I got an email this week from a friend, asking if I could recommend a good PR firm to promote the architecture side of his design/build company. He said he would like to see his projects in high-profile publications like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, so he was looking for a PR outfit that had connections to that world.
I passed along some names, but after further consideration it dawned on me how few of the press releases I get make any impression on me whatsoever. When I open an email from an architect’s PR agency, I’m looking for one thing: a publishable project. Show me pictures of a great project, then we can talk. It doesn’t matter who sent the press release, who the architect is, or who the client is. A page-long paean to the genius behind the design is wasted on me. If I see good work, I’ll follow up. Except in special cases–say affordable housing, rescue housing, or some new technology–the ideal press release would consist of nothing more than photographs and the architect’s web address.
I ended up calling my friend back and telling him I didn’t think he needed to hire anyone. Get the names of the editors who pick the projects, I said, call them up, and introduce yourself. Say you’d like to send shots of your work, then send them. Done. I would offer the same advice to any architect or builder (along with the insistence that the work be shot by a competent architectural photographer). I need good projects to write about; I’m hunting for them all the time. If you send me shots of your work, you can bet I’ll look at them. I don’t need a PR firm’s letterhead to know what I like, and when I see something I like, I’ll try my best to get it published.
