Having your own iPhone app for your website or blog will become a common way to promote and extend your agency’s brand. I found that actually creating that application and getting it into the App Store can be a lengthy and expensive process.
I’ve discovered a very inexpensive tool that will allow you to create an iPhone app for your agency’s blog easily.
I recently tried out a new product called AppMakr, which is designed to make creating your own iPhone app simple and inexpensive. In literally 20 minutes I was able to create an iPhone app for Fuel Lines from my existing RSS feeds and then submit it to the iTunes App Store for approval at a cost of $49.
$199 for AppMakr to publish your app — which means you don’t have to have your own Apple Developer Account (AppMakr gets credit in the app’s opening splash screen)
or $499 if you want to use your own Apple Developer Account, but still have AppMakr take care of the provisioning and management features.
I was so impressed that I sent a note to AppMakr and asked if I could extend their special introductory offer to readers of Fuel Lines ($49) and soon received this reply back from Scott Suhy,
“Michael, we talked about it and agreed to provide you with a $100 discount promo code for your readers. The coupon code is “MICHAELGASS” and it’s good through 1/31. We’d love to see the article when you write it!”
Please note that I do not receive any benefits from this offer whatsoever. Just glad the company was willing to provide an introductory for Fuel Lines’s readers. If you do create an agency iPhone app, please send the link to me and I’ll share it.
As Apps continue to rise in popularity having one for your agency is an important demonstration to prospective clients that you are walking the walk.
2010 will be the year that smartphones go mainstream and iPhone is leading the way.
While the economy is still in a state of recession, the smarthpone market continues to go up, with a total of 39.9 million smartphones shipped during the third calendar quarter of the year. A 28% increase over last year.
These are some iPhone App stats that will of interest:
all the iPods and iPhones sold as of December you reach a total number of 214 million and change
1 Billion iPhone Apps downloaded
100 million apps are downloaded from the Apple app store each month
the average apps downloaded per device is 50
iPhone’s App Store hits 1.5 billion downloads in first year
top apps can make $400 to $5,000 per day on ads
average number of apps sold per device is nearly twice as high as songs at 53
Domino’s claims to have sold over $1 million worth of pizza through their app
Online resources such as Mashable help you stay ahead of the upcoming communications trends that will impact your clients as well a agency new business. An excellent read and video was posted by Mashable writer, Stan Schroeder, on the possibilities of Apple’s Tablet on the future of magazines.
This Sports Illustrated demo is very impressive and deserves a look. Its amazing that magazines are already anticipating the possibilities of a kindle version that could become mainstream.
This can also generate some ideas for how to using this technology to introduce your agency to your best prospective clients. Lots of possibilities for agency promotion here.
Todd Knutson, CEO of The List, recently highlighted an agency that actually practiced what it preached, An Ad Agency that was advertising its services, even offering a discount during the recession. It worked!
Advertising Agency Advertises
When asked by a reporter from the National Post, Ron Telpner, chairman and CEO Brainstorm, a Toronto-based agency, (read interview here), Why did you choose to advertise your services? It’s not a move that many agencies would take — at least not so publicly.
The primary motivation was to “walk the talk”: to remove the inherent hypocrisy of an agency that would recommend advertising to its clients as a strategy while not having enough belief in the power of advertising to use it for themselves.
The recession provided a unique opportunity to make this point more poignantly. And as an agency that’s offered fully integrated services from inception, we also wanted to ensure that the market was aware of our full range of services, including digital.
It started with the development of our new website (www.brainstormgroup.com),which offers a more “shopper friendly” interface for potential clients, with less about the agency’s philosophy and more about the goods. One of the campaign objectives was to increase visits to the new site, and it attracted 1,600 new visitors the day the ad ran. (Click Here to read the entire interview, “We’re Walking the Talk”)
Ad Agencies are battling the recession with aggressive new business tactics.
I’ve written a number of times about Jaci Russo and The Russo Group, Lafayette, LA. This full service agency has been fortunate enough to win 14 new clients this year through awareness generated through social media. Their business is up 118% over 2008.
RUSSO HELPS COMPANIES BATTLE RECESSION WITH BRANDING INITIATIVE
The agency has a new campaign to help companies through the recession by allocating $1 million dollars in branding services for qualifying companies. Interested companies are asked to fill out an online application at www.therussogroup.com/brandaid.pdf. Five companies will be chosen and each will have their branding efforts funded with a 50% match up to $200,000 per recipient.
