5 Ways to Recycle Older Content for Ad Agency New Business

March 31, 2011

Continue to generate a great return on your time investment, writing for your agency’s blog, by recycling older content.

As you write your posts, learn to write “ever-green” to give the content a long shelf life. I recently wrote a post, 50 of the Best Insights from Ad Age’s First Ever Small Agency Conference, the first ever small agency conference sponsored by Ad Age. Even though this was a one-day conference, I purposefully wrote the post in a way that would allow the content to be used for a much longer period of time.

My recycled posts continue to generate lots of blog traffic and fresh comments from readers who have just discovered them for the first time. The date of the material shouldn’t matter. What should matter is relevancy. Is the content still of value to your audience?

Here are 5 simple ways to repurpose older content:

  1. Twitter: This isn’t like your email inbox. People are on and off Twitter rather quickly. Often they are scanning for helpful resources to their advertising/marketing challenges. That the majority of your followers would see a post that you published at 11 am on a Thursday is remote. It’s about reach and frequency. SocialOomph is a great program to assist with repurposing content through your Twitter account and allows you to control your publishing schedule knowing what post is being published when.
  2. Email Newsletters: Posts from your archive will find new life by way of your newsletter. You can group older posts around a particular category or theme. Highlight the “best of” your online content. Here are a couple of examples: Fuel Lines, Convince and Convert’s Vault
  3. Facebook and LinkedIn: Another way to repurpose content is through other social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Just not with the same frequency of posting as you would with Twitter.
  4. Through other posts: Do the work on behalf of your readers and at the end of your new posts include links to additional content that is relevant. Check out my ‘Additional articles of interest’ at the end of this article.  This makes it easier for your readers to find relevant, older content on your blog.
  5. eBooklets and Whitepapers: After you have been writing awhile, you can easily pull together content to create eBooklets or whitepapers to share with your audience. I have also pulled older content together for SlideShare presentations. You can even recycle your blogs content into a book. An example is Bob Hoffman’s The Ad Contrarian.

I would also suggest revisiting older posts that may not have generated very much traffic. With the proper edits and revisions you can breath new life into them as well.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

5 Comments | Agency Blogs, Best Practices, Social Media, Twitter | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agency Websites: An Important Tool for New Business

March 30, 2011

Research shows websites influence 97% of clients’ purchasing decisions.

Your agency’s website is your online brochure, the place to present credentials, capabilities and most importantly your agency’s creative work.  Not only is it the place prospects and clients go to learn more about your agency and its services, but it has a huge impact on their ultimate purchase decision.

For professional services firms, “74% of buyers report the service provider’s website holds at least “some influence” over their ultimate decision to buy services from the provider.” – Raintoday.com

An agency’s website provides the opportunity for your prospective clients to look under-the-hood, kick the tires and check out the upholstery on their own timetable.

With well-designed websites prospects should be able to:

  • Establish capabilities and professional credentials: through professional design, writing, and arrangement of content.
  • Establish that your agency is worthy of consideration: through an overview of your services, client list, biographies of staff, case studies that show how you’ve helped clients and a sampling of your creative work.
  • Establish your agency as an authority: through a clear point of differentiation and expertise, essential elements for creating an appeal and a necessity of winning new clients beyond your local market.

Your agency’s website is the place for:

  • Press releases – Announcements about new hires, new client acquisitions, awards and other agency news.
  • Current clients and work experience.
  • Staff profiles.
  • Highlight case studies, testimonials, advertising and marketing campaigns.
  • Resources such as articles, white papers, research findings and presentations.
  • Agency services. Provide a clear understanding of what services your agency provides.
  • Show casing your agency’s creative capabilities.
  • Job postings, staff recruitment highlighting your agency’s culture.
  • Highlight your agency’s associations such as with the 4As, MAGNET, TAAN or other agency affiliations.
  • Links to your agency’s social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
  • Facts about your agency. Provide a link to an easy to print, downloadable PDF Agency Fact Sheet on your agency.
  • A call-to-action. Provide a path to engagement for your visitors. Include information about first steps for a prospect, such as a brand or market audit.
  • Contact information. Make sure that prospects know who to contact for new business other than info@.

