How to Find Architecture Clients: Five Marketing Ideas for your Architecture Firm

“How do I attract ideal clients and projects for my architecture firm?”

Because we work exclusively with architects, this is a question we hear all the time from firm owners.

For many who ask this question, what they really want is more consistency and predictability in their new business pipelines.

Having evaluated more than 550 architecture firm websites, and having helped more than 2,000 architects, we know that one of the biggest challenges is that firms are often too reliant on passive business development.

If You Want A Steady Stream of Ideal Clients & Projects You Need More Than Hope Alone

Many architecture firms rely primarily on referral and repeat clients. This is a passive approach to business development which could also be described as “Hope Marketing” because it’s based on the idea that a steady stream of clients are going to call or walk in without much effort on your part.

It’s based on the idea that, if you do good work, more good work will come.

But didn’t your parents tell you that money doesn’t grow on trees?

Unfortunately, times have changed, and this approach leaves an awful lot to chance. If you are relying on Hope Marketing, referrals and repeats, you may want to consider the risks of this approach:

• At any time, and without warning, your referral sources could dry up due to job changes, retirement, or because they’ve developed a new relationship with another firm.
• Referral clients are not always the best fit for your firm. We know this because we’ve spoken to several architects who have taken “bad fit” projects solely to protect a relationship with a source of referrals.
• Repeat clients tend to constantly put pressure on architects to reduce fees, making those jobs less and less profitable, despite rising costs and expenses.
• Repeat clients and projects can grind to a halt for any number for reasons, such as personnel turn-over or lack of funding.

We’re not saying you should not develop referral and repeat clients. In fact, far from it, there are upsides to these types of clients too.

However, what we are saying is that relying on hope marketing for all your future business can put your firm at grave risk.

Every financial advisor worth their salt will tell you the same thing, “You need to have a diversified portfolio.” Learn some tips to have a better Portfolio here.

This is true for architecture firms as well (or any type of business, for that matter), you need to have different sources of new business.

The big problem with passive business development is that you don’t have control over when or how clients come to you.

You also don’t know if they will be the right fit for your firm, and the worst situation is when you take on a project simply because you have to pay the bills.

Keep reading this article to learn how you can find better clients and projects.

If You Want A Steady Stream of Ideal Clients & Projects You Need More Than Hope Alone

It is possible to take control over how projects come to you and your architecture firm.

It is possible to have a choice over which projects you take on.

And it is possible to have a pipeline of ideal new business opportunities waiting to work with you.

Instead of focusing only on passive business development, we counsel our architecture firm clients to diversify their approach with active and proactive business development strategies.

It doesn’t happen over night, but when you have the right parts in place, it’s possible to turn on and turn off your lead pipeline easily and effectively so that you have the right clients at the right times.

In this article, we’re going to look at five architecture firm marketing ideas to help you increase your visibility, elevate your authority and expertise, and help you attract and find your ideal clients.

Let’s get started…

Step 1: Attract Ideal Clients with an Engaging Architecture Firm Website

Your website must be more much than an online brochure or portfolio.

It needs to  connect and engage with your ideal clients.

• Who are they?
• What questions do they ask?
• What are they most concerned about?
• What are they looking for in an architect?

If your website is not answering these questions and speaking to the wants, fears and desires of your ideal clients, then you can bet that you are missing out on new business opportunities.

According to Hinge Research, 84% of AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction firm clients) are visiting your website before they consider calling your firm.

What’s more, nearly the same number are eliminating your firm from consideration, because of your website.

Your website plays a pivotal role in determining whether clients will even consider doing business with your firm.

Unfortunately, stunning project images only go so far.

Think about it, if you are a client looking at 3-5 different architecture firms, and all of them showcase great portfolio photos, there is no real differentiation. Be sure to check out our article on the Architecture Portfolio Tips that can help you make your portfolio stand out.

This was one of the biggest revelations of our study of more than 550 architecture firm websites.

And it’s also why many firms are feeling the constant pressure of commoditization and reducing fees.

If you don’t do a good job to explain why clients should hire your firm over another, the only differentiation that is left is price.

How to engage your ideal clients on your architecture firm website.

One critical step that can help you engage your ideal clients on your firm’s website is to make sure your homepage answer three critical questions.

• What do you do and who do you do it for?
• What problem or "pain point" do you solve for this audience?
• What action do they need to take to move forward with your firm?

