What are some of the benefits of the AM360 course?

As I prepare to launch the Architecture Marketing 360 course again on Mon 6 September, I thought it would be useful to provide some info about the course content, and share some insights from the last cohort, who completed the course in March.

Talking about getting published, one participant said: “The information in this particular module was very helpful and eye opening.”

The course is delivered via a learning management system and contains nine modules, as follows:

• the first two focus on your ideal client avatar (ICA), unique selling proposition (USP) and how to set your marketing budget,

• the next six focus on the six-channels of my architecture marketing system including Referrals, Email, Social Media, Publishing, Awards and Website

• and the final session involves a live website review and an implementation plan to help you put what you’ve learned into action. 

The content is delivered via video recordings and emails, and participants also receive a new workbook each week to record their responses and action items. The workbooks can also be used to demonstrate CPD compliance in the states where that’s a mandatory requirement.

Each module in the online learning management system contains quiz questions to help participants to reflect on the content of each module, and I’ve included some responses from past participants below.

USP: Do you already have a good sense of your practice’s unique positioning? 

Collecting client feedback using this free questionnaire- and using their response in your marketing - is a great way to capitalise on Referrals.

“I think I do, but it exists in my head. Yes it needs to be articulated and drawn out and form the base for all decision making. The aspect of competitor focus is refreshing and daunting, we compare what we do with the work of others all the time, we judge, we like and dislike, and applaud where we must. The more I explore articulating the positioning statement, the more difficult it is to define. It’s a work-in-progress.”

Referrals: Do you have a formal feedback loop in your practice, where you capture client testimonials and use them for marketing? If not, what has stopped you from doing so? 

“I used a modified version of the SLD Questionnaire to obtain feedback from clients, and will show testimonials on my new website.”

“This is an area we will be building up an easily accessible file where we collect this as well as streamlining a process of collections and requesting this feedback.”

Email Marketing: Would you consider setting up a lead magnet, nurture sequence and monthly emails (in bite-sized chunks!) to communicate with your ideal customers?

“This has got me thinking, definitely, about useful resource offerings, or 'pain point' solutions content, or other. So many marketers have added dynamics to their offering, and I can see how this translates to architecture and ideal clientele needs.”

“Yes it definitely has given us a new perspective. We thought email marketing is mainly for businesses with ‘products’ rather than services. Will explore this further for our business.”

Social media: Will you rethink which Social Media platforms you prioritise, to reach more of your ideal customers? If yes, which platforms have you been using, and which ones will you focus on in future?

“I've been using LinkedIn and don't have a social media presence for my practice on Facebook and Instagram. I realise that this is a gap in my marketing strategy and will build this up gradually. I took Kat Coroy's Instagram Masterclass which I found very inspiring.”

“Most of our residential clients use Instagram, our educational clients are more ‘google’ images type people. We have an Instagram account - and this is the only platform we use at the moment. This course has opened our eyes to other options in social media.”

Publishing: Have you been successful at getting projects published in the past? If not, are there some useful tips in this Module that will help you pitch your projects to editors and journalists in future?

“Not so much. The establishment of links with journalists, preparing 'flyers' of promotional material and looking for a higher quality outcome are all good tips. Sharable content and use of soundbites are also of interest moving forward.”

“Not as part of our firm, as we are relatively young. But we did get published on a project we worked on under a different firm. The information in this particular module was very helpful and eye opening.”

Awards: Did you know that you can use entries to speak to three key audiences - jurors, the media AND your future clients? Will you try and incorporate this approach into your next entry?

“No but it makes a lot of sense and I especially appreciate the thoughts around speaking to the ideal customer, which also translates to speaking more broadly to more people about good design and not excluding people from the world and belief that all can and should access good design.”

The free Seeking Digital Dashboard provides an easy-to-view set of analytics, to help you understand how your social media and website dovetail and complement each other.

Website: Do you currently have a sense of your website’s performance, in terms of where your visitors come from, and whether your content is appealing and attractive enough to encourage them to spend time exploring your site?

“I am currently redesigning my website and upgrading to the new Squarespace version. My current website is not optimised for SEO and I aim to design it to be more customer-focused. I haven't tracked the data yet, however I have reviewed Squarespace analytics occasionally and found the popular pages encouraging, to move forward.”

Do you feel sufficiently prepared and supported to start your marketing implementation? If not, what else would you like before you get started with your first implementation action? 

“Yes this is actually really great. All the information provided in this course has been very clean and helpful. It was given us tools to be able to attend to this side of our business.”

This is just a small snapshot of feedback from architects who have completed Architecture Marketing 360, the first CPD course of its kind in Australia.

You can also read testimonials from some of last year’s participants – including Sarah Hobday North, Rebecca Christiansen and Christopher Hewson – in this article  

If you’re interested in taking the course and learning Business Development and Marketing and implementing the new client pipeline system I developed specifically for architects, you can enrol in the self-guided program and start right away, here.

And if you have any questions about the course, feel free to email me at hello@soundslikedesign.com.au.