Marketing to Architects: How to Get Your Products Specified

Architects are the second most marketed-to profession after doctors. Here's what actually breaks through the noise and leads to specification.

Architects are the second most marketed-to profession after doctors. They receive hundreds of emails, sample packs, and CPD invitations every month. Most of it goes straight in the bin.

If you're a supplier trying to reach architects — whether you make furniture, lighting, fabrics, or building products — you're competing against that wall of noise. The suppliers who break through aren't the ones who shout loudest. They're the ones who understand how architects actually find, evaluate, and specify products.

Here's what works, and what wastes your marketing budget.

How Architects Actually Select Products

Understanding the specification process is the first step. Architects don't browse catalogues looking for interesting products. They search for solutions to specific problems on specific projects.

What triggers a product search:

Where architects look:

The critical insight: by the time an architect is actively searching, they often have a shortlist in mind already. The brands they remember are the brands they've encountered before — through relationships, through editorial, through reputation built over time. This means successful marketing to architects is less about being found when they search and more about being remembered before they start.

Why Most Supplier Marketing Fails

Most marketing to architects fails because it treats them as targets to capture rather than professionals to serve.

What architects hate:

The timing problem: Architects specify products on project timelines, not your sales cycle. When you send that email, they might be in schematic design (too early), construction documentation (too late), or between projects entirely. The chance of your outreach hitting exactly when they need exactly what you sell is tiny.

The trust gap: Architects carry professional liability for their specifications. Specifying an untested product is a risk. This is why they stick with known brands and why breaking in as a new supplier is genuinely difficult.

What Actually Works

Become a Resource, Not Just a Vendor

The suppliers architects remember are the ones who help them do their jobs better — not just the ones with the nicest brochures.

That means:

A lighting supplier who publishes genuinely useful guidance on lighting design for healthcare projects becomes a resource architects bookmark. A lighting supplier who just sends catalogues gets forgotten.

CPD and Presentations (Done Right)

Continuing Professional Development sessions can work — but only if they offer genuine educational value. Architects can spot a sales pitch dressed as education immediately.

What works:

What doesn't:

The goal of a CPD session isn't to close a sale. It's to establish your brand as knowledgeable and trustworthy. The specification comes later, when they have a relevant project.

Sample Libraries and Material Centres

Physical presence in material libraries matters. Architects often discover products by browsing — picking up samples, feeling materials, seeing what's new. Being stocked in the major material centres (Material Lab, the NLA, RIBA Product Selector) puts you in front of architects during their research process.

The samples themselves need to work hard. They should include clear technical information, sizing options, and contact details. A beautiful sample with no specification data is useless.

Digital Presence That Supports Specification

Your website needs to serve architects doing research at 11pm before a deadline. That means:

Search matters less than you might think — most architects won't find you through Google searches. But once they've heard of you, your website is where they'll verify whether you're worth specifying.

The Role of Editorial and PR

Press coverage in architecture and design publications does more than build brand awareness. It builds the credibility that makes specification feel safe. If you're looking to build your editorial presence, our guide to interior design PR covers what editors actually want.

An architect who's seen your products featured in Dezeen, the Architects' Journal, or Icon has already begun to trust your brand before any direct contact. Editorial coverage provides third-party validation that's worth more than any advertisement.

Building Long-Term Architect Relationships

Specification cycles run 12–24 months on most projects. The architect you meet today might not specify anything for a year. The suppliers who win are the ones who stay present without being pushy.

How to stay top-of-mind:

The multiplier effect: One good relationship with a busy practice can lead to specification across dozens of projects over years. Architects talk to each other. A recommendation from a trusted colleague is worth more than any marketing campaign.

This is why the long game matters. The supplier who provides excellent samples, answers questions helpfully, and doesn't push for the sale builds a reputation that compounds over time.

Practical Outreach That Doesn't Annoy

If you're approaching an architect you don't have a relationship with, the bar is high. They receive dozens of similar approaches. Most get ignored.

What gives you a chance:

What gets deleted immediately:

A better approach:

"I noticed your recent hotel project in Manchester. We make contract fabrics specifically designed for hospitality — similar to what was used at [comparable project]. Happy to send samples if useful. No pressure either way."

That's it. No hard sell. No lengthy company introduction. Just relevance and an offer.

The Bottom Line

Marketing to architects isn't about campaigns. It's about building the kind of reputation that makes specification feel safe.

That means:

The suppliers who get specified consistently are the ones architects trust. Trust takes time. There are no shortcuts, but the relationships you build now pay dividends for years.