Lastly, we have been doing more and more signage and wayfinding.
The trick to all this is we are trying to reach clients in other states, regions within a drive able distance, say 8 hours max. The idea being we can drive there for meetings occasionally and still offer local knowledge of plants and materials, regional issues.
I'd be curious to hear any thoughts...thanks for the feedback!
Larch, sounds like you've got it, just two thoughts:
Card design - tailoring cards is good but with 100-150 contacts that's going to be hard to do, you have to buy a minimum of 100 cards. I wouldn't be too worried about that, each card could showcase a specialty and even if they don't directly buy that kind of work a 3rd party referral could happen...."I know somebody that does wayfinding....". Sounds like you feel the need to educate people about your capabilities, which is good, but remember that's a direct sell, kinda says "look what I do, hire me".... remember people are nosey... one series we did was just building stats on the back.... square footage, cost, cost per/SF and of course the photography was savable... I think what we did became obvious over time and was a softer sell... we tried to keep them informational about the buildings making what we did indirectly obvious. A guy doesn't go home at night and tell his wife "learned today that Andersen Associates does wayfinding", but he might say "learned today that Andersen Associates did that new entrance at the hospital".
Follow up - phone calls and emails to garner a meeting is good but when somebody doesn't have an immediate need that's a tough sell... telling somebody you want to get together to explain what/who you are is read as self-serving..... there are techniques to overcome that but require special skill & practice. You should try it but you will find it hard to sustain. I prefer the drop-in because it's mentally effortless.... all you're doing is stopping by to say hi... connecting a face to your cards, that's it, don't demand more from it. If you're a chicken like I am this is a low anxiety thing... its just a handshake and smile with an invite to sit and talk sometime.... most of the time they will invite you on the spot. I also actually liked it when they weren't there... ask yourself this, how many owners of landscape architect firms pay personal visits to potential clients? Answer is zero. People are actually impressed (perhaps honored) that you would care enough to do this, remember you're not some kid salesman selling toilet partitions... how often does a person get the chance to meet an architect? When they miss your visit my theory is they feel a little guilty and then when you call and say "sorry I missed you...." I think it increased my chances of an invite. Also to answer Gruen you can do 4-5 drop-ins in a day, or do 4-5 calls in a day, but not meetings, think that's what Larch meant.
Just remember that nobody is doing what you're about to do.... how many postcards will your prospect get from a landscape architect? One. How many personal visits will your prospect get from an owner of a landscape architectural firm? One. Don't tell me when that prospect needs a landscape architect that you are not going to get considered....Just remember the 1/100 and don't expect more, that way you won't give up.... but you will get more.
Ps, we need to remember too that you have a website and your website address on the card is another dynamic.... get Google Analytics to help track who might have visited your site... they don't track names but do track geographic locations.... helps you target.
Every week my mailbox is stuffed with oversize full color postcard advertisements for a variety of home services including real estate sales, roofing, plumbing, HVAC, lawn maintenance, etc. That does not include the ones that are directed at me professionally from contractors and such.
I throw them ALL away immediately without reading them and wish that the PO would charge much higher rates for bulk mail.
Social media is a much better way to market and it is mostly free too, it sounds like you already have some success there which proves the point. Print advertising ONLY helps with brand recognition and is too expensive for most small players, I have tried it several times and never got a return, never tried postcards though. I am head of marketing for a small business and one of my best friends is an independent marketing consultant for several architects and developers and I talk to her a lot about marketing (larchinect, pm me if you want the contact info for her, I think you are nearby?)
miles, junk mail is a form of harassment, don'tcha think?
I see your points on mailers, but like to think Carrera is correct in asserting very few in my field are using that medium. We are also talking about a relatively small contact list, and as suggested earlier, potential ways to 'personalize' the material.
I think it's worth a shot as we are pretty much already doing everything else--website, email blasts (which we monitor and also get pretty good return).
