Marketing for Architects: What Actually Works, and What to Fix if It Isn’t

The one number every architect should hang on their studio wall

The Australian Institute of Architects surveyed clients in 2021 and asked a simple question: how did you find your architect? Seventy one percent said a referral from someone they trust. Only ten percent said they found their architect through a website, social media or any other marketing.

That number should shape every marketing decision you make, whether this is your first year in practice or your fifteenth.

It also explains a pattern we see constantly at Phoenix Marketing. Talented architects, running well-run studios, sitting through a quiet quarter and wondering what happened. The work that referred you into your last five projects is invisible. It happens over dinner tables, in builder site meetings, in chats with landscape architects and interior designers you have never met. You cannot control it. You cannot rush it. When it slows down, most architecture practices have nothing to fall back on.

This article covers what actually works to bring new clients into an architecture practice in Australia, in what combination, and what to build first. It is written for two groups. Architects who have recently gone out on their own, and architects who have been running a practice for years but whose marketing has either never really been switched on, or has stopped delivering.

Why marketing feels awkward for architects (and why it matters)

Bryon McCartney at the marketing agency Archmark has a name for the default way most architects handle marketing. He calls it Hope Marketing. Firms sit and wait for the phone to ring, and take whatever comes in because they are afraid the next month will be empty.

Two more numbers explain why this pattern is so common. A homeowner survey found that 72 percent of clients don’t realise that architects apply for planning permits with council. 86 percent don’t know that architects select and manage the builder. Only 9 percent understand that architects hold the budget on site. In other words, most of your potential clients don’t know what you actually do. If your marketing doesn’t teach them, they will treat you like a drafting service and negotiate you down on price.

That is the job of marketing for any architect. Not to shout. Not to sell. To teach the market what a good architect actually delivers, so that when the referral does come, the referred client already respects the work before the first meeting.

Signs your marketing has gone quiet

Before we get to the channels, a quick check. If two or more of these are true, your marketing has stopped doing its job:

The last three enquiries came from repeat sources rather than new ones.

You cannot say off the top of your head where each of your last ten projects came from.

Your website has not been updated with a case study in more than twelve months.

You post occasionally on Instagram or LinkedIn but never on a regular schedule.

You have never asked a past client for a referral or a review.

Your name and address on Google, on the AIA directory, on Houzz and on ArchitectureAU do not all match.

None of this is a crisis. All of it is fixable in ninety days.

The five channels that matter, ranked

Every marketing agency will hand you a list of ten platforms. Here is what the evidence says about which ones actually bring new clients into a solo or small architecture practice in Australia.

1. Referrals and word of mouth (the backbone)

Beyond that 71 percent figure from the AIA, research on past clients suggests that around 92 percent would happily hire their architect again for another project. Almost none are asked. Industry benchmarks put the share of work at established practices that comes from referrals anywhere between 70 and 100 percent. Yet most architects have no actual plan for generating them.

A referral plan is not a discount code. It looks like this. You split your relationships into three groups. Active clients you are working with right now. Past clients whose projects are finished. And trusted partners in adjacent trades: builders, interior designers, landscape architects, real estate agents. You give each group a specific rhythm of contact. A handwritten note at project kickoff. A short monthly email during the long wait for permits. An email a year after handover with a seasonal maintenance tip. A quarterly coffee with the three builders you would most like to work with again.

If you have been in practice for years and never done this in an organised way, this is where your fastest wins are hiding. You already have the relationships. They just need a rhythm.

2. Google and the AIA “Find an Architect” directory

When a homeowner in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane types “architect near me” into Google, the first thing they see is a map with three local businesses on it. If you are not one of those three, most people will scroll past you without noticing you exist. Getting into that map is largely mechanical. Claim your free Google listing (called a Google Business Profile). Make sure your business name, address and phone number are exactly the same everywhere on the internet, right down to the suburb spelling. Add real project photography. Ask happy clients for a Google review. Write plain-English pages on your website that describe the work in the words a homeowner would use, not the words another architect would use.

Beside Google, the AIA “Find an Architect” directory lists over 1,800 practices nationally and is where many Australian homeowners are directed first. It is only open to Institute members. If you are not listed there, half of your buying public will not find you.

If your practice is established but your Google listing still shows an old address, no photos, or no recent reviews, this is often the single fastest thing to fix.

3. LinkedIn (for the builders and collaborators, not the homeowners)

LinkedIn’s real job for architects is not winning cold homeowners. It is keeping past collaborators warm and building relationships with the builders, developers and interior designers who send you the highest quality work.

For that job, LinkedIn is unmatched. Around 65 million business decision-makers use it globally. The best format for architects is a swipeable multi-image post (LinkedIn calls it a carousel), because it gets you the most reach. What works is not aspirational imagery. It is honest lessons and constraint stories. Something like: “The client’s budget was cut 20 percent. Here’s what we did.” Or: “What no one tells you about a Victorian planning permit application.” Two posts a week, tagging the collaborators involved, is enough.

For established practices, LinkedIn is where you keep your fifteen years of relationships alive without having to send fifteen years of separate emails.

