Why Architects Need to Think Like Influencers: Marketing Secrets Revealed

5 Marketing Tips to Get Noticed and Make Real Money in Business
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Welcome to the Livestream
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[00:00:00]

Speaker: Hello everyone and welcome to this livestream special.

The Importance of Marketing
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Speaker: I dunno where you are, whether you're at work, maybe you're hustle and busting, maybe you're making a career for yourself or you're driving your profession straight into next year it's gonna be 2026 and more important than ever is marketing. Like it or LOA it.

There's no way you can get away from it. Over the last five years, what I've been doing is making a lot of mistakes, my goodness. But I've also found some things that work. I've also read a few things, if you can believe it. Watched a lot of videos, and more importantly than that, I've actually had to myself experiment with what works in marketing to get known in a very busy, busy space.

Now, it's been a little while since I've done a live stream, but you can comment and you can add questions along the way more important than ever.

Personal and Professional Branding
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Speaker: We need to focus on our personal brand and our professional brand. So [00:01:00] whether you want to build up your online profile, whether that's on LinkedIn and doing some other stuff, maybe it's on Instagram or you want to drive your business.

Well, actually, I'm gonna give you all the tips and tricks that I've learned to help you along on that journey now.

Presentation Preparation
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Speaker: I had time to prepare this because earlier in the year I got asked to do a presentation. Now I'm gonna be honest, it's been a long time since I even opened up like PowerPoint or anything.

It's been a while, but I forced myself to do it and I don't like giving talks in person. However, you need to leverage that. You need to use it. So I thought, what better way? Then just to show it online to a, uh, in person to a few people, but to actually bring it on here, to bring it on my socials as well.

So I've got something to show you. Maybe we can jump into it together and if you've got a question, you can answer, you can [00:02:00] ask and I will do my best to answer. Hopefully everyone can hear me. If there's any problems, let me know. And yeah, feel free to say hello and do all that stuff as well. So I'm gonna bring you live.

I presented, for better or worse, this was the presentation. Okay?

Becoming a Social Media Influencer
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Speaker: So if you're here, you wanna be become, you wanna be better in marketing, you're thinking, maybe I'm starting, maybe I wanna do something. But you want to do it. You want to be a marketing guru, a social media influencer within the built environment.

There's a lot of positives towards it. I, it's helped me so much in my business. You've had this idea for a while. And you're toying with it. So you wanna be a social media influencer? Well, well, let me, let me load up the thing first. The first question I gotta ask you is. Are you sure? Because let me tell you if it's a flittering thought or if it's a doubt or something you think, eh, I might play with it, that's [00:03:00] fine.

But if you want to go ahead and further in your career, well guess what? It's gonna take a lot of time and commitment. But if you are a hardcore person or you are a bit insane and stubborn like myself, then that will probably serve you well. So the first question I want you to ask yourself is. Am I Sure.

Do I really wanna do this? And if you are, then great. This is the pres, uh, presentation for you.

The Reality of Being an Influencer
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Speaker: What most people think social media influencer is like, is that it is woo-hoo. You're going down the street. It's amazing. Roles are coming in. It's easy. You walk into a room and everyone knows you. And guess what?

It fit the idea, the concepts like that. The reality of being someone who's an influencer online is that it's really hard work. It's a lot of work. It takes a lot of time, and you are gonna make one or two posts like myself, and you go, I know this is gonna go viral. I think it, I've seen something similar, and you are gonna whack [00:04:00] it up.

You're gonna spend time in that post. You're gonna get those images. Maybe you'll make a reel, whatever. You're gonna do it and you're gonna blast it out. And you might get lucky, you might get some traction on your first hit. Sometimes the social, the, the platforms like to do that, encourage you to get going and you go, okay, got a bit of something.

Or you might be a me immortal. And guess what? Nothing happened. You might have put something up, you didn't get the traction you want. Maybe it was the wrong time of day. Maybe it was so things, and you're gonna feel like, oh my gosh, this is so slow. Now this is normal. This is part of the process. But it ain't glamorously going down the street.

