~4 minute read.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how to get published as an architect. Here’s a follow-up article.
What is the purpose of getting my projects published?
As a designer, you constantly need to generate new work, it’s the reality of running a design business. If you have more work than you can handle, congratulations! You may want to skip the rest of this article, unless you think there is an opportunity to increase the caliber of the work you’re doing, also known as going beyond doing bread and butter work and moving into the aspirational work territory. If that is your case, don’t leave just yet!
For everyone still reading, getting your work published is likely to be one of the few instrumental ways for you to feed that new client pipeline and keep your office busy, depending on the type work you currently do, the type of work you want to do and the type of clients you have.
But it is for me?
I’m glad you asked. The following questions will help you answer that question:
Do you have enough work?
Do you work with the type of clients that you enjoy and want to be working with?
Do you mostly do the type of work that you enjoy and want to be doing?
Are your employees happy, engaged and interested in the work you do?
Are you personally happy, engaged and interested in the work you do?
Is your business healthy and profitable?
Do you have a good work/life balance?
Have you built a brand that you are proud of?
Is your work of a publishing-worthy caliber?
If you’ve answered yes to all this you can skip the rest. If you’ve answered no to any of these questions, read on, publishing may help you reaching your business goals.
I really want to get published! How do I go about this?
I an ideal world, this is where you would seek help from a professional (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) to assess your current situation and put together a plan of action tailored to your needs. However, I’m going to lay out a brief DYI checklist of what you should consider when publishing your projects:
Review and assess the company culture and what makes you unique in the marketplace.
Think long and hard about the audience you’re trying to reach (aka your ideal clients) and what they are likely to read.
Based on your findings in 1 and 2, think about the story angles you can take to talk about, aspects of your project that would appeal to your clientele and speak truthfully to what your company stands for.
Taking into consideration all of the above, think of magazines that would be a good fit for each project. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box!
Submit to publications (how to do so is a topic for future article).
Relentlessly follow-up.
On general interest magazines and trade publications.
There are two type of publications out there: general interest publications, like newspapers, design magazines and shelter magazines on one side and trade-specific magazines on the other.
While they both are beneficial to architects and designers, they don’t serve the same purpose. You want to consider each of them based the goals that you should have set out in your media relations strategy. General-interest publications are very useful to get in front of potential clients (if, for example, residential design is one of your areas of expertise) and to build a public reputation. Trade magazines are useful to get in front of corporate clients as well as building a reputation within your industry and creating opportunities to collaborate with other professionals within your field.
On how to reach out to publications
There are a few DYI platforms out there that can help you achieve these goals simply and cost effectively, which may be a good option for you. If you’re too busy and have the budget to hire a communications professional, it is a great idea, if only for the fact that they can look at your body of work critically and use their expertise to make the best recommendations for you. Look for someone who will take the time to diagnose before they prescribe. Having a list of contacts in the publishing industry certainly helps too, but the strategic part is the critical piece of that puzzle. A well crafted media relations strategy, along with a few solid story angles that publications can latch on to, is more likely to pique an editor’s curiosity and get you published.
Arnaud Marthouret is the founder of rvltr and leads their strategy, visual communications and media efforts. He has helped numerous architects and interior designers promote themselves in their best light - pun intended - in order to help them run more effective practices and grow in a meaningful way.
If you have questions about this article or rvltr, or want to chat about your strategy and communications, you can leave a comment, share with a fiend, or reach him at arnaud@rvltr.studio.