It's interesting to think, considering we are doing so much digitally, a print mailer could serve as a vehicle connecting between the very impersonal digital realm and the ultimate goal--a drop in meeting. That is to say, I think there's a big difference between mass mailers looking to capture 1-2 percent call backs on a list of say 10,000.
Just for fun miles--we pride ourselves on being almost completely paperless in practice. We use Wacom devices to draw, and do almost all of our production in the Adobe suite, cad, and 3d software. I would guesstimate we save hundreds of trees each year being paperless. The trade off of course being that we are burning electricity, mostly fossil fuels--this would be an interesting study. However, in another thread you contended that drawing on paper is better. I wonder how much paper waste the average architecture/la office wastes versus a handful of mailer campaigns? Food for thought... ;)
Social media is powerful & effective, I didn’t have that. The problem today is knowing what people respond to. Example – you can’t get ahold of anybody anymore. If you email, no reply….run into the guy, says “oh, sorry I don’t do email”. Text a guy…”sorry, I don’t do text”….we need a new type of phone book that lists what people are willing to do so we know which method to use to make contact…..finding myself sending all three (email/text/phone) to get a response. Out of the OP’s 150 how could he possibly guess which media to use on each?
Today it takes a variety of things to get noticed, it’s all 1/100. We are not talking about the details of getting work, we are talking about the prerequisite to getting work and that’s name recognition and branding. We are also talking about a method for the OP to get-a-meeting. The OP opened this with a question about postcards and I responded because I had 8 years of success with the method. Sending out a few postcards and saying “nobody called me” isn’t a method and is no measure of experience on the subject, sorry.
Admire Miles despite the fact that the only person Miles admires is himself, but he is among the 99. He probably throws contracts in the trash if he gets them by mail. It’s a numbers thing and not everybody is going to love you, you have to accept 1/100 and manage accordingly.
ps - I find Facebook News Feeds to be harassment; it’s all harassment if you don’t need it.
I'm willing to try anything twice. ;) I figure I've got a few tools in my toolbox. Social, SEO and networking is where I've been, but it's tough to keep it up-I get busy w "work". I want a higher level of clients , $ and projects. So I need something better to meet them.
I hear in my area there's a secret "rich peoples phone book" how the heck do I get ahold of that?
The way I “got out” was by joint venturing, chasing big work with sexy out of town architects that specialized in the building type, surprising how easy it was. Helped initially that I had some inside info/influence to offer locally, but got job types I had no experience with.
Larch, whatever “sold”, we called ourselves whatever the client wanted, and sometimes there was a "buy local” pull to things so it was important that my name be prominent, but I never cared, no marketing benefit during a job and we both shared equally with credit after so long as I mentioned my partners on the monographs….in small print, as time passed that print got smaller and smaller:)
I would also say that I found that the addition of these jobs to my portfolio, even with their name in footnote, never seemed to be a handicap in interviews, it parlayed. How do you figure a guy doing car washes in the 70’s ended up doing a general hospital in the 80’s?
I only found “cheap” in two places 1) when the building was an investment, something on a spreadsheet that had an unrealistic bottom line and 2) where Banks were involved that use crap as comps, and then they get “cheap”. I have also said before that whenever the money for a building is coming from personal earned income, watch out. Best to strive to work for organizations where it isn’t their money.
CC lists are hard to get but lists from a Chamber of Commerce is easy if you belong, same guys, a lot of the names on my postcard list came from there.
cheap - but there's always a way to loosen the strings: pride, greed, arrogance, insecurity, jealousy... tap into those and people will spend way more than otherwise, easy to say at least.
Was talking to a friend about another guy over the weekend, the guy makes about 8 times my salary and loves to tell people about it, he wants to move back to traverse city and has apparently been talking to the "most exclusive builder in town." he was super proud to tell everyone that he's in this guys queue.
I imagine he'll build some something straight out of the Nice Things thread
Feb 25, 15 12:35 am ·
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Marketing Out of Area
We are a very small landscape architecture/visualization office looking, like most businesses, to expand our reach.
We have our eyes on several metro areas within about a 150-300 mile radius.
