STORYWISE

STRATEGY & COMMUNICATIONS 2.0

RETHINK & REBUILD IN LIGHT OF THE SOCIAL WEB

PUBLICITY FOR ARCHITECTS GETTING STARTED: 2.0 STYLE

This is the presentation from my guest lecture at the Willem de Kooning Academy of Art & Design, Rotterdam - with notes added from the questions and comments. Thank you to Marta Gonzlez Antn, Master Interior Architecture & Retail Design Professional Practice course leader 2012-2013, and all the participants. It was a genuine pleasure! Good luck.

About
Marketing & publicity 2.0 style should start simple. Content is the currency of the social web. Publishing content, promoting it & connecting through it is the key. Focus on the core content you already have. Create a blog. Publish. Share with your network from there. Add a little promotion for bigger projects or exhibitions. Scale out over time: you are what you publish!
8th October 2012 | Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam for Advanced Art & Design, Rotterdam Professional Practice Guest Lecture Master Interior Architecture & Retail Design: Publicity Course Steve Seager, Managing partner, strategy & communications 2.0 at Storywise.biz

Steve is a strategic communications, marketing & PR 2.0 professional and owner of Storywise.biz in Amsterdam. Over the past 20 years Steve has worked across industries, Europe and the Middle East in a variety of strategic and operational strategic communication roles. Storywise advises companies and organisations on strategy and communications for the social web.

Introduction
Times are tough for all Architects. Where should you start? I started by speaking with business managers, freelance architects & practices within my own network. Heres their take ...
Archined In the past you could find 100 live jobs. Job postings today down to 10-12. Sign o the times, Im afraid. So who does the hiring? Business managers (or HR) are looking for clean, well presented, intelligent solutions (ideally: from problem to added value) Lead architects looking mainly at quality of your solutions Both looking for fit with organisation first & foremost: Learn/ work opportunity? Take it! Employers start their hunt from the inside-out These people look first within their networks. Your end goal should be to join your network to theirs - and get your CV/ portfolio on their desk. Got friends & colleagues? Start with your own network. Do it now! Connect where/how you can, get references. Build out from there. Plus, attend the lectures that Architects & practices attend. Remember: one smart question will get you noticed!

Why publicity?
1. To position yourself
Let people know who you are - your particular skills and expertise. Carve your niche.

2. Communicate your value ...

... to the hirers practice or project: show how you work. Show them the value you can bring to the team. And eventually ... find the right employer.

Keep it simple, sweet & to the point. These people are looking flexible, responsive team members. They have a lot of CVs and portfolios to go through. And they have to make their decisions quickly.

Marketing yourself can seem complicated today

So many channels, so many tools & buzzwords. Gulp! So where should you start?

But theres only 5 building blocks

1. INFRASTRUCTURE
Starting from your blog, add core channels one by one

5. CONTENT
Publish valuable content that architects find valuable, share & talk about

2. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

Optimise for the keywords (your name + interior architect) that will get you found

3. WEB 2.0 TOOLS

Make it easy for people to share your content. Like you and follow you.

4. MONITORING & MEASURING

Track the results. Its reassuring to see progress over time. Keeps you sane.

1. Infrastructure: what channels do you need?

Keep it simple
Forget a big website. Start with a blog. Wordpress + a bit of design is the easiest way to get started. Wordpress means you can design it yourself. (Lots of free themes to work from - search for wordpress themes) Adding a page = simple. Its easy to use. After initial setup no ongoing costs. No IT support needed. (Thats why its so much easier than a website!) Easy to post. Easy to optimise (hence, no Flash! Use a JQuery slider/ HTML5) Easy to update. Lots of widgets available for free. Then add accounts - one by one, as you have time
Add a Scribd account (Scribd is to pdfs what Youtube is to Video). Convert your ppts to pdfs. Add them there. Create a Facebook page (You know Facebook already!) Share your stuff there. Got video? Create a vimeo channel (much more creative/hip than Youtube) Lots of photos? Add Flickr. Curate and share images on Pinterest! Add a slideshare account (Slideshare is to powerpoints what Youtube is to video) - so add your ppts there. Create an Architizer profile! And of course, a LinkedIn profile! Twitter? Lots of work, little results unless youre setting up your own practice.

