Marketers Take Flight

It’s the end of another year, and you know what that means! It’s time to reveal the most popular podcast episode of 2022. 🎉

The most popular episode was not a surprise to me. With many conversations around finding and retaining great talent, this episode unveils some of the reasons why it’s so hard to find and keep marketing coordinators.

The most popular podcast episode of 2022 is…….

…Have we mislabeled the AEC Marketing Coordinator role?

In this episode, Tim Asimos and I had some controversial conversations about the differences between marketing and sales and where a marketing coordinator falls. We also talk about how AEC firms use the marketing coordinator job title for a catch-all from everything from marketing to proposals. And, by doing this, it’s hurting their firm’s ability to find the right person for what they really need help with.

We discuss the differences between the titles and where they should be. He also explains why a mislabeled marketing coordinator title could be affecting the recruitment and retention of ideal candidates. Tim will tell us who has a handle on these roles and how firms can realign to attract the best marketing professionals.  

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Raise your hand if you have a job opening right now that's either in your marketing department, your business development department, or sales related.  Many AEC firms are in need of new hires but are they too general with their job description?  It may be time to rethink how you’re approaching filling those positions.

My guest today, Jen Newman is the Founding Principal of Elevate Marketing Advisors.  She’s here to talk about the challenges we see today when it comes to hiring and retaining marketing and business development talent.  She’s even got a few new approaches you can implement to find that talent as well.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Today we are talking about something we don’t talk about enough - your path to Principal. Only a small handful of marketing and business development professionals hold positions as principal and owners of AEC firms. Many of us have the qualifications and aspirations to achieve that goal… but perhaps not the path of how to get there. 

I have two guests today, Adam Kilbourne, FSMPS, CPSM and Leah Boltz, have spent time interviewing a dozen principals around the country to help clear the path for those that are looking to pursue this career goal. They hope these interviews will encourage other non-technical professionals and AEC marketers to their career goal of Principal.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

If the results from your marketing campaign efforts are not tracked, how will you know if it’s working or not? It seems simplistic when I say this out loud, but for many AEC firms, collecting and analyzing the results of online or content marketing efforts is often the hardest part. And, because you are not collecting, analyzing, or presenting the campaign results to your firm leaders, it’s difficult for you to get buy-in for additional marketing resources. 

So, how do you collect and analyze the marketing campaign results? 

In this episode, I am going to share the steps to begin collecting the results of your marketing campaign and analyzing those results. 

If you’ve been following along with the ModMarketing podcast series, you’ve learned how to create the campaign and promote it. So now it’s time to analyze the results and compare them against your marketing goals to determine the performance of the campaign.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

It's not uncommon for marketers to be asked to complete impossible projects on even more impossible deadlines. There isn't much an AEC marketer can't do, but there is one word that marketers can't say, "no".  Today, I am joined by Jen McGovern, the senior regional marketing manager for VHB. 

Jen is here to discuss the impact negativity can have on your career growth. A big
part of building a successful career is being able to motivate people to take
action and achieve goals. Helping people understand why 'no' may be the answer
can go a long way to making everyone feel included. Keeping a healthy work-life
balance depends on setting personal boundaries and enforcing those boundaries
with your manager - this is more crucial than you think. Listen in as Jen explains.

Here are some highlights:

• Jen’s career path: 2:13
• Negativity impacts career growth: 4:45
• How to say “no” without saying “no”: 10:23
• Educate people: 13:25
• Enforcing personal boundaries: 19:09
• Balancing workloads & assignments: 26:40

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

It’s Thanksgiving week in the US which makes many of us think about what we are thankful for. And, often that includes our jobs – even after very tiring and stressful weeks.

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.

Even with all 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 the AEC 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 reasons 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.

And, THANK YOU for listening and supporting me with this podcast. The ratings, reviews, and emails I get fuel me to keep 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. 

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

In the last episode, episode 88, I shared what SEO was, how it works, and some ways you can optimize your own web pages for better SEO. 

In this episode, I share what domain or website credibility is, why it’s important for SEO, and some ways to increase the authority of your website. And, I end this episode with a 3-step plan so you can get started improving your SEO today.

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

Throughout the ModMarketing podcast series, I’ve covered how to set online marketing goals, identify personas, outlining content and promotion strategies. In each of these previous episodes, I’ve touched a little bit on search engine optimization (SEO) but haven’t really done a deep dive. 

It’s true that there is so much to SEO. So much, in fact, I could do an entire series or online course dedicated to just that topic. But for now, I’ve split this topic into two episodes to get you started.

In this first episode, I will define what SEO is and how it works. Then I’m going to walk through how you can optimize your own web pages for better SEO. Then the next episode, I’m going to share some other ways that you can increase the authority of your website and why that matters as well as give you a three-step plan to get started improving your SEO. 

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

When was the last time a lead popped into your inbox and you picked up the phone to call them?  This is just one way to start creating that nurturing sequence for prospects, clients, and even potential employees.  While these have typically been tasks of a business developer or project manager, today we’ll talk about how marketers can support these efforts to make your firm stand out.

Cate Phillips is the Relationship Manager at Full Sail Partners and she’s here to share with us her unique hands-on approach to lead generation, lead nurturing, and lead follow-up. We’ll cover not just website leads but also pre and post-conference and event leads as well. How can you make the best ROI on your experience at these shows and sign those clients?  Cate has a few tricks you’ll want to take notes on. 

Here are some highlights:

• Cate’s career path: 3:09
• Lead gen strategies: 5:56
• Leverage professional services: 11:22
• Importance of follow-up & responsiveness: 12:40
• Favorite lead gen for AEC industry: 19:37
• Best practices for post-event follow-up: 22:55
• Cate’s #1 piece of advice for new marketers: 32:44

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.

This week’s episode covers one of the most cited struggles I hear when it comes to your content marketing – finding new content ideas and getting the technical content from your subject matter experts. 

Is this a struggle for you?

You and I both know that publishing consistent content that appeals to your targeted ideal client is a cornerstone for a successful content marketing program. 

But getting this new content on a regular basis is another story! You’re busy with proposals and other marketing activities. Your subject matter experts are busy serving clients and delivering projects. Content marketing often gets pushed to the back seat. 

Well, friend, in you’re in for a real treat on this special ModMarketing episode. I’m going to cover one of my very favorite topics – and that’s content repurposing. 

I love figuring out how to extend or re-use the life of an existing topic or piece of content. Maybe it’s the competitive nature in me that sees this as a challenge. Each time I do this exercise, I challenge myself to figure out how many ways I can use the same content piece. And, I hope after today’s episode, you’ll be just as excited as I am to challenge yourself to repurpose your existing content!

Here are a few highlights from the episode:

• What is content repurposing?
• How to select the content to repurpose
• A content repurposing case study
• 13 different ways to repurpose one piece of content
• Content repurpose challenge

Want more AEC marketing goodness?

• New to proposals? Download my FREE “RFPs for Beginners – The Ultimate Proposal Management Checklist.”
• Stop planning, start creating with my FREE “Ultimate AEC Content Marketing Starter Kit.”
• Follow Lindsay on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• Collaborate with other AEC Marketers in our Facebook Group.
• Purchase bite-sized, on-demand templates and training at the Marketers Place.
• Enroll in online training: The Proposal Pro or Content Marketing Clarity.