MARKETING IN ARCHITECTURE

ZEHRA FARAZ
B.ARCH, SEMESTER X
A8304015024
Once an architecture firm has developed its marketing strategy, there is a "Seven P Formula" it should use
to continually evaluate and reevaluate its business activities. These seven factors are: product, price,
promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people. As products, markets, customers and needs change
rapidly, it must continually revisit these seven Ps to make sure it is on track and achieving the maximum
results possible for it in the contemporary marketplace.

Product
The first P of marketing says that one must develop the habit of looking at his product or as though he
were an outside marketing consultant brought in to help the company decide whether or not it's in the
right business at this time. Ask critical questions whilst developing the project; such as, "Is your current
product or service, or mix of products and services, appropriate and suitable for the market and the
customers of today?" In case of difficulties while selling as much of your products or services as you'd
like, one needs to develop the habit of assessing the business honestly. Introspecting is the key. The
products should be right services for the customers in present times. Any product or service being brought
or introduced to the market; be it new materials of construction, new techniques or even new spatial
design forms, compared to your competitors, your product or service should be superior in some
significant way to anything else available. The design outcomes are what account as products and the
must be scrutinized well to suit the demands of the people.

Price
The second P in the marketing formula is the price. Once we develop the habit of continually examining
and reexamining the prices of the products and services we sell to make sure they're still appropriate to
the realities of the current market. While introducing new standards we sometimes may need to lower our
prices. At other suitable times, it may be appropriate to raise our prices. Often, the profitability of certain
products or services doesn't justify the amount of effort and resources that go into producing them. It is
found that by raising their prices, they may lose a percentage of their customers, but the remaining
percentage generates a profit on every sale. So the price check is really essential and must be carried out
frequently. It must not lead to loss of the company, rather a systematic and planned way of pricing goods
or services must be adopted.
Some ways to check the price are by changing the terms and conditions of sale. Sometimes, by spreading
your price over a series of months or years, you can sell far more than you are today, and the interest you
can charge will more than make up for the delay in cash receipts. Sometimes you can combine products
and services together with special offers and special promotions. Sometimes you can include free
additional items that cost you very little to produce but make your prices appear far more attractive to
your customers. In business, as in nature, whenever you experience resistance or frustration in any part of
your sales or marketing activities, be open to revisiting that area. Be open to the possibility that your
current pricing structure is not ideal for the current market. Be open to the need to revise your prices, if
necessary, to remain competitive, to survive and thrive in a fast-changing marketplace.

Promotion
Promotion includes all the ways you tell your customers about your products or services and how you
then market and sell to them. The third habit in marketing and sales is to think in terms of promotion all
the time. Small changes in the way you promote and sell your products can lead to dramatic changes in
your results. Even small changes in your advertising can lead immediately to higher sales. Experienced
copywriters can often increase the response rate from advertising by 500 percent by simply changing the
headline on an advertisement. Large and small companies in every industry continually experiment with
different ways of advertising, promoting, and selling their products and services. And here is the rule:
Whatever method of marketing and sales you're using today will, sooner or later, stop working.
Sometimes it will stop working for reasons you know, and sometimes it will be for reasons you don't
know. In either case, your methods of marketing and sales will eventually stop working, and you'll have
to develop new sales, marketing and advertising approaches, offerings, and strategies.

Place
The fourth P in the marketing mix is the place where your product or service is actually sold. Develop the
habit of reviewing and reflecting upon the exact location where the customer meets the salesperson.
Sometimes a change in place can lead to a rapid increase in sales. You can sell your product in many
different places. Some companies use direct selling, sending their salespeople out to personally meet and
talk with the prospect. Some sell by telemarketing. Some sell through catalogs or mail order. Some sell at
trade shows or in retail establishments. Some sell in joint ventures with other similar products or services.
Some companies use manufacturers' representatives or distributors. Many companies use a combination
of one or more of these methods. In each case, the entrepreneur must make the right choice about the very
best location or place for the customer to receive essential buying information on the product or service
needed to make a buying decision. What is yours? In what way should you change it? Where else could
you offer your products or services?

Packaging
The fifth element in the marketing mix is the packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking
at every visual element in the packaging of your product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect.
Remember, people form their first impression about you within the first 30 seconds of seeing you or some
element of your company. Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of your product
or service can often lead to completely different reactions from your customers. With regard to the
packaging of your company, your product or service, you should think in terms of everything that the
customer sees from the first moment of contact with your company all the way through the purchasing
process. Packaging refers to the way your product or service appears from the outside. Packaging also
refers to your people and how they dress and groom. It refers to your offices, your waiting rooms, your
brochures, your correspondence and every single visual element about your company. Everything counts.
Everything helps or hurts. Everything affects your customer's confidence about dealing with you.

Positioning
The next P is positioning. You should develop the habit of thinking continually about how you are
positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers. How do people think and talk about you when
you're not present? How do people think and talk about your company? What positioning do you have in
your market, in terms of the specific words people use when they describe you and your offerings to
others? In the famous book by Al Reis and Jack Trout, Positioning, the authors point out that how you are
seen and thought about by your customers is the critical determinant of your success in a competitive
marketplace. Attribution theory says that most customers think of you in terms of a single attribute, either
positive or negative. Sometimes it's "service." Sometimes it's "excellence." Sometimes it's "quality
engineering," as with Mercedes Benz. Sometimes it's "the ultimate driving machine," as with BMW. In
every case, how deeply entrenched that attribute is in the minds of your customers and prospective
customers determines how readily they'll buy your product or service and how much they'll pay. Develop
the habit of thinking about how you could improve your positioning. Begin by determining the position
you'd like to have. If you could create the ideal impression in the hearts and minds of your customers,
what would it be? What would you have to do in every customer interaction to get your customers to
think and talk about in that specific way? What changes do you need to make in the way interact with
customers today in order to be seen as the very best choice for your customers of tomorrow?

People
The final P of the marketing mix is people. Develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and
outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your sales and marketing strategy and
activities. It is the people who you are serving. It is the people who can make your business a success. It's
amazing how many entrepreneurs and businesspeople will work extremely hard to think through every
element of the marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and then pay little attention to the fact that
every single decision and policy has to be carried out by a specific person, in a specific way. Your ability
to select, recruit, hire and retain the proper people, with the skills and abilities to do the job you need to
have done, is more important than everything else put together. In his best-selling book, Good to Great,
Jim Collins discovered the most important factor applied by the best companies was that they first of all
"got the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus." Once these companies had hired the
right people, the second step was to "get the right people in the right seats on the bus." To be successful in
business, you must develop the habit of thinking in terms of exactly who is going to carry out each task
and responsibility. In many cases, it's not possible to move forward until you can attract and put the right
person into the right position. Many of the best business plans ever developed sit on shelves today
because the [people who created them] could not find the key people who could execute those plans.