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By Mark Zweig | AEC firms build real value when they invest in growth, leadership, systems, and transition before it is too late.

By Mark Zweig | AEC firms that want better marketing need to sound more human, move faster, and stop hiding behind safe, forgettable messaging.

By Jessica Warren | AEC firms that invest in community impact are not just doing good, they are building more resilient and competitive organizations.

By Morgan Stinson | AEC firms win when purpose, not profit, drives client experience.

By Mark Zweig | Annual performance reviews fail AEC firms because real leadership requires continuous feedback, not once-a-year management theater.

By Mark Zweig | For AEC firm owners and top managers who say they care about value but keep acting like they don’t.

By Stacey Weiss | In today’s AEC market, content without social distribution is invisible, no matter how smart or well written it is.

By Logan Neitenbach | Recruiting thrives on curiosity, trust, and purpose, because people – not processes – are the true drivers of organizational success.

By Lindsay Young | Firms that invest in marketing consistently drive growth, credibility, and long-term success.

By Matt Cooper | These firms often rely on few clients, multitasking staff, and undocumented processes, creating volatility, inefficiency, and growth challenges.

By Sara Grayum | In a world where perception drives engagement, the AEC industry is waking up to a new kind of visibility.

By John McAdams | If you’re serious about growing your design firm, you need to add outside experts to your board of directors.

By Mark Zweig | Is your firm one that commands top fees and thrives, or one that will struggle to compete and keep up?

By Stuart McLendon | This strategy is becoming an essential tool for growth, innovation, and resilience, especially in AEC.

By Sara Parkman | The top 2025 Marketing Excellence Award winners share how strategy, authenticity, and collaboration drive real AEC marketing impact.

By Janki DePalma | Ghosting job candidates damages trust, reputation, and your firm’s future recruitment success.

By Chris Catton | Recruiting is tough, but AEC firms that master the basics gain a serious competitive advantage.

By Morgan Stinson | Attracting and retaining top talent in the AEC industry requires adapting to what employees value today.

By Chris Aageson | How to strike a balance between being involved in important community work and pursuing opportunities in new geographic areas.

By Jeremy Clarke | The key to embracing growth without giving up what made your firm great in the first place.

By Sara Grayum | By collaborating closely, marketing and business development can craft stories that will steer your firm toward success.

By Mike Danko | Building trust is not only good business practice but essential for the long-term growth and success of your firm.

By Kathy Nanowski | A strong employee experience leads to a stronger client experience, ensuring sustainable success and differentiation in the market.

By Greg Sepeda | Taking time to slow down, prioritize self-care, and recharge improves productivity, mental clarity, and overall well-being.

By Kraig C. Kern | Corporate giving today should be about about creating meaningful opportunities for employees to make a difference while developing professionally.

By Brad Thurman | Consistently nurturing long-term client relationships and adding value are essential to maintaining loyalty and avoiding complacency.

By Mark Zweig | These employees go through the motions without adding value, negatively impacting growth and performance across organizations.

By Bob McGee | When employees actively promote themselves, their projects, and their expertise, they enhance their professional credibility and elevate your company’s reputation.

By Eric Lannen | Internships provide real-world experience, mentorship, brand recognition, and foster long-term relationships, benefiting both students and organizations.

By Sara Parkman | Zweig Group’s 2024 Marketing Excellence Award winners share the strategies behind their winning campaigns and the impact on their firms’ success.

By David Doxtad & Andy Brandel | As your firm grows, this person ensures you will maintain your core competencies, values, and environment with your newly added team members.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of OWN, Inc. (Springfield, MO), an engineering firm that unleashes the power of true, 100 percent employee ownership.

By Hanbury | One firm’s rebranding reflects its growth, commitment to thoughtful design, and emphasis on storytelling through a collaborative and evolving identity.

By Lindsay Young | Your personal brand wins you work, builds strong relationships, and keeps clients coming back to your team.

By Kristin Kautz | AI assistants empower personalized and effective support that will save time and money, and enhance creativity and quality.

By Mark Zweig | Some of the ways entrepreneurial small firm owners create value and differentiate themselves.

By Jeremy Clarke | Job descriptions need radical simplification for authenticity, brevity, and impact in attracting top talent.

By Brad Thurman | Define and nurture a strong company culture by articulating a concise core purpose, aligning actions with values, and embracing consistency.

By Jane Lawler Smith | AEC marketers must uphold communication standards, ensuring precision in language for clear, consistent, and defensible messaging.

