05/16/13

How Can an A/E Firm Measure Success with Social Media?

Our CEO has been honored recently to be featured in the PSMJ A/E Marketing Journal. The below piece was featured in the June 2013 edition.

Marketers in all industries are constantly on the hook for ROI. That’s the nature of our job function. When it comes to social media for architects, engineers and contractors however, the calculation of such a financial metric is distorted and difficult at best.

First, you have to assume that your firm can assign a dollar amount to the “investment.” Often marketing staff hours are all dumped into one, large overhead bucket. Given that approach, mixed with the assumption that all social media will cost is time – there isn’t even a great place to start!

A second reason that ROI is difficult to nail down is that the “return” is normally based on leads or closed contracts. To be quite honest, rarely are marketers (to be read as a separate function from BD professionals) given credit for closing a new contract. It is generally much easier to assign the win to the referral, past performance or repeat business column. This is a mistake for a number of reasons but that’s another article altogether!

So, what can we do to measure up and show some sort of success for our time spent cultivating relationships through social media profiles?

1. Define success first!

Every principal is different and many marketing teams aren’t expected to go out and win business on their own. So when it comes to social media, have the conversation up front about what success is in the eyes of your team. It could be leads, email list sign-ups, web traffic, surpassing competitor benchmarks…any number of things.

2. What if success is still defined as closed contracts?

Set realistic expectations and clear parameters on what markets your firm’s social media will focus on. The only way to make an impact and PROVE that you made the impact is by eliminating the confusion on which leads came from which source.

3. More about benchmarks…

When it comes to successful social media, engage and interact with as many target clients as you can. This doesn’t always mean huge numbers though, and unfortunately managers that aren’t connected with social media may not understand why the Facebook page doesn’t have 2,000 likes yet! Benchmarking against some of your competitors can help show if you’re gaining ground with followers and set realistic expectations from management.

4. Seek ways to define your firm’s expertise in the market.

Social media is one of the most effective ways to share your expertise in a non-promotional way and that has a significant tie-in with what conference planners and publishers are looking for. Securing a speaking engagement at a conference of your clients is a huge win. Period.

5. Choose a problem to solve for your clients.

I’ve written about this approach a number of times. If you want to prove that you care about your clients, solve their problems. Investing your time and energy into developing an online resource or community that doesn’t start with your firm’s name is great for your relationships, but it also opens up a number of ways to define success by making a tangible difference in your industry.

I’m always very careful to point out that success is more than just a financial metric. Social media is a communications tool and communications efforts can have a number of goals. It’s important for you and your firm to determine what those goals are before assessing the success of your efforts.

04/22/13

Thinking About Trimming Your Marketing Budget? Five Areas You Shouldn’t Cut

We’ve all heard the news, and it isn’t pretty. Sequestration, furloughs, billions of dollars of budget cuts—across the board, everyone’s trying to scale back and pinch pennies.

In times like these, one of the first places many companies look to cut back is the marketing budget. This logic is flawed. (Yes, I know—we’re a marketing firm, so our perspective is a little biased. But hang on, and hear me out.) No matter how tough going things seems now, eventually things will improve, and the economy will recover. When that happens, clients will spend more freely—and you’ll want to make sure you’ve remained visible to prospective customers.

Also, because belt-tightening times inevitably mean that many businesses do scale back, you have an opportunity to capitalize on your competitors’ absence, putting you at a significant competitive advantage.

So, now that I’ve said my piece on why you shouldn’t cut, here are the ‘whats’: five areas within your marketing budget where you should absolutely not scale back.

1. Your Website: This one’s easy. Your website is your face to the world, and the first stop on any potential client’s list. First impressions are critical. Don’t skimp here.

2. Social Media: Currently, 84% of business-to-business marketers use some form of social media. It’s big, and it’s only going to get bigger. At the risk of sounding dramatic, social media is the future of marketing. Your business needs to be there, and you need to be active. (For more insights on the future of marketing, check out this great article written by Hubspot.)

3. Email Marketing: According to a study conducted by iContact, small and midsized businesses are allocating the largest chunk of their marketing budgets to email. Why? Well, for one, 59% of marketers perceive email to be the most effective channel in generating revenue. This area is a critical component, especially in relation to your company’s social media presence and its mobile marketing efforts. Growing your lists and accurately, effectively segmenting subscribers goes a long way in helping your company deliver targeted messages to the right audience.

4. Mobile: As you’ve likely noticed, everyone has a smart phone these days. Last year, mobile ad spending rose by 62% , reaching $6.4 billion. This area is growing faster than almost any other digital effort. If you want to make sure you’re reaching customers in today’s constantly connected culture, mobile marketing is key.

