Ad Agencies Should Be Pricing On Purpose for New Business

February 15, 2012
Pricing on Purpose, Ron Baker, ad agency compensation

Photo Credit pauls95blazer

The biggest frustration among CMOs is agency compensation and that impacts new business. 

John Winsor, CEO of Victors & Spoils, the world’s first creative (ad) agency built on crowd sourcing principles and former VP/Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. John addressed the future of advertising agency compensation head on in a recent article, Fees, Lies and Advertising, where he states,

“Businesses act based on the way they are compensated. And, the majority of agencies are compensated by selling their people’s time. Compensation is based on the number of FTE’s or full-time employees working on a piece of business. In the age of collaboration the FTE model is broken. The fact is that many agencies make more money when they put more people, or say they do, onto a piece of business. Likewise, it’s more profitable to take more time to do something. If a project should take a month there’s no disincentive for most agencies to drag it out longer.

If advertising industry is to thrive in the age of collaboration we must address the root of the problem, the way we are compensated for our work. If we don’t many companies won’t survive the current economic transformation that’s underway.” – John Winsor

Agencies have neglected the art of pricing for their services. That’s sad because pricing is the number one driver of profitability and it also impacts new business. Pricing should be an executive function within the agency.

I was introduced to a fresh concept on pricing through Ron Baker, author and founder of the VeraSage Institute, a think tank dedicated to teaching value pricing to especially to professional service firms. Ron and I previously shared a platform as speakers at BOLO 2011. I was so drawn by Ron’s passion for value pricing that I purchased his book, Pricing On Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value.

Ron is a gifted speaker and a brilliant writer who can help anyone who is hungry to learn more about pricing, particularly for professional service firms.

“Baker has done it again! Building on the core principles that he advanced in Professional’s Guide to Value Pricing and The Firm of the Future, Ron Baker has again evolved thought leadership on the critical dynamics of value and pricing. Baker’s latest work, Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value, provides real-world examples and practical strategies that provide a framework for pricing optimization. His clarity of purpose and passionate call to action resonates in today’s intellectual capital economy.”

Thomas Finneran, Executive Vice President, American Association of Advertising Agencies

Ron points out the reasons why we should shift our thinking from cost-based pricing (inward looking) to value-based pricing (outward focused).

The book provides examples from a lot of different industries using analogies such as “Why is popcorn so expensive in a movie theatre?” and is a guide to strategically pricing your agency’s services and offer better value to your clients.

This book covers:

  • What and how people buy
  • The fallacy of commodity thinking
  • The five Cs of value
  • The market share myth
  • The difference between cost-plus pricing and value pricing

Pricing on Purpose should become your textbook for pricing. I highly recommend it.

Click on the following link for more reviews, Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value

Additional articles that may be of interest:

2 Comments | Agency Leadership, New Business Trends | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

IBM Study: The 4 key challenges that CMOs everywhere are confronting

October 13, 2011

As CMOs struggle there is a window of opportunity for ad agency new business. 

A new IBM study of more than 1,700 chief marketing officers reveals that most CMOs are well aware of the changing marketing landscape and the need to make fundamental changes to traditional marketing methods of brand and product marketing.  But they are struggling to respond. Their unpreparedness to manage these key changes in the marketing arena presents a great opportunity for advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops. But, only if they are prepared to lead.

The study’s findings point to four key challenges that CMOs everywhere are confronting: 

  1. The explosion of data - 90% of the world’s data today has been created in the last two years alone.
  2. The rise of social media - 56% of CMOs view social media as a key engagement channel
  3. Channel and device choices - The growing number of new marketing channels and devices, from smart phones to tablets, is quickly becoming a priority for CMOs.
  4. Shifting demographics - New global markets and the influx of younger generations with different patterns of information access and consumption, are changing the face of the marketplace.

The Importance of Social Media

This study reiterates the importance of social media and the need for agencies to be better positioned as leaders in this evolving consumer engagement channel. Currently very few of the global or regional advertising agencies can claim a leadership position within this space.

Carolyn Heller Baird, CRM research lead for the IBM Institute for Business Value and the global director of the study, likens marketers who underestimate the impact of social media to those who were slow to view the internet as a new and powerful platform for commerce.

“The inflection point, created by social media, represents a permanent change in the nature of customer relationships … Like the rise of e-business more than a decade ago, the radical embrace of social media by all customer demographic categories represents an opportunity for marketers to drive increased revenue, brand value and to reinvent the nature of the relationship between enterprises and the buyers of their offerings.”

CMOs identify customer relationships as one of their top priorities. They recognize the impact of real-time data and social media supplementing traditional methods of marketing and gathering market feedback, but they remain stuck in traditional approaches. Missing another opportunity to lead, agencies haven’t been receptive to social media and slow to understand its relevance.

“Marketers who are receptive to social media and the insight it provides will be far better prepared to anticipate future shifts in markets and technology.”

Additional insights from this study:

  • 78% of CMOs expect more complexity over the next five years, but only 48% are prepared to deal with it.
  • 82% of CMOs say they plan to increase their use of social media over the next three to five years, only 26 % are currently tracking blogs, 42 percent are tracking third-party reviews and 48 % are tracking consumer reviews to help shape their marketing strategies.
  • 63% of CMOs believe return on investment (ROI) on marketing dollars spent will be the most important measure of their success by 2015. However, only 44 % feel fully prepared to be held accountable for marketing ROI. 
  • Less than half of the CMOs surveyed have much sway over key parts of the pricing process and less than half have much impact on new product development or channel selection. 
  • 56% of CMOs view social media as a key engagement channel, but they still struggle with capturing valuable customer insight from the unstructured data that customers and potential customers produce.
  • CMOs still focus primarily on traditional sources of information such as market research and competitive benchmarking and 68% rely on sales campaign analysis to make strategic decisions.
  • Four-fifths of respondents plan to use customer analytics, customer relationship management (CRM), social media and mobile applications more extensively over the next three to five years.
  • 75% of CMOs believe marketing must manage brand reputation within and beyond the enterprise.

The IBM 2011 CMO Study Video News Release:

To access the full 2011 IBM Global CMO Study, visit http://ibm.com/cmostudy

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

8 Reasons Why This Is Such An Exciting Time for the Smaller Ad Agencies

October 5, 2011

Big Fuel

Unconventional times call for unconventional methods for ad agency new business.

These are certainly unconventional times that we live in. A recent IBM study states that we will see more change in the next 5 years than in the previous fifty.

We are still in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. The recession that began in 2008 still isn’t over and economists are forewarning the possibility that this could be a double-dip recession.

The rise of social media as another communication’s channel, has impacted our society and the way we do business. Social media marketing best practices are quickly evolving. But as soon as you start to get comfortable using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, a new social media platform is introduced, such as Google Plus, and it’s back to school all over again.

Smart phones and tablets further impact our culture and how we communicate.

New business professionals for ad agencies and PR firms, who were once good at what they did are now struggling.  The way new business is acquired is changing rapidly. The interruption type tactics, which were successful in the past, are becoming less and less effective.

With all of the upheaval and uncertainty for our industry, this is certainly an exciting, revolutionary time to be in advertising. Particularly for the small-to-midsize advertising or public relations agency.

