March « 2010 « FUEL LINES Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media

Small Ad Agency Generates National Attention Through Social Media

March 29, 2010

I received a call today from a Fuel Lines reader who was excited to hear a Marketplace radio interview with ad agency president, Stephanie Holland, the program entitled, “No advertising love for single women”. The radio program Marketplace, is heard by an audience of more than 9.1 million unique listeners in the course of a week, on 486 public radio stations nationwide.

An increasing number of women are single — getting married later, not at all, or single later in life. So why aren’t more advertisements directed their way? Ashley Milne-Tyte reports

The interview further positions Stephanie as a “thought leader” for marketing to women. For the first time in their 25 year history,Holland + Holland has been invited to participate in two national pitches in 2009. Their president is now frequently called upon to speak across the country and author guest columns and posts. Her blog, She-conomy, has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and she was recently named to Forbes Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow on Twitter.

This was your typical small, full service advertising agency that used the same agency speak to describe how they were unique …

Excellent creative that is strategically based with a staff that has great chemistry and is fun to work with.

Sound familiar? Then Stephanie and her agency created a more narrow and unique positioning created through as part of their social media strategy for new business. The results have been revolutionary.

Stephanie also serves the agency as creative director. Not knowing of any other creative directors in their market, she conducted some research and discovered that 97 percent of all creative directors in the country are male, only 3 percent are female.

The real jewel that was unearthed was to learn that 85 percent of all brand purchases are made by women. Women had bought more product from Home Depot and Lowes than did men, more consumer electronics, more NFL and NBA apparel than men, they even purchased more hamburgers than did men! Women have become the purchasing agent for the family.

Social media allows this agency to hang their hat on a unique and appealing position that has in turn created a national interest for this small ad agency.

Social media has also allowed Stephanie and her agency to compete in a much larger arena without geographical limitations. Their agency’s positioning gives companies a reason to seek them out.

Check out Stephanie’s blog: She-conomy: A Guy’s Guide to Marketing to Women

Additional articles that may be of interests:

3 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Promotion | Tagged: ad agency promotion, Holland + Holland, marketing to women, Marketplace, public radio, Stephanie Holland | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Advertising Agency Descriptions in 6 Words – Vote for Your Favorite

March 26, 2010

A recent challenge to advertising agencies elicited over 50 responses. They were asked to describe their agency in six words or less.

They were also asked to describe their agency in six words “without” using these 10 Things Ad Agencies “Usually” Say About Themselves ?

CLICK HERE to select your favorite from among these responses and I’ll post the favorites and recognize the agencies that submitted them:

big agency vets for half cost
Creative nerds focused on user experiences
We make you more awesome.
Creative ideas, serious technology.
It all starts with a question.
Brand image alignment. With a process.
Portland’s favorite small business marketing partner.
Mountain sports and tourism marketing specialists.
Thought leadership in targeted markets
Team work – we make it happen!
Turning your communication into a conversation.
“Helping companies achieve Meaningful Online Engagement”
Agents of Change, MDi media group
fuel brand activation
We listen, we engage, we create!
Leveraging culture to create relevant campaigns
Profitable Marketing For Small Business.
We think. Therefore we are.
Work that will Never be Forgotten.
Helping you help architects build better.
Less Expense. More Experience.
Brands in a connected world.
Bait Shop For Catching Customers.
“Make The Truth Worth Sharing”
Taking the “ugh” out of thot.
Not like every other ad agency.
An extension of your marketing team.
Proven PR experts delivering hard-hitting coverage
Brand storytellers. All mediums. Since 1907.
Helping Brands Be Victorious Through Sports
A hypersmart, people-powered search agency.
We build brand preference among Hispanics.
Born, you die, sell
We find the right answers.
Food and Beverage Marketing Specialists
Couture Marketing & Product Development
Ideas for a smarter, faster world.
Total business-to-business marketing communications.
We Transform Brands and Build Business
Brand Driven, Marketing Savvy
The faster way to more customers.
Industrial Strength Technology Marketing
Integrated and seasoned: Digital, Creative, PR
We help nonprofits grow beyond probabilities.
Honest, Handcrafted Work That Works.
We turn customers into fans
Like you are our only client
Top-quality marketing that gets results!
Making customers fall in love, daily.
Altavert lets commuters advertise for you.
We Deliver Customers. (SM)
We’re different, you should be to.

