Strategic Branding for Architects: Differentiation, Value, and AI Discovery with Dennis Boyle | 712

0:00Not competing on price, it's competing on the value that's created. Hello Architect Nation and welcome back. This is the right place if you run an architectural practice. My name is Enoch Sears and I have a question for you today. What if your firm is already doing exceptional work but the clients that you really want aren't seeing what makes you different? Or perhaps you find that you're dealing with work that you enjoy but you really aspire to do work of a higher caliber or with different clients? Well, today we're exploring how to make your firm stand out, attract better opportunities, and become an obvious choice for the clients that you truly want to work with.

0:37In other words, the clients that are truly a fit for what you do. And here's the thing, great design, excellent service, talented people are what clients expect. So what makes someone choose your firm over another? And what if your biggest competitive advantage is something you already have but haven't figured out how to communicate. In this episode, you'll discover what strategic branding is, the number one branding mistake made by architectural firms, three signs that a firm's branding is holding back its growth, and three things your firm can do to attract better clients without changing its design work.

1:14My guest today is Dennis Boyle. He's a strategic branding and design expert who helps businesses uncover what makes them special and communicate it in a way that people actually remember. Dennis has seen how powerful it can be when a business finally tells the right story. And on this episode, he shares some fascinating insights about what firm owners can do to make their work impossible to overlook. So if you've ever wondered why some firms seem to attract the right clients while others with equally impressive work get overlooked, you're going to want to hear this conversation. So let's get right into it.

1:49You've built a practice that balances design, delivery, and client trust. But when it comes to taxes, your firm's structure might be quietly working against you. At Gelt, we specialize in helping architecture firms uncover hidden tax inefficiencies, from outdated ownership setups to missed expense opportunities and project-level tax traps. Even well-run studios can leave five figures on the table each year simply because their financial foundation hasn't evolved as the firm has. Gilt helps you design a smarter structure, one that turns your firm's growth into real savings and stronger take-home income.

2:24Gilt, tax strategy built for architects. Don't wait for next tax season. Schedule your complimentary consultation at joingilt.com. That's J-O-I-N-G-E-L-T dot com to learn more and mention BOA when you sign up. If you're still tracking project costs and client invoices across three different spreadsheets, You already know how much time that steals from actual design work. Xero brings your invoicing, expenses, and project profitability into one place. Built for firms who bill by project, not by the hour. Right now, Business of Architecture listeners can access a special Xero offer. Get 90 % off for six months through the link in our show notes.

3:04Terms and conditions apply. Dennis, welcome to the Business of Architecture. Ian, thanks for having me over here again. Great to see you. Absolutely. So tell us, we're just super excited to find out your take on what strategic branding actually means. This is a term we hear tossed around a lot. A lot of people use it. What is strategic branding to you and to your firm? Right. Well, we've been working in the space for about 20 years. And for quite some time, we thought we were in the design space. And then we realized we were in the identity space in terms of visual identity for businesses. And after looking at the work over the last decade, we realized that we're in the business transformation space in terms of where companies were and where they've arrived after we've built out systems for them.

3:56And we are in the business of transformation. We use brand for that. And as a comparison, I would say that in the architectural space, when a firm is putting a tower in the ground or a residence or a facility, they're not guessing where the actual foundation is going to go. They figure out where that's going to be. They eliminate that ambiguity. And for the longest time, you see excavation and pile driving and everything that's going on around. And then suddenly this envelope is going up. And I would say that strategic branding is the same type of activity, but in the visual and the business realm, where you're trying to build a moat around your business that differentiates you from another firm with your story, your differentiation, and what makes your job, your position in the market unique.

4:46And our job is to reveal that. It's about building something for them that's already true about that firm and then manifesting the whole ecosystem, the brand around that particular college foundation. And if a firm has that, what are some of the benefits that they might experience when they have gone through a strategic branding process? Right. Well, it's around eliminating guesswork and eliminating ambiguity for them as they surge forward into the market. If you know where you are in the space, then a lot of the guesswork's eliminated in terms of your marketing, your digital presence, your internal understanding, and specifically, not necessarily your existing target base for a customer, but your new customers will essentially know where you are in the space through messaging.