By Jesse Sievers | Enhance recruitment by focusing on individual connections, forming partnerships with diverse institutions, and building robust internship programs.

By Kraig Kern | In our digitized age, the very tools designed to enhance communication can sometimes become barriers.

By Kristin Kautz | AI is becoming a crucial component in reshaping the AEC industry, especially in the realm of marketing.

Breaking Boundaries: How Collaboration Transcends Competition for Design Professionals - Carey Balogh and Lauren Genest   "In this day and age, storytelling is a powerful tool for design professionals to amplify their brand and foster...

Jerrod Hogan, CEO of OWN, Inc., discusses how his unique journey to leadership, influenced by his upbringing and a life-altering event, led him to transform his firm into an employee-owned company. This change fostered growth, client satisfaction, and...

By Julia DeFrances | Professional associations offer a lot of benefits to the firms that support them, and for most firms are well worth the price of a membership.

Zweig Group’s 2023 Marketing Excellence Award winners share the strategies behind their winning campaigns and the impact on their firms’ success.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of FullStack Modular (Brooklyn, NY), a leader in the design, manufacture, and construction of mid- and high-rise modular buildings in urban environments.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Verdantas (Dublin, OH), an environmental, engineering, and technical consulting company with global perspective.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and founder of ThinkForm Architects (Hopewell, NJ), a service-disabled veteran owned architecture and interior design firm specializing in “total environments.”

By Julie Smith | Podcasting is a unique way to share the story of your company, and it should be part of your marketing strategy.

By Randy Wilburn | Podcasting is one of the best ways you can tell the story of your brand.

By Mark Zweig | These three things are important to your firm’s success, but they may require a reallocation of your time and money.

By Liisa Andreassen | Project director at OBMI (Miami, FL), a leading global master planning, architecture, and design firm that has been creating timeless spaces for 85 years.

By Malory Atkinson | Challenge your marketing team to think beyond proposals and begin to work to strategically impact the entire client experience.

By Jane Lawler Smith | If it doesn’t support the mission of your firm, enhance your brand story, and provide relatable value to the recipient, it might be time to rethink spending money on it at all.

By Liisa Andreassen | Vice president of corporate development at J.S. Held, a global consulting firm providing technical, scientific, and financial expertise across all assets and value at risk.

By Lindsay Young | Knowing what people really think will help you grow your business and serve your clients even better than you already do.

By Mercedez Thompson | It’s worthwhile to continue conversations around what marketing is and is not and why it’s critical to your bottom line.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | Zweig Group’s 2022 Marketing Excellence Award Winners have created some outstanding marketing campaigns, displaying incredible imagination and creativity.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 29, 2022) –Zweig Group is proud to announce the winners of the 2022 Marketing Excellence Awards. These awards recognize outstanding, results-driven marketing in the AEC industry in fifteen different categories. Award entries...

By Malory Atkinson | If your logo no longer corresponds with your brand image and values, it’s time for a change.

By Matt Hoying | Getting creative with perks that go beyond the office can help you retain and attract employees and improve your culture overall.

By Kyle Ahern | One of Zweig Group’s landmark awards has evolved into a powerful tool that couples celebration with data-driven change.

By Blake Calvert | Listen to employees, communicate strategically, embrace a growth mindset, and eliminate drama to help employees let go of negativity and thrive through change.

By Mark Zweig | If your business requires so much attention from you that you don’t have the overall quality of life you want, it’s time to do something different.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Hafer (Evansville, IN), a firm that has created environments that impact people’s lives with fun, thoughtful. and inspirational design since 1978.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Dewberry (Fairfax, VA), a nationwide planning, design, and construction firm with more than 50 locations and more than 2,000 professionals nationwide.

By Mark Zweig | In the new year, remember that we're responsible for creating our own luck. You can start by focusing on these five things.  

BY RLG | Director of business development with RLG Consulting Engineers (Dallas, TX), a firm that specializes in civil, structural, survey, and forensic engineering.

By Mark Zweig | You may be an architect or engineer and think you aren’t really motivated by money. But money is a scorecard in the game of business, and ‘winning’ is fun!

By Mark Zweig | Only a small number of people really get the idea that building a business is not a sprint – it’s an endurance race. It is all about who can last the...

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Haley Ward (Bangor, ME), a 100 percent employee-owned technical consulting firm, offering a range of engineering, environmental, and surveying services.

