Firm Marketing From the Client Perspective 2006 doc

AIA 2006 National Convention and Design Exposition
Firm Marketing
From the Client Perspective
Session FR06
June 9, 2006
8:15 - 9:45 am
This program is registered with the AIA/CES for
continuing professional education. As such, it
does not include content that may be deemed or
construed to be an approval or endorsement by
the AIA of any material of construction or any
method or manner of handling, using, distributing,
or dealing in any material or product. Questions
related to specific materials, methods, and
services may be addressed at the conclusion of
this presentation.
Jamie Rice
Chief Strategy Officer
Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc.
Agenda
1. Marketing basics
2. About clients
3. Finding your message
4. Building a marketing plan
5. Role of the AIA brand
1. Marketing basics
A sales-oriented firm tries to get the client to
want what the firm has.
A marketing-oriented firm tries to get the firm
to have what the client needs.
Firm

Client
Marketing is all about
perspective
YOURS
Firm
Client
THEIRS
Marketing is all about
perspective
What is a brand?
• Set of Expectations about the Experience
• Customer Promise/Covenant
• More Emotional than Rational
• Single greatest asset
Brands exist solely in the mind of customers
“Everything matters.”
Scott Bedbury
A New Brand World
Brand vs. Position
• A brand is who you are
– Across all audiences
– Consistent over time
• A position is your relationship to the
competitive frame
– Can differ by audience, segment
– Can change as offerings change
Position elements
• Audience
– Who you work for
• Offer

– What you do
– How you do it
• Benefit
– Outcome for the client
Marketing basics
• View everything from the client’s
perspective
• Your brand is a set of expectations
– Clients, Employees, Partners
• Your position is how you are different
– Audience, offer, benefit
2. About clients
Clients are people.
People do business with people.
“My space. My project.”
• Clients are emotionally invested in the
project.
• They’ve been thinking about it for a long
time.
• It’s exciting to be talking to someone who
can make it real, and even better than they
imagine.
Client mind-sets
• Owner/operators
• Builders of product
• Government
Source: The Client Experience 2002
Owner/operators
• Building/managing space is not their primary
business

• Human outcomes matter
– Healing, learning, productivity, comfort
• Longer-term focused
• Longer-term relationship oriented
• Typical segments
– Education, Healthcare, Homeowners, Institutional
(church, club), Corporate headquarters
Source: The Client Experience 2002
Builders of product
• Development is their business
• Marketability is a core driver
• Have an established process and
relationships
• Typical segments
– Commercial office, mixed-use development,
multi-family residential
Source: The Client Experience 2002
Government
• Constrained by legislative/regulatory
directions, even if they don’t want to be
• The public (voters) and legislative/
executive branches are their primary
concerns
• Long-term matters, but only as prescribed
by regulation/statute
Source: The Client Experience 2002
Selection process
• Start with what and who they know
– Delighted clients are your best marketing channel
• Your work

– Category expertise reduces risk
– Visible proof
•You
– Chemistry is always the deciding factor
• Do they listen?
• Do they understand us?
Source: The Client Experience 2002
About clients
Clients are people.
People hire people.
3. Finding your message
• Context
– What clients
want the experience to be.
•Truth
– What the experience is
today.
•Vision
–What you
want the experience to be.
Finding your message
• Ask questions and listen to the response
– Your clients know who you are and what’s
important to them.
– Your prospects know your competitors
– Your employees know who you are (and are
not).
– You should know who you want to be.
Asking questions
• Stories matter

– Platitudes and generalities don’t deliver real
information
• Ask for specifics
– “Tell me about the most recent time you…”
– “Can you give me an example?”
Talk to your clients
• They love you (or at least respect you)
– They must, or they wouldn’t have hired you
• They are flattered to be asked
– Almost everyone likes to be valued
• They have a perspective that you don’t
– You will learn something that will help your
current work as well as your marketing
Questions for clients
• Have you referred our firm to others?
– Can you give me an example?
– Why did you think we’d be a good fit with that client?
– Did you share a specific story about us with them?
• How are we similar or different from other firms
you’ve met or worked with?