Mastering Architecture Marketing - Bryon McCartney (S3-16)

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So on today's episode we had Brian McCartney, who's an architect business coach.
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He helps architects grow their firms, attract better clients, and improve visibility without becoming marketers.
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What did you think about today's episode?
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Well, I learned a lot about how to market my business as an engineer.
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Well, I'm not an architect, but it I think a lot of the same things apply.
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Um, but it got me thinking about what what value do you bring to your customer?
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What value do you be bring to your client?
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I mean, what what for example, what do you look for in an architect?
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I've never looked for agony.
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Well, that's fair.
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But uh he was talking about, okay, do you look for, for example, do you hire based on price or other other aspects?
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Like in other words, uh can you really prove and show your value or are you just basing it off of price?
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That was one of the ideas.
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So how to really show what is it that you do for the customer?
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What is it that How are you best helping them in the commercial realm or residential realm?
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what is it that you really do?
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Otherwise, if you can't show that value, then they are gonna just get the cheapest.
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Show the reviews person.
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Pretty much.
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Yeah.
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So those are a few things we talked about.
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Um a lot of fun things.
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So it was a good episode.
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That sounds like awesome awesome.
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So you should check it out.
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This is the Enhanced Podcast.
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I'm Andy.
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This is our producer, Madeline, and let's jump to the intro.
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Welcome to Enhance, an AEC podcast, where we learn the why behind AEC professionals so that you can learn your why.
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Hey Brian, welcome to the Enhanced Podcast.
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Thanks a lot.
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Glad to be here.
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Yeah, same here.
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So um I like to start out with just a a fun opener and I notice you are into uh you're certified in story brand.
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Yeah.
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So uh you know, the the author of Story Brand, um D Donald Miller, he really likes stories of course and different movies and books.
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So w what is your what story resonates with you the most?
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I mean, it might be a book or movie or a personal story.
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Yeah, I think one of the you know, I was asked this question recently and uh I had to think about it a little bit.
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There were a couple of books that I read.
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Around the time that I graduated from college and one of was called The A Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by uh Robert Peersig.
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And I found that book to be really profound and moving.
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Uh it was a story of a a father and son taking a trip together and on their motorcycles and uh it was just written in a very honest and authentic way.
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It was a it was kind of like I don't know.
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I don't know how to describe it.
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It was it was like I hadn't read a story like that in a long time and it just really it really the the story kind of moved me in a in a way and it's always it's always kind of resonate back to that that that uh that book whenever somebody asks me a question about what's your favorite story or you know, that always comes to mind.
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Yeah, awesome.
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Well that's the f second time I've heard that r recommendation.
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I can't remember where I heard it the first time, but it sounds like I need to check that one out.
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I just picked it up.
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I I I saw that they had a uh there's a performance version of it on Audible that I'm I'm looking forward to read over the summer or listen to over the summer.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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Well, um, yeah, thanks for sharing that.
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I mean, I think definitely um, you know, story can help us in our marketing is what I think the thesis of Donald Miller is.
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Yeah.
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Something that's something you do a lot of.
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Um and it I think stories just resonates with everybody in general.
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Um, why do you think that is?
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Well, inherently I think, you know, and and Don talks a lot about this, you know, the story that we're talking about when we're when we're using Story Brand is really the customer's story.
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It's about them.
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And I think you know, like it or not, that's that's the most people really want to know what's in it for them and what are they getting out of it, right?
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Um that's how you get people's attention.
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It's not about propping yourself up and talking about all your accolades, it's about uh figuring out how you're solving their problem.
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Um ultimately a lot of people, you know, we're we're we're animals.
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We're we're you know, we have this need to thrive or or survive, as Don puts it.
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and uh, you know, when we're faced with this a challenge, a problem, you know, whether it's just, you know, improving our status because we want a new we want a new home or we want to buy a certain product.
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Um ultimately we're looking for ways to solve that problem.
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It's it's coded in our genes, you know?
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And so um I think what what's brilliant about story branding in particular is that it's really about just boiling it down to a very simple explanation of how you solve some how you solve your ideal client's problem and then putting them in the center of that.
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so that they feel assured, reassured and and assured that that you're actually going to help them.
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And so, you know, I think that at the heart of it that's what what story really gives us the power to do.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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Yeah, I mean it it's I think when you hit the ha nail on the head, I mean, what's in it for me?
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I mean, we all are busy Yeah.
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There's a lot of noise.
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And so uh if in your primary market that you work with, your primary customer is is architects, is that right?
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Okay.
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So you're helping architects craft their story for their customer.
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Yeah.
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Which I'm sure you've you've I mean it could vary from architect to architect, who that customer is.
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Mm-hmm.
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but why did you select I mean why do you focus select solely on architects over the past your career basically?
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Yeah, it's a good question.
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I get it a lot.
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I my background is in uh primarily in uh consumer products.
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So I started my career uh working in personal care, actually, uh hair care, deodorant.
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I worked for a company that was eventually bought out by Unilever.
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And when I went to Unilever I really was focusing on a broad, broad swath of B2C uh brands like Calvin Klein, Lipton Foods.
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Went from there, went to Switzerland.
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I I uh worked for a company there where our main client was General Motors and and some of the Swiss banks and you know, big, big companies.
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I decided to eventually leave.
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and while I was still in Switzerland, I started my own firm, which eventually became an agency and we We started working with uh my wife had a lot of background, she became my business partner, my wife had a lot of background in industrial uh industrial products, industrial manufacturing, building materials was among them.
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And we we worked for some large global manufacturers and I was frequently visiting job sites where, you know, they're in various stages of completion and construction and so forth and When we came back to the US, we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do and we were circling around construction and building materials and then we met an architect.
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And it was kind of like all the just kind of fell into place.
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and what we realized it you know, and it's kind of like I I'll admit it's a little bit of a post-rationalization.
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We didn't plan it this way, but when we were in Europe, most of and and even today, I mean, most of our travels When we go someplace, we go to a new city, I'm the one that's sitting there.
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Like I'll go and I'll be like, Oh, well, what are the cool buildings designed in the city?
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You know, and we were doing this before we started working with architects and we realized that we're kind of we call ourselves archae geeks.
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Like we really love architecture and we enjoy experiences that involved our architect architecture.
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And it's something we actually sought out well before we saw sought out to work with architects.
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But it was just kinda like all these puzzle pieces just started coming together and things started making a lot more sense.
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And so from there we worked with this one firm.
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We had a great relationship with them.
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We got them a lot of success and it was a great collaboration with them.
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And we just we decided we wanted to do more of that.
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And we happened to be working with a business coach at the time and he was really he was kind of pushing us to f pick a niche anyway.
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And so it was it was you know, it was kinda like all these things just came together all at once and that w that's what got us started.
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Yeah, okay.
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Well, um, so you're a architeek.
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Okay.
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And um Okay.
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Yeah, well, I mean I'm an engineer, so I'm a bit of a geek myself, but and I did have one semester of architecture school, believe it or not.
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Yeah.
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So d I I studied graphic design and and part of my uh curriculum included it didn't include architecture, but we had like this, you know, it was like it was one of those classes where it was called three D and this was well before CAD.
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And uh so it was all about building like three three dimensional models out of you know, popsicle sticks and stuff like that.
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And so uh I I really loved that.
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And I was always I was more inclined to I I liked I liked the two D drawing and sketching and things like that that I did in in uh in in art school, but I also I really liked the stuff that was more you know, more spatial and more physical.
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Um, you know, molding molding clay and things like that.
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So I always kinda gravitated towards that stuff.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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And um do you have any so it sounds like you've traveled a lot with your different businesses or d different interactions and um what are some of the more interesting architecture buildings and things that you've seen?
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Um, some of that stand out to me.
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Um of course uh in London there's the Tate Modern.
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It's it's a old power facility that they turned into uh a modern uh art museum.
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Um and when you walk into it it's got this huge empty hall.
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I mean sometimes they have different exhibitions in there and so forth.
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the one time we went there, um you walk in and it's just this huge turbine hall.
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That's completely gutted, you know, there's no turbines or anything left there.
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And then up on this platform there's this is just really freaky.
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They had this this giant sculpture.
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I mean, it must have been thirty feet high and probably I don't know, I would say like sixty, eighty feet around.
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And it was like something out of alien, you know, it was just kind of like this huge, gigantic spider.
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So I really like I I really like Uh I think spaces that that are adaptive, you know, like they take an old space and turn it into something new.
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When we lived in Switzerland, the apartment that we um lived in for many years was was actually an old foundry for a a uh industrial manufacturing company.
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Um one of the places that I think is my favorite place uh that I would I would definitely like to go back to.
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is way up in the mountains of Switzerland in a in a town called Valls.
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Vols is famous for two things.