So far, our marketing has consisted of email blasts, approximately quarterly, and of course maintaining our website/online portfolio, social media, etc. We've also advertised in local publications such as the Chamber Magazine and even tried the newspaper. Both print publication brought little to no ROI. Surprisingly, social media has probably garnered the best leads--although most, if not all of the work has been within our immediate area.
Has anyone out there had success with post card type mailers, other forms of advertising?
Our ideal client would be developers, as we would like our focus to be on master planning, site planning, street design, and public spaces. I suppose our second focus would be on smaller municipalities for planning/streetscape design assistance, parks, etc. Alternatively, we would also ideally reach architects and other AEC professionals, though in my experience this typically leads to residential work.
There are, of course, always RFP's and Competitions, but in my experience both of these avenues cater more toward larger, more established practices and are almost always a waste of time without an 'inside line.'
My thought is to get to the RFP level we need to build a stronger private portfolio..perhaps I'm wrong?
Any feedback or insight is of course welcome.
Thanks!
There's an old marketing axiom: "People do business with people they know, they like, and they trust."
You probably need to start focusing on ways to actually meet the people you want to serve. Pick one prospective new market to start, begin identifying specific firms (and individuals) in that market that meet your target client profile and then start figuring out ways to get in front of those people with your pitch.
Print media and social media can't replace personal contact - although those mechanisms can provide some limited support in spreading your brand and message.
Good luck.
Right up my alley. Postcards were my secret. You can reach about 100 people for about $100. Mail was my secret; nobody mails anything anymore, but people still get and look at their mail, virtually no competition. Get 100 cards, get some cool stamps (maybe something like this) then mail 5-10 per week. In the following week plan a marketing day and make cold personal calls to each…doesn’t matter if they aren’t there, leave something, then follow up with a phone call for an appointment. Been told that my efforts triggered decisions to see me.
One example of my success…sent a card to a university architect, next week I made a cold visit (2.5 hours away)….when I walked up to the receptionist there was my card laying on her to-file basket, asked for the guy, he came out, we met….landed a $13.8 million dollar library. All of your ideas are solid but nothing lands it like postcards. Quiz is right, got to get face-to-face and this is the most effective and cheapest way to do it.
If you're going to attempt marketing by mail or social media, IMO you have to do more than just distribute some sort of puff piece. Give the recipient some meaningful reason to spend more than a nano-second looking at what you send. Usually that means providing something like a brief, but well written, article describing how you solved a client's problem or a well written essay on some design / construction topic that might be of interest to your target audience.
Years ago, my firm promoted our services by publishing a free quarterly newsletter (which is a LOT of work) in which we'd provide 3-5 short articles that covered meaningful information useful to our primary market. We did this for about 6 years and we came to discover after a time that most of the people on our carefully crafted mailing list actually kept a file containing all of the newsletters they had received -- for reference purposes.
When we eventually decided to stop publication of this promotional piece, we were stunned by the number of telephone calls we got over the next year from people - many of whom were not active clients - asking why they had been dropped from our mailing list and what it would take to get back on. Those calls actually gave us a great opportunity to do some one-on-one marketing - and the caller already was predisposed to think highly of our firm's expertise (else they wouldn't have bothered to call).
File, Carrera, quizzical-- Thank You for the feedback.
I was under the impression that the return on mailers was something like 1-2%, which isn't so great if you're hoping for callbacks, but not bad if I look at as you both describe--a means to get a meeting.
File--We have been doing just what you describe with our social media and email blasts--crafting short stories, observations, interesting facts, etc. I agree and can clearly see that social media posts with a little deeper content gets a much better reach than simply posting up some renderings...
Thanks again for the feedback. I am going to give the mailer idea some further thought...who knows maybe some archinect members will get one..
Larchinect, nobody is going to call you, at least don't plan on it. I used to have a 1/100 rule, for every 100 contacts you make you will get 1 project. "Contact" takes many forms. Look at how many projects you had last year and multiply that by 100 and that's a good place to start on how many contacts you need to make this year.