By Mark Zweig | Stop lamenting the labor shortage and start doing what you should to find and keep the very best people in spite of it.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Sasaki (Boston, MA), an interdisciplinary architecture, planning, landscape, and design firm with offices in the U.S. and China.

By Mark Zweig | Seeing the firm you started or used to run be successful when you’re gone is one of the greatest accomplishments you can hope for.

By Jenny Phan & Kyle Copelin | Developing a communication program with the right messaging principles is the proactive approach to ensure a successful transfer of brand equity.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 8, 2021) – Zweig Group announced today that the annual in-person ElevateAEC Awards Gala will return in 2021. Due to recent guidance from the CDC as well as loosening guidelines from the...

By Jane Lawler Smith | Channel your inner toddler and question everything about your marketing plan to uncover what still does or doesn’t work for you, your firm, and your goals.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Monday, April 12, 2021) - Zweig Group, a global leader in products and services for the architecture, engineering and environmental consulting (AEC) industry, announced today that Chad Coldiron, the firm’s Director of Executive...

By Laura Rescorla | We must work intentionally to remove barriers and provide opportunities in our industry for people of all backgrounds.

By Seth Carlton | This requires more than just a clever slogan. It is a call to be focused, driven, and dedicated to a common goal.

Zweig Group is excited to announce the addition of Shirley Che to the team in the role of Marketing Manager. Shirley is a data-oriented creative with a passion for connecting communities to resources. She holds...

By Phil Keil | This will inform your strategy development and ultimately allow you to build a legacy.

By Anne Melia & Nicolle Scheller | This addition allows technical staff to focus on their core functions and allows for a marketing process that is more collaborative, streamlined, and consistent.

By Stephanie Warino | Be selective with the actions you’re recognizing and the behaviors you’re amplifying, because we’re all driving the culture bus.

By Mark Zweig | This is essential if you want to build a good firm of competent people who can keep the business going whether you’re there or not.

By Jane Lawler Smith | Make sure your marketing uses fresh ingredients, is thoughtfully assembled, and temptingly delivered.

CEO of Olsson (Lincoln, NE), an employee owned 1,300-person firm that is working to leave the world better than they found it.

By Anne Melia | Healthy employees are more productive, have fewer sick days, fewer accidents, and are happier in their professional and personal lives.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | If you don’t have a social media and online marketing strategy for your AEC firm, now is the time to get started.

Firms are discovering new ways of operating that will allow them to be more effective and efficient throughout the rest of the pandemic and after.

Make a great first impression, showcase your experience and expertise, and stand out as a top architect in your market.

Zweig Group, a leading provider of advisory services, research, and education for the AEC industry, is pleased to announce a partnership with Workfolio, the innovative leader in professional visibility applications. With the increasing reliance on...

By Mark Zweig | Many owners fail to understand how much value they can create in their companies if they make the right decisions.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Takeaways from a truly exceptional virtual discussion experience.

Marketing has a role in building brands, developing strategies, winning work, and more – and the firms that invest heavily in marketing reap the rewards.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 8, 2020) –Zweig Group is proud to announce the winners of the 2020 Marketing Excellence Awards. These awards recognize outstanding, results-driven marketing in the AEC industry. Award entries were judged by a...

President and CEO of the North American operations of Mott MacDonald (Iselin, NJ), a $2 billion global management, engineering, and development firm.

Most of these ideas take very little money – just your time. Invest in yourself and your business and you’ll be stronger and better for it on the other side of this.

President and CEO of Wallace Engineering (Tulsa, OK), a structural and civil engineering consulting firm that believes in being active citizens, in both our profession and communities.

By combining traditional marketing tactics with unique approaches for our industry, AEC firms can get ahead of the competition, stay relevant, and win more and better contracts.

Managing principal of Woodblock Architecture (Portland, OR), a firm that sees each new project as an opportunity to create something awesome and build new relationships.

For firm leadership, marketing may not always be top of mind. For your marketing staff, it is. Make sure they have a seat at the table.

CEO of A&E Architects (Billings, MT), a firm that believes all disciplines can live together within any given project.

Principal at GH2 Architects (Tulsa, OK), an international architecture and design firm founded in 1973 that’s flexible, engaging, and fun.

Understanding others will help you build the connections that will lead to success – in your professional and personal life.

If you are within the leadership group of your company, there are times when you may need to purge your leadership team to move forward.

Chairman and CEO of Mabbett & Associates, Inc. (Bedford, MA), a verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.