8 reasons why this is such an exciting time to be in advertising, particularly for the smaller agencies:

  1. They have the opportunity to build awareness well beyond their local markets.
  2. A real opportunity exists to work with bigger clients and nationally known brands.
  3. Agencies can generate more appeal by creating a narrower niche. They can hyper-focus on a specific target audience, category or discipline or a combination of these.
  4. Increased revenue by being better positioned for their advertising and marketing expertise through category or target audience experience or through a particular discipline.
  5. Network and referral business becomes more efficient.
  6. Inbound lead generation is proving to be less expensive than traditional outbound leads.
  7. Allows agencies to work with the clients that match up well with its core strengths.
  8. More new client accounts can be won without pitching.

9 Comments | Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, New Business Trends | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

5 Tips for Using Direct Mail for Ad Agency New Business

October 4, 2011

Photo Credit Ian Broyles

Direct mail isn’t dead as a tactic for ad agency new business.

When everyone Zigs, maybe you should Zag. So much attention is being given to online tactics, it may be a good time to do the opposite and utilize some offline tactics such as direct mail to raise awareness for your agency and stay top-of-mind with prospects.

A lot of small to midsize advertising agencies fail at their own direct mail efforts because they give up after only a couple of mailings when there is little or no results. Direct mail isn’t dead. But it’s not very effective unless it is used consistently and that is usually a problem for most agencies. We are always our own worst client. 

Your agency is probably like most. When things get busy with client work, work for the agency is often neglected.  Here are 5 tips to keep your direct mail project moving: 

1. Keep the creative process simple.

I’ve seen a number of agencies attempt to design some very elaborate mailers, one-at a time. This isn’t good use of your agency’s creative energy. Have your creative department design an entire campaign, 12 mail pieces, an oversized postcard would suffice.  Have them printed an on the shelf read to mail each month.

You can also mix in other types of mailings such as personal letters, hand written notes, self mailers. You can also send work in expensive boxes to high target prospects.

Locomotion Creative printed a case study and creative sample on post cards that could also be sent as an entire collection in an elegant box.

When it was learned that search consultants often complained about the size of mailings received from agencies and one search consultant said, “Whatever you send me, make sure it can fit in a standard file folder.” So the Lewis Communications created a unique folder just for search consultants.

2. Treat this project  like a project for your agency’s most important client. 

Open a job, develop a creative brief and have a start date and hard deadline for delivery so that it gets done.

3. Use a direct mail service. 

Let them print, pre-sort and stamp for efficiency and savings. I’ve learned that the more things you can outsource, the more consistent your efforts will be. You not only save time, but you can save money.

4. Purchase a mailing list.

Most agencies don’t have the time and resources to develop and maintain their own database. Executive positions change often. Shop around and purchase a targeted list of companies. Purchase a list for 1 to 2 years and multi-use. Names, titles and addresses plus phone numbers that you can use for your “warm call” program.

5. Have a strong call to action.

Here’s an example: What is the first step that you “normally” take with a new client? Perhaps this exploratory session, market audit or brand audit could be something that you could carve out as a “first step” for prospective clients. A good value that would at least pay for your time and also eliminate the “tire kickers.”  You have personal face-time with a qualified prospect.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

4 Comments | New Business Tactics | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

A 70 Point Checklist for Jump-Starting or Tuning-Up Your Blog for New Business

September 29, 2011

You should evaluate your agency’s blog to optimize its potential as a tool for lead generation, referrals and networking.

There is a dramatic paradigm shift for acquiring new business opportunities for small to midsize ad agencies. Agencies need to rethink their approach to new business and intensify their focus for creating magnetic content that will attract prospective clients, rather than relying primarily on the interruption model of cold calls and unsolicited direct mail, which consumers are responding to less and less.

Creating new business opportunities through social media is growing. In a recent Ad Agency New Business Survey that I conducted, 64% of the 430 responding ad agencies said they now have a blog. Unfortunately, a number of these blogs are not optimized for new business.

I’ve compiled the following 70 point check-list to help “jump-start” or “tune-up”agency blogs for new business:

