The marketplace is way too hot. The industry is on .
As a result, there’s much talk these days in the AEC space about how to attract and retain top talent, implement winning recruitment campaigns, create flexible work cultures, and a long list of other ideas for overcoming your most significant barrier to growth: having the best people to do the work.
The talent war is fueling record-high signing bonuses, strategic firm acquisitions, and higher starting salaries in almost every discipline within the industry. Still, I haven’t seen much attention given to the shortage of marketing talent within the AEC industry.
It’s common to hear about the demand for billable talent, but what about recruiting and retaining top marketing talent? Not to take away from my fellow overhead companions – accounting, IT, and HR- but AEC marketers are rare. Per LinkedIn, there are approximately two million marketing professionals currently working in the U.S. Of those, only 40,000 are working in the AEC space, and only 20,000 have more than ten years of work experience. Could this be true? Only 1% of all marketers in the US have more than ten years of experience and AEC industry experience?
I have often referred to the AEC industry as a “sea of sameness.” Your firm and every other firm on the shortlist will undoubtedly address technical expertise, the ability to collaborate, a lean process, and every other scoring criterion on the buyer’s list. Those are the things they score, but that is not what owners buy. Instead, owners buy from the brands, and the people they trust. And we know trust is not something you can sell in a thirty-minute interview or walking through a tradeshow exhibit. Trust is something you buy after several touchpoints with a brand.
I mentioned in issue No. 3 that marketing has a new role in the AEC industry, and it’s not proposals. I can count on one hand how many times before 2020 I have had a conversation with an AEC business owner about how to attract, train, and retain top marketing talent for their AEC firm. I can honestly say there is hardly a conversation today that doesn’t include this topic.
So why the sudden interest in finding “great marketers.” Well, frankly, there’s a significant shortage of marketing professionals across all major industries. Currently, more than 1 million marketing jobs are posted on LinkedIn and 850 AEC marketing jobs on smps.org. Building owners across every category are changing the way they build relationships with professional service providers. Savvy marketers are reaching them way earlier in the buyers journey through channels outside of traditional business development, sponsored events and advertising.
In my inaugural letter to you, I made a few marketing predictions for 2022. I’d like to add one more going into Q3:
As the industry becomes more educated in B2B multi-channel growth strategies, the firms who will differentiate the most effectively will be the ones who understand that the AEC buying audiences are getting younger and they build relationships differently than the Baby Boomers and Gen-X.
In summary, if you’re lucky enough to already have great marketing talent at your firm, by all means, invest in them so they can stay ahead of the pack. And if you’re like most firms looking for talent, change the way you think about what makes a great marketer. The best marketers do so much more than lead a proposal effort – they will understand your audience and deliver your firm’s value proposition better, faster and more effectively. Trust me, landing the right marketing talent for your AEC firm will navigate you out of the old boring sea of sameness!