VOTE HERE

16 Comments | Agency Branding, Agency Leadership, Promotion | Tagged: ad agency descriptions, Michael Gass, tag lines | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Tips to Get Speaking Opportunities for Ad Agency New Business

March 25, 2010

Ad Agency Principals Should “Speak” for New Business.

Having the opportunity to speak in front of a highly targeted, interested group of prospects is a very effective form of lead generation. Even if you are speaking for free, the opportunity oftentimes outweighs a fee when it comes to the potential for new business and establishing you and your agency as thought leaders.

Here are some 10 personal tips to generate speaking opportunities:

1. I would suggest that you use a blog to get started.

Your blog can become a great tool to open doors to speak. It provides a the platform to hone your subject matter, draw interest and appeal from your best agency prospects.

People want to work with people that they know, trust and like. Your blog can become the face of your agency, the gateway for new business. It can also be a springboard for speaking opportunities.

2. Create a Speaking Page

Michael Gass speaks on topics related to leadership, business development, and social media. He has been speaking publicly for more than 25 years and has keynoted more than 100 events.

A few suggestions on what to include on your blog’s Speakers Page

Clearly define your expertise and your niche
Provide a description of topics and presentations you can speak on
Create your “speakers bio”
Speaking engagements. List events where you will be speaking, no matter how small (I would also suggest adding your speaking engagements to your blog’s side bar)
Provide testimonials. I’ve discovered that LinkedIn is an excellent way to generate testimonials
Be sure and provide your contact information
Educate and you won’t have to sell

3. Shoot Video

Video is easily shot, embedded and/or linked through your blog. An agency principal that didn’t have any video footage of prior speaking engagements and decided to create it in-house. Even brought in a change of wardrobe and shot video for 3 different presentations.

4. Record Audio

You can also record video through a number of different programs to upload or link to your blog. Someone recently introduced me to a program that easily records interviews called wetoku. You can also use a service as simple as FreeConferenceCall.com.

Click here to listen to my experience using social media from an ad agency new business perspective, BlogTalkRadio interview

5. About Page

I would suggest creating an About Page for your blog that would provide a fuller profile of your experience beyond your speakers bio.

6. Research Sponsorship Opportunities

An ad agency that specializes in marketing for academic medical centers learned that it was better to spend money for a conference sponsorship, attended by a large number of their prospects, than to send a group of its staff members as attendees. For almost the same amount of money, the conference sponsorship package included:

1 keynote and 2 breakout session speaking opportunities
2 conference admissions
All attendee’s contact information
Promotion of the agency in conference materials
Booth space
Ability to freely hand out agency promotional materials

The agency discovered this was much cheaper and more more productive for their new business objectives. The agency provided its best “thought leader” for the conference that built instant credibility with attendees.

In addition to these tips …

7. Make the Most of Your Presentation Time

Success breeds success

It goes without saying, you need to make a good presentation. Here are a few presentation tips to think about:

Focus on your audience. Don’t sell. Help them, entertain them, inform them and inspire them.
Prepare and rehearse your presentation.
Make eye contact and be engaging. Use listening notes. Facilitate questions. Make your session interactive with your audience.
Get a look at the presentation room as soon after you arrive as possible. It always helps to be aware of your surroundings and adjust your presentation accordingly. Set-up your equipment as early as possible before your presentation time.
Have a back-up plan if you have technical issues. I always upload a copy of my presentation to an online source, have downloaded it also to a thumb-drive, make sure I have all my adapters, pluggins, etc. If at all possible spend time in other conference sessions. Be part of the conference community.
Provide enlightening personal stories and illustrations.
If you use PowerPoint or Keynote, don’t read the slides! Instead use them illustrate your points. Nice photos/graphics.
Bring plenty of business cards. Provide your contact info at the end of any slide or video presentations.

8. Use Social Tools

In addition to your blog, use social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to help promote the event at which you are speaking. This will be a huge help to the event organizers, will make them even more appreciative for your participation and will be a benefit to you by the positive referrals. Often event organizers will also provide you with a discount for your readers.

