How to Find New Clients for Your Architecture or Design Firm for Under $10,000/month

All too often, professional services like architecture and design rely on passive business growth and development, hoping that will be enough to keep your business strong. Clients are the backbone of your business. Knowing how to attract them and keep the leads coming is critical to your success. There are a lot of different resources out there to assist you, including those that don’t cost a dime and those that require a bit of an investment—both are useful in their own right. 

Attracting new leads is difficult when you feel like you can barely handle the existing client load that you have. The good news is that you’re not on your own here. There are professional services that can help you with client acquisition and retention in several different ways. Every industry will have its own best practices, but in architecture and design, it comes down to showcasing your professional expertise and making sure that people can find your firm online. 

Read on for five tactics that can help you find new clients without breaking your monthly budget. 

Tactic #1: Attract clients with an engaging website 

Cost: Free, $200-$5,000 per month if you pay someone to manage/edit your site

Professional services like architecture and design often don’t hit the mark with their online presence and it’s not for a lack of effort. There are just some nuances that not everyone is going to know, which is why it can benefit you to invest in someone to help you build and maintain an engaging, informative website. 

Too often, professional service providers, including those in architecture and design, create a limited site that only has basic information, project images without details, and a lot of focus on getting people to reach out and contact the firm. That’s no longer good enough. Today’s audience wants a dynamic, interactive site that tells them everything that they need to know before they contact your firm. 

Tactic #2: Invest in paid marketing and search strategies 

Cost: $100-$5,000

Organic search is an integral part of your marketing plan. However, you will also find several benefits from using paid marketing and search tools. Too often, design and architecture firms assume that their organic marketing will be enough and that they don’t need to spend the extra money. However, if you are going to maximize your exposure and reach the most leads, you need to be willing to invest in paid ad campaigns and marketing resources. 

Paid ads and sponsored ads allow your architecture firm to become visible to a whole new group of potential clients that you aren’t finding in organic search results. 

Tactic #3: Showcase your industry authority and knowledge

Cost: Free, unless you pay for content creation or reputation management

Right now, the two most critical factors in any client decision (regarding who they work with) are service and reputation. They know that there are plenty of people providing the service they need; they want to know which ones are the best and see proof of that reflected in their online reputation. It can help build your reputation as an authority in your industry to post content on your website about architecture and design, among other things. 

You can do a lot of this yourself, but you can also pay marketing firms and others to assist you in this endeavor. Professionals will know the best practices and help you determine a strategy for executing this. By showing everyone that you are an authority within the architecture world, you will be able to gain their trust and thereby, increase the chances of gaining them as a client. 

Tactic #4: Build a strong network 

Cost: $0-$1,000 for networking event tickets, professional associations, etc.

Networking is a critical part of success for today’s business. The competition is fierce and referral marketing is continuing to be the preferred choice of many clients today. Take the time to network with other industry professionals, clients, partners and vendors, and anyone else you think could benefit your firm and help you attract more clients. Join professional associations and attend industry events. This not only bolsters your reputation, but it helps you find new networking opportunities. 

When you have a strong network of professional relationships, you won’t have to spend a lot of time finding clients. Your connections will supply you with a steady stream of leads so that you can focus on the projects that you’re working on and ensure that you’re still drawing in new clients, too. As a bonus, your networking abilities will also reflect on your reputation and help you prove to your clients that you’re the best choice because of your professional connections and commitment.  

Tactic #5: Outsource and partner with professional services 

Cost: $250-$1,000

Outsourcing is a great tool that often gets overlooked by companies that are growing. Especially with professional services like architecture and design, business owners and leaders often assume that they just have to figure out how to do the work themselves and that’s all there is to it. In reality, there are plenty of professional services that you can outsource to and partner with to deliver a better experience for your visitors. 

To improve your customer service and guarantee that you never miss a lead, a partnership with Smith.ai could be the perfect choice. From our 24/7 answering service to our assistance with lead screening and intake, appointment scheduling, live website chat, and even outreach campaigns for your firm, we’ve got you covered. While you’re taking care of your current projects and clients, we’ll be there for the rest of them. 

Plus, everything that we do includes a custom strategy to ensure that we cover all the details. We can help your architecture and design firm find more clients and cultivate better leads for future growth, and all at a fraction of what you’d spend to hire people to do the same thing in-house.

If you’re ready to discuss your needs or learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to us at hello@smith.ai. 

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