In the olden days, if a landscape architecture firm designed nice things and had a loyal clientele, that was all the promotion necessary. But the times they are a’ changing. Promoting your firm, today, is a business necessity. Fortunately, few of us still think of promotion in “used car dealer” terms; banners, balloons and questionable ads. In fact, the American Society of Landscape Architects has called out “visibility” as a major goal, and has formed a Public Relations Committee to oversee the effort.

Those few landscape architects who avoid promotion need reminding that each one of us, no matter our intent or our medium, is promoting every second of every day. Because, as any Marketing 101 student will tell you, promotion can be either positive or negative. Even wearing a garish necktie is a form of promotion.

Another example: the fact that you’re not volunteering to critique your city’s proposed landscape regulations, says something about you and your firm. In fact, your non-participation may make just as strong a statement as those who do participate?EUR??,,????'??? only negatively!

Many landscape architects rely on word-of-mouth for promotion. That’s find, depending on what the word-of-mouth is (can you be sure what’s being said about you). Unfortunately, firms that depend solely on unstructured word-of-mouth can only hope to hold their own, as regards share of market. Often worse!

So, how can a landscape architecture firm, whose funds are tight and whose time is precious, promote itself sucessfully?

First and foremost, give one person the responsibility for promotion. Maybe it’s a principal, maybe a Landscape Architect on the staff with the expertise to carry it off. Regardless, the responsibility (not the whole task of carrying it out) should rest with one individual?EUR??,,????'??+hopefully someone who understands landscape architecture.

Actually, planning a promotional effort is not very different from a design problem. It’s simply a matter of identifying the problem and working out a program to solve it. A good helping of common sense helps too!

It also takes commitment from top management. A strong promotional effort is long-term; it never pays off overnight. Basically, you have to build a solid foundation, supported totally by the people in the corner offices, before you see any lasting rise in income.

The nuts and bolts of a promotional program will be the answers to the following four questions:

What’s your target market?

Who are your clients now, and who do you hope they’ll be in the future (if they’re different)? Homeowners? Office developers? Land speculators? Municipalities? Be realistic, but be optimistic. In the words o f the late advertising genius, Leo Burnett, “Reach for the stars. You may not reach them, But you won’t wind up with a handful of mud either.”

Where is your market located?

Where are your future clients? Are dense, urban areas your target? Is it limited to your city?EUR??,,????'??+or your state? Or maybe your answer is less geographic and more demographic?EUR??,,????'??+for instance: top management of all Fortune 500 companies?

What services should you promote?

One of the worst things a firm can do, promotionally, is everything. A landscape architecture firm, especially a small one, simply can’t do master planning and streetscape design and road alignment and land use studies, and hope to do them all well. Select what you’re best at, whether it’s one, two or three types of work, and make sure you can do it profitably. Knowing the staff’s abilities and preferences helps a great deal.

What can your goal be, in terms of time?

Keeping in mind that any sound promotional plan is long-term, decide where you want to be in, say, five years. How big, realistically, a share of the market should you try for?EUR??,,????'??+accounting for any seasonal cycles? How will you measure it? Also, where should you be at various steps along the way? In other words, how do you gauge a promotional plan without having to see it through to the end?

Now that your goal is firmly set, by answering these four questions, plan the actual methods of reaching it. Some successful methods, as reported in a national survey of landscape architecture firms, are:

Produce brief reports, or synopses, of jobs you’ve done, and done well.

Design a reusable format since you’ll be wanting to mail them out from time to time. Include a few nice quotes, a few good photographs (hire a professional if you have to), and a simple language summary of the challenge and the solution. The impression you want to give should be instantly obvious, and the written portion should take no longer than one minute to read. Don’t forget a name and phone number to call for more information.

Put together a thorough list of those in your large market.

Keep your list on a floppy disk, a circular file; it doesn’t make much difference. But keep it up-to-date, with names (not just titles), current addresses and such! List not only potential clients, but other “thought leaders” as well. These could be reporters, editors, public officials, past clients, city staffers, and respected contractors.

Give talks to audiences of your target market.

Often, you can hone in on your target market this way. Talk to garden clubs, fraternal organizations, chambers of commerce, etc. And always remember that good visuals, even if only a slide show, are necessary. While you want to come off as an authority, not a salesperson, make sure they know how to reach you later.

Write articles

Articles can be in trade publications, general-audience newspapers, “lifestyle” magazines?EUR??,,????'??+there are hundreds to choose from. Just make sure that, once an article is published, you send reprints to your target market. If you feel you don’t have the expertise on staff to write it, don’t hesitate to hire a professional.

Participate in local government.

Especially if you’re targeting municipalities, it?EUR??,,????'???s necessary to know what’s going on in your community. Be conversant with local land-use issues, landscape regulations, environmental concerns, and zoning cases. Also, volunteer your expertise to local boards and commissions; not only is it good for your firm, but for the landscape architecture profession as a whole.

There are, of course, other forms of promotion that Landscape Architects have used successfully. Some are specific to certain types of practice: private practice, design-build, etc. But every available means of promotion deserves consideration, such as:

Site signs at noteworthy jobs
News releases to the media
Volunteerism on issues related to the firm’s goals
Paid advertising

I should hasten to say, however, that absolutely nothing will take the place of a one-on-one phone call or visit by your firm’s top executive. But that’s not always financially wise.

But get that same executive behind a well-planned promotional program, and you’re on your way to meeting your goals from Day One.

The author is a registered Landscape Architect in Texas, and has overseen several promotional efforts by design firms.