Keeping in mind the particular needs of architects, companies could stand to gain from rethinking their investments in traditional marketing actions, such as printing materials or having a presence in trade shows and considering more inexpensive and practical strategies related to content generation.
Known as Content Marketing, these actions are based on a piece of content (online articles, infographics, videos, etc.) distributed across digital media to convey a valuable message for prospective clients instead of directly promoting the product or brand. Through this strategy, manufacturers and building materials providers can generate meaningful links between potential clients who are not only looking for this type of content but also value the message contained.
Through useful information that also touches on typical uncertainties or questions -like How to Correctly Design and Build a Kitchen- we can create content that is much more than an empty advertisement.
By producing content architects can relate to, your brand will be seen as a company that knows its clients’ needs and is willing to help them find the best solutions to fulfil their projects. This will encourage the selection of your products, increasing engagement towards your brand and turning potential leads into loyal clients!
To help you in this task, we’ve collected 4 tips with specific examples that will guide you in creating engaging and effective content so that your brand can start building a solid Content Marketing Strategy.
1. Find general themes that allow you to use your product as an example
Don’t overwhelm your audience with obvious advertisements. Instead, attract them with a topic of interest related to your product so that you can subtly allow them to get to know and appreciate your brand. The article How to Correctly Design and Build a Kitchen is an excellent example. The company in question achieved favourable engagement with their target audience through informative illustrations that answered an important, general question about home design, ultimately promoting their products. This highly useful and shareable content has become one of our most-read ArchDaily articles in the past years.
2. Present your products from a technical perspective
As shown by the results of our last Survey on How Architects Specify Materials, in addition to valuing the look and quality of products and materials, architects choose the solutions they will work with based on the technical information they can obtain from the manufacturer. Therefore, the focus should be on providing practical and valuable content regarding aspects such as how the product should be installed.
For the article What is CI and How to Design a Continuous Insulation System, the company in question developed 3D models of its products to help architects understand how the system works and how to implement it in their designs. You can also include technical material such as high-resolution drawings, information tables and installation videos. In this particular case, a window company shared AutoCAD files of its products so that architects reading the article could directly include them in their projects.
3. Make it a Priority to Show your Products Installed
For architects, it is crucial to understand how the product looks installed and how it performs over time. So, in addition to providing technical information, make it a priority to show your products installed and in use in different architectural projects. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the article “Translucent, Breathable Facades: 8 Tips for Incorporating Metal Meshes into Your Building“ is a clear example. High-quality photographs of applied products or moving images that show the dynamism of certain materials help engage with the audience.
4. The title is key
And it should always respond to the questions and inputs that your target audience will be searching for on Google. In our experience, “how-to” titles perform great, such as How to Correctly Design and Build a Kitchen and Concrete Blocks in Architecture: How to Build With This Modular and Low-Cost Material. Another good strategy is creating listings that point to a set of tips that could be of great help during design research: Translucent, Breathable Facades: 8 Tips for Incorporating Metal Meshes into Your Building.
A fundamental part of implementing a successful Content Marketing Strategy lies in delivering the content on your audience's specific channels. In the case of architects, these channels are specialised websites such as Architonic and ArchDaily, and of course, social media. We can also help you with that! Because after more than a decade of speaking with the most influential architects in the world and listening to Manufacturers' needs, we have created two brand new products that aim to connect both worlds through highly relevant content:
Through Highlight, your brand has the opportunity to publish its original articles on the world's most visited architecture website, featuring them on ArchDaily's homestream -which accounts for more than 160 million page views a month- and ArchDaily Daily Newsletter with 570 thousand subscribers. On the other hand, if you prefer to ensure your brand's high visibility with an article that's 100% written by ArchDaily's Editors -those that have become experts in delivering relevant content to architects all over the world- Spotlight is your best choice. This is a tailor-made editorial article about a topic of your choice written 100% by ArchDaily's experts and featured in our high visibility channels, ArchDaily homepage and ArchDaily Daily Newsletter, plus our Facebook Page with more than 2 million followers.
So if you want to talk to your audience in their language, having the credibility and support from ArchDaily, these are the products that will make your brand stand out.