President and CEO of Westwood (Minneapolis, MN), a firm that’s been focused on enhancing communities with smart engineering for almost 50 years.

CEO of Sambatek (Minneapolis, MN), a professional services firm with an authentic culture that promotes openness, transparency, and trust.

CEO of EDiS (Wilmington, DE), a fifth generation family-owned firm that has been thriving in the same region for more than a century.

A constant focus on your firm’s brand is essential. If you let it slide, you’ll send mixed, confusing messages.

CEO of ISG (Mankato, MN), a multi-disciplinary design and engineering firm that has growth in its DNA.

President and CEO of DBR (Houston, TX), a 150-person Texas firm that values communication and superior service above all.

CEO of Ardurra Group (Tampa, FL), an engineering consulting firm with a focus on the positive.

Why is work today so unfulfilling and how can we change that? Let’s set our sights on having an impact and figure out a way to get there.

President and CEO of Barton & Loguidice, a full-service consulting firm headquartered in Syracuse, New York.

President of DY Consultants, a nationally-recognized aviation consulting firm based in New York City.

Use these five strategies to maximize client relationships without leaving your desk.

Branding and growing a diverse firm while staying true to your roots is possible, but you have to know why you’re in business.

President of CEI, a 20-year-old minority-owned engineering and contracting firm based in Miami Lakes, Florida.

Do you want to survive the next year, the next recession, and the ongoing reset of the workplace, the marketplace, and the recruiting space?

President of Reaveley Engineers, a national structural engineering firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 20 years as an in-house graphic designer, the lessons learned are simple: Serve the customer, protect the brand, meet the deadlines, and communicate with the client.

President of Ampirical (Best Firm Multi-discipline #21 for 2018), a 200-person firm on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

CEO of ATI (Hot Firm #43 for 2018), a California firm rooted in philanthropy, and with a bright future on the horizon.

Whether it’s growth, ownership transition, diversity and inclusion, or technology, firms shouldn’t shy away from change if they want to be successful.

Successful people will overcommit where their passion meets a purpose, where service is not a burden but a privilege.

In business development, many missteps can be traced back to a lack of understanding and acceptance of who we are.

“If we know recruiting and retention are the biggest challenges and our employees are telling us that training and development are the solution, isn’t the investment in a training program at your firm worth it?”...

If your firm has a weekly or monthly newsletter, great. But if not, you need to get cracking on that important piece of internal communication. Does your firm have an internal newsletter or some kind...

Director of Global Diversity at Perkins + Will, a 2,500-person architecture firm with offices across the world. By Richard Massey Managing Editor The Bronx, New York native Gabrielle Bullock has been the Director of Global...

The process must be deliberate and multifaceted, but don’t forget the human touch. Be yourself and enjoy finding clients that reflect your values. Recently, I had a conversation with a very busy, newly promoted division...

  The AEC industry is known for its inward-looking professionals. When it comes to marketing your firm to the outside world, that’s not a good thing. I’m sure everyone has heard the old joke: How...

Co-founder, president, and CEO of WSB (Hot Firm #34 for 2018), a 475-person full-service consulting and design firm based in Minneapolis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The best PMs create their own brand, supporters, and clients,”...

In the AEC industry, both individuals and firms need to brand and present themselves as ‘core brands for core viewers.’ Christina Zweig Niehues and I are conducting a Building your Personal Brand workshop at the...

Come to the 2018 Hot Firm + A/E Industry Awards Conference in Dallas this September 20-21, and bring your colleagues with you! People are understandably reluctant to leave the office and their clients to attend...

July 19, 2018 Press Contact: Christina Zweig (800) 466-6275 corporate (479) 445-7564 mobile Zweig Group, LLC 1200 N. College Ave Fayetteville, AR 72701 czweig@zweiggroup.com www.zweiggroup.com FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 19, 2018) – American author, television host,...

A failed leadership transition can destroy a brand. Take plenty of time, focus on the company, and beware of politics and interpersonal conflict. Several years ago I visited the church I grew up in and...

CEO of FRCH, a Nelson Company (Hot Firm #41 for 2016), a global design firm based in Cincinnati. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Everyone has access to the company’s financial information,” Tippmann says. “I believe this...

Non-creatives have to understand and respect what marketers do, or we run the risk of demotivating those who are critical to our success. A recent study by InSource reported that “Creative professionals are being asked...