It ain't gonna be easy. It's time. It takes a lot of things. So it's gonna feel slow. You're not gonna feel like you're getting anywhere. It's gonna be frustrated. Okay? That's the worst of it. Now, if you can handle that. You're ready for it, then you are. Then I think you'll be all right. But as long as you are aware that that's what you're going [00:05:00] into, then guess what?

You should be. All right. So if you need me to convince you, you still need kind of convincing after this. Oh, you know, I'm not sure. Don't bother doing it. Alright. However, if you're still here and still listening after this, and you still wanna be an influencer.

Core Lessons for Aspiring Influencers
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Speaker: Well, here are the five core lessons that I've learned.

I wish someone told me at the start, and please run with these. Maybe you have a few of your own and you can, you can tell me all about them too. But here are the four, the five things that I've learned.

Lesson 1: It's Not About You
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Speaker: Number one, nobody cares about you. Really. No one cares. No one really cares about me. It's not about you, it's about the person.

So I want you to imagine who you're targeting. I wanna imagine who you are reaching out. You've gotta send a message, something that people resonate towards. Now it isn't the Steve Drew show [00:06:00] really. People aren't just looking me up for a reason. Maybe it's things I talk about. Maybe it's the passions I have to reach out to that core person.

So a lot of the people that we talk to in my business, it's the journey I had before. 'cause I was an Architectural Assistant, part one, part two, worked in industry. Then I fell into recruitment, right? So then behind the scenes, I'm helping people out on recruitment, and I'm learning all the stuff that I kind of wish I knew before.

And I was always thinking, right, wouldn't it be really good to impart this information to the audience? And who is the audience? It was probably me when I was in between looking for jobs. That's the audience. So everything I talk about is designed for you in my key, in my head. The person that I'm reaching out to is me early in my career and maybe me if I continued in architecture.

That's the thing. It's not about my ego, it's not about that. I know it might look like that. You're like, well, you're talking here. That's true. But to keep you. [00:07:00] Engaged. I really need to think about the message and build that rapport, build that trust, and hopefully reach out to you wherever you are on the journey.

'cause you are my key audience and give valuable information so that you will interact with me. So, no, it really isn't about you. No one fundamentally cares about what you're doing, what sandwich you've got. What? I don't know. What, what is your opinion on a certain random thing? That isn't relevant to the core message.

They care about the opportunity. They care about themselves, and if you can help people along the journey, they're more likely to stick with you. So number one, no one cares about you. It's not about you. It's all about them. Okay. Some things that you can practically think about that. Who is the audience? So I kind of alluded to that.

So for me, it's uh, architects along their journeys. Let's pretend you are an Architect. Let's imagine who you're speaking to. Do you own your [00:08:00] small Architectural practice? Are you going in the local area? Are you reaching out to homeowners that really you're looking for extensions, refurbishments. So, that kind of thing.

Okay. If you're a, if you're a medium to a large architecture practice, think about your core audience. Think about the kind of clients, what they're gonna be looking for, what they care about. Is it saving money? Is it, uh, optimize? It's doing beautiful buildings at low cost. I don't know. You should know this really.

And think about their pain points. So a developer is probably looking for a return on their investment. And if you can say, yes, we do design, but we commercially orientated and we are the people that are gonna increase your return on investment, well guess what? They're probably gonna be able to use you more.

Or if you have a small architecture practice and you're reaching out to homeowners. You're talking about what they actually care about, how they can get a beautiful house for, you know, a fair investment. They're gonna get this, all this light coming in. Can you imagine what it's like to go in your living room?[00:09:00]

Can you imagine what it's like? Then they're really gonna reach out and they're more likely to use you. Maybe you can offer them value on this certain things. Maybe you can say to them, here's tricks to do in your home that won't cost you a fortune and maybe you don't need, um, to change your house. Maybe you can do these things first.

And if you still want to do it, then guess what? You can reach out to me. Have a think of what the person's pain points are and how can you help them with it. People need to feel like you understand them in their process. The more they feel like you are an expert or an authority in the space than they're more likely to use you.

And whether that's. Short real form, medium reform, a well-written, um, for piece. Could be a blog. Who knows? All that stuff is gonna build up that, uh, online, um, and could be even offline. Perception in people's minds that, that you're really the authority in that space and they should go and use you. So one [00:10:00] quick thing.

