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QR Codes for Ad Agency New Business

December 8, 2010

Agencies need to stay ahead of the curve and have a better understanding of the power of digital codes with the rising popularity of QR codes and the predicted boom for smart phone adoption rates.

QR Codes have great potential for advertisers and marketers. Though early, it is clear that they will also have great promise as a tool for ad agency new business.

According to Mashable, at least half of North Americans have been exposed to a digital barcode otherwise most popularly known as a QR code.

If you are new to QR Codes a simple Wikipedia definition:

A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with acamera, and smartphones that came into being in 1994. QR is the abbreviation for Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

While already popular in Japan, consumers in the United States are becoming more familiar with QR codes and what to do with them. If you’re unfamiliar with the business potential of QR codes, use the following 6 articles as a crash course in how to get started.

Why QR Codes Are Poised to Hit the Mainstream an excellent article by Mashable associate editor, Jennifer Van Grove, providing an overview of the potential for QR codes, an introduction to some popular smart phone apps, like Sticky Bits, that offers a tons of potential for brands and marketers.
New Browser Extension Generates 2D Barcodes On the Fly. TECHScanLife, maker of mobile barcode/QR code scanning applications, recently released a browser extension that lets users generate 2D barcodes — EZCode, QR code and Datamatriz — for any website, URL or image as they browse.
URL Shortener Bit.ly Now Generates QR Codes, Too. URL shortening service bit.ly users can now automatically generate QR codes that, when scanned with a mobile QR code reader, automatically direct users to shortened links.
HOW TO: Create and Deploy Your Own QR Codes. A very practical article that shows you how to create QR Codes for yourself. A super basic, step-by-step guide on how to create and deploy your own scannable messages.
HOW TO: Use QR Codes for Small Business Marketing. A very basic article for the use of QR codes for small business and links to QR code resources.
5 Unique Uses for QR Codes. Dana Oshiro provides some cool uses for QR codes that can help to unlock your thinking to their potential.

Here are some ideas for using QR Codes for ad agency new business:

Put a QR code containing your business contact details on your business cards.
Connect your printed agency promotional material to your mobile web site or special landing page with a Tag or a QR code.
Use a QR code as an electronic ticket for a special event.
Create a QR code on your agency’s web site to provide a quick link for viewers to your mobile site.
Use a QR code or Tag to collect prospective client email addresses to build a mailing list.
Include a QR code from your Keynote or Power point presentation to your preferred social profile.
Create a AR code on T-shirts to your agency’s blog or web site’s RSS feed.
Print a QR code on to a coupon for special discount or service (free market audit, brand evaluation, etc).

3 Comments | New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: Advertising, Blogs I Recommend, digital codes, Mashable, Michael Gass, mobile marketing, QR Codes | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Large Ad Agencies Coming Out of the Recession in Good Shape for New Business

December 7, 2010

Small to midsize ad agencies should take note of how the big agencies have reconfigured themselves to take advantage of the changing advertising landscape and make some changes of their own.

If you thought the big advertising agencies like Omnicom, the WPP Group, Interpublic (IPG), and Publicis are going the way of the dinosaur, you would be sadly mistaken. The demise of the big agencies has been widely perceived but is far from reality.

Big agencies have felt the wrath of the great recession just like agencies of all sizes. Like us all, they have also watched the disappearance of 15% media commissions and dramatic shifts in marketing budgets to digital and the rabid rise in popularity of social media. They didn’t bury their heads in the sand or rest on their laurels, big agencies have been busy preparing and plotting throughout the recession, not just to remain as a necessity but to gain even more market share.

In a recent Bloomberg Business Week article, “Don Draper’s Revenge”, staff writer, Felix Gillette, shares the advantages larger agencies are having over their smaller counterparts. This should be a wakeup call to all of the small to midsize advertising agencies and creative shops.

“The big guys with their lumbering overseers at the holding companies are not only dumb, they are also as good as dead. It all sounds great, at least to the Technorati. The only problem is, it’s not remotely true.” Felix Gillette

Here are some of the highlights from Felix’s article:

In October, the Big Four advertising agency holding companies—Omnicom, the WPP Group, Interpublic (IPG), and Publicis reported their quarterly earnings. Across the board, revenues were up.
Looking at decade-long period trends, there is little evidence of the big agencies decline.
All of the Big Four are hiring, prompting columnist Jim Edwards to write a recent post on BNET with the headline: “Help Wanted: Madison Avenue Is Hiring Like Crazy and Bonuses Are on the Rise.”
During 2009, the Big Four combined brought in $16.71 billion in revenue in the U.S., according to Advertising Age, more than double the $8 billion spent on digital display advertising in U.S. in the same year, across all companies.
The global holding companies continue to tinker with the mix of services in their portfolios and aren’t shy about using their resources to acquire little artist colonies to plug holes in their offerings.
In addition to stockpiling talent such as search engine optimizers, social media strategists, and Web developers, the big 4 are adding creative digital talent. “We’re adding guys that come from some of these small background places. They come here to paint on a bigger canvas,” says David Lubars, chairman and chief creative officer of Omnicom’s (OMC) BBDO North America.
All of the big agencies are working on multiple fronts to integrate their technology teams more deeply into every aspect of the creative process.