5:37Not just through the work that you do. Having said that, what's the top branding mistake that you see architecture firms making? Well, many architects are very proud of their work. They ought to be. They've produced some amazing things. I'm a fan of architecture. But I think the mistake, if we're using that word, is them relying on the capability itself, on the work itself as being enough. We need proper messaging around your story in order to differentiate because every firm is essentially saying not the same thing but analogous messages about the work, about the capabilities. Our job is to come in and help you tell your story so it's more specific competitively.

6:23And what are some of the things that you see firms do or companies do to be able to be more competitive, to be able to win more work, to be able to be more aligned with their market, to be able to really speak to the kind of clients that they really want to be working with? Well, above and beyond the brand and the DNA for who they are and the messaging that they are in, they're required to build. I think what's really key now is discoverability through AI in terms of client acquisition. A lot of people now, of course, are using Prompt much more than the Google space before for just looking for architectural firms and making their own list.

7:04They can now go into a very complicated request for what they're looking for. So by talking directly to the machine, the machine's now a market. And it is eventually finding and gathering information back. So brand's very important at this point for messaging across all that because it's got such an ability to grab so many pieces in the search to come back. Okay. In the work that you do, what are three mistakes that you see architecture firms making with their branding that's hurting them? Well, maybe mistakes is a strong word, but I would say a way of answering that there could be signals that the firm is having that require a look at brand.

7:51And one would be where the strategy itself that they have has outpaced the brand. That is to say the ambition has moved forward for the firm, but the position hasn't caught up. When there's been growth, that can create complexity for people. And they might have more capabilities. They might be reaching different markets. But there's a less coherent business story. In many cases, the value is understood by those that are buying the product immediately. But from a prospective lens, those don't know that story. So the value is not fully understood. Customers can see the expertise. But the distinction of who you are isn't clear.

8:29There's also one business, but sometimes competing stories. Your people aren't aligned around what makes the firm different. So we usually get involved and work with leaders that are trying to navigate this space. The business has changed, but the brand has not caught up. It reminds me of an awesome opportunity that I had years and years ago when I was still working in the architecture industry where local school district invited me to sit on the board to be able to vet and choose other architects that they wanted to work with. which was really fun because usually I'd been on one side of the table as an architect pitching the work and making presentations.

9:10But in this case, I was able to sit on the other side of the table and watch some of the top firms come in and pitch and see how they pitched and see how they differentiated themselves or how they didn't. And it's interesting that you mentioned differentiation because one of the top takeaways that I had from that process is that after a day of listening to these architecture firms come in and out. My mind was complete mush. One firm started to run into the other one. I couldn't remember how this firm was different from that one. I may have had some notes down, but it really became very difficult to actually make a choice.

9:40Certainly, it was easy to disqualify some firms. Some firms were just obviously not a fit, but then four, five, six firms even, wow, they all seemed great. And so it was like this interesting place of having difficulty actually making a decision? And how would an expert like yourself in the branding field help and support or advise a firm in that scenario? Oh, that's a great question. The story that you just told reminds me of something I saw a couple of years ago around there's an intellectual debate on a stage. It has nothing to do with what you just said here. I'll circle back. But two intellectuals were competing back back and forth on, we'll just call that X.

10:27And in day two, the moderator of that particular debate went to the opposing person and said, I want you to make the evidence against your own interest. I want you to report back what you heard your competitors say. And that person has to vet and show and demonstrate the yes. That's exactly the argument. So they had to do this back and forth and they were put on the spot. And the reason I'm saying this is that a lot of what we do is not coming up with these massive concepts. It's more about digging deep and really listening to the client. And that might seem like an extreme example, but in principle, we believe that.

11:09We believe that we should be tested on what we just heard so that when a leader navigating this difficult space, who's very busy, needs clarity. And our first draw is to come in and demonstrate that we fully understood. And I think a lot of people make the mistake sometimes that when you're listening, you have to agree with what you just heard. It's about demonstrating that you do understand it. And then you can pivot from there to do creative things for someone on their behalf. So that's our first thing is around diagnosis. That's what we're really good at. And then building a story so that going back to your scenario, one out of those six stories is gonna be conspicuous because it jumps out as a story that really works.

11:51The identity, the system, everything around it becomes differentiated. So that's what we aspire to do. And we want to work with those that are ambitious to get to that. And what would you say that what are three things that a firm can actually do to attract higher value clients in their design work? The question is on business development. The question is perhaps on lead generation. So if you've got everything in place brand wise, that would mean in an AI world that all the messaging is very clear and consistent and findable in that system. So that when someone's looking for you through discoverability, you're potentially coming up in that search and having all that very clear messaging across the board first.