Remember also that usability is a critical success factor for websites. If yours isn’t easy to use it is a very poor reflection of your agency and prospects will simply leave it. Users are highly goal-driven on the Web. The ultimate failure of a website is to fail to provide the information users are looking for.

A final tip that I hope you find helpful: Businesses that blog get 55% more website traffic than those that don’t.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

2 Comments | Agency Leadership, Digital, New Business Tips, SEO | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agencies: 5 Solutions for Hiring, Training and Retention

March 29, 2011

“The average Starbucks barista gets more training than the average communications employee.” Andrew Bennett

According to a recent 4A’s and Arnold Worldwide Survey:

90% of agency staff say they have to figure things out on their own due to the lack of training and 50% of talent in the marketing and communications industry feel undertrained and with no definable career path.

The survey found that agencies are losing employees because they see little career pathing, feel they’re learning on the job and find new employers that invest more in training.

Andrew Bennett, Global CEO of Arnold Worldwide, further reports on this landmark 4A’s study on hiring, development and retention at the 4As Transformation 2011 conference:

The Problem – according to the recent 4A’s and Arnold survey on hiring, development and retention of agency executives:

  • 30% of the collective agency workforce will be gone within 12 months
  • 70% of employees would call a recruiter back if one reached out to them
  • 96% of employees surveyed said they feel they could easily get a job, in part because of the improving economy
  • 37% expect to stay one to five more years in the industry, 66% plan on staying more than five years in the business
  • 90% of employees said they learned by figuring out problems on their own. Conversely, 25% of execs said employees figured out their own issues

The Solution  - Benett’s 5 solutions to turn employee attitudes around:

  1. Invest in talent in the early stages, such as schools
  2. Promote cross training
  3. Introduce new incentives, such as education financing or sabbaticals
  4. Fix performance management
  5. Engage employees in the career conversation

Additional articles that may be of interest:

3 Comments | Agency Leadership, New Business Talents | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Media Survey: TV Retains its Power and is Enhanced by Social Media

March 25, 2011

TV continues to reign as the most influential advertising platform, and online ads are considered influential by less than half of Americans.

TV continues to be king.  Deloitte’s fifth edition “State of the Media Democracy” survey reveals that 71 percent of Americans still rate watching TV on any device among their favorite media activities. In addition, 86 percent of Americans stated that TV advertising still has the most impact on their buying decisions.

Phil Asmundson, Vice Chairman Deloitte LLP states that “Consumers are not only watching television, they are talking about it, and those conversations are frequently taking place in real-time online and via IM/texting. By embracing the Internet as a platform that encourages audiences to participate in discussions about their favorite programs, television is maintaining its hold on the American public. People want to be part of the real-time conversation and they are embracing both platforms in a complementary fashion.”

Asmundson adds, “And, because television has embraced the Internet and social media so effectively, the traditional television advertising model is alive and well”

Here are some of the highlights from Deloitte’s Media Survey:

TV Retains its Power

  • Despite the continued growth of access to television content through other channels, with more than half of U.S. consumers preferring to watch their favorite shows on their home TV system
  • Nearly three-quarters of consumers prefer to watch their favorite TV shows live — even given a variety of other options, including recording systems or online video services
  • TV programming continues to be the most discussed content, ahead of social networking sites, music, Websites and movies
  • Flat-panel TV ownership has increased dramatically, with 59% of households now owning at least one

Print magazines survive the digital tsunami

  • Since 2007, a consistent 70+% of U.S. consumers continue to enjoy reading printed magazines — even though they know they can find the same content online
  • Since 2007, 80+% of consumers who read a magazine in the past six months state that reading the printed copy is their favorite method
  • 55% of households report subscribing to printed magazines
  • 55% of U.S. consumers surveyed report that an important feature of printed magazine is the advertising that helps them learn about new things for themselves and their family

Rise of the smartphones

  • This year, 17% of consumers who owned smartphones rated the smartphone as their most valued device, up from 6% in 2007 and 2008
  • Smartphone ownership is strongest in the households of trailing millennials (51%), leading millennials (54%) and generation Xers (42%)
  • 30% of smartphone owners have used their device to make a purchase over the past year, and more than half have used their smartphone or other mobile device as a replacement for their laptop’s functionality while away from home

