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OPINION
A s defined by the American Marketing Association, “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Challenge your marketing team to think beyond proposals and begin to work to strategically impact the entire client experience. Marketing is about more than proposals
Alternatively, as defined by a former boss, “Marketing is really just proposals.” Marketing is not just proposals. Take this opportunity to realign and redefine marketing for your firm. Let’s lean into the AMA definition where marketing guides the communication and delivery strategy for our professional services. If we are to stay relevant to our clients and competitive in a talent war with other sophisticated industries (i.e. tech), we must move our industry beyond a proposal-centric, project-pursuit only approach to AEC marketing. As architects, engineers, and builders, we are responsible for the spaces and places that people interact and engage with each and every day. We have an immense responsibility, and also a tremendous opportunity, to influence the built environment – to shape the lives and experiences of
so many people. The same way the iPhone influenced the way we connect with one another, the built environment impacts our experiences at school, work, and home. Why don’t we consider, talk about, and value that more? In today’s incredibly competitive labor market, we need to inspire the next generation to eagerly want to work for our firms. Let’s take a few steps back in history. In the early 20th century, marketing one’s professional practice was actually forbidden by the AIA. Concerned that underbidders would produce something of a lesser quality, the first Principles of Practice adopted in 1909 by the association barred architects from marketing themselves. Advertising in any form, even proposals and sketches, was prohibited by the professional organization, and it wasn’t until 1972 that the AIA finally agreed to allow members to market their services.
Malory Atkinson, CPSM
See MALORY ATKINSON, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 31, 2022, ISSUE 1463
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