12:40And that in theory, I think, gets people into those conversations, presuming that they're not necessarily RFP. They could be RFP bids that go out, but if it's personal private discoverability and they're looking for that, because you can now go into a prompt and some can say, find me the top five architectural firms in the Pacific Northwest that specialize in XYZ buildings. And so you want to make sure that you're discoverable through that from a lead gen and a biz dev angle. And with practices now, oftentimes they're finding there's more competition than ever. Oftentimes with pricing, they feel that it's very difficult to not go in a race to the bottom.

13:23What would you say would be keys from a branding perspective for a firm to be able to maintain premium pricing, the high level of fees that they would require to do the work that they want to do? I think your question is comparable to other service industries professionally as well. It's about taking a stand on the work that you do. It's around maintaining, not competing on price. It's competing on the value that's created when the buildings are being put together. It's about the receipts that you have already for the work that you've actually completed that give you the ability to ask for what you want in terms of those pricing options.

14:06That's how I would approach it. That's how I think others should approach it. And if people want only to buy on price alone, if that's the case, then that's a different scenario, I think. Absolutely different scenario. One probably that most of our listeners would want to avoid. Dennis, you talk about the importance of listening. And I love the idea of listening. It's something that architects know, designers know, that it's so integral in being able to deeply listen. not just to the surface level, but actually understand under the surface what the client's saying. Because in architecture, and I'm guessing it may be similar in the identity world, in the branding world, oftentimes clients will come with an idea of something they like, something they've seen before, and they have preconceived notions about what they want.

14:59And in architecture, a good designer is able to actually understand the deeper level of what they're trying to get at, so they can actually get a result that's better than what they had previously imagined. Does that ever happen? Do you see that happening in your work? And if so, how do you handle that? How do you handle it when a client says they want something, but you know that really underneath the surface, there's going to be a better solution than what they're looking for because you practice that deep listening? That's a great question, Inuk. I think I could start by saying after working with architectural and engineering spaces and firms, often because they're so competent and because they have a lot of opinions about that and they want to mitigate risk themselves, they often will put together a scaffolding of an idea, at least to get it to a certain space.

15:52they'll often offer a caveat that we've got it this far and we'd like for you to complete it. But it often means going back several steps respectively to understand the pieces that they might have missed. Because our job at this point when leaders are moving is to reduce risk. It's not a full collaboration where no one takes responsibility. So part of my answer when people surge forward isn't to come in with the wrecking ball and say no, it's more around extracting the key things that I heard them say, that we heard them say, so they understood or they understand that we really get what they're saying.

16:28And then just getting them to move into a slightly analogous space that ports over many of the things that they're already thinking, but can bring that in a different way. And often what happens is the new direction is something that they're very excited about. But that cannot happen until you demonstrate that common ground first. I guess the answer short is I think there's danger in collaboration where no one takes responsibility and it just ricochets back and forth because then what happens? So our role and part of the reasons we do what we do is to mitigate that or remove the risk for the client at the same time fully understanding what their business problem is first.

17:10And what would you say would be something that an architecture firm owner could do today or an architecture team or a firm to move their brand forward? Look at what their goals are. Where does the business want to go? What are their aspirations? What's their ambition? And then I think it's important to get objectivity. I think it's important for someone outside the walls of the firm to really take a look with them to help them with that. I think that's what's key to help them. That's usually where we get to a place where we need expertise that isn't ours. I go to someone else for this. I go to someone else for that.

17:46I would say the same things for architectural or engineering firms too when it comes to brand. Now, Dennis, you've been doing this for over 20 years. What would be some of the top lessons that you've learned over time, perhaps that are different that you do now than what you might have done earlier in your career? Even though there is a design process and a methodology that we use that's grown and matured over time, it's really only applicable to the project in a very customized way. And what I mean by that is don't get ahead of yourself creatively. That album that you're about to make that you hope goes number one, you don't know what that looks like yet.

18:33And you have to let go at the same time that dichotomy of take responsibility. You have to let go of the finish line and let the process itself yield what those results are going to be. I hope that doesn't sound too obtuse, but it's more around trusting the process of where you're going with it and has its own special life. We don't do 80 of these projects a year. We do highly in-depth transactions with people that are in-depth to produce one-off kinds of results. And that's the type of work that we love to do. What should an architecture firm owner look for when they're looking to hire a graphic design company or identity company to rebrand the firm?

