There are many agency blogs out there, if you don’t go niche, you won’t be able to break out of the crowd.
If you look at all the ad agency blogs out there, most are far to general. Readers are left with thousands of blogs about the same thing. No particular niche, no point of differentiation. The blogging space becomes overcrowded by generalists. There are no experts, no leaders and an agency’s blog gets lost in a crowd of sameness.
A blog provides your agency the opportunity to truly differentiate itself and create an appeal to a particular prospective client audience with less risk. It offers acceptable conditions for the small to mid size agency’s to fly their differentiated flag proudly without fear of missing “other” opportunities that will still come by way of personal networks and referrals.
In an arena of sameness, you will find it extremely difficult to gain the traction needed to be positioned as an expert, distinguish yourself, your agency and create appeal. Your blogging efforts wont have much credibility and you’ll miss a great opportunity to generate new business.
“It’s time to un-level the playing field. To have success with social media, agencies need to fly a differentiated social media flag”
To be a leader you need a niche. You need to focus on a narrow topic.
When I began my consultancy, I had some friends who advised me against becoming a consultant for ad agency new business. They said my focus was to narrow, especially concentrating on ‘fueling ad agency new business through social media’. I was told that I would miss opportunities and wouldn’t be able to support my family. But having such a narrow focus, the opposite happened. I was able to grow my consultancy much quicker with less expense and effort.
How do you make your agency’s blog different when everyone is writing about the same thing? Instead of another blog about branding, you could find a niche like ‘blue-collar branding’. When you do that you wont be offering the same tips, advice, and stories that every other agency is doing.
Social media has made all niches marketable.
With millions of people participating in social media and searching and sharing information daily, even the smallest niche has an audience. You can bring a significant number of prospects together with your niche site.
No niche is to small you will always find interested followers within your area of expertise.
Don’t be everything to everyone. By going narrow-niche, your blog gains a single purpose and brings a focal point from a central theme. It will help provide focus in developing your content for a primary target audience. You will find that it makes blogging much easier.
My blog, Fuel Lines, has a single-mindedness that allows for dominance in one field and builds awareness and recognition within the advertising industry. I’ve been able to build my consultancy well beyond my local marketing and create an international awareness for my services through my blog.
I received this brief email from the late Mike Hughes, who at the time was the president the fastest growing major agency in America according to Ad Age:
Michael,
It’s impressive how often your blog postings are passed around here.
Best,
Mike
Mike Hughes, President, The Martin Agency, Richmond, VA
When people ask where they need to go for help, you want others to reference YOUR name.
There are many agency blogs out there. If you don’t go niche, you won’t be able to create a name for yourself. If you really want a blog to provide new business opportunities, you must pick a niche and be the expert on that. Otherwise, you’ll never break out of the crowd.
Some additional articles on niche blogging for new business:
Michael, great advice and something that applies to many businesses now days. As a photographer I hear consultants repeating this same message.
And Mike is right, your blog is a gold nugget that everyone is eager to share with their colleagues.
Glad you followed your instincts and not your friends advice. 🙂
Thanks Lee. Very much appreciated.
Great points Michael. Narrowing the niche/funnel is probably one of the hardest things to do for any business; it seems contrary to conventional wisdom if not down right scary, like leaning out over the tips of your skis the steeper the slope. But nothing pumps up relevance like this one action. thanks!