One of the best parts of my job is getting to listen. Like really listen. To what’s being said behind closed doors at AEC firms all over the country. And lately, the thing I keep hearing — and feeling — is this:
We have a communication problem.
Not a minor hiccup. A real, widening gap between two groups of people that every firm relies on:
Your marketers.
And your non-marketers.
And let me say this clearly: neither side is wrong. But we are missing each other. We’re speaking different languages.
And when that happens, even the best strategies can stall.
So, let’s name what’s going on — starting with the non-marketers. The technical leaders, seller-doers, and firm owners who’ve built your careers on process, precision, and deep expertise. You didn’t study marketing. You studied architecture, engineering, or construction. You know what it means to take something from concept to completion. You’re not trying to be difficult, you’re trying to understand. So, when someone says, “we’re increasing brand awareness” or “building a digital funnel,” it might sound fluffy or disconnected from the hard metrics that matter.
But I promise you, good marketing isn’t fluffy. And it’s never for marketing’s sake.
What marketers are trying to do — the ones who get it — is create demand. To help buyers find you, trust you, and ultimately choose you. That’s what the funnel is for. It’s not some new digital gimmick. The idea has been around since 1898, when Elias St. Elmo Lewis ntroduced the AIDA model: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. It’s still how people move through decisions today, and in many ways, it’s as fundamental to marketing as SD, DD, CD, and CA are to design.
So, when you see website traffic growing, or new followers on LinkedIn, or more newsletter signups — that’s not “just noise.” That’s your future client raising their hand. They’ve moved from unaware to aware. From curious to engaged.
But here’s where I’ll meet you in the middle: I get skepticism. You haven’t been taught how this works. And when you’ve never seen the full journey — from first touch to contract signed — it’s easy to focus on things that feel more concrete, like “how it reads” or “what it looks like,” and forget that your next client is starting their search with a keyword, not a brochure.
That’s why this can’t just be a handoff. It has to be a shared effort. A conversation. Because today, marketing is business development — powered by different tools: strategy, data, and digital insight.
But before the marketers start clapping, let’s be honest about their side of the story too.
Because let’s face it: many AEC marketers didn’t come into this profession through a traditional marketing track. They found their way here. They learned by doing. And for a long time, their job was well-defined — managing pursuits, responding to RFQs and RFPs, supporting technical teams with whatever was needed.
But as the industry evolves, so do expectations.
Firms are now asking marketers to operate higher up the funnel; to build brand awareness, drive digital engagement, and contribute to strategy in ways they may never have been asked to before.
The challenge? Most of them haven’t been trained for that shift.
Not because they are not capable. But because no one ever showed them how.
And honestly, there’s no easy way to learn full-funnel strategy between submittals. You don’t pick up SEO, analytics, or demand gen by sitting in on project meetings. And you certainly don’t develop digital fluency overnight.
AEC marketing is becoming more sophisticated, more digital, and more data-driven, and we need to give our marketers the tools to rise with it.
That doesn’t mean everyone wants to become a CMO. It doesn’t mean proposals don’t matter — they do. Great proposal professionals are essential. And some marketers genuinely love that part of the work.
But for those who want to grow beyond proposals, stretch, and lead marketing teams, we’ve got to make space for that. Because the truth is, it’s almost always smarter to invest in the people you already have than to lose them to someone who will.
So yes, seller-doers need to understand what digital business development really means. But marketing leaders need support, too. The only way we move forward is together — with training, shared language, and mutual respect for what each side brings to the table.
Because when that happens, we don’t just close the gap between marketing and non-marketing.
We create alignment.
We gain momentum.
And we gain a competitive advantage that can’t be achieved in silos.
We’re all trying to do more with less right now, but closing this gap doesn’t require a full re-org. It just takes curiosity, empathy, and a little willingness to meet in the middle. You have the team. Let’s build the bridge.
Until next time,
** What’s Next?
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→ AI For Proposals: Smarter. Faster. More Wins.
The first class in our new SmartSkills series is almost here. Led by Katie Cash, this training is built for lean AEC marketing teams ready to streamline proposals, enhance QA/QC, and apply AI with confidence.