Felix writes, “In the darkest moments of 2009, with ad budgets withering away amid the global recession, the age-old despair of the creatives was at fever pitch and the din of the futurists at a near-deafening roar. But as the global ad market continues to thaw, the descendants of Madison Avenue not only are alive but are looking as well positioned as anybody to capitalize on the digital market moving forward.”

Read Felix Gillette’s article “Don Draper’s Revenge”

Leave a Comment » | Agency Leadership, Agency Networks, New Business Trends | Tagged: advertising agencies, big ad agencies, Blogs I Recommend, Digital, Interpublic, Michael Gass, Omnicom, Publicis, WPP Group | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

243 Ad Agencies Share How They are Different from the Rest for New Business

December 2, 2010

The agencies that win the most new business will have a differentiating position from their competitors.

In a recent blind ad agency new business survey I asked the question, Does your agency have a unique point of differentiation from competitors? Of the 430 agencies that answered the question, 76.8% (326) said that they did, 23.1% (98) said they did not.

I then asked, if you answered “yes”, please briefly describe. “how your agency is different from the rest.” The following are 243 agency responses to how they are different from every other agency.

I thought you might enjoy perusing through these responses. So, here is the good, the bad and the ugly how these 243 agencies said they were different from their competitors:

Performance-based website design. Mix of performance marketing and fixed bid work.
Focuses on manufacturers who sell to the professional tradesmen
Our focus is conversion optimization. Whether it’s a purchase either online or at retail, lead generation, customer acquisition, gaining distribution or any Key Performance Indicator, conversion is defined by whatever drives your business.
Greater emphasis on research and planning, competitive analysis, and strategy.
We specialize in Tribal Gaming where we leverage the excitement on the gaming floor to increase profits across all profit centers.
Rather than being a “Jack of all Trades” as most agencies are (if they have a budget, get it); my agency has picked a vertical market and I market our expertise in that market. We do one industry and we do it better than anyone else.
Our agency has been around over 60 years…experience is our main selling point.
Nimble and consultative
Type of client experience/expertise
Focused niche in high-end resorts/developments
We are a full service promotional agency that has a dedicated research/planning group to capture consumer insights – many traditional agencies have this function – but its rare for a promo shop – also rare for promo shop to have media/buying and planning, full digital suite (web dev, social media, SEO), creative, research, public relations, and shopper marketing int house, but we do. Naturally many promo agencies will claim they have all the above internally, but few do…
We’re in a same too business…very little differentation. Ultimately we hold our self up against the work and the results
As articulated by our clients, we are: Smart and strategic; We know business; We are creative with lots of energy; We like each other.
We do not seek “retainers”. We offer ala carte services with no questions. The client determines how they select to work with us. We do not dictate how they structure the relationship – we give them options.
As an integrated marketing communications firm, we are uniquely structured to provide multiple services including advertising, PR, direct, interactive, SEO/SEM, media placement, etc.
We’re very good, and keep our promises.
We approach integration differently than others.
Our focus is on the concept of the consumers desire for “escape”. We’ve positioned the agency as experts/specialists in this area.
New media has opened many doors for us — we are demonstrating a strategic and creative driven approach to WOM — this has proven to be a key differentiator — at least for now!
Specialization in key industry area
Focuses on “Challenger” brands in commodity marketplaces
We only work on food accounts: foodservice, deli and CPG food
While others typically concentrate on social media and their core competency, we’re repositioning ourselves as quick, smart and affordable.
We focus on helping b-to-b change agent CMOs develop new brands or reposition old brands to overturn the buying conventions of their industries.
Our staff is as efficient as staffs two to three times larger. That equals faster turn around and lower fees. No wasted layers.
We help mid size businesses own the leadership position by working with the C level.
Our agency strategy is to target hospitals/healthcare systems only….we have found a niche that has been extremely profitable over the past four years….whether it is creative awards such as Clios, one show etc; and/or strategy, we have become one of the top hospital marketing agencies in the country
We balance measurable outbound communications with innovative inbound marketing tactics to ensure clients get found, get heard, and get customers to buy.
Substantial experience in non-traditional agency services such as government outreach and education initiatives.
We are not all things to all people. We are message focused. We “Discover the Remarkable” in our clients and we use that as a way to tell their story.
Our culture is not the traditional silo approach to the way our company operates. We are not that traditional old school agency. We are effective in our communications and use an unique approach to our clients marketing needs
“Brand People Who Get What’s Next” is our positioning which defines our agency as brand marketing experts with the ability to seek out ideas and activation based on the ever evolving marketing mix
We focus on understanding how consumers/ businesses make decisions within each client category and build programs to impact that process.
Virtual agency with direct access to the most senior strategic leaders. Reputation lies in public affairs and public policy.
Specialists in positioning. Experience in prospect’s category.
Brand Alignment, beginning with internal alignment to get the team aligned with company goals and objectives, allowing them to deliver on the brand promise the client expects.
Vertical focus. Focus on sales & marketing integration and integration with digital channels.
Strength in channel communications.
Genuine integration across disciplines(walking the talk).
True account planning @ a “media agency”
We’ve become more more marketing agnostic. We move fast. We take risks. We focus on getting it right, not being right.
Resultants
We ventured into Social Media very early in the game and built a reputation as “Louisville’s Leading Interactive Marketing Company” with our robust blog, Twitter account and website. We have enjoyed a sizable increase in social media budgets for our clients and because we have this service in-house, we enjoy a larger profit margin on the work provided. We also have an IT staff of four in our 30-person shop so we build a lot of custom applications, websites and customer relationship programs. Plus we have an in-house editor for training videos as well as TV and Radio commercials. www.currentmarketing.com
Can’t give away our secrets!
Our philosophy/approach
Commissions used to offset fees, and extraordinary track record for results.
We’ve taken on emerging media with more fever than most, even incorporating it into our own sales efforts. Additionally, we are a full-service, who is also a certified apple developer, launching our own iPhone application providing marketing insights, strategies and concepts for small, medium and stage-2 economic development companies.
Specialization in merchandising.
Advertising for good – we create campaigns for clients and causes that promote positive social change, and advance the human condition.
Service, accessibility, response time, rates.