Your homepage needs to reassure your ideal client that they have found a firm that understands their needs and challenges.

Too many architects make the mistake of thinking that project images are enough to do this.

You only have about 8 seconds to capture your website visitor’s attention. If they are not immediately interested in going further into your site, they will leave.

You want them to stay and explore your site.

If your website opens and there is not clear message, if all they see is images, if they have to search your site to clarify what you do, then they are going to leave.



You can learn more about the 10 Questions an Architecture Firms Need to Ask Before Hiring a Web Design Agency here.

The goal of your website should be to bring visitors deeper into the site, and make it easy for them to share their contact details with you so you can follow up and engage them until they are ready to hire you.

In the marketing world, we call this lead capture or lead generation.

This is how you start to build a consistent new business pipeline, by building a list of potential leads.

But you can’t get leads if your ideal clients can’t find your website in the first place.



So let’s talk about how to get found online.

Step 2. Get Found Online by Optimizing Your Website Content for Search Rankings

One of the top reasons to have a website is to get found online.

Yet, of the 5500+ architecture firm websites we have reviewed, only 25% were properly set up to be indexed by search engines in a way they would be found online by prospective clients.

If Google can’t index your site, it’s going to rank you lower in search results, and this will reduce the likelihood that your firm will get found online.

The process of preparing your site to be found online is often referred to as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

There are several factors that affect your website’s SEO.

Website Performance

The time it takes to load your website in a visitor’s internet browser is an important consideration in how Google and other search engines will rank your website.

Mobile Usability

How well your website is designed to adapt to different screen sizes, such as desktop, laptop, tablets and smartphones is also important.

In fact, Google now prioritizes your page rank based on how well your website loads, and how easy it is to use, on a typical smartphone.

SSL Security

If your website is does not have a valid Secure Socket Layer certificate, search engines will penalize your site. Often warning visitors that your website is unsecure.

Techinical SEO

Technical SEO refers to how well your website is set up for Search Engine Optimization.

These factors are influenced heavily in the design and development phase of building your website.

Most sites (about 80%) that we have evaluated did not pass a basic SEO review, meaning they were not set up correctly for SEO indexing by Google and other search engines.

Off-page SEO

Another important factor of SEO is how well your site is linked to or mentioned by other authoritative websites. The more your site is mentioned online, the more likely is’s a trusted website by others.

On-page SEO

Another important factor in getting found online by web searchers is whether your website has great content.

By far, this is probably the greatest opportunity that architects have to improve their websites.

Great content is going to attract your ideal clients and help you to engage them so they explore more of your site. Learn more about using Smart Goals to Grow your Architecture Firm here.

The problem with architecture firm website content

Often, when architecture clients call a firm, they have already done a fair amount of research online.

Obviously, if your firm is providing the answers to the questions they are seeking answers to, during this research phase, your firm will be uniquely positioned to begin a relationship with that client.

The key to getting found online and attracting the right visitors to your site is having content that relates to what your potential clients search.

Often what we see on architecture firm websites is content that is primarily about the firm.

The client and their needs are an after-thought or all together ignored.

When we review firm websites, we often see ‘copy-cat’ approaches in how firms present themselves.

Some of the key mistakes we see are:

• Limited written text.
• Heavy reliance on project images (without clear context or explanation)
• About pages that don’t mention team members other than the principal(s).
• A generalist approach to explaining what the firm does.
• No clear explanation of how one becomes a client.
• No clear explanation of the project process.
• No opportunities to capture visitors’ contact details for marketing.

These mistakes make it difficult for firms to engage with visitors, and if visitors don’t engage with your website content, Google will use that lack of engagement as an indicator that your website should rank lower.

Three tips to get started improving your firm’s website content

There are three simple recommendations that can help you improve your website’s search engine rankings.

Tip #1 - Optimize your website for SEO

Improve or fix your website’s page load speed, mobile usability, ssl security, and technical and on-page SEO.

If you don’t want to learn SEO yourself, hire a firm like ours to help you analyze your website to understand what’s wrong.

At Archmark, we offer a Website Action Audit for architecture firms who wish to better gain clarity about what is or is not working on their websites.

This is the same audit we used to evaluate more than 550 architecture firm websites, and is a great tool for getting started with improving your website.

Improve the content on your website

A second step is to create better content on your website.

By “better content” what we are recommending is content that will resonate with your ideal clients.

