Transcript: The Surprising Reasons to be Thankful as an AEC Marketer

I wanted to mix up this week’s episode a bit. You see when I sat down to record, I am just exhausted. I spent an entire week at Deltek’s ProjectCon which was rewarding and fun, it’s just mentally and physically exhausting. And now we are in a holiday week which brings its own extra work.

So, I scrapped what I originally wanted to record and instead share with you what’s in my heart and what I am currently feeling.

When I stopped to think about last week, spending time with my awesome team, seeing clients, and meeting new people, something surprising happened.

When I stopped to think about how grateful I am to work in this industry and community of AEC marketers, my stress and fatigue began to melt away. You may have heard that if you are outwardly grateful—meaning saying or writing the items you are grateful for—your mood and mindset will change to be more positive. I thought this was a little too “kumbaya” for me. However, I just realized this for myself. I plan to be more outwardly grateful for other parts of my life as well—family, home, friends, and myself.

And that starts with this episode.

I’m going to say it, rather than declare it, I’m grateful to be a marketing professional in the AEC industry.

Even with all of the stress, deadlines, and sometimes lack of respect we are given, this is often a thankless job. What can I possibly be thankful for as a marketing professional working in this industry?

That’s why I stopped to think about some reasons why and recorded them for this episode. And when I took a few moments to do this, it just started pouring out of me.

I hope some of my items resonate with you or make you stop and think about just what our industry provides us. It isn’t always rainbows and kittens, but it is amazing with the right perspective.

Marketing Professionals Camaraderie

Since day one working for an engineering firm 17+ years ago, the community of other professional marketers embraced me and helped me in my career. Not only did I get support learning the proposal process from marketers inside my firm, but I received advice and support from marketers at other firms, sometimes even competing firms. I credit my career development to my marketing peers. Without their guidance and shoulder to lean on, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have done.

When I talk about the wonderful people I have met all over the country marketing professionals in other industries, they are just amazed. Marketers who are in the agency setting often are competing with their peers to get the next opening and rarely form a network and friendship with other marketers outside their industry. Even other architects haven’t formed the kind of supportive relationships we have formed.

Our AEC marketing community is the best. And if you don’t have a community of AEC marketers, please reach out to me personally ([email protected]) or join my free Facebook Group – just search Marketers Take Flight on Facebook.

Career Growth and Advancement

There are tremendous growth opportunities for marketers in the AEC industry. Now, you might not see this potential career growth if you’re a marketing coordinator especially if you’ve been working for the same firm and/or there is no clear path at your firm.

However, there are hundreds, if not thousands of engineering, architecture, and construction firms in each city. Each one of them has a different organization and culture as well as a vision for growth in the future. There is enough opportunity out there for you to work at any level and find a great firm to work at.

The way firms are evolving their marketing and business development also presents new opportunities. As firms advance their content and online marketing, more writing and content production positions are needed. This also presents an opportunity for digital and online marketing management—i.e. lead generation and funnel/pipeline tracking.

Another emerging need is knowledge management. Collecting, storing, and analyzing this data in an efficient and efficient manner will be crucial to maintain the firm success. We are already starting to see new positions such as Marketing Technology Specialist and Database Coordinator. I suspect that this new type of position that combines marketing with technology/software will continue to gain importance in the AEC marketing departments.

Even with these new marketing strategies and technologies, firms will still need business developers to develop offline, face-to-face relationships with clients. Clients continue to get more sophisticated and projects more complex which means sellers with technical knowledge will need to be at the frontline of your business development teams. Less seasoned seller-doers will need coaching, training, and support to be successful in new business development roles. This presents new opportunities for marketing professionals to train, coach, and support them in this role. 

Geographic Opportunities

The great thing about AEC firms is that they are in every major city, suburb, and nearly rural area. Years ago, I presented the basics of AEC marketing to the Student SMPS Chapter at UCF. I had a slide that talked about the advantages of being an AEC marketer. Although this is very self-serving, as I tried to convince a room of about 50 to come into our industry, it really made me stop to think about the advantage of mobility.