View the rest of the 193 responses through this link: 243 Ad Agencies Share How They are Different from the Rest for New Business

Click on the following link to download a copy of the 2010 Advertising Agency New Business Survey

8 Comments | Agency Leadership, Positioning | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass, positioning, survey | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

New Tool: Using Bit.ly Bundles for Ad Agency New Business

November 16, 2010

Bit.ly’s Bundles, a new multi-Link Sharing tool that uses one URL, helps with your content marketing, a key to using social media for ad agency new business.

All of your blog content does not have to be original. I usually write 1 original post/article to every 4 to 5 “resourced” articles.

Your agency’s blog should become a repository of information gathered from across the Web. Your blog should become the one-stop-shop of information for your target audience’s advertising and marketing needs. You’ll get a generous amount of credit from your audience by assembling it on their behalf.

Bit.ly’s new Bundles feature is another way for you to become the go-to-person for helpful information for your followers on Twitter and Facebook.

You can add multiple links to the Bit.ly entry field; just separate them with a space, then click “shorten” and “bundle” to quickly and simply create an all-in-one package of multiple links.

Every link you add will include a rich media preview and Bit.ly’s valuable metrics; your bundle can also be customized with a title and description.

Some additional of Bit.ly’s Bundle features:

Your bundle is stored in your link history so you can go back and add or remove links when you want
Arrange the order of your links in the bundle
Give your links titles and notes
Share your bundles with your friends on Facebook and Twitter
Discuss your bundle using the comments feature
Track your bundles performance with Bitly’s info + functionality’

Here’s an example of a Bundle that I created for this post: My Top 10 List of Useful Articles and Features for Ad Agency New Business, you may also find these articles to be of help for your social media marketing for ad agency new business:

1 Comment | Agency Blogs, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: bit.ly bundles, Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

How to launch a blog for ad agency for new business — fast!

October 15, 2010

Agencies can’t afford to wait 6 months for social media to help generate new business, they need the business now.

An agency blog serves as the central component for your agency’s social media strategy. I’ve compiled my suggested best practices to help you to get your agency’s blog up, focused and running quickly as well as rapidly building your agency’s credibility within this space.

An agency blog is like fishing. You want to fish for a particular fish, with a particular bait and you want to get the bait away from the boat so you don’t scare off the fish.

To get an agency blog up and running quickly you’ll need to do the following:

Have a clear objective: Create content to generate inbound leads for my agency’s new business.
Identify your target audience.
Compose a descriptor statement, subtitle that states emphatically what your blog is about (i.e. A Guys Guide to Marketing to Women, Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media, Data-Driven Marketing That Pays for Itself)
Create a unique title for the blog. It’s helpful if you can also tie in the title with a URL for the blog that you own.
URL, just be sure that you own it instead of having a wordpress.com, typepad.com or blogspot.com. That way you can change blogging platforms without losing your online traffic.
Know the key words that you want to dominate in Google Search. Be consistent to include your key words into your post titles.
Come up with 10 to 12 categories that you will write to. These will help guide your writing and will facilitate navigation of your blog’s content for your readers.
Start with a simple blogging platform that you can easily switch from in the future. My suggestion would be WordPress.com.
Keep your IT and Creative department out of the picture in the beginning stages. Keep the process as simple as possible and focus on the blog’s content.
Set a goal for writing 50 post within 30 days. This will help you to develop your research, resourcing, writing and publishing processes. You will quickly know what obstacles will inhibit you and allow you to figure out workarounds to keep the process moving.
Navigation is critical. Make your blog easy to navigate with Top Posts, Categories, etc. Install a search widget that is included in your blog’s sidebar and located above the fold.
Create a “welcome to your blog” and include your photo to make it more personable. The “welcome” copy should be an expansion of your blog’s descriptor statement.
Add these pages: About, Services, Speaking, Contact.
Add social media buttons for your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.
Be sure to add an RSS subscription button and create a Feedburner account through Google to get your link.
Add a subscription button for an email newsletter that is directly linked to your email provider account such as Vertical Response, Emma, Constant Contact, etc.
Jump start traffic by sending out an email newsletter at least monthly, preferably every other week. Content from the blog is used in the email newsletter. Don’t assume that just because you’ve written it, everyone has read it.
Generate initial traffic as well through Twitter using tools like Social Oomph and TweetAdder.

Create a format that you can use for every post:

Incorporate your key words into every blog post title.
A benefit/takeaway statement that begins each post that answers the question, “what is my benefit if I commit to read this post?” This is the inverted pyramid style of writing, like a newspaper report would use, lead with the conclusion.
Easy to read copy, breaking up long paragraphs and editing to make the post concise, a Readers Digest version, on average 350 to 450 words.
For the best return on your time investment, write post that are “evergreen.” Try not to “date” your content.
Consistently create valued content that is “reader-centric.”
Hyperlink to resources and attribution to primary sources.
Select one or more categories that are reflective of the blog’s content.
Add tags for people, places, entities that are referenced in your post.
Include “additional articles that may be of interest” at the bottom of the post with titles and links to 4 to 5 other post that you’ve written.
Include a photo or graphic in every post to make it visually pleasing.

