Marketing Architectural Services (PcM)

Promoting one’s self is always difficult and in many ways, should be. But if potential clients don’t know you exist, they won’t come knocking on your door. Some form of marketing is essential to let potential clients know you have interest, in providing them services.

This course explores the difference between a business plan and a marketing plan. One governs staying in business, but the other is a plan to thrive. Basic means of marketing services are discussed, along with principles of negotiation. We explore reactive versus proactive marketing and basic differences between public and private clientele. Ways to deliberately expand an architectural practice are touched upon.

Perhaps most important, we explore the subject of identity. We all have aspirations of how we would prefer to be known for our work. The best way to do that, is to acquire commissions in projects defining us, the way we prefer to be defined. We can use marketing to become the architects we wish to be.

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Determine the difference between a business plan and a marketing plan
• Discuss different means of marketing architectural services
• Differentiate between proactive versus reactive marketing
• Apply basic principles of negotiation
• Discuss different considerations in dealing with public versus private clientele
• Implement various approaches to expanding an architectural practice

Paul Spite, BS, BA
AFD Consulting, Founder and Principal

Paul is a Registered Architect with over forty years of experience, a course developer and has been a teacher in multiple venues in the past. He is also a writer in many venues, having developed many studies, a few published articles, numerous short stories, multiple screenplays, two non-fiction manuals for church design and one novel. More to the focus of this endeavor, Paul has also created presentations for twenty-six lunch and learn presentations for building material manufacturers, webinars covering the subjects of Aging-in-Place and Architectural Acoustics and eleven distance learning courses for architects, engineers and contractors. As he nears retirement from managing his small architectural practice, Paul hopes to focus even more of his energy on teaching and on course development.