If you work for a large firm with multiple offices, you can most likely move to a different city through a firm transfer. If you want to move to a different city for whatever reason, there are most likely AEC firms already located there. And with the emergence of remote work, many AEC firms are open to having their marketing and proposal teams work anywhere.

This is an advantage that I think most of us overlook. If your spouse gets transferred, if you want to want to move closer to family, or just want a new adventure, your position, and skills as an AEC marketer are very mobile to the new area. Even more so if you have already built your marketing network nationally through the Marketers Take Flight Facebook group or organizations like SMPS.

Amazing Projects

I know I’ve been guilty in the past of focusing on just deadline after deadline and managing the team that I forgot about the amazing projects that my previous firms designed. Even though I am in the software side of the industry now, I am still so grateful to have worked at firms that have designed some of the greatest structures and facilities in the world.

Over the summer, we went to Vegas and the Grand Canyon. We also visited the Hoover Dam. One of my previous firms designed the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge. That firm name was on the placard on that bridge. It was so amazing to see that bride in real life and walk across it. I used that project cut sheet in so many proposals and there I was standing on it.

Some of the solutions the talented engineers and architects I’ve worked with are mind-blowing. Yes, they don’t get useful information when we need it. Yes, they are often too humble which makes it difficult to get really good info for the projects they designed. Yes, they get hung up on a color of a box when I really need them to write the darn cover letter! Despite all of that they are very talented professionals who develop awe-inspiring solutions and designs every day.

Winning

I am a very competitive person. I think every marketing and business development person should have a strong competitive streak. We need to have that desire to win to keep moving on and striving to make each one better than the last one. I am not ashamed to say that I am grateful every time we won a new project. The pursuit team worked hard to win. It is fun to win. We shouldn’t feel ashamed to admit that. We too quickly move to the next proposal to take time to enjoy the moment of winning. So, enjoy and be grateful for every win – big or small!

Friendships

I am grateful for the friendships I have made through my network. I have made friendships that will last the rest of my life as an AEC marketer. These are deeper than networking acquaintances or work friendships. These friends know my husband and kids, know my worries and fears, and are there when I need a shoulder. We go through some unique challenges in this field. When I first started out and was in an office where I was the only marketer, I didn’t have too many people to talk to about my struggles with deadlines, proposals, engineers, etc. My husband didn’t understand and my friends were in different industries. This is when many of my AEC marketing friendships developed. I am so grateful for every friendship I’ve gained from working in this industry.

Direct Connection to Management/Executives

We are marketers, often in meetings and/or corresponding with upper and executive management at our firms. Even if you’re early in your career, the nature of proposals or marketing work results in this interaction. This allows us to have exposure to firm-decision makers and influencers, oftentimes much more exposure than just a junior designer or young engineer. This exposure is just like getting face time with a client. They notice you, relationships form (albeit professional), and you gain name recognition. When a special project or important pursuit is there, your name could be top of mind. This is another great way to advance your career.

I didn’t realize this until I was mentoring a marketing coordinator a few years ago. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay in marketing or move to the operations side of the business. She tried out a project assistant-type role for a short while and found her way back to marketing. When I discussed this with her, it hit me that by moving to the operations side she was just one in a sea of operations folks. When she was back in marketing, she had opportunities to work directly with upper management and executive team members. I don’t know if she even realized this.

Everyone might not like to be directly working for upper management and have the opportunity to be in the know of firm decisions. However, if you do, being a part of the marketing team is the place to be.

What are you grateful for?

Even though today might be one of those challenging days for you, take a moment to think about one thing that makes you grateful to be a professional marketer working in the AEC industry. It takes more than just thinking about it to feel better.

And, I would be remiss if I didn’t end today’s episode without saying how grateful I am for you. I started this podcast three years ago. I really stepped out of my comfort zone by trying something new. And, you’ve been with me along the way – your downloads, your reviews, your emails, your feedback – is what keeps me going.

I started Marketers Take Flight to support AEC marketers and I’m so grateful that 10 years later, I am still able to do that. And that’s because of you.

Have a very happy thanksgiving and thank you for listening.

Until next time, bye for now.