Think of your blog as your content hub. Its your home - and the central place from which to publish and publicise. Make sure you use the term Interior Architect in all your channel profiles

2. Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Do two things!
I did a search for interior architect on Google.nl . This is the results over on the right. Shanaz Razik is on the first page. Smart. Why? Hardly anyone else has optimised! What to do: Add a Title Tag to your blog. Thats a bit of text that you can write = Your name + Interior architect retail If you do that, and publish content regularly on your blog , you have a good chance of getting high up too. Certainly, when anyoone searched for your name, all your channels we just mentioned will show. Add a Meta description. Thats the text underneath tha appears in Google search results. It says what you do and persuades people to click! All you have to do is write both of then = half hour? And give them to your web person.

3. 2.0 share tools: add digg digg to your blog

Its simple. Takes two minutes. It looks like that over on the right. It sits under every blog post.
Dont know how? Ask a geek who does. Its a plugin and takes about 10 minutes. Now, when people look at your pic of your project / concept and say: Ooh! Thats nice ... They can share it with their networks!

4. Get gmail. Install analytics

Again. its simple. It looks like that over on the right.
Dont know how? Again, ask a geek who does. Its a plugin and takes about 10 minutes. Plus it keeps you sane when you are wondering if anyone is checking out your stuff. Dont bother about the full analytics just focus on visits and time on site. That way you can track progress.

he .T r tte be the er. ts, bett isi e v , the or t e e m n si h !T eo re tim he r e s t mo cu Fo

5. Content. The tricky (but most important!) one.

To start, do two things ...

Create 2 .pdfs for your blog

One for business managers/HR: include your study, CV, - nice and clean, and the topline of what you can do. Focus on how you work within a team. One focused more on architects: include more detail, more sketches, outline the problem you solved. Focus on quality. Keep your vision short and sweet. Note: Keep it consistent: buzzword free. No extensive theories, please!

Post the full pdfs on a page in your blog For each pdf write a little blog post & link to the pdfs.

You can break down each image in the .pdfs & create a separate blog post & add some text. Be sure to optimise each image with your name! Thats enough to start!

Publicity: Every time you publish a post ...

Promote it! Build your network.
Once you have written you blog post, you should get busy promoting it! Its always good to start with your existing network. Linkedin: Update your status with a link to your post. Add a snappy description to make them click! Add a personal comment. Post your article in a relevant Linkedin Group as a discussion. Make your headline a question. Ask for a reaction. Facebook: If youve created a facebook page, then also add a link to your post there. Maybe your article is special enough to share with your friends too? Email: Drop your network a personal email to let them know you have published. Dont forget to add your blog URL to your email signature!

Related blog post for more information http://www.michielgaasterland.com/blogging/shameless-blog-promotion-ritual/

Done all that? Now, when someone Googles you ...

... the first results they see will be the profiles of all your channels and the content that you have posted.

By following these steps you will increase your visibility, and firmly position yourself as not only an Interior Architect, but also one who knows the importance of marketing & publicity. Thats a great start. Excluding the design of your blog, you can expect to take around 40 hours to set things up. Each post you post will take around 1 hour. Promoting each post takes around 1 hour. One post a week is a great place to start until you get into the of content one image you like swing. Shortlike. Critique it!week? Grab anNow share it in dont Explain why.
your network.

How it all fits together ...

1. PUBLISH OPTIMISED CONTENT IN YOUR BLOG

2. REPURPOSE/ REPUBLISH WHEN APPROPRIATE

3. SHARE/SYNDICATE IN YOUR SOCIAL CHANNELS

PUBLISH MORE OF WHAT WORKS!

R OU G Y O BL

6. MONITOR PROGRESS IN ANALYTICS

5. ENGAGE VISITORS IN CONVERSATION BACK IN THE BLOG

4. BIG PROJECT? OR EXHIBITION? PUBLICISE WITH A FREE PRESS RELEASE WHEN APPROPRIATE

R OU G Y O BL

Examples of clean, simple, effective blogs

http://www.fase13.nl/

http://www.groupalive.com/

http://www.landscapeisleading.com

THANKYOU!
Go Create, Publish, Promote & Connect!