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One, it's it's the it's where they produce the mineral water.
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Um so there's there's there's uh thermal baths there as well.
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And there's so there's the Vols Terme.
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The Vols Terme is a uh you know it's it's a spa and and there's a wonderful I think it's a Michelin star restaurant there.
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But that that um that thermal bath, that facility was designed by an architect named Peter Zumtor.
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He's a famous Swiss architect.
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And I would say that it was probably like like one of the best experiences I've ever had.
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because you know, we got to stay there, we was in overnight and all that, but then we we got to experience the baths and you know, have dinner there.
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It was it was just an amazing experience.
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Yeah, that sounds awesome.
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I mean, some of that, uh I've never been to Europe or Switzerland or really uh outside of um the Americas, you know.
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So um so that's really interesting because I mean really some of these b places their history goes way back beyond what the US.
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So to see something like that where it has this old and new and old there is really old.
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Yeah, it can be.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, because we have some of that here, right?
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Like you have a eighteen hundreds or maybe even a fifteen hundreds building, but they have like five hundreds and stuff.
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Yeah, yeah, that was that was um you know, it was really cool to be able to travel.
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I I've been to a hundred and sixty no, over a hundred and seventy uh different cities of across the globe now.
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I I would say probably, you know, when it comes to kind of that that kind of perspective, I think uh China was really, really amazing.
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China and Japan both were really amazing.
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Um especially like in China they have the Forbidden City, which is the old imperial palace.
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And it's it's completely you know, it's completely preserved and you can you can go through and experience it.
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You know, they got the Chinese wall of course.
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But then, you know, you go to it China is like this kind of like you can find everything there because there's a really ancient But then you go to like like the airports are just like, my god, they're just they blow you away.
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You get off the plane, you walk out, and then they're just the scale of everything is so much bigger um than a lot of what we have here.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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Um well that that sounds pretty exciting, Brian.
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I wanna go back to Peter Zoom tour.
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Zim Zim Toy, yeah.
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Zoom tour, um, because I it occurred to me like, okay, he seems to have found you mentioned niche, he seems to have found probably a niche.
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Do you think he has a hard time finding work, by the way?
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No, I d he doesn't.
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Um he I mean he's a world class architect who uh wouldn't have any problem finding work.
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I don't think he probably turns down more work than he yeah, actually gets.
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I think the architects who really struggle, you know, the architects that we work with typically are the smaller firms.
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They're local firms here in the US primarily.
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We have some Costa Rica and Canada we've worked with firms in the UK and and South Africa as well.
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But they're typically firms that the owner either took over the firm or started their firm maybe around 2008 when the economy, you know, kind of collapsed.
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And they've been able to do okay.
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They're the you know, they get some referrals, they get some repeats, but they don't they they don't have any predictability in their business and they they go through this up and down cycle we call you know the cash flow roller coaster basically and um the the problem with a lot of architects is that they're really good at design they're really good at solving problems but they don't know a lot about business they don't know a lot about marketing or sales and unfortunately in the industry historically a lot of the people who mentor an architect, you know, the the firms they work with previously, they seem to hold their cards very close to the vest, right?
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Um they don't give away a lot of their secrets or the you know, a lot of them aren't transparent about what's going on in the business and and so forth.
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And so, you know, these architects, they're very heads down.
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They're trying to do the stuff they love to do, which is the design.
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And business is is kind of like this this I don't know, I call it a necessary evil.
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It's not the thing that they really want to do or focus on.
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It's something they have to do.
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And so they don't know how to deal with that sometimes.
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They don't know the best practices.
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And that's that's where we tend to come in, is to help them get a handle on that and get some systems in place.
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Marketing, ah you know, lead generation.
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Um And and also help them figure out how to how to sell better.
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One of the things I see, one of the big problems I see with a lot of architects, is they give away a lot of free work and expertise just to win because they think that's what's gonna win over the client.
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And a lot of times it's uh it it it really backfires on Hm.
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Yeah, what do you mean by that?
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Like free work?
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Well, I mean, you know, they'll a client'll call them up and, you know, in order to get the project they're trying to s already solve the problem before they've gotten a commitment to work.
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You know, and they we could do this and we could I I had a client, to be honest, uh you know, he's done a complete one eighty on how he approaches things, but when he came to us, you know, he was he was spending a lot of time Going actually going to job sites and going to people's houses and you know, he would start sketching on the spot in the first meeting and we could do this and we could you know and I'm like I'm like, you know, that is that is not how you wanna position yourself, right?
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You you're you're basically becoming an od order taker.
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You're not becoming you're not being you're not positioning yourself as an expert.
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And I said, you know, we have to put some guardrails up.
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And and so he did.
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And you know, there were some other things we did for him, uh around his how he was handling inc inbound inquiries and things like you know the problem was he wasn't he was getting tons of inquiries.
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The year before we met him, he had five hundred inquiries come in, but ninety-five percent of them were not the clients he wanted to work with.
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So he was spending all this time saying no or you know, exploring projects with people who weren't really gonna hire him.
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And so we uh we basically set his website up as a qualification tool and um you know build a funnel, told him to turn off turn off the the phone.
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You know, uh things go to voicemail and the first message they hear is if you have a project, please go to our website.
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And we did that and within the first six months, um, instead of you know having all these inquiries that, you know, were basically him chasing his tail.
00:19:58.894 --> 00:20:09.270
Uh he had solid business opportunities and he went from a five percent conversion to a sixty percent conversion.
00:20:10.212 --> 00:20:12.048
So Yeah.
00:20:12.048 --> 00:20:12.521
Wow.
00:20:12.521 --> 00:20:21.901
That's a good And and he recu and he recovered s uh over two weeks of billable hours at the same time.
00:20:22.823 --> 00:20:26.808
That we you know, we could calculate pretty readily.
00:20:26.808 --> 00:20:30.008
So Yeah, it was huge, huge.
00:20:30.008 --> 00:20:31.435
Turn round for him.
00:20:31.596 --> 00:20:33.988
That sounds like a good success story right there.
00:20:34.749 --> 00:20:40.294
so he's almost on his way to being the next Peter Zumtor right there, right?
00:20:40.990 --> 00:20:48.983
I don't know if he want that, but he he's his main thing is that he he's got a really great story.
00:20:48.983 --> 00:20:51.902
You know, if we're to talk about the story.
00:20:51.922 --> 00:20:53.364
He grew up in a broken home.
00:20:53.364 --> 00:20:55.605
His parents got divorced when he was young.
00:20:55.605 --> 00:21:00.897
And um when he was little Are you talking about Peter or this?
00:21:00.897 --> 00:21:02.909
No, I'm I'm I'm talking about this client.
00:21:02.909 --> 00:21:03.720
Your client, yeah.
00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:05.461
Yeah, his name's Mike.
00:21:05.801 --> 00:21:14.548
And uh so Mike when he was young, he it it it's funny, he you know, he was spending time going between mom and dad.
00:21:15.269 --> 00:21:23.054
And he would spend time as a like, you know, when he was five or six years old, he was dr he was creating floor plans.
00:21:23.594 --> 00:21:24.417
For it.
00:21:24.417 --> 00:21:31.460
Because this was how he was envisioning, you know, like this l this dream home that he wanted to create.
00:21:31.940 --> 00:21:53.625
And so now what he does, and and you know, this is where we we really tapped into that story, is we said, you know, we came up this uh you know, kind of like a a tagline, you know, of uh designing, you know, d d tr uh I haven't trouble remembering it off the top of my head.
00:21:54.008 --> 00:22:05.844
But it was something to the effect of, you know, transforming your house into a home where your family wants to be together or something like something that brings family together, basically.
00:22:05.844 --> 00:22:07.025
And that's really his mission.
00:22:07.025 --> 00:22:08.596
That's really what he focuses on.
00:22:08.596 --> 00:22:18.605
So Yeah, I mean, and that's that's awesome because uh I mean, really one of the things we're trying to do in this show is is reveal those type of stories.
00:22:18.605 --> 00:22:33.343
I mean, we definitely want to help architects with what your vision is and and get some insight into how how we can do that because I mean they can't they can't do what they're trying to do, right?
00:22:33.343 --> 00:22:34.884
Which is what you just described.
00:22:34.884 --> 00:22:43.084
I mean, maybe that maybe their vision's a little different than Mike's, but that's enhancing the world around you, which is the name of the podcast.
00:22:43.084 --> 00:22:46.484
I mean, that's really trying to make make it better for people.
00:22:46.484 --> 00:23:05.803
But if you're trapped, if you're if you're um I forgot the w the thing you described it as, uh, but if you feel trapped, right, with with all this busy work and ninety five percent that that are not going to to jobs, yeah, um, you can't do what your vision is, right?
00:23:05.803 --> 00:23:07.713
So how how do you get out of that?