19:19They are busy people, in my experience. Leadership teams, C-suite teams, owner-operated teams are doing so many things. They need someone that understands their problem fast, rapidly, shows comprehension of that, shows a paper trail and the receipts of the work that they've done before, solutions that they've done before, measurable results. And they have to get to a place. They've got to find someone they can trust. They have to get to a place where they can trust that they can get on the things that are really important for their business and allow someone to run concurrently with them as a strategic partner that they can trust.

20:00That's what they should be looking for. And what are some things that they should watch out for when they're hiring a branding firm? Give us some insider knowledge. We certainly don't want you to backtalk your colleagues, but I'm sure in the industry you know that there are people who offer a higher level of service, a lower level of service. What should our listeners be aware of?

20:24In such a fast-paced, instantaneous world, I think there's a psychology now, I should say, where results have to happen immediately. And I think it's important to pause when you're doing this because you're not going to build something that you hope has a shelf life of 18 months. You don't want to be doing surgery on this after spending money later. You got to get it right the first time or at the time that you're doing it. So it's got endurance. It's got resilience. So the mistake, the thing I would do, I would avoid anyone that thinks that they know the answer to your business problem in the first two hours of meeting with them.

21:07I wouldn't go near that. So I'm guessing that you would advise that they go through a discovery process where there's a process by which things are uncovered, things are looked at creatively, critically, to be able to come up with a solution that's been tried and that has some real thought behind it. Yes. In fact, on that point, our process revolves around that. We have, like we've heard processes before that are all based on discovery and understanding and design and build. Those are all true. They're all mechanical sort of background ways of doing things. But from a customer's perspective, we have two different phases and pillars in the method that work.

21:55One's called insight. The other is activate. And the first one you just described where all those different kinds of things happen inside that particular phase where we're discovering what is already fundamentally true about your firm. And then it moves into the actual activation part. Beautiful. Well, Dennis, if people want to reach out to you, find out more about your firm, where should they go? Thanks, Edek. We have an offer that we've created for all the community at Business of Architecture. It's boildesign.com slash BOA. And we're prepared to offer a three 30-minute phone call for anyone that wants to talk to us about what we've talked about today.

22:37All right. Well, that's fantastic. What an amazing opportunity. Love that you're offering yourself as a resource for our audience. And another question just came up here, and then we'll wrap this episode. But typically, even when the work that we do, Dennis, in terms of helping and supporting architecture firms with their business, helping architecture firm owners create a self-managed, self-directed team, helping architecture firms slay the overwhelm so that they're not stressed out anymore, reducing the chaos. What we typically find is that, number one, it's a process. It takes time to do that.

23:16And then also that architects oftentimes they get, there's so many things in that field of business and what it means to run a business that it can oftentimes feel overwhelming because all the priorities are pulling at them and they feel very stretched. So how might a brand package, an identity rebrand for a firm actually help architects in those other aspects of their business? Have you seen any correlation with that? Oh, again, you know, great question. I like to think, and after looking at all the work that we've done that the work that we do ends up having really positive impact on people.

24:02It's tangible, it's emotional, and it's something that they, it's ownable. And so that when you're injecting this type of value, if you even are a startup sometimes, or whether you're a midsize firm that's growing, there's a whole level up that these things afford the opportunity to come to it. And it's creating clarity in a big part of your business that often is contagious and finds its way into other parts. And so it's a brand is something that everyone feels. And when you're doing it properly and we're building these results for others, it's almost like it's coveted by others. They really want that for themselves.

24:49They're so proud of it. And they know that it's a big checkmark in their business for its advancement. So that's the exciting part for us is the impact and the resilience that those design systems have for them, that they no longer have ambiguity or conjecture around that part of their business. Are there very specific things that happen in an architecture firm, catalysts, so to speak, that cause them to realize it's time for a rebrand, either a certain amount of time passing, perhaps some business change? What are the typical catalysts that you see when a company is wanting to redo their brand or their identity?

25:24It could be succession. It could be where new guard is coming in and they may want to grow or manifest it. It's around getting into new markets. They've gone from regional to national to international. They need to grow the whole prospective lens of who they are in that regard. there's often sometimes ambiguity inside internally and externally where there's just not a lot of clarity for anyone looking at it's around creating essentially a clean and clear system and that's coherent great well dennis as we finish up here today give us that link again for our listeners and then we'll call it a wrap thanks you know it's boildesign.com slash boa okay we kept it nice and simple there.