  1. Identify your audience. This will help to make your writing easier and more focused.
  2. State the purpose of  your blog. Create a descriptor statement in the blog’s Header. A one sentence summation of the purpose for your blog. Expand upon the descriptor statement in a “Welcome” section in your blog’s sidebar.
  3. Make sure that your blog’s benefit to your visitors is crystal clear.
  4. Reading fuels your writing. You need a good strategic reading program with a clear focus that is centered upon your audience’s interest and needs.
  5. Have calls-to-action that are clear. What do you want your audience to do? They can subscribe to your newsletter, inquire about your services, download a white-paper or eBook, email you their questions, etc.
  6. Create each post title with the keywords you want to dominate through search (i.e. “ad agency new business”). It is also helpful to flag a targeted audience through Twitter and let them know the content is specific to their needs.
  7. The first sentence of your post should be the “takeaway or benefit statement”. Just simply answer the question, what will be my takeaway or benefit if I commit to read this post?  Lead with the conclusion.
  8. Have a distinct point-of-differentiation.
  9. Remember that online readers prefer writing that is concise, easy to scan, and objective (rather than promotional) in style.
  10. Focus on providing quality information over the quantity of posts being generated.
  11. Build relationships with your readers by integrating your blog with Facebook, Google +, Twitter and LinkedIn.
  12. Your blog should become a repository of valued information for your audience. This means that it’s not all original content. I recommend writing 1 original post for every 4 or 5 resource posts.
  13. Use bulleted or numbered lists often. Readers love them.
  14. Highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others).
  15. Publish on a regular schedule. Be consistent in delivering at least 3 to 5 posts per week. This will keep your readers coming back for more. Also, frequently updated content makes search engines happy.
  16. Build credibility and authority for your niche.
  17. Highlight your successes through a featured page such as Press, Awards or your Profile page.
  18. Write headlines that are benefit driven.
  19. Evaluate and improve your writing so that it stands out among the crowd.
  20. Make your posts easy to find and your blog simple to navigate.
  21. Highlight popular posts.
  22. Provide links to additional resources. I almost always provide “Additional articles that may be of interest” at the end of most of my post, linking to similar content from my blog and other sources. It also will keep your visitors on your site longer and improve their experience.
  23. Half the word count (or less) than conventional writing. Usually 350 to 450 words.
  24. Demonstrate how you stand out in your niche. Provide testimonials, comments, featured articles, endorsements, and statistics—in text, audio, and video format through additional linked blog pages or specialty pages.
  25. Provide one call-to-action with clear instructions above the fold.
  26. Avoid jargon and agency speak.
  27. Provide headlines and sub headlines that make it easy for readers to skim your piece before reading the entire article.
  28. Don’t use white writing on black or colored background that makes it hard for people to read.
  29. Create or choose a blog layout that isn’t cluttered or confusing.
  30. Provide captions (where appropriate) on photos that are keyword rich and benefit-driven.
  31. Don’t use too many fonts, colors, and sizes.
  32. Check to see that  your blog is quick to load.
  33. Have a clean, simple, banner at the top of your blog that creates the right feeling on your site. A personal rather than corporate feel.
  34. Break-up long text with sub-headings, bullet points, italics, indention, photos and graphics.
  35. Your opt-in should be above the fold.
  36. Provide an incentive for visitors to give you their name and email.
  37. Only ask for opt-in information that you intend to utilize.
  38. Don’t adhere to the belief that if you “build it and they will come”.
  39. Test, monitor and fine tune your blog regularly.
  40. Use offline-to-online marketing to further promote your blog.
  41. Collect blog stats on results weekly, or per campaign.
  42. In the early phase of promoting your blog, consider paid traffic, Facebook PPC and banner ads.
  43. Build or buy email lists as you build your opt-in list for your niche. A good resource would be The List out of Atlanta, GA.
  44. Write guest articles for other blogs in your niche and even other niches.
  45. Submit your blog post to online directories.
  46. Facilitate referral opportunities through your blog.
  47. Interact regularly through social media—Facebook, Google +, Twitter and LinkedIn.
  48. Run competitions. I’ve generated a lot of traffic to my blog through an “Agency Blog of the Month” contest that culminated into an “Agency Blog of the Year”.
  49. Conduct online surveys and polls through your blog at least quarterly and share results in a post article, PRWeb or PR Newswire.
  50. Create partnering and promotional opportunities with online thought leaders in your niche.
  51. Find ways, through your blog, to help your readers engage with one another.
  52. Write with an “evergreen” style that allows your blog posts to have a long shelf-life and provide a greater return on your time investment.
  53. Write for fast comprehension.
  54. Be sure to include a photo or graphic for each post to add some additional flavor. Use only images that you have rights to or  Creative Commons-licensed content that you can find through photo sharing service such as Flicker.com.
  55. Repurpose content. Someone that finds one of your blog post through search might click-through to another post because you have repurposed it through an email newsletter, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google +.
  56. Carefully think through your blog’s heading. A “heading” is a stand-alone phrase that describes your blogs content that appear below it. I usually advise clients to create a blog descriptor statement for the header that lets a reader and search engines know the purpose and intent of the content such as “Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media.”
  57. Write consistently: This is important to creating regular readership. Write at least 3 to 5 posts per week.
  58. Make sure that your blog’s content stays focused and relevant to your target audience. Especially when developing curated content.  Curation is essentially the organizing and sharing (some might even say “repackaging”) of content in ways that are meaningful to a specific target audience. There is a lot of great information you can glean from online that is not related to your readership, but you can easily make them relevant.
  59. Be sure you own your domain name. A person that still has “wordpress or blogspot” in their domain won’t be able to change blogging platforms without losing traffic. This is a huge mistake.
  60. Be sure your site is indexed with Google. If your pages are not indexed, then Google is not crawling them.
  61. Build quality inbound links.There are many online business directories where you can just submit your URL, agency’s name and a description of your services.
  62. Make sure your content can be easily shared on Facebook, Twitter, Linked, as well as social bookmarking sites such as Digg, dell.icio.us and StumbleUpon with Share buttons.
  63. Jump-start traffic by repurposing your blog’s content through an email newsletter that is sent every-other-week. Don’t assume that because you’ve written a post, everyone has read it. You should always assume just the opposite.
  64. Build a sizable Twitter following that is targeted using TweetAdder and repurpose your blog content to your Twitter account using a program such as Social Oomph. Twitter can become your blog’s number one tool for generating targeted traffic.
  65. Invite others to guest post for your blog but be selective.
  66. Be proactive in facilitating speaking opportunities by creating a “Speakers Page” for your blog, list the topics and titles that you can speak to.
  67. Place your RSS Subscription Feed button above the fold, near the top of you blog’s homepage.
  68. Also place a subscription for your email newsletter within your blog’s sidebar to create Opt-Ins from site visitors.
  69. Review your blog site’s analytics daily to see what posts are generating the most traffic, what search terms are being used, where traffic is coming from, who is linking to you, links readers clicked on, page views, etc.
  70. Create a first-step call-to-action for your readers to know how to initially engage with your services. This could be a market or brand audit, or a workshop. Whatever it is, make it something simple and of good value . Price it low so that it doesn’t require a lot of time to consider. It will at least pay for your time in front of a prospect and lead to more new business opportunities.  A call-to-action will also help separate your qualified prospects from those that just want to pick your brain for free.

Some additional agency blogging resources:

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

4A’s New Business | Social Media Workshop

September 22, 2011

A Formula for Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media

Nov. 3 , New York, NY

This is a rare, one-day workshop sponsored by the 4A’s. I usually conduct these workshops on-site, at individual agencies, and only do one or two of these open full-day workshop all year.

Registration is open to both 4A’s members and non 4A’s members.

CMO Study: 80% of decision makers said they found their vendors not the other way around.

Social media has already impacted advertising as we know it. It also impacts new business development. It’s more important to strategically place your agency in front of your best prospects online than to continually chase new business by interruption tactics such as cold calling.

This practical seminar is designed to “focus and kick-start” your agency’s understanding, participation, credibility and leadership in social media with less expense, time and frustration. Simultaneously, you will create a new business pipeline and lead generation network that can be maintained when your agency is at its busiest.

You will learn:

  • What a major shift in the advertising business means for agency new business practices
  • How to make sense of social media from a new business perspective
  • New methods for inbound lead generation
  • How to greatly accelerate your personal networks and referrals for new business beyond your local market
  • How to create online content that generates online traffic
  • How to use social media to get your agency out of a “perpetual state” of rebranding itself and provide an appealing and differentiating position for your new business

Who Should Attend
This agency seminar is created for “C” level and senior executives charged with the responsibility of new business development.

Event Location
Draftfcb New York, 100 West 33rd Street, New York, (212) 885-3000

Schedule
8:30 AM     Registration and Continental Breakfast (included in registration fee)
9:00 AM     Workshop begins
12-1 PM     Lunch (included in registration fee)
4:30 PM     Workshop adjourns

Registration Fees
$295 per person, 4A’s members
$395 per person, non 4A’s members

Click on the following link to download more information/program agenda

Logistics/Registration:  Contact Cecilia Graham at 212-850-0756 or cecilia@aaaa.org
Programming:  Contact Bob Linden at 212-850-0750 or bobl@aaaa.org

About the 4A’s
The 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) is the national trade association of the advertising agency business and provides leadership, advocacy and guidance to the industry. The management-oriented association founded in 1917 helps its members build their businesses, and acts as the industry’s spokesperson with government, media, and the public sector. Its membership comprises virtually all of the large, multinational agencies and hundreds of small and mid-sized agencies across the country. More than 1,200 member agency offices served by the 4A’s employ 65,000 people, offer a wide range of marketing communications services, and place 80 percent of all national advertising. For more information, visit the 4A’s Web site at

 

 

Leave a Comment » | Agency Leadership, Best Practices | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Prime Time Benefits of Blogging for New Business

September 22, 2011

Prime Time for New Business

Photo Credit zoutedrop

The majority of ad agencies have yet to comprehend what huge benefits a blog can make and why it deserves to be “prime time” for new business.

With help from American Business Media and the Business Marketing Association, Junta42 and MarketingProfs surveyed over 1,100 North American B2B marketers from diverse industries and a wide range of company sizes. The survey revealed that content marketing, including blogs, is a key lead generation source for 63% of the respondents.

  • Brand Awareness – 78%
  • Customer Attention/Loyalty – 69%
  • Lead Generation – 63%
  • Website Traffic – 55%
  • Though Leadership – 52%
  • Sales – 51%
  • Lead Nurturing – 37%

Here’s the story of how my blog helped launch my business

I started my consulting business just prior to The Great Recession. We had three kids in college at the time. I didn’t have a lot of funds to promote my services nor the time to play around with social media. But, I sensed the potential of social media for building awareness quickly and creating new business opportunities. So I jumped in, immersing myself in it as if I were back in grad school. From early mornings until late at night and even weekends, I spent time trying to get my head around this new communication channel but always from a new business perspective.

