Architect Firms & Inbound Marketing:
If you’re part of an architectural or engineering firm and want to differentiate yourself when it comes to energy efficient attic systems or understanding performance green building and sustainability the key method to getting the word out and attracting new clients can be summed up in two words, inbound marketing.
With expertise in both inbound marketing and performance green building I encourage you to spend time here and elsewhere to understand the basics of inbound marketing and how your architectual firm can benefit.
The article below shares some sustainability and architectural ideas related to attic space. The purpose of this article is to share some of our experience in sustainable design and show you how these ideas can be used on your behalf to bring in an interested audience and more qualified & targeted prospects.
Need some more inbound marketing strategies for your architectual firm's online performance? Check out these "How-To" examples from our web pages that offers some great blueprints to improving your visibility online:
Efficient Attic Systems, Indians, and Sustainability
This is an example of using inbound marketing to attract your architectual firm's target market(s).
How does one design the best possible energy efficient attic system? First you have to take a quick look at human behavior. What? What does the design of efficient attic systems have to with behavior? It seems that an innate basic human behavior is the ‘fear of being wrong’. Another innate behavior is ‘fear of change’. Human sometimes would rather continue to make the same mistakes over and over rather than admit being wrong and/or be willing to change.
Allow me to use ‘Indians’ of the Americas as a quintessential example of how human beings feel about being wrong and about change. When Columbus set sail from Spain on his first voyage in 1492 he was searching for a direct water route to Asia. Columbus could never admit that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies he had set out for, Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands he visited indios (Spanish for "Indians"). For the past 523 years we still erroneously refer to Native American peoples as Indians, because we, the most part, are still fearful of being wrong and making a change.
The same can be said for how we design attic spaces. Prior to mass production of central air conditioning the best way to assist in cooling buildings was venting attic spaces. Vented attics were part of a passive ventilation process to create a flow of cooler air.
Enter central ‘split-system’ air conditioning (and room) for the masses, roughly the early 1950’s. Building designers elected to place main duct systems in the attic space, put insulation (much later) on top of the ceiling, the compressing unit outside and air handler inside. (Generally) They elected to continue venting attics with the thought it would keep attic spaces cooler, which was true, if you consider 120-160 °F cooler. They simply were and still are fearful of change and now nearly 70 years later are fearful of being wrong. If you live or work in a building that is anything but a passively ventilated, the building’s attic spaces design is very wrong on 4 levels, not just the most egregious one of being grossly energy inefficient. A vented attic space is:
1. Energy inefficient
2. Open to humidity, wind driven rain that allows for mold growth.
3. Open to flying insects, namely termites.
4. Susceptible to windstorm damage through uplift
How do we create a new or existing efficient attic system? Firstly, big surprise, do not vent the attic. Secondly, insulate the attic on the underside of the roof deck, not on top of the ceiling. Thirdly, with recommendation from a mechanical engineer, bring conditioned air into the space with a supply and return duct. Not to cool the spaces, but simply to move the air through it.
There are many architects and engineers who understand these design parameters. Maybe you’re one of them?
If you’re part of an architectural or engineering firm and want to differentiate yourself when it comes to energy efficient attic systems or understanding performance green building and sustainability the key method to getting the word out and attracting new clients can be summed up in two words, inbound marketing.
With expertise in both inbound marketing and performance green building I encourage you to spend time here and elsewhere to understand the basics of inbound marketing.
CONCLUSION:
Think about the fear of change in the context of the digital age. If you’re still thinking about keywords and search engine optimization as the way to get noticed organically by the major search engines, you’re about 70 digital years behind. Inbound marketing is a complex set of interwoven strategies you might be able to understand in principle, but when it comes to enacting a ‘truly’ effective inbound marketing campaign, talk to us.
Note: Architects and other contributors to a more sustainable society need to share their expertise and services online. Why is this so important? Look at the numbers by downloading real time inbound marketing statistics and really see the difference a complete Internet marketing strategy can make.
