As a Marketing Coordinator at Design Workshop, I played a vital role in supporting the Austin Studio while frequently supporting the Houston Studio. My work spanned various aspects of proposal coordination, marketing, business development, and industry research, ensuring the Texas studios made their annual goals and the firm remained competitive in securing projects across the state and the nation. My primary proposal coordination responsibilities required exceptional attention to detail, strong project management skills, and the ability to facilitate multidisciplinary teams across different locations and time zones.
Proposals & Qualifications
Proposals are a crucial part of winning new projects, and I was responsible for managing the entire process from start to finish. This included:
- Leading kick-off meetings to align the team and set clear directives for proposal development.
- Developing custom InDesign RFP/RFQ bid submissions for Texas, national, and international projects.
- Ensuring compliance by reviewing and submitting all necessary legal documents and forms.
- Coordinating deadlines to maintain efficiency and ensure high-quality deliverables.
- Editing proposals for grammar, formatting, and design consistency.
- Communicating with subconsultants and partners to gather required materials.
- Managing content libraries for past proposals to streamline future submissions.
- Providing design recommendations to enhance the visual appeal of proposals.
- Tracking proposal success rates and analyzing feedback to refine content and formatting approach.
Business Development & Networking
Expanding the firm’s presence and building strong relationships within the industry was an element of my role. I achieved this by:
- Attending vendor events, networking mixers, and industry happy hours to foster local connections.
- Engaging with SMPS Austin, participating in luncheons, training sessions, and professional workshops.
- Identifying new business lead opportunities and sharing with the teams for pursuit consideration.
- Sharing participation opportunities for golf outings, training programs, and industry luncheons.
- Staying updated on emerging industry trends to inform state-wide business development strategies.
- Facilitating partnership discussions with potential clients, collaborators, and subconsultants.
- Maintaining an up-to-date contact database of industry professionals on the CRM platform.
See more on my blog posts here:
- SMPS Austin Networking Adventures 1
- SMPS Austin Networking Adventures 2
- Texas ASLA Conference 2024
- Port San Antonio Luncheon
- Networking in Austin: My Experience & Insights
Resume & Cutsheet Management
To ensure our marketing materials remained current and competitive, I managed:
- Annual resume updates for the Austin and Houston teams, ensuring accuracy and consistency of credentials.
- Formatting resumes to align with the new 2025 proposal template overhaul layout.
- Updating and tracking project sheets (cutsheets) with the latest project data and imagery.
- Developing a personalized central tracking process for efficient retrieval and reuse of cutsheets.
- Creating customized cutsheets for specific proposals based on project bid requirements.
- Ensuring branding consistency across all resume and cutsheet materials.
Photography & Visual Content Creation
Capturing compelling visuals and office culture was an aspect of enhancing our proposals and marketing efforts. I contributed by:
- Taking office culture photos for social media and marketing content.
- Conducting on-site project photography at locations like the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center.
- Acting as a guest model for River Ranch County Park marketing and proposal materials.
- Organizing photo documentation sessions for completed projects.
- Managing digital asset libraries for efficient retrieval of marketing images.
- Creating custom graphic visuals to ensure relative and informed marketing insights.
- Collaborating with the development teams to create engaging visual presentation decks.
See more on my blog posts here:
- Design Workshop – Culture Highlights 1
- Design Workshop – Culture Highlights 2
- Design Workshop – Houston Site Walk
- Exploring Design Workshop’s Houston Projects
Industry Research & Market Analysis
Understanding market trends and identifying project opportunities was essential for strategic growth. My contributions included:
- Researching capital improvement projects and development hotspots across Texas.
- Identifying and analyzing funding opportunities for potential project pursuits.
- Leading presentations on business development and networking strategies.
- Tracking government and municipal project announcements to stay ahead of key development projects.
- Sharing industry event calendars with team members to encourage participation in relevant networking opportunities.
- Creating market intelligence briefs to inform leadership of hotzone opportunities.
- Evaluating economic development plans to identify potential project pursuit alignments.
Strategic Kick-Off (SKO) & Mega Meetings
A major part of my role involved leading and organizing internal meetings to streamline processes. This included:
- Hosting “Go/No-Go” meetings to evaluate potential project pursuits.
- Coordinating internal strategy sessions for content creation and proposal development.
- Providing bid content recommendations tailored to client bid requirements and submission needs.
- Ensuring compliance with legal requirements by working with the internal legal team.
- Leading a joint Austin-Houston studio Mega Meeting, covering topics like cutsheet updates, project webpages, and marketing priorities.
- Updating the Texas project qualifications booklet to showcase the firm’s strongest state work.
- Initiating discussions on website and photo updates for local projects to enhance the studio’s online presence.
- Gathering team feedback to continuously improve meeting effectiveness and scheduling priorities.
- Organizing brainstorming sessions for studio marketing ideas, like Parking Day, Tenant Mixers, Business Development events, and staff group photos at events.
Major Project Win: More Space Main Street 2.0
One of my proudest achievements at Design Workshop was securing my first successful project bid—More Space Main Street 2.0 in Houston. This initiative aims to revitalize Houston’s downtown main street post-pandemic, creating a more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly space. Leading this proposal submission process reinforced my ability to craft winning proposals and contribute directly to the firm’s business development and financial success.
See more information about the project:
- More Space: Main Street 2.0 – Project Webpage
- Design Workshop Selected by Downtown Houston+ for Continued Work on Main Street 2.0
Reflections & Takeaways
My experience at Design Workshop provided invaluable lessons in proposal management, business development, and strategic marketing. The diversity of my role allowed me to refine my skills in:
- Project coordination and proposal development
- Networking and relationship-building within the industry
- Marketing content creation, including photography and visual storytelling
- Industry research and business development strategy
- Strategic planning for marketing and branding initiatives
- Cross-team collaboration across multiple office locations
This role reinforced my passion for strategic marketing, sustainability, and collaboration—values I will carry forward into my next professional chapter. I’m excited for new opportunities and to continue shaping the future of marketing in the design and sustainability space.
Stay tuned for more updates on my journey, as well as fresh insights into the ever-changing world of marketing, business development, and strategic branding!