I’m sure that this campaign is a legitimate help to the companies that will be chosen, but it is also helps build good PR and awareness for The Russo Group. Read The Russo Group’s Press Release
Even with the great growth this agency has had over the year, they are not resting on their laurels. They realize that they have an open window to gain market share that is unlikely to be repeated during their lifetime. The Russo Group intends to make the most of it by being aggressive and continuing to press new business initiatives even when the agency is at its busiest.
Additional ad agency promotional articles that may be of interest:
First: Ad Agencies Need to Answer One Question Before They Blog
I believe ad agencies need an integrated social media strategy for ad agency new business. An agency blog is the central platform. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn. The blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency.
To create an agency blog that will be successful in generating traffic and a consistent flow of leads, you first will need to answer one simple question.
The very first question you must answer, before you create your agency’s blog is, “who is our best target audience?”
Without answering this question you will find it extremely difficult to generate traffic. If your blog has not traffic, no audience, no community … then you will have NO leads.
If you don’t know who your target audience is you will also find it difficult:
Deciding what to write about
Where to find resources
What search terms to use for SEO
Where to locate your online audience
It is a fruitless exercise without having a target audience identified. I can provide dozens, and dozens of examples of agency blogs that have not identified their target audience. They are like ships without rudders. Aimless. I would list some of these for your but I don’t want to embarrass anyone.
But I will provide some examples of agencies that have clearly identified their audience:
Blue Collar Branding (From boots, bowling balls to boats. Manufacturers who need to reach blue collar workers)
She-conomy (male advertisers who should be marketing to women)
Early this morning, 5:42 AM to be exact, I received this email from SlideShare:
“Your presentation is currently being featured on the SlideShare homepage by our editorial team.
We thank you for this terrific presentation, that has been chosen from amongst the thousands that are uploaded to SlideShare everday.”
I’m writing this post at 6:13 AM and in less than an hour my presentation, Fueling New Business Through Social Media, has received over 1,259 views. That being said, don’t neglect SlideShare as a tool to promote your agency. It takes only minutes to upload your presentation and allows you to do a number of things with it:
Embed slideshows into your own blog or website
Share slideshows publicly or privately. There are several ways to share privately
Synch audio to your slides
Market your own event on slideshare
Join groups to connect with SlideShare members who share your interests
Download the original PowerPoint / Pdf file
SlideShare is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations. It is a great tool for ad agency new business.
Here are a few agency SlideShare presentations that might be of interest:
John Elisco, president of Elisco Advertising, wasn’t enthusiastic about attending industry type events. It was a major chore for he and agency leadership just to show up. Knowing his agency’s culture, he led them to create events of their own. They were so passionate about the idea they even relocated the agency to better implement their strategy. They found a facility that met three criteria. It had to have a storefront, a kitchen and outdoor seating.
The name “Creative Cafe” went up on the front window and they started thinking up creative ways to bring clients to their new home office. They serve meals on-site for clients free of charge, often weekly and usually on Fridays. From cooking classes to wine tastings and other special events like their tattoo art show brought in variety of clients and prospects.
To publicize these events Elisco Advertising uses its Web site, direct mail and social media. Revenue has steadily increased since they implemented this strategy seven years ago and John states that 2009 is “on track to be one of our best years ever.”
If you have fresh examples of agency new business ideas, please share them in the comment section below.
This is a guest post written by Don Beehler. Don is the author of the blog, The Art of Telling Your Agency’s Story. He provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.
At one time or another, just about every agency principal has toyed with the idea of writing a book. In fact, as any publisher can attest, there are all kinds of people in all kinds of professions who believe they have a book or two in them. So, why aren’t there a lot more good books around?
English economist and journalist Walter Bagehot had a theory: “The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.”
Ad agency principals know a lot and have plenty of valuable insights worth sharing.
Those who dislike writing should not let that discourage them from pursuing a book, because there are some very talented ghost writers around to help.
When I was in graduate school, one of my writing professors made the point that sometimes a person doesn’t realize what he or she really believes about a topic until that person begins writing about it.
Writing a book allows you to clarify your thoughts, get to the core of your message and discover the best way to convey important information.
A good ghost writer will ask probing questions, serve as an objective sounding board and distill the essence of your thinking into clear, lively copy that keeps readers engaged.
Here are a few other benefits of having a published book:
It positions you as an expert.
It gives you an advantage over your competitors.
