The question of how to market architectural projects for my firm has left me feeling cynical.
Here’s the cycle I have wrestled with:
- Realize that I’m neglecting the work of project marketing—narratives, photography, project data.
- Develop a system to manage this work, defining deliverables, schedule, etc.
- Activate the system—actually doing the work.
- Neglect the system and fall behind.
Given that I’ve gone through this cycle four times in five years…I feel a little cynical.
I look at my neglect, and decide that, well, maybe the system wasn’t good enough. So I build it all over again. The irony, of course, is that the new system looks a whole lot like the old system.
Is the reinvention even necessary? Am I reinventing the wheel?
Whenever I face failure in a repetitive process, like project marketing, I have to wonder: Is it a question of willpower?
Am I just not trying hard enough?
But lack of effort isn’t ever a satisfying answer for me. The only solution I see is:
There must be a better way.
Recently, as I embark on yet another reinvention of the project marketing process, I have started to wonder:
Is reinvention actually the thing? Is this simply part of the process?
If there’s an opportunity for growth here, that seems to be it: acknowledging that the cycle itself is necessary. The premise of iteration and reinventing (the wheel) may be key to making the whole thing happen at all.
Taylor Coe 