00:23:07.713 --> 00:23:26.348
Like Yeah, I mean I think you know, I think that's the the I think a lot of architects, you know, they get into the they they start a business or or you know, get into a business in a lot of different ways.
00:23:26.730 --> 00:23:33.826
But I think a lot of them, you know, they think it's just gonna be i i well, let me go back.
00:23:33.826 --> 00:23:35.758
Let me step back a second.
00:23:36.394 --> 00:23:46.196
And if we look at the history of architecture, and and the AIA I think really did a disservice to architects uh a long time ago.
00:23:46.196 --> 00:23:55.380
Back in the 1800s, when they first founded the AIA, one of the bylaws, one of the rules of the AIA was that you could not promote yourself.
00:23:55.380 --> 00:24:05.209
Now, back then, advertising was seen as a low class, unprofessional way to s to sell a service, right?
00:24:05.209 --> 00:24:07.880
So there there was precedent on that.
00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:12.582
But those rules stayed in effect until the eighties.
00:24:12.582 --> 00:24:13.541
Okay.
00:24:13.541 --> 00:24:21.925
Yeah, it took it took a law two lawsuits by the DOJ to stop this practice of the AIA.
00:24:21.925 --> 00:24:32.450
Like it basically if you were if you were promoting or advertising your services, the AIA could could take away your your credentials.
00:24:32.814 --> 00:24:37.938
And so they they finally were forced to stop doing this.
00:24:37.938 --> 00:25:03.414
But if you think about it, the people who are now the firm owners, or or you know, maybe you know, the people who are kind of like my age, you know, fifty to sixty ish, who are firm owners, they studied under those you know, they worked and studied under those architects who came from this mindset of You don't promote yourself.
00:25:03.414 --> 00:25:09.740
Your your reputation is what makes you a great architect and and what brings people.
00:25:09.740 --> 00:25:12.732
But we live in a much different world than we did back then.
00:25:12.732 --> 00:25:16.365
You know, even in the eighties we didn't have the internet.
00:25:16.506 --> 00:25:22.270
The internet came around mid nineties, it really flourished in the two thousands.
00:25:22.270 --> 00:25:45.059
And it's a completely different landscape now to how people search out and and and and seek services and the the architecture industry has typically been behind the curve on on marketing and promotion by about 15 to 20 years in our estimation.
00:25:45.059 --> 00:26:06.074
um And and so you know when I'm when I'm talking to architects who tell me I, you know, we don't we're struggling to get You know, clients, we you know, what I'm typically finding is that they're just not they're just not doing some of these things that we know work.
00:26:06.134 --> 00:26:14.962
You know, having a good web presence, talking about your expertise and your experience through blog articles and social media and email.
00:26:14.962 --> 00:26:18.945
Um, they're just not doing these basic things.
00:26:19.227 --> 00:26:35.801
And they're kind of in this we c we call it You know, the the the waiting mode, they're they're waiting for something to happen instead of actually being proactive and having a plan and a strategy for how they're gonna develop business.
00:26:35.902 --> 00:26:39.593
Now, I'm not saying that all of your business needs to come from online.
00:26:39.593 --> 00:26:46.204
Obviously, if you can get referrals from clients, you should be you should be trying to double down on that.
00:26:46.444 --> 00:27:05.539
But if you have another channel That is bringing you twenty to forty percent of your leads, and those leads are already pretty convinced that they want to work with you because they they've been on your website, they've read your article, they got some emails from you that helped reinforce uh that they can do what they want to do.
00:27:05.539 --> 00:27:08.403
Um, they got value from you.
00:27:08.403 --> 00:27:15.749
Those people are coming to you already sold, already ready to work with you, you know, at least eighty to ninety percent.
00:27:15.945 --> 00:27:20.352
ah You're spending a lot less time convincing and educating them.
00:27:20.962 --> 00:27:23.414
those are pretty easy to turn leads.
00:27:23.414 --> 00:27:33.701
Um, you know, if you can get if you can get a good handful of those in in your business, you're gonna be able to scale and grow and be more profitable.
00:27:33.722 --> 00:27:43.390
And that's really how we we're trying to help our clients as best we can, is is to help them supplement those other things that they're already doing.
00:27:43.509 --> 00:27:43.861
Yeah.
00:27:43.861 --> 00:27:48.529
But it sounds like some architects really aren't doing much at all, especially they're not.
00:27:48.529 --> 00:27:50.842
They're they're literally waiting for the phone to ring.
00:27:50.842 --> 00:27:52.593
We call it hope marketing.
00:27:53.614 --> 00:28:09.884
It it's just like, you know, I'm staring at the phone, waiting for something to happen, you know, and it and you know, I mean to be fair, they're probably out there networking and and trying to meet people and, you know, calling their contractors and their engineers and hey, what's going on?
00:28:09.884 --> 00:28:11.006
What do you hear?
00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:13.320
But they don't have a real strategy.
00:28:13.320 --> 00:28:14.862
And that's w that's where we come in.
00:28:14.862 --> 00:28:18.634
We have a program, we help them implement that program.
00:28:18.634 --> 00:28:22.184
And then, you know, it's not an overnight thing.
00:28:22.184 --> 00:28:24.496
We're not running Google ads.
00:28:25.317 --> 00:28:36.738
but if you're if you're trying to get a one million plus, you know, home that you you know, custom home design, or you you're trying to do uh local commercial work, you know.
00:28:36.738 --> 00:28:40.141
People aren't gonna hire you off a Google ad anyway, right?
00:28:40.141 --> 00:28:47.476
So we wanna we wanna make sure that we're in the places that those people are searching, which is usually starting on Google.
00:28:48.001 --> 00:28:48.702
Yeah.
00:28:48.702 --> 00:28:49.333
Yeah.
00:28:49.333 --> 00:28:53.646
So so get your website fixed, quote unquote.
00:28:53.646 --> 00:29:02.535
Which I mean, w what are some things that you're seeing architects f do wrong or right on their website?
00:29:02.535 --> 00:29:06.049
I mean, it sounds like that's that's step one really, get the website, right?
00:29:06.049 --> 00:29:09.834
Yeah, I mean the website's a really important piece of real estate, right?
00:29:09.834 --> 00:29:13.616
It's really the only real estate that you own on the web.
00:29:13.616 --> 00:29:28.590
You know, a social media platform, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, they can always at any moment they can change their algorithm and your stuff doesn't get seen unless you're paying the the money to, you know, promote it.
00:29:28.590 --> 00:29:37.448
Um you know, You know, uh platforms like House and, you know, all these others are are the same.
00:29:37.448 --> 00:29:41.692
So your your website's really the real estate that you want to own.
00:29:41.952 --> 00:29:54.471
And so I don't know if you know this, but we have tested and analyzed over 10,000 architecture firm websites in the last ten years.
00:29:54.751 --> 00:30:07.359
And so what we consistently see is that most firm websites uh don't have enough content to really rank well in search engines.
00:30:07.691 --> 00:30:09.741
it's a lot of pretty pictures.
00:30:10.041 --> 00:30:13.714
Um most of the content they do have, it's all about them.
00:30:13.714 --> 00:30:21.631
here's our awards, here's our press presentations, here's our portfolio, here's our testimonials.
00:30:21.692 --> 00:30:38.988
And it's really presented in more of a brochure format than ah in a what I would call like a client-focused format where the client is actually seeing how this architect is going to help them get what they want.
00:30:38.988 --> 00:30:44.861
And that's where Storybrand comes in because we we don't want to build a website that's just a bunch of pretty pictures.
00:30:44.861 --> 00:30:50.722
We want to build a website that tells your ideal client, hey, you're in the right place.
00:30:50.722 --> 00:30:54.105
We are the firm that helps you get what you want.
00:30:54.105 --> 00:30:58.596
You want a custom home, you want a you want a great office for your team.
00:30:58.596 --> 00:31:05.289
You know, whatever that is, we're we're, you know, whatever that architect is really good at doing.
00:31:05.377 --> 00:31:18.340
That's the first thing that we're gonna highlight on that website and we're gonna make sure that we're telling the story from the client's per their client's perspective of how that architect is gonna help them get what they want, how they're gonna help.
00:31:19.741 --> 00:31:35.425
So that's that's really where we're seeing the the disconnect when I say like fifteen, twenty years behind, those websites that we see that are those brochure portfolio format websites, they're pretty to look at.
00:31:35.682 --> 00:31:39.368
They're not really engaging the client.
00:31:39.368 --> 00:31:45.759
They're just talking about the architect and and what they d you know, all the great things they they've done.
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:47.432
And nobody really cares.
00:31:49.208 --> 00:31:49.939
Yeah.
00:31:50.422 --> 00:32:04.319
Yeah, I mean w the they might would say, Well, don't don't the c doesn't the customer wanna see my portfolio and see that, you know, I'm a I'm a reputable architect, et cetera.