It increases your visibility.
It helps market you and your agency.
It can open new doors for speaking engagements and media interviews.
It can be a passive source of income.
It gives you material to use for your agency’s blog posts, EzineArticles and E-newsletters.
It can help with business. For example, after making a new business presentation, think how impressive it would be to give prospects a signed copy of your book.
It enables you to leave a legacy for future generations.
A few examples:
Steve McKee, president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland a full service ad agency in Albuquerque, NM. Steve has gained national attention for his agency through the ADBOWL, his columns for BusinessWeek.com and other articles published in the New York Times, USA Today, Advertising Age, Business Daily, just to name a few. He’s the author of the new book, When Growth Stalls. Steve generated pre-sales of his book using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as well as through his blog. I’m sure the book will provide additional promotion for his agency and greater positioning as an industry leader.
Bob Hoffman, ceo of Hoffman/Lewis advertising in San Francisco and St. Louis, wrote the book “The Ad Contrarian, which is now being offered as a eBook to help generate traffic to his blog and build awareness. 20,000 downloads in the first week it was offered. You can get a copy here at no cost: The Ad Contrarian
Linda Kaplan Thayer, the CEO of Kaplan Thayler Group, wrote a book, The Power of Nice, that put her agency, on the map. Linda has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, Nightline, The Today Show, Inside Edition and Fox News to name just a few. There is also the Power of Nice website and Nice Blog.
Please feel free to email your questions on writing a book, best practices, costs, etc.: don@abcdcommunications.com
One of the most effective forms of communications for ad agencies is a public relations strategy. The right PR strategy can properly position your agency in the minds of your prospective audience.
Don Beehler, writes a blog specifically for small-to mid-size ad agencies, Telling Your Agency’s Story, tips on how to use PR for ad agency new business. He recently wrote an article regarding the need for a consistent PR effort.
Don writes,
“Sporadic PR is a lot like sporadic exercise – it’s better than none at all, but not nearly as effective as when there’s a consistent effort. And, as is the case with having a disciplined exercise program, the results are noticeable.
One of the most galling things for agency principals is to watch from the sidelines as competitors are quoted and featured in the news media. Even worse, agencies that were not part of the story often have more experience and expertise than the agency that got the exposure.
Of course, the impression people get is that the folks quoted are the cream of the crop in their profession, which may or may not be true. But you can be sure it’s no accident that some agencies get more ink and air time than others. It’s because they have an intentional, ongoing effort to get their names in the marketplace, and they have made PR a priority.”
BOHAN Advertising|Marketing, Nashville, TN, receives consistent press coverage because they outsource their agency’s self promotional PR efforts. They do this even though they have respected internal PR capabilities led by vice president, director of communications, Tom Adkinson.
John Sharpe, agency partner and CMO realized some time ago that when their agency gets busy, the first thing that usually is neglected is their own promotional effort.
Outsourcing PR allows the BOHAN agency to maintain consistent press that positions them as one of the hottest ad agencies in town.
Not only is the agency constantly in the press, their CEO, David Bohan, has a column,‘Marketing Matters,’ that appears twice a month in the business section of the state paper, The Tennessean. Speaking opportunities for agency president Kerry Graham and chief planning officer, Jamie Dunham, are secured for additional opportunities to be in front of their prospective audiences in a position of expertise.
Public Relations is one of the best returns on investment your agency can make. You wont be able to buy the kind of advertising a good PR firm can generate on your agency’s behalf.
This is an excellent example of how to build buzz, awareness and a position of expertise for your agency using white papers.
I recently had a discussion with David Deal, marketing director for Razorfish, a large interactive marketing firm. David was kind enough to pass on to me their just released 2009 Digital Outlook Report (DOR). This the fifth year Razorfish has produced the report. It generates lots of buzz and helps to build awareness for the agency.
This 175 page report is nicely done. It provides a lot of useful information that will be a benefit and help to their prospective client audience. It positions the agency with an expertise in digital and makes a strong case for marketing’s continuing expansion into this space.
I invite you to explore the full report here. I hope you find ideas that are helpful.
If you don’t have the time to read the entire report below are two blogs that provide an executive summary for you:
I’m pleased to welcome Steve Mckee for this guest post. Steve is president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland a full service ad agency in Albuquerque, NM. Steve has gained national attention for his agency through the ADBOWL, his columns for BusinessWeek.com and other articles published in the New York Times, USA Today, Advertising Age, Business Daily, just to name a few. He’s the author of the new book, When Growth Stalls, released this month.
