10
Mar

9 mistakes marketers should avoid when interviewing architects, engineers and construction pros for thought leadership content

March 10, 2022
by: in AEC , Content marketing No comments  

So you read our guide on improving your subject-matter-expert interviewing skills and now you think you’re ready to rock your next thought leadership interview. If you follow our advice, you probably are. But even though you know what you should do, you also need to know what you should not do to get the best, juiciest, most innovative ideas and quotes from the architect, engineer or construction pro you’re speaking with.

A good interviewer knows how to get their subject talking without getting in their way. But there’s a lot more to being a good interviewer than just being a good listener. Do you think Oprah showed up to the vineyard to interview Meghan and Harry empty-handed? 

The answer is no: the queen of interviews definitely spent hours with her team arming herself with background information and a hefty list of questions designed to pull out those jaw-dropping soundbites that plastered headlines for weeks afterward.

I can’t teach you to be Oprah, but I can help you optimize your interviewing strategy by avoiding these nine mistakes.

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27
Jan

Reprint Rights 101: How AEC firms can promote media hits without getting sued

January 27, 2022
by: in AEC , Marketing strategy , Content marketing No comments  
Reprint Rights 101: How AEC firms can promote media hits without getting sued

Great news! You or one of your architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) subject matter experts published an article or got quoted in an industry trade magazine, and you want everyone to know — particularly potential clients. So, you post the full text of the article to your company’s website, send it to your email lists and schedule some social media posts that link to it for good measure.

Good marketing, right?

While promoting your media coverage is important (and kudos to you for recognizing that), unfortunately you’ve left yourself open to legal action from the media outlet because you’ve just violated their copyright. 

The good news is that there are ways to leverage your media hits while staying on the right side of the law — and in the good books of the media outlets that cover your projects.

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08
Jul

The importance of email service providers (ESPs): Why you should never send mass emails with Outlook or Gmail

July 8, 2021
by: in AEC , Law , Marketing strategy , Content marketing , Professional services No comments  
The importance of email service providers (ESPs): Why you should never send mass emails with Outlook or Gmail

Email marketing is the most profitable marketing channel, garnering an ROI of $42 for every $1 spent. However, if you try to start a mass marketing email campaign through your Gmail or Outlook account, you’re going to be hampered by send limits and you could even end up having your personal email or your entire organization’s domain blacklisted (more on that in a moment).

So how do firms manage to conduct email marketing campaigns that send hundreds or thousands of emails and still hang on to their online reputation? Email marketing services or email service providers (ESPs) are third-party services that handle mass marketing email sends. ESPs take a number of measures to ensure they remain whitelisted and retain agreements with internet service providers (ISPs) that allow them to send emails in bulk. 

You might be asking yourself, “Why do I need to pay extra to send emails when that’s what I do all day, every day? Why not just send each marketing email individually from my individual email address?”

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02
May

4 reasons marketers must shift toward a ‘knowledge extraction’ mindset

May 2, 2018
by: in AEC , Marketing strategy , Content marketing No comments  

RepInk-blog-Extraction

Marketers… if you had to describe your most important role in one or two words, what would you say? My gut tells me that many would say “promotion,” “brand building” or “thought leadership.” I doubt many would say “knowledge extraction.” And that must change.

Knowledge extraction is basically that — extracting knowledge from your subject-matter experts (SMEs). It’s a specialized skill when done right, and it’s imperative for effective business-to-business and professional services marketing. Here’s why:

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24
Apr

7 ways to overcome content marketing’s biggest challenge: just getting it done

April 24, 2018
by: in AEC , Content marketing No comments  

RepInk-blog-7waysChallenge

We’ve all heard it before:

“I just can’t get my subject-matter experts to give me the information I need.”

“We would do content marketing, but we can never find the time — we’re too busy focused on billable work.”

I get it. Content marketing takes time. It’s the reason I have a viable business, after all.

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30
Mar

Crisis PR and the FIU bridge collapse: 8 ways to prepare your AEC firm for the worst

March 30, 2018
by: in AEC , Public relations No comments  

8 crisis PR tips

“By the time you hear the thunder, it’s too late to build the ark.” —Unknown

It’s everyone’s worst nightmare in the architecture, engineering and construction industry: a catastrophic incident with multiple fatalities, and your company is on the line.

That’s the reality right now for FIGG Bridge Engineers and MCM — the designer and builder, respectively, of the pedestrian bridge at Florida International University that collapsed March 15, killing six and injuring 10 others.

The focus now is on honoring the lives vendita gonfiabile percorso ad ostacoli lost, determining what led to the collapse and ultimately holding anyone negligent accountable. However, the incident is a reminder of how incredibly important it is for AEC public relations professionals to prepare to respond to such worst-case scenarios.

While every situation is unique, and the experience of a crisis PR professional is invaluable during an event, here are eight ways you can prepare now to protect your firm’s reputation as much as possible in the event the worst happens.

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12
Jul

Content marketers: 7 ways to improve your subject-matter-expert interviews

July 12, 2017
by: in AEC , Marketing strategy , Content marketing No comments  

Get the information you need to create persuasive, insightful content by conducting better interviews

I’ll let you in on a little-known secret that sets great content marketers apart from the good ones. It’s not the writing. It’s not video production skills. It’s not even research.

Don’t get me wrong — those are important. But the real secret sauce? Conducting great interviews.

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30
Mar

A Q&A with Cosential: The CRM made especially for AEC

March 30, 2017
by: in AEC , Marketing strategy , Lead generation No comments  

 A Q&A with Cosential: The CRM made especially for AEC

Our team recently had the pleasure of mingling with movers and shakers in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry at the SMPS SunBuilt conference, an annual regional event for AEC marketing and business development professionals.

One of those people was Bobby Hollis, VP of Marketing for Cosential, a CRM and proposal tool for AEC firms. We wanted to pick Bobby’s brain about what the industry-specific CRM means for AEC lead-generation efforts. Luckily, he agreed (without us pinning him down).

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16
Mar

How to get the most bang for your content buck [infographic]

March 16, 2017
by: in AEC , Content marketing , Lead generation No comments  

When you put blood, sweat and tears (ok, maybe just a lot of strategy, hours and money) into a top-quality piece of thought-leadership content, it deserves a longer shelf life than one round of LinkedIn promotion and a slot in your website “resources” section. Whether you’re an architecture, engineering or construction (AEC) firm or a law firm, long-form content offers like e-books can cost thousands of precious marketing dollars to produce and design, so you need to squeeze out every lead-generation opportunity you can. Top companies know that repurposing content is the smart thing to do — here’s how:

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14
Mar

How to address your AEC prospects’ sales objections with great content

March 14, 2017
by: in AEC , Content marketing No comments  

How to address your AEC prospects’ sales objections with great content

Think back to your firm’s last major client project. Now consider the process of winning that contract in the first place. That journey can be almost as complicated and drawn out as the construction project itself.

In a perfect world, your business development team would love nothing more than smooth sailing from start to finish — question-free sales calls, a straightforward proposal presentation and full agreement across the board with no objections or back-and-forth whatsoever from the prospective client.

Alas, life isn’t an episode of “Friends” where all your problems are solved and loose ends tied up in just 22 minutes to the sound of a laugh track.

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