4. Instagram (the residential shopfront)

For residential work, Instagram is still the reference point clients go to before they book a call. The interesting number for a smaller practice is that accounts under 10,000 followers get more likes, comments and shares per post (as a percentage of their audience) than any bigger tier. You do not need a huge following. You need a consistent point of view.

Multi-image swipe posts perform better than single photos. Short videos (Reels) perform better than both. Before-and-after posts, quick sketches of what became built, and honest process posts get shared. Aspirational hero shots do not.

Instagram will rarely be the direct source of your best client. But it is the credibility check that referred clients quietly run before booking a call. Treat it as your studio’s shopfront. If your last post was six months ago, referred clients notice.

5. Awards, publications and Houzz (the trust stack)

Winning a Houses Award or getting a project published in ArchitectureAU rarely produces a direct enquiry the following week. What they do is build trust over time. A completed project featured in a national publication becomes a page on your site that keeps bringing traffic in for years. An AIA award gives your website a badge that shortcuts the client’s decision to trust you.

The trick is to recycle. Ask your client for a 100 word statement for the awards entry. Reuse that statement in your website case study, in your LinkedIn write-up, in your Instagram post and in your next email to past clients. One piece of client feedback, five uses. Houzz sits in the same category, useful for collecting reviews and being found in specific searches, rather than as a source of direct leads.

What about Google Ads?

Google Ads (the paid results at the top of a search) work in home services. In Australia, tightly targeted campaigns for architecture and related trades typically cost between AUD $70 and $200 per enquiry. They can be worth testing on specific service pages once your website turns visitors into enquiries reliably, your reviews are strong, and you have around AUD $2,000 to $3,000 a month to allocate. Treat it as extra traffic, not the backbone. And expect to filter through a few low-value enquiries (people wanting just a drawing to stamp, or a basic set of plans) to find the projects worth taking.

The 12 month plan

You do not need to do all of this at once. This is the sequence, and it works as a starting plan for a new practice or as a reset for an existing one.

Days 1 to 90: get the basics right. Confirm your AIA “Find an Architect” listing is live and current. Claim your Google Business Profile and get your business name, address and phone number consistent across every directory that lists you. Refresh or build a simple website with real case studies, transparent fee bands and one clear next step for the reader above the fold. Set up an Instagram grid and a LinkedIn profile that describe the same practice in the same voice.

Months 4 to 6: switch it on. Turn your existing relationships into a system. Write a list of every past client, every collaborator, every builder you would happily work with again. Design a contact rhythm for each group. Start posting on LinkedIn twice a week. Post on Instagram twice a week. Trial a Houzz Pro listing if you focus on residential.

Months 7 to 12: let it build. Enter your first or next Houses Award or AIA chapter award. Pitch one completed project to ArchitectureAU. Test a small Google Ads campaign if the budget allows. Send a quarterly email to past enquiries who didn’t book with a single line: “Are you still thinking about your project?” You will be surprised how many yes replies you get.

The three most common mistakes

Chasing followers instead of relationships. A LinkedIn network of 300 warm collaborators is worth more than 5,000 cold homeowners.

A portfolio-only website. Homeowners need help interpreting what they are looking at. A gallery without a story does not bring in enquiries. Case studies with a challenge, a decision and a result do.

Treating awards as marketing. They are a byproduct of the work. Your marketing job is to milk the credibility they create across every other channel, not to enter them and hope leads follow.

Where Phoenix Marketing fits

Phoenix Marketing works with founder-led businesses across Melbourne to build the marketing systems most architects put off until they are already too busy, or turn on only when the pipeline runs quiet.

That means a website that ranks well on Google and turns visitors into enquiries. A search foundation that keeps compounding for years after the launch. A referral and content plan you can run in a few hours a week without becoming a full-time marketer. And a clear, honest read on what is actually working in your current marketing, and what isn’t.

Whether you have just started your own practice, or you have been running one for years and want a proper marketing engine rather than another logo refresh, get in touch with Phoenix Marketing. We will give you a straight answer on where your fastest wins are.

Sources

• Australian Institute of Architects, Client Feedback Report 2021
• AIA Find an Architect directory
• Sounds Like Design (Rachael Bernstone), Referrals for Architecture Marketing
• Archmark, Marketing for Architects: The Ultimate Guide
• Architect Marketing Institute, Get Clients Now
• EntreArchitect, Referable Client Experience for Architects
• ArchiCGI, LinkedIn for Architects 2026 Playbook
• ArchitectureAU, 2025 Houses Awards Small Project shortlist

Phoenix Marketing is a Melbourne based digital marketing agency helping Australian founders grow through SEO, Google Ads, social media and content. Learn more about Phoenix Marketing.

Frequently asked questions

Running a different kind of practice? The same ranked approach, adapted for allied health, is in how physio clinics get more patients.

Ready to win better projects?

Tell us about your practice and the work you want more of, and we will show you exactly where the right enquiries are being lost and what it would take to fix it. Free strategy call, no obligation.

Book a free strategy call