Here is a collection of additional blogging resources:

11 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Creating Content, Social Media | Tagged: best practices, blogs, Blogs I Recommend, Cody Gass, content marketing, inbound lead generation, Michael Gass, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

25 Ad Agency Blogs, Choose the Best that Understands Social Media

October 7, 2010

Review and decide which of these 24 agency blogs best understands and utilizes the popularity of social media.

The following agency blogs have been submitted to Fuel Lines. Review and vote for the best agency blog-of-the-month. The winner will be featured in Fuel Lines article and included in the voting for agency blog of the year.

Cast your VOTE by Clicking Here

The agency blogs submitted for the month of September:

5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
B2B Ideas @ Work, MLT Creative, Metro Atlanta, GA
Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
Engauge, Atlanta, GA
Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK
Trendspottings, NOISE, Milwaukee, WI
We make it all better., Copeland, Victoria,BC, Canada
We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for August: Enviromedia Social Marketing, Austin, TX

If you would like to submitted your agency’s blog for next month’s vote, send me an email and include:

In your email’s subject line – Blog of the Month
Blog title:
URL:
Agency Name:
City/State:

Some additional agency blogging resources:

1 Comment | Agency Blogs | Tagged: blogs, Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Ways to Create An Ad Agency Blog That is Reader-Centric

October 6, 2010

A key to your agency’s blog success for new business is to put the user’s experience ahead of your own.

People don’t have time to work hard for their information. You must be prepared to do some work on their behalf if you want to grow your blog’s traffic and generate inbound leads.

Success on the Internet depends on multiplying the number of people who will visit a home page times the proportion who actually enlist your services –the percentage who become clients.

Writing for Web: it is the survival of the easiest. Giving attention to usability can greatly increase the amount of your blog’s visitors who turn into new clients.

Here are 10 ways to create an agency blog that is reader-centric and puts the user’s experience first and foremost:

Write to be easily found. Create an SEO strategy so that your blog’s content is found by your intended target audience. Consistency using certain key words in your post titles that aid in the search-ability of your posts. This same tactic also helps with Twitter and identifies content specific to your audience’s needs.
Make your blog site easy to navigate. Blogs are not often read chronologically. That makes navigation from a Category section located in your blog’s sidebar a very important feature. Creating blog categories will also provide a guide for your writing keeping you focused.
Provide the reader’s digest version for the information that you share. I would suggest limiting your posts to 350 to 450 words on average. Usually half the word count than you would use for print. It actually takes a bit more work to make post copy concise but your readers will love you for it.
Create numbered and bullet-pointed lists when possible. Readers love it when you created this type of executive summary of information.
If you want more readers focus on short, scannable content. 79 percent of Web users scan rather than read word-for-word. Highlight key words, indent quotes, etc.
Write for fast comprehension. Eliminate unnecessary copy. It takes more work to be brief. Try to stay within 350 to 450 words per post. Web content must be brief and get to the point quickly, because users are likely to be on a specific mission.
Write content that is evergreen to provide information that has a long and valued shelf-life.
Use your analytics to sharpen your blog’s appeal. Your readership will be your guide to relevant content.
Don’t think that just because you’re written it that everyone has read it. Repurpose content. Someone that found a post through SEO, might find another through your email newsletter, or through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
Take the time and select images for your post that convey useful, memorable information, not just decoration.

Why is it so important to create a blog that is “reader-centric”? To provide a great user experience with your online content, you must overcome these obstacles:

You are competing with hundreds of millions of other online sources. Advertisers are trying to break through the clutter by yelling more loudly and being more aggressive by deceptive means that hurts everyone’s credibility and raises users suspicions. Readers come to your site with their defenses engaged.
Online readers have a very short attention span. The average page visit lasts about 30 seconds. 10 minutes would be a long visit to a website. People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience.
Your competition is a click away. There is a low tolerance for poor site navigation, material that is hard to locate and sites that are slow to load.
Users want to construct their own experience by piecing together content from multiple sources. Many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave.
Web users are getting more selfish when they go online. People arrive at a website with a goal in mind, and they are ruthless in pursuing their own interest and in rejecting whatever the site is trying to push.
Online behavior is very search-dominated which makes your content search dependent.

What are some of the benefits for creating a “reader-centric” blog?:

It will improve the success rate for communicating key messages.
Increase your credibility.
Convert readers into loyal followers and advocates.
Generate more traffic which leads to higher conversion rates of readers to new clients.

Some additional articles that may be of interest:

Learn more with a full day, Social Media | Ad Agency New Business Workshop

15 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Creating Content, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: Blog, Blogs I Recommend, content marketing, Michael Gass, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

5 Tips for Handling Social Media Negativity for Ad Agency New Business

October 1, 2010

You can’t let a few negative people dictate how you use social media for ad agency new business.

Unless you are Rush Limbaugh, most of us don’t enjoy having others say negative things about us. We have a desire to be liked. But please know that if you participate in social media you are guaranteed to get some negative comments. The larger your followers, the more negative comments you can expect.

