In Canadian architecture and planning, Naama Blonder has quickly made a name for herself. Since launching her firm nearly eight years ago, she’s become known for her innovative, creative approach—not just to architecture and city-building but also to marketing, which she’s used strategically to grow her practice and promote her work.
While most design firms lean on relationships, referrals, and word-of-mouth to bring in projects, Naama has taken a refreshingly bold path. By creating engaging campaigns and sharing compelling, informative content, she’s proven that marketing can be a powerful way to fuel growth and attract the right kind of clients.
Her marketing success has also opened the door for her to help others. Recently, she launched The Architect and Urban Planner’s Business Playbook Series, a 9-part program where she shares her insights on marketing and practice management. It’s a must for anyone looking to take their firm’s marketing to the next level.
At Oomph, we’re always intrigued by great strategy, and Naama’s approach to marketing is nothing short of inspiring. We had the chance to sit down with her to hear how her journey has evolved over the years. If you’re looking for actionable tips and a fresh perspective, you won’t want to miss this!
PRACTICE VISION & BRAND POSITIONINg
Oomph: Looking at your new program “The Business Playbook”, I’d like to start with your last session: “How I started my architecture firm with no capital, no clients, just vision”. Your vision is crystal clear, beautifully articulated. Did you have this clarity from the beginning, or did it evolve as you fine-tuned your business model and your approach to practice?
Naama: Smart density. That’s always the emphasis. We only work on projects that embody smart density. By that, I mean they need to be multi-unit. We don’t do single-family houses. We focus on projects that could be near transit, which can be more challenging in North America, but they must meet our smart density criteria. That’s the name and the promise of our firm—if it’s not smart density, we won’t touch it. [At the beginning] I said that no matter how small, I want to provide services to the clientele I want to work with. I’ve always been selective about projects and have worked to get more of the projects I want. That’s part of the evolution of Smart Density.
Oomph: Your Smart Density vision stems from your work and your belief that this is the best way to design cities. It’s powerfully described in your brand positioning statement, where you clearly say, “We’re an architecture and urban planning firm for forward-thinking developers and creative municipalities aiming for smart density.” How did you articulate this vision so clearly and express it so effectively through your language, personality, and tone?
Naama: I’m very vocal about what I believe in and make it clear because I want to attract the right clients. Good marketing should filter out those who don’t align with our vision. We built our brand from the ground up. It didn’t just appear out of nowhere. [To communicate our vision] I worked with an excellent copywriter to fine-tune our messaging, just as I would hire a web developer to design our website. Working with professionals to refine how you present your message is crucial.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT VERSUS MARKETING
Design firms often struggle to balance selling and marketing. Most allocate resources to selling activities such as networking, preparing proposals, or entertaining clients. However, marketing strategies and tactics, like brand positioning, public relations, social media, and newsletters, don’t receive the same priority. Many firms still focus solely on selling, with little to no marketing efforts.
Oomph: What made you take an approach that is so different? Was marketing a key component of your practice plan from the outset, or did you gradually integrate it as the practice developed? How do you balance selling and marketing?
Naama: Initially, I thought my partner should handle all the business development. That’s how we started. Being a young female talking to older men—45, 50, 55, 60 years old—can sometimes make conversations feel unnatural. But over time, I realized that I’m actually much better at it than he is. He’s amazing, super talented, a genius, but I just do a better job.
However, I feel very uncomfortable with cold calling. It might be a generational thing because I don’t pick up calls from unknown numbers either. So, from the start, I wanted clients to come to me rather than me reaching out to them. I felt that cold calling puts the relationship in an awkward position right from the beginning.
As well, from day one I wanted to invest in positioning myself as the expert. I figured that if clients heard, or saw me talking, that would be the best starting point for the relationship. And that's what I was hoping for.
THE MARKETING MIX AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TACTICS & CHANNELS
Oomph: Your Business Playbook course outline shows you are using LinkedIn and your newsletter as your primary channels for generating leads, and content marketing and public relations to grow brand awareness. How did you arrive at this marketing mix? How did you decide which communications channels to use?
Naama: I consume a lot of courses, online education, I read a lot of books. I go to bed, and I literally watch a course. I consume a lot of video; I consume a lot of education. And that probably will be the best advice: keep investing in your own education and in a way that will put you way further from your competition.
Also, I am not afraid of trying things. I'll give it a try. If it fails, I'll just stop doing it and I'll move on.
I’ve done things in the past, like our newsletter, where we invested a lot. I had two team members working on it—not full-time, but still putting in a lot of effort. We committed to sending this newsletter on the first of every month. At some point, the team said they couldn’t keep up; it was too much work. But I insisted, saying that’s how you build credibility. No one would blame us if we missed a month, but I didn’t want to start something and then stop. I committed to doing it for a year, and we stuck to it. The newsletter had an incredible open rate of over 40% each time.
If you understand marketing, you’ll know that getting above 20% is doing well. The Urbanist Secret Club still gets over a 40% open rate because it’s an evergreen newsletter, which is incredible. But we’re not doing it anymore. I committed to it for a year, and now we’re focusing on something else—more low-hanging fruit. We’ve moved on.