From the start I was compelled to monetize social media, forced to press the envelope beyond the way the early adopters of social media had intended for it to be used. Within a short three months I was already securing new clients as well as an income that matched my previous salary.

From the beginning, the centerpiece of my social media strategy was my blog

My blog, Fuel Lines, literally launched my consultancy. If I had promoted my business using traditional methods, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have spent a substantial amount of money and it would have taken much longer for my consultancy business to be where it is today.

Once I created my blog it became a never-ending cycle of content development and learning curves based on the fast progression of social media. It has been a process of “learn as you go”. I came upon an old adage in the early days of my writing, “you don’t know what you know until you write it down”. This is so true. My blog has served as a key tool for my personal continuing education program. It brought focus to my reading and writing along with the discovery enriching online resources that fuel both content created from other sources and original content.

Content marketing, through my blog, quickly became one of my most effective marketing tools. Instead of the typical “once and done” traffic of a website, my blog has provided a much better platform for repeat traffic and search visibility.

Here are the benefits that I hope will give you reason to devote Prime Time to your agency’s blog: 

1. Generate more online traffic

“Businesses (agencies) that blog, get 55% more website traffic than those that don’t,” According to a social media study by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42

Your blog has the potential to create more web traffic than your agency’s website ever could. Your blog can attract a high volume of quality traffic from the pool of prospective clients you are trying to reach.

Blogs develop more visitors by:

  • Search visibility – blogs are organized to be search engine friendly. Plus the more content you have (well-linked), the more chances there are of attracting search traffic.
  • Click-through traffic - by posting interesting articles, a blog gives a reason for other people to link to you.
  • Repeat traffic – regularly updated content and comments bring visitors back … and back … and back. Most agency websites are not conducive to repeat traffic, particularly if your website hasn’t been updated in 5 years.
  • Personality - Put a face with your agency. Create a blog around a person(s) and let your personality shine through. People will be attracted to you. People like to associate and work with people they know, trust and like. It’s hard to make friends with a business, but easy to warm to an individual with a welcoming personality.
  • Viral effects – you create something cool and visitors share it with their friends, who share with their friends … and so on.

2.  A blog is a great place for your best prospects to easily find you

MarketingSherpa reported that a CMO Study, 80 percent of decision makers said they FOUND their vendors (not the other way around).

New business for ad agencies has been going through a paradigm shift; instead of chasing after prospective clients, it’s now more important for your prospective clients to find you. Blogs allows you to take full advantage of this paradigm shift for new business, shifting a good portion of your time and energy from outbound lead generation to implementing an inbound lead generation strategy.

A content marketing strategy is a major feature for inbound lead generation and a blog is a central component.

3. A positioning tool

Most ad agencies struggle with narrowing their target audience and thus have great difficulty in positioning and differentiating themselves. A blog is a tool that allows agencies to more easily define and adopt a differentiating new business strategy. Agencies are more comfortable with a narrower niche through a blog than they ever would be with their website.

Here are some examples of agency blogs with a strong target focus and differentiated positioning:

4. Your own focus group for new business

I have been enriched by having this online, ongoing, personal “focus group” that has provided real-time feedback and insights. My blog readers provide me with an ongoing education. They help me to help them. They let me know whether or not I’m clearly communicating with them.  They help me to take my experience and expertise with agency new business and social media and become better at meeting their specific needs.

5. The recycling of older content for a greater ROI

You will 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.

Here are some ways to repurpose your blog content:

  • 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. The odds 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.
  • 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
  • Facebook and LinkedIn: Another way to repurpose content is through other social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. These are not with the same frequency of posting as you would with Twitter.

6. A pipeline for consistent lead generation

You can keep your prospective pipeline full even when your agency is busy with client work or you are away.

At the beginning of the summer, while my wife and I were vacationing in Key West, I wrote a post and published it along with a photo while on the beach. I wrote,“Vacationing with Social Media and Still Generating Ad Agency New Business,” to illustrate how content marketing through a blog can keep your new business pipeline full even when you are away.

7.  Leading with client benefits instead of agency capabilities

Blogging keeps your agency focused on what is important to your prospective clients. It’s not about YOU it’s all about THEM. It forces you speak to their benefit instead of talking about your agency.

If you don’t have a passion to help your audience succeed, you wont success with blogging. As soon as you start to “sell” your agency or brag about your credentials and awards, you will lose your credibility along with your audience. Instead, provide content that helps your prospects with their marketing challenges and build trust. Then new business will come.

8. A professional enrichment tool

Blogging will enrich your professional life, keep you up to date with the freshest thinking and help you to be acquainted with the newest and best trends. Writing to a specific audience to help them with their needs will focus your reading and your writing. You have direction to begin each day and that makes blogging easier.

9. Enhances Network and Referrals

A survey of advertising agencies conducted by Fuel Lines, reveals that 50% of the 430 responding agencies generated new business from two primary sources last year: referrals and networking.

Agencies have long understood the importance of individual connections to generate new business. It has always been the lifeblood of small to midsize agencies. Thankfully, albeit slowly, agencies are starting to understand the potential of social media to enhance networks and referral opportunities.

A blog, as the centerpiece of your social media strategy, will greatly enhance your capabilities of networking within your local market plus far beyond it.

Over the summer, I wrote a post from my hotel room in London, England. I was reflecting on how far I’ve come since I created my blog. I have worked with new clients all across the United States from Costa Mesa, CA to Port Clyde, Maine and this year had my first overseas client in the UK. I’ve recently been invited to speak to agencies across South Africa in the cities of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.

I’ve generated these personal networks and referrals by blogging from my home office which is located above my garage in Alabaster, Alabama. It’s absolutely amazing.

10. A Call-to-Action converting blog visitors into new business opportunities

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.

I would suggest creating an offer for a particular service, 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.

3 Comments | Agency Blogs, Fuel for Thought, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Is Advertising a Respected Profession?

August 31, 2011

A lack of respect is bad for ad agency new business. You might not be able to change the perception of our industry but you can control the perception of your agency.

Over the last decade, the advertising industry has become one of the least liked by Americans. In a recent Gallup Poll Advertising and Public Relations ranked 10th on a list of the least respected industries in the nation.

Author Tim Williams is an author and consultant, closely associated with the advertising industry. In a recent article, that is generating some buzz, he raises the question: “Is Advertising a Profession?

Tim writes, “By referring to advertising people as “professionals” and advertising agencies as “professional knowledge firms,” I’m stating my belief that advertising and marketing is – or at least should be – a “profession” in the same league with law, accounting, or architectural firms.”

He goes on to state that the true definition of a profession presents a much more rigorous standard than just being good at your job. Standards such as:

  1. Professionals are accredited
  2. Professions require continuing education
  3. Professions are based on the study and application of science
  4. Professions adhere to “higher aims” than self-interest or economic benefit

Given the above standards, is advertising a profession?

Tim’s opinion is that the advertising industry isn’t there yet but it should be.

“To be respected as a profession, the advertising and marketing business must take a much more evidence-based approach.” 

