Marketing for an architecture firm works in the blog with two formats: answers to the questions that clients google before the first conversation, such as what planning costs, whether a renovation or new build makes more sense, and how a building permit process works, and project stories that tell the path from task to solution. Together, both show competence and bring enquiries from clients who fit the firm.
Architecture firms show almost the same thing on their website: project images, a short text, the team. What's missing is the part clients search for before the first conversation: what planning costs, whether to renovate or build new, how long the permit takes. A blog fills this gap, and it does something else too: it tells projects in a way that clients recognise themselves in.
Two formats, two jobs
| Format | Task | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Answer post | Brings searchers to the website | "What does an architect cost for a renovation?" |
| Project story | Shows how the firm works and builds trust | "From stable to home: a renovation in Bischofszell" |
Answer posts get found, project stories get read once someone is on the website. A blog needs both. Those who only show projects won't be found; those who only answer questions stay interchangeable.
16 answer topics for clients
Costs and fees
- What does an architect cost? Fee models explained clearly, with a range for the firm's typical commissions.
- When is an architect worthwhile and when does a builder suffice? Honest, with examples.
- What does an initial feasibility study cost and what does it include?
- Estimating building costs: how architects calculate and why the first figure is a range.
Renovation or new build
- Renovate or demolish and build new? The criteria the firm uses to decide.
- Renovating an old farmhouse: what building fabric, heritage protection and energy mean.
- Extension or additional storey: what's possible in which zone, general, with reference to the municipality.
- Renovating a 1970s detached house: the typical weak points and order of measures.
Permit and process
- Building permit: the process from preliminary enquiry to the objection deadline, as a timeline.
- What can I build without a permit? General rule, with a note that the municipality decides.
- Objections from neighbours: what happens then and how to avoid them.
- The path from the first conversation to moving in: the phases of a project and what the client decides in each.
Energy and materials
- Renovating the building envelope: roof, windows or facade first?
- Replacing the heating during a renovation: what the architect coordinates and what the installer does.
- Timber construction or solid construction: pros and cons from the firm's practice.
- Energy certificate and funding: what a GEAK shows and where clients find their canton's funding bodies.
Project stories: the format only you have
A project story is not a portfolio entry. It tells the task, the constraints and the solution. A proven structure in five parts:
- Starting point: what the client wanted and what the plot or building dictated.
- The problem: the one question that made the project difficult. The slope, the heritage protection, the budget.
- The solution: how the firm answered the question, with a plan or sketch.
- The process: permit, build time, surprises, what went differently than planned.
- The result: images, a quote from the clients, what the practice takes away from it.
Four to six such stories a year are enough. Each one carries the location in the title and describes a task that other clients in the region also face. Anyone wanting to convert a farmhouse searches for exactly this story.
Image rights: clarify before publishing
Architecture photos usually involve several parties with rights or interests: the photographer, the clients, sometimes neighbours and people in the picture. Before publishing on the blog, three points need to be clarified:
- Usage rights with the photographer: May the image appear on the website and on social media, and must the name be credited?
- Consent from the clients: What may be shown, interiors, address, costs?
- People and neighbouring properties: No identifiable people without consent, no views into other people's spaces.
These points are general guidance, not legal advice. Anyone publishing regularly should have a standard agreement drawn up and include it with every commission. For the technical side, that is file size, format and alt text, the same applies as for any blog; details are in the post Images for AI blog posts.
Region and rhythm
Clients look for a practice that knows their municipality and its approval practice. That's why the region belongs in the title of every project story and in the answer posts where it explains something substantive. How this works without lists of locations is described in the post Getting found regionally in Switzerland.
One post a week is the benchmark: three answer posts, then one project story. The answer posts can be outsourced, to a copywriter or to a blog system like BlogPilot, which builds the topic plan from regional search queries and submits posts for approval. The project stories are better written or dictated by the practice itself; that's where the things no system knows about come in.
What to do with this
Choose the most recently completed project and write its story in the five parts above. Add three answer posts: fees, renovation or new build, building permit. With these four posts, the website has content for the first time for the phase in which clients are searching for a practice.
Frequently asked questions
Doesn't a blog with cost questions seem beneath the level of an architecture practice?
Clients ask these questions anyway, just to Google instead of you. Anyone who answers them factually explains what planning delivers and filters out enquiries with unrealistic budgets in advance. That's not a drop in standard, it's advice before the commission even begins.
Can I show projects that aren't finished yet?
With the clients' consent, yes, and the building process is often even more exciting than the finished house. Clarify beforehand which details the client doesn't want shown publicly, such as costs or address. A progress update with a site photo tells more than the glossy final shot.
How often should an architecture practice blog?
One post a week is the benchmark at which Google and readers recognise a rhythm. If that's not achievable, go for two posts a month, but regularly. One post a quarter builds no visibility.
What about competition from large architecture portals?
Portals write generally and nationwide. You write for your region, with the approval practice of your municipalities and your own projects. A search like "farmhouse renovation Thurgau architect" is not won by any portal.