The following elements make up a compelling brand:
- Design (logo, color palette, typography, images, video, audio, UX)
- Mission statement
- Marketing materials
- Vocabulary and tone of voice
- Market positioning (value proposition)
Your architecture firm’s design elements should be recognizable across assets. Whether customers see an ad, receive an email, hear a radio ad or visit the firm’s website, they should be able to easily tell that they all belong to your business.
The unity and consistency of the color palette, vocabulary and media quality help reinforce your firm’s presence and keep it top of mind for in-market clients.
Your architecture firm needs a mission statement that goes deeper than “to build buildings.” Although building and designing buildings may be exactly what your firm does, a mission statement encapsulates why your architecture firm exists and the change it hopes to create in the world through the work it does.
For example, Solstice Architects’ mission statement could be summed up: “To change the way people live through designing truly memorable and timeless buildings.”
When crafting a mission statement, it can be helpful to consult satisfied customer reviews and testimonials to identify what meant the most to them while working with your firm.
Marketing materials (created with your firm’s brand’s design elements in mind) work to establish brand identity in more ways than advertising. The marketing channels your firm chooses to invest in speak to your brand as well.
This determination is largely based on who your architecture firm’s target audience is and where they spend their attention and money. Trade shows? Social media? Radio or podcasts? Community events? Conferences? No matter where or how your firm markets, do your research to ensure your target audience will be listening and that your materials resonate.
Your architecture firm’s choice of vocabulary and tone of voice will influence everything from copywriting to sales pitches to product names. For example, choosing to describe your firm’s environmentally friendly materials as sustainable, planet-conscious or earth-first all bring a subtle difference and atmosphere to your brand. Additionally, choosing to write in an active voice rather than a passive voice can imbue your brand with contagious liveliness.
Your firm’s market position or value proposition will define the business’s niche and will influence how other branding elements should be crafted. Does your architecture firm design new residential spaces? Imagine remodels? Work solely on commercial developments or government buildings?
Within your architecture firm’s target audience, define exactly what sets your firm apart from the competition and the immediate value that customers will experience while working with the firm. For example, an architecture firm’s value proposition that designs senior living communities could be, “adding dignity and fun to every resident through thoughtful building design.”