Davis Construction (Rockville, MD), a 400-person general contracting construction firm, won first place in the Website category of Zweig Group’s 2017 Marketing Excellence Awards. Davis Construction launched a completely new website early in 2016. Stepping...

Do you need shoes on your feet, a roof over your head, and food on your plate? If you don’t have a plan, start working on one! More than one-fourth of firms in the AEC...

An acquired firm can double your size, elevate your design reputation, and give you a foothold in a new market – if the cultures fit. Editor’s note: Design Organization was acquired by Shive-Hattery in 2012....

Let’s try to tell our story so that we can go above and beyond the traditional marketing that AEC firms are known for. Think about some of the most iconic advertisements of the past. Many...

What we're up to Zweig Group has launched a customized and niche Online Continuing Education portal for technical and design professionals, accessible at www.ZweigGroup.com/Zlearning. Zlearning offers a variety of one-hour training options to help the...

Evaluate where you are, how you can improve, rank yourself and your team, and then work through every way you want to perform better. Between wrapping up business and preparing for family time most of...

Editor's Note: This article was written by Mergermarket, the leading provider of forward-looking M&A intelligence and data to M&A professionals and corporates around the world. by Deborah Balshem in Fort Lauderdale JLG Architects, an employee-owned...

President and founder of McCarthy Engineering Inc. (Hot Firm #74 for 2016), a 41-person firm based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. “Our philosophy is that no one can be perfect on their own, but together as a...

Branding, education, a low barrier to entry, and the creation of fans are all part of it, so what are you waiting for? I rejoined Zweig Group more than three years ago after an almost...

President and CEO of VHB (Best Firm Civil #23 and Hot Firm #46 for 2017), a 1,400-person firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Bottom line, when it’s the right move, and when...

If that’s your justification for not having a marketing department, you’re either blessed with a super team of all-stars, or you’re kidding yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had an architecture/engineering firm...

CEO and principal of PM Environmental, Inc. (Hot Firm #99 for 2016), a 145-person environmental and engineering services firm based in Lansing, Michigan. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Recruiting due diligence is just as important as...

It’s always a hot topic, and particularly so today, with all of the buying and selling going on in the AEC industry – integration of an acquired firm. Let’s look at three common questions and...

If you want entrepreneurship in the DNA of your firm’s culture, a top-down commitment to innovation and risk is essential. How important is culture? Since it’s the amorphous, intangible, and mysterious thing that drives your...

President of CMTA (Hot Firm #2 for 2017), a 250-person consulting engineering firm, and a leader in net-zero energy, based in Louisville, Kentucky. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “I think it’s important not to micro-manage people,”...

All of us have a story to tell, so don’t shy away from it in your professional life. It could be the key ingredient for your firm’s success. Everyone loves a good story. That’s why...

President of Wakefield Beasley & Associates (Hot Firm #14 for 2016), a 165-person architectural design firm based in Alpharetta, Georgia. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “We are a fast-paced, high-performance company, and underperformers are detrimental to...

Digital is critical, but don’t fixate on having an army of followers. Instead, use social channels to build your brand equity. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?...

President and CEO of EAPC Architects Engineers (Marketing Excellence #3 Website and #1 Holiday for 2017), a 140-person firm based in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Editor’s note: EAPC, founded in 1967, is celebrating its 50th...

Subscribe to The Zweig Letter for free to receive business management advice from industry experts to your inbox every week! If your marketing people are writing proposals, then they’re selling, not marketing. You need to know there’s a...

When marketing your firm, it’s great to be friendly and persuasive, but if you sell your brand for cheap, it’s a real turn off. I recently started watching a show called Black Mirror on Netflix....

How you dress and how you work send a powerful statement to everyone around you – just make sure it’s the right one. A company has a brand, and so do you. It’s called your...

This is the second installment of the Modern Marketing for the AEC Industry series. Click here to read the first installment. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?...

Regardless of what else the future holds for B2B marketing, one thing is certain: Content marketing is here to stay. Marketing communications. Social media. Graphic design. Media relations. Proposals. Internal communications. Event engagement. Brand management....

CEO of Woodard & Curran (Hot Firm #80 for 2016), a 1,000-person integrated engineering, science, and operations firm based in Portland, Maine. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Live by the contract; never lose sight of it,”...

When your marketing people are not empowered to make big decisions, their great concepts often get parked in committees, where they die. Marketing is where the creativity is, right? Not always. Too many marketing departments...

