From Pitching to Positioning: A Smarter Way to Grow Your Practice
Dami Lee speaks at the 2025 AIA Conference on Architecture in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: Leah Ray
What if architects invested less time responding to requests for proposals and, instead, channelled their creative energy into storytelling? What if they prioritized crafting a recognizable voice and a strong point of view? The result: longer-term value for your firm, because you’ve built an audience that wants to hire you.
At The Raygency, we believe content creation—idea-driven storytelling—is the most authentic and resilient form of architectural promotion. When architects lead with ideas instead of sales-inspired marketing language, they win more than projects; they build reputations.
Keynote speaker Dami Lee made this point vividly at the 2025 AIA Conference on Architecture. An architect and content creator with a growing audience on YouTube and Instagram, Lee shared that she no longer writes proposals. Her content does the work for her. “The clients who reach out already feel like they know me,” she explained. Describing a recent introductory meeting with a client, she continued: “I was ready to sell myself. But he said, ‘I’ve already watched all your videos. I know where you are in your career. I just want to work with you.’”
Rather than pour hours into speculative decks, Lee invests her time in content that educates, inspires, and reveals her design sensibility. That content builds trust, and trust builds clients.
She also spoke about architecture’s potential beyond traditional practice. Lee’s firm consults on sci-fi world-building for video games, explores futures like solarpunk, and documents real-time residential work with storytelling that resonates. In a moment that I want to document and amplify for all perpetuity, she paused and said:
“I’m going to say something pretty controversial now:
Your work does not speak for itself.
Speak about the work you want to do.”
Lee’s model demonstrates that storytelling fosters new connections. Her audience isn’t just potential clients—it’s collaborators, media, and fans. She’s not just winning new work. She’s shaping the conversation about the future of design.
At The Raygency, we help architects do the same. We develop content rooted in your ideas, so you don’t just market projects - you build influence. Want clients to come to you instead of the other way around?
An image from Dami Lee’s keynote address at the AIA Conference on Architecture. Photo: Leah Ray
Let’s talk.