00:32:04.394 --> 00:32:21.979
Sure, but there's there's a difference between just putting your work on a web page and actually showing, you know, telling a story about how that work helped a a client, how it delivered on a on a dream or a vision.
00:32:21.979 --> 00:32:22.368
Right?
00:32:22.368 --> 00:32:31.061
Uh I just looked at f uh website today and I went to the homepage and there were there was absolutely no text.
00:32:31.061 --> 00:32:32.761
It was just an image.
00:32:32.981 --> 00:32:44.887
And I was like, you know, like, imagine you're the client and you're looking for an architect and you've just looked at, I don't know, five different architecture firm websites that were just pretty pictures.
00:32:44.969 --> 00:32:52.413
Are you going to be able to remember, oh, there was that one picture on that one site that really I really liked.
00:32:52.432 --> 00:33:01.958
Once you've gone through, you know, let's say it's twenty-five to fifty images per website, you know, and you're just clicking through these images.
00:33:02.092 --> 00:33:06.923
You're not really retaining anything because you get what we call portfolio blindness.
00:33:06.923 --> 00:33:08.824
All the images look great.
00:33:08.824 --> 00:33:10.614
They're all professionally photographed.
00:33:10.614 --> 00:33:11.795
They look very similar.
00:33:11.795 --> 00:33:13.805
There's no differentiation.
00:33:13.805 --> 00:33:16.355
And so what is the differentiation in your mind?
00:33:16.355 --> 00:33:23.468
Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna contact a few of these firms and I'm gonna ask them how much it's gonna cost to do what we want to do.
00:33:23.468 --> 00:33:26.669
And so the only differentiation becomes price.
00:33:26.828 --> 00:33:52.788
Now if you're having a website that is talking to the client and saying, hey, here's how we here's our process and here's our team and here's how we've solved the same problem you want to solve for a dozen other clients, that is giving the client an assurance that the money they're going to spend is going to have real value because it's evident from the site.
00:33:53.009 --> 00:33:55.111
Pretty pictures, yeah, great.
00:33:55.111 --> 00:33:58.333
I don't, you know, how much did that pretty picture cost?
00:33:58.333 --> 00:34:13.099
How much did that You know, there's no context and when we don't have that context or that understanding of how those images translate to value for us, the only differentiation is who's the cheapest?
00:34:13.931 --> 00:34:17.815
Yeah, that sounds like a a dead end path right there.
00:34:17.815 --> 00:34:21.108
So how do we It's just a race to the bottom.
00:34:21.108 --> 00:34:30.077
And you know, so that's that's where we really try to educate architects is that and and we hear it all the time.
00:34:30.077 --> 00:34:36.804
Architects will complain to us all the time, oh our clients don't understand the value of what we do.
00:34:37.346 --> 00:34:42.079
And I always push back and I say, Well did you show them?
00:34:43.981 --> 00:34:47.324
Did you tell them what the value is?
00:34:47.505 --> 00:34:52.550
Do they you know, is that evident in how you're presenting yourself?
00:34:52.590 --> 00:34:55.423
And most of the time the answer is no.
00:34:56.757 --> 00:35:04.699
So that that answer, whatever that is, uh they need to start the architect needs to start sharing that.
00:35:04.699 --> 00:35:08.907
So on their on their website, like right there on the home page or Absolutely.
00:35:08.907 --> 00:35:15.721
I mean that's the best place to do it because so here's here's the thing about sharing that kind of content.
00:35:16.681 --> 00:35:22.463
Written content on your website is what Google uses to understand what you do.
00:35:22.463 --> 00:35:35.909
And a lot of that content gets factored into its decision on whether or not to place you at the top of the list when people are searching for information.
00:35:36.097 --> 00:35:43.382
Now one of the other complaints I hear from architects all the time is, well, our clients tend to go to the contractor first.
00:35:44.041 --> 00:35:48.605
Well, yeah, that's because they don't need they don't know that they need an architect.
00:35:49.005 --> 00:35:54.528
And so what we try to do with our clients, so there's so there's three pillars that we work in.
00:35:54.528 --> 00:35:55.768
One is called recognition.
00:35:55.768 --> 00:35:56.949
That's your website.
00:35:56.949 --> 00:36:04.434
That's what your website is set up, what what the content is, the story you're telling, et cetera.
00:36:05.601 --> 00:36:07.213
Number two is reputation.
00:36:07.213 --> 00:36:11.576
Reputation is how you're communicating your expertise and your experience.
00:36:11.576 --> 00:36:19.460
And in our in our experience, that is best done through uh blog articles on your website.
00:36:19.460 --> 00:36:28.436
And now before I go in further about that, just just explain uh the third pillar is is reach.
00:36:28.998 --> 00:36:31.960
Reach translates also into relationships.
00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:39.389
What we're trying to do there is use social media and email, lead generation tools to build relationships.
00:36:39.389 --> 00:36:42.460
So start the relationship before the client calls you.
00:36:42.460 --> 00:36:43.500
Okay?
00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:57.483
Now if we go back to reputation and blog articles, your clients, if you're an architect, your clients are searching for solutions before they know that they need a contractor or they need an architect.
00:36:58.405 --> 00:37:07.675
They're trying to figure out like, hey, our house is I don't know, the the floor the floor plan doesn't work for us or we don't have enough space.
00:37:08.577 --> 00:37:21.152
my client Mike, in in his case, most of his clients are living in homes that are you know, that they're they can't they can't expand the the property.
00:37:21.152 --> 00:37:37.460
They have to either go up or go down and uh or or slightly move out a little bit, you know, so it's usually like adding a floor or maybe adding you know uh an apartment above the garage, things like that.
00:37:37.557 --> 00:37:39.266
Yeah, we like those kind of jobs.
00:37:39.266 --> 00:37:41.710
They they they need structurals on those jobs.
00:37:41.710 --> 00:37:43.851
Exactly, exactly, right?
00:37:43.851 --> 00:37:47.150
They're they're bigger jobs, they're major renovations.
00:37:47.152 --> 00:37:51.793
And so that's what he uh typically specializes in.
00:37:52.213 --> 00:38:07.436
And um so so him being able to communicate his ability to be able to do that and how that family you know, 'cause a lot these families they don't want to move.
00:38:07.436 --> 00:38:10.614
They their kids are in the schools they want to be in.
00:38:10.614 --> 00:38:21.030
Trying to find another property in a dense market like like theirs, they either gotta spend a ton more money or they gotta move out of the neighborhood that they love where the kids have grown up.
00:38:21.030 --> 00:38:24.481
They know all the neighbors, they're hanging out with the neighbor kids, everything like that.
00:38:24.481 --> 00:38:26.121
He w they wanna preserve that.
00:38:26.121 --> 00:38:28.322
They don't wanna they don't wanna move.
00:38:28.344 --> 00:38:29.943
They wanna stay where they are.
00:38:29.943 --> 00:38:34.286
And so he has he has figured out that he has a solution for that.
00:38:34.447 --> 00:38:38.349
And that's you know, he's telling that story.
00:38:38.708 --> 00:38:52.637
And that's what's You know, those people that are looking for those options are are they're searching for those solutions online well before they know they need an architect or or a contractor.
00:38:52.637 --> 00:38:52.976
Right?
00:38:52.976 --> 00:38:54.387
They're trying to figure that out.
00:38:54.387 --> 00:38:59.873
So we have created content on his blog that answers some of those questions.
00:38:59.873 --> 00:39:00.304
Yeah.
00:39:00.304 --> 00:39:03.186
And and brings those people to his website.
00:39:03.989 --> 00:39:07.159
Yeah, it reminds me of the book They Ask You Answer.
00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:08.362
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:39:08.362 --> 00:39:09.655
Marcus Sheridan, yeah.
00:39:09.655 --> 00:39:11.795
So is that is that similar to that?
00:39:11.795 --> 00:39:20.847
I I have read Marcus's book and and we we employ a lot of that in in our uh in in our process, yeah.
00:39:20.989 --> 00:39:24.108
And you know, we've we've kind of adapted it for architects.
00:39:24.108 --> 00:39:34.032
Um a few years ago we actually we we created a set of playing cards, a deck of cards that is actually our guide to blogging for architects.
00:39:34.751 --> 00:39:38.572
It's got, you know, all the all the headlines and things like that.
00:39:39.554 --> 00:40:09.672
and You know, we've kind of we've kind of turned it into a system now where we you know, if we're working with uh a firm and we're working on their their reputation aspect and once we get their website figured out, working on the reputation aspect, uh we have that system kind of we understand that system very well and we usually know what questions to start with uh in in helping them create that kind of content.