Times are tough for all of us in the agency business. My agency’s clients have cut their budgets significantly, some by half or more. Fortunately, we have been following a consistent marketing program for several years and recently won a big piece of business that’s tiding us over. Still, things look like they’re going to get worse before they get better. What’s an agency to do? The answer is hidden in the headline of this post.
You may have thought When Growth Stalls For Ad Agencies was simply referring to what’s happening at our firms these days. But it’s also a suggestion; my new book, When Growth Stalls, is a timely read for ad agencies. Based on five years of research among struggling companies, the book identifies the external and internal factors with which client companies—your clients, to be sure, but also those of your competitors—are likely to be struggling.
Our research found that in a normal year, some 15 percent of companies are stalled, which can be defined as zero (or negative) revenue growth. In a new American Express poll of midsize company ($100 million to $2 billion) CFOs, however, an amazing 59% predicted that their growth would be flat or negative in 2009.
Chaos like that spells opportunity for enterprising agencies.
Here are just a few things that, based on my research, you can almost be certain is happening in the boardrooms and hallways of your target prospects:
They’re scared. Yes, that means they’re cutting back on marketing spending (as your own clients have probably demonstrated), but they’re also more open than ever to new ideas. And they’re going to hold their current agency’s feet to the fire; if they can’t perform it will open the door to a potential change.
They’re compromising. They may be resorting to discounting in a desperate attempt to generate short-term revenue. They may be dumping a longstanding branding campaign in favor of a promised silver bullet. Or they may be trying something new every day to see what sticks. In any event, they may very well be doing long-term damage to their brands, and sooner or later they’ll realize it. Helping them see the light could be a great trust-building opportunity.
They’re bickering. This was one of the most interesting findings of our research—the infighting among management teams that stalled growth portends. If you’ve been in this business for any length of time, you know from experience that when client teams fight, the agency often gets the most bloodied. But as an outsider, knowing that your prospects are likely to be experiencing internal discord can be a door-opener.
Armed with the knowledge that what’s going on inside your prospect companies is hindering them at least as much as external events gives you a whole new angle of approach. Every time I have presented our findings at industry events or corporate retreats, I see heads nodding as I reveal what’s been happening inside the companies of those in the audience without ever having set foot in them. It’s a tremendous credibility builder.
By demonstrating an understanding of what these companies are dealing with internally, the advice I offer helps CEOs, senior marketing people and others on their management teams see how easily (and often significantly) they’ve allowed their brands to stray. Whether they’re ready to address their challenges immediately or feel they need to wait until the economy picks up, these struggling companies will be surprised at how weakened their market position has become. That’s a condition for which a talented, capable agency is just what the doctor ordered.
When Growth Stalls wasn’t written as a new business book for agencies. But anytime you can start with solid research, genuine empathy and insight into your prospective client’s needs, you’ll definitely have a leg up. And if your firm happens to be struggling itself, When Growth Stalls may be a good prescription for what ails you as well.
Steve McKee new book, When Growth Stalls released just this month. Steve has been generating pre-sales using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I’m sure the book will provide additional promotion for his agency and greater positioning as an industry leader.
A little creativity to build awareness for your agency can be easily done online for very little cost.
These are a few of the ad agency promotional ideas that have been submitted to FUEL LINES. These agencies have been able to generate buzz and build awareness for their agencies that has led to new business opportunities.
You’ve probably heard of ADBOWL, but you may not know that the idea originated at a midsize ad agency’s Super Bowl party in Albuquerque, NM. Ten years later, growing in size every year, the idea has paid great dividends to the agency generating national television, press coverage and positioning it as an industry leader.
On Super Bowl Sunday (February 1, 2009), viewers can visit www.ADBOWL.comand rate commercials on a scale between one and five. Participants have the option of rating the ads online as they air or printing a ballot and rating all of the ads at the end of the game. A complete listing of the results, including a breakdown of winners as selected by gender and age group, will be posted on the site between midnight and 1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on February 2nd.
Adbowl is an advertising ranking Web site for consumers developed by Albuquerque advertising agency McKee Wallwork Cleveland in partnership with Fort Worth, Texas-based Web design firm Rassai Interactive has attracted vote-volume in the hundreds of thousands.
