The way we present and communicate an architecture project can make the difference between gaining the desired attention or not. This article outlines a sequence of essential steps for effectively communicating any project that deserves to be showcased clearly and engagingly. We will focus on an approach that takes into account the complexity and breadth of the web, to provide information in the most direct and effective way possible. We will explore practical tools and tips to better understand your audience, create valuable content, stand out from the constant flow of online information, and enhance the effectiveness of your marketing and communication activities.
In this post, you will learn all the necessary steps to communicate an architecture project or any other creation that deserves to be told. We will see a method capable of providing the final recipient with all the information in the simplest and most effective way. A true method that could be repeated in series. A way of writing and presenting content that perfectly adapts to the logic of the web.
First, ask yourself who you are dealing with and put yourself in their shoes. This is my first piece of advice, but I admit it is not always easy to implement. The reader could be a potential client, a student browsing the web endlessly, an architect looking for work, or someone seeking inspiration.
Initial Considerations for Spreading an Architecture Project
Considering that it is very difficult to define the users of your communication—here arise the first two reflections: the first is that simplicity and clarity of expression are always appreciated by everyone; the second is that the potential client often is not an industry insider, and therefore, there is all the more reason to present your projects in the most immediate and understandable way possible. This avoids the risk of excluding anyone.
I would add a third reflection. In the world of the web, there are billions of contents and everyone is bombarded by thousands of pieces of information daily. Therefore, if we want to “capture” the client’s attention, we must find a way to distinguish ourselves from the tangled mass that the web represents. Once this is done, we should also be able to reach as many people as possible. Even better if these people are within our target audience.
Differentiate ourselves and make ourselves noteworthy in the eyes of our potential interlocutors. A surely arduous task, but one we can divide into three steps to make our mission easier:
- Creation of valuable content (excellent texts and excellent images)
- Immediacy, simplicity, originality, and authenticity in both the texts and the accompanying media.
- Distribution of the content across multiple channels
The Checklist for Communicating an Architecture Project
In addition to the initial considerations, here are the steps that are part of my method for best publishing a project and maximizing marketing and communication activities.
All the steps I anticipate in this list will be explained one by one in the following paragraphs. But at least you begin to get an idea!
Here are the steps:
- Define the media kit (here you write the text and select the images)
- Publish on the site (here you take care of the SEO aspects)
- Publish on social media
- Send the media kit to journalists and bloggers
- Send a dedicated email
- Upload to industry platforms
- Consider subscribing to awards
- Other possible content like news, interviews, or editorial projects
Write a Good Text
Just as reading on the web is different from reading a book, writing on the web is different from writing a book, an essay, or a report.
Whether it’s a brief description of a slide, a text column in a project board, a technical report, a methodological one, or the introduction to a book or a conference you have been asked to write; writing well and managing to be read from the first to the last line is very important.
To do this, you do not need a particular talent (although it certainly helps), but many tricks that I will explain in this post can help tremendously.
There are various writing techniques, everyone has their idea and method; however, there is often a common point to all these techniques: defining the content outline.
Defining the outline (the structure, the summary) of what you will write can certainly help you define the contents and express them in the best way possible.
Making an outline is simple. You just need a pen and a piece of paper. Ask yourself what you want to tell and what is the best way to do it. Put yourself in your reader’s shoes, and everything else will follow.
To help you, you can already start by establishing the sections your texts should have. For example, Bowerbird suggests always starting from the “project brief”, then defining the “challenges” of the project, and finally moving on to the “solutions” adopted to overcome them.
These “pillars” are certainly useful for most work; however, some projects might be more complex or have an even more articulated development.
I personally refer more to the teachings of Carter Wiseman in the book Writing Architecture. Among the many useful tips that can be found in that book, there is certainly one that involves the propaedeutic setting of texts.
I have talked about this extensively in this article about writing on Architecture. If you want to delve deeper, I suggest you read it, otherwise, here is a general summary that is more than enough to get started.
The author suggests opening the narrative by immediately trying to grab the reader’s attention to convince them that it’s worth continuing to read (and this is advice that always applies in any case). To do this, you must offer a preview of what will be told by mentioning the thesis/main content.
Immediately after this first part – which should be brief, but which can also be extended (always with the aim of enticing the reader to continue) – you should offer the reader a sort of contextual background where it is propaedeutic and then be able to communicate our actual content.
In the central part, the real core of our work is then recounted. That is, the actual description of the project or our idea, our thesis. The center of the discussion, in short.
Once the content has been exhausted, you can proceed towards the conclusion – perhaps summarizing what has just been said and also including a call back to the explanations of the context. This can be useful in making the concepts easier for readers to remember.
The ending should always be special. Maybe referring to another of our projects, or perhaps leaving the reader with a question related to the content. Such a question should arouse reflections on their part or, even better, make them want to get in touch with us. There are many solutions for the ending, and they largely depend on everything that comes before.
Now that you have a slightly more defined idea of how and why you should have the structure in mind before starting to write headlong, we can move on to more practical advice.
Other Practical Tips for Telling a Project
No to the wall of words.