” … after over a hundred years’ experience with modern marketing, advertising agencies should be a lot more conversant and knowledgeable about what works, what doesn’t work, and why. we should be a lot less focused on deliverables and a lot more focused on outcomes.”

Jason Falls, educator, speaker and author of the book “No Bullshit Social Media”, in the world of digital marketing and social media, was blunt in his response to Tim’s article that I posted on my Facebook page:

“ Uh … Thousands have made a living for their whole lives doing nothing but. That guy’s full of it and just looking piss people off.”

Douglas Burdett, president of Artillery, a full service advertising agency in Norfolk, VA, had just the opposite reaction:

“Great post – have shared it w/my local AAF chapter!”

Do you agree or disagree?  

Click on the following link to read Tim’s complete article, “Is Advertising a Profession?” and share your opinion by taking this  twt Poll: Is advertising a profession?  or weigh in with your opinion in the comment section below.

11 Comments | Agency Leadership, Agency Networks, Fuel for Thought, Positioning | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Steve Jobs’s 10 Best Quotes for Advertising Agencies

August 27, 2011

Photo Credit Annie Bannanie 06

Steve Job’s serves as an example of doing agency new business the right way.

Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple.  When it comes to presenting and salesmanship, there’s no one better.

His tenure as CEO should serve as inspiration for advertising agencies that seem to still be in a state of flux in this technology driven communication’s revolution.

Below are some of the best Steve Jobs’s quotes to inspire us to think differently and  up our game through innovation, collaboration: 

 

  1. “The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.” Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer
  2. “For something this complicated, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Bloomberg Businessweek
  3. Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Wired
  4. “That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” BusinessWeek
  5. “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” CNNMoney
  6. “When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.” Newsweek
  7. “We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.” Fortune
  8. “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” Wall Street Journal
  9. “You’re missing it. This is not a one-man show. What’s reinvigorating this company is two things: One, there’s a lot of really talented people in this company who listened to the world tell them they were losers for a couple of years, and some of them were on the verge of starting to believe it themselves. But they’re not losers. What they didn’t have was a good set of coaches, a good plan. A good senior management team. But they have that now.” Businessweek
  10. The system is that there is no system. That doesn’t mean we don’t have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that’s not what it’s about. Process makes you more efficient … But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. It’s ad hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea.”  Businessweek  

Additional Steve Job articles that may be of interest:

23 Comments | Agency Leadership, Fuel for Thought | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

How McKinney achieved one of the best new-business records among advertising agencies

August 23, 2011

Innovation and collaboration, two keys to ad agency new business.

McKinney is an independent advertising agency based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1969 by Charles “Chick” McKinney, the agency is now independently owned by a management team led by Brad Brinegar, CEO.  It has been recognized as one of the nine best agencies in the country by Advertising Age

In 2003, McKinney became one of the first agencies to pioneer connection planning, which determines the most innovative and creative ways of bringing brands and people together in mutually beneficial ways - ADWEEK

In that same year, McKinney hired a group of interactive experts and injected them into the agency’s existing disciplines. (Today, 35% of the agency’s revenue comes from interactive activities, and 88% of frontline staff is actively engaged in interactive work.) Brad Brinegar: Online Advertising

In 2006, McKinney combined its three strategic disciplines (account planning, connection planning and interactive strategy) into one strategic offering and named Andrew Delbridge, previously director of account planning, partner and chief strategy officer - The Cyber One Report 2006

Under Brad Brinegar’s leadership, Mckinney has achieved one of the best new-business records in the advertising agency industry by being collaborative and innovative.

Brad learned the meaning of collaboration as an oarsman on Dartmouth’s crew team: “It’s not intuitive, but a boat actually goes slower when one guy rows better than the rest. And there is no defense in rowing, no way of stopping the other team. So the only way to win is to be smarter, work harder, care more and pull together better than your opponents.”  McKinney’s website

How he has brought innovation and collaboration to McKinney: 

  1. “We designed our entire space, from the ground up, for collaboration.”
  2. “We invest twice the industry average in strategic resources, to make sure that our innovations are grounded in addressing the right business issues to create the results we want.”
  3. “We work in cross-disciplinary brand-teams, to increase the odds that different perspectives will lead to fresh insight.”
  4. “We bring in lots of outside speakers to teach new perspectives.”

Click on the following link to read Business Management Daily’s recent interview with Brad, “Distruptive Player a Game-Changer”

Leave a Comment » | Agency Branding, Agency Leadership, New Business Talents, New Business Trends | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Age: Top 10 Best Places to Work in Marketing and Media

August 23, 2011

A great work environment is a big plus for ad agency new business.

Ad Age recently released the results of the best places to work in marketing and media. Any advertising agency, media owner or marketer with more than 50 full-time employees was eligible to enter.  Rankings were determined through the use of employer and employee surveys with 150 companies participating and just under 12,000 employee responses. Boston ad agencies dominated the top spots in this years rankings.

Allen & Gerritsen took the top honors. Their offices are located in Artillery Hall, a renovated arsenal just outside of Boston, where U.S. cannons were produced back in the 19th century.  The agency principals credit their positive work environment to:

  • A strong mentoring
  • A valued internship program
  • Monthly “three martini lunch” for staff time Q&A
  • A policy of supporting their employees’ outside interest
  • An atmosphere that promotes wellness.
  • The agency also provides free breakfasts of cereal, oatmeal and Starbucks coffee

Here’s the listing of the top 10 places to work in marketing and media for 2011:

  1.  Allen & Gerritsen, (agency), 120 employees, Boston, MA: Twitter Facebook
  2. BGT Partners, (digital) 175 employees, Miami, FL: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
  3. Digitas, (agency), 2,200 employees, Boston, MA: Twitter Facebook
  4. iProspect, (digital), 850 employees, Boston, MA: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
  5. DataXU, (media) 100+ employees, Boston, MA: Twitter
  6. Ubermind, (digital), 150 employees, Seattle, WA: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
  7. Mr Youth, (marketing), 100+ employees, New York, NY: Twitter Facebook
  8. Airfoil, (PR), 52 employees, Southfield, MI: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
  9. Archer Malmo, (advertising/PR), 100 employees, Memphis, TN: Twitter Facebook
  10. Orion Trading, (media), 300 employees, New York, NY: Twitter
A number of the agencies that made the list are already leveraging their selection for PR purposes, knowing that it will be a huge help in staff recruitment and also with new business.It is appealing to prospective clients that your agency has an employee friendly work environment. Take some time to evaluate the happiness of your staff and explore ways that you can improve their work space and relationships.

Click on the following link to  view the entire list of 30 best places to work. You can also submit your agency for consideration for their 2012 list:  AdAge.com/bestplaces.

An additional articles that may be of interest:

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

Ad Agencies Should KISS for New Business

August 18, 2011

Photo Credit Walt Stoneburner

The K.I.S.S. principle, “keep it simple stupid” is a great maxim to remember when developing a new business program for small to mid-size ad agencies, digital shops and PR firms.

This principle has been a key to success in my years working with new business within an agency environment.

When it comes to new business, consistency trumps perfection. Ad Agencies, the cobbler’s children who have no shoes, are very inconsistent, primarily because they tend to over-think and over-create anything associated with the agency’s brand.

Ad agencies often make things harder than normal. Certainly harder than performing some of the same tasks for clients. They are their own worse client.