Steve McKee, President of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, recently shared with me how the idea for ADBOWL came about and what it has done for his agency:
“ADBOWL started as a lark. Ten years ago, we thought it would be fun to have a Super Bowl commercials party at the agency, so we did. We handed out little paper ballots on which attendees rated the spots. Pretty humble beginnings.
The next year we put it online and thought we would promote it within the industry. We approached ADWEEK and they thought it was a fun idea, so they gave us some free ad space to spread the word.
One thing then led to another, and in subsequent years things have taken off. ADBOWL has done wonders for the agency on many levels:
First,it gets us lots of free press, which is great for the “I’ve heard of you” factor. It’s gotten us in every major newspaper and trade magazine, on network affiliates all over the country, and even on national TV (a few times). It’s a great door-opener.
Second, it reinforces our desired positioning as an advertising industry leader. We are the expert “color commentators” on the year’s biggest day of advertising.
And third, it has offered us amazing opportunities to learn (by doing) new media. For example, we worked with Sprint to pioneer text-based voting that is now used far and wide, including on American Idol.
In the first years it was a pretty complex thing to execute–we really didn’t know what we were getting into. But as technology has evolved we’ve gotten it down to a science. We try to make incremental improvements each year but keep the user experience very simple and fun.”
In past years, Adbowl has attracted vote-volume in the hundreds of thousands. The following is a list of voters’ favorite ads from the past five years:
Steve McKee recently wrote a book, When Growth Stalls that will be available in March of 2009. Steve has been generating pre-sales using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I’m sure the book will provide additional promotion for the agency and further position it as a leader.
Encourage your staff to be creative in ways to promote your agency. If you have examples of creative promotions to share, please include in the comment section of this post.
Additional articles regarding ad agency promotion:
One of my daily reads through my RSS feed reader is Jason Fall’s, Social Media Explorer. Jason is the director of social media for the agency Doe-Anderson. This morning Jason put me onto a another cleaver ad agency promotion created by Mindsalt, a branding and PR firm located in Louisville, KY.
Hopefully ideas such as this will spur you to challenge your agency to create some unique promotional efforts that can become inexpensive viral promotions for your agency.
Sam Decker, Decker Marketing, recently shared on Twitter this great example of an agency’s self promotion using social media.
Overdrive Interactive has created a Social Media Marketing Map as a way to promote their agency as well as educate marketers on the power of social media. The agency is offering the map as a free download. The map becomes viral by encouraging site visitors to download and share it with their friends, colleagues and clients. Visitors can email it as a PDF attachment, bookmark it or post it on their blogs or websites. There are also convenient buttons to post the map to facebook, digg, delicious and/or twitter. All the agency asks in return is to provide a link back to their map page.
Overdrive Interactive’s 2009 Social Media Map is available for download by clicking here.
Jason Falls, director of social media for Doe Anderson, alerted me to a comprehensive list of internet marketing resources. This is a great resource list as you enlarge your agencies online footprint through online marketing and social media tools.
Tamar Weinberg, a social media enthusiast with a passion for all things tech, has put painstakingly put together a collection of posts that started in January 2008 and been collected for the past 12 months. This collection deserves to be bookmarked. The list will provide a great resource for your agency’s online promotional efforts.
The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette (or Netiquette) Handbook: My most popular post of December 2008 was about social media etiquette and goes through a variety of social sites to suggest what should and shouldn’t be done. The comment discussion is great as well.
Park & CO president, Park Howell, came up with a great idea to help his ad agency staff better understand new media. He led his agency to create their own employee Film Festival competition.
The agency’s staff were divided into 8 teams. Each team had to create a self-produced video that would be uploaded to YouTube and then they were to generate traffic to their video. The winning team would receive $1,000. The winning criteria was to get the highest number of clicks.
The winning team was led by Kim Hodge and team members included Courtney Steuck, Heidi Moore and Sabrina Sherrell, also known as the “Bad Ass Babes.” They attributed their success to a well planned marketing strategy. They knew that cute animal video’s often became a popular subject that easily became viral. They created a 30-second parody of a Gap commercial, with dogs lip syncing to Depeche Mode’s “I Just Can’t Get Enough.”
The group started planning the shoot and called on a host of friends, the area’s best directors of photography, editors, and grips. They were able to persuade the crew to donate their time promising to use the $1000 prize money and donate it to a local animal shelter.
Following a day of shooting and edits, the team got together, and played the video. They knew immediately that they had a winner!