It's not about, not about you, it's about them. Can you be the person that helps to solve a person's problems?

Lesson 2: Everything is a Marketing Precedent
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Speaker: Okay, number two, everything is a marketing precedent. I love this. Can you remember when, when I was a little old, part one. When I very started, I would get these simple tasks from my, uh, team leader at the time.

Go, okay, so we're thinking of designing this. Can you go and get me two of free examples of it done before, which will give us inspirations? I think that was what was called a precedent, wasn't it? And then you get few of these precedents and I would go to my team leader and he'd go, yeah, yeah. Mm Oh, I quite like this one.

I quite like that one. That's design ideas. Okay. And really. We don't like the word copy. Now, I'm not saying copy, copy, but use what other people are doing in your space that works. Build that on yourself and add your own twist at the end. You know, take [00:11:00] what works from others and add your own twist to it.

If it's proven that it works over there, it's quite foolish to stubborn. They go, no, we're not gonna do that. As architects, when you're designing, you're gonna be looking at what works all the time, and that will infuse your design. Marketing's the same. Have a look at people, how people are writing things, what they're doing, how are they reaching their core audience?

For example, um, Oliver Lowry did a lot of marketing earlier in the year, and that inspired me and I would look at how he was doing things and reaching out. I've got people in my space that I admire my competitors, and you actually learn from these people as well. Uh, it's not. When, what I'm not talking about is copying the whole text, ripping someone's ad and using it for yourself.

But what I'm saying is borrow the best from other people. That's a fantastic starting point to learn. And then you can see if, if certain things, and also it could be from maybe other sectors as well. That's so powerful, isn't it? Can you see an [00:12:00] idea that appeals to you and use it in your space? So I follow a lot of podcasts, which are mainly around businesses.

I know I'm a real boring nerd, right? But I always see stuff that they use and I think, can I use that within what I do in, in my business, which really is champion architects, helping out on recruitment, inspiring students, all that stuff. I will use what I see other people working and fuse it in what I do.

So number two, everything is a marketing precedent. Have a look at things and use it. Don't worry about, oh, should I do this? Should I do that? Because on this journey, you are gonna make a lot of mistakes and you need to experiment anyways, so take what you can. Everything is a marketing. Precedent. Now, if you've got a question while we're going through this, I'm gonna keep an eye on the comments as we go, but otherwise I'm gonna assume that everything's clear and we'll crack on.

Now, if you're watching the replay, uh, you can put [00:13:00] a comment and I'll catch you later, um, on my team, and we can go through that as well. Number three, oh, not with number three yet, we're gonna break down number two. So again, everything's a marketing precedent. Let's see what I meant by that. Who are your friendly competitors?

What are they posting? What is gaining traction? Why is it working? If you can think about that, that's really gonna help you in, in your marketing. Now it's like every part of business, isn't it? Whether it's an Architectural project market is no different. If you could look at what the competitors are doing and break it down, that's really gonna help you a lot.

So who are you competitors? What are they posting? What are they gaining traction on? Why is it working? But also, don't forget what I said about looking for ideas outside of the space, which you think can apply. Within your sector as well.

Lesson 3: Consistency is Key
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Speaker: Number three, the most important one and the one that I break the most.

I said I haven't done a livestream for a while, and I kind of forced [00:14:00] myself to do it. I was like, oh, I haven't done it for a while. A little bit nervous to do it, but I knew I needed to get back in the sack. I knew I needed to actually just act, jump in. Because that's the most important thing to being, keep engaged with the audience, to always doing stuff, always learning.

Number three, once you pop, you cannot stop. It's so important to keep going. Most people give up after a few weeks. Results take time and consistency be the longest standing in the game. One of the mistakes that I see people making. All the time in marketing, and I did it too, is that uh, maybe in the New Years you are infused 'cause you really want to do marketing and you think, right, I'm gonna do five, 10 posts a week.

You'll go, oh, gun ho. Because you are infused in the new year and you go and this is what I'm gonna do. And guess what? That's a lot of work. It's a lot of time and things are gonna distract you. So whether you are in a job working for a company and you've got your own personal [00:15:00] brand, maybe a deadline comes up, maybe all this stuff.

