4 networking strategies to grow your business
Managing an architectural business can be a balancing act. It’s essential to have enough work coming in the door, yet it is also important to work on projects that are engaging. Follow these networking strategies to grow your architectural business with the work that you want.
Create a Rich Company Culture
It is important to create brand ambassadors within your firm. When your architects interact with people from other companies, it’s helpful for them to understand your firm’s vision and to be comfortable speaking about it. In order to get to this point, you should ensure that you have a healthy company culture and that your employees are enthusiastic about it.
Embrace Speaking Opportunities
Speaking engagements are a great way to reach many people at once and interact with new audiences, with a minimal investment of your firm’s time. You never know who might be in the audience. Encourage audience engagement at the end and make yourself as approachable as possible. It’s also a great way to leverage other marketing and communications efforts by encouraging people to follow you on social media platforms or via an e-newsletter.
Expand Your Presence Online
Publishing online content is one of the fastest ways to grow your digital audience. Instagram is a great way to captivate fans with visual appeal. Post pictures of your projects and work by other architects that you admire. Create a blog on your website to acquaint visitors with your firm and help with search engine optimization. Consider using LinkedIn to remotely network with professionals in a similar line of business. Periodic e-newsletters are also a great way to stay in touch with existing contacts.
Collaborate with Colleagues
Do you know of architectural firms with complementary expertise? It is easy to think of other architects as competition, but they can be sources of useful information and even opportunities to collaborate. Joining forces with another firm for a project can help strengthen a project proposal and create learning opportunities.
To help streamline your business operations and create more time for networking, it is essential to have business management solutions that fulfill the unique needs of architectural firms. A cloud-based project accounting software like BQE Core dramatically simplifies billing, accounting, business intelligence, and project management tasks. With Core, you’ll have the free time and the insights necessary to take your firm to the next level.