Also use social media, prior to the event, to meet and engage with those who will be attending.

9. Don’t Forget to Follow-up

Taking the time to follow-up with attendees is an important part of process of gaining additional speaking and new business opportunities. Providing a personal email to those you collected business cards from and providing a link to your presentation in SlideShare would be helpful tactic to use as a follow-up. A personal handwritten note would also be a nice follow-up.

10. Enroll in a Speakers Bureau

Jaci Russo, The Russo Group, recently shared that enrolling in a speakers bureau has generated a good number of additional speaking opportunities for her, in addition to her blog, writings, interviews and referrals.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

13 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Promotion | Tagged: advertising agencies, Jaci Russo, Michael Gass, new business, Public Speaking, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

A Tool for Securing Your Ad Agency’s Brand Name Across 350 Social Media Networks

March 22, 2010

Grab your name and secure your brand before someone else does.

One of the first things I have an agency and/or agency principals to do, secure their brand name across a large number of social media networks. This can be a very time intensive effort but fortunately there are tools available that will save a lot of time.

To tool that has been the most helpful to me is, KnowEm. It allows you to check for the use of your brand, product, personal name or username instantly on over 350 popular and emerging social media websites across 15 categories. You can do this for free from the dashboard of their web site, which still saves a lot of time. If you want to conserve even more time, you can choose to have KnowEm register your username and/or company for you through their different priced packages.

CHECK IT to see where your username is still available.

I would recommend that you secure at least these sites:

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
SlideShare
Flickr
StumbleUpon
Delicious
Digg
Alltop
Brightkite
Foursquare
Mashable
Technorati
Wikepedia
Yelp

It would be a good idea and “proactively” offer to do this as well for agency clients.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

6 Comments | Best Practices, Social Media | Tagged: ad agency, advertising agencies, brand names, KnowEm, Michael Gass, social media networks, usernames | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agency New Business is Like Herding Cats

March 19, 2010

The title of this post is the best description of what its like to lead new business for ad agencies. Agencies are great at focusing on their clients and giving their all to do excellent creative work and provide attentive creative services. But when it comes to the agencies own new business, most suck at it! Agencies are their own worst clients.

There are the four basic cornerstones to make your agency’s new business program focused and effective:

Someone must be responsible. There must be the “herder” the person that keeps the process moving. If everyone is charged with new business, no one is in charge. A lot of people should have new business responsibilities but creating and maintaining a new business program should fall to one person. Preferably it should be the only “agency hat” they need to wear.
It must be consistent. One of the common problems among agencies is that they tend to be very inconsistent in their new business efforts. Currently most are focused on new business because of the economy. But just let there be a little bit of success and busyness with new accounts and agencies put their new business practices on the back-burner, when they should be kicking their new business activities into an even higher gear.
Keep it simple. When agencies have time on their hands, they can come up with some elaborate new business ideas, creative collateral materials to promote the agency, etc. But the efforts are sustainable when the agency gets busy and they are quickly dumped. The most effective new business programs that I have seen are effective because they are consistent, and they are consistent because they are simple to maintain, as when the agency is at its busiest. That’s why I would advocate a series of simple mailers over a more elaborate creative piece, know what a struggle it will be to get through the creative process when the agency is busy.
Choose a target audience. This will not deter your agency from still obtaining “other” type of clients through your personal networks and referrals within your local market, but it will go a very long way to creating awareness, appeal, differentiation and focus for your agency’s new business program. It makes new business so much easier when you do.

5 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Tips | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass, new business program | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

If you could offer one piece of advice to your advertising agency what would it be?

March 17, 2010

New analysis of chief marketers’ Attitudes on Agencies released at 4A’s Transformation 2010 Conference

In January 2010, Ad-ology Research conducted a survey of chief marketing professionals to study their attitudes about the outsides agencies they employ and to forecast their marketing and advertising plans for 2010.

