Fueling Ad Agency New Business

German Philosopher Goethe: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

Activity doesn’t necessarily assure agency new business success. Work smarter not harder.

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

I’ve shared a number of times previously that we are experiencing a new paradigm shift in agency new business. The new business paradigm shift is …

“positioning your agency so that it can be found.”

That makes SEO among vitally important for your agency.  

An element in SEO is optimizing copy for such things as your agency blog and online articles. If you want your content to be found and read online, you must learn to partner with Google. You need to understand what your target audience is searching for and relate the content you offer to them. You, must write and produce content specifically to those search terms. It’s not easy, but it is necessary for online success.

Mequoda Daily, Helping Publishers Master the Internet, recently published a helpful article with a checklist of eight SEO writing tips for search engine optimizing your agency’s blog post and or/online articles.

“Continuing to do business the same old way will result in “Amish” ad agencies. They will be living in their own horse-and-buggy world while the rest of the world moves on.” Don Beehler President, ABC&D Communications

 

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

More clients are making social media a top priority. But according to a recent survey, conducted by TNS Media Intelligence/Cymphony,

“traditional ad agencies just don’t get it.”

The research found that the typical agency is poorly structured to help navigate the social landscape. 

The report goes on to say that agencies have very little practical skills and personal experience in this area.  They are trying to talk a good talk but they aren’t walking the walk. Most are treating social media like traditional media.

Digital agencies, on the other hand, tend to grasp social media but they lack the branding skills of an ad agency.  

Clients are left frustrated.

Two things are clear:

1. Social media isn’t easy for tradtional agencies. 
2. Advertisers are more in control and the role of the agency is become less relevant in social media. The new web 2.0 trend is presenting opportunities for new web service platforms that replace the middleman agency. 

Agencies can still be relevant but they need to roll up their shirt sleeves and jump into the midst of the social media revolution and gain personal experience and skills.

If you are the president or CEO of a small to midsize ad agency, why not use social media as one of your agencies new business tools. It will provide you practical experience on how social media works and benefits your agency in many ways. It will also provide the skills and knowledge that will benefit your clients and prospective clients.

What a powerful demonstration to prospective clients, showcasing how social media has worked for your agency and  practicing what you preach! 

Read the the AdWeek article …

 
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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

“If you focus on principles, you empower everyone who understands those principles to act without constant monitoring, evaluation, correcting or controlling. Principles have universal application. And when these are internalized into habits, they empower people to create a wide variety of practices to deal with different situations.” - Stephen R. Covey

Principles are guideposts for your staff that provide the direction they need to make the hundreds of day to day decisions that will determine the success and direction of the agency. This is especially true in regards to new business.

“Remember, your agency is your most important client.”

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

We are experiencing a paradigm shift in ad agency new business programs. The old way was the agency new business hunter seeking and intercepting prospective clients. Today, it is all about positioning your agency to be found by your prospective client community. When they are ready to engage, they will even initiate the contact.

With this new paradigm shift agencies must incorporate Web 2.0 tools into their new business program. The most important tool, at least for now, is the agency blog.

It wasn’t that long ago that it was said, 

“Every business needs a Web site.” Today it’s, “every business needs a blog.”

Your prospects have come to expect a blog from your business. This is particularly true if you business happens to be an advertising agency.

There are a number of benefits to having an agency blog:

• A blog provides better search engine optimization.
• Helps agencies better articulate what they do, how they do it and why they are different than their competitors.
• Positions your agency as being experts at what you do.
• Allows agencies to narrow their target audience, test their messages and speak to a prospective clients benefits.
• Provides a personal enrichment tool to stay on top of the latest trends and technologies and pass that knowledge to your online community.

I’m a believer! An agency blog is a great new business tool to help your prospective clients find your agency.  They’ll even call you.

WARNING: As with any other media tool, it must be used correctly.

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Your agency is your most important client!

Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

Bigness does not lead to greatness. Dan Wieden observed,

 

“At the end of the day, size and scale isn’t king, relationship is king. And getting bigger doesn’t make relationships easier, it makes them more difficult.”