Admittedly, I'm pretty introverted, but not painfully shy. I think I was holding out hope that the phone would, literally, start ringing off the hook without the need for me to go out and shake more hands so to speak. So much for that..
Thanks for the advice..much appreciated.
Carrera--
...thinking a little more about this... How do you convert a 'drop in' meeting to a 'sale?' Do you simply let the conversation evolve organically? Ask specific questions? Tell your own story?
I think I'm a decent conversationalist and dont have a problem with the old "...well, let me know if we can lend some assistance..' type line, but find that that one rarely leads anywhere substantial. Maybe I just need to be patient..
Very shy myself, about killed me to get out there. In later years I hired a gal that had great social skills and I could make the schedule and she'd make me go... took her with me mostly to events... she would work the room and find somebody important then tell them "I want you to meet someone" then come get me... usually hiding in a closet:) This is tough stuff for us architects we're not built for this. Don't discount this idea either, it worked.
Just saw your most recent post.... it is organic... always learned all I could about an individual and company.... read a little about their industry.... easy today with the internet it only takes minutes, hell I used to have to go to the library. Then when you get in it's all about them.... its all about asking them questions.... tell them something you read about their industry and ask them what they think about it.... the object is to try not to say too much at all... it'll come around to you, just wait for it..... hell that university architect talked about is career for an hour (with my help) and I don't think asked me much of anything then said "got a project coming up that you might like (etc.) send your stuff in for an interview", hell I didn't even have a website or a brochure, just a spectacular postcard... why did that happen? Like said it was because he liked me and he liked me because I showed interest in him first. Just remember that was 1 in 100 and I did a lot of 100's.
When you make contact (either through media, by phone or in person) with a prospective client it's incredibly unlikely that person's going to have a project to award at that particular time. If you accept that idea, then what's your real objective?
It's my view that your main objective at every 'touch' is to reinforce your qualifications (and likeability) so that when that client DOES have a project you're one of the architects they absolutely want to consider. This takes a lot of 'touches' plus tremendous organization and persistence. One way to view this is "marketing is a marathon, not a sprint" - it's exceedingly rare to get a new project right out of the blocks, so you have to keep making those touches until they pay off.
Totally. It has been my understanding that consistent contact might even be more important than the content of the communique--the idea being that next time an opportunity arises you're the first person they think of. But sure, it's probably good if you can help them respect and 'like' you too..then they might even 'want' to hook you up...I think it's becoming clear..
Thanks for starting this thread. Winter is the (very) slow time for me & I'm busting my a$$ on marketing, which feels a lot like throwing spaghetti at the ceiling and seeing what sticks.
One thought I've had - but haven't tried yet - is sending handwritten letters (instead of slick postcards). It's more time consuming, but more likely that people will open them. You are planning on doing targeted research on the clients you want to work for anyway, so why not send them a personal letter? If you are doing 10-15 a week, it might be even manageable. You can get nice letterhead and envelope (I'm thinking something that looks more "personal" than "corporate" but it might depend on your target market...) and I like the idea of doing something nice with the stamp(s).
I agree - face to face marketing is incredibly stressful. You might try joining a toastmasters group (basically, a club that practices public speaking) or a BNI group (a club that practices public speaking AND tries to feed business to each other). I've done toastmasters in the past and am currently doing BNI. Heck, even work on going to the free (or cheap) marketing "events" in your city. These are a bit of a waste of time (you meet a lot of financial services creeps and pyramid schemers) but you can get practice with giving your elevator speech and handing out your card.
Remember though, if you do a letter/card, then follow up with a call - with the goal to be setting a meeting with your potential client - then you aren't cold calling. And the goal should be learning about what the client needs (maybe their "pain points") so you can help meet their needs. It's an info session, not the hard sell for a job. The job comes later - after 5 or more contacts.
keep coming w/the ideas. I need them!!
The process I outlined above is one I'm working on. No real success yet.