Cloud computing may lead to universal content access

  • Most U.S. consumers own a device that allows them to connect to the Web easily: 85% of households own a desktop computer, 68% of households own a laptop/ netbook; 44% of households subscribe to broadband cable Internet access, 39% of households subscribe to broadband DSL, and 41% of all mobile phone users access the Internet on their mobile phone
  • 51% of U.S. consumers have experienced a computer or hard drive failure that caused them to lose digital content, and 32% expressed a desire for an online media storage service
  • 43% of respondents would like to move content to any device and platform easily and effectively — indicating that cloud storage could provide consumers with an attractive option for greater access to content and greater portability

TV is complimented by social media

  • 57% of U.S. consumers currently maintain a social networking site
  • 26% of U.S. consumers are socializing online everyday/almost everyday (via social networking sites, chat rooms or message boards)
  • 55% of U.S. consumers believe strongly/somewhat that online consumer reviews and ratings influence their buying decisions more than any type of online advertising
  • 51% of U.S. consumers have purchased a product based on an online recommendation
  • 65% of U.S. consumers frequently/occasionally visit web sites as a result of someone’s online recommendation
  • 24% of U.S. consumers would find it extremely/very desirable to have an online service that recommends a product based on other consumers’ preferences
  • 65% of U.S. consumers frequently/occasionally visit web sites as a result of someone’s online recommendation
  • 55% of Americans believe strongly/somewhat that online consumer reviews and ratings influence their buying decisions more than any type of online advertising

The online survey polled nearly 2,000 consumers between the ages of 14 and 75 years old in the United States. Click on the following link to download a pdf of Deloitte’s State of Media Democracy Survey

2 Comments | New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Create a Call to Action for Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media

March 11, 2011

A strong Call-to-Action is needed to convert your blog’s visitors into new business opportunities.

The most important key to converting your agency’s blog visitors into leads is to have a “call-to-action”. A strong call to action is a clear, simple and compelling offer that persuades your readers to take the action you want. Just having a “Contact Us” form on your blog site is not very appealing to your blog’s visitors. It doesn’t count as your call to action.

People want to work with other people that they, know, trust and like. Prospects are visiting your agency’s blog site or website, they’ve had a chance to kick your tires, check out your upholstery and take a look under your hood  -  they feel like they know you.  What next? Don’t leave them clueless. Clearly outline a first-step engagement for them through a specific call-to-action.

I would suggest creating an offer for a particular service, something that is usually a first-step that you normally conduct with every new client, like a brand or marketing audit. Price it in lower than normal, a clear value to the prospect. This will do 3 things:

  1. Render a quicker decision from your prospects. They are not having to make a major financial commitment at this point. They’re just committing to take a small initial step.
  2. Identify the true prospect from those that just want to pick your brain for free and will never pay for your services.
  3. Pay you, at least for a portion of your time, for important face time with your prospective clients.

I consistently hear from agencies, “if we can just get in front of our prospects, we have no trouble closing the deal”. We’ll here’s your chance. By using this approach for a call to action, you meet your primary objective of getting in front of qualified prospects.

Here are a few tips for creating your ‘call-to-action’:

  1. Define your goal. I would suggest that your objective would be for a face-to-face meeting with a qualified prospect.
  2. Keep your offering simple. Remember attention spans is fleeting online. They wont spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.
  3. Make your offering valuable to the prospect. Their takeaway is much greater than their time and monetary investment.
  4. What action. Be clear as to what action you want your readers to take.

1 Comment | Agency Blogs, Best Practices, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Report: Inbound Marketing Channels More Cost-Effective for Ad Agency New Business

March 10, 2011

When it comes to ad agency new business, blogs and social media can deliver inbound leads for less.

I often say, “people want to work with other people that they KNOW, TRUST and LIKE”. Social media is an efficient and affordable way to build new business relationships quickly.

According to research from inbound marketing solutions provider HubSpot, businesses dominated by inbound marketing have a 62% lower cost per lead than firms that do mostly outbound marketing.

Inbound marketing refers to efforts that provide web users with information or tools of value to them, as opposed to outbound or interruptive marketing that pushes messages in front of them.