Davis Construction (Rockville, MD), a 400-person general contracting construction firm, won first place in the Website category of Zweig Group’s 2017 Marketing Excellence Awards. Davis Construction launched a completely new website early in 2016. Stepping...

Learning from external sources can be highly beneficial, but you must also master the art of blocking out the noise and staying the course. I have to admit it: I often feel like a fraud...

Marketing is the backbone of sales and business development, so be proactive and stop thinking of it as just an overhead function. I am passionate about marketing. Everyone who works with me knows it. I...

Chairman and CEO of Maser Consulting P.A. (#12 Best Firm Multidiscipline and #16 Hot Firm for 2016), a 650-person firm with 22 offices across eight states. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The most important formula for...

Wold Architects and Engineers, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, recently acquired Ruck Pate Architecture, a move that expands Wold’s presence in Illinois by adding design capabilities and enhancing services offered to its clients. Jamie Claire...

You and your team need to have a global understanding of your firm so the right people are in the right places to best serve the client. This marks the first column I’ve contributed to...

President of Fitzemeyer & Tocci (#2 Best Firm Multidiscipline), a 50-person engineering consulting firm based in Wolburn, Massachusetts. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The expectation is growth through 2018 followed by a mild recession in 2019,”...

If your firm is small but you want it to be big, don’t be afraid, just hold onto your values as you also accept inevitable changes. A company’s growth directly correlates with the company’s culture....

Marketers, what does your job really entail, and what should you be doing to move your company forward? Whether you are in an exclusively marketing related job or have a different title but actively participate...

You know what you’re supposed to do, but since your marketing department is understaffed and disempowered, you can’t make it happen. I’m sure many of you have found yourselves in that familiar seminar or conference...

President and CEO of Ghafari, a big Michigan firm, has broadened its services, allowing it to weather tough times and maintain an era of growth. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent As president and CEO of Ghafari...

Company leaders play an important role in making sure their people are aligned, capable, and engaged – a recipe for success. Are your employees fulfilled? If not, it may be costing you a bundle. While...

Philadelphia firm undertakes huge effort to improve CRM, update brand, and otherwise remain ahead of the curve. For Pennoni (Hot Firm #48 for 2016) marketing “success” can be viewed in a variety of ways –...

The winning percentage in the A/E industry is not that good, so it’s vital that you learn how to take a punch and get back up to fight again! You’ve probably heard the quotes about...

Move forward in 2017 with Zweig Group seminars across a range of essentials – business development, project management, marketing, and more. For a short while during my undergraduate years, I majored in management. After a...

Office amenities are shifting from a focus on whimsy to a focus on meaning, and that adds up to improved productivity and increased profitability. As someone who designs workplace environments, it’s fascinating to participate in...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about dealing with the negative people or "Debbie Downer's," in your...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about dealing with the unexpected departure of an employee. ( "When...

Your firm’s list of contacts is critical to your marketing activity, and it can have a tremendous monetary value, too, so make it a priority. This industry is still doing a poor job of building...

Your entire staff can sell the firm, and don’t forget, there’s no such thing as a completely internal role that doesn’t affect the brand. When it comes to business development, professional service firms typically have...

Your firm’s list of contacts is critical to your marketing activity, and it can have a tremendous monetary value, too, so make it a priority. This industry is still doing a poor job of building...

The towers just south of Central Park are supertall and eye popping, but as sales taper off, and as opposition to them grows, a hush envelopes the design community. By Richard Massey Managing Editor At...

We have all heard the adage, "Hire for character and train for skills." A/E/P firms really need to "get" this idea. Most don't do it. They're focused on PE registrations and degrees and knowledge of...

The marketing of ‘quality’ is ubiquitous in the A/E industry, but oftentimes, the difference between perception and reality can undermine a firm’s brand equity. Many firms are dealing with record high workloads. That translates into...

Friendships are not only good for the soul, their good for business, so make as many of them as you can if you want your firm to prosper. Personal engagement with clients determines so much...

Your firm’s list of contacts is critical to every marketing activity, and it can have a tremendous monetary value, too, so make it a priority. This industry is still doing a poor job of building...

Fayetteville, AR – April 20, 2016 — Zweig Group provided consulting over the recent HFA Architectural and Engineering firm acquisition of ALLEVATO Architects. The Northwest Arkansas based HFA is consistently ranked nationally in the top...

