The starting point for any ad agency new business program is positioning. It is a fundamental prerequisite for small and midsize agencies. But it is also the place where most agencies where most fail. Positioning is everything.
“The common failing among agencies seeking new business is the inability, or unwillingness, to name what they stand for” Bob Lundin, Agency search consultancy Jones Lundin Beals
Brand coach Josh says, “If you can’t say why your [agency] brand is both different and compelling in a few words, don’t fix your statement, fix your [agency] company.”
Can you define your agency’s positioning in a simple statement? I can’t begin to tell you how many agencies I know struggle with this.
Advertising agencies and other marketing firms must do for themselves what they do for their clients – this SlideShare presentation, Agency Brand Thyself, provides an excellent overview of agency positioning based on the work of Ignition’s Tim Williams as outlined in his book “Take a Stand for Your Brand: Building a Great Agency Brand from the Inside Out.”
Advertising agencies need positioning because prospective clients have lots of choices—and if you don’t stand out, you are going to struggle with new business.
10 Things a Clear Positioning Provides for Your Ad Agency:
- An increase in your agency’s relevance
- A direction for how your agency spends its time, money and resources
- An understanding on the types of persons to hire
- A better new business win ratio
- A strong appeal to a select group of prospects
- Prospects that line up with your agency’s core strengths, what you do best
- A broader market area
- Fewer competitors, because there will be fewer firms who do what you do
- Have prospects seek out your agency
- Better margins, because well-focused agencies command premium pricing
Follow Tim Williams on Twitter. I would also encourage you to read Tim’s book Take a Stand for Your Brand
that’s powerful. I’ve got some work to do.
As many others before you and in many walks of life, I think you define the problem very well, but I’m not so sure about your solution. Sure, the swinging pendulum of commoditization threatens us all, but is the big answer simply specialization? Here are two reasons why it might not be.
1. Companies still are in need of agencies that are creative, full-service and maybe even fun for that matter.
2. Specialization is no safe haven. On the contrary, lots of specialized agencies have had to struggle even more with comoditization and technology-based redundancy in the last 15 years or so.
I still believe the greatest strength that any good agency has is the power of the idea, and that is essentially what is behind the “we are creative” mantra. The reality is simply that most agencies just aren’t that creative. But this also a very person-based value. That is where a small agency can have an advantage over large agencies which often become encumbered by process-based services.
Perhaps the truth is found in the exceptions. The larger famous agencies, like CP+B and GoodbySilverstein that distinguish themselves by their creative brilliance are, at least as far as I can tell, driven by a few exceptional people.
Yes, I can describe my agency positioning in an elevator ride, and yes, to some extend we are pushing specialty services. Yet those services will almost certainly be replaced by others in a few years as will our positioning. What will keep us out of future quicksand is a commitment to talented people with ideas that capture collective imaginations.
Someone once told me that I should always have an “elevator speech” ready when i meet people. This should not be any different.