Some of this negativity can be very rude and nasty. But you can’t let a few negative people dissuade you for using social media for agency new business.

At times early adopters of social media or those that are using it strictly for personal pleasure can act as though they have been sworn-in as a special social media detective ready and willing to point out when people are using it incorrectly from their point-of-view. But if you can’t build relationships, generate leads and build your business through social media, you are wasting valuable time.

Here are of my 5 tips for handling negativity:

1. Consider the source.

When I receive a negative comment to a blog post or through Twitter, the very first thing I do is a little background check of that person. I can soon ascertain if they are normally negative and love to play the devils advocate with others or if they are a respected social media participant and/or a member of my online community. I consider the source before I choose to even respond.

For instance, if someone pops off with a negative response to me through Twitter, they are not in the advertising industry and have less than a 100 Twitter followers, why would I even respond to their negative comment and then expose it to my 25,000 + followers? I would probably choose to “unfollow” them and even “block” them from following my Twitter account.

2. Know upfront, everyone isn’t going to like you.

I like it when people like me and no matter the source, it often bothers me if someone doesn’t. But, that is life. You are going to have an appeal to a certain audience and to others you will have little or no appeal. To have success in social media, you cannot be all things to all people. If you try to appeal to everyone, you will appeal to no one.

3. Be thick-skinned but not hard-headed.

When you get through some of the negativity as a participant in social media, you can develop a thick skin and not let negative comments affect you, or not take it so personal if someone unfollows you in Twitter. But when you are generating lots of negative comments or unfollows it pays to take note and reevaluate your social media tactics. Do pay attention to those that you are trying to reach. They will help you to hone your appeal.

4. Learn from your mistakes then let it go.

I once had an intern that I was paying to do research. The person came up with a great list of companies who were using social media and how they were participating. I wrote an article and published the list on my blog.

A week later, while I was on vacation, I received a very angry voice mail from a highly respected, early adopter of social media who wanted to know why I had stolen his list. I was mortified, did some quick research and discovered my list was exactly the same as his, even the fonts. What I felt was beyond embarrassment, but I made a quick call to apologize and immediately took down the article. I now always double-check my sources.

Take your lumps when you’ve made a mistake, learn from it and then let it go.

5. Follow the Golden Rule.

Be nice. Simply follow the Golden Rule and “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” There’s a huge difference between helpful criticism and being a jerk.

I speak from experience when I tell you that the positives far outweigh the negatives for your participation in social media. It provides a multiplicity of benefits. The greatest being your personal and professional enrichment. That it can generate agency new business is like icing on the cake.

3 Comments | Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, Social Media, Twitter | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, negativity, Social Media, Twitter | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The Top 14 List of Advertising Agency Networks for New Business

September 24, 2010

A network of advertising agencies can improve your agency’s new business through collaboration, strategic alliances and training.

Whenever I speak, I’m often asked to recommend an agency network. There were very few online sources that had collected this type information in one place, so I decided to compile my own list that I hope you find helpful. I’ve included a brief synopsis of information, along with web links, contact information and Twitter accounts for each.

Feel free to share others you would like to see included.

A strong agency network can:

Help with new business introductions and attract new business internationally
Provide new business training for agency staff
Enhance best practices
Provide peer groups
Improve agency operations
Create channels for outsourcing work
Assist in implementing research
Provide access to common media and research s
Arrange annual conferences, workshops and seminars
Provide access to the expertise and specialized capabilities of network partners
Arrange for group insurance plans, legal services, etc.
Create and share results of business and salary surveys

The Top 14 List of Advertising Agency Networks:

4 A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies)

Headquarters: New York, NY

Website: www.aaaa.org

Mission of AAAA: To improve and strengthen the advertising agency business in the United States by counseling members on operations and management, by providing the collective experience of the many to each, by fostering professional development, by encouraging the highest creative and business standards,and by attracting excellent people to the business.

Nancy Hill, President and Chief Executive Officer. For more information on membership, benefits or events, click here

Follow the 4As on Twitter: http://twitter.com/4As

AMR (Agency Management Roundtable)

Headquarters: Surprise, AZ

Website: www.agencyroundtable.com

Helping Agencies Grow to the Next Level

Agency Management Roundtable (AMR) is a management consulting business that specializes in helping owners of small- and medium-sized marketing communication companies (less than 30 employees) move up to their next performance level—and keep improving.

For additional information you may contact Dave Wood, email

Visit AMR’s Blog

AMIN (Advertising and Marketing International Network)

Headquarters: Viola, KS

www.aminworldwide.com

AMIN is a global alliance of independently owned advertising agencies. The alliance spans the globe, with member networks in North America, Europe and Asia.

For additional information contact, Janna Sperry Sundby, Membership Manager, AMIN Worldwide: jsundby@aminworldwide.com

The AMIN Network Blog

Follow AMIN on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AminEurope

ComVort Group

Multi-national clients demand and expect a full breadth of services from their global agencies. The ComVort Group is the only marketing communication organization that offers capillary services on a global scale.

Headquarters: Barcelona

Website: www.comvort.com

Our agencies leverage the ComVort network’s unique structure – as well as their own extraordinary commitment toward their clients – to create custom-tailored solutions that helps our clients succeeds.

