Marketing A Small Start Up

[cRaigAl205]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of setting up a small architectural design practice with my partner - focusing predominantly on all aspects of residential design. We are fairly realistic about the slow growing nature of the business, and are in the fortunate position that we won't starve while get it off the ground, we are undertaking a slow roll out, the website is now live, the LLP setup, insurance and bank accounts etc in place, but the next big undertaking is marketing. We have a few leads based on word of mouth/previous jobs, but that isn't going to sustain us for ever.

I was wondering if I could pick your collective brains on what would be the best areas to focus our marketing efforts (both time and budgetary- obviously we don't want to spend a fortune on marketing to begin with but some costs are a given) As I said, the website is live, and I have 'submitted' the site to all the big search engines, but that is as far as Ive got with regards to an internet presence.

I was wondering what you would recommend the next stages are? look into SEO, online adverts and the such, or more local, paper based advertising etc. We foresee our work to be predominately small scale residential work- extensions, redesign and the odd new-build. We are local to Somerset, but willing to cover a larger area, as this scale of design doesn't usually require repeated site visits.

If it would help, I can provide a link to the site for comments etc, but I don't want to post it up straight away and be accused of spamming etc!

Cheers, and looking forward to your thoughts

Craig

[cRaigAl205]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I think our 'niche' is high quality, while being personable and approachable. While not fully fledged architects (there are a number of hoops to jump through, we are both training as such, and can therefore provide more of a design eye and quality, which similar architectural design companies perhaps don't. We also have direct hands-on experience of construction, ie, self build, whereas often our profession are accused of designing things which are expensive and sometimes impossible to build! To begin with, we would like to focus on residential design, providing a quality service, with an eye for design, while keeping budget and build-ability in mind. Basically bridging the gap between "cheap and cheerful", say surveyor-drawn designs, and more expensive/conceptual Architecture (with a capital A, if you know what I mean..)

The brochure is perhaps a good idea- not something I had immediately thought of (perhaps assumed it was too oldschool!) but perhaps a nice crisp and concise leaflet or similar in locations such as you suggest, garden centres/diy sheds etc might be a good shout. I will go though our builders contact list, and perhaps research a few more to try and build a relationship with.

Cheers,

Craig

[cRaigAl205]

Thanks guys. Some really good suggestions, some of which we probably wouldn't have thought of. (its easy to get focusing down on say, getting the website up and running, or researching insurance, setting up the LLP erc, and then losing track of the next step)

We've already got some really nice business cards printed up, so tomorrow's job is to pop into the local estate agents, introduce ourselfs and start building bridges

Nice to hear someone has made it work, Chonok! As I mentioned in the first post, we are fortunate that we wont starve while setting it up, as our mortgage is paid by lodgers, and a little left over to live on as well - so any wage we make from "the business" is a bonus (assuming we keep overheads low, but I think that is given for a small start up such as this) Like you say, hopefully soon enough the two of us will be able to handle a workload better, and bounce ideas off one another and help to keep fresh and motivated.

Thanks again everyone, any more suggestions keep them coming. I'll certainly be popping back into the business section more often, as I'm sure I will have more questions as the business grows. Also, it goes without saying, if anyone in the South West needs any design work.. drop me a line

Craig

[cRaigAl205]

Yep, as above, 'architect' is a legally protected title which you cannot use until fully qualified. We only have the final hoop to jump through in order to qualify, but other than the title, there is nothing preventing us practicing in the mean time.

[cRaigAl205]

Certainly, the long term plan would be look into forming some kind of design and build company, either employing/subcontracting out work, or going into partnership with a builder, but I think in the short term building a reputation/experience and contacts by doing smaller works will be fine. In the first 1-2 years we will certainly look into at least one of us finishing our training and qualifying as an architect, which will broaden our range of work, being more attractive to those who want the title associated with their project.

Well, we popped into several local, and independent estate agents today, they all responded positively, and some seemed genuinely enthusiastic at the prospect- they really liked the idea that we mentioned we would be happy to attend their clients second viewing at prospective properties, and provide sketch schemes and visuals with a quick turn around- the 3D visualisations seems to be a really strong hook.

I've also got a facebook page up and running today, so we can start growing our social media presence.


Thanks again for your help guys

Craig

Edited by cRaigAl205 on Tuesday 16th September 18:09

[cRaigAl205]

Sorry Simpo, what seems to be the confusion? I was just after a discussion/ suggestions of (relatively) low cost marketing avenues and techniques for a small architectural design company as we are starting small and don't have a fortune to spent on marketing.

what do you mean are we buying or selling?

cheers, Craig

[cRaigAl205]

Bit of an update, I've had some A6 double sided postcards printed, and we've visited lots of local estate agents, one was so impressed they are going to include a postcard with every info pack on all their completed house sales to the new owners!







Interest is picking up to the point we have quoted for about 4 or 5 local jobs, so even if a couple of those come off, we should have enough work to keep us ticking over for the next couple of months. We are certainly learning what is seeming to work for us, and having the website up and running properly is certainly helping as well.

Thanks again for your help all, there are some really good ideas in this thread we are going to work our way though over time as we hopefully grow

Cheers

Craig

Edited by cRaigAl205 on Thursday 2nd October 17:35

[cRaigAl205]

I just wanted to get a small batch quickly to prove their usefulness. Ill drop you a pm shortly to get an email address for future runs