Oomph: I'm wondering if you’ve experienced certain tactics working for a while and then they stop working. Or maybe you revisit something that didn’t work before, tweak it a bit, and then it works really well. Have you found that?
Naama: I find that, over time, you learn how to position things to speak more directly to the pain points of your audience. You also realize that some things will never fly. So, there’s an internal improvement process. You don’t always need to test it externally, but there’s always a back and forth. I go for low-hanging fruit, trying things without a big budget to see what happens. If something works, I stick with it; if not, I move on.
Oomph: you tried Instagram, you tried LinkedIn, and you found that you were getting a lot more traction on LinkedIn, you were much more successful. What does that mean? Was it getting better engagement, or more people messaging saying, “I saw your content, we’d like to work with you?”
Naama: I get real business from LinkedIn.
Oomph: How does that work? Can you describe the process and how it’s working?
Naama: I will tell you the most unicorn story ever. We work with Brookfield Properties, a massive international developer, on our biggest project, probably their biggest project too. It’s a new neighborhood. I asked them, “How did you get to us? Why did you pick us? Why did you reach out?” They said, “We knew what we were going to get from your competitors. We saw your videos on LinkedIn. They were floating around our team; everyone was sharing your videos. We knew this is the type of fresh design and architecture that we would get. That’s why we called you.” If this isn’t the most wonderful story of how marketing and LinkedIn work, then I don’t know what is!
[Another time] I posted a video talking about employment lands, which is a land use designation the city is very keen on preserving. I was raising the question, “is it right? Don’t we need more residential on this employment land?” I got a call the same day saying, “I have three properties that are employment land. What can I do about them?”
So, there is direct business coming from LinkedIn and, of course, the indirect business because of my videos. People recognize me at industry events, because I post my videos on LinkedIn. You see me talking, not just a headshot of me. And that is very powerful.
VIDEO
Oomph: Were you doing video from the very beginning, or did you begin with text? Or, did you start adding video as you got better and more comfortable with the medium? Because it sounds like your videos are a big element in the success you’re having.
Naama: Videos are definitely a big part of it. I think they are everything. I started the videos during COVID because I saw a business coach doing short videos. She would just turn on the camera for two to three minutes, talk about a topic, and post it on Facebook. I remember thinking that every time she posted a new video, I was like, “Yes! There’s a new video.” I actually looked forward to watching them. It builds so much credibility. Now she could just launch a course or whatever offering she had, and I would buy it. It’s such a tremendous trust-building tool. For me, it was a no-brainer. I decided to try it, and I never stopped.
Oomph: How do you make them? What’s your process?
Naama: I edit them myself on my phone with an app called Inshot. I always make sure the lighting is good, that the background is nice, and the volume is clear. I add subtitles. It’s not a Hollywood production by any means, but that’s part of the charm.
Oomph: The immediacy and the authenticity add to the trust and the sense of believability, right? If they were too polished and sleek it might diminish that.
A MARKETING PLAN
Oomph: In terms of a marketing plan, you started with a clear idea of your positioning and approach to promoting your firm. However, you’ve also adapted to circumstances, following somewhat of an organic path. Within this process, do you sit down and create a detailed plan?
Naama: Yes, I do plan. I’m very consistent. I make sure there’s a column every month. I do the videos and try to have one every month. I’m consistent and plan in advance, but I also try different things. I think about what my audience will like and what value I can bring,
THE MARKETING PAYOFF: SEEING RESULTS AND NEXT STEPS
OOMPH: The approach you chose—marketing on digital and social channels over direct selling—is unconventional, but it was the right one for you. How long did it take before you saw that your marketing investment was paying off? When you realized that you had chosen well and that your marketing was moving your business forward?
Naama: First of all, it takes time. After two years, it was clear that the business was paying the bills. My partner joined the firm, and we hired our first full-time employee. Now I am responsible for seven salaries - a big responsibility.
Now, I don’t think anymore about whether we’re moving forward - it’s a done deal. The only question now is how to scale up, what else can I do, and how can I grow from here? I’ve had a good seven years, but what does it mean for the next seven? What got me here won’t get me there. Do I focus enough on sales, or am I just doing marketing? It’s never easy.
ADVICE FOR OTHERS
Oomph: What advice would you give to young architects starting out how you did: with a vision and having to do a lot of the initial growing of their practice by themselves?
Naama: If this is what you want and it’s your dream, just do it. There will never be the right time. Bring whatever you can to the table. If it fails, go look for a job. Don’t wait. The right moment to start a business will never knock on your door and say, “This is the day.” I’m very happy I started when I was younger, despite all the things I didn’t know.
Lastly, find a partner, a collaboration, or an advisor who will be there for you—not just for their technical expertise, but for mental support too. Having someone to complain to or celebrate successes with, who will be genuinely happy for you, is very important.
The Business Playbook Course
This interview offers a glimpse into the vision and strategy behind Naama's exceptional marketing approach for her firm. To dive deeper into her step-by-step process, visit her website and explore The Architect & Urban Planner's Business Playbook—an incredible blueprint for managing and marketing an architecture practice. You can choose to sign up for the full series or purchase individual units, visit Naama’s website here.
