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I have always been interested in business development, marketing, and public relations, but the path I took to apply these interests professionally was as an architect. I studied architecture at Cal Poly, Pomona, and through a series of job experiences, became Marketing Director at Bastien and Associates, Inc. Archtecture and Planning.
I spent over six years there, first as an intern, then as an architect and project manager, and finally as Marketing Director. I enjoyed the challenges of learning so many different parts of the business, but there was nothing I enjoyed more than the challenging of growing the business. I did this with a number of tools:
The Internet
I have been on the Internet since it's commercial debut. When I realized the importance of websites in marketing the company, I volunteered to write one myself. This early site was hand coded and somewhat crude by today's standards, but it got the job done and was a good way to introduce clients to our services.
Since then, I've developed many observations on what makes a good website, and I'll write about that in future posts. Hard copy marketing materials
When I first experimented with producing the firm's paper marketing materials, I knew they would be important to selling the strengths of the company. But I had no idea how important they would become.
Over time, we developed a system for dealing with project leads that included a very impressive marketing book that consistently floored prospects with our project experience. The goal was to leave them asking the question, "How could we NOT choose this company?" We frequently acheived that goal. Public relations
My dabbling in public relations began as an internal challenge. I wanted to prove to myself that I could get the company in the paper. This would advance my evolving career goal of transitioning from architectural project management to business development. By the grace of God, it worked, and was a lot of fun as well.
Focusing on the company's growing role as a niche player in the design of film studios, I started attempting to pitch an article to the Wall Street Journal. This seemed like a long shot at first. But by eventually leaving the right voicemail for the right person in the right bureau (Los Angeles), I finally got a call back from a reporter. This led to a nice little story on page B1 by Stacy Kravetz. This was an important story in my career, and I hope it was helpful to hers as well.
I continually learned the art of talking to the press, mostly intuitively. If I were a reporter, I think I would become extremely cynical about formulaic approaches from businesses trying to get my attention. So if you're wanting to reach out to the media, I believe it's important not to be "formulaic." Take the time to find the right contact that is genuinely interested in your subject matter. You should certainly never try to pressure some poor reporter who is not interested in your story to write about it. It's (a) not nice, (b) won't get you in a story, and (c) if it does, won't get you covered in a positive light. And did I mention that it's not nice?
Over the course of my time at Bastien, my clip file grew to include articles from publications like:
- Associated Press
- Architectural Record
- Building Design & Construction
- Budapest Sun
- Daily Variety
- Hollywood Reporter
- International Variety
- LA Times
- LA Business Journal
- OC Architect
- OC Business Journal
- Orange County Register
- El Pais
- El Periodico
- USA Today
- Wall Street Journal
- Western Real Estate New
- Yuma Daily Sun
Finding reporters who were interested in writing about the firm was enormously important to the growth of the company. The third-party perspective of the press has the ability to establish instant credibility with prospective clients that can't be replaced by simply telling them yourself about your own work experience.
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