Very, very hard to commit to these things, so once you pop, you can't stop. I encourage you, you have to keep going. 'cause the moment you drop off, you kind of go down. So what I'm trying to say is, with that in mind, maybe commit to a bit less at the start, but consistent, it is much better for you to commit to doing one post a week and then ramping it up.

Rather than you going in and saying, I'm gonna do five this week, and you do five and you get a bit of traction, and then you get stressed, you get burnt out, and you go, I can't really do this anymore. It's just too much work that will happen because you will get burnt out because it is blooming hard.

Trust me, I've got busy in my business. Many times now I've got a team of six, uh, I think it's six, including me. Gosh. And yeah, it gets really, really tired. Um, let me rephrase. It gets really hard sometimes when I've got a busy day and suddenly I need [00:16:00] to do a post and I haven't done one for a week, and then I haven't done one for, and then I put it off again.

Right? What happens is if you start with something, which is. Easier to do and then you commit, you're more likely to do it. So now, now that I have this team around me, I've built things up, what I'm trying to do is to now give myself a little bit of time like this. Maybe I do a livestream once a month to keep going.

Then once every two weeks, whatever. And then we go from there. And I think that's much more manageable. And I want the same thing for you. I want you to think about where are you going to publish your content. When am I scheduling it for how long am I gonna give myself to write or edit or create the content?

Be realistic with yourself. You know? I know. I mean, I used loved using ai and we can talk about that in a bit later because I've got a little bonus point for you. But you gotta really think, uh, even with ai, things are gonna take a while to direct. And if you're gonna write something from scratch, it's gonna take [00:17:00] you a bit of time.

You're gonna edit it, that's gonna take time. You have to put a bit of thought into this, don't you? So it's. It's gonna take you more than you think. I guarantee you people's first mistake, mine really is. I go, yeah, yeah, it's cool. I can whack out a post in 10 minutes. And guess what? You might have one or two that you can whack out in 10 minutes, but sometimes I.

It's gonna take you like an hour. And if you think you're gonna do one a day, it's gonna take you like an hour a day. That's a lot. So start slow. Where are you publishing the content? Where are my, where is my audience? Are they on LinkedIn? So that's very good for business to business. Uh, let's pretend you are reaching out to maybe people in the local community.

Could be that Facebook is the way to go. Facebook groups. Facebook ads. I know. Um. Facebook. We all laugh about it, but there's a certain demographic that are on there. Same with Instagram. That could work out too. Where is your audience? Are they on YouTube? Are they watching long term? Are they watching long form [00:18:00] content?

Have a think. LinkedIn is a fantastic pr uh, platform. I've made a lot of connections and I've made a lot of business from LinkedIn. That suits me. Have a think about where it is for you and scheduling it. So LinkedIn has its own scheduling function. I don't know, I think Facebook might, I don't know. You can also buy third party plugins, like Buffer and all that stuff.

Don't worry about that. To start with, just use, if there is in baked, in a platform like LinkedIn use, they schedule. So now you've got a quiet afternoon on a Friday, and you want to schedule four polls that go out every week. You should do that. That's what I do. It gives you time. So then you're being consistent because it's still popping, you're still getting things out, and you are also being smart with your time.

You're using that hour to do four posts that you can leverage over a month. If you're doing one a week, fantastic. How long am I gonna give myself? You always double it to [00:19:00] start with or triple it. You think it's gonna take half an hour, it's probably gonna take an hour and a half, right? That's just really how it is, and over time, you'll get better.

I'm forcing myself to write more, especially because of ai. You get drunk with that. The more I write, guess what? The better I get at these things. The fact that I've got a presentation here, it really makes me think about what I'm talking about. I can't just wing it up here. Could maybe get away with it a little bit, but.

By doing the writing, you feel like you know the content more and it really helps you out, and I think the audience knows that as well. So let me get the next slide.

Lesson 4: Always Be Closing
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Speaker: Number four. This is a sales one. Oh, sales. Oh my gosh, what a horrible word. Always be closing in sales. It's super important. So in recruitment.