Traditional outbound marketing techniques for ad agency new business – including direct mail and cold calling – are becoming less effective. Your prospects have the capability to evaluate agency services on their own.

Inbound marketing offers your audience useful information and tools that attract prospective clients to your site, while interacting and developing relationships. Inbound marketing tools include blogging, content publishing, search engine optimization and social media.

Here are the top 10 key takeaways from the “State of Inbound Marketing Report”:

  1. Inbound consistently delivers a dramatically lower cost per lead than outbound. In 2011, the average cost per lead for outbound-dominated businesses was $373, while inbound businesses reported their leads cost on average $143.
  2. The gap between spending on inbound v. outbound continues to widen: In 2009, inbound marketing had a 9% greater share of the lead generation budget; in 2011 inbound’s share was 17% greater.
  3. Blogs and social media channels are generating real customers: 57% of companies using blogs reported that they acquired customers from leads generated directly from their blog.
  4. More and more business are blogging: Businesses are now in the minority if they do not blog.  From 2009 to 2011 the percentage of businesses with a blog grew from 48% to 65%.
  5. Three out of four Inbound Channels cost less than any Outbound Channel: In 2011, the average cost per lead for outbound-dominated businesses was $373, while inbound businesses reported their leads cost on average $143.
  6. Businesses are increasingly aware their blog is highly valuable: 85% of businesses rated their company blogs as “Useful”, “Important” or “Critical”; a whopping 27% rated their company blog as “Critical” to their business.
  7. The majority of businesses are increasing their Inbound Marketing budgets:54% of those surveyed are increasing their inbound marketing budgets. Among the 54% of respondents with increased inbound marketing budgets, the most commonly cited reason was ―past success with inbound marketing.
  8. Social Media and Blogs generate real customers:57% of those using company blogs have acquired a customer from a blog-generated lead; this is an increase of 11 percentage points since 2010. Facebook and Twitter users reported customer acquisition rates of 48% and 42%, respectively.
  9. Company blogs are increasingly valued. The blog is the channel most frequently reported as critical or important, both in 2009 and 2011. Higher Education, Professional Services & Consulting, and Software & Biotech found blogging was highly effective. All of those industries had over 50% of respondents indicating customer acquisition through their blog.
  10. Most company blogs publish at least weekly. 71% of respondents indicated they blog at least weekly. Despite the evidence showing that increased blogging correlates with increased customer acquisition, blogging frequency remained relatively steady between 2009 and 2011.

 

 

HubSpot’s latest 2011 “State of Inbound Marketing Report” is now available for download. The report is based on data from a recent survey of 644 professionals familiar with their business’ marketing strategy.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

7 Comments | Agency Blogs, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Study: Ad Agencies Not Doing a Good Job of Training or Retaining Employees

March 9, 2011

Ad agencies are doing a poor job of nurturing their employees and instilling a sense of loyalty to their shops and that’s bad news for new business.

According to a recent 4A’s and Arnold Worldwide Survey: Seven in 10 of those surveyed would return a call to a recruiter, three in 10 of the employee ranks will no longer work for that agency within a year, and nearly all believe there are few obstacles to finding a new job because of the improving economy.

The survey found that agencies lose employees because they see little career pathing, feel they’re learning on the job and find new employers that invest more in training.

Agencies should know that training is critical to their success. The larger agencies are now rising to meet the escalating demands for digital, most of them are now requiring that almost all of their employees develop digital skills. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article,  the bigger agencies are spending roughly $750,000 to $1.5 million on digital training programs this year.

The following are some highlights of the information shared at a recent 4A’s conference, ‘Transforming Talent Management’.

“Transformation in our industry continues at an accelerated pace. Time now for the dialogue to shift from why and what change is needed to how we collectively work on integrating ideas to make it happen.” – 4A’s, Transformation 2011

The Problem – A recent 4A’s and Arnold survey on hiring, development and retention of agency executives:

  • 30% of the collective agency workforce will be gone within 12 months
  • 70% of employees would call a recruiter back if one reached out to them
  • 96% of employees surveyed said they feel they could easily get a job, in part because of the improving economy
  • 37% expect to stay one to five more years in the industry, 66% plan on staying more than five years in the business
  • 90% of employees said they learned by figuring out problems on their own. Conversely, 25% of execs said employees figured out their own issues

The cost of replacing an exiting employee is high. Experts estimate it costs 29% to 46% of an employee’s annual salary to replace a departing worker.