That’s why most are so inconsistent with their new business efforts. It’s makes for an unnecessarily painful experience with new business tasks such as updating or redesigning the website; creating a newsletter or eNewsletter; creating direct mail or collateral pieces and even creating and implementing platforms for social media. One agency took over 3 months just to design their blog header.

The person charged with new business for the agency should be on point to simplify anything that relates to new business. Be proactive in keeping all of the processes as simple as possible.

RFPs and agency pitches can also be needlessly taxing upon the time, energy and talent of the agency making new business harder.

For instance, with regards to RFPs. Don’t reinvent the wheel each time a response is created. Covers for RFPs could be designed by well in advance, when there is a lull period and designed for particular industries.

One agency that I previously worked for, we created RFP covers that were specific to Academic Medical Centers. The creative team came up with a great design that was used for every medical center RFP we participated in.

Our creative department was able to put lots of thought into the design because it was not a busy time for the agency. The covers could easily be resized and printed to each RFP, each usually had some variations in their specification, such as size. These covers added a lot to our RFP response and looked custom for each particular academic hospital.

Something as simple as a “leave-behind” collateral piece, following an initial prospective client presentation, can be created and placed on the shelf ready for the next presentation, months in advance.

I know of one agency that had over 50 initial prospective client presentations within 1 year (these weren’t formal pitches) and created  a single leave behind piece that worked for each opportunity.

If your new business responsibilities require you to serve as the agency’s pitch team leader create a simple, repeatable pitch process to save time and energy. Evaluate and sharpen your process after every pitch and find ways to simplify it.

Here are just a few of the benefit for using K.I.S.S. for new business:

  • Much easier to stay consistent and consistency is one of the main keys to success for new business
  • Solve problems faster and meetings can be kept to a minimum
  • Expend less energy from your staff, especially the creative department
  • A huge benefit for your personal time management allowing you to keep your focus on the most important tasks at hand
  • Staff participation in RFPs, pitch opportunities, agency newsletters, collateral, etc will be a much more positive experience that will provide you with their best work and effort
  • You’ll garner lots of appreciation from your time-strapped staff as you constantly look for and implement ways to save time for new business tasks

If you have any examples or ideas for invoking the K.I.S.S. principal for agency new business, please share them in the comment section below.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

2 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Talents, New Business Tips, Pitches | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The Challenges of Jumping from a Creative Shop to a Digital One

August 16, 2011

Photo Credit charlesdyer

What are you doing to prepare your agency for the digital revolution?

Digital training is critical for the traditional small-to midsize advertising agencies. The strategic partnerships with digital shops have all gone by the wayside, mainly because digital agencies don’t need them any longer.

To quote Aaron Reitkopf, North American CEO of digital agency Profero, “There’s never been a better time to be in advertising, and there’s never been a worse time.” 

Advertising agencies aren’t changing of their own accord, they are being changed. Rising to meet the escalating demands for digital, a lot of agencies are now requiring that almost all of their employees develop digital skills.

Kristina Slade, made the radical decision to leave her job as associate creative director at Omnicom Group’s TBWA \/Chiat\/Day, Los Angeles,  to become creative director at San Francisco-based digital agency AKQA.  In a recent Ad Age interview, Slade shared her challenges. Here are some of the highlights and challenges she expressed in that interview:

  • “… there are better [online] opportunities for brands and consumers.”
  • “Jumping in and absorbing all that tech info was the first hurdle.”
  • “Digital is a self-curated experience, so if someone didn’t engage with you, it just didn’t happen. It’s about what can a brand give someone.”
  • “It was just getting behind the scenes of technology so we could make smarter choices and creative work that was better by leveraging all the potential of different platforms.”
  • “… we actually have metrics and can prove what we can get for every dollar spent in digital.”
  • “The traditional shop is getting smaller. It’ll look like a hybrid shop.”a

Click on the following link to read Alexandra Bruell’s article, “Creatives out of Their Comfort Zone: Kristina Slade”

Additional articles that may be of interest: 

For daily industry news check out Gass Online.

Leave a Comment » | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Digital | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

9 Ways to Stay Focused on Ad Agency New Business

August 12, 2011

Photo credit toolstop

It is hard to stay focused and productive with so many workplace distractions such as laptops, smartphones, tablets and social media.

The new business director has to be like the rudder of a ship when it comes to new business and keep it consistently focused on new business.

I have been working in ad agency new business almost my entire advertising career. I’m   organized and disciplined but I’m  still constantly learning new techniques that lessen distractions and increase my productivity. 

Here are 9 ways that I’ve found helpful to stay focused on new business:

  1. Create an game plan every day. You can use a To Do’s app for your laptop, Smartphone or iPad/Tablet to schedule daily reminders that need to be accomplished as a way to stay focused throughout the day.
  2. Dedicate blocks of time to your most important tasks. Make a specific effort to not allow the distractions or disruptions of others break your focus. After that block of time is up, take a brief break, then begin to focus on the next block of time.
  3. Set times for checking email. A study showed that people distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQs, the equivalent of losing a nights sleep. I would suggest avoiding checking your email as soon as you get into the office. One of the first tasks should be to create your action plan and get a good productive start on your work day. At pre-set times,  check and respond to your emails.
  4. Use noise canceling headphones. I don’t only use my headphones when I travel, I’ve found they help me quickly get into a ‘focused zone’ for completing task. I’m actually wearing them as I write this article.
  5. Take planned breaks. It is important to take a breather and it usually enhances productivity, especially if these breaks are pre-scheduled in between your major tasks for the day. This allows for a natural transition and a time to refocus from one task to another.
  6. At work focus on business and at home focus on your personal life. Its important to keep your personal and business life as  separate as possible. You’ll stay more refreshed, focused and productive.
  7. Be comfortable. I enjoy my work environment. My desk, my chair and computer screen are at the right height. I have adjustable lighting for my workspace. The temps just right. My office is organized. Everything is conducive to keeping my mind focused.
  8. Discipline your time online. To avoid distractions my browser’s homepage is set to Google Reader. Having my online content in one location is extremely helpful to avowing distractions online.
  9. Respect the time of others. Instead of calling for a 1 hour meeting, try cutting the time in half. Don’t send lengthy emails, do the extra work to create emails that are concise and to the point. Remember that everyone is busy and  keep the time of your calls to a minimum. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Respect to time of others and they will learn to respect yours.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

2 Comments | Best Practices, Time Management | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

When it comes to new business Ad Agencies are ADHD

August 2, 2011

Photo Credit ADHD CENTER

ADHD is a problem with inattentiveness, over-activity, impulsivity, or a combination – It also is descriptive of most advertising agencies, especially when it comes to new business.

For a large number of ad agencies, the atmosphere is chaotic. It is an environment that is in a perpetual state of distraction. Working in this kind of climate is stressful. You’re constantly shifting from one task to the next. There are numerous interruptions and urgent requests throughout each day.

The digital revolution has created additional challenges – how do we stay focused and productive with so many intriguing distractions only a click away. That’s exacerbated with laptops, smartphones, tablets and the popularity of social media.

New business directors must continually refocus their attention, creating fatigue and decreased productivity. That’s bad for agency new business.