Is there is an element of sales. Of course there is. You have to present people opportunities. You never lie about stuff, although some people do, they shouldn't. But you need to know your topic and you always need to be [00:20:00] closing. Don't be shy. Always let them know why you should work with you and how, okay, it's important, it's fine.

It's normal.

Building Client Relationships
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Speaker: We have to get used as an Architectural profession to asking for sales, asking for revenue, keeping in contact with people. A lot of the best architects that I know have relationships with clients. They've perhaps worked with a client before and this client has been so impressed that they follow them somewhere else, right?

There's many people that I know in Architectural practices that maybe are not as good as the backend, not as good as delivery, but they're very good with the client. Asking them, Hey, can we help out with anything at all? Oh, you need a feasibility plan study on this potential site. Yeah, yeah, no problem.

I'll knock it up on my team. Not a problem. I will help you out with that. And then if we get the project done, we can work on it together.

The Importance of Always Closing
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Speaker: Always be closing. What are you up to? Can I help if you with things? Do you need this? It's okay to ask. [00:21:00] No one wants things rammed down their throat. At the same time, though, you cannot be shy about letting people know how they can use you for these services.

So a quick example, I do a lot of career coaching Every Friday at 1230. I do career coaching. That's completely for free. If people can't turn up to that, that's the one time that I do groups, right? So people can come for free. And I always say, you can pay me for coaching. It's all here. All right. I give them an option, like a low, uh, like a easy free traction option, but I also, I'm not shy to say if that doesn't work for you or you can't at that time, then you can pay for coaching here, you have to be closing.

You have to give people the other option. You want to give out as much as you can, but when the same time you can, you need to let them know how they can pay for that premium service, what you're doing, their big project. It's the same kind of concept. Always be closing. It's important that we talk about [00:22:00] revenue.

You are all fantastic architects or Architectural Assistant, whatever you are. You've studied for seven years, right? You've built businesses, you're doing all this stuff. You should be really proud of them. And just because we talk about design as well, doesn't mean. That we cannot talk about revenue. I guarantee you the more constantly, if you think marketing and sales and bringing inbound leads to the business, your life's gonna get better.

Things are gonna get easier 'cause you build this up over time and people know where you are. When they can work with you. Now, it might not be the right time for them, but when it's the right time, you want to let them know how to work for you. So always be clo, be close in. It's so, so important.

The AIDA Framework Explained
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Speaker: There's a framework that I love called A IDA.

It's very old, old school. Attention, interest, desire, action. So. Think about that when you write in these posts. I love it. So I'm gonna bring this back to recruitment. Okay. Let's pretend [00:23:00] now I'm working with an Architectural practice, which is working three days a week in the office. I could say, are you tired of working five days in the office?

It's got people's attention. I'm currently working with an architecture practice that do three days in there, right? They're currently looking. Now, can you imagine you're going to the office, you go in there, you're taking your time. They're not on overtime culture. You can get home on these two days and you can work in the office three days.

You get the social environment, then you're basically at home for the other two days where you can, you can do all your work, but you can. Basically have that flexibility. They pick up the kids in the morning, desire, freedom, action, how to, okay, they're looking now for this Architect, if you want to. Apply for it.

Send your CVM portfolio over action. A IDA attention. It could be. Okay, I'm gonna, I'm making this up on the spot, but if you [00:24:00] imagine it is like an architecture project, like you've got this beautiful image, Brian, and it's like wooow. I'd love that to be my kitchen conservatory or whatever. Attention, interest, this building was done in nine months time.

It's, you know, sustainably dah, dah, dah, dah, dah da. But the owners are having this fantastic experience. Whatever. You got a little video there, you got some images, you got a quote from them, you interest, and they say, oh, I'm loving living in this house. I loving living in this place. You are making a desire there.

'cause you're making people go, oh, I would like this kitchen action. We have availability in 2026. Get in touch, right? That's more if you're a business owner. Now, let's pretend you are a professional. A professional, and you're selling a marketing service. Or maybe you are a professional and you're actually selling yourself.

You know, like a good example would be, let's pretend you're a student and you wanna market your work. You would put up your amazing project, you've got these killer images, you [00:25:00] get someone's attention, then you get their interest. This is dealing with the social environmental problems in currently in London in 2025 due to this stuff.