I've also had no luck with print advertising - ever.
Very shy myself, about killed me to get out there. In later years I hired a gal that had great social skills and I could make the schedule and she'd make me go... took her with me mostly to events... she would work the room and find somebody important then tell them "I want you to meet someone" then come get me... usually hiding in a closet:) This is tough stuff for us architects we're not built for this. Don't discount this idea either, it worked.
Carrera, this is brilliant.
Like the idea of hand written notes, I use executive stationary (7x10) and use note cards (4x6) more... can get some great ones from architect bookstores. They also sell "with complements" cards that you can attach to an article or picture. Don't agree at all that mail doesn't work.... built my whole practice around it... the idea is to do what others don't... the least a postcard campaign can do is get your name out there.... hell of a thing to meet someone and they never heard of your firm. BTW, I sent out 1,000 cards per month, every month, following the idea that whenever they decided they needed an architect I was there when nobody else was... have found my cards pinned to workstations, people said they saved and collected my cards.... have never seen another architects card pinned to someone's wall.
Carrera, could you post an example of one of your cards? Or explain what you put on them? I'd think a lot of glossy cards w/a flashy picture of a building you'd done would just end up in the trash. How to get them to actually look at it and keep it and to even call you?
Gruen-- Ever taken a look at this book?
http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Architects-Designers-Harold-Linton/dp/0393731006
A lot of the stuff in this feel pretty corporate and/or dated, but I refer to it every now and then.
I also like the 'Guerrilla Marketing Handbook'--lots of good ideas and easy to read.
I'd love to see more examples of what others have done, but I wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting to put their work on these boards.
Gruen - Best not to make something complicated out of it…I used to know, but the average recipient looks for maybe 15 seconds then it might hit the trash, but that’s ok, it did its job. My only main objective was name recognition…ever go to an event and someone asks you what you do…you say “architect”….they say “oh, which firm?”…then you tell them and you get that peculiar look? Well, you don’t want that, ever. What the cards did is show a recognizable building with our name attached and the recipient says to himself “oh, that’s who did that building” – job done. Do that 12 times a year and somebody is going to get it.
Our campaign spanned 8 years, cards went out every month like water torture…if you do 1 or 2 cards a year I wouldn’t expect much. Below is a good example from the midrange of the campaign which changed some over time and included invitations to art showings we put on 4 times a year. Cards were 8 ½ X 6 but if I did it today I’d go larger maybe 6 X 11 and add some color shots to the back. Colors are off (crap scanner) and color shots have yellowed in storage, but they are a solid grayscale/sepia mix. Balthazar Korab was our photographer, knock-out photography is essential. Best place to get cards is Modern Postcard. Remember the 1/100 rule and remember that you’ve got to go get them, but when you do they’ll know who you are.
NicE!!! thanks & awesome work too :)
Thanks so much as usual Carrera. Your insight and willingness to share is much appreciated.
We've written out a plan based on your recommendations. My interpretation:
1. Build a contact list, based on geographic area and client/project types
2. Develop post card mailers, double sided, showcasing a few work samples and introducing our practice.
3. Follow up with calls to set up brief intro meetings--'we would love to have the opportunity to propose...' Be genuinely curious about each clients practice, etc.
4. Follow up call or email
5. Repeat step 1--persistence, mailers monthly, bi-monthly.
i have been thinking we should be able to make around 4-5 meetings in a single day if we keep them fairly brief and simple. I'm thinking our master contact list for this exercise might max at around 100-150 unique contacts, probably would have to meet over a period of weeks, months..
im thinking of doing a few versions of mailers tailored more closely to work they may be most interested in--we do :
1.illustration/3d graphics with a site/landscape bent,
2. landscape architecture ( site design, grading, planting, construction docs, etc),
3. planning and visioning (subdivision master planning, streetscape, corridor plans, urban design, massing studies, etc).
4. Lastly, we have been doing more and more signage and wayfinding.
The trick to all this is we are trying to reach clients in other states, regions within a drive able distance, say 8 hours max. The idea being we can drive there for meetings occasionally and still offer local knowledge of plants and materials, regional issues.