This month, readers seek advice on topics related to social media, benchmarking, and increasing prices. WHO SHOULD FIRMS COMPARE THEMSELVES TO WHEN BENCHMARKING? Dear Christy, “We’re about to start our strategic planning process and like...

Garver, LLC (North Little Rock, AR), a 375-person multidiscipline engineering firm, is taking home fifth place in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its 95th anniversary campaign. 2014 marked...

More so than the everyday small business, organizations that aim to grow must employ specific types of people. Not every A/E or environmental firm is an entrepreneurial firm. But, if you’re reading this, odds are...

Sanderson Stewart (Billings, MT), a 65-person regional community development firm, is the fifth place winner in the Special Event category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its SSymposium event. The purpose of SSymposium...

We’re each leaving a trail behind us – our reputations and our effect on the world – as industry leaders, we should focus on making those as pleasant as possible. If you have a leadership...

Though most everyone on your team is important, there are 4 major positions that no successful firm can do without. Managing your business effectively means the business grows, makes a profit, and has good employees...

Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd. (Vancouver, BC) – a 500-person international engineering, geoscience, and environmental consulting firm – is taking home second place in the Internal Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for...

Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN), a 350-person professional services firm, is the third place winner in the Online Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new website. Before commencing with...

HLB Lighting Design (New York, NY), a 62-person architectural lighting design firm, is the first place winner in the Internal Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its redesigned brand. In 2013,...

Sam Schwartz Engineering (New York, NY), a 100-person consulting firm, is taking home second place in the External Newsletter category in Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its “TransCentral” email service. “TransCentral” is a...

Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. (Nashville, TN), a 375-person engineering firm, is the fifth place winner in the Online Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new website. SSR leadership wants to...

Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN), a 350-person professional services firm, is the first place winner in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its refreshed brand. Clients complained that...

G2 Consulting Group (Troy, MI), a 50-person engineering firm, is taking home fourth place in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its integrated marketing strategy. In April 2013, G2...

Maser Consulting P.A. (Red Bank, NJ), a 500-person multidiscipline engineering consulting firm, is the fourth place winner in the External Newsletter category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new brochure package. Due...

Harris & Associates (Concord, CA), a 200-person engineering and construction management firm, is taking home second place in the Online Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new and improved website....

Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN), a 350-person professional services firm, is the second place winner in the Special Event category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its Brand Refresh Launch event. Westwood...

Industry prosperity can’t last forever, but preparation now can help you be ready if – and when – the cycle ends. The A/E industry is hot right now, People! The overall industry is as healthy...

Diverse firms can implement rules-of-thumb to establish priorities and see results for years to come. By Andrea Bennett Managing Editor A/E/P and environmental firms have several items on their to-do lists at any given time:...

Over-confidence going into a proposal or interview can create a self-fulfilling prophecy; front-runners must be sure to wow clients. We have all been there. We find out we are short-listed for that project that we...

Three ideas to help you implement a successful HR recruiting program. I sit here writing this article the day after Super Bowl 49. I’m neither a Patriots nor Seahawks fan but it was an exciting...

FINLEY (Tallahassee, FL), celebrated their 10-year anniversary in a campaign that landed them the fourth place in Zweig Group’s Marketing Excellence Awards in the Special Event category. Craig Finley, Jr., president and founder, and Ann...

Distinguishing between marketing and sales offers a true perspective of investment. We have a problem in this industry. Many of us have a simple-minded perspective of “marketing.” For many firms, the marketing department is a...

The holidays are a great time for fun and creative marketing pieces. Taking home second place in Zweig Group’s 2014 Marketing Excellence Awards in the Online Marketing Category, Clark Patterson Lee (Rochester, NY), a 220-person...

Five ways to increase your digital footprint in branding and recruiting the best and brightest in 2015. As we approach the end of 2014, I’m amazed at how much has changed in such a short...

Six suggestions from Mark Zweig on how to form and keep relationships alive. I never liked the idea that a consulting business should have its marketing based on personal relationships. I just don’t like being...

Find out what you should be really pursuing and go for it. Mark Zweig predicts success. Some years ago, Toyota’s Lexus brand promoted itself through the slogan, “Lexus: The relentless pursuit of perfection.” That decision...

If vertical or horizontal expansion (or both) is in the cards for you, approach with caution. Business has been good lately in the A/E professions. Opportunities abound, yet many firms struggle with the question of...

Make your company stronger by involving marketing folks in the sales process. I recently attended a SMPS “Spring Training” one day seminar in Oklahoma. The first speaker, Carolyn Ferguson, asked several probing questions about developing...