00:40:11.237 --> 00:40:26.847
And um so blogging do you feel like that's r I mean that book, you know, for example is probably a decade old, but do you feel like this the blogging is still relevant in twenty twenty six?
00:40:26.847 --> 00:40:28.659
Yeah, I absolut I absolutely do.
00:40:28.659 --> 00:40:29.248
I know it is.
00:40:29.248 --> 00:40:33.980
Um it's the number one way reason how people come to us.
00:40:33.980 --> 00:40:41.021
Oh and and it's it's the number one reason most of our clients are getting consistency in their pipeline.
00:40:41.161 --> 00:40:43.492
It's because they're they have that content.
00:40:43.492 --> 00:40:48.164
Uh you know, most architects aren't doing any of that.
00:40:48.784 --> 00:40:53.804
So, apologize, you might overhear my dog in the background.
00:40:53.804 --> 00:40:56.525
He sounds like he's barking in the other room.
00:40:56.557 --> 00:40:57.557
Apologize.
00:40:58.838 --> 00:41:06.322
But most architects, I would say probably ninety percent of architects are not blogging.
00:41:06.322 --> 00:41:10.105
Or if they are blogging, they're just blogging about themselves.
00:41:11.286 --> 00:41:19.690
here's our new award, here's our new project, here's our new hire, here's the thing that we're doing in the community that makes us look great.
00:41:19.871 --> 00:41:21.021
And that's great stuff.
00:41:21.021 --> 00:41:38.708
I don't I don't say I'm not saying don't publish that, but that That that stuff that is good for social media and because you can tag other people and say, yeah, we worked with this group and you know, y you can get more space for that on social media.
00:41:39.409 --> 00:41:55.342
With blogs, um those those articles, Google is scanning them, AI is scanning them, uh and if they're well written, if they're if they're done in the right way.
00:41:55.820 --> 00:42:02.273
That's gonna move you up in the visibility and and that's gonna bring more traffic to your website.
00:42:02.273 --> 00:42:03.632
It doesn't happen overnight.
00:42:03.632 --> 00:42:10.635
It takes a little while for it to to to you know to track, but it works.
00:42:10.695 --> 00:42:24.692
And and what we find is that the the people who start connecting with those architects through that that content are much more dialed in on working with that architect.
00:42:24.692 --> 00:42:30.052
rather than shopping around because they know that that architect has a solution for them already.
00:42:30.978 --> 00:42:31.557
Yeah.
00:42:31.557 --> 00:42:32.028
Okay.
00:42:32.028 --> 00:42:38.242
So what would be like a you said don't do the awards, don't do that type of thing on a blog.
00:42:38.242 --> 00:42:42.585
May maybe a small percentage, but what are some things we should focus on?
00:42:42.775 --> 00:42:47.719
So there's there's one category we call insider insights.
00:42:47.719 --> 00:42:59.018
So it's it's it's the kind of information that architects know that most people don't know that are the things that can kind of get in the way of the project, right?
00:42:59.018 --> 00:43:04.043
Um so it there's there's the insider insights insights.
00:43:04.043 --> 00:43:06.626
Then there's the pain points.
00:43:06.626 --> 00:43:15.215
So the pain points are the things that the client is kind of going through that they're struggling with that they wanna solve, right?
00:43:15.215 --> 00:43:18.447
Those those those, you know, my house is too small.
00:43:18.447 --> 00:43:25.172
Um, I can't I can't I can't expand my land, I need to go up or down, you know, those kind of questions, right?
00:43:25.172 --> 00:43:34.019
Like how do I or are I you know, I wanna I wanna transfer my home now that my kids are out out of the out of the nest.
00:43:34.019 --> 00:43:42.369
I wanna I wanna redo my home so it it's it's more fitting my lifestyle as I as I get into retirement and my older age, right?
00:43:42.369 --> 00:43:49.612
Um these are the kind of questions that I think uh routinely come up, especially in the residential space.
00:43:49.753 --> 00:43:59.237
In the commercial space, it might be, oh, you know, how do I how do I how do I design a new corporate environment that is gonna help my team be more productive?
00:43:59.237 --> 00:44:01.876
You know, it's it's questions like that.
00:44:01.978 --> 00:44:09.824
So um You know, your your clients are searching for these kind of answers.
00:44:09.824 --> 00:44:13.547
They're trying to figure out like, okay, where do I start with this problem?
00:44:13.608 --> 00:44:28.320
And if you can be the place that they start, if your if your article comes up in search, if AI says, Oh, you know, XYZ architects wrote this article about, you know, about this problem, go check it out.
00:44:28.532 --> 00:44:34.016
if you're getting recommended in that way, it's already feeding authority to you.
00:44:34.661 --> 00:44:39.987
as an expert, as an ex experienced provider, as somebody who can solve this problem.
00:44:39.987 --> 00:44:41.088
And that's what you want.
00:44:41.088 --> 00:44:45.253
You want the you want that re you know, it's it's just like a referral.
00:44:45.313 --> 00:44:47.956
It's that it's the internet referring here now.
00:44:47.956 --> 00:44:48.936
Right?
00:44:49.016 --> 00:44:50.398
It's the same thing.
00:44:50.641 --> 00:45:02.289
And the like AI with these blogs and things, is that impacting it in terms of the way that is that impacting the search function?
00:45:02.690 --> 00:45:03.369
Yeah, it is.
00:45:03.369 --> 00:45:08.193
I mean, you know, a lot of people are using AI to find information now.
00:45:08.554 --> 00:45:15.637
And obviously you want to be you want AI to recommend you just like you would want Google to recommend you.
00:45:16.099 --> 00:45:25.105
Um, but the way to do that, Google just published the paper the other day and it kinda told it kind of reinforced what I already knew.
00:45:25.105 --> 00:45:27.126
Good content is good content.
00:45:27.126 --> 00:45:32.360
And AI likes good content just like Google and SEO likes good content.
00:45:32.637 --> 00:45:44.364
So if you're providing good content that people find valuable and they're spending time reading your articles, AI and Google are seeing that, they're tracking that.
00:45:44.364 --> 00:45:54.027
And it's the same kind of content we've all we've all been, you know, Marcus and everybody else has been telling us for years, you need this kind of content on your website.
00:45:54.547 --> 00:45:58.599
Um, it's the kind of content that's gonna bring you the kind of clients you want.
00:45:58.860 --> 00:45:59.630
Yeah.
00:45:59.630 --> 00:46:00.722
Yeah.
00:46:01.653 --> 00:46:02.135
okay.
00:46:02.135 --> 00:46:08.262
So we need to start blogging, we need to get our website going, and we gotta follow these three R's, these three pillars.
00:46:08.262 --> 00:46:14.552
Um and then and then after that the reach piece, which is r you know relationship and reach.
00:46:14.552 --> 00:46:16.311
How does that part work?
00:46:16.311 --> 00:46:26.650
So so when somebody comes to your website when they when they uh you know, find your article, you want a way to capture their information.
00:46:26.650 --> 00:46:29.192
We call this a lead magnet.
00:46:29.253 --> 00:46:46.465
A lead magnet is basically it's a it's either a digital download, it could be a quiz, it could be uh any kind of resource that your ideal client would find valuable and would be willing to exchange their name and their email to get.
00:46:46.722 --> 00:46:48.943
Very simple transaction.
00:46:48.983 --> 00:46:52.085
So it doesn't have to be something that costs you a lot.
00:46:52.085 --> 00:46:59.400
It just has to be enough information that the client is going to go, wow, that's that's something that would help me right now.
00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:01.972
Could be like a project planning pack.
00:47:02.032 --> 00:47:16.021
Uh we just did a style guide for an architect who you know, she gets a lot of question about like, oh, I want to transform my house into XYZ or, you know, so so we created a style guide for her.
00:47:17.490 --> 00:47:32.661
for others, like for a corporate client, you know, it might be maybe an assessment, like you know, hey, we need to add you know, ten people to our our team over the next year.
00:47:33.362 --> 00:47:39.706
how's that gonna affect our floor plan and so forth, you know, kind of almost like a test fit type of thing, right?
00:47:39.706 --> 00:47:42.128
With today with AI, anything's possible.
00:47:42.128 --> 00:47:45.000
But you wanna be able to capture their information.
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:59.918
Once you have their email, then you start sending them emails that reinforce your expertise and your experience and show them that you can solve the problems that they want to solve.
00:47:59.918 --> 00:48:12.905
So it's it's a very time tested simple process of just giving them something of value, getting their email, being able to deliver additional value to them.
00:48:13.099 --> 00:48:16.773
without solving anything, you're not trying to solve all their problems.
00:48:16.773 --> 00:48:21.556
You're just trying to help reassure them that you're able to solve them.