People want to work with others they know and trust. Concentrate on building relationships and the bigness of your agency will take care of itself.

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

Digital marketing is expected to double within the next four years. 

What’s a small to midsize ad agency to do? Outsource their digital marketing? Hire in-house expertise? Purchase or merge with a digital marketing agency? Hide their head in the sand in hopes that this new phenomena goes away?

A new digital marketing consultancy, specific to small and midsize ad agencies, was recently launched to help answer those questions and provide help at a reasonable cost.  Convince & Convert is believed to be America’s first digital consulting group devoted solely to helping agencies get better (and more profitable) at digital marketing. The firm improves agencies’ in-house expertise in email marketing, search marketing, Web strategy, Internet advertising, social media, and mobile marketing.

The company specializes in Digital Marketing Audit and Actions, an intensive, 2-day analysis and examination of an agency’s digital capabilities, with a detailed roadmap for improvements. The firm also works with agencies on an ongoing basis to increase in-house digital marketing expertise and profits.

Convince & Convert is led by Jason Baer, a 15-year Internet veteran who has worked with dozens of agencies and hundreds of major companies including: Nike, Fujitsu, Pulte Homes, Cold Stone Creamery, and RJ Reynolds. He founded the award-winning digital marketing firm Mighty Interactive, which he sold to integrated Tempe, AZ agency Off Madison Ave in 2005. He remains a senior consultant to Off Madison Ave. 

Jason and I have been conversing for a couple of weeks now. We understand the tremendous potential utilizing Web 2.0 tools for ad agency new business. We hope to share some of our thoughts and ideas on how your agency can gain new business with these low cost, easy to use tools in the near future.

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

 

 

“Often the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all” - Seth Godin

 

 

 

Whenever you are uncertain which way to go, ask yourself what the traditional agency would do. Then do the opposite.

 

“I can’t give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: try to please everybody.”  - Bill Cosby

 

 

If your agency is trying to appeal to everyone it will appeal to no one.

 

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

The answer to this question will dramatically affect your agency’s ability to attract new business.

Traditional advertising agencies face significant technical challenges. Consumers have turned away from media channels that built the agency industry and have moved toward emerging internet media.  Ad agencies must build new interactive competencies quickly in order to survive. 

Jeremiah Owyang, former Forrester Sr Analyst: Social Computing and current Web Strategist, states emphatically that the agency of the future is a connected one. 

 

Owyang says,

“I can’t imagine ever advising a client to deal with an advertising, PR, or interactive team that doesn’t get social media. Of course, I’m biased as I’m sitting right smack in the middle of the social media space. But with the power shifting to the participants, agencies must demonstrate they can participate before they can ever help clients with it.

Sadly, most agencies still don’t get the new space, or if they do, they lightly gloss it over by saying “Oh yeah, we’ve a blog” and when I look, it’s a bunch of self-serving posts written by a variety of different folks with little strategy and few comments.”

Owyang’s blog, Web Strategy by Jeremiah, is a great resource for using Web 2.0 tools to connect your agency with your prospective clients.

Learning is doing. The best way to learn social marketing is to experience it first hand. A beneficial way to experience and learn about how to use these new tools it using them for your agency promotion. You’ll gain experience as well as personal enrichment and learn how these tools can help your clients too.

Web 2.0 provides powerful, inexpensive and highly effective new business tools for your agency’s self promotional efforts. 

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

The definition of insanity is, “repeating the same behavior expecting different results.”

 

There is a new paradigm shift that is taking place for agency new business. If your agency doesn’t adjust and change its methods for attracting new business, there are difficult days ahead.

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

I recently conducted a new business seminar for an ad agency. One of my recommendations was to use Web 2.0 to promote their agency with an agency blog as the center piece of new business marketing tools.  They’ve committed the next 90 days making this a priority.   

Why would I recommend a blog as one of the most important tools for ad agency new business?