At the official opening to the Film Festival, all the videos were played and awards were given for Best Cinematography, Best Actor/Actress and Best Direction. Then the 8 teams were set free to their offices to upload the videos onto YouTube and to start spreading the word.
The Bad Ass Babes constructed a great email to accompany the link and out it went, with “Dogs Helping Dogs” in the subject line and our pledge of $1000 to charity if their video got the most clicks in their agency’s competition. They posted it to every person in agency and personal address books and to their Facebook pages. They also identified blogs and websites dedicated to animals, and within 2 weeks their video was being viewed in countries as far and wide as South Africa, The Netherlands, and Australia.
They also had numerous dog-related Yahoo! groups working with us, sending out daily reminders to their members to click the video. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are featured heavily in the piece and breed groups around the world started to take ownership of the piece and joined forces with us to ensure the dog’s video would win.
Their video was even posted on the largest dog blog in world www.dogster.com
Kim’s team grew from 4 people, to an online network of over 40 people, all dog lovers, because of the charity aspect made contact with animal blogs around the world to promote the video.
After a 4-week posting, the team ended up with 8350 clicks, with their nearest competition over 7000 clicks behind!
The teams winnings were donated to The Arizona Animal Welfare League/SPCA, the state’s oldest and largest no-kill shelter, which provides temporary homes for nearly 2,000 dogs and cats every year and offers medical and behavioral treatment for those in need.
The winning video:
Park&Co have been already been able to utilize the results of their contest in client and prospective client meetings. It has been a great tool to promote their agency.
Any small and midsize ad agency can use simple, inexpensive online videos for promotion. Videos build relationships and can be very persuasive. You can create individual videos that stand alone to post on your agency’s Website or blog.
Here are some different ways you can promote your agency with videos:
Film the production process
A behind the scenes look at a photo shoot or filming a commercial
Emphasize your agency’s quality and uniqueness
Introduce your staff
Demonstrate your agency’s processes
Articulate your agency’s mantra
Solve marketing problems
Profile your clients
Provide client testimonials
Nelson Creative, Atlanta, GA, provides a great example of utilizing video for agency promotion:
“If brands exist in people’s heads, as I believe they do, then shouldn’t you be able to ask a whole bunch of people what they think of a brand and then use tag clouds to display the results?”
Noah Brier, the creator of Brand Tags, shares in an AdvertisingAge article how this late night idea has generated more than 3 million page views.
With viral marketing, your agency’s promotional effort can suddenly get a life of its own – and start to spread like a virus. Turn your creative team loose and put your agency on the map!
Ad 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.
In a recession your competition steps up their new business activities. Small-to midsize agencies are out trolling for more business. Larger agencies are willing to accept smaller accounts when business is tight.
Positioning is what differentiates a brand in the customer’s mind. It is how you go to market. To win the positioning game, brand coach, Josh Levine, says to answer this simple question: “What makes you the “only”?
Josh, developed the simple slide above to begin conversations about what makes a company the best to be considered. Use it in discussions regarding your own agency’s positioning and you’ll be surprised how quickly you start talking about the things that really matter.
Josh says, “if you can’t say why your brand is both different and compelling in a few words, don’t fix your statement, fix your company (agency).”
The problem is, answering such a simple question isn’t that easy. One way to approach it is to think about why your agency brand matters to your primary target audience. I’ve taken a number of agencies through a series of steps to discover what makes them the only. It is a discovery process that is a journey to the core of their business. Remember, you can’t promote your way to being the one and only —you have to start with it.
Without a point of differentiation you will find it difficult to effectively market and promote your agency and you will struggle to succinctly define your agency and what it does.
Seven things that a clear positioning will provide your 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
It is possible to have prospects who seek you out when they know who you are and what you stand for. Trying to appeal to everyone appeals to no one.
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MICHAEL GASS
Welcome to my blog, FUEL LINES: The best business development tips, tactics, practices and trends to help ad agencies, PR firms and digital shops create a more clearly defined focus and differentiating business strategy.
Click here to listen to my experience using social media from an ad agency new business perspective, BlogTalkRadio interview conducted by Trey Pennington
Posted by Michael Gass 
Times are tough for all of us in the agency business. My agency’s clients have cut their budgets significantly, some by half or more. Fortunately, we have been following a consistent marketing program for several years and recently won a big piece of business that’s tiding us over. Still, things look like they’re going to get worse before they get better. What’s an agency to do? The answer is hidden in the headline of this post.