If you want to get more general information about the ComVort Group, in English, Spanish and German you can contact ComVort’s Global COO | Brando Brandstäter

ICOM

Headquarters: Rollinsville, CO

Website: www.icomagencies.com

ICOM is one of the world’s largest networks of independent advertising and marketing communications agencies.

Revenues: (US) $2.4 billion
Members: 70+ agencies based in 50+ countries
Coverage: 95% of the world’s markets
Clients: 2000+
Offices: 87

Curious about membership? Have some more questions? Click here for the contact page

in’ agencies

Headquarters: London

Website: www.in-advertising.com

in’ agencies work for more than 1500 brands on a domestic, regional, multi-domestic or global basis.

10 out of the 20 most famous brands, as named by Interbrands, work with one or more IN agencies. Many brands use a local IN agency for their domestic business, and other agencies from the IN network for work abroad.

For contact information: click here

INBA

Headquarters: Farmington, CT

Website: www.inba.com

INBA is a global network of independently owned, mid-size, marketing communications firms. INBA is represented by 23 members and affiliates in 25 countries.

INBA is international. But not global. That may sound like a contradiction, but we think it’s a distinction. We’re located in key markets around the world. That makes us international. But, unlike mammoth global agencies, we aren’t mirror images of each other. Each of our member agencies has its own personality and capabilities. Each is steeped in the culture and business practices of its home country.

For additional information contact: Peggy Thompson

Intermark Agency Network (IAN)

Website: www.intermarketnetwork.com

A different concept in agency networks.

IAN (Intermarket Agency Network) is a forum for leaders of noncompetitive marketing agencies to openly exchange knowledge in a collaborative setting. A nationwide association of carefully selected agencies, its members meet twice annually to freely discuss important issues like new business, financials, HR, creativity, growth and much more. No topic is off limits.

For details about joining IAN, contact Ed Kleban, Executive Director, at ekleban@juicecoms.com

MAGNET Global Network

Headquarters: Pittsburg, PA

Website: www.magnetglobal.org

MAGNET is a collaborative network of the world’s top marketing and advertising agencies. MAGNET and its member agencies represent more than 800 clients worldwide with total annual billings of more than $1.6 billion USD.

For additional information, contact Cheri Gmiter, Executive Director

Follow MAGNET on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MagnetGlobalNet

Second Wind Network

Headquarters: Wyomissing, PA

Website: www.secondwindonline.com

Second Wind is a powerful information resource designed with one thing in mind – helping smaller and midsize advertising agencies, design firms and related businesses to be better.

Second Wind was founded by former agency owner and entrepreneur Anthony P. Mikes. Mr. Mikes owned and operated design studios and agencies for twenty-five years before launching Second Wind in 1988.

Follow Second Wind on Twitter: http://twitter.com/secondwindbuzz

TAAN

Headquarters: Boston, MA

Website: www.taan.org

We are one of the world’s oldest, largest and most successful networks of carefully selected independent advertising agencies. Today there are TAAN member agencies operating on every continent, in more than 47 markets worldwide.

TAAN is an association of carefully selected, highly talented, independently operated marketing communications agencies in the U.S., Europe, South America and Asia/Pacific. Each TAAN agency is well-recognized in its home market and represents leading marketers in its area.

The TAAN network is built with the concept that shared knowledge and intelligence creates powerful insight in addressing the goals of agencies and marketers throughout the world.

For additional information you may contact TAAN President, Peter Gerritsen

Follow TAAN on Twitter at twitter.com/TAANnews

T-CAAN

Headquarters: Toronto, ON

Website: www.tcaan.ca

T-CAAN is the oldest and largest network of independent Canadian agencies and has developed strong working relationships with similar groups in the U.S.A., U.K., Japan, Jamaica, Europe and Hong Kong.

Every agency within the T-CAAN network operates as a branch-office, providing fast, top-quality and dependable service for all member agencies. Assistance can vary from the provision of backup services and field assistance to the exchange of creative ideas, research data, or financial information. The objective is to make each member stronger through the free flow of information and resources.

For additional information you can contact the Executive Director (Alice Zaharchuk) by e-mail at marketingmonkey@sympatico.ca

thenetworkone

Headquarters: London, England

Website: www.thenetworkone.com

We provide the major advantages of belonging to an international agency network, at a price every agency can afford. Membership benefits include: access a custom-built international network on-demand; an insurance policy, don’t lose pitches because you can help the client in other countries; a proactive opportunity to target new international prospects and receive partnership requests from other member agencies.

The major part of our activity will continue to be the introduction of new business to independent agencies.

For questions you may contact Julian Boulding, President julian.boulding@thenetworkone.com. For membership info, click here

TheNetworkOne Blog

Worldwide Partners

Headquarters: Denver, CO

Website: www.worldwidepartners.com

Founded in 1938 the Worldwide Partners network now the world’s largest owner-operated agency network: $3.4 billion in billings, 93 agencies, 55 countries across Asia, EMEA, Latin America and North America.

Our mission is clear: We’ll give you more leverage, resources, out reach and firepower than you have as a stand-alone shop without giving up ownership. Whether you have international business or not, we can help you with virtually every aspect of your business.

For additional information contact, Al Moffatt, WPI’s President and CEO, alm@worldwidepartners.com

Missing Opportunities:

I found that most of these groups are missing a prime opportunity in utilizing social media to enhance communications and collaboration within their “ready-made network” of agency members. But hopefully they’ll soon see the what a valuable communication’s channel they are failing to tap into.

