Ep. 70: What marketing tip would you give a practice starting out today?
Welcome to The Built Environment Marketing Show.
It’s our 4th birthday this week, so I’m doing a very special episode this week with one question and answers from lots of lovey different people.
Enjoy.
About the show
Today's episode is a celebration of The Built Environment Marketing Show's 4th birthday this week.
This episode is one where I've invited people to answer the question: "What one tip would you give to a practice starting out today?".
And you'll hear responses across three main themes.
Thanks so much to those who took part.
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Transcript
Ayo Abbas 00:05
Hello, and welcome to a very special episode of The Built Environment Marketing Show. It is our fourth birthday. So this week on July the 3rd, 2020, I launched the very first episode of this podcast. Of course, the podcast is still hosted by me, Ayo Abbas, and I am a marketing consultant, speaker and trainer. And I work predominantly with built environment fans. When I launched the show on the third of July 2020. My first guests were Rob Sargent and Rachel Bell from Stride Treglown, who didn't know me but kindly took a chance on me starting out as a podcaster. And writing to them saying, I love your stuff. Will you come on my show, a couple of name changes and some format changes along the way have happened, but the premise of the show has always remained consistent. The aim of this podcast is always about showcasing marketing, best practice for built environment firms. And yes, I really do write to people and just say, I love your stuff, will you come on? And many of them actually say yes, even if they haven't heard of us, which is lovely. I think one of the things for me is that there are so many fantastic marketers, and we're often hidden behind the figurehead of a firm were often seen as the support were often not the kind of, I guess we're not always the kind of core of a business is what I like to say. And I think in some ways, we need to take the spotlight more, we need to show our value, particularly now, as the market is getting tougher. Because if we're not showing our value, we're actually talking about how absolutely fantastic we are and the work that we do, and how important it is to their businesses. We're easy to get rid of. And that's one of the reasons why I think best practice and showing how things can be done. And I guess just inspiring other marketers to do even better. It's another part of the show, it definitely has to be anyway, with a built environment marketing show is produced by me, scripted by me, hosted by me and also paid for by me. It's an independent podcast. So if any way that you can support, it would be really great because it is a lot to do. So make sure you're following us on Apple or Spotify. Depending on where you listen, make sure you do leave us a review, because that's really, really handy. It means we get a lot more traffic, and a lot more people finding out about the show. And also, if you like the show, or you've heard something you've learned, why not do a little post on socials, that always works tag me in as well. I can be found at @Ayoabbas, both on LinkedIn and also on Instagram, Twitter, don't really bother with that or X, it's a bit of a cesspit. Also, one more thing you could do is if you liked the show, share it with someone else who you think might find it valuable as well, because that's also a great way of spreading the word. I have to be honest and say that I had a few weeks off because I needed a break, really. But now I'm kind of back in the swing of things. So in two weeks time, there'll be one more episode for me. And then after that, I'm going to do a very special mini series called practical snacks, which will be 10 minute short, weekly, short episodes, practical tips on topics like SEO or website home pages. And actually, if you've got any ideas on what topics I should cover that will short episodes, little small topics, do email me, ayo@abbasmarketing.com, because I will be recording that in a couple of weeks time, so I might be able to cover it. Thank you. Anyway, back to today's episode. And today what I did was I put out a special question, which was, what marketing tip would you give to a practice starting out today? And some lovely people have left voice notes for me. And that is going to make up the majority of this episode. So let's give them a listen to the show. Enjoy. Strategy
Julia Nicholls 03:45
Hi, oh, it's Julia Nichols. I would say my one tip is to make sure that you're thinking strategically. Because I feel like long term thinking is often something that falls to the bottom of a to do list. While you focused on the kind of day to day demands. And I also think it's something that some people find them an uncomfortable aspect of their business. And so they kind of ignore it until their project pipeline looks a bit sketchy. But for me, all communications activity should be strategic. What I mean by that is supporting your future goals by making meaningful connections with the people you want to be working with. And if you're not sort of working towards a plan, you risk not being recognized in your specific sector, not being front of mind for upcoming opportunities. Failing to highlight how your skills can support clients and not using your time effectively. So, for me, it's really crucial to be thinking long term strategically from the start. Three top tips for thinking strategically would be firstly to create a business vision. Secondly, to understand who it is that you're talking into that you'd like to be working with. And thirdly, assess the tools that you have at hand and which ones are going to suit your audience the best. And I think that once you know yourself and your vision, and you know your audiences better, that brings clarity to communications and establishes you as a supportive, knowledgeable and helpful ally. That's my tip.
