Marketing to architects

Chris Ashworth of CIMCIG and Competitive Design Consultancy offers more practical advice on targeting architects.

For all of us, marketing to architects is a key business strategy. We want to create awareness of our products so that they'll be included in designs, thereby creating 'demand pull' through the supply chain, and eventually sales.

The architect is probably the most important member of the design team, distilling the requirements and advice of all others. He or she starts with the client's needs in terms of how the building is to be used and how the client wishes to be perceived. These needs must be developed around the requirements of the Building Regulations and, increasingly, sustainability. Finally, he or she must take into account the views and advice of quantity surveyors, the main contractor and specialist sub-contractors as they will often be well positioned to suggest ways of saving time, money and environmental impact.

For the architect this is a challenging role. It often requires compromise. To make the right decisions he or she will need high quality information. The internet is often a starting point. Search engines, product directories and manufacturer websites all provide useful data. Increasingly, new forms of communication are being turned to, such as blogs, and even Twitter. To be an effective marketer you in turn must use appropriate channels to provide the right information in a clear and easily accessible format.

With so much choice – and often conflicting information – it's no wonder that architects often stay with the products they know. Which is great news if they favour your product, but a challenge if it's a competitors'.

So how to introduce your offering? You need to find a way of getting the architect's attention, and then reassuring them that your product ticks all of the boxes: functionality, reliability, sustainability, availability, aesthetics and value will be just some of their requirements.

Case studies published in trade and technical magazines are a good means of creating awareness and interest. A more proactive approach is to use a CPD seminar to introduce your company and demonstrate your technical expertise. This potentially also has the benefit of enabling you to meet several architects at the same time, which can itself often lead to a discussion about specific projects. To be effective the seminar must have the correct content, and be well presented.

Having finally persuaded the architect to use your product, it needs to be specified. Here he or she has the choice of 'performance', 'description', 'nominated', or the most commonly used 'equal or approved' specification.

There are a variety of reasons for selecting these different forms. 'Performance' is often used for technical products such as fire resisting constructions, where it's important they perform correctly. A performance specification passes the responsibility for choosing the correct product onto the sub-contractor. 'Nominated' is often selected for aesthetic products where it's important to ensure that exactly the right product is used. There is a concern though, that 'Nominated' also undermines the contractor's ability to negotiate price. 'Equal or approved' tends to be used because it nominates a product without making it a firm choice. However many contractors will tell you that they interpret it as meaning 'use what you like'. But with the development of sustainability the meaning of 'equal' is changing. It no longer means simply 'made of a similar material, to a similar shape, and able to do the job'. Now factors such as responsible sourcing and factory location can mean that two similar products are very different. The whole process of specification writing is changing.

In the early 1990's the last recession changed the process of specification selling, expanding it to include the contractor. Today, new technology and changing building requirements are having a knock-on effect on the specification process again. And we can expect to see further changes driven by the current recession.

If you would like to learn more about these issues two forthcoming events, Marketing to Architects and Applying Web 2.0 to marketing and PR offer the promise of a wealth of advice and useful information.
 

Marketing to Architects is a half day seminar organised by CIMCIG in association with RIBA Enterprises. Topics covered will include:

• What information is important to architects, and how they're using it to manage changing design requirements
• Presenting products to suit changes in specification practice, and the influence of initiatives such as BREEAM
• The benefits of CPD and how to put together a compelling seminar
• The role of the sustainability consultant and how architects are having to turn to specialists to help them meet new design challenges
• A review of research findings into the most effective specifier communication channels to target architects.
   

Expert speakers will include architect Peter Mayhew, of Alford Hall Monaghan Morris; Richard Teale, NBS Editor-in-Chief, and Chris Ashworth, author of this article.

Held at the RIBA's offices at Portland Place in London on 22 September 2009, both CIMCIG members and clients of RIBA Enterprises can book at the discounted price of £85 + VAT (full price £126.50) by quoting booking reference M2A2209.
Reserve your place
 

Applying Web 2.0 to marketing and PR is an evening event held at the Building Centre in London on 10 September 2009 at 6pm. Paul Wilkinson will explain and share his own practical experiences using Blogs, Wikis, Twitter and other web tools to augment conventional marketing communications. Priced £15 + VAT to CIMCIG members (non-members £25.00 + VAT).
Book now
 

Chris Ashworth
Chris is a committee member of CIMCIG and founder of Competitive Advantage Consultancy.

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