Andrew Bennett, Global CEO of Arnold Worldwide, further reports on this landmark 4A’s study on hiring, development and retention.  Here are some of the top quotes from his presentation:

  • “We say ‘Talent is our number one asset,’ but you look more into it and you look at how managers are, revenue is more important.”
  • “We’re not taking our own advice. We don’t have time to market ourselves, to care about our talent.”
  • “The average Starbucks barista gets more training than the average communications employee.”
  • “It’s an incredibly attractive industry, we’re just not leveraging and leaning into that. We’re not doing a very good job marketing to our people.”

Miles Nadal, Chairman and CEO, MDC Partners: “I am the Chief Talent Officer.  As CEO, I’m in charge of talent … talent is the single most important thing that I do. We spent $25 million on new talent last year and I was involved in 95% of those hires.”

The Solution  - Benett’s 5 solutions to turn employee attitudes around:

  1. Invest in talent in the early stages, such as schools
  2. Promote cross training
  3. Introduce new incentives, such as education financing or sabbaticals
  4. Fix performance management
  5. Engage employees in the career conversation

The small agency is the incubator for the advertising industry’s talent pool and always will be. Small agencies have the culture, access to opportunity and teaching environment that is prime for growing talent. Sure, small agencies lose some candidates along the way, but they also retain a lot and — best of all — you put yourself into a position where you are always growing. - Anthony Del Monte, Squeaky Wheel Media, New York

Click on the following links to read the entire Ad Age article, “Left to Fend for Themselves, Employees Feel No Loyalty to Agencies”

The 4A’s is the national trade association of the advertising agency business. It represents more than 1,100 member agency offices in the US that employ over 65,000 people, offer a wide range of marketing communications services, and place 80% of all national advertising.

The management-oriented association helps its members build their businesses, and acts as the industry’s spokesman with government, media, and the public sector.

For more information visit their Web site at www.aaaa.org, or follow on Twitter @4As.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

3 Comments | Agency Leadership, New Business Talents | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

MAGNET Global Network for Ad Agency New Business

March 4, 2011

Ad agency networks provide a wide variety of  benefits plus be a boost for new business opportunities.

The MAGNET advertising network collectively bill more than $2.7 billion dollars and the organization’s 39 members are located in major markets across the United States and around the world including Tokyo, Hong Kong, Ireland, London, Dubai, Moscow, Munich and Paris.

“It is so exciting to work and assist these talented independent advertising agencies achieve their goal. In a matter of 24 hours, I can connect an agency in London with an agency in California, to Boise, Idaho to Houston, TX for collaboration and work on a specific project. It’s amazing to see the cooperation and work among the agencies.” – Cheri Gmiter, Executive Director, MAGNET Global Network

“I’ve been in MAGNET for over 20 years and it has been my MBA program. I’ve learned so much from my fellow independent agency CEOs and made many life-long friends. My agency and I are better from being a part of this global CEO network.” - David Littlefield, CEO, Littlefield Brand Development

I recently spoke at MAGNET’s Winter Conference at the beautiful Turnberry Resort, Aventura, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. After traveling in harsh wintry conditions since early November, the conference location was a welcomed relief.

Just like I needed a respite from the snow and ice, agency principals need an occasional break from their isolation, to meet with other agency principals who face the same issues of running a small to midsize advertising agency. There’s usually too much competitiveness for agency owners to ‘let down their hair’ with other agency owners within the same market.

Networks such as MAGNET, provide personal and professional refreshment.