Among the survey questions asked, “If you could offer one piece of advice to advertising/marketing agencies in general, what would it be” Here are some of the responses from among 327 chief marketing professionals:

Try to become more knowledgeable about the product category than your client.
Talk less and listen more.
Do a better job with the upfront strategic messaging part.
Act as a partner, not only a provider.
Know our markets.
Know our industry and be willing to offer suggestions not previously considered.
Social media knowledge is a must.
Simply respond in a timely and professional manner.
Do not add too many layers between the client and the creative folks.
Be good to your employees – there is way too much turnover.
Make sure you have the required expertise in the industry that you are selling to.
Talk in plain language and not technical jargon.
Hire people based on their passion and work, not just based on the education they have, creativity cannot be taught.
Be excited and treat each opportunity with a fresh look.
Come work for the company you are representing for a week to get a feel for our values and goals.
Concentrate more on ROI.
Get Creative! Partner with us – don’t position yourself as the “parent” and we’re the “child.”
Over communicate.
Be nice.

Other key findings:

19% of companies with marketing budgets less than $1 million say they do not use social media, 34% say the same for online video.
Companies with marketing budgets more than $1 million are more likely to have mandates to improve customer insight and retention.
Fifty percent of those surveyed plan increased marketing budgets in 2010 versus 2009, with social media, online advertising and online video expected to see the greatest spending increases.
After cost, marketers tend to choose agencies based on creative capability and quality of previous work.

“There are three deadly account service sins for advertising agencies: Inadequate communication, relying on the clients for industry insights and not listening,” said C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

9 Comments | New Business Trends, Research | Tagged: 4 A's, Ad-ology, advertising agencies, C. Lee Smith, chief marketing officers, client survey, president and CEO of Ad-ology | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Twitter Mistakes Made By Ad Agencies for New Business

March 16, 2010

Twitter is one of the social media tools that can be used as tool for your agency’s social media marketing strategy to generate online traffic and a pipeline for new business leads.

Many ad agencies that are finally jumping into social media have no strategy. A good number seem to be working from a social media checklist that they now have an agency Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to show prospective clients they are participating in this new space. But what is still lacking is a genuine credibility and comprehension of how to use social media for themselves to actually generate new business.

Here are 10 mistakes agencies should avoid if they want to generate new business through Twitter:

Signing up then not participate. A tell-tale sign that Twitter is nothing more than a check-off on your social media check-list. When you rarely post to Twitter it will show.
Self Promotional Tweets. Agencies that sound more like cars salesmen, constantly using promotional Tweets to tout their agency’s new hires, new business acquisitions, awards, etc.
Hiding behind the agency veil. Using your agency’s name as the Twitter account without revealing who is doing the Tweeting. Even Ford Motor Company gets this right, having allowing @ScottMonty to be their social media spokesperson under his own Twitter name rather than through the company’s name. It’s awkward to try to engage with a company. Social media is about people. A lot of the same principals of face-to-face networking applies to social media networks such as Twitter.
Automated Responses. These drive not only me but will drive your prospects crazy. They are impersonal, and usually contain no value other than to clog up your Direct Message box forcing you to scan through dozens and dozens to reach those who have sent you a personal one.
Little if any value to your Tweets. If you want to build a following that will provide new business leads, you must Tweet content that is of value within those 140 characters. My article, “A Simple Twitter Formula for Ad Agency New Business,” provides a simple formula for using Twitter.
Fail to generate Twitter traffic ‘to anything”. I have recommended that to agencies that they have a blog that becomes the “gateway” to the agency and generate traffic to the blog through tools such as Twitter. The blog serves as the central platform for your social media strategy.
Failing to use 3rd party Twitter tools. These can tools help you identify your best target audience and build your Twitter account’s data base of followers within the ratios mandated by Twitter. Your agency’s blog content can stay fresh with new postings but older posts have a very long shelf life from not only SEO but also through repurposing posts to Twitter using some third-party Twitter Tools such as SocialOomph. You can create a Twitter schedule as you would any other type of media schedule. It’s naive to think if you have written a post that everyone has read it.
Using the reply function when you should use a direct message. Not every reply needs to be share with your entire Twitter audience. Almost all replies should probably be sent by Direct Message to the person.
Failing to engage in the conversation. It amazes me that most agency principals have reservations about engaging with their prospective client audience. Social media and tools such as Twitter, provide the most efficient means of creating personal network with your agencies best prospects. I have over 30,000 followers on Twitter alone and it is easy to stay engaged and be part of the conversations without it requiring an undue amount of time. I probably spend no more than 15 minutes a day responding through Twitter.
Allowing the early adopters of Twitter to mandate how your agency should use it. Face it, Twitter has superseded anything envisioned by its creators or early adopters “way back in 2006.” It’s amazing that it was the celebrities, not ad agencies, that first figured out the value and potential of Twitter.

