2024 will be a tough year and marketing budgets may be under scrutiny. So, what are the best ways to get your practice noticed in 2024 and what should you prepare for?
AI
We wrote about AI here, specifically ChatGPT that some architects have been trialling. In 2024 more architects will discover just how useful AI can be for 'grunt work' such as writing tenders for PPQs.and these same chatbots will quickly become better at 'reasoning', allowing them to take on more complicated tasks such as recommendations on ways to tackle a complex client brief.
As AI ramps up, advancing far more quickly than other technologies, forward-thinking practices will be working out how to harness the potential of multimodal AI already impacting industries such as healthcare and finance. Simply put, multimodal AI has the ability to understand and interpret information from different sources simultaneously by analysing photos, text and other kinds of media such as diagrams and charts, producing its own, unique, response in diverse media formats.
But on the flip side, expect to see architects pushing back against the technology, keen to prove to clients that the unique skills and experience they have can't easily be replicated by AI.
Social Media
The decline in ‘traditional’ social networks have helped strengthen content-based networks, such as TikTok. Expect no change this year as people flee X in droves while Instagram’s algorithm changes continue to see followers drop off a cliff. At the same time the race for likes and clicks that dominated the last decade of digital media are over. To ensure your post is seen, it needs to be personal, or it needs to have depth.
Although last year's Social Media winner stood out for its use of TikTok, the video-sharing platform remains challenging for architects not simply because practices are wary of a network that favours brevity and unpredictability; practices don’t see the point of investing in a social network if it's not going to win them work. Instead they are spending more time on business networks like LinkedIn, which now has 930 million users all shouting for attention in the hope of building substantial followings and catching the eye of someone more important or 'connected' than them. Meanwhile, new launches including Bluesky suggest that the quest to find a new social network is far from over.
Brand
Clients traditionally commissioned architects they liked, knew, and trusted based on a relationship cultivated over time. This of course is still the case but it’s changing as clients come under pressure to make more considered choices about the consultants they work with. That’s where brand comes in and practices without a strong brand purpose will get swept away by the competition.
Newsletters
Having a deeper relationship with a smaller number of people is key in 2024 and one simple way to do this is via newsletters. But a newsletter needs to be worth opening with meaningful content that is not available elsewhere. And don't make the entire newsletter just about your practice and its achievements advises Wolf Olins. Boasting may still be OK on LinkedIn but the global branding consultancy says that this year it's all about adopting a 'leaning in culture' while moving away from curated, polished content and showing more of the inner workings of how buildings are made.
While on newsletters, I'd like to give a shout-out to Substack which allows writers and journalists to connect directly with their audience via email. According to the New Statesman, the platform is " reshaping the market for the written word" and this year will see further developments as publishers, including the FT, launch subscription-based newsletters that will aim to unpack complex issues, written by experts.
Activism
Today practices are expected to stake out their position on a range of issues from climate change to mental health. This can be challenging posing dilemmas for practices that are often more complex than headlines suggest. Practices need to carry on prioritising sustainability, transparency and ethical principles but in 2024 this will become harder in a tougher market with fewer jobs and more competition around fees.
Podcasts
Archiboo has been a long-time fan of podcasts introducing the category in 2017. “We are very much in a golden age of audio,” says Christiana Brenton, group business director at global podcast platform Acast. According to Brenton, almost one in five people in the UK listen to a podcast at least once a week, up by 59% since December 2019. However, be aware that finding a regular, loyal audience for your podcast is tough without great content and a decent marketing budget behind it. With budgets under scrutiny will the architect podcast survive? We very much hope so!
The deadline for the 2024 Archiboo Awards is February 28th. Categories include Best Use of Social Media, Best Brand , Best Podcast and the Activism Award.
To enter please go to the Archiboo Awards website.
Image: Mat Collishaw, animated flower generated by AI (2023).