Rob Fiehn 05:23
My one piece of advice for someone starting a practice today, be just start thinking about communications from the very outset. This is your chance to set an agenda and shape how people perceive your work and ethos. If you're unsure on the best route, to look at what your peers are up to, and ask around, don't just sit in your studio and wonder why the phone isn't ringing.
Pascale Scheurer 05:45
Hi, I'm Pascal and my marketing tip for any practice starting out is to be absolutely focused on your superpower. What makes you unique? What makes you stand out? What can you do better than anybody else?
Ayo Abbas 06:04
Audience
Lynda Thompson 06:06
Hello, the marketing tip I would give is not start from scratch with understanding your audience. There's a lot of information already out there, and you can access a lot of it, you may well have to pay for a bit of it. But I do think that you shouldn't start from scratch and try and understand the people that you're trying to serve. Unless you've actually looked at what's already out there. Thank you very much. This is Lynda Thompson LT research. Thank you. Bye.
Amy Edwards 06:33
Hi, this is Amy from Markedly. One tip for marketing for practices starting out today would be to really understand your audience well, before you start any of your marketing activities. And the reason I say that is because it allows you to position yourself right in the market. It allows you to choose the right platforms to use to be able to market your practice. And it also allows you to use the right tone of voice so that you know that you're talking to the right audience so that you can attract the right types of jobs to your practice. Good luck.
Shirin Iqbal 07:04
Hi, this is Shirin Iqbal, My one tip for a new business would be to really understand your audience. What do they want to hear from you? What do they need to hear from you? And how can you translate your USP into something meaningful for them?
Ayo Abbas 07:27
Branding and final thoughts.
Angela Lyons 07:30
My one tip for starting out in a new business today would be to work out your brand, not just your logo, because your brand is not just your logo, but to work out what you stand for your tone of voice, who you'll be delivering to. And then you can work out all the fun nice stuff in creating the graphics and the presentations. But my one thing would be to tell people who you are and to get your to get your branding across there, to get you, to tell people who you are. And the way to do that is to get your branding out there. And to make it consistent, definitely making consistent. So that goes across from your website, your social media, and also your presentations that you deliver to your clients, have something consistent. And again, if you're starting out in business, it's great to have a brand in place. And you don't have to go all in because at the end of the day, you are starting out as a company. And if you're a small business or starting out, you won't have lots and lots of finance to invest in a brand. But if you have, of course, that's great. But if you haven't, I will say start small, you can actually do a DIY branding yourself. And then I would move on to a bigger company once you're more established, and you've got things in place. But again, consistency is the key. So I would if I was starting out today, I'd always advise people to start off with a brand and not just your logo and have things in place. So when you're handing out presentations to people, they can see your company name, they can see who you are. And then if you handed that if somebody handed that brochure to somebody else, they know who you are. And also if they want to follow you up online, they'd see the same branding in place. So again, just keeping it keeping it consistent across all channels. Yeah, that'd be my one tip. And I'm sure there are many others. But that would be my one particular tip. Especially coming from a background in design and setting up brands for companies. It's always good to have your brand in place and your guidelines to keep it consistent. I hope that helps.
Alex McCann 09:49
Hi, I'm Alex McCann from Manchester based social media company, Altrincham HQ And my biggest tip for a practice starting out today is don't just leave marketing to The marketing department marketing has to be across the whole organisation. And that means getting your staff involved from every department or as many digital champions as possible, putting their messages alongside a consistent brand message on social media. So yes, that means LinkedIn for all. Yes, that might mean Twitter X role, or yes, that might mean just contributing towards the Facebook and Instagram content in terms of photos and videos, more voices, more amplification, and people care more about people than they care about logos.
Ashley Faughel 10:40
Hi, I'm Ashley Faughel, Director of marketing and comms at 10 Design. And my one tip absolutely has to be that communications within the architecture industry. Don't need to be serious to be taken seriously. Really do show your personality and process. Thanks.
Ayo Abbas 10:54
Thanks so much for listening to The Built Environment Marketing Show. Don't forget to check out the shownotes which will have useful links and resources connected to this episode. You can find that on www.abbasmarketing.com. And of course if you liked the show, please do share it with others on social as it helps more people to find us. See you soon.