00:48:21.635 --> 00:48:48.876
And so you know the the goal you know we know with uh talking to a lot of our clients architecture firm clients typically take anywhere from, you know, I mean yeah it's possible it could be a two week thing, but usually they're taking they're they're They're going and shopping architects six, twelve, eighteen months before they ever start a project.
00:48:48.896 --> 00:48:57.800
So you don't want them to forget you when they finally make a dis decision to move forward and they have their financing in place and everything else.
00:48:57.900 --> 00:49:02.791
What you wanna do is you wanna ca stay top of mind and email is the best way to do that.
00:49:03.371 --> 00:49:04.722
Yeah, okay.
00:49:07.186 --> 00:49:13.661
now does that email does that need to be um like just a repeat of the blog or is that different content?
00:49:13.661 --> 00:49:24.505
It it typically we'll go in, you know, we'll take that topic or we'll take, you know, we'll we'll we'll either talk, you know, we call it a drip sequence, right?
00:49:24.527 --> 00:49:29.449
So what we're doing is we're feeding the client information on a periodic basis.
00:49:29.449 --> 00:49:31.849
Not every day, not every week.
00:49:31.849 --> 00:49:42.753
Typically with most of our clients we're we we might have a a sequence that is like maybe a two or three week sequence, like maybe four or five emails over two or three weeks.
00:49:42.956 --> 00:49:59.440
as an initial thing, but then we put them into the newsletter the newsletter system and usually that is either every other month or maybe every quarter where we're sending out an email that is like, hey, we just wrote this new blog.
00:49:59.440 --> 00:50:03.204
And so we're bringing them back to the website to get more value.
00:50:03.204 --> 00:50:08.768
And then maybe dropping a new value nugget as well in the email that they can't get on the website.
00:50:08.768 --> 00:50:09.068
Right.
00:50:09.068 --> 00:50:19.820
Like, oh And and a lot of times it'll be like a case study where we're pointing out like, hey, we had this great solution for this client and this is how we solve that particular problem for them.
00:50:19.820 --> 00:50:22.581
Um, you know, things like that.
00:50:22.581 --> 00:50:28.985
We you know, it's gotta be relevant and timely for for what they're what's currently going on in the firm.
00:50:29.266 --> 00:50:35.360
But um yeah, it's it's about reinforcing that, hey, we're here, we're ready for to help you.
00:50:35.360 --> 00:50:38.884
All you gotta do is give us a call or, you know, contact us.
00:50:38.884 --> 00:50:39.393
Right.
00:50:39.393 --> 00:50:40.233
Yeah.
00:50:40.233 --> 00:50:47.086
And of course I'm thinking uh about myself as we're talking because I'm an engineer, Brian.
00:50:47.086 --> 00:50:49.117
Um and this is an AEC podcast.
00:50:49.117 --> 00:50:55.940
We have engineers, architects, architects, and of course people listening over the fence, but looking over the fence.
00:50:55.940 --> 00:51:00.547
But the the point is, I mean, can engineers benefit from this Absolutely.
00:51:00.547 --> 00:51:02.320
Uh absolutely.
00:51:02.320 --> 00:51:04.731
I mean, you know, it is a little bit different for engineers.
00:51:04.731 --> 00:51:17.742
I mean you're you're not typically uh most engineers aren't typically working directly with, you know, some of the clients that architects might, but um but if you think about it, you know, th who are your clients, right?
00:51:17.742 --> 00:51:20.523
Like who are your clients, Andy?
00:51:20.523 --> 00:51:27.579
Well, our our main one is architects, which is why, you know, we we're trying to provide value to them through the people like yourself.
00:51:27.579 --> 00:51:30.262
You're you're providing value to our our clients, right?
00:51:30.262 --> 00:51:36.456
you're so you're doing this podcast and it's going out to architects and engineers and construction people, right?
00:51:36.456 --> 00:51:37.177
Yeah.
00:51:37.177 --> 00:51:39.998
So you're you're doing exactly what we're talking about.
00:51:39.998 --> 00:51:41.829
You're providing value.
00:51:41.989 --> 00:51:42.831
Right.
00:51:42.831 --> 00:51:52.858
People are seeing you as somebody who provides value, who's like bringing these guests on, like me and others, you know, talk about these things that that are helpful, right?
00:51:52.858 --> 00:51:57.621
So so then, you know, we just did this night's uh podcast here.
00:51:57.621 --> 00:51:59.922
What I would be doing after this.
00:52:00.179 --> 00:52:08.733
and if you send me a recording, I'll give you I'll I'll be happy to provide you an example, but I'm gonna turn that this discussion into more value.
00:52:08.733 --> 00:52:10.652
I'll use AI to help me.
00:52:10.652 --> 00:52:19.695
Hey, how can I how can I utilize this in my I have a new LinkedIn newsletter that I I do every week that that is targeting architects.
00:52:19.695 --> 00:52:25.547
Um I'll probably use some of the things that we discussed on this call for that.
00:52:25.547 --> 00:52:26.097
for that.
00:52:26.097 --> 00:52:30.840
it'll probably generate maybe maybe one or two different articles uh over the next few months.
00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:40.184
Um I might also take it and say, well, how can I turn this into a blog article or some social media posts as well?
00:52:40.644 --> 00:52:48.827
So you know it's not that we wanna it's not that we want to create a bunch of new work that we can't keep up with.
00:52:48.827 --> 00:52:53.300
It's what we want to do is we want to be efficient with the work that we are doing.
00:52:53.420 --> 00:53:18.581
And so once we get to that reputation stage where we're producing those articles, then we're looking at like, well, how can we take that and repurpose it into other material like social media, like email, like lead magnets, uh, and your or new web pages on the website and and multiply the value of the value that we're providing, if that makes sense.
00:53:18.710 --> 00:53:19.349
No, it does.
00:53:19.349 --> 00:53:20.610
It does make sense.
00:53:20.610 --> 00:53:33.478
Um but I'm as I'm listening, I'm pro I'm I'm on behalf of of our listener, I'm I'm thinking, uh, you know, this all sounds great.
00:53:33.478 --> 00:53:42.893
Yeah you know, like I'm gonna get through the three R's, we're gonna do blogs, we're gonna get like we're gonna go from f ten percent to sixty percent and life is good.
00:53:42.893 --> 00:53:45.485
But is it can it really work?
00:53:45.485 --> 00:53:47.585
A is it really worth it?
00:53:47.693 --> 00:53:47.974
Mm.
00:53:47.974 --> 00:53:49.887
And how do I make time to do that?
00:53:49.887 --> 00:53:53.391
I mean, that's three questions for you, but it it's this all kinda goes together.
00:53:53.391 --> 00:53:59.150
So can you help me get past that impediment a little bit?
00:53:59.150 --> 00:54:14.960
I mean Here's what here's what I'll tell you is that, you know, a lot of our clients that come to us and they say, you know, there's always a hesitation, like, you know, this is money I'm spending, I wanna I wanna get a return on my investment.
00:54:15.079 --> 00:54:17.581
As I said, it's not an overnight thing.
00:54:17.581 --> 00:54:26.367
You know, you're not what we're doing is we're building systems and habits that have long-term returns.
00:54:26.708 --> 00:54:37.106
A blog article that is ranking well in search and in AI is going to have long term value.
00:54:37.226 --> 00:54:44.009
Now you can go out and you can hire somebody to do some Google ads or some Facebook ads and probably get a lot of leads.
00:54:44.389 --> 00:54:46.451
They might not all be great leads.
00:54:46.451 --> 00:54:56.016
They might be a lot of tire kickers and people who just saw your thing and decided to click on it and thought, Yeah, I had this dream, but I you know, I have no money and I don't know what to do.
00:54:56.362 --> 00:54:58.257
I listen, I've heard worse.
00:54:58.257 --> 00:55:00.762
And um But it's realistic, right?
00:55:00.762 --> 00:55:07.527
You know, these or you can have content that's actually going to have a lifetime value.
00:55:07.527 --> 00:55:11.420
When you when those when you stop paying for those ads, they stop.
00:55:11.420 --> 00:55:13.331
They don't work anymore.
00:55:13.371 --> 00:55:20.817
When you create good content that is getting uh in search, typically has longevity.
00:55:20.817 --> 00:55:29.130
Number one, because there's not a lot of competition, and not a lot of your other architects and engineers are actually blogging in that way, right?
00:55:29.130 --> 00:55:36.396
So you're you're creating you're creating space in a landscape that is pretty empty already.
00:55:36.396 --> 00:55:39.358
So you become a sole player, right?
00:55:39.358 --> 00:55:44.103
You get to own a piece of real estate that other people aren't really even competing for.
00:55:44.103 --> 00:55:46.083
And it's free real estate still.
00:55:46.083 --> 00:55:54.251
I mean, I know blogging might seem like it's an old old thing for a lot of people, but it's it's really not because a lot of people aren't doing it.
