After two years in quarantine, going Banff to present a workshop at the Alberta Association of Architects’ annual conference, was truly the best way to ‘rejoin the world’, and I couldn’t have chosen a more spectacular place to do it.

We always tailor our programs for each specific event and location. To understand market conditions in Alberta, we polled AAA members and interviewed leaders at several firms. What we found was both distressing - and very encouranging. The 2015 drop in oil prices greatly affected the Alberta economy, particularly the commercial real estate sector in Calgary, where a flight of oil companies left the downtown core with more than 14 million sqare feet of empty office space, and many towers up to 90% empty.

To stay afloat, Alberta architects have become extremely effective at identifying the best opportunties and markets for work, and at finding prospects and pursuing work. They prove that strategic, focused and linked marketing and business development drive results.

We showed how to build on the marketinb and business development foundation they have established with strategies for differentiating their firm and positionoing against competitors.

For the past decade, Oomph CEO Johanna Hoffmann has delivered workshops on design marketing across Canada and the United States - but always to owners and leaders of design firms. Presenting to fellow design marketers is a career first for Johanna and creating content for an audience of professional marketers has been a fascinating experience. We are thrilled at the opportunity and I'm really looking forward to next Tuesday, January 18!

The program focuses on the need for a comprehensive strategy that integrates marketing and business development. Deta

Marketing design services have come a long way since the early 2000s when printed brochures were the standard sales tool, public relations the most common promotional tool, and marketing teams were practically unknown. Since then, economic shocks, globalization, and the rise of publicly traded corporate super firms have intensified the competitive climate, forcing everyone to upgrade their marketing and business development practices.

Today, sophisticated websites, animated presentations, social media, public relations, and magazine-like pursuits are standard. But most firms still lack a complete marketing strategy with established activities, tactics, schedule, and budget – all linked to business development!

The AEC industry is entering a period of economic disruption, driven by digital tools and the need for faster and cheaper means of construction. Having a cohesive marketing strategy is essential to maintaining a resilient practice and sustaining growth. This session will address:

• Why you need a comprehensive marketing plan.

• Selling up: getting buy-in from the firm’s leadership

• The importance of linking marketing with business development.

• Understanding the buying journey

• Selling design is about telling stories

• Establishing themes and content management

• Promoting the firm: tactics for establishing awareness

• Promoting the firm: tactics for establishing relationships

• Creating a comprehensive marketing plan, schedule, and budget

When: Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST

To register: SMPS Program

Canadian Interiors interviews Johanna Hoffmann for its Bevel Podcast:

Although we have been in the COVID trenches for what seems like an incessantly long period of time, there now appears to be light at the end of this tunnel. With vaccination rates on a speedy incline and phased re-openings across the provinces, things are slowly returning to normal.

But we’re not out of the woods yet, and even when the pandemic is officially declared over its effects will be long-lasting. Canadian Interiors invited us to discuss the pandemic’s effects on design firms , and designers’ space planning, project management and procurement skills are urgently needed now.

Tune in to hear steps you can take to get your firm through the crisis by finding creative ways to generate revenue and other stop-gap solutions that while not necessarily permanent, will help you not only stay on your feet but continue marching on even after normalcy returns.

Listen to the episode on Canadian Interiors’ website here: https://www.canadianinteriors.com/podcast/episode-10-why-designers-must-pivot-w-johanna-hoffmann/

Or, on your favourite streaming service:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/66UmyDYHyhXCbjSAezS2Db

• Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/bevel-canadian-interiors-conversations

• Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xYzg5M2I3NC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bevel-canadian-interiors-conversations/id1542303870?uo=4

• Anchor: https://anchor.fm/peter-sobchak

• Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/h42zufoz

• RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/bevel-canadian-interiors-conversa-Woxryy