Here are 20+ additional Twitter articles, specifically for ad agencies that can help you take advantage of Twitter’s growth for your new business:

18 Comments | Agency Leadership, Social Media, Twitter | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Google Reader, Michael Gass, Social Media, Social Oomph, Twitter | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

A Great Ad Agency New Business Tool to Optimize Twitter

March 10, 2010

75 million people visited Twitter in January alone, over 23 million were from the US. According to Twitter, over 50 million tweets are sent daily.

Twitter is being talked about everywhere. People are drawn to it because of the buzz of its popularity but the majority of people don’t understand its potential. That includes most ad agencies.

My primary objective for using Twitter has been to increase traffic to my blog. Twitter is now the leading traffic generator for FUEL LINES.

There are hundreds of tools that have been developed to enhance Twitter’s usefulness for marketing. The tool that is most helpful to me and the one I use most often for ad agency new business is called Social Oomph.

These are some of the Social Oomph features that I like and use:

Manage multiple accounts from one dashboard (your agency’s as well as clients Twitter accounts)
Manage an unlimited number of blogs
Upload your agency’s blog posts and URLs from an Excel spread sheet, in bulk to Social Oomph
Pre-set the date/time range for each post in minutes
Automatically shorten post URLs through Bit.ly and track clicks
Automate – follow those who follow you in Twitter
Automate – unfollow those who don’t follow you in Twitter
Purge and filter your Twitter account’s DM box
Small monthly fee that is month-to-month, cancelable at any time (more than pays for itself for the time that it saves)
Junior level people/interns can be easily trained to use this tool on behalf of the agency and clients
You can also schedule your agency blog posts to Facebook, just keep the repurpose level to only a few per day

For Twitter to have real value from a new business perspective for ad agencies, you must have a clear objective and follow a simple formula for use.

To reach my objective to my blog’s traffic and exposing it to a new but targeted audience, I’ve followed Angela Maiers 70-20-10 Twitter Engagement Formula.

70 to 80% of my “Twittertime” is spent sharing helpful information for ad agency new business with my audience. I do this in two ways:

First, I share lots of information from my online reading that I think will be of help to my audience. I’m able to use some tools such as TwitThis that I’ve placed in my browser bar. When I come across a good article that I think will be of help all I have to do is click on TwitThis and automatically post the article title and tiny URL into my Twitter account.

Secondly, I also share the content from my FUEL LINES blog. I now have over 500 of my own blog post regarding ad agency new business. I’m able to use Social Oomph to expose these posts to new audiences.

I can easily schedule the date, time and recurrence of each post. With the volume of post that I now have I can publish a different post on Twitter every hour, seven days a week twenty-four hours a day without repetition. Older posts, that are still useful, have new life. The best posts are often re-tweeted and exposed to new networks of people.

Your Agency’s Blog Posts: Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you’ve written it, everybody has read it.

Twitter is more than a fad. It is a valuable marketing tool. Twitter tools such as Social Oomph make it priceless for generating traffic and new business leads.

Here are 20+ additional Twitter articles, specifically for ad agencies that can help you take advantage of Twitter’s growth for new business:

20 Comments | New Business Tools, New Business Trends, Social Media, Twitter | Tagged: Angela Maiers, Social Oomph, Tweetlater, Twitter, Twitter Formula, Twitter tools | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

New Advertising Study: Marketers to spend more on digital than print this year

March 9, 2010

Note to Ad Agencies: Staying atop the rapidly changing media environment within the advertising industry is critical for agency new business. I received the following report the day it was released, did you? If you don’t have a method of receiving timely information as you’ll find below, it can have a negative impact upon your agency’s new business program.

The secret is having this kind of information automatically received rather than having to search for it.

