Is "marketing" a dirty word in architecture?

Written By Rachael Bernstone

This blog post contains the email newsletter that Rachael sent to subscribers on Weds 17 June 2026.

It’s the email that resonated so strongly with Ayo Abbas - host of the Built Environment Marketing Show podcast - that she invited Rachael to appear as a guest on her show.

We’ll share the link for the resulting podcast episode - where Rachael and Ayo unpack this topic further -soon.

Scroll down to read the email newsletter

And if you’re not on the newsletter list - but you’d like to our receive weekly insights on business development, advocacy, comms and marketing specifically for architects - you can sign up here.

 

Dear Ayo

I see and hear so much antipathy - and even resistance - towards marketing within architecture circles.

And I wonder how much of this negative sentiment arises from a misconception about what architecture marketing really is.

In its simplest form, architecture marketing involves making it easy for your future clients to:

  • find you,

  • contact you,

  • trust you,

  • engage you, and

  • refer you.

Going back a few years, it might have been ok to "let the work speak for itself".

But in 2026, that's no longer sufficient, for lots of different reasons.

Now, the quality of your marketing dictates the quality of your clients and projects, and they in turn dictate what your firm is known for.

So if you're keen to get better at marketing - so that you can get better at architecture - read on...

Inside this issue

  1. Architects face two types of problems - what are they?

  2. What choice do you have?

  3. What did Adam Haddow say about "there is no such thing..."?

  4. How can you proactively choose to thrive?

1.  Architects face two types of problems - what are they?

Recently, I've been reading and writing about all of the different challenges and problems plaguing the architecture profession. In fact, two weeks ago, Julie Power from The Sydney Morning Herald rang me to ask me about these pressing issues.

So I'm not going to gaslight you.

There are plenty of serious problems and obstacles that make your practice, business, and life as an architect really difficult.

I think we can break these problems and obstacles down into two main categories. 

And this distinction is important because they demand different responses.

The first category is called "systemic problems", and it includes problems like negative economic indicators, global instability, rising construction costs, regulatory complexity, and ongoing demands to prove your legitimacy to government.

These systemic problems exert unwanted pressure on architects, and they demand considerable amounts of your time, attention and energy to respond to, and those demands impact your financial bottom line.

They also negatively impact your wellbeing, because it's demoralising to bec faced with an ever-growing list of systemic problems - and the constant onerous and often thankless advocacy that's required to address them - only to achieve glacial rates of change.

What's the second type of problem then?

The secondary category is called "individual problems", and these lie within your control.

You can proactively address individual problems at a personal, practice and business level, and changes that you make locally can ripple outwards across the profession and the wider community.

So this category offers more glimmers of hope.

And actually, I've come to see that you have way more choice and agency around individual problems than many architects realise.

2. What choice do architects have?

I spend a lot of time with successful architects - including my clients and AM360 alumni - and I noticed that they are doing well in spite of the systemic problems that I alluded to above.

So I started wondering why some architects are thriving, despite the prevailing doom-and-gloom in the market and the world.

And I realised that they all have something in common.

They made a deliberate choice to get out of survival mode and to create their own version of success.

They decided to get strategic and proactive about marketing, and to seek external help and support to upskill and improve their circumstances, even though doing so often felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar at first.

3. What did Adam Haddow say about "there is no such thing..."?

Adam Haddow made a great point about the value of design in one of his walk-and-talk Instagram Reels last year.

It's an idea that has stayed with me, so I scrolled back through his feed to find it. Adam delivered this gem in September after travelling to Canberra to meet with MPs - you can watch it here. 

The key idea I'm referring to is right at the end, and it's also summarised in an update on the Institute's website, here. 

Adam said:

“Too often design is dismissed as a ‘nice to have.’

As we reminded MPs, there is no such thing as ‘no design’ - only good or bad design.”

- Adam Haddow

This binary positioning around the quality of design - rather than the absence or presence of design - really resonated with me.

And I've noticed that - by the same token - architects often focus on the absence or presence of marketing, rather than concentrating on the quality of their marketing.

Because there is no such thing as "no architecture marketing". 

I agree with Adam on this framing.

So there are only two types of architectural marketing: good and bad.

  1. Good marketing is intentional and proactive - it involves strategically defining the clients and projects that you want to attract and win.

  2. Bad marketing is passive and reactive - it involves waiting for any old clients to approach you, and taking any old project that turns up.

So whether you make a deliberate choice to invest in good marketing or you take the default option and do bad marketing, you're doing marketing.

And this is where the idea of agency comes to the fore.

4. When you're ready to exercise agency, and start thriving...

What makes architects flip the switch from bad marketing to good marketing?

What causes them to stop choosing the default approach, and become more proactive instead?

In my experience, there are myriad reasons and prompts:

> Sometimes, it's an economic downturn, and a growing sense that what worked in boom times isn't working now.

> Sometimes it's losing a major project and facing a workflow black hole. 

> Sometimes it's related to succession planning and plans to retire or step back. 

> Sometimes it's about smoothing out cashflow peaks and troughs.

> Sometimes it's a desire to grow, or to expand into new typologies and sectors.

> Sometimes it's about becoming more discerning around the work you take on..

> Sometime's it's multiple factors, and sometimes it's as simple as the need to earn more CPD points before 30 June!

Every architect is different, and every firm is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

And that's why I've created different on-ramps and price points for architects who want to try a more strategic approach to marketing.

I want to make it easy for you to choose the best way for you to thrive in architecture.

Here are some quick CPD options:

And here are some consulting options:

  • Get a private overview of your new client pipeline - with customised recommendations about what to upgrade to win more and better projects and clients - the Architecture Marketing Scorecardis $297+ GST.

  • Book an online consult with me - we can resolve a specific business development problem in a 1-hour Zoom call, with another hour of prep and follow-up - Acupuncture Sessions are $450+GST.

  • Co-create your new business development and marketing blueprint with me - Review + Reset is my signature consulting package for architecture firms (request pricing for your practice size and the next available start date).

It's nearly the end of FY2025

As you look back over the current financial year - which has been really challenging for many architects for so many different reasons - and start thinking about starting afresh on 1 July, remember that you have more choice and agency than you think.

You're an architect: you can literally design and deliver your own future, while you transform the lives of your clients.

(And you don't have to settle for survival mode, just because the odds seem stacked against you. There is more demand for good design - and your architecture services - at the moment than there ever has been before.)

Hit reply and let me know if these ideas  resonate, or if you have questions or comments to share.

Until next time,

Best regards

Rachael


Rachael Bernstone
Next

19 reasons why architects find it hard to market themselves, and their architecture services