How to Market Your Architecture or Lighting Design Firm
Luminii’s director of marketing, Dawn Andersen, shares four tips to help architecture and lighting design firms reconnect with their customers and prospects during the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has redefined the way architecture and lighting design firms do business. Fewer opportunities to meet with clients and demonstrate products in person are just a few roadblocks firms are working to overcome. For firms to succeed and thrive in this new environment, their marketing and sales teams must revisit and refresh their communications strategies.
Architecture and lighting design firms may find it difficult to stay top of mind, introduce new products, and help clients visualize spaces during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, developing original marketing materials and campaigns to achieve these goals can be time-consuming and expensive.
However, marketing and sales teams can spark new business interest and maintain current client relationships with resources already at their disposal. Read my marketing tips below to take advantage of these resources and support the success of your architecture or lighting design firm.
1. Repurpose Existing Content
Chances are you have blog posts, white papers, videos and other marketing content on your website. Instead of developing new content from scratch, take your existing content and reposition it to make it relevant in this new social, cultural, and economic climate.
Rewriting headlines and introductions can add a fresh new spin to old blog posts and white papers, especially when they mention pandemic-related challenges. For example, you may consider aggregating lighting design trends mentioned in a few pieces from your blog archive and assembling a list article with design predictions for the upcoming year. Make sure to sweep content for outdated information and update the publish date to make it feel more timely.
2. Get Visual
Successful firms help customers visualize spaces with their products and services, but developing product renders, organizing video shoots and designing marketing graphics costs time and money.
Here’s an industry secret you need to know: Some lighting manufacturers provide architecture and lighting design firms the marketing assets they need to generate buzz around products, free of charge.
For example, Luminii develops robust sales kits for all of its products and services, including Senso Vesta and Express by Luminii, to bolster architecture and lighting design firms’ marketing efforts. These complimentary kits contain everything a firm needs to introduce exciting new lighting products to customers anywhere in the world, including:
- Sales & Presentation Decks
- Brand & Imagery Resources
- Sample E-blasts and Social Media Content
- Email Signatures
- Website Banners
- Collateral
- Videos
- Product Specification and Pricing Sheets
- Installation Guides
Take advantage of the marketing assets lighting manufacturers provide to amplify your firm’s communications efforts. Clients want to visualize your firm’s product selection and services, and these assets will help you accomplish this critical task in no time.
3. Emphasize Your Firm’s Unique Values
What sets you apart from your competitors? Write down your architecture or lighting design firm’s core value propositions and how they help customers achieve their objectives.
For instance, if you provide quick and dependable service, make sure to communicate your timeliness in your marketing outreach. You should also mention the steps your firm is taking to keep clients safe during the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e, wearing masks, taking employees’ temperatures before shifts, sanitizing surfaces frequently).
Tip: The Express by Luminii quick ship program helps specifiers and designers meet tight project deadlines. Even during the pandemic, the program delivers 100% field configurable LED strips, channels, and power supplies with one of the shortest lead times in the industry.
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Other key value propositions you may consider emphasizing in your communications include:
- Diverse product variety
- Quality product selection
- Creative design approach
- White glove service
- Award-winning services
4. Showcase Your People
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to reevaluate the way they socialize with others. Quarantines and shutdowns make it difficult to interact with others, giving architecture and lighting design firms an opportunity to reconnect with audiences — and add a more human feel to their brands.
Share images and quotes of your team members so customers and prospects can “get to know” your firm’s employees. Focus on their projects, client success stories, favorite products, and community involvement to drive key messages home. When sealing the deal, friendly faces and feel-good quotes can go a long way.
Tip: Share your employee features across social media channels to expand your firm’s reach. Make sure to tag employees in posts to increase engagement and visibility.
The Takeaway
Marketing and sales teams help architecture and lighting design firms meet critical goals. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has presented some challenges to marketing and sales professionals — along with opportunities for growth.
Connect with lighting manufacturers and ask them if they can share marketing assets with you to support your firm’s communications efforts. It never hurts to ask, and you may be saving lots of time and money in the long run.