ARCHITECTURE MARKETING TRENDS: 5 TENDENCIES TO ADOPT IN 2020

Architecture marketing trends are like some secret knowledge reserved only for the privileged few. Many heard that they exist, but few know what these tendencies are, where they come from, and whether they actually work. 

The truth is that in terms of architecture marketing the word “trends” means approaches that have proven their efficiency. Which makes them vital for every Architect in the times of diverse social media platforms, content formats, advertisement types and algorithms. The architecture marketing trends can help define the formats to use and the channels to be present in. In other words, these tendencies reflect the ways the target audience thinks, show where to look for the prospects and how to attract their attention.

Incorporating trends into a marketing strategy can help avoid losses of the trial and error way. What’s more, a company that does it becomes a forerunner in terms of advertising. Which means that this firm gets the maximum benefits from the novelty value.

We want Architects to find their perfect clients easily. That is why we gathered the most up-to-date and effective measures to implement into the marketing campaign. Though we are an architectural animation studio and cannot help to actually adopt these trends, we surely can assist with reinforcing them using high-quality visual content. So let’s get to know what an Architect should do to win the clients’ hearts in 2020!

Informative SEO-optimized articles in a blog help the firm’s site rank high on Google and catch prospective customers at different stages of the consideration process. The latter means engaging not only hot but warm and cold prospects as well. 

A hot prospect already knows what he needs and is only looking for someone to get the job done — a professional Architect. But, as BusinessForArchitecture informs, hot prospects make up only 3% of the whole audience. Which means it makes sense to turn attention to the rest of the audience and cultivate relationships with them.

With warm prospects, to begin with — who realise they have a problem, but don’t know what the solution is. That is why they search for information related to their issues. For instance, people who want their house remodeled, but still unsure how to do it — on their own or with professional help. Definitely a promising segment which comprises 6% of the audience, according to  BusinessForArchitecture. And, finally, cold prospects — the largest part of the market, 91% of it. They don’t know what they want yet, so they surf through the Internet checking out current trends and looking for inspiration and ideas.

So among all other architecture marketing trends, blogging stands out by its unique power to cater to all these groups. Which means not only to the first and the second ones, which is crucial but to the third one as well. For instance: a person is thinking about changing her house design, but has not made any exact decision about it yet. So, she starts a Google search and stumbles upon an article called “7 most popular apartment layouts” with useful tips and illustrations. The information is helpful, unique and nice to read, so she gets interested. She reads, feels inspired but realises that she cannot do what an expert can. So she wanders to the main page of the site, look up more information and books a consultation. Or, if she just wants to get more information for the moment, she subscribes to the newsletter — a great beginning of the relationship with the brand.

Another important point on our list of architecture marketing trends is sharing customers’ feedback. As Invescpro reports, more than 90% of people check out clients’ reviews before deciding to use the services of a business. Therefore, sharing positive feedback is a surefire way to increase the website conversion from visitors to leads.

It is wise to post as many reviews as possible on the brand’s website and social media pages. However, it is important to watch feedback quality. The reviews should be personalized and highlight the virtues of the architectural agency in question. So besides saying “I really enjoyed working with this firm” the customer also needs to explain what exactly he liked. To guide the customer and elicit the specific answer, an architecture agency should prepare a set of questions.

Video is the most engaging marketing content nowadays. According to Renderforest, the firms that utilize videos attract 66% more qualified leads. What is more, the companies that use this type of content increase their revenue 49% quicker than their competitors who ignore this tendency. This perfectly explains why using video has become one of the most popular architecture marketing trends. Today, the Architects use footage in online channels, like websites and social media, as well as in offline ones, like outdoor advertising screens.

However, architectural companies usually don’t have enough material to create lots of high-quality videos. For it’s tough when most of the construction works are in progress, and many objects are protected by a non-disclosure agreement. Which means that there is almost nothing to shoot.

But it’s not necessary to wait until the construction is finished to film a building. With professional CGI services, it is possible to get photorealistic architecture movies showing the future result of projects that are under construction or even exist only on drawings yet. So, with modern 3D visualization technologies, the firms can use the power of video marketing for architects to full extent.

What do people see when they are trying to choose an architectural agency and googling different companies’ websites? There are web-pages with official information, lists of accomplishments, portfolios and the like. Such information is useful, but people trust people — and modern architecture marketing trends embrace it. So to establish trust with customers, the brands need to show prospects how they live and work.

For this purpose, the architecture agency can share events from its daily routine. These can be meetings, site visits, and more. The firm can show how its specialists work, tell about progress, challenges and successes, maybe even share some funny situations. If the company participates in environmental protection and charity events, this is also worth sharing. It’s a great way to present the corporate values as well as the human side of the team, and to build trust with clients.

It’s essential to use every possibility to talk to prospects in person, online and offline. This helps to build architecture brand awareness and strengthen customer relationship. The Architects can communicate with clients while participating in conferences and exhibitions, running webinars and workshops, taking part in architecture tours, and so on. 

The company can choose appropriate options from the wide variety of local and international events. Or, the brand can go further and host its own thematic happenings of any format — from a short webinar conducted by one professional to a big conference with well-known speakers invited. 

The modern architecture marketing trends are about getting closer to the customers and establish a personal connection with them. To do so, Architects can write blogs, participate in online and offline events, show the architecture agency’s daily working process, and share customer testimonials. Also, the companies should use a lot of high-quality video content in both offline and online channels. 

Want to get topnotch animations for your firm to keep up with the latest architecture marketing trends? Contact our 3D animation company, and we’ll make first-rate vids even for those projects that aren’t built yet.