Office and internet distractions lessen productivity:

  • Every time we become distracted, it takes an average of 15 minutes to regain complete focus.
  • Gloria Mark, a UC-Irvine professor has found that the average employee switches tasks every three minutes, is interrupted every two minutes and has a maximum focus stretch of 12 minutes.
  • A study showed that people distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQs, the equivalent of losing a nights sleep.
  • An American study reported in the Journal Of Experimental Psychology found our productivity goes down by as much as 40% when we attempt to do several things at once.
  • Studies by Gloria Mark, an ‘interruption scientist’ at the University of California, show that when people are frequently diverted from one task to another, they work faster, produce less, report significantly higher stress levels, frustration, workload, effort and pressure.

I have been working in ad agency new business almost my entire advertising career and have completed two post-graduate degrees. I’m   organized and focused but far from perfect. I’m constantly learning new techniques that lessen distraction and increase my productivity. 

One solution that has been the most helpful for me is to dedicate blocks of time to similar tasks. The result – it increases your productivity, creativity, and mental sharpness, while decreasing fatigue, procrastination, and stress. You simply group similar tasks that require similar resources in order to streamline their completion.

Set aside a specific amount of time for specific tasks and make a specific effort to not allow the distractions or disruptions of others break your focus. After that block of time is up, take a brief break, then begin to focus on the next block of time.

Here are some tips to help get you started:

  1. Write it down. Write down 4 to 5 of the most important tasks that need to be accomplished as you begin your day.
  2. Keep time. Use a wristwatch, timer, alarm, PDA or computer—anything that keeps accurate time and is within your sight at all times. When you start a task, say the time out loud or write it down. Allot yourself limited amounts of time for each task.
  3. Check off. After completing a task, manually mark it off your list.
  4. Take a break. A 5 minute break after the completion of each task.
  5. Begin again. Refocus, reset the timer and begin working on the next task.
  6. Take an extended break. After completing your top 4 to 5 task for the day, take a 20 minute break.

I’m a fan of a technique invented in the late 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, a professional in the fields of productivity and process improvement, called The Pomodoro Technique. This easy to use, simple system, used by professional teams and individuals in a range of fields has become a popular tool. It is easy to use and, most of all, it works.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system that can help prioritize and accomplish important agency new business tasks.

Here are some Pomodoro resources to help get you started:

  • Download the Pomodoro Technique® book for free or order it on the Internet or from your bookshop.
  • Cheat Sheet. Download a one-page overview of the Pomodoro Technique® .
  • The Pomodoro Technique To-Do Checklist
  • The Pomodoro Pro app is a timer tailored for people using the Pomodoro Technique and designed specifically for the iPhone or iPad.

Whatever plan you use, be committed to improve your focus and time management. Practice makes perfect.

12 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Tips, Time Management | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

7 Tips for Emailing Busy Prospects for Ad Agency New Business

July 28, 2011

E-mail is still relevant as a tool for ad agency new business but use it wisely because prospects are extremely busy just like you. 

With the popularity of my blog, I receive a large number of emails daily. I’ve learned to better filter all of the invitations to review, speak, advise and consult as well as the emails that pitch products, services and other opportunities. It isn’t unusual to receive well over a hundred of these type of emails daily.

What I’ve learned from my own experience, the type of email pitches that enlist my response, have helped me to be more effective in using emails for ad agency new business.

Below is an example of a great emailed invitation/pitch. One of the few that I personally responded to almost immediately. 

Dear Michael

I run a small events company in Johannesburg South Africa and we have had it on our radar to run an Advertising Innovation Day for some time, we have had good success with events dealing with Social Media and we have had surprisingly a number of delegates from advertising agencies attend a few of them. Please see our website www.classicevents.co.za to give you an idea of what we have run before, please excuse our site – it is due for an upgrade which I am busy attending to now.

I believe there would be a market for talks in Johannesburg and Cape Town and possibly Durban as well, these are the tree main centres where there are a number of agencies, the bulk of the agencies are Johannesburg and Cape Town based but Durban does have some smaller agencies and offices of the larger agencies. I could do some research for you and share lists of agencies here and possibly conduct a test to see if agencies are keen to attend.

Do you have standard speaker fees or would you entertain a profit share or delegate rate share. Please could you also give me an idea of when you could come across for a week or so, I’m guessing you’d surely want a couple of days to relax and see some of the country whilst here.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

NIGEL BROWN

Here are the reasons why this is such a good email that hopefully will provide some helpful tips as you reach out to your prospective clients using email. 

  1. Use a person’s first name. Personal is always better than formal when you are reaching out through email. Formal seems cold and indifferent, often appears spammy. Nigel starts off his email pitch to me simply with “Dear Michael.”
  2. Create a pitch letter that is concise and brief. My heart always sinks we I get a long email from someone. Even though it is much easier to bang out a lengthy email but it is also discourteous. Being short and concise take effort on the part of the sender but it is always appreciated and leaves a positive impression upon the person you are trying to reach out to. Nigel condensed his email down to 3 short paragraphs – perfect!
  3. The request is very clear as well as the invitation on how he would like me to respond.
  4. I can’t tell you the number of times that I receive requests like this and have to search for the contact info info. That is discourteous and leaves a negative impression. But it occurs more often than not. Nigel made it easy for me to follow-up by including all of the various channels that I can make contact with him. Though I didn’t list them here for obvious reasons, Nigel provided me with his email address, cell phone and direct dial office numbers, fax and Skype numbers and an active link to his company’s website.
  5. Don’t over pitch in the subject line. Nigel’s subject line was very effective in getting my attention: Query to explore you coming to South Africa for a series of talks. Who wouldn’t want an opportunity to visit South Africa. But also, Nigel’s invitation wasn’t salesy. It was a simple invitation to explore the possibility, a gauge of my interest. He left the response totally in my court. He didn’t use it as a precursor for a “warm call” that he would initiate.
  6. Nigel was proactive in providing information about his company. In the email he provided me with a hyper link to his company’s website knowing that I would want to investigate credentials.
  7. Don’t overuse flattery. The owner of the first ad agency that I ever worked for, used a lot of flattery in conversation’s with prospects.  It always came off as insincere, almost sleazy. Most of the time flattery can be implied without even stating anything and is more effectual.

Photo credit: Frank Gruber

2 Comments | Digital, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The Reader’s Digest Version of the Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

July 25, 2011

Steve Jobs is a master presenter and he provides some important lessons that are helpful to any ad agency pitch opportunity.

Carmine Gallo’s book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is a must read. There’s much to learn from Jobs presentation tactics and style since delivering. Applying his simple formula can greatly improve any agency’s pitch and help them to stand out from the rest.

“You’re time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
– Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is not a natural presenter, he has to work at it. Carmine shares that, “for two full days before a presentation, Jobs will practice the entire presentation, asking for feedback from product managers in the room. For 48 hours, all of his energy is directed at making the presentation the perfect embodiment of Apple’s messages.” 

Nancy Duarte recommends that a presenter spend 90 hours creating an hour-long presentation with 30 slides. But only one-third of that time is spent building slides. Another third is rehearsing, but the first third is spent collecting ideas, organizing ideas, and sketching the story.

  • Thinking
  • Sketching
  • Building
  • Slides
  • Scripting
  • Rehearsing
  • 90 hours | 30 slides

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version from a live presentation delivered by Carmine and recreated through by Peter Walker in this Slideshare format.

4 Comments | Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, Pitches, Speaking | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

How did YOU get into ad agency business development?

