How architecture firms are using inbound marketing to fuel their growth

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“Architecture is about experience: not only visual but what you can feel

As Ma Yansong says, architecture is more than what you can see. It’s a medium of necessity, elegance, education, business and entertainment. It is a kind of language, a form of expression.

And just as architecture needs to provide form, function, interest and beauty, so too must an architect’s marketing strategy in order to attract, convert and delight clients.

Inbound marketing: a blueprint for success

Inbound marketing is using your knowledge to provide useful, engaging content that draws people to you and converts them into loyal customers and brand advocates. Essentially, it’s about being the honey, not the bee.

An inbound marketing strategy focuses on:

Understanding your audience – where they interact online, their preferences, what problems they need resolvingCreating useful content (blogs, ads, video, social media) that helps your audienceOptimising your website to generate leads, rank on Google, and capture user data that lets you engage with your audience on a more personal levelCarrying on a post-conversion conversation that delights your clients and encourages repeat purchase

The purpose of architecture is to create an experience more than it is a building. And the same is true of an inbound marketing strategy, that brings together marketing strategy, content creation and a number of digital tools to make your online experience every bit as engaging as your offline creations.

Case study: how Modative saw a six-fold increase in traffic and leads with inbound marketing

As this HubSpot article lays out, LA architect Modative used inbound marketing to transform their website traffic. As self-confessed IT and marketing greenhorn, Derek Leavitt, Modative partner, explained, “We did have a website but we weren't bringing really much traffic.” About his blog, he said, “It felt like people would go to it and then leave it.”

To increase web traffic and lead generation, Derek turned to inbound marketing platform HubSpot. They promptly recognised that Modative’s paid advertising wasn’t working and switched their efforts to organic search-generated traffic. Soon enough, over 85% of referrals were coming via organic search. “Our traffic is very diverse now, which is what we would like to see,” said Derek. And, of course, being less reliant on paid ads means they’re achieving results more cost-effectively.

Changing their SEO practices has also reaped the rewards. The relatively simple task of optimising its photos meant that 18% of its traffic soon came from Google Images – a previously untapped resource and one that’s highly appropriate for the architectural industry.

Modative also boosted its lead generation, creating a Resources page from which people can download guidebooks, whitepapers and other problem-solving content. In exchange for each piece of data, Modative asks visitors to fill out a form. This helps the company gather contact information of targeted readership and means they can create and send highly personalised, targeted messaging to an audience predisposed to what Modative have to offer.

From attracting almost no visitors to their website, in their first inbound marketing month, Modative attracted 257 referrals from Google alone. Not long after, that figure swelled to over 700. The blog, too, enjoyed similar improvements, quickly attracting over 1,000 visitors a month and 45 subscribers – not bad from a standing start!

Tipping the scales

Whilst Modative are a relatively small company, one of the advantages of inbound marketing is that it can benefit businesses of all sizes.

Whether you’re a smaller enterprise like Modative or one of the big guns like Foster + Partners, inbound marketing is a flexible, inclusive strategy that scales easily to the time and budget you have available.

Take Make Architects, for example. With studios in London, Sydney and Hong Kong, they’re a multinational outfit. But they make use of a beautifully designed, search engine optimised website, regular articles and blog content, and engaging social media channels – all to attract, engage and convert web visitors into clients.

Because whether you're big, small, or somewhere in the middle, winning and retaining customer interest in what you should lie at the very heart of your inbound marketing strategy.

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Want to know how Woven can help engage, entice and ensure more business through inbound marketing? Get in touch today and arrange your free consultation with our experts.