26:10And when they go to that page, what are they going to see? There's an opportunity for leaders that are navigating change that want to talk for 30 minutes about their business and getting a first objective lens from us on it. Okay. So let's flood Dennis here with conversations. Let's make him so busy that he has to give up all of his hobbies and time with his family so that we just flood him with that with opportunities. Thanks, Dennis, for joining us today here. So good talking to you. Thanks, Enoch. Happy to help. Happy to be here. Well, that's a wrap. And here's today's smart practice tool tip for you.

26:47Architects often accept scope creep as part of the business, but actually it's a firm-wide failure of clarity, consistency, and leadership. And if you're on a leadership team or you run a firm, you know how Scope Creep can eat away unknowingly at your projects until you run the numbers and perhaps you get around to running the numbers and you discover that that project was not profitable. As a matter of fact, it actually lost money. This can be frustrating, annoying, and certainly discouraging after all the work that you do to provide excellent work to your clients. That's why my team and I put together the Scope Creep First Aid Kit.

27:26It's basically a downloadable guide that you can actually give directly to your employees that gives them a step-by-step systems checklist for how to avoid scope creep. It empowers them with email scripts. It empowers them with suggestions for what they can say in a conversation. It really trains them on how to safeguard the profit that is so important to your business. Because let's face it, just like in a relationship, having boundaries create safety and security so just like in a partnership relationship or perhaps a romantic relationship the boundaries in other words hey this is going to cost more money is something that will actually inspire confidence in your clients so to avoid having scope creep be a matter of guesswork or gut feelings implement this free toolkit and your team can confidently protect your margins for you.

28:20That's what smart practice is all about. You can get this smart practice tool 100 % free by going to businessofarchitecture.com. You've built a practice that balances design, delivery, and client trust. But when it comes to taxes, your firm's structure might be quietly working against you. At Gelt, we specialize in helping architecture firms uncover hidden tax inefficiencies. From outdated ownership setups to missed expense opportunities and project level tax traps. Even well-run studios can leave five figures on the table each year simply because their financial foundation hasn't evolved as the firm has.

28:57Gilt helps you design a smarter structure, one that turns your firm's growth into real savings and stronger take-home income. Gilt, tax strategy built for architects. Don't wait for next tax season. Schedule your complimentary consultation at joingelt.com. That's J-O-I-N-G-E-L-T.com to learn more and mention BOA when you sign up. If you're still tracking project costs and client invoices across three different spreadsheets, you already know how much time that steals from actual design work. Xero brings your invoicing, expenses, and project profitability into one place, built for firms who bill by project, not by the hour.

29:35Right now, Business of Architectural listeners can access a special zero offer. Get 90 % off for six months through the link in our show notes. Terms and conditions apply. And a reminder, my conversation with Dennis today, he mentioned that he's put together a special opportunity for you as a podcast listener. If you'd like to talk about your firm's branding, perhaps figure out what Dennis and his services do, maybe see if you're a fit for a strategic rebrand, you can book an exclusive 30-minute conversation with Dennis by going to BoyleDesign.com forward slash BOA. And you won't be talking to an associate, you won't be talking to someone who is a contract worker, you'll be talking directly with the owner of the firm himself.

30:21So that's a really great opportunity. Head over to BoyleDesign.com forward slash BOA. That's spelled B-O-Y-L-E, design.com forward slash BOA. And as always, I have to remind you about Business of Architecture's Smart Practice Method, which we put together and developed over the past decade of working with architectural practices. It's a collection of frameworks, systems, and processes that allow your firm to run in a self-managed, self-directed way. Now, here's the thing. Let's be real. Free advice is a great appetizer, but the main course, the thing that changes everything, is advice that's personalized to you, your firm, and your situation.

31:02that's when the real momentum starts. So if you're ready to receive custom advice for your firm here's what to do. Go to smartpracticemethod.com and discover the proven, simple, and easy to implement smart practice method that is revolutionizing firm management for owners and teams. Or if you want to book directly and speak to one of my team members head over to businessofarchitecture.com As always this is Enoch Sears and I want to thank you for joining me today and remind you that the views expressed on this show by my guests do not represent those of the host. And we make no representation, promise, guarantee, pledge, warranty, contract, bond, or commitment, except to help you do your best work and be handsomely paid for it.

31:46Carpe diem.