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Marketing does not have to stop when architecture, engineering and construction clients are under pressure. The most defensible approach is to replace the hard sell with useful service: communicate personally, listen for immediate and long-term needs, share relevant expertise, and make every remote interaction easy to follow. A November 9, 2020 Building Design + Construction account documented how several AEC firms did that during the first year of COVID-19.
Those examples belong to 2020, not to a measured 2026 benchmark. They show a way of thinking that remains useful—client-centered outreach, a consistent point of view, and disciplined preparation—while the specific pandemic conditions and forecasts should be treated as historical context.
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Why marketing felt uncomfortable—and why stopping was not the answer
When projects, staffing and cash flow are uncertain, a sales message can sound tone-deaf. The practitioners interviewed in 2020 did not recommend pretending that uncertainty was absent. They recommended nuance: maintain relationships, offer practical help and earn the right to discuss future work.
That distinction separates a personal note from a mass e-blast. A personal message can acknowledge what a client is dealing with, ask what has changed and offer a concrete next step. A generic campaign asks for attention without first proving relevance. The former protects trust; the latter can consume it.
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Gratitude was part of this relationship work. Maxinne Leighton, then director of marketing, communications and business development for JB&B, described the firm’s communications as “informational, authentic, transparent and also inclusive.” She said, “We acknowledge and thank our employees, clients, other consultants, and frontline workers in the spirit of community and reciprocity.” Her comments, reported in the 2020 account, frame appreciation as a business practice grounded in community rather than a promotional device.
Service before solicitation
For an existing client, service can mean helping interpret a changing code requirement, thinking through a stalled approval, identifying a safer construction sequence or simply making time for a call. The offer should be specific enough to use and modest enough to be credible. It may lead to a commission, but it does not make a commission the condition of assistance.
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Keep the firm’s point of view while changing the tools
Changing channels does not require changing what the firm stands for. Guy Geier, managing partner of FXCollaborative, said, “Our messaging about the firm has been consistent since the pandemic started. It’s the same process, just with different tools.” In practice, that means the firm’s knowledge, core values and areas of expertise remain the organizing idea while the format adapts to a client’s circumstances.
A consistent message is not a slogan repeated everywhere. It is a clear answer to three questions:
- What problems does the firm understand better than its clients can reasonably understand alone?
- What principles guide decisions when conditions are changing?
- What evidence—projects, methods, conversations or lessons—makes those claims believable?
Once those answers are clear, a phone call, webinar follow-up, website page and proposal can each do a different job without contradicting one another. The 2020 firms changed delivery methods and presentation formats while retaining their underlying identity.
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Listen for needs that outlast the immediate crisis
Client uncertainty creates a temptation to discuss only the latest emergency. The practitioners quoted in 2020 argued for a wider lens. Tom Balsley, principal designer at SWA and SWA/Balsley, said, “Being a good listener is never going out of style. And while the pandemic is serious, it has not doused the fires of other, bigger issues.” He named climate change, the future of cities, mobility and public space as continuing concerns.
Listening is an active marketing discipline, not a soft alternative to business development. In a discovery conversation, ask what decision is blocked, who must approve it, what information is missing and which assumptions may no longer hold. Reflect the answer back before proposing a service. That process can reveal a near-term task, a longer-term planning question or a reason not to pursue work yet.
Balsley also observed, “Clients are uncertain, and they’re looking for expert design knowledge to form opinions and take the next steps.” A trusted adviser helps a client compare options and consequences without forcing a premature commitment. The firm becomes useful before it becomes a bidder.
Avoid short-term fixes that defeat long-term goals
Balsley warned, “We can’t paint ourselves into a corner with short-term solutions for social distancing that conflict with timeless goals, such as bringing people together.” The broader lesson is to distinguish a temporary constraint from a project’s enduring purpose. Marketing that demonstrates this judgment—rather than merely echoing the latest restriction—shows why the firm belongs in strategic conversations.
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Remote work was a constraint in 2020, but it also removed some barriers to introductory contact. Adam Yarinsky, principal of Architecture Research Office, said, “Our audiences are not necessarily in their work spaces, and people to seem to be very accessible these days.” The quotation appears with that grammatical wording in the source. The practical observation was that reduced travel could make an introductory phone call or videoconference easier to arrange.
Accessibility is not the same as unlimited availability. Give a remote contact a reason to respond, a short agenda and a clear choice of next steps. A 20-minute conversation about a defined problem is easier to accept than an open-ended request to “connect.” Follow up with only the material that addresses what the person raised.
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Remote visibility also requires an owned, coherent presence. Kirsten Sibilia, managing principal at Dattner Architects, said the firm increased social-media efforts, made its online presence more sophisticated for proposal pursuits and business development, and relaunched its website in June 2020 “because we needed to claim our turf in the market. We wanted to be clear that our work is about making cities more vibrant and equitable, to communicate our impact, and to share our pride.” A website refresh is therefore more than a visual update: it is a chance to state the firm’s impact and priorities in language a prospective client can understand.