Many firms seem to focus on either a minimal amount of content, or they use a formulaic and generic approach which does not serve the needs of most visitors.

A simple place to start is by creating content that will help your ideal clients see you as experts.

This is not as complicated as it sounds, and our website is a perfect example.

We don’t talk about serving any type of client, our website focuses on presenting our agency as one that caters to the needs of architecture firms.

Therefore, our content and what we have written about ourselves revolves around our experience and expertise in helping architects.

Most of the architecture firms we work with have a specific type of client they want to work with.

Their websites should speak to that specific type of client to help them understand how you can help them.

The more you can assure your ideal clients that you understand their concerns and needs, the more likely they are going to contact you.

This does not mean that other clients won’t contact you.

In fact, we get contacted by non-architecture clients all the time.

Improve your website content by making sure it aligns with the needs of your ideal clients and you may find more of them contacting your firm.

3. Increase Your Reach with Social Media

If you're not already actively utilizing social media for your architecture business, you need to start now. Even if you don't have an employee with the title of Social Media Manager, you and your team can dive in and get it done. Just be sure to have one person responsible for overseeing social media efforts on a regular basis.

First, figure out which social media channel will be most effective for your business. You might also consider if and how you can advertise on your chosen social media. Facebook, Instagram, and Houzz are popular with architects, and not only for those serving residential clients. Getting your account and business page set it doesn't take long. Always use great photos and size images to work well in banners and posts.

Next, decide how much you can take on—three posts a week or one post a day—go ahead and start small and work your way up to more frequent sharing.

Then plan out a week or two of posts. Create a schedule and gather the images and information you'll want to share. Keep your posts relevant to your ideal potential clients and have posts that take people to your website for more. Scheduling tools, like Bufferapp, can make it less time-consuming to create and schedule weeks' worth of posts in one sitting.

You can also use Facebook Ads to target your desired prospects based on specific demographics and behaviors. While keeping up with daily posts can often be managed in house, creating successful Facebook ad campaigns is best done by someone with the experience and skills to build, monitor, and adjust a campaign so you get value for your ad spend.

4. Be Specific: Ask for the Right Referrals

Most architects tell us they rely on word of mouth for new business. So how can you get the right word of mouth referrals, more qualified leads with more interesting projects that fit your style and vision?

Start by asking past clients for referrals. Be specific. Ask if they know anyone with a similar type of project. Your happy former clients are most likely to know what you do best and can speak first-hand about how you work. They are most likely to recommend you to someone who will be a good fit.

Simply getting into the habit of asking for referrals helps you turn happy clients into champions for your firm. The positive opinions these clients share with family, friends, co-workers, and the public will help good prospects seek out your firm.

5. Speak up: Share your Expertise

Look for opportunities to speak to groups of people in your target audience. Or provide a guest article or blog to an association that serves your best clients. For example, if you design boutique retail or high-end restaurants, write or present about how architectural design can improve the retail experience or help a chef create a unique dining hot spot.

Be willing to open up and share your opinions and your stories. Stand for or against a style or trend, and talk or write about why that's important to you and your work as an architect.



This positions you for your expertise and leadership, and helps your audience see you as the go-to architect for their needs.

Bonus: Work with an experienced online architectural consultancy, like Archmark!

Adding these tactics to your current marketing efforts — or even ditching some worn out activities in favor of adding something new —could be the jump start you need to drive growth and attract new clients to your architecture firm.

Social media can help you engage with both new and old clients. Nurturing relationships with past clients can motivate them to refer new clients and projects to you.

Producing a project video and repurposing the best of your existing blog posts, articles, and social media posts, can grab attention and help you draw prospects to your website.

But, if you aren't sure where to start, or don’t have time to learn new skills, we are here and ready to help. It's what we do every day.

At Archmark, we help firms use branding, messaging, web design, content, and social media marketing to increase their visibility in the market and be be seen as a valued resource so they can attract & win better clients and projects.

We are not a ”generalist online marketing firm,” and we are not a “lead generation service for architects.” We focus on a proven process that is helping other architects and firms like yours to find greater success, and a steady stream of high-value projects.

We focus on how building up your firm so you can focus on leading your it.

If you wanna learn how to create an Email Marketing Strategy click here.

To get started, schedule a free 30-minute intro call with our team.

We will:

• Get clarity on your current situation and challenges
• Discuss our process and how we may be able to help you
• Determine if our process would be a good fit for your firm

Click the red button below to schedule your free call today!