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By Jennifer Haferbecker, CPSM
FEATURE
Marketing Strategies to Navigate Uncertainty
Fluctuating interest rates, supply chain disruptions, and political transitions can unsettle the economic outlook. Talent shortages that feel never-ending, escalating client expectations, and technological advancements compound the unpredictability A/E/C marketers face daily.
When I was younger, I competed in track and field and later ran competitively, including a marathon. I’ve often thought that marketing in this industry feels a lot like racing. Just like on the track, you need to keep your focus forward, adjust your pace when challenges arise, and make quick decisions to stay in the race. Marketers are the drivers of business growth, always fine-tuning their strategies to handle the twists and turns, ensuring your firm crosses the finish line first with the right clients and projects.
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go
Let’s get into six actionable marketing and business development strategies that will help your firm race ahead of the competition and thrive amidst uncertainty.
1. Research: The Foundation of Strategy
In the A/E/C industries, research is your race plan. Just like a runner gathers intel on the course terrain and conditions before a race, marketers need solid research to plot a clear path forward and stay aligned with industry shifts. Many firms excel at analyzing their market, understanding their ideal client, comparing their competitors, and evaluating past marketing effectiveness. However, it's just as important to have a solid understanding of the external factors outside your firm's control, such as political, economic, social, environmental, technological, and legal (PESTEL) forces.
Thorough research helps firms minimize risks and make better-informed decisions. As Forrester puts it, "Research helps de-risk your decisions, guide your actions, target opportunities, and align your teams on priorities and outcomes."
Action Items:
- Revisit Domain 1 Research: Study book one of the SMPS Markendium® for a detailed approach to conducting effective research.
- Keep your market analysis current by regularly reviewing client needs, industry trends, and PESTEL factors.
- Implement a systematic approach to gathering and analyzing both primary and secondary research. Conduct primary research that provides your firm with a unique perspective from which to differentiate.
2. Embrace Digital Transformation and Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is like your race support crew—once you've set the right plan in motion, it handles the routine tasks, freeing you to focus on the strategy and adjust your pace for unexpected challenges or opportunities ahead. Digital marketing is no longer optional; it's essential to staying competitive. Firms with robust digital presences and well-constructed marketing technology (MarTech) stacks are better positioned to capture customer attention.
As cited in the new SMPS AEC. BD Report, Gartner's Future of Sales, predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur through digital channels. Forrester's research reinforces that organizations with aligned sales and marketing systems grow 19% faster and are 15% more profitable.
Action Items:
- To free up time for strategic thinking and creativity, optimize your MarTech stack. Invest in tools like a CRM, Digital Asset Management (DAM) system, content templates, lead generation software, project management tools, and a marketing automation platform. These technologies will help increase brand awareness, streamline lead nurturing, and accelerate your response to new opportunities.
- Choose marketing tactics that align with your firm's strategic goals and business development approach.
- Finding a talented marketer for your team who can do it all is like finding a unicorn. While generative artificial intelligence is enabling generalists to seem more cost-effective, they can be less effective when you seek to make a stronger impact. Invest in proven, specialized expertise to optimize prioritized tactics like public relations (PR), search engine optimization (SEO), and video production.
- Content marketing and Account-Based Marketing (ABM) are gaining traction in the A/E/C industries. To capitalize on this digital marketing shift, develop targeted content that addresses the unique needs of key stakeholders. Pair this with personalized lead nurturing strategies to strengthen relationships and drive engagement with your most valuable prospects
Metrics like website traffic, proposal win rates, and social media engagement help firms refine their approach and focus efforts on high-impact areas.”
3. Leverage Data to Guide Decision-Making
Data is like carb-loading for marketers. With the right metrics, you can increase your endurance, set goals for your firm’s “personal best”, and gear up for potential roadblocks. Data plays a dual role: informing marketing strategies and measuring their effectiveness. Metrics like website traffic, proposal win rates, and social media engagement help firms refine their approach and focus efforts on high-impact areas.
The 45th Annual Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Study highlights an interesting trend: while the number of proposals submitted is increasing, the impact of those proposals is decreasing. This means firms are submitting more proposals to maintain their net service revenue (NSR). This shift emphasizes the need to refine business development processes, target the right opportunities, and potentially diversify.
Action Items:
- Implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to capture and analyze project and client data for trends in successful projects and profitable clients.
- Invest in integrating your marketing technology tools to capture information, remove duplicity, emphasize visual reporting, and manage deliverables such as proposals, rankings and awards.
- Expand formal business development processes with data integration tools to automate information collection, create an automatic scoring system for go/no-go recommendations, and leverage AI for insights and opportunity identification.
- Focus on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aligned with growth goals: hit rates, capture rates, and client lifetime value. Don’t overlook front-end metrics such as opportunity sources, lead quality, and engagement rates. Measure what matters! What gets measured gets attention. However, if you measure too much, important metrics will lose meaning.