Here are a few of the benefits that I see MAGNET, and similar agency networks,  provides its members:

  • Seminars and workshops on a variety of agency functions: I was part of their New Business Seminar last year. Other educational events would include future trends, planning and strategy, leadership, account planning, digital, media, social media, etc.
  • Research. MAGNET conducts 3 annual surveys on behalf of its members: CEO and staff compensation, Agency costs analysis and billing and agency statistics.
  • Legal counsel that is on a retainer for Network members.
  • Sister agencies that can assist in RFPs and Pitch opportunities. At dinner, one of the members shared that if they had an opportunity to pitch their state’s lottery, a sister agency, with lots of lottery and gaming experience could provide invaluable consultation.
  • A global network of assistance. At our dinner table was an agency owner from Hong Kong who was having a conversation with two other agencies who had clients with interests in China’s market. She offered talked about some of the cultural differences and customs that would be important to know about and offered for her assistance and networks on the ground there. An agency’s global affiliations and networks are becoming more important to clients.
  • Continuing education to improve agency operations and best practices. An agency owner shared with me that he had been a member of MAGNET for over 22 years. He said, “This has been my MBA. All of the training that comes from events such as this and the information that is provided from other members has been a huge help in our success.“
  • The camaraderie among the agency owners is what impressed has impressed me the most on the occasions I’ve had to be affiliated with their seminars.  There were friendships that go back over 20 years and the newest members seemed to be as welcomed. Affiliations such as this allow agency owners to tap into the expertise and specialized capabilities of their network partners.

For additional information about MAGNET and the other top agency networks click on this link: The Top 14 List of Advertising Agency Networks

I’m sure that Cheri Gmiter, Executive Director, for MAGNET, would be glad to answer any questions you may have about their group.

Here’s a quick listing of the MAGNET agencies for you to explore:

North America

EUROPE

ASIA

2 Comments | Agency Leadership, Agency Networks | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Tips for Writing for the Web for Ad Agency New Business

March 3, 2011

To fuel ad agency new business through social media, creating content is critical.

According to a social media study by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42, original content, both branded and expert, is by far the most employed tactic for social media.

And … “businesses (agencies) that blog, get 55% more website traffic than those that don’t.”

Creating valuable content increases website traffic that will equate into new business leads. But writing for web can be daunting, even for experienced copywriters. They are often the ones that struggle the most with making the transition from print to web.

“Content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.” – Jon Buscall

It doesn’t matter how great you write if no one finds your content and if they do find it, there’s no benefit to you unless they read it.

You need to think carefully about structuring and formatting your online content to ensure your readers find it  and read it. Here are my 10 tips to help you write better for the Web:

  1. Provide a Reader’s Digest or Executive Summary version. Readers love bullet pointed and numbered lists. That’s why so many readers are attracted to post titles that offer 10 tips or 25 ideas, etc.The work you do on behalf of your readers to simplify will be greatly appreciated and keep them coming back for more.
  2. Key words in every post titles. Write for SEO. It doesn’t matter how great your article is if no one can find it. A simple tip to help boost your rankings in Google search is to identify and use certain key words in every post title. 90% of my posts will contain ‘ad agency new business’ in the title. It helps not only for search but will also help drive ‘targeted traffic’ as your posts are repurposed through Twitter. With only 140 characters that you can use for Twitter, that’s not much more than your title and a shortened URL.
  3. Lead with the conclusion. I advise that you begin each post by starting with the conclusion, a take-away or benefits statement. Just answer this question, ‘what is my benefit if I commit to read this post?’
  4. Break up long paragraphs. A reader’s attention span online is much less than for print. Readers tend to scan instead of reading word-for-word. Keep paragraphs concise and short.
  5. Be sure and provide hyper links to your sources. Don’t be afraid that you will lose your audience if they go to another source. Your blog should become a repository of helpful resources for your readers.
  6. Make your content scannable to the eye. Use bold, italics, quotation marks, indention, etc. to make copy pop. A person should be able to quickly scan through your article and get the most important parts.
  7. Write in an Inverted Pyramid style. Similar to the way a newspaper reported would write, the most important copy should be at the top of your post.
  8. Use common language. This is an opportunity to do away with industry jargon and agency speak and write content that resonates with your intended audience.
  9. Get to the point, quickly. Online readers are extremely impatient. If you wade into a story and it takes 3 or 4 paragraphs to make show how it relates, you will have lost your audience before you’ve made your point.
  10. Make your post visually pleasing. I always include a nice photo or graphic to further drive home the main purpose of a post. Using them will create interest and help draw in a reader.

