Joseph,
You may not like this answer, but here goes -
As some who has worked with firms over the past 5 years in the "marketing" of their practice, I can tell you most marketing coordinators or directors don't have the skills, ability or know-how to form the new relationships need to win new work. This person will be dead weight.
Save yourself the money and invest in training one of the principals to be the rain-maker. Then you can hire a marketing admin (part time) to do the busy work that is part of your marketing plan.
Think of it this way -
In your business there is $10/hr time, $100/hr time, $1000/hr time and $10,000+/hour time. Project management and design falls into the $100/hr time. Business development and the forming of new relationships is $10,000 time.
Ok, so that really isn't an answer to what you asked. My answer would be: hire when you know that this person will give you a 3x - 5x return on your investment in him or her.
A marketing person shouldn't be an expense if they know that they're doing because they'll bring in more work than they cost you in payroll.
Enoch
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Enoch Sears AIA
Founder and Publisher
Business of Architecture
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-12-2019 13:29
From: Joseph Rasnick
Subject: Marketing Director - When do I need one?
To all my fellow principals of small firms,
Our firm currently consists of a staff of eleven (11). The breakdown of those staff are as follows:
3 Principal Architects
4 Project Architects (15+ years experience)
2 Project Associates
1 Interior Designer
1 Office Administrator
We have a high ratio of experienced to entry-level staff, with 6/10 professional staff being licensed Architects. This has allowed us to take on a consistently high volume of work with less "hand-holding" by principals.
At this point in our firm's growth, all three principals are managing different elements of the architectural process, one manages design/creative efforts, one manages staffing of projects and oversees production, the other manages business aspects and quality control. In other words (and in my opinion), we have a well-balanced system of practice management (though we're always trying to improve). In our firm's eight years of business (primarily in the private development sector) we've not needed to "market" in the traditional sense. We've managed to procure plenty of work simply by maintaining existing relationships and networking through those relationships.
At this stage, however, we've decided to be more proactive in marketing the public-sector in a couple of different market segments in an effort to diversify our client base. The problem we're seeing is that none of the three principals have the time to devote to proper, full-scale marketing efforts.
My question to the SFX is this: At what point - as a small firm - have some of you made the leap, taking the relatively significant financial risk, of hiring a dedicated Marketing Director/Coordinator? What factors lead to you making the decision to either hire or wait?
Thanks for your participation,
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Joseph Rasnick AIA
Principal/Co-Founder
integrity / Architecture, PLLC
Lexington KY
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