Think of your portfolio as a stage. At center stage, the performers (i.e. your key projects) are illuminated. In the wings, everything stays dark, even though there are plenty of things you’re working on in the shadows. The spotlight on center stage determines what the audience sees. You control that spotlight.

Many firms believe they need more projects in a target sector before they can be known for their work in a certain area. They’ll say to themselves, “Once we win more healthcare work, then we can position ourselves as healthcare experts. Once we complete a few more civic projects, then we can pursue more work in that sector.”

But recognition comes from how you communicate what you have, not from waiting until your portfolio is perfect. The question isn’t whether your portfolio is “ready” to be positioned in a certain way. It’s where you choose to shine the light.

The Spotlight Principle

Most firms undersell their portfolio because they’re not telling the right stories about their work. For instance, you may typically describe a project—say, an office building—by what it is, such as its program, its size, and its location. Think about changing the focus to be a story about why it matters and how you made it happen: how you helped a client maximize natural light, how you kept the building operational during construction, how you stretched the client’s budget further than they expected. Every project contains multiple stories. A fresh frame can open doors the original description left shut.

And clients notice. They’re not searching for “a firm that does commercial interiors.” They’re wondering, “Who can help us bring employees back to the office?” or “Who’s done a renovation without disrupting operations?” The firms they seek out are the ones that speak to those problems directly. This isn’t just good positioning. It’s good SEO. Today’s search engines don’t just look for keywords to raise your firm’s ranking. They prioritize content that answers specific questions. When your online content describes the problems your firm has solved rather than simply documents the projects you have completed, you increase the chances that clients will find you online.

This explains how firms with similar projects can hold completely different market positions. One leads the conversation with their experience in particular project types. The other leads their clients to understand the problems they have solved. Similar work, different spotlight. The second firm is the one clients reach out to when that problem comes up.

Three Ways to Control the Spotlight

1. Name Your Throughline

Your portfolio likely contains patterns you’re not clearly communicating. Projects of different typologies and locations might share an underlying methodology, recurring solutions you deliver well, or client outcomes you consistently achieve.

You might discover you have deep expertise in complex stakeholder coordination, or tight urban sites, or phased construction that keeps buildings operational. That’s key experience that can help to differentiate your firm. Once you name it, you become the firm clients connect to solving their problems.

The Strategic Shift Instead of “We’ve designed offices, schools, and retail,” ask, “What capabilities connects all of these typologies that we haven’t communicated to potential clients?”

Try This Review five recent projects not by type or sector, but by the solutions you provided. What proficiencies appear across multiple projects? That’s your throughline. Name it, and build your visibility around it.

2. Lead With What You Want More Of

Your website, proposals, LinkedIn posts, conference submissions: these are all spotlights on your portfolio. Each gives you an opportunity to emphasize what you want people to know. Be intentional about what you lead with.

For example, the same project can open different doors depending on how you frame it. A mixed-use development with ground-floor retail and 200 residential units might be a design story for peers. But to a developer evaluating your firm for a similar project, the more compelling angle might be how you created a project that attracted residents and retailers, or delivered operational savings through passive strategies. The design story speaks to other architects. The investment story speaks to the client writing the check.

The Strategic Shift Instead of “Here’s everything we’ve done,” ask, “What do we want the market to know about us?”

Try This Audit your website, proposals, and LinkedIn presence through the lens of your desired positioning. Move the work you want more of into the lead position. When your first three featured projects all point toward your strategic direction, prospects draw the right conclusion about what you do best.

3. Turn Visibility into Voice

Once you’ve defined your focus, you have something to say that no one else can. Use thought leadership to articulate what you’ve developed through concentrated experience.

Thought leadership can take many forms: a bylined article exploring a trend you’ve observed in the industry or your clients’ industries, a speaking proposal that positions your methodology, a point of view about a particular area of expertise that makes you useful when a journalist needs an expert source. Even your firm newsletter can shift from listing your latest projects to underscoring your unique value proposition to clients.

The Strategic Shift Instead of “We need more projects before we can claim expertise,” ask, “What does our existing work already say about our knowledge?”

Try This Define a focus market or sector and then ask: What do we know about this that others might not? How can we anticipate the questions the clients should be asking but aren’t? How can we demonstrate our big ideas that transcend our work on a particular project?”. Those are your thought leadership angles— the perspective only you can offer because you own the knowledge.

Skyline Summary

• Recognition comes from strategic communications, not from waiting until your portfolio catches up to the kind of work you want
• Positioning can frame each of your projects in multiple ways to foster your firm’s growth
• By highlighting key projects, you can shine the spotlight on the types of projects you want more of
• When you’ve defined your focus sectors and markets, thought leadership follows naturally and helps build visibility around them

Keep building influence!