00:55:54.251 --> 00:55:56.932
And if they are doing it, they're not doing it well.
00:55:57.313 --> 00:56:06.938
So The return I think comes in the consistency and developing the habits and doing them on a consistent basis.
00:56:06.998 --> 00:56:19.766
Finding time of with for it, that's certainly a concern and and and that's where a company like us can help, because we fill a gap that, you know, you may not fill otherwise.
00:56:19.806 --> 00:56:20.286
Right?
00:56:20.286 --> 00:56:29.791
If you if you're a busy architect, you don't have a lot of time to write articles, you don't have a lot of time to you know, design social media posts or emails.
00:56:29.791 --> 00:56:37.753
Um so hiring somebody like us can help you to do those things.
00:56:37.753 --> 00:56:53.427
Um and we have developed because we've worked with architects for a long time, we've developed the knowledge, we've developed the expertise, the the systems to help us write write content and develop content that is in the architect's voice.
00:56:53.427 --> 00:56:56.737
It sounds like them, it's presenting them in a good light.
00:56:57.050 --> 00:56:59.195
And uh and it works.
00:57:00.701 --> 00:57:07.628
I forget the third question you asked, but that's I I think I kinda Basically trying to get over the impediment.
00:57:07.628 --> 00:57:15.851
So yeah triple triple I think the impediment often comes with, you know, there's there's a f maybe a couple there.
00:57:15.851 --> 00:57:22.246
And one thing is like, you know, just the the newness of thinking this way, right?
00:57:22.246 --> 00:57:31.315
Um and I and I I what I often challenge people is, you know, well, is what you're currently doing working?
00:57:31.896 --> 00:57:38.793
And if it's not You know, maybe it's worth trying something different.
00:57:38.793 --> 00:57:39.592
Fair.
00:57:39.592 --> 00:57:40.353
You know?
00:57:40.353 --> 00:57:48.809
Um, I just wrote an article on LinkedIn called the explore or it's called verse uh explore versus exploit.
00:57:48.809 --> 00:57:49.280
Yeah.
00:57:49.280 --> 00:58:04.929
So there's this there's this I don't know if it's a theory or a a whatever it is, but so you can either explore new things or you can exploit things that you're doing well already.
00:58:04.929 --> 00:58:05.530
Right.
00:58:05.530 --> 00:58:07.351
Or you can do a combination.
00:58:08.711 --> 00:58:13.173
So when you want to exploit is when things are working really well.
00:58:13.173 --> 00:58:24.898
So if you are getting a lot of referrals and a lot of repeat business and you don't have any trouble with cash flow and everything's working really well, no, you don't want to explore.
00:58:24.898 --> 00:58:30.581
You don't want to try something new because that's going to throw a wrench in what you're doing well.
00:58:30.581 --> 00:58:32.061
And we don't want that.
00:58:32.568 --> 00:58:45.302
But if you're if you're in a situation where you've been exploiting those referrals and repeats and and and and so forth, and it's not getting you the result you want, that's when you want to start to explore.
00:58:45.302 --> 00:58:50.313
That's when you want to look at new things and say, Well, what could we do differently?
00:58:50.313 --> 00:58:54.764
What could work better for us than what we're currently doing?
00:58:54.844 --> 00:59:02.365
And that's that's where a lot of architects come to us, is because they they have tried to exploit their referral.
00:59:02.365 --> 00:59:04.347
and neurore repeats and everything else.
00:59:04.347 --> 00:59:05.768
And it hasn't been working.
00:59:05.768 --> 00:59:11.452
um And so they come to us because they want to try something new.
00:59:11.452 --> 00:59:27.675
And, you know, they've either heard good things about us or, you know, they found us online and looked at some of our case studies and and you know the results that we get for clients and then and decided that, hey, it is try it's it is time to do something new.
00:59:27.820 --> 00:59:33.494
They they hit a pain point and they wanted they wanted some ad bill so they could exactly, exactly.
00:59:33.494 --> 00:59:36.981
And that's we are the archite architecture.
00:59:36.992 --> 00:59:40.423
Now yeah, yeah, I mean it it sounds like it.
00:59:40.423 --> 00:59:55.510
And um and I mean also marketing is getting new work, but also I mean like you know, especially with social media, I mean, if you are able to be out there and I and have a presence, do you 'cause recruiting, I mean, once you get work, guess what?
00:59:55.510 --> 00:59:57.981
You gotta you gotta get the work done, right?
00:59:57.981 --> 01:00:02.153
And how are you gonna bring new people in if you don't have a presence, right?
01:00:02.284 --> 01:00:09.277
Yeah, and that's where I think the the brochure websites actually really work against you.
01:00:09.717 --> 01:00:20.240
Because we you know uh everybody I talk to who is trying to hire somebody is that's a huge pa pain point.
01:00:20.722 --> 01:00:31.123
And when I look at their websites and I just see pretty pictures and I'm and I'm looking at their social media and I just see, you know, pretty pictures.
01:00:31.123 --> 01:00:35.597
I I'm not getting a sense of who am I working with here?
01:00:35.996 --> 01:00:38.579
What's it gonna be like to be in this firm?
01:00:38.579 --> 01:00:47.925
One of our first clients, uh, an architect down in in uh in Florida, that's exactly why he hired us.
01:00:47.925 --> 01:00:56.201
He was really struggling, he was he needed to grow, he needed the new hires, and he didn't even have a website when he met us.
01:00:56.201 --> 01:01:14.860
He was like he had hired this company and they I don't know what deal was but they they didn't deliver on what he needed and uh so he's like in this limbo and you would go to his website and it just said under construction it was like It was horrible.
01:01:14.860 --> 01:01:16.268
It was really bad.
01:01:17.215 --> 01:01:32.244
And so we helped him build a new website and the whole purpose of that website was so that he could go to job fairs and you know, he had a local design school near a couple design I think it was AF FAU or uh one of those.
01:01:32.244 --> 01:01:38.777
And they would have a regular, you know, design or job fair.
01:01:39.793 --> 01:01:47.077
And he could go to there and he could say, Y yeah, here's my business card, here's my you know, go check out our website.
01:01:47.159 --> 01:01:53.242
And instead of just showing pretty pictures, we actually talked about what it was like to work there.
01:01:53.242 --> 01:01:55.463
We showed people working there.
01:01:55.463 --> 01:01:58.889
God forbid you do that on your architecture firm website, you know.
01:01:58.889 --> 01:02:03.619
I I see so many firm websites where you don't know who's w other than the principal.
01:02:03.619 --> 01:02:05.849
You don't know if anybody else works there.
01:02:06.650 --> 01:02:16.217
And you know, I've heard every excuse in the book, like, well, we don't want people poaching our team and you know, hey, if you're doing things right, you're not gonna get poached, you know.
01:02:16.217 --> 01:02:19.239
That's that's the that's the real story there.
01:02:19.239 --> 01:02:22.641
Um Exactly.
01:02:22.641 --> 01:02:40.936
So but if you're showing people what it's like to work for you and and that it can be a fun place where you're gonna learn a lot and you're gonna have a great experience, you're not gonna have a hard time getting people to to to get convinced that they should work with you.
01:02:41.014 --> 01:02:44.967
Yeah, so that's another re reason to to improve your website and improve your brand.
01:02:44.967 --> 01:02:52.144
Um so uh Brian, just a couple more questions and then I can let you get to your day.
01:02:52.144 --> 01:03:03.474
But I I wanted to think about we we've really talked about this type archetypical archetype architect.
01:03:05.538 --> 01:03:06.282
Yeah.
01:03:06.282 --> 01:03:12.847
That is, you know, the 2008 scenario, you know, more of a a seasoned architect situation.
01:03:12.847 --> 01:03:19.893
Anyway, the point is maybe a younger architect that's just starting out, or or maybe somebody that in any way, somebody who's just starting out.
01:03:19.893 --> 01:03:20.242
Yeah.
01:03:20.242 --> 01:03:26.498
Um, so a fresh start type mentality, instead of just um a renovation of a company.
01:03:26.498 --> 01:03:31.581
Is there any any um different advice or any advice you would give to somebody like that?
01:03:31.704 --> 01:03:48.978
So yeah, i I mean I think when you're starting out your priorities might be a little bit different than somebody who's a little bit more established and you know is is is trying to figure out from how to get from where we're at to where we wanna be.
01:03:49.179 --> 01:04:04.844
When you're starting out, I the one of the things that I I talk to a lot about with with architects who are just starting out is really Try to try to grow your network as much as possible.
01:04:04.844 --> 01:04:07.284
You know, your network of partners.
01:04:08.447 --> 01:04:15.351
make sure that you're telling everybody you know, your family members, your friends, you know, that you have a firm.