June 27, 2011

John Sharpe and his dad mowing the lawn

Ad agency new business hunters are a unique group who share some common traits even though their personal stories of how they got into this business are usually very different.

John Sharpe a partner and the Chief Marketing Office for the BOHAN advertising agency, Nashville, TN. He heads up the marketing and PR efforts for the agency itself.

John is a long tenured new business executive with a sampling of wins such as Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the Grand Ole Opry, the Peabody Hotel Group, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Brunswick Outdoor Products, Red Lobster, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, The Greenbrier, Citicorp Diners Club, Clarks of England and Shoney’s just to name a few.

In his own words, John shares his personal story, how be got his start and ended up spending the majority of his advertising career focused on new business. 

“Hey Mister, can I cut your yard?” 

Over the years I’ve often wondered how other agency new business people got their starts in this crazy profession. Seems like most everyone finds their way to it by means of a slightly different path. My path just happened to be an 18” swath, cut clean across a hundred neighborhood back yards.  

It was the last day of school and I was about to put the fifth grade behind me. The entire summer lay ahead but at my house, the tantalizing combination of summer and no school only meant that real work was about to begin. I was ten years old facing three months of hard labor. Drat.

My dad was what you might call a stern taskmaster, preparing a weekly list of chores as long as my arm. He was old school and just couldn’t stand the thought of me goofing-off all summer, riding bikes and playing basketball with my pals, so he made lists of things to keep me busy. Cut the yard, trim the hedge, paint the doghouse, hoe the garden and then start the next week with a fresh assignment. If and when he ran out of ideas, he would just repeat a previous list.

Remember that classic movie scene in Cool Hand Luke where the sadistic prison guards made recaptured chain-gang escapee Paul Newman dig a hole out under the blistering Florida sun, only to order him fill it up and start all over again? Well, it wasn’t exactly that bad at my house, but after cleaning the garage top to bottom for the third time since school got out, it sure felt that way. Of course there is always the slim chance that the recollections of a fifth grader, some fifty years hence, might possibly be time-enhanced…but nah, I don’t think so.

But then one mid-summer day it came to me like a bolt out of the blue. There was only one possible way to escape my fate of indentured summer servitude. I was a ten-year old who needed a legitimate paying job!

An old man who lived in a duplex down the street always had grass knee-high in his yard, and I am sure the neighbors all grumbled about it. He kept a lawnmower sitting right out by his front porch but I guess he just didn’t have a ten-year old on his staff. Maybe he didn’t even know how to use that old push mower, but I sure did.

I saw him sitting on his porch one day, staring across the sea of Johnson grass before him and without a moment’s thought I hollered from the street: “Hey mister, can I cut your yard?”

He stared at me for what seemed like forever and finally squinted and said, “how much?”

“If I can use your mower, one dollar.”   

By the end of that summer I was cutting most of the small yards at the duplexes nearby, and some of the bigger yards too.  After that first job I convinced my dad to let me use his old push lawnmower, if I paid for the gas out of my earnings—and I spent the next four summers going from house to house all over the neighborhood, fearlessly knocking on doors and making my pitch.

My pitch? Did I say my pitch? Yes, I now realize that’s where it all began. Mowing lawns was a means to earn some cash and escape my dad’s list of stay at home chores, but it was actually closing the deal with a neighbor–negotiating cash for services that really gave me a buzz.

Soon I expanded my product line to include trimming and weeding with my dad’s hedge clippers and swing blade. I was still working all summer while the other kids were playing but at least…I was an earner. And as I had hoped, my dad stopped making lists of chores for me to do. He knew I was working hard and he saw it was paying off. He never said so but I could tell that he was secretly proud. Summer was suddenly looking good for a change and I was emboldened by my ability to close a deal.

Did I mention that my dad was an ad man? I’m a second-generation new business guy. I guess even third generation, if you count my grandfather who worked at a Buick dealership long before I was even born. We were all closers.

My dad had been an ad agency art director back when I was ten and soon after, he struck out on his own and started a little ad agency design shop where he would pitch an account, play the AE role after he got the business and then run back to his cramped little office to crank out the layouts and mechanical art.

It was only recently, after nearly forty years in the ad agency business myself and the last twenty pretty much in business development exclusively, that I realized I had truly been pitching one thing or another my whole life. It just took a while to realize I was born to be a hunter/gatherer.

I was born to be a hunter/gatherer.

If you’re a new business professional, whether a beginner or a veteran of decades of pitches like myself, I am really curious to know your story. What path did you take and how did you get into the business development end of the ad agency business? Were you born to close, or did you learn by watching someone else, or do you just practice trial and error?

Shoot me an email and let me hear from you. We may soon have the beginnings of a new business online support group!

Have a great summer, and happy hunting.

John Sharpe

Email address: jsharpe@bohanideas.com
Follow John on Facebook and LinkedIn

 

We’d like to hear your story. How did you get into ad agency new business? Feel free to email John or add it in the comment section below.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

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

Ad Agency New Business: Tips for Eliminating the Tire-Kickers

June 13, 2011

How not to waste time with unqualified prospects.

It isn’t difficult to secure meetings with prospective clients of small to midsize ad agencies. What is key is to get appointments with qualified prospects that have the proper budget and a readiness to spend money for an agency’s services.

There are a lot of prospects out there are always glad to meet to glean whatever they can from your agency for free. These are the “tire-kickers”, prospects who eat up lots of your precious time and from the get-go never intend to work with you.

One way to eliminate the “Tire-Kickers” is to have a clear call-to-action … an initial first step for any prospective client.

How do you usually begin a relationship with a new client? Do you normally conduct a market or brand audit with a new client? Turn it into your call-to-action. Price it in a way that is a great value for the prospect but helps to recover some of your agency’s time investment. Tire-Kickers usually wont be willing to pay for anything. This will help to eliminate them and provide a reasonable first step for a prospect to become a client.

4 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. The action could be a:

*Market Audit

*Brand Audit

*Competitive Analysis

*SWOT Analysis

*Social Media Workshop

*Digital Workshop

*Strategic Marketing Plan

Prospects want to be able to read up on the details of your agency’s call to action within their own time frame. So make it easy for them to find. You can promote it on a special landing page, through your website, blog, eNewsletter, or traditional collateral print pieces.

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.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

1 Comment | New Business Tactics, New Business Tips | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Skype Infographic: From seed to future piece of the Microsoft empire

June 2, 2011

I often use Skype as a way to stay connected for new business, at home and while traveling for video conference calls.

How important is Skype? Bill Gates personally pushed for the Skype deal, the biggest purchase in Microsoft’s history. It seems to have a very bright future and should remain on your list of tools to watch and warrant your participation.

“The idea of video conferencing is going to get so much better than it is today. Skype actually does get a fair bit of revenue. It’ll be fascinating to see how the brilliant ideas out of Microsoft research, coming together with Skype, what they can make of that.” Bill Gates

I thought you might enjoy the following infographic that contains a host of very interesting information on Skype, and its walk from being nothing but an idea, to its acquisition by Microsoft. As a commemorative to Skype and its future, this infographic illustrates the history behind the brand and its integral part of Microsoft’s future.

Skype

Information provided by : Online MBA.com. Click on the following links for more of Online MBA’s infographics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional articles that may be of interest:

1 Comment | New Business Tools, New Business Trends | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

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