Having an agency blog is well worth the time and effort. It provides many great benefits. Below are some of the important lessons I’ve learned through blogging and the ten reasons why your agency should have a blog:

1. Communication that Connects. The most important lesson I’ve learned, “you don’t know what you know until you write it down.” I’ve been associated with great writers and I know that I’m not one of them! Blogging has helped me to be a better communicator. 
2. New Business Paradigm Shift. New business for ad agencies is undergoing a paradigm shift; instead of hunting for clients, it’s now more important for your prospective clients to find your agency. Blogs make it easier for your prospective clients to find your agency. They’ll even initiate contact when they are ready to engage. 
3. True Expertise. Clients want leadership not partnership from their agency. In the early days of television, programs were produced by ad agencies, leading the way utilizing a new technology. Today, when ad agencies should be leading, they are woefully behind in Web 2.0 marketing expertise. 
4. Prominence of a Blog. At one time it was said, “every business needs a Web site.” Today it’s, “every business needs a blog.” A blog will become the gateway to your agency, make your agency easier to find and provide a reason to visit online often. Your agency’s  Web site becomes more your agency’s online brochure. That’s good news for the majority of agencies that know how difficult it is to redesign and update their Web site!
5. Learning is Doing.  It is difficult to learn to use the Web 2.0 tools, such as blogging, through a conference or seminar. You must experience it and discover the potential benefits it has for your agency and your clients. 
6. If its Good Enough for Your Client, It Better Be Good Enough for You. Blogging is an excellent tool for new business. Demonstrate how these tools have helped your agency by practicing what you preach. It makes for a powerful demonstration when you’ve actually used the tools you recommend to your clients. Also be sure to point out, in your next prospective client meeting, that your competitors aren’t using it.
7. Personal Enrichment Tool. Blogging will enrich your professional life, keep you up to date with the freshest thinking and help you too be aquainted with the newest and best new trends. That will also be good for your clients, and position you in their minds as a trusted expert.
8. Positioning Tool. Most ad agencies struggle with narrowing their target audience and thus have great difficulty in positioning and differentiating themselves. Blogging is an excellent tool to help ad agencies discover their positioning. A good example is the She-conomy blog, positioning a small ad agency as an expert marketing to women, who make 85% of all brand purchases.  
9. Focus on Client Benefits. Blogging keeps your agency focused on what is important to your prospective clients. It forces you talk to their benefit instead of talking about your agency. 
10. A Passion to Assist. Blogging isn’t for every agency. If your agency doesn’t have a passion to help your audience succeed you wont succeed with blogging. As soon as you start to “sell” your agency or brag about your credentials and awards, you will lose your credibility and your audience. Instead, provide rich content that helps your prospects with their marketing challenges and build trust. Then new business will come.

Ultimately, a blog can be your most highly effective, powerful and low-cost new business marketing tool.  

Your agency is your most important client!

Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.

 

 

Changing consumer habits, driven by the shift from analog to digital media, are revolutionizing the ad industry.

The long-term future of the advertising is bright, according to the November 2007 Accenture Global Digital Study. But the study is also a call to action, particularly for ad agencies.

Key Findings:

• Advertising agencies have the most to lose in the transition to digital advertising.
• A real threat to the survival of advertising agencies and traditional media companies that do not embrace new technologies and business models.
• Advertising will become more performance-based.
• Analytics will become more accurate and more critical to the business.
• Advertising relationships with customers will become more interactive.
• Traditional advertisers are largely unprepared for the wave of digitally driven change about to engulf them.  Especially in terms of customer analytics, targeted advertising and customer interactivity.

Those surveyed for the Global Digital Advertising Study were unanimous that major disruptive change is coming — and that those who fail to respond will simply find themselves swept away. 

Bare in mind that this shift in advertising brings with it a dramatic shift to your agency’s new business practices and innovative new ways to promote your agency. 

 The Web 2.0 phenomenon is here to stay. Why not put it to work for your agency?

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Michael Gass, agency new business consultant, primarily to small and mid-size advertising agencies.