I'd be curious to hear any thoughts...thanks for the feedback!
Larch, sounds like you've got it, just two thoughts:
Card design - tailoring cards is good but with 100-150 contacts that's going to be hard to do, you have to buy a minimum of 100 cards. I wouldn't be too worried about that, each card could showcase a specialty and even if they don't directly buy that kind of work a 3rd party referral could happen...."I know somebody that does wayfinding....". Sounds like you feel the need to educate people about your capabilities, which is good, but remember that's a direct sell, kinda says "look what I do, hire me".... remember people are nosey... one series we did was just building stats on the back.... square footage, cost, cost per/SF and of course the photography was savable... I think what we did became obvious over time and was a softer sell... we tried to keep them informational about the buildings making what we did indirectly obvious. A guy doesn't go home at night and tell his wife "learned today that Andersen Associates does wayfinding", but he might say "learned today that Andersen Associates did that new entrance at the hospital".
Follow up - phone calls and emails to garner a meeting is good but when somebody doesn't have an immediate need that's a tough sell... telling somebody you want to get together to explain what/who you are is read as self-serving..... there are techniques to overcome that but require special skill & practice. You should try it but you will find it hard to sustain. I prefer the drop-in because it's mentally effortless.... all you're doing is stopping by to say hi... connecting a face to your cards, that's it, don't demand more from it. If you're a chicken like I am this is a low anxiety thing... its just a handshake and smile with an invite to sit and talk sometime.... most of the time they will invite you on the spot. I also actually liked it when they weren't there... ask yourself this, how many owners of landscape architect firms pay personal visits to potential clients? Answer is zero. People are actually impressed (perhaps honored) that you would care enough to do this, remember you're not some kid salesman selling toilet partitions... how often does a person get the chance to meet an architect? When they miss your visit my theory is they feel a little guilty and then when you call and say "sorry I missed you...." I think it increased my chances of an invite. Also to answer Gruen you can do 4-5 drop-ins in a day, or do 4-5 calls in a day, but not meetings, think that's what Larch meant.
Just remember that nobody is doing what you're about to do.... how many postcards will your prospect get from a landscape architect? One. How many personal visits will your prospect get from an owner of a landscape architectural firm? One. Don't tell me when that prospect needs a landscape architect that you are not going to get considered....Just remember the 1/100 and don't expect more, that way you won't give up.... but you will get more.
Ps, we need to remember too that you have a website and your website address on the card is another dynamic.... get Google Analytics to help track who might have visited your site... they don't track names but do track geographic locations.... helps you target.
Every week my mailbox is stuffed with oversize full color postcard advertisements for a variety of home services including real estate sales, roofing, plumbing, HVAC, lawn maintenance, etc. That does not include the ones that are directed at me professionally from contractors and such.
I throw them ALL away immediately without reading them and wish that the PO would charge much higher rates for bulk mail.
Social media is a much better way to market and it is mostly free too, it sounds like you already have some success there which proves the point. Print advertising ONLY helps with brand recognition and is too expensive for most small players, I have tried it several times and never got a return, never tried postcards though. I am head of marketing for a small business and one of my best friends is an independent marketing consultant for several architects and developers and I talk to her a lot about marketing (larchinect, pm me if you want the contact info for her, I think you are nearby?)
miles, junk mail is a form of harassment, don'tcha think?
... and pollution, deforestation, etc.
I see your points on mailers, but like to think Carrera is correct in asserting very few in my field are using that medium. We are also talking about a relatively small contact list, and as suggested earlier, potential ways to 'personalize' the material.
I think it's worth a shot as we are pretty much already doing everything else--website, email blasts (which we monitor and also get pretty good return).
It's interesting to think, considering we are doing so much digitally, a print mailer could serve as a vehicle connecting between the very impersonal digital realm and the ultimate goal--a drop in meeting. That is to say, I think there's a big difference between mass mailers looking to capture 1-2 percent call backs on a list of say 10,000.