5. Analytics: It’s all about the numbers. Research shows that spending on marketing analytics is expected to increase 60% by 2015. If you’re not collecting and analyzing the data, you’re not getting the most out of your marketing dollars. And you’re likely missing out on a ton of opportunities.

So, there you have it. Those are our thoughts on how to get the most bang for your buck, even in tough times. What do you think? What areas are on your own not-to-cut list? Let us know in the comments.

By: Bethany Nguyen

03/21/13

You Don’t Always Have to Go Back to the Drawing Board with Your Website

Shhh…don’t tell your designer friends I said this. When it’s time to upgrade your firm’s website, the truth is…you don’t always have to build the whole thing from scratch.

Before the hate-mail starts pouring in from professionals of all disciplines, let me provide a disclaimer and then follow up with some explanation.

Some firms DO need to redo their whole website. Seriously, there are some bad ones out there from a functionality, design and marketing point of view. The rest of this post is not for those firms.

I may be biased, but one of the best aspects of offering marketing services beginning with strategy development and carrying all the way through to execution and monitoring is that we focus on the big picture, not just the completion of a project. We also don’t have a vested interest in providing one service over another – we just want to achieve a goal, your goal, in the most efficient and effective way possible. Depending on your goal, the answer for every problem or new need isn’t always a start-from-scratch rebuild. There are other options, like…

Facelifts – You might be getting tired of the way your site looks. Most A/E firms do after a few years. If your site is built on a sound platform (like WordPress or another CMS), it functions the way you’d like it to, and is performing well with regards to SEO, you might just need to do a “reskin” or fresh design. Depending on how things were built in the first place, a redesign doesn’t have to mean an entire new back-end, and a reskin can literally save you thousands of dollars.

Additions and Renovations – Occasionally websites launch and then after a year or two the team says, “I wish we would have included our Twitter feed.” Another common example for architecture firms or contractors is when the portfolio section misses the mark with dated navigation or poor SEO. Now, it isn’t always seamless for a new vendor to get into existing code and make improvements, but it’s possible. Enhancing an existing site by upgrading interactive features, adding forms or building up valuable content is a definite option when the overall look, feel and functionality of your site are still making you happy.

Repairing the Foundation – A less common option (and perhaps the least popular option among the design community), is the rebuild of a website on a new content management system while keeping the existing design the same. The bottom line is that sometimes sites aren’t built with the admin in mind or the capabilities of the in-house team change. Instead of starting over with fresh information architecture and going through the design process for a website, it can be just a matter of moving from one platform or CMS to another and increasing the admin’s usability. Your website is much more than a visual representation of your brand, and there are times when everything behind the scenes needs an overhaul, but the design still stands.

The takeaway for us is, there are always options! Often, it is in the best interest of your firm to take a clean cut at a website redesign with all the new bells and whistles. But one size doesn’t fit all, and occasionally architecture and engineering firms need a little more flexibility in the approach to web upgrades.

01/04/13

What to do now that your architecture firm is on Houzz

If you work for (or own) a residential architecture firm and you’ve been working hard to flex your social media muscles, you’ve more than likely given Houzz a shot. For those not in the know, Houzz is a social media platform focused entirely on residential design. It’s a great source of inspiration, ideas and dialogue – but one of the best aspects of it is that both professionals AND potential clients are active users. Homeowners looking for ideas, expertise and beautiful photography are very active, right alongside of some of the nation’s best architects, interior designers, contractors and landscape architects.

Of course, the tool is not an overnight rocket to widespread awareness for your firm. Over time though, with consistent interaction, more and more people will find your designs, interact with you and begin sharing your work.

Here are four ways to utilize your Houzz profile:

Use it for project inspiration. The “ideabooks” feature can be really useful from a billable standpoint, all while building your audience. Search through Houzz for ideas and inspiration when you’re looking for design solutions, finish ideas, unique entry ways, whatever.
Provide clients with more visuals. You can actually take this one step farther by using ideabooks FOR your clients. As you’re trying to sell a design or particular finish selection, you can create an ideabook just for that project and share the ideabook with your client to get their feedback and help paint the picture for them.
Interact via discussions. There are plenty of great discussion threads that can build your audience and credibility. Don’t be afraid to answer questions.
Continue to build the photo section. Put as many recent residential projects on there as you can and include descriptions. People search for things all the time and will begin asking you questions about certain products used, etc.

The fallout from an active Houzz presence can also include earned media, which is an added bonus in the social media world. With their own content and editorial team, Houzz actually recognizes popular designs/photos, features them in the blog and gives awards out annually. Increased mentions and attention turn directly into more web traffic and awareness for your firm. As with any successful online or social activity, it’s crucial to monitor and track as much of that success as possible with your web analytics.

Happy Houzzing!