You got their interest, desire, and also you in that maybe you say you use Revit, you maybe you say you use AutoCAD, maybe you say you do all that stuff, right? And someone goes, oh, I'd like someone who's got the all this design abilities. And they modeled it all in Revit. Wow. I use Revit in my architecture practice.

And then the action, how to get in touch with you. You can find me here. You can get in touch. Drop me an email. Or connect on LinkedIn, that would be great. A IDA. If you me, give some examples. Think about how are you gonna grab attention of your audience? Do you know their interests? Can you peak their interests?

Can you get their desires going? Humans always buy with emotion back with rationality. Okay? It's the emotion. The rationality of that works. If [00:26:00] it's all emotion and you haven't got the rationality, it won't work. But if you've got both, then that's the dream. But people buy and make decisions with emotional intent first.

I'm fed up in my job. I'm gonna leave emotion. Where am I going to go? Is it the right salary? Can I do the commute? It's a motion with all the facts behind. Right. People who are, uh, buying, again, I keep using extensions, but a, it's the example. They want the dream house. They want that beautiful kitchen. Can they afford it?

I don't know, but maybe you can help 'em out with that. Go, Hey, we're gonna do this. It's that. And they go, Hmm, it's actually not that bad. It's beautiful emotion. And it's not too bad actually. Cost will be this, this, this rationally works. They buy with emotion, then they go with the logistics after.

Hopefully that makes sense. Let's move on [00:27:00] to part the next one.

Marketing Rule: Not Perfect, Just Post
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Speaker: Marketing rule number five, which is something I really live by is not perfect. Just posted anyways. Oh well it's gonna go wrong. What people get offended or a live stream like this? What if you say something wrong? What if the internet goes out?

What if the microphone doesn't work? Yeah, well, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Right. The rule keeps spinning. I really am just a blip in the universe. I like to think of that sometimes and then go back to number one. No one really cares, so why don't I have a go anyways? The amount of time that I see people go, oh, I can't post this.

It's not perfect. Just do it anyways. Just get it out there. In fact, without AI and everything out there, I think people like a bit of emotion. I think people like a bit of realness. Yes, you wanna care about it. You can't just knock out any old toss. But as long as it's fought through a bit and it's human, people are fine with it.

And also, [00:28:00] I mentioned that some posts are gonna go big, some are not gonna go. And what's the best way to learn all that stuff? It's through experimenting, it's through learning, it's through trial and error. And the more you do it, the better. And over time, what you'll do is you'll start to see a bit of attention, a gaining in one area.

Uh, for example, if I do a post about BIM, then it may be less people are more engaged with it. If I do a post about the current changes to the Architectural apprenticeship scheme, how it affects employers and employees. Maybe people are gonna engage with that. If I do a poll, which is about how many days do you think that you should work in the office?

Well, people might engage with that because everyone works. Everyone has an opinion. If you're an employer, it might be one way, you know, and if you are an employee. There might be another, and I learned a bit of that over time. For example, another thing as well, we're all bit tired about talking about [00:29:00] ai, but at the same time we, we engaged with it because there's new development.

So I was looking at some posts of Google's nano nano this morning, and it was deeply interesting to me how far things could go. And it was a lot of engagement with that. 2, 2, 3 years ago, everyone was talking about the Metaverse. It's no longer interested. Now I've learned all these trends and seasonalities by posting.

There's been a post I've done the Metaverse and it got no traction, and I went, I should probably move on from this. Not perfect, just posted. Stop second guessing yourself or worrying. Don't make excuses. Stop seeking imper perfection. Just post it. Another quick story that I always think about is that I, when I went to university, there was this talented guy in the studio.

His name was Ruben, and his project I felt on the work that he did was better than me. I really did. Now I got a two, one in the end, but I was never at the top of my class. I had to really work for it, whereas Reuben just was naturally good at certain things and if I looked at [00:30:00] it just, just the work against the work.

He was arguably better. But my skill was that I used to do a lot more. And what happened one year with Reuben is that he run out of time and he had these amazing images and he didn't finish his project. So that's a little bit about what we talked about earlier, about can't, once you pop, you can't stop.