Click here to view a list of Independent International Advertising, Direct Marketing, Media Buying, and Public Relations Networks

If you feel that any other agency association/network should be added to this list, please add them through the comments below.

23 Comments | Agency Leadership, Agency Networks, New Business Trends | Tagged: 4A's, AAAA, Advertising Agency Networks, Agency Roundtable, AMIN Worldwide, Blogs I Recommend, ComVort, ICOM, in-advertising, INBA, Intermark Agency Network (IAN), MAGNET Global, Michael Gass, Peter Gerritsen, Second Wind Network, SoDA, T-CAAN, TAAN, thenetworkone, Tony Mikes, Worldwide Partners | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agencies: 10 Tips That Separates the Best From the Rest

September 23, 2010

The agencies that win the most new business have a differentiating position from their competitors.

“Most managers invest their time and energy in trying to make their firms better, when in fact they should be also be working to make their firms different” – From Positioning for Professionals

I had the privilege to attend a Tim Williams seminar, “What Separates the Best from the Rest,” when I was the new business director for a regional advertising agency. Since that time I have read everything he has written.

Tim understands and can articulate agency positioning for new business better than anyone. He has a new book that was recently released that I personally recommend to you, Positioning for Professionals: How Professional Knowledge Firms Can Differentiate Their Way to Success.

10 quick tips from Positioning for Professionals:

Bigness is no longer a competitive advantage
Its better to be a profit leader than a market share leader
There is no competitive advantage in doing what others do
There is no such thing as full service
Most professional service brands are not overpriced, they are just underexclusive
Most firms are engaged in fighting turf wars, instead of finding new turf
No customer is going to buy a vague brand
For a brand to be in the middle of the road = death
“Boxed in?”, no box means no strategy
The main difference between mediocre firms and great ones is not just vision, but execution

I thought you might also enjoy a perusing through some of the book’s best parts, an expansion on these 10 tips:

Tim Williams leads Ignition (www.ignitiongroup.com), a consultancy devoted to helping marketing communications firms create and capture more value. He is author another book that I highly recommend, “Take a Stand for Your Brand: Building a Great Agency Brand from the Inside Out” ranked by Amazon as one of the top ten books on brand building.

2 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Trends, Positioning | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, differentiation, Ignition Group, Michael Gass, positioning, Tim Williams | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

7 Benefits from the Right Positioning for Ad Agency New Business

September 20, 2010

The FOUNDATION of an ad agency’s new business program is its positioning.

When you have the right positioning its like fishing for a specific fish, with a particular bait. You know where the fish are, what bait is appealing to them, the right equipment to use and you have developed the expertise to catch the real trophies.

“By appealing to everyone, brands end up appealing to no one. Standing for everything is the same as standing for nothing.” Tim Williams, author of, Positioning for Professionals

So, the starting point for a successful agency’s new business program needs to be positioning. But it is also the place where most agencies fail.

“The common failing among agencies seeking new business is the inability, or unwillingness, to name what they stand for,” Bob Lundin, Agency search consultancy Jones Lundin Beals

I hope these 7 benefits for having the right positioning, will spur you to more narrowly focus and define the uniqueness of your agency for new business.

The right positioning provides:

A clearer direction for how the agency should spend its time, money and resources. It is amazing how these things fall into place so easily once the agency’s rudder has been set by the right positioning.
A broader market area for your agency. A strong positioning, particularly coupled with social media can greatly expand your market area affordably. The Russo Group, Lafayette, LA, now generates over 90% of their new business outside of their market.
A specific target audience. Through positioning you can have a well-defined criteria for identifying who are your agency’s best prospects that are reflective of its strengths and expertise.
A smaller group of competitors. There will be fewer agencies that do what your agency does. You’ll be able to identify a smaller group of competitors that you can use to greater enhance your agency’s point of differentiation.
A greater winning percentage for new business. Your agency can become the 800 pound gorilla, the agency with the moxie but only by having the right positioning. An agency that specialized in marketing academic medical centers, refuses to do speck creative, wins a greater amount of their pitches and those accounts are profitable from day one!
Improved profitability. First, you can command premium pricing because your agency is viewed as a specialist not a generalist. Secondly, your agency will know its playing field better than most and is not spending excessive time trying to get up to speed with every new account.
Greater appeal. Instead of always chasing business, it’s possible to have business start chasing you. When prospective clients know what your agency stands for, they’ll seek you out.

Additional articles that may be of interest to you:

Leave a Comment » | Agency Branding, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Trends, Positioning | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Bob Lundin, Jones Lundin Beals, Michael Gass, positioning, Tim Williams | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Resources for Successfully Pitching for Ad Agency New Business

September 17, 2010

If you want to win pitches for new business I would encourage you to be a constant student of public speaking.

Recently I wrote an article that received a lot of attention, “Steve Jobs: 10 Presentation Tactics for Ad Agency New Business.”

Every new business pitch should do three things: inform, educate and entertain.

This week my resource is a bit dated but can be just as helpful. I’d like to go back in time to the 1930′s, “Monroe’s motivated sequence,” is a technique for organizing persuasive speeches that is still in use today. It was developed by Alan H. Monroe at Purdue University.