Are you investing in consistent, brand-building marketing activities, Mark Zweig asks. Let’s face it. Living too well can be a problem. I’m talking about eating your seed corn, spending too much, and not reinvesting in...

Search outside the firm or groom from within? To this author, the answer is obvious. I wrote last month about a position description for an office leader. But where do you look for the talent...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 998 Originally published 3/11/2013 Three lessons the design industry can learn from a successful auto dealership. I feel fortunate to be a consultant...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 995 Originally published 2/18/2013 Sometimes it’s more about gut, patience, clarity and follow-up than just following recipes. You can talk all you want...

Press Release: July 22, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 22, 2011) –ZweigWhite has consolidated and branded its internal consulting team which manages mergers, acquisitions, valuations, and ownership transition under the new moniker, MAVALOT. Right now these...

By Debbie Frederiksen We all strive for it and talk about it in our marketing materials, but are we truly innovative or is it just fresh lipstick on the same old pig? It didn’t take...

Press Release: March 15, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (March 15, 2011) — Seasoned marketing professional Debbie Frederiksen has joined ZweigWhite as Director of Marketing Consulting Services, boosting the firm’s stable of expanding consulting services to architecture,...

Debbie Frederiksen | Marketing Consultant | ZweigWhite Consulting Debbie Frederiksen’s career spans 17 years in the architecture / engineering / planning industry. After graduating from the University of Nebraska, she worked for a 10-person firm...

I have worked on a lot of presentations over the last 30 years— and helped sell everything from seismic retrofitting for the Golden Gate Bridge to a three-day design charette. Along the way, I have...

Let’s face it. People will come AND go. And they don’t always leave (voluntarily or otherwise) at the best time. Sometimes it really hurts! A critical client relationship may be injured or lost by a...

You may think that I am crazy to write an article about recruiting when some estimates place unemployment among certain sectors of the design industry at more than three times the national average. But the...

Too many leaders of firms in our business (and others) screw up their companies when they forget what the business is. It is one living system— a whole— not a collection of disconnected parts. That...

This week’s special issue focuses on sustainability and green building. The guts of these ideas are not mere buzzwords, as the earth’s growing population and declining state of natural resources ensures we’ll all be dragged...

For my kickoff presentation at our eighth annual The Zweig Letter Hot Firm Conference and Awards Celebration in Boston last month, I decided to talk about the differences in entrepreneurial A/E/P firms from those that...

Business planning does not have to be difficult. Every single firm needs a plan, whether you are a five-person architectural firm started two years ago, or a 3,000-employee, 35-year-old engineering and environmental consulting company. But...

While there have been some “experts” who’ve made names for themselves by bashing IT and saying it is, at best, a necessary evil, I completely disagree with them. There are so many ways IT can...

They’re making their lists. Nope— I am not talking about the Santa Clauses of the world. I am talking about your employees, and more specifically, your key employees. And the lists they are making don’t...

Turning around an A/E or environmental company that is not doing as well as it should be doing takes an artful leader (or bunch of leaders). If you take a closer look at these transformations,...

As you get your A/E/P or environmental firm ready for 2003, you may be patting yourselves on the back. The fact is that while overall, 2002 was not as good as 2001, a lot of...

It seems to me that the mega management consultants have gotten their comeuppance recently. Read your local business pages or The Wall Street Journal. Many of these firms are hurting as evidenced by revenue reductions,...

From time to time, we’ll hear from a reader who wants us to give more management advice specifically aimed at small firms. These people seem to think their small firm is different from a larger...

I’m bullish on this business. As a group of firms, we are doing better than ever. Revenue is up. Profits are up. And the projects are gratifying. It’s an ethical business. There are a lot...

We talk a lot about marketing in The Zweig Letter. And we’ll continue doing so until we think all our readers have gotten the message about what it takes to really start using the knowledge...

While we’re big believers in building a brand name for your firm through a variety of means so your phone rings off the hook with new opportunities, we also know that somebody has to eventually...

As periodically happens, I have a number of issues I want to share with our readers, none of which merits an entire article. Here they are: There will never be true equality of the sexes...

With times as good as they are, particularly for architecture, engineering, and building-related environmental consulting firms, it’s hard to think about failure. But there are still firms going out of business and firms on the...

We finally received notice a few weeks ago that Zweig White & Associates was selected for the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing privately held firms in the U.S. It’s something we are certainly...