October AEC firm rankings, lists, awards and PR opportunities

October 14, 2024

There are so many spooky puns sprinting into my brain right now, it’s scary.

Instead of sprinkling fun wordplay all over this intro, let me tell you a real-life haunting tale.

I have been with Reputation Ink for eight years now and I’ve felt real fear in my bones approximately four times. Each of those times has been centered around the thought of, “Did I miss that deadline? No! Maybe? I’m scared to look … WHEW.”

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Interacting with reporters at conferences: a guide for legal and AEC professionals

June 5, 2024

With your program in hand and trusty lanyard around your neck, you’ve exchanged business cards and enthusiastically nodded along to the keynote speaker’s most compelling points. You’ve nibbled the finger sandwiches, raided the coffee carafes and spent an obscene amount of time looking for “Ballroom 3F.” Hopefully, you’ve also remembered to bring a good jacket for those frigid caverns they call meeting rooms. 

But there’s one other thing you might have overlooked.

You know those writer types who report on the issues and trends affecting your industry? Maybe they’ve even covered your firm before. Well, conferences are a fantastic place to spot them out in the wild. 

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May AEC firm rankings, lists, awards and PR opportunities

May 14, 2024

Q2 is halfway over. I know!

Historically, this is the time of year when we get a bit more breathing room. The start of summer is often when things slow down a little…

Not this year!

When things are very busy, it may feel too overwhelming for your architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firm to seek out proactive PR opportunities.

No fear! We are here with the strongest opportunities for AEC firms to get the most mileage from their time spent on submissions. Here are a few of our favorites:

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Keeping your emails out of the spam folder

February 27, 2024
Keeping your emails out of the spam folder

Congratulations! You’ve successfully implemented an email marketing strategy to connect with your clients and prospects. Email marketing is a potent tool for getting a high return on your marketing investment. 

But, wait! 

Just a day after hitting ‘send,’ you receive that dreaded message: “So-and-so didn’t receive the email; it went to spam.” Even worse? Your supervisor got the email in their spam folder, causing some pointed questions about just why you’ve been spending time on this.

Don’t panic just yet. 

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Shutting the revolving door: how AEC firms can leverage marketing for employee retention

November 28, 2023

Labor woes have the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries in a chokehold. A decreased interest in the trades has caused the pool of skilled workers to dwindle, while the number of AEC professionals entering retirement is threatening to drain the pool altogether. 

The U.S. construction industry had 374,000 job openings in June of 2023, according to a recently released report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These dire statistics underscore the importance of retaining skilled labor and should motivate AEC firms to leverage marketing to combat the exodus. 

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Do’s and don’ts of podcast interviews

September 14, 2023

I love a good podcast. The ones that make me feel like the host and guest are standing in the same room are instant favorites — doesn’t matter what genre it is.

Personal entertainment aside, they’re also a fantastic business opportunity for B2B companies. Not only does running a podcast enable you to build brand awareness while creating content for your business and your guest’s, it’s also a great way to build relationships and have meaningful conversations with industry leaders and potential prospects.

But how do you do good podcasting?

I didn’t think this question would be so hard to answer when I first started producing our agency’s podcast, “Spill the Ink.” After all, I’m an avid consumer of plenty of great podcasts and have a background in production and storytelling as a former TV journalist. Why wouldn’t it be easy? While a lot of my skills were transferable, I had to come to terms with the fact that podcasts are unique pieces of content that require their own skillset. 

In my opinion, one of the most important skills you can develop is learning how to conduct an interview. I won’t lie and say that this isn’t going to take a lot of trial and error. But I can at least help get you started on the basics.

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How AEC seller-doers can build relationships, drive revenue through podcasting

August 28, 2023

When our Principal and President Michelle Calcote King began Reputation Ink’s “Spill the Ink” podcast in November of 2020, she wanted to try something new. Over several episodes, she began to see the benefits of the podcast, and stuck to it. Now with more than 70 episodes, Michelle has learned a lot about the benefits of podcasting, particularly for B2B professional services firms such as architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms. Her number-one benefit she says? Networking. 

There are many other benefits as well – here’s Michelle’s top five reasons why AEC firms and their seller-doers should consider creating a podcast: 

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Why AEC firms need to know about the ‘excess share of voice’ rule

March 28, 2023

There’s a well-known principle in business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing: Brands that have a higher “share of voice” than their “share of market” will grow. This is called the “excess share of voice” (ESOV) rule. 

While market share is a widely known metric, share of voice (SOV) isn’t as clear. It’s defined a number of ways depending on the source, but it essentially means the number of conversations about a brand, divided by the number of conversations about a topic, industry or niche (i.e., whatever “market” you are measuring). 

Every time a brand is mentioned in the media, authors an article, posts on social media or runs a series of ads, a conversation is happening. The conversation is amplified when the audience engages by sharing the article, commenting on the social media post or clicking on the ads. All of this activity results in a certain share of voice. 

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What legal marketers should know about Google’s ‘helpful content’ algorithm update

March 9, 2023

Google recently launched a “helpful content” update to its search algorithm to prioritize unique and thorough content for its users. In addition, it will now automatically identify content that seems to have little value, low added value or is otherwise not particularly helpful. When Google identifies what it considers deficient pages and websites, it automatically moves them to the bottom of the search results. Think of it as a way for the search engine to separate the wheat from the chaff in the infinite web of information (and misinformation) that is the internet. 

For those in legal marketing and thought leadership, the update could mean fewer users will see your content if it’s not up to snuff. Cue the panic amongst content creators and SEO marketers.

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