But really he was a perfectionist and he spent ages going over and over and over this project to the point where he didn't finish it. And his grade suffered. I got a better grade than him in the end, whereas objectively on just the work, his was better. Now don't make this mistake as well. Stop second guessing.

Don't go, Ooh, my post is not perfect. I'm gonna wait. I guarantee you'll keep waiting. You'll keep waiting or things, things will just pass. You know, you're gonna get busy in your architecture practice or design studio, whatever you're [00:31:00] doing, um, that's gonna stop you doing it. You've gotta get it out. And I think the more you do as well, especially at the start.

There's a good YouTuber things, there's loads of this concept, but, uh, for example, Mr. Beast, the first thousand videos, I'm making these numbers up sorts, but he said it may have been 500, whatever the first few hundred videos he'd done were low quality. There were less people engaged. Over time, he got better.

The audience grew. It's the same thing, compounding effect. And the more that you do. The non perfect post the better. Now on the Architecture Social, I'm actually bringing back the YouTube channel. Um, it's never gone away. However, the first few videos that I've done were about CVS portfolios interviews.

Now they're a bit clunky. The cameras, they a bit janky. I was more nervous and now in theory, it's the same kind of thing. I need to bring back talking about cvs. I need to do it, have a [00:32:00] new twist in it and get it out there. Okay, so I've said the same thing five years ago, and I'm gonna loop back. I'm gonna bring it up today.

I'm gonna work on myself. I'm going to be doing all this stuff now. That's the thing. If I stopped on that video five years ago, I wouldn't be here because it's kind of a bit janky now. I'm glad I did it. 'cause if I didn't I wouldn't be here. So not perfect. Just post it. Anyways, the bonus tip, because we need a bit of bonus tips.

Leveraging AI and Automations
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Speaker: Use AI and automations. So I don't know why people get so funny about this because ai, if everything's ai, it's so easy to spot, isn't it? 'cause of the way people type big, long dashes. There is something that takes away from that. But if you're smart, AI is like having a free employee. What do I mean by that?

So when I was the [00:33:00] Architectural Assistant, I was doing red pen drawings and they weren't perfect. And then my line manager would come along and go, Steve, what the flipping, whatever is going on here, the riser stacks on stack, you know, it's not working. The building wouldn't do this. You can't detail like this.

I learn over time, but I took instruction from them. That was the old school way of what AI is. Effectively, you are like a team leader and you have someone to do the legwork for. You use AI like that. It's like the free marketing assistant. Every company or employee, employee or, or if you're on your own or student has access to, for under 20 pound, you can pretty much hammer AI to do first drafts, give ideas, and then you tweak it, you humanize it and help with your workflow.

I like this fact. I know it's a big variation, but I [00:34:00] just love that it's real. Between seven and 60% of news content is AI generated or mixed. Make your life a bit easier. Seven to 60 percent's huge, but I love that it's not zero, right? You go on and B, B, C, go on. All this stuff. The news content that we all reads, he'd AI generated.

I can start to see some of the things there, and it depends what it is. If it's a four piece, I wanna know about it. If it's a job ad, yes, I'd like someone to really have looked over it. But I do job ads all the time in the business. Half of my clients use a to the, to do the first draft. Those biller points, probably ai, you wanna add characteristics to it?

You wanna add the personal touch, but you say, are you honestly gonna tell me that the, the original bit is not ai. I don't think that's realistic at all. So I want you to use AI and don't think like, oh, just because I've used AI a bit, I'm cheap. I'm not, I'm not being the real deal. [00:35:00] I think there's a place for like a newsletter where you don't use AI and it's just yourself.

It's not a big essay. I think that's great, but be smart about it. If the biggest companies in the uk, US across the. Western world are using AI and they're making a profit, we should consider doing it ourselves. And, and here's a quote that I like to talk about, kind of leave it at that.

Inspiration and Final Thoughts
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Speaker: So something I like to keep in mind.

