Content marketing for architects requires a network. Collaborations and partnerships with industry professionals, influencers, and publications can help you reach a wider audience in the field of design and beyond. Understanding the digital landscape of design is key to building those relationships. Here are 4 channels/strategies to amplify your content, including how to pitch a design project to publications:
- Guest Blogging: Write guest posts for reputable industry publications, such as Architectural Record or Architizer, to showcase your expertise and attract new readers to your blog.
- Content Collaborations: Collaborate with other architects, designers, or industry influencers to create content that combines different perspectives and expertise. This can include co-authored blog posts, joint webinars, or podcast interviews. For podcast inspiration, listen to our Mastermind member Adrian Ramsay’s TALKdesign show and journey into the minds of the people who shape thinking with design here.
- Cross-Promotion: Partner with complementary businesses or industry organizations to cross-promote each other's content, such as sharing each other's blog posts on social media or featuring each other in email newsletters.
- PR and Media Outreach: Share your content with industry journalists and media outlets to gain exposure and secure coverage in relevant publications. Learning how to pitch a design project to publications is a useful skill that will boost your brand exponentially.
How to pitch a design project to publications like Dezeen and ArchDaily
As listed above, one method of digital marketing for architects is to pitch the kind of projects that bring you confidence, high income, and fulfillment of your mission. Elevating your voice shows your clients that you are a thought leader fueled by expertise well above that of the competition, positioning you at the top of the power pyramid.
Our most stellar example of the AMI content team's pitching process is the successful media campaign for Mastermind member Tim Alatorre who is designing the very first space hotel, the Voyager Station and Pioneer Station. As we expressed at the start of this journey, Tim is taking one large step for architect kind. Since our content team led Tim on an astronomical PR path, his space station project has gone viral. The project has been published on more than 100 websites like Dezeen and ArchDaily within the first few weeks and most recently Architectural Digest… How on earth did this happen?
Pitching your design project from start to finish
To create a media kit, we gathered images (renderings and plans), the projected start and completion dates, a list of materials/products that could be used, and the name and firm name of each person on the team.
Key to any team building is taking initiative, and in this case, Tim was proactive from the start. Receptive to our content team's process of writing, editing, and pitching project stories, he presented the necessary items, seemingly, at the speed of light.
– Name of Project: Von Braun Space Station (now the Voyager Station and Pioneer Station)
– Dates: Start construction by 2021 and have station fully occupied by 2025 (now projected for 2027)
– Owner: The Gateway Foundation plus the names of the team members (now Orbital Assembly)
The renderings harkened to classic sci-fi depictions of a rotating space station, the interior being designed as a hotel, bar and restaurant. Aligned with Tim's sustainability-centered philosophy, the first two products on the materials list were a highly sustainable 3D composite for furniture crafting and cork flooring to create a sense of belonging in an unfamiliar environment. Grounding terrestrial project to feel familiar and secure, Tim has named his California firm Domum which is Latin for “coming home.”
Lifting Tim’s voice into the digital atmosphere, our content team included in the media kit the original newsletter article they had worked on together. While not every editor contacted responded, the first one who took the bait was from an especially prominent platform: Dezeen. This editor of the leading “international hub for edgy architecture” replied to our email referencing a previous article they had posted about space architecture and asking if they’d be interested in featuring this space station hotel, and he swiftly set up an online interview with Tim. Soon after, Dezeen's article garnered 50K readers in four days.
Meanwhile, the story piqued the interest of hundreds of other outlets upon steady “win-back emails” that kept the initial pitch at the top of their inboxes. The New York Post was watching … when they reached out to Tim, he handed off that media kit right away. When the Post published their own story, for weeks he would wake up to yet another email from an eager reporter. In addition to websites centered on outer space, the project attracted prominent design outlets Architectural Digest, House Beautiful and Elle Decor. Major news sources ABC News, NBC News and Daily Mail covered the project, too. During the initial PR launch, the space station hotel project was published 90 times in English, many more in other languages, and counting, from New York to Israel…and beyond.
Inspired by the reach of this now-international PR campaign, our content editor Sienna Heath developed a fresh angle to the story on how architecture can save the world. Contrary to prevailing complaints about investing in space architecture, projects such as the space station hotel could very well save our planet from the impending climate crisis.
Sienna's article, Sustainability in Space: What California Green Building Standards and the Von Braun Space Station Have in Common, set ablaze the high profile platform ArchDaily — quoting Tim’s wise words: “Two weeks in the Heavens could be paradise, but only if it’s well designed.”
Learn more about how to pitch a design project to publications and more
Want to implement this strategy to pitch to national or international publications, or perhaps to local or regional ones? For Tim's whole success story on how to effectively pitch your project or story angle to a publication, check out this article and his interview with Richard here.
Curious to learn more about how to market your architectural services? Discover Why Digital Marketing for Architects Makes an Impact here.