Always opt for division into paragraphs and for the use of bold; if it is your style and the style of the media on which you are writing.
The so-called “wall of words” is when we are discouraged by seeing a web page dense with words without any formatting. In these cases, we have no way of investigating the content or the parts that interest us beforehand. The only way to find out if there is what we are looking for would be to read from the first to the last line. Unfortunately, however, we are often in a hurry and rarely have the certainty of finding what we are looking for.
For this reason, I strongly advise you to divide the text into paragraphs and assign a specific theme to each of them. By doing this, in addition to giving the page a better visual appearance, the reader, who does not always have all the necessary time to read your entire article, can focus only on what really interests them. For this reason, it is appropriate to make each paragraph as independent as possible, while also trying to frame (with bold or subtitles, for example) what specific topic it deals with more specifically.
Keep SEO in mind and include internal links
SEO is that “science” that studies the techniques and strategies to appear among the first results of search engines given a keyword. It is a quite complex subject and if you want to know more (I strongly suggest it if you are writing on the web), then read this dedicated article.
For now, what you need to know is that even when you are setting up your narrative, you should think of a specific theme, identified in one or more words, and from there start to build your narrative. Later, when you go to optimize the post for SEO, everything will be simpler for you.
It is also very useful to insert internal links to your site that lead the reader to discover other content you have previously published. Just as I did a few lines ago. They can be similar projects or other realizations where you have performed the same services, for example. This is good both in terms of SEO and for retaining the visitor longer on your site. The important thing is always to do it with a sense and only to offer the reader an actual reference related to the topic.
Do not neglect the conclusion.
If a reader gets to read the end of your article, it means that they appreciated it – or at least that they deemed it appropriate to devote their time to reading it. In either case, in the last lines, you are addressing your best readers, so do not hesitate to invoke a call to action or to ask for comments or advice.
Leverage images. Build a coherent narrative through them as well.
Today more than ever and increasingly we are a culture based on images and visuals. Perhaps too much. Apart from the pros and cons of this fact, what you should be able to do while telling an architecture project is to be able to insert images in the text that can frame the themes discussed. An additional guide for the reader who accompanies him visually in the narrative. Try to avoid inserting the images randomly or all collected at the end of the article. If you can, insert them in specific paragraphs and show them one after the other so as to reveal even to the most “superficial” glances the content you are showing.
What could be a good structure to represent and communicate a project? Here is an excellent example.
Spread Your Project on the Web
At the introduction of this conclusive paragraph – essential to communicate an architecture or design project – I immediately refer to another article on Digital PR for architects and designers. It is a complementary in-depth look at this that illustrates six simple steps to ensure your projects are published in magazines and blogs. I know there’s always a lot to read and that you have little time, but trust me, it’s worth it if you want to delve into these aspects!
If, on the other hand, you want to get straight to the point, then you might be interested in the Digital PR Kit for Architects that you find in our Marketplace. Otherwise, here are some practical and useful tips for communicating your project and spreading it as widely as possible.
Publish it on Architecture Platforms
I’m talking about the various Archilovers, Architizer, Archello, Archinect, and so on. In a few steps, you can open your account and circulate your project hoping that it will be noticed by the editorial teams!
Publish it on your social channels
Your social channels are the most direct media you will ever have to communicate a project. Do it smartly, though. For example, if you have an unpublished photo shoot of your latest realization, try first of all to propose it to some online or offline journalistic outlet. Very often, if the material is unpublished, and therefore an exclusive, the magazines appreciate it very much.
Publish it through a dedicated newsletter
If you already have an active and functioning newsletter, then prepare a dedicated release. This step is more than natural and your subscribers will be glad to learn about the novelty. There are several ways to write great newsletters, one of which is to provide additional and exclusive content addressed only to newsletter subscribers. In this way, they will be pleased to receive your updates also by email and will stay more willingly in your mailing list.
Send the post freely to editorial teams
Sending your media kit to blogs, magazines, and industry journals is the best way to exponentially increase the visibility of your project and your studio. It is certainly not simple and success is by no means guaranteed. However, you have to start somewhere. I recommend reading this article, or taking a look at the Digital PR Kit for Architects.
Consider entering your project in one of the many international Awards dedicated to architecture
Entering a contest is an excellent strategy to try to make your architecture project as known as possible. Although entry to the Awards is often and willingly for a fee – generally from one hundred euros to even over five hundred – it is advisable to inform yourself well before proceeding with the actual registration. The things to consider are the actual potential of the project, trying to be honest with yourself, and whether the category in which we are registering the project is coherent or not. To help you get an idea and orient yourself among the numerous architecture awards that exist; I wrote this dedicated article.
I hope this post will be useful to you. Writing and communicating a project is certainly not a simple thing that you learn overnight. My advice is to try to improve as much as possible right from the start. You will see that step by step, day after day, you will start seeing results in terms of visits, feedback, and perhaps even compliments or exchanges of ideas.
Communicating the project is still something complex and transversal. For this reason, during the post, I strongly advised you to expand your study by reading other in-depth looks.
Do not hesitate to contact me or write in the comments if you have any questions, advice, or other points of view!