01:04:15.351 --> 01:04:27.139
Make sure, you know, that that your one thing you want to make sure that you do when you're starting out is get very clear about who is your ideal client.
01:04:27.398 --> 01:04:27.849
Right?
01:04:27.849 --> 01:04:31.742
Because what's the number one thing people ask you when you go to a network event?
01:04:31.777 --> 01:04:34.320
Well, who's a g who do you want to meet, right?
01:04:34.320 --> 01:04:36.871
Who who is it that you need to meet?
01:04:36.871 --> 01:04:38.652
Well, you gotta be clear about that.
01:04:38.652 --> 01:04:43.784
If you're just like, oh, anybody who wants needs an architect, well nobody needs an architect.
01:04:43.784 --> 01:04:48.067
We're talking about one percent of the population needs an architect, right?
01:04:48.367 --> 01:04:57.413
What we wanna do is we wanna get into the habit of telling people who we work with and how we help them, right?
01:04:57.413 --> 01:05:09.512
So, you know, like just you go to a networking event and say, I'm an architect, it's like you know, you could just substitute financial advisor or you know, accountant.
01:05:10.375 --> 01:05:12.195
Nobody cares, right?
01:05:12.195 --> 01:05:37.092
But if you say something like, Well, I help uh I help growing families redesign their or renovate their homes so their families can have more quality time together or so they can entertain more or whatever it might be, that's a completely different story than uh I'm an architect.
01:05:37.092 --> 01:05:37.641
Right.
01:05:37.641 --> 01:05:42.873
And it helps people understand like who you're for and what you help them do.
01:05:42.873 --> 01:05:43.494
So yeah.
01:05:43.494 --> 01:05:49.135
That that's that's why I tend to to try to get people to focus.
01:05:49.135 --> 01:05:59.077
It's like, you know, what what you know present yourself in a way that's going to help people understand who you are, what you can do, and and who it is you're going to help.
01:05:59.818 --> 01:06:00.318
Awesome.
01:06:00.318 --> 01:06:06.583
That's good advice for for new seasoned or anybody in business, really, it sounds like.
01:06:07.605 --> 01:06:10.496
so Brian, this is the Enhanced Podcast.
01:06:10.496 --> 01:06:15.851
We really, you know, like to find out your story as well and and your why.
01:06:15.851 --> 01:06:20.856
I mean, is there any other aspect of your why that you want to add today?
01:06:20.856 --> 01:06:22.561
Why do you do this, in other words?
01:06:22.561 --> 01:06:47.561
Yeah, lot of people ask me that, like why, you know, I mean I have the archa archite geek story, but what we really discovered when we started working with architects, so so you know, like I said, I I study graphic design and I'm the kind of person that believes that design can really enhance how we live and uh how we interact together.
01:06:47.561 --> 01:06:52.469
Uh it can it it it is something that surrounds us uh daily.
01:06:53.577 --> 01:07:04.940
and I think for me one of the things that I feel very passionate about is that, you know, when I started working with architects, I really saw that there was this struggle.
01:07:04.940 --> 01:07:09.543
A lot of architects are struggling because they don't know how to present themselves.
01:07:09.543 --> 01:07:13.623
They don't know they don't know how to present their value.
01:07:13.623 --> 01:07:24.704
And when when you can't you know, when you can't communicate your value And the only differentiation is price.
01:07:24.704 --> 01:07:30.445
You you're you're missing out on a lot of opportunities to really impact the world.
01:07:30.567 --> 01:07:37.150
And so our mission really is is by two thousand thirty we want to help ten thousand architects.
01:07:37.721 --> 01:07:49.677
because we believe that if we can help architects be better at business, they can better focus on design and they can have a greater impact on the world.
01:07:49.956 --> 01:07:54.005
So that's Awesome that's an awesome vision that you have.
01:07:54.005 --> 01:07:54.726
Yeah.
01:07:54.726 --> 01:08:01.492
So yeah, I mean it's great to have a vision, it's great to have a story and you're you're living what you tell your clients, it sounds like.
01:08:01.547 --> 01:08:02.570
I try, I try.
01:08:02.570 --> 01:08:05.545
I'm trying to be trying to be true.
01:08:05.545 --> 01:08:06.166
Yeah.
01:08:06.166 --> 01:08:07.387
Awesome.
01:08:07.788 --> 01:08:09.947
Well, Brian, it was awesome to have you on today.
01:08:09.947 --> 01:08:15.894
I I wanna make sure we give you an opportunity to share how to find you on and your social presence.
01:08:15.894 --> 01:08:17.877
Can you share a little bit about that?
01:08:18.072 --> 01:08:19.523
Yeah, absolutely.
01:08:19.863 --> 01:08:28.320
the best way to find out more about uh about my company, Arkmark, is to go to our website.
01:08:28.320 --> 01:08:30.332
It's Arkmark.co.
01:08:30.332 --> 01:08:35.576
So it's A R C H A R K dot C O.
01:08:35.936 --> 01:08:41.681
And the best place to connect with me on social media is on LinkedIn.
01:08:41.681 --> 01:08:45.734
If you just search for Brian, and I spell my name a little bit different.
01:08:45.734 --> 01:08:49.608
It's B-R-Y-O-N, so Brian with a yo.
01:08:49.608 --> 01:08:56.746
Uh, if you look for Brian McCartney on LinkedIn, you should be able to find me pretty easily.
01:08:56.746 --> 01:09:02.237
Uh, if you want to connect with me, I'd love to connect with you, uh, especially if you're an architect.
01:09:03.618 --> 01:09:13.890
send me a connection request and just let me know that you heard me here on Enhance and uh be happy to connect with you and if there's any way we can help.
01:09:13.890 --> 01:09:14.721
Yeah.
01:09:14.721 --> 01:09:15.828
Let us know.
01:09:15.926 --> 01:09:16.317
Awesome.
01:09:16.317 --> 01:09:16.858
Thanks, Brian.
01:09:16.858 --> 01:09:20.614
We'll they'll definitely give you a shout out as well on the enhance page.
01:09:20.614 --> 01:09:22.127
We do our LinkedIn as well.
01:09:22.127 --> 01:09:26.824
So we're we're one of those dot co companies as well.
01:09:26.845 --> 01:09:28.065
Yeah.
01:09:28.065 --> 01:09:31.568
I I've been trying to buy Arcmark dot com for years.
01:09:31.568 --> 01:09:43.118
Some guy in China owns it and he he's like uh the first time I contacted him, he's like he's like, I want fourteen thousand dollars and I was like, uh no, I don't think so.
01:09:43.118 --> 01:09:45.355
I'm not gonna give you fourteen thousand.
01:09:45.355 --> 01:09:47.237
So anyway, we'll see.
01:09:47.237 --> 01:09:48.717
Maybe one of these days.
01:09:49.061 --> 01:09:49.893
Yeah, keep trying.
01:09:49.893 --> 01:09:50.923
Yeah.
01:09:50.923 --> 01:10:01.003
Brian and I trust you gotta I tr I trust that the Ark it's Arkmark dot co is a solid website because you know you're living your story there.
01:10:01.003 --> 01:10:01.594
I hope so.
01:10:01.594 --> 01:10:10.351
I mean, you know, sometimes I feel like I'm the Cowbler's kids, but uh, you know, we're we're so busy working on other people that we don't get to keep everything up to date.
01:10:10.351 --> 01:10:18.087
But you will find a lot of blog articles on our website that talk about a lot of these topics that I've that we've covered and many more.
01:10:18.087 --> 01:10:22.310
And like I said on LinkedIn, my newsletter, um, it's called Firm Forward.
01:10:22.310 --> 01:10:28.405
Uh if you connect with me or go to my profile and scroll down a little bit, you'll see the Firm Forward newsletter.
01:10:28.405 --> 01:10:38.514
You can also subscribe to that on LinkedIn and that I'm trying to provide as much value as I can to architects help them understand these concepts and hopefully improve their businesses.
01:10:38.514 --> 01:10:40.202
So Alright, awesome.
01:10:40.202 --> 01:10:40.824
Thanks Brian.
01:10:40.824 --> 01:10:43.635
Well um it's been a been a lot of fun talking to you today.
01:10:43.635 --> 01:10:45.902
I'm gonna go check out some of those sites.
01:10:45.902 --> 01:10:46.632
All right, Andy.
01:10:46.632 --> 01:10:47.685
I appreciate it.
01:10:47.685 --> 01:10:51.373
Uh and hope you have a great rest of your day and and week.
01:10:51.373 --> 01:10:52.902
Alright, thanks, God bless.
01:10:54.189 --> 01:10:58.279
Hey everybody, thanks for listening to today's episode of Enhance.
01:10:58.279 --> 01:11:02.507
And please leave a like, a subscribe, or a follow, and we'll see you next time.