Outsell, which provides research and advisory services to the publishing and information industries, surveyed more than 1,000 US advertisers in December 2009 for its annual “Marketing and Advertising Study 2010.”

This marketing and ad spending study forecasts spending, share, and growth for five media types—online, events, print, TV/radio, and PR/other—and methods used within each, from social networking to mobile/wireless marketing.

In what it calls “an industry milestone crossover event,” US companies will spend more this year on digital and online advertising and marketing than on print for the first time ever.

“Advertisers are directing dollars toward the channels which generate the most qualified leads and most effective branding. As they emerge from the recession, they need more accountability, and they’re spreading their spending over a widening set of options,” said Chuck Richard, Vice President and Lead Analyst, Outsell.

Some nuggets from this report:

Companies will spend 119.6 billion dollars on online and digital strategies and 111.5 billion dollars on newspaper and magazine advertisements and other print campaigns
US spending on advertising and marketing projected to increase by 1.2 percent in 2010 to 368 billion dollars
Spending on newspaper advertising expected to drop 8.2 percent to 27 billion dollars
Spending on direct mail marketing campaigns could rise 2.7 percent to 24.4 billion dollars and spending on custom print publications would be 3.0 percent higher at 19.3 billion dollars
Spending on print directories would fall 8.3 percent to 11.6 billion dollars
Spending on print newsletters would be flat at 11.4 billion dollars
Spending on television advertising was forecast to drop 6.5 percent to 59.6 billion dollars
Print magazine advertising could be up 1.9 percent to $9.4 billion
Methods generating the highest B2B ROI are topped by advertisers’ own websites, followed by conferences, exhibitions and trade shows; direct mail; search engine keywords; and e-marketing/e-newsletters.
B2B advertisers see cross-media marketing as most effective; 78% combine three or more major marketing methods.
51 percent of B2B marketers rate Facebook as extremely or somewhat effective, followed by LinkedIn (45 percent), Twitter (35 percent) and MySpace (25 percent).

“2010 will not suddenly erase the painful memory of crumbling ad spending in 2009, but it will provide much closer to a flat year for several of the traditional media types,” Outsell said.

The entire 33 page report is available for download for a fee by clicking here

Additional “digital” related articles that may be of interest:

4 Comments | Agency Leadership, Digital, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Chuck Richard, Digital, Marketing and Advertising Study 2010, Outsell, print | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for February: Pixel Farm Interactive

March 8, 2010

After a neck-n-neck battle for most of the voting period, Pixel Farm Interactive’s blog, beginner cco, was selected as Fuel Lines’ Blog of the Month for February capturing 51% of the vote, followed by Thompson & Company’s blog, brainwoo with 41%.

Pixel Farm Interactive is a subsidiary of Pixel Farm, Inc., a full-service post-production facility founded in 1994 with a rich history and significant presence in Minneapolis.

The beginner cco blog will be included for Fuel Lines’s Blog of the Year.

Submit an agency blog for March’s blog of the month.

Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for January: Levelwing Media Blog

Walker Sands: Voted Top Ad Agency Blog of the Year for 2009

Ad agencies need an integrated social media strategy if they are ever going to see the payoff from their participation in social media. An agency blog should be the central component. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency and the“face” of your agency. As important as it was to have an agency website, it is now equally important to have an agency blog.

But … having a blog isn’t something you check off your list of social media “to do list.” Nor is it a place to lead with agency capabilities and credentials. It must be of benefit to your audience.

Here is a collection of agency blogging resources:

4 Comments | Agency Blogs | Tagged: ad agency blog, Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass, Minneapolis, MN, Pixel Farm Interactive, Quan Hoang, Thomson & Company | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Forrester and Edward Boches: The Future of Advertising and Agency New Business

March 4, 2010

The following is a rich resource if you want to know where advertising agencies are headed and the future for agency new business practices.

We’re in the midst of a revolutionary period unlike anything we have ever seen. It’s predicted that more change will come to the advertising industry within the next five years than we have seen in the previous fifty.