Here are some additional agency blogging resources that may be a help to get you started:

5 Comments | Agency Blogs, Content Marketing | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The List for Ad Agency New Business

March 2, 2011

To begin a successful agency new business program one of the first steps is to identify your best target audience and build a data base of company information that would include a contact database.

The List is a B2B sales lead generation resource with access to over 108,000 marketing, advertising, and media decision makers. Subscribers use the corporate decision makers contact database to generate sales leads and target new business prospects.

The List is one of the better services that I’ve used when I was leading new business efforts for a number of agencies. They specialize in providing intelligence to  advertising, marketing, and creative agencies.

Ad agency new business directors spend lots of time locating and pre-qualify prospective clients for their agency. The List simplifies this process and allows them to connect with prospective clients faster and easier. A very comprehensive new business prospecting tool.

Email and mailing list are easily assembled through a quick search and can be downloaded as an Excel or .cvs file. I’m already spending  more of my time executing tactics to win new business and far less time looking for the right contact information.

The best way to evaluate whether or not The List provides the new business intelligence for the type of prospects you agency is focused upon it is to take advantage of their free trial. If you are interested, access it by Clicking Here

Conduct some prospective client advanced searches by geography, industries, specialties and revenue/media spend/size.

To evaluate any data resources for prospective clients here are a few helpful tips:

  • Out of 100 contacts, how many are incorrect information? More than 10 incorrect data points and you’re dealing with inaccurate information.
  • How long does it take you to find the contact you’re looking for? How does this compare to your current data provider?
  • Once you have your desired contact, do you have the (correct) email, direct dial, address? Does your current information provider have it? Is it accurate?

Trying to maintain your own database is not the best return on your time investment, that’s why services such as The List are valuable.

Todd Knutson, CEO of The List, has created a blog, New Business Intel: Driving Ad Agency New Business. Todd provides lots of resources, tips and tactics for new business that I’m sure you will find helpful.  You can also follow and engage with Todd through Twitter: @Todd_Knutson

2 Comments | New Business Tools | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Social Media: The Shoe Firm, the Celebrity and the Ad Agency

March 1, 2011

iCrossing helped SKECHERS use social to become a more connected brand — in this case through a partnership with celebrity Kim Kardashian.

This is a guest post written by David Deal who currently serves as VP,Marketing for iCrossing, a global digital marketing agency. I first met David when he was charged with business development for Razorfish. He was an early adopter of social media and is a skilled and creative digital marketer plus an all around nice guy.

SKECHERS has partnered with the socially savvy celebrity to encourage everyone to break up with our bad habits and get into shape (a campaign launched via a Super Bowl spot in which Kim breaks up with her trainer because she can do a better job with her own SKECHERS Shape-ups).

To continue promoting the idea of keeping in shape with SKECHERS, iCrossing developed a campaign reaching multiple touch points including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the SKECHERS website. The cross-platform approach helps SKECHERS share valuable content and keep its brand visible in an engaging way with new and current customers.

Using a feature called in-stream apps, friends of the SKECHERS Facebook page can watch the Super Bowl ad and take a poll to vote on a bad habit they would like to break, such as junk food. And you can get immediate results from all other participants in a single post.

All this functionality occurs within your Facebook news feed, where we spend most of our Facebook time, whereas typically the content would live in an engagement ad or a separate tab. (You can also drop bad habits on Twitter by using #BreakingUpWith.)

The SKECHERS page also offers exclusive promotions for Facebook fans to receive discounts from SKECHERS products on its website and a useful Fitness Shoe Finder (that helps you match the right fitness shoe for you), among other features.

SKECHERS has seen a 300% increase in its Facebook fan count since the campaign launched three weeks ago (compared to the prior three weeks leading up to the campaign). And engagement with the in-stream app has doubled compared to the normal volume of posts. The campaign runs through March 6.

Meantime, to get iCrossing employees involved, I’ve blogged about the work on one of the iCrossing company blogs, Tweeted about it, and encouraged employees to do the same. They’re doing their part to support clients by doing some basic actions that employees often overlook unless encouraged. I’m having fun collaborating with our people to tell our story.

Follow David on Twitter: @davidjdeal

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Posted by Michael Gass

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