Now, whether you like vet or not personally, there's been times where I followed up this stuff. I'll follow it less now, but you gotta respect what he's done. This is the quote I really like to keep in mind. So Ricky Jve got a PR and what he said on Twitter this, this was an old Twitter post, be before Musk bought it.

He said, Ricky Jve says, got a proper job at 28. Gave it up to try comedy at 38. Decided to [00:36:00] get fit and healthy at 48. It's never too late, but do it now. Have a great day. And that's the same with you at Marketing. Now at the start, I was deliberately trying to put people off, of course, because if you not, if you, if you, if you're not committed, you can't do it.

It's gonna be hard. But if you can, doesn't matter whether you're favoring your career, doesn't matter if your business has been going and you haven't done it, you do have the power to change. Everyone has the power to change. We all can within us. We all have our own battles. We all, like RIBA mentioned, he was dossing around for the first 28 years, didn't know what he wanted to do, right?

Then he get, and then, then he got a proper job and then he left it at 38 to tri comedy, and at 48 he got fed. Now most people can go, ah, it's too late for me. It's never too late. It's never too late. The founder of McDonald's, I think he was like 50 or something. He was like a salesperson that wasn't [00:37:00] making any cash before that.

Okay. There's so many people I know that have bounced online, blossomed, favoring their career. Diary of A CEO. I don't watch many episodes anymore. I remember though when it was in its infancy. I think the Stephen Bartlet, there's like three years where he didn't do anything and then he picked it up and he went ahead and now it's arguably one of the most biggest podcasts in the UK across the world.

And could have just said, oh, I tried doing that. Can't be bothered, but no, carried with it. So you all can do it. You've just gotta do it, and it's gonna be hard. It's gonna make a lot of mistakes. But you will make, it will help your business out and over time, those compound effects just give you a complete unfair [00:38:00] advantage that anyone else doesn't have.

Most people don't want to do it. It's very uncomfortable being online. It's very uncomfortable at first getting your feelings out there. It's very uncomfortable when you make a post, doesn't work. It's very uncomfortable if like I do a live stream and suddenly the sound doesn't work. Boy, that's happened there many, few times.

But do I? Do I? Let that stop me. Does that stop you? No, it shouldn't, and you all can do it. Your architects, do you know how hard it is to study architecture and look at the stuff that like gets thrown in the industry? Right. Currently, basically, the architecture professionals being under pressure for ages and you all.

Qualified and you're passionate, you keep going and you're hardworking. And we all know you can get another job in another industry and it might numerate more. There's something really satisfying about building a build, build a building, a building, building a [00:39:00] business. And it's the same thing with marketing brand.

And so the fact that you've done that seven year journey, if you're an Architect and you know, there's other professions in a, in the architecture industry, which is equally hard, you know. You've got it all in you, so you can do it. You've just gotta choose to do it now, if that makes sense. There you go. So that was the presentation guys.

That is what I think about marketing. Now I'm gonna have a quick look if there's any comments that are being rude to anyone. I can't see any, so I'm gonna end this in a little bit because I don't think I should string this out as well. Did this content resonate with you? Did you agree? Did you disagree?

That's kind of okay too. I'm very happy to hear other people's thoughts. I haven't got it right. I'm constantly changing my opinion over time, and that's okay, isn't it? As we grow, we learn. We evolve, but those five key principles have really helped me, and I wish someone said it at the [00:40:00] start. If you're anything like me, people say you can't do it, and then you do it anyways.

Well, guess what? The amount of people that have told me, oh. You can't do that. You can't build a business. It's gonna be really hard. Why are you trying to do marketing online? You're just this. You're just that. You do it anyways. And guess what? At the end of that, then they go a few years later, I go, oh, good for you.

Oh yeah, I thought, I thought you could do that. And I remember thinking, Hmm, that's not what you said at the time. I think you said it would be very hard be that person. That I would aspire to and get your marketing out there if you comment after this or drop me a message with your marketing stuff, if I can, I'll try to help as well.

Hopefully you've enjoyed this and uh, yeah, we go from there. Thank you so much everyone. I'm gonna end the live stream in a bit. Really appreciate you all being here. And yeah, [00:41:00] I will follow up with any other questions afterwards that have come through. Thank you so much. Take care everyone. Bye-bye now.