Just for fun miles--we pride ourselves on being almost completely paperless in practice. We use Wacom devices to draw, and do almost all of our production in the Adobe suite, cad, and 3d software. I would guesstimate we save hundreds of trees each year being paperless. The trade off of course being that we are burning electricity, mostly fossil fuels--this would be an interesting study. However, in another thread you contended that drawing on paper is better. I wonder how much paper waste the average architecture/la office wastes versus a handful of mailer campaigns? Food for thought... ;)
Social media is powerful & effective, I didn’t have that. The problem today is knowing what people respond to. Example – you can’t get ahold of anybody anymore. If you email, no reply….run into the guy, says “oh, sorry I don’t do email”. Text a guy…”sorry, I don’t do text”….we need a new type of phone book that lists what people are willing to do so we know which method to use to make contact…..finding myself sending all three (email/text/phone) to get a response. Out of the OP’s 150 how could he possibly guess which media to use on each?
Today it takes a variety of things to get noticed, it’s all 1/100. We are not talking about the details of getting work, we are talking about the prerequisite to getting work and that’s name recognition and branding. We are also talking about a method for the OP to get-a-meeting. The OP opened this with a question about postcards and I responded because I had 8 years of success with the method. Sending out a few postcards and saying “nobody called me” isn’t a method and is no measure of experience on the subject, sorry.
Admire Miles despite the fact that the only person Miles admires is himself, but he is among the 99. He probably throws contracts in the trash if he gets them by mail. It’s a numbers thing and not everybody is going to love you, you have to accept 1/100 and manage accordingly.
ps - I find Facebook News Feeds to be harassment; it’s all harassment if you don’t need it.
I hear in my area there's a secret "rich peoples phone book" how the heck do I get ahold of that?
^^that all sounds very familiar.
Why do I keep reading this as "Making Out of Area?"
The way I “got out” was by joint venturing, chasing big work with sexy out of town architects that specialized in the building type, surprising how easy it was. Helped initially that I had some inside info/influence to offer locally, but got job types I had no experience with.
Carrera, when you 'joint ventured' did you agree on a joint moniker or use both, one firm name?
Why do I keep reading this as "Making Out of Area?"
Wishful thinking?
Larch, whatever “sold”, we called ourselves whatever the client wanted, and sometimes there was a "buy local” pull to things so it was important that my name be prominent, but I never cared, no marketing benefit during a job and we both shared equally with credit after so long as I mentioned my partners on the monographs….in small print, as time passed that print got smaller and smaller:)
I would also say that I found that the addition of these jobs to my portfolio, even with their name in footnote, never seemed to be a handicap in interviews, it parlayed. How do you figure a guy doing car washes in the 70’s ended up doing a general hospital in the 80’s?
gruen: " there's a secret "rich peoples phone book"
In my experience, this generally takes the form of the membership directory(ies) of the best country club(s) in town.
quiz: the downside is that the rich people are cheap (I'm sure miles will confirm)
I only found “cheap” in two places 1) when the building was an investment, something on a spreadsheet that had an unrealistic bottom line and 2) where Banks were involved that use crap as comps, and then they get “cheap”. I have also said before that whenever the money for a building is coming from personal earned income, watch out. Best to strive to work for organizations where it isn’t their money.
CC lists are hard to get but lists from a Chamber of Commerce is easy if you belong, same guys, a lot of the names on my postcard list came from there.
cheep n. The sound a tightwad makes when he walks.
cheap - but there's always a way to loosen the strings: pride, greed, arrogance, insecurity, jealousy... tap into those and people will spend way more than otherwise, easy to say at least.
Was talking to a friend about another guy over the weekend, the guy makes about 8 times my salary and loves to tell people about it, he wants to move back to traverse city and has apparently been talking to the "most exclusive builder in town." he was super proud to tell everyone that he's in this guys queue.
I imagine he'll build some something straight out of the Nice Things thread
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