Web design, social media, paid advertising, branding—digital marketing is a complex and multifaceted world. All these elements of digital marketing work together to boost your online identity as a whole.
Think of your digital marketing as a building. Your website is the facade; is it impressive? Beautiful? Inviting? Are the lights on? Or is your whole building mostly framework without many functioning systems?
Your marketing is worth the upgrade. Why? Because with excellent digital marketing, you can hyper-focus on your target audience and identify new leads without cold calling, extensive networking, or paying through the nose for ineffective ads.
The bottom line is that you want to attract more clients and optimize your return on investment (ROI). The following AEC marketing fundamentals will have you well on your way.
1. Getting Found with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a tried and true online marketing strategy that brings more traffic to your website. When done properly, SEO can get you high-quality leads for years to come.
SEO traffic comes from search engines like Google and Bing. Your SEO efforts should be geared toward creating helpful blog articles for high-value keywords. With the right keyword research, you can draw in traffic from users searching specifically for your architectural engineering services.
Note that SEO needs to be updated frequently. Be sure to stay abreast of Google’s search algorithms change and competitors improving their digital marketing efforts.
2. Getting Found in AE Industry Social Sectors
When you think of social media, you might think of apps your kids use for silly dances and videos. You might not think of AEC marketing.
But social media can do so much more than entertain. You’ve just got to figure out where your target audience hangs out. Spoiler alert: it’s probably the websites and apps you use.
And if you’re completely social media adverse, we can help. Typically, industry professionals use Twitter and LinkedIn, which have developed robust social environments in recent years.
Using hashtags and sharing helpful content that is relevant to your audience, you’ll gain exposure to a massive pool of industry professionals who need architectural engineering services. All the while, track important key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can always be improving your content.
There is a downside to “organic” (meaning it’s not paid advertising) SEO and social media. Even with the best architectural marketing agency using industry knowledge to grow your business, organic SEO and social media take consistent work over a few months to pay off, so patience is a must.
The absolute upside is that your content is building authority, gaining exposure, and gathering data over this period of time, making it even more valuable. In other words, start investing in organic search and social yesterday.
3. Getting Found Fast with Paid Advertising
Don’t have time to wait? Effective paid advertising can get your website traffic in minutes. Of course, it has to be the right paid campaign in front of the right audience at the right time on the right platform.
We’ve had great results for the AEC industry on Google Ads, but consider ads on other platforms depending on your target audiences, such as Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Ads.
Your organic SEO and social presence will be able to inform your paid advertising efforts. Using this data, you’ll know where your ideal customer hangs out, what interests them, and how to reach them more efficiently.
In fact, regular research and analysis will help make your total AEC marketing efforts more efficient. With digital marketing, you can easily drop what’s not working and focus your efforts where it is.
4. Finding the Right Architectural Marketing Agency
Not all marketing agencies can handle all industries. Working with an architectural marketing agency that is already familiar with your market, understands your value, and has years of skin in the game will get you ahead of your competitors much faster than an agency that has to learn the ropes.
Put AEC Marketing Fundamentals to Work for You
Snap Agency knows the benefits smart digital marketing nets businesses. We can help you discover your audience, research and implement traffic-driving keywords, and increase your ROI.