Turn existing knowledge into useful public content
Hunter Roberts Construction Group created an informational video to train staff on COVID safety at construction sites and then shared it outside the company as a demonstration of best-practice knowledge. The example does not prove that the video generated revenue; it shows how an internal, genuinely useful asset can be adapted for an external audience without inventing a sales claim.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsGeier described using LinkedIn after webinars to connect with participants and network. The sequence matters: teach first, invite conversation second. Social posts, short briefings and follow-up notes should answer a real question, identify an implication or point to a next step. They should not simply announce that the firm is available.
Redesign proposals and presentations for screens
Videoconference interviews and presentations exposed a problem in print-oriented collateral: a document designed for a spread of paper can be awkward on a laptop or tablet. The firms described in 2020 revised proposals, brochures and related materials for screen reading.
| Print assumption | Screen-ready adjustment reported in 2020 | Reader benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Two-page spreads are viewed together | Use single-page layouts | Important information remains visible when a viewer scrolls or shares one page |
| Images are secondary to dense copy | Use full-bleed imagery selectively | A presenter can establish context quickly on a small display |
| References are printed in full | Add functional hyperlinks | A client can open a drawing, case study or source without searching |
| Portrait paper is the default | Consider landscape formats for tablets and laptops | The page better matches common screen proportions |
These are design choices, not universal rules. Full-bleed images can slow loading or obscure text if handled poorly; hyperlinks need descriptive labels and should be tested; and a landscape file still has to work for someone reading on a phone. The point is to design for the actual viewing condition rather than export a paper document unchanged.
Leighton said, “We reframed specific marketing materials…in a post-COVID environment to keep current; otherwise they could seem obsolete.” Updating a dated reference is not the same as erasing history. Label project dates, explain conditions and remove language that implies a temporary operating assumption is permanent.
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Do a screen test before a virtual interview
Preparation became part of the client experience. Josh Frankel described learning to prepare and practice for Teams interviews remotely. Geier said, “We structure our presentations carefully to make sure that everything looks right, and we rehearse a lot more than we did previously. We want to make sure that peoples’ personalities come through on the screen.”
- Set the viewing path. Decide what the client should understand in the first two minutes, then order slides so each one answers the question raised by the previous one.
- Check the file as a participant. Open the deck on the device and connection your audience is likely to use. Confirm type size, image crops, hyperlinks, animation and embedded media.
- Assign speaking roles. Name a moderator, presenter and person responsible for monitoring chat or technical issues. Avoid several people answering at once.
- Rehearse transitions. Practice handing off between speakers, sharing a screen, opening a link and returning to the deck. Time the complete run, including questions.
- Protect conversation. Leave room for the client to interrupt, ask for clarification and describe concerns. A perfectly timed monologue is less valuable than a useful exchange.
- Prepare a recovery plan. Have a PDF backup, a way to continue by phone and a concise explanation if video or audio fails. Recovery should be calm and immediate.
A screen test covers more than technology. It checks whether a quiet speaker is visible, whether a diagram can be read without narration and whether the team’s personalities survive the medium. If the answer is no, simplify the slide or change the format.
Choose the right outreach for the situation
| Situation | Approach that fits | Common failure |
|---|---|---|
| An existing client faces a new constraint | Personal note, listening call and a practical offer | Sending a generic promotion before understanding the constraint |
| A prospective audience attended a webinar | Specific LinkedIn or email follow-up tied to the session | Adding contacts to a broad list without permission or context |
| The firm has useful operational knowledge | Adapt a truthful training or briefing asset for public use | Turning an internal document into an unsupported success claim |
| A proposal will be reviewed online | Screen-first layout, tested links and rehearsed delivery | Uploading a print spread and reading it aloud |
| The market is distracted by an emergency | Acknowledge the situation while addressing durable issues | Letting a temporary measure define the firm’s entire point of view |
The 2020 account supplies examples and practitioner judgment, not comparative performance data. It does not establish that one channel, layout or video caused growth, won a project or represented the whole AEC sector. Treat each tactic as a testable practice, and judge it with your own permission-based engagement, conversation quality, proposal feedback and project outcomes rather than assuming a result.
What remains a 2020 forecast—and what is a durable principle
The source closed with predictions that printed proposal materials would be less in demand and that technology would play a larger role in communication, business development, relationships and networks. Leighton said, “The pandemic has further humanized the interpersonal nature of the professional world,” and hoped that “more transparency, generosity, and personability” would remain. Those are observations and hopes from November 2020, not quantified findings about current practice.
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The durable principle is narrower and more useful: marketing works best when it makes expertise available in a form a client can use. That may mean a direct conversation, a concise technical explainer, a carefully linked proposal or a well-rehearsed virtual interview. Keep the firm’s values and knowledge steady, adapt the delivery to the audience, and make the client’s next decision easier.
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