I’ve highlighted Edward Boches a number of times through Fuel Lines posts. Edward was one of the first agency creatives from a large agency to genuinely grasp the potential of social media. He has even been awarded an additional title. He’s not on the Chief Creative Officer for Mullen but also their Chief Social Media Officer. He’s earned not only the title but also the position of “thought leader” among his prospective clients. That’s led to an impressive list of new business for Mullen in 2009 and it looks like 2010 is going to be an excellent year for them as well.

If you are part of your agency’s creative community, I would recommend you follow Edwards’ example, one of your peers who is doing social media and agency new business the right way.

Check out Edwards blog, creativity_unbound, and especially his article on “The future of advertising agencies: learnings from Forrester.” He highlights some excellent nuggets of information that has been derived from Sean Corcoran’s research, a Forrester analysts.

The following is just a taste of those findings, you’ll need to click through to Edward’s post for the rest. I assure you that it’s worth your time:

Despite Edelman’s recent findings, Forrester insists that consumers trust consumers more than they trust brands: it means we need to mobilize fans and followers to evangelize on our behalf
The Groundswell has gone mainstream: the consumer is now a creator/sharer/distributor; learn to harness and inspire that

WOM reigns again: your content and the experiences you create must stimulate it
3.5 billion brand conversations happen every day, all of them in public: time to master the art of listening

You’ll be able to fill-in the blanks from Edward’s article and hopefully fill-in the blanks as to where we’re headed as an industry:

Consumer’s ______ most advertising
________ marketing is the new model
Media needs to combine _____, ______ and ______
Successful agencies will move well beyond ________
Three things clients will look for: _______, _______ and ______

Additional agency principals on point for new business:

Shiv Singh, Razorfish: Ad Agencies: An Excellent Resource for Understanding Social Media Marketing
Edward Boches, Mullen: Ad Agency Draw 63,000+ Twitter Users for BrandBowl 2010
Sam Decker, Decker Marketing: Social Media Marketing Map Used For Ad Agency’s New Business
Stephanie Holland, Holland + Holland Advertising: Tiny Ad Agency Generates Big Interest and Opportunities Through Social Media
Chuck Donofrio, Carton Donofrio Partners: “StopTheAdness” Campaign Builds Buzz for Small Ad Agency
Jaci Russo, The Russo Group: Ad Agency’s New Business Initiative: $1 Million Brand Ad Campaign
Steve McKee, McKee Wallwork Cleveland: When Growth Stalls For Ad Agencies
Bob Hoffman, Hoffman/Lewis: The Ad Contrarian

1 Comment | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Edward Boches, Forrester, Michael Gass, Mullen, Sean Corcoran | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agency Principals on Point for Agency New Business

March 2, 2010

Make new business easier for your agency by being positioned as a “thought leader” to your best prospective clients.

Jesse Thomas continues to do a masterful job doing just that. He is the CEO and Founder of JESS3, a young creative interactive agency specializing in social media data visualization. Jesse’s positioning has led to some great opportunities for new business with companies such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft, MySpace, Pfizer, Time Warner, NASA, Nestle, Pepsi / Tropicana, the Wall Street Journal and many other blue chip companies.

Just one of the tools that helps in positioning Jess as a thought leader:

The video below was recently created by Thomas, it highlights some remarkable figures and visually depicts the Internet as we know it today. It’s fast becoming a must-watch video for anyone trying to wrap their minds around just how immersed web technologies have become in our everyday lives.

Another example of Jess’s thought leadership was the design of a diagram called The Twitterverse with Brian Solis that outlines the expanding network of applications that function with the popular web tool.

Jesse’s partnerships with organizations such as Social Media Club, Barcamp, AIGA, Mashable, Tech Cocktail, Art Directors Club and WOMMA have further bolstered his agency’s new business success.

You will also hear Jesse speaking at an number of industry events in D.C and NYC, “Lunch n Learns”, workshop leader, conference organizer or leading seminars such as “Blog Design.”

As popular as Jesse is, he also makes it EASY for prospective clients who are looking to collaborate with him, providing his personal email address, through his blog at jess3.com/blog, Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn, even his cell phone number. How many agency principals are willing to do that?

Jesse understands that he is on point for his agency’s new business. He’s the face of his agency. Prospective clients have a desire to work with people, that they know, like and trust … people like Jesse!

Additional agency principals on point for new business: