Author Dana Cuff defines Praxis in her text, Architecture: The Story of Practice: “architecture [is] a practice or collection of practices, an art.” Ask your mentor to expand on one of the following aspects of architectural practice as it relates to their praxis:

• business + marketing choices

My discussion with Darryl taught me that when it comes to successfully marketing an architecture business in a city like Charleston, the most important things are creating  value in client relationships, being ahead of the curve on how people receive information, and to limit content presented as what is current and best.

Darryl stated that the single best method of advertising that he has experienced is word of mouth from previous clients. When a client finds a firm through a search on the internet, they typically have reached out to multiple other firms, creating a battle for these firms to secure the client. On the contrary, when people reach out to a firm after being told by a friend, they tend to only reach out to that firm and are more likely to go through with selecting the architect since someone they trust has been the recommender.

When it comes to going beyond word of mouth marketing, recognizing trends on how information is presented and perceived by the masses is vital in ensuring that your firm is reaching them. Darryl quickly realized when people started moving away from receiving information in the form of physical magazines and towards digital media. Darryl also emphasized the importance of a well groomed website.

A website can be a potential client’s first impression of a firm, and if they are presented with a website that is poorly designed, they will assume that the firm does not place an emphasis on design expertise. Thus, it is also important to highlight only the most current and well designed buildings so that the website does not become outdated.