CREJ - Building Dialogue - March 2016

Time to Focus on Market Development Again?

A new year is upon us, along with an increasing number of unknowns when it comes to our economy and its trajectory over the coming years. At the end of January, when this column was submitted, the stock market had already put everyone on notice that 2016 would be an unusually volatile, unpredictable year due to increasing turmoil – economic and political – around the globe. This, coupled with the fact that the health of the AEC industry is heavily dependent on the health of the economy, makes it a good time to begin prioritizing forward-thinking, longer-term marketing efforts again. According to David Gergen, an adviser to four U.S. presidents and now a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School who spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, “We have a coming together of events that are confusing, volatile and dangerous.” While the last few years have been extraordinarily busy for most Colorado design, engineering and construction firms, giving everyone the opportunity to recover from the Great Recession and ease up on strategic marketing efforts a bit, our industry is indeed cyclical. This means that boom times eventually will evolve into more competitive times. With that in mind, a few marketing truisms might be helpful reminders as we look ahead.

Perception is Reality: Your firm’s identity and image in the marketplace are nearly always a complex blend of fact and fiction. How you’re viewed from the outside is rarely based on what you see or know on the inside. Former American political strategist Lee Atwater once said, “Perception is reality; the facts won’t matter in next year’s election.” While he was referring to a presidential campaign at the time, his statement is just as relevant when it comes to how people perceive your firm. It doesn’t matter what the facts are, or what is actually true, your firm’s image in the marketplace is driven by personal biases and individual perceptions, misguided or not. This theory, historically attributed to Descartes, is also referred to as “metaphysical subjectivism” – the understanding that reality is what we perceive to be real, independent of any underlying truth. The good news is that you do have at least some control over how others perceive your firm in terms of value, relevance, reputation, competition and position in the marketplace. But it takes an ongoing effort and a proactive identity-development plan to assure your success or failure in this area. Firms that assume others perceive them as they see themselves (all positive, of course) generally allow the market to draw its own conclusions, but may or may not be pleased with the results. On the other hand, those that take this reality seriously, and make a consistent effort to strategically mold that perception, tend to reap greater rewards. Do not assume that just because you do good work, have talented people or are a high-integrity firm that the marketplace knows this to be true. Without effective intervention, the broad-based perception of who you are is likely less clear and more out of focus than you know.

The Value of Strategy: Someone once said, “If you don't know where you’re going, any road can take you there.” This is true whether you’re looking at your life, your family, your career or your firm. Without clear objectives, supported by thoughtful, detailed strategies designed to help fulfill those objectives, most of us will end up somewhere we never intended to go. Many firms spend time at the end of each year assessing where they’ve been, and looking forward to what they want to accomplish in the year ahead. Unfortunately, however, focus is often lost before the hard work of nailing down a strategy that supports those goals is finalized. Or, marketing efforts ultimately revert to the habitual, but inefficient, proposal chase. While creating a highly formalized strategic plan is unnecessary for most firms (the majority end up sitting on a shelf collecting dust), what is necessary is an informal overview of how you plan to get where you want to go, how you will overcome the obstacles ahead, and where you will find the necessary resources in terms of revenue, staffing, research, outside support, etc. Further, a detailed breakdown of the tactics that must be implemented to fulfill your strategy and objectives, paired with appropriate timelines, will go a long way toward achieving your desired outcomes.


Marketing Expertise: An expert is not always the person who has all the “right” answers. He or she is more often the thoughtful person who asks the right questions, then listens with a desire to learn and understand. It is natural to want to boast about our capabilities and experience, or rush to share our knowledge – particularly in interviews. Yet, German language poet Rainer Marie Rilke once said, “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue.” While his words do not apply directly to our work environments, his point is worth pondering. Similar to the design process, the quality of the “questions” we ask has the potential to bring forth a richer, deeper understanding of that which was once “foreign” and/or unknown. So rather than focus on having all the answers, asking more thoughtful, penetrating questions may be a skill worth honing to unlock your clients true needs and desires.

Leveraging Media: Our media offer one of the most powerful ways to communicate your message and help others understand who you are. Thus, thoughtfully leveraged opportunities over time will not only increase your firm’s visibility, but also help you establish an identity you can build upon. But, Cynthia Kemper Principal, Marketekture Colorado Pulse MARCH 2016 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 15 Colorado Pulse simply publishing an article about one of your projects in a trade magazine isn’t what I'm referring to here. Media relations is much more nuanced and strategic than that. What you publish, where it’s placed, the focus of the story, the messages it communicates, and how it fits into your overall market development strategy are what will determine the impact of your efforts. In fact, focusing on the wrong piece at the wrong time, or wasting an opportunity that is not strategically aligned with your overall goals, can actually diminish your efforts or confuse the marketplace. Because editors and reporters no longer have time to track down most stories on their own, approximately 90 percent of non-investigative news is placed or pitched by outside parties today. This makes implementation of an ongoing, strategic media effort a necessity if a firm cares about its competitive position in the marketplace and how it is perceived. A skilled professional with the right contacts and proven knowledge can help you reap serious rewards over time, but like everything that lasts, gaining good, positive visibility that supports your firm’s overall growth objectives requires a proactive plan and hard work on everyone’s part over the long term.