- Regularly test and assess marketing efforts, adjusting campaigns based on performance data .
4. Double Down on Client-Centric Marketing
In the race to remain competitive, firms that prioritize a deep understanding of their clients' needs will pull ahead of the pack. Client-centric marketing is like running at the right pace—keeping you steady and focused, so you don’t burn out before the finish line. By staying closely attuned to your clients’ needs, you ensure your firm remains top of mind and trusted to handle the biggest challenges, like a coach guiding an athlete through a tough race. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation can enhance efficiency, they should never replace the human touch. The combination of artificial and human intelligence will have the highest impact.
According to B2B Rocket's Why Customer Experience Matters for B2B blog, "Positive experiences with clients increase trust and drive long-term loyalty." Client satisfaction goes beyond project delivery; it's about creating an experience that addresses deeper needs and challenges.
Action Items:
- Use evidence-based marketing to create content that addresses industry and client challenges.
- Nurture relationships with clients who align with your firm's values and vision.
- Conduct regular client satisfaction surveys and interviews to continuously improve client experience.
- Leverage your business development team to check in with clients throughout the project to confirm the firm delivers on the brand promise promoted during the sales cycle.
- Partner with clients to align your services with their evolving needs.
5. Build Agility in Your Marketing Strategy
Given the volatile nature of the A/E/C markets, agility is crucial. Agility is your race day correction. When the terrain presents challenges, successful firms adapt their strategy and recalibrate. Short-term marketing plans that allow for quarterly reassessments based on wins, losses, and market changes can ensure you’re always heading toward growth opportunities, no matter the conditions.
Numerous sources, including Construction Dive, FMI 2024 3rd Quarter North American Engineering and Construction Outlook, and the AIA Architectural Billings Index (ABI) data, show variability across sectors, with billings slowing in areas like office and warehouse, but surging in others, such as data centers and hospitality. Being able to shift focus quickly to capitalize on these trends is critical to navigating the current market.
Action Items:
- Crosstrain your staff to effectively promote the full range of your firm’s disciplines and services. By equipping team members to speak confidently about areas outside their immediate expertise, such as other practice areas or engineering capabilities, you'll strengthen internal collaboration and develop future seller-doers who can help drive growth across the firm.
- Evaluate opportunities to contract with external experts until your firm can support roles and functions in-house.
- Build strategic partnerships to expand teaming opportunities.
- Stay on top of market research to understand industry trends.
- Maintain strong alignment with Business Development and Seller-Doers to tailor content on evolving client challenges and needs, like budget constraints, regulatory changes, and sustainability goals.
- Adopt a flexible "start, stop, continue" framework for evaluating marketing activities.
6. Speak Directly to Your Target Industries
As noted in the Hinge 2024 High Growth Study: A/E/C Edition, "The firms that do the best job of marketing their services are able to establish meaningful connections with clients and prospects." To build your firm's credibility, it's essential to communicate directly to each of your target markets about the unique challenges and opportunities they face. Tailored communication is like a customized training plan—it ensures you are conditioning your strategy to the specific needs and demands of your clients.
Action Items:
- From your primary and secondary research, identify key trends, challenges, and decision-makers in each target sector.
- Develop tailored messaging that addresses specific pain points and goals of clients and decision-makers in each industry.
- Utilize industry-specific case studies and testimonials to establish credibility and showcase deep expertise.
- Regularly engage with industry organizations, publications, and forums through articles and presentations.
Like training for a marathon, we’ve covered a lot of ground, and it’s not realistic to tackle everything at once. Understanding your firm’s current state and business goals will help you prioritize the strategies that will have the greatest impact while ensuring your team can implement them without burning out.
In an environment full of uncertainty, proactive marketing is essential for sustainable growth. Just like a race, it’s about pacing yourself, knowing when to push harder and when to conserve energy, and staying focused on the finish line. By embracing client-centric approaches, leveraging technology, and tailoring communications, your firm can adapt to market shifts and thrive, no matter the conditions. These actionable steps will help build resilience and position your firm for long-term success.
Now is the time to lock in your race plan for 2025, ensuring you have the right tools, strategy, and support to stay on track. Navigate the twists and turns with purpose, and your firm won’t just survive the uncertainty ahead - it will gain the momentum needed to break away from the competition and cross the finish line stronger than ever.
Jennifer Haferbecker, CPSM, is a transformative leader bridging design, marketing, and sustainability. Following her impactful tenure as Chief Marketing Officer at HGA, Jennifer has embraced a new role as a Fractional CMO and founder of On Your Market Set Go. Her mission is to empower purpose-driven architecture, engineering, and construction firms to turn their vision into reality by winning more projects and accelerating their growth.
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