How to Get Specified: The New Rules of Marketing to Architects and LEED Project Teams
The rules of product selection have changed. For years, manufacturers could win specifications with polished brochures and reps who “knew the right people.” But today’s architects, designers, and LEED project teams operate in a different environment: one defined by rigor, risk, and real performance.
Specifiers are asked to design low-carbon, low-toxicity, energy-efficient environments with measurable outcomes. The burden has shifted from design teams to manufacturers: if your product can’t prove its claims, it won’t get specified.
This is the new era of specification. And it requires a new kind of marketing.
Rule #1: Architects Don’t Want Marketing Claims, They Want Evidence
Design teams are making high-stakes decisions about materials, carbon, health, and performance. They are accountable to owners, regulators, and sustainability officers, but they aren’t able to interpret vague claims like "eco-friendly" or "healthy."
They want:
EPDs and HPDs that are easy to understand
VOC data that aligns with LEED thresholds
Specific test results (ASTM, ISO, UL)
Documentation that’s spec-ready
Performance claims that can be verified
If your sustainability page is marketing-driven rather than data-driven, you’re creating friction. New rule: Your marketing must function as documentation, and your documentation must function as marketing.
Rule #2: Speak in LEED Language, Not Brand Language
Architects think in green building workflows:
IEQ: Air, light, sound, and materials
MR: Embodied carbon, transparency, circularity
EA: Energy performance and operational impact
WE: Water use and efficiency
If you don’t tell specifiers which credits your product supports and how, they move on. Don’t say: “Improves indoor air quality.” Do say: “Meets LEED v5 IEQ prerequisite requirements for emissions testing (CDPH v1.2). Contributes to IEQ credit for enhanced ventilation strategies.”
This isn’t just more credible; it reduces cognitive load. And cognitive load is the biggest barrier to getting specified.
Rule #3: Become the Simplest Choice — Not the “Greenest”
Many LEED and high-performance project teams seek ease, consistency, and reduced risk. We hear, “If we want to use a certain product and it’s easy to understand and document, we’ll use it.” Your product should be easy to compare, vet, specify, and approve.
Rule #4: Trade “More Information” for “More Clarity”
Clarity is a competitive advantage. Manufacturers often overwhelm architects with excessive PDFs, cut sheets, test reports, and sales materials. More is a burden, not an advantage. Specifiers at a minimum want three things:
What problem does your product solve
Why is it better
How to document it
Anything outside those three should be secondary or supplemental. Winning manufacturers filter, prioritize, and package information.
Rule #5: Show the Outcomes, Not the Inputs
Architects want to know what your product achieves, not what it’s made of. Instead of:
“Contains recycled content” → Show how much embodied carbon it reduces.
“Low-VOC certified” → Show how it improves air quality outcomes.
“Durable material” → Show life-cycle cost savings over 10 years.
Outcome-based messaging is the fastest path to trust. Outcomes are the real-world effects your product or solution provides.
Rule #6: Build Relationships Through Education, Not Sales
Architects and LEED project teams reward brands that help them stay smart, compliant, and ahead of industry change. This is why the most effective specification strategy today is to teach first, sell second. Effective education-based marketing includes:
CEUs
Product selection guides
LEED v5 alignment sheets
Case studies with quantified outcomes
Webinars on embodied carbon, health, durability, or performance
Tools that simplify documentation or design decisions
Rule #7: Show Up Where Architects Actually Get Information
Architects don’t usually start on your homepage. They get product information from:
Rep networks
Webinars
LinkedIn thought leadership
CEU platforms
LEED knowledge partners
Specification software
BIM libraries
Sustainability databases
Peer recommendations
Project documentation tools
To get specified, you have to be visible where decisions are made.
Rule #8: Your Product Isn’t the Story — Their Project Is
Architects are trying to design a building that:
Meets codes
Hits energy targets
Performs over time
Supports occupant health
Stands up to review
Aligns with the owner’s ESG goals
Achieves LEED certification without rework
If you want specification wins, frame your product around the project’s success metrics, not your product features.
Rule #9: The Manufacturer Who Reduces Risk Gets the Spec
In today’s environment, the biggest fear for project teams isn’t cost, it’s risk: failed reviews, undocumented claims, greenwashing scrutiny, owner pushback, and delayed LEED submission. Manufacturers that proactively de-risk the decision win every time.
What to do? Make the architect look smart. Make the reviewer nod. Make the owner approve.
Specification is becoming a performance-verified, documentation-driven process. Manufacturers that win are those that align with recognized frameworks, provide documentation reviewers trust, speak in terms of outcomes, not features, simplify the decision and submittal process, educate the market with credibility, and build a transparent brand backed by data, not claims.
Bold Branch Collective works with product manufacturers every day, helping them build the messaging, documentation, sales tools, and thought leadership that turn sustainability performance into specification wins.
