Overcoming Doubt in an Engineering World

For leaders in consulting engineering, construction, and architecture, marketing is often seen as a “nice-to-have”; disconnected, uncertain, and infinitely less critical than operational excellence, project delivery, or technical reputation. TULLOCH’s story challenges that perception.

What if marketing could do more? What if it could directly influence business growth, talent acquisition, and brand reputation, even in the most skeptical organizations?

Over the past few years, the company has transformed its marketing approach, demonstrating that even a lean team can build a powerful brand, attract top talent, and foster client trust through collaboration and consistency. The effort, led by TULLOCH’s Marketing and Communications team under the direction of Nathan Ableson, demonstrates how structure, alignment, and company-wide engagement can turn marketing into a measurable business advantage.

The Challenge: Skepticism, Fragmentation, and Missed Opportunities

When Nathan joined TULLOCH full-time, marketing activities were decentralized and inconsistent. Each division had its own materials, templates, and messaging. Some offices were still using logos from years past, and brand standards weren’t widely understood. Marketing wasn’t just fragmented; it was invisible in some parts of the business.

“People were using all sorts of different logos,” Nathan recalls. “Even now, as much as I try to enforce the standards, I still sometimes see a logo from six or seven years ago going out on proposals or documentation. Everything is still a work in progress, but we’re getting there.”

Across the company, there was also healthy skepticism, common in technical organizations, about whether marketing could truly influence client relationships or recruitment. Leadership and technical staff often viewed marketing as a cost, not a growth lever. Contributions from field staff were rare, and integrating new acquisitions risked diluting brand cohesion.

“The talent and technical expertise were always there,” Nathan explains. “But the way we presented ourselves didn’t always reflect who we were as a company. We needed to bring it all together.”

The Turning Point: Leadership Alignment and Industry Change

The shift began as TULLOCH’s leadership recognized how the AEC landscape was evolving. Competing firms, including larger organizations with full-scale marketing departments, were becoming more active online. Younger talent was evaluating employers through social media, and clients were increasingly validating partners through their digital presence.

For TULLOCH, this was a signal that marketing wasn’t optional. It was strategic. Leadership gave marketing a voice at the table and integrated it into the company’s broader business strategy.

Awareness of increasing marketing activity among competitors, especially on LinkedIn, spurred a mindset shift at TULLOCH’s leadership level. In an industry where reputation and visibility directly impact recruitment and client trust, marketing became a core part of business operations.

“It helps when our CEO, Mark Tulloch, is fully on board,” says Nathan. “When Mark and other senior leaders encourage employees to participate, our success becomes a direct result of all of us doing our part.”

Implementation: Building Systems, Not Just Campaigns

Centralize the Brand and Build a Foundation

The first step was simple but transformative: create consistency. The team standardized all marketing materials, templates, and visuals across offices. A new asset library on SharePoint made it easy for anyone to access approved logos, images, collateral and templates.

The updated brand reflected TULLOCH’s multidisciplinary expertise and its people-first culture. Having one cohesive system allowed every office and project team to communicate as one company, reinforcing trust both internally and externally.

Create a Documentation Culture

Next came a mindset shift. Instead of the Marketing team creating all content, staff across TULLOCH were encouraged to share daily moments from project sites and community events. “If you’re proud of a project, take a photo. If something interesting happens on site, capture a quick video,” became a guiding mantra. Those photos and clips became ready-made stories, showing clients and future employees the real work behind the brand.

This “documentation culture” turned everyday work into authentic content. It also built pride among staff. Marketing was no longer a separate department. It was something everyone contributed to. As Nathan explains, “Most staff already take photos. You just have to help them see the value in sharing these little stories.”

Activate Social Media as a Strategic Channel

With a steady stream of content, the team shifted focus to visibility. LinkedIn became the company’s primary channel for professional storytelling, supported by YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for culture-based content.

Regular project photos and videos from field staff turned routine work into high-value digital stories. Over 36 months, TULLOCH’s following grew from fewer than 2,000 to nearly 20,000 across all platforms. Engagement from clients, partners, and candidates steadily increased, with posts highlighting project milestones, company culture, technical excellence, community involvement, and employee achievements.

“Our goal is to tell TULLOCH’s story in ways that win work, attract talent, and build a trusted reputation,” says Nathan. “When leadership shares those stories and staff see themselves reflected in the brand, that’s when the magic happens. Our success came from showing, not telling.”

Align Proposals, Business Development Events, and Digital Presence

At the same time, the team professionalized TULLOCH’s proposal and digital ecosystem. One such initiative was the development of “project promotional sheets” customized for each pursuit, highlighting local experience, technical capabilities, and differentiators such as Indigenous partnerships and remote project expertise.

They also aligned social media content with ongoing pursuits and upcoming events, increasing visibility for TULLOCH’s work in sectors such as energy, mining, transportation, industrial, and community development. Coordinated social media messaging reinforced focus areas around pending proposals, indirectly familiarizing clients and stakeholders with TULLOCH’s qualifications.

In many cases, these targeted marketing efforts directly supported proposal wins and new BD leads at events. The internal feedback was clear: when marketing and technical teams worked together, results followed.

Implement Data and Feedback Loops

Finally, the team introduced analytics tools, including platform-specific social media insights, Google Analytics, Tag Manager, Search Console, and SEMrush, to track website traffic, engagement, and candidate journeys. They also began monitoring recruitment data to connect social engagement with application volume and quality.

Analytics helped close the loop, enabling leadership to see the impact not just in likes, but also in web traffic, inquiries, and recruitment outcomes. This provided tangible proof of marketing’s impact and built trust in the process.

Results: A Cultural and Strategic Transformation

What started as a communications effort evolved into a company-wide movement. The outcomes were clear and measurable:

• Recruitment: Social media became TULLOCH’s strongest recruitment channel, with many candidates referring to the company’s posts in interviews.
• Business Development: Personalized collateral and coordinated digital campaigns helped win competitive pursuits, with multiple project wins directly linked to marketing support and new leads generated.
• Employee Engagement: Staff participation in content creation increased dramatically, fueling pride and reinforcing TULLOCH’s people-first culture.
• Integration: When new offices joined the company, consistent branding and internal communication helped unify teams quickly. “All but a few of our offices were acquired,” Nathan notes. “So, there’s a lot of onboarding, and you want everyone to feel like part of the same team.”
• Visibility: The company’s follower count and engagement rates outperformed peers, positioning TULLOCH as one of the most visible mid-sized firms in the industry.

For a team of just two dedicated marketing professionals, these results highlight what is possible when everyone plays a role.

What Works: Lessons for Smaller Firms

TULLOCH’s experience offers a playbook for other AEC firms, especially smaller or mid-sized ones, looking to make a big impact without a big team.

• Document What You Already Do: One photo or clip from each project per week can fuel consistent, authentic storytelling.
• Create Simple Systems: Store brand assets in one place and standardize your look and tone across offices.
• Start with LinkedIn: It remains the most trusted platform among industry leaders and decision-makers.
• Repeat Your Message: Consistency builds recognition. What feels repetitive internally is often brand new to your audience. You must reinforce the same message repeatedly about your company until your audience hears it and understands it.
• Communicate What Matters: Track engagement, web traffic, and recruiting outcomes, not just vanity metrics. Deliver every message with real proof points.
• Leadership Buy-In Is Essential: When leaders model participation, the rest of the organization follows.

Marketing does not need to be flashy or complicated. It needs to be organized, intentional, and rooted in collaboration.

Marketing as a Competitive Advantage

TULLOCH’s journey proves that even in technical fields, marketing is not just about promotion. It is about alignment, trust, and visibility. By uniting their brand, engaging employees, and integrating data-driven insights, TULLOCH turned skepticism into strategy. The firm’s marketing team now acts as a bridge between business development, operations, and culture, showing that the true power of marketing lies not in headcount but in participation.

As Nathan puts it, “You can’t force engagement, but you can show people the impact of their efforts. When your team understands how marketing supports their success, buy-in becomes natural.” The firms that tell their story best are often the ones still around to tell it.

For firms of any size, the lesson is clear: strong marketing starts with strong collaboration. You don’t need a huge marketing team with endless resources; with the right systems, tools, and commitment, any firm can build a credible, trusted, and human brand that drives lasting growth.