Monroe’s helpful technique for organizing speeches consists of the following five steps:

Attention. Get the attention of your audience that they have a PROBLEM using a detailed story, shocking example, dramatic statistic, quotations, etc.
Need. Concisely EXPLAIN the problem, that it is significant, won’t go away by itself and convince your audience that there needs is a need for action. Use examples, statistics, research, etc.
Satisfy. You need to let them know that you have the SOLUTION. Provide specific solutions that can be implemented to solve the problem.
Visualization. Tell the audience what will happen your solution is IMPLEMENTED or what happens if it does not take place. Be visual and detailed.
Action. Tell the audience what action they can take personally to solve the problem.

Additional presentation resources that you may find helpful:

5 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Pitches | Tagged: Alan H. Monroe, Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass, Monroe's Motivated Sequence, Pitches, presentations, Purdue, Steve Jobs | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

4 Ways Goals Can Enhance Creativity for Ad Agency New Business

August 16, 2010

Shift Your Ad Agency’s Thinking to Stimulate Creativity, Spur Innovation and Create Enthusiasm for New Business.

A lot of small to midsize ad agencies have chosen to take shelter during the recession, but that strategy doesn’t provide any creative stimulation for ad agency new business. Perhaps the better strategy would be to dramatically shift your agency’s thinking, spur innovation and enthusiasm by setting some challenging new business goals.

I owe inspiration for this post to a recent Stephan Shapiro, a well-known business innovation author, speaker and consultant. In a recent article, , How Goals Enhance Creativity, he said,

“… businesses are driven by goals, how can we leverage them as a tool for enhancing creativity? One way is to use stretch targets. REALLY stretch targets.

What if they set a target of growing by 50% a year? It might have a fundamentally different impact on the organization.

That level of growth is unprecedented. It will certainly stretch the way they think. A 14% improvement can most likely be attained through conventional thinking. But a 50% growth target would require some breakthrough thinking; radical ideas.

The future gives them the present, rather than present giving them the future.”

4 Ways Goals Can Enhance Creativity for Ad Agency New Business:

Shifts thinking. Instead of being reactive, it provides a proactive approach to generating new business. A shift from defense to offense and getting your agency out of its hunkered down, bunker mentality.
Stimulates creativity. I have never liked setting unrealistic goals. To me they are meaningless. But I do embrace robust new business goals, that will stretch and challenge your agency’s creative thinking to attain them.
Spurs innovation. Most agencies are not good in creating a consistent new business program. They are always busy. Client work comes before their own. But, there are solutions to these types of challenges, always a “work-around” if you will take the time to figure out an innovative solution.
Creates enthusiasm. Big goals can be the spark to generate a spirit of enthusiasm. A rallying point for your beleaguered troops. These may seem like the darkest days your agency has ever faced but in reality this could be the greatest of times for growing your agency. You will NEVER have another opportunity like this in your lifetime. These times present the perfect conditions for small to midsize agencies to shine.

I would encourage you to read Steve’s full article, “How Can Goals Enhance Creativity?”

3 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, New Business Trends | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Creativity, goals, innovation, Michael Gass, Stephan Shapiro | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The 2010 Creativity 50 for Ad Agency New Business

August 11, 2010

There is a paradigm shift for how new business is being acquired for small to mid-size ad agencies.

Innovation and creativity are important elements for any small to midsize ad agency. They are also critical for ad agency new business. They can set your agency apart from the pack.

Creativity Online provides excellent innovative examples to spark some creative ideas of your own. Just be sure that you use some of your agency’s creative moxie for business development.

Just in case you missed it, here’s the inspiring 2010 Creativity top 50.

Ad Age and Creativity’s fifth annual list of the most inspiring and innovative thinkers and doers from among advertising, marketing, designers, directors, entrepreneurs, and others who have made the largest impact upon all creative cultures. Be sure to check out : Ashton Kutcher, Mike Hughes, Linus Karlsson and Paul Malmstrom along with Ty Montague, Ian Tait.

Care to share your favorites from this elite group?

Additional articles that may be of interest:

1 Comment | Agency Leadership, New Business Trends | Tagged: Ad Age, Advertising, Blogs I Recommend, Creativity | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

52 Facts About Social Media for Ad Agency New Business

August 6, 2010

The following is a treasure trove of information that you will want to have handy as you discuss social media with your agency’s clients and prospective clients.

Danny Brown, co-founder and partner at Bonsai Interactive, pulled together this great resource that you will want to bookmark and handy. Danny does a great job of filtering through a lot of published facts to pull together these 52 from the 5 most popular social networks.

Here are a few tidbits but you’ll want to check out Danny’s article, 52 cool facts about social media, for the rest:

The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.
Twitter’s web platform only accounts for a quarter of its users – 75% use third-party apps.
Twitter gets more than 300,000 new users every day.
80% of companies use LinkedIn as a recruitment tool.
Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are on LinkedIn.
The very first video uploaded to YouTube was called “Me at the Zoo”, on 23rd April 2005.
YouTube receives more than 2 billion viewers per day.
77% of Internet users read blogs.
Bloggers use an average of five different social sites to drive traffic to their blog.

Danny’s blog, is featured in the AdAge Power 150 list as well as Canada’s Top 50 Marketing Blogs, and won the Hive Award for Best Social Media Blog at the 2010 South by South West festival. I would encourage you to be a subscriber.

Additional social media | new business articles that may be of interest:

2 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Social Media | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, business development, Danny Brown, Michael Gass, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

6 Simple Steps for Using Content Marketing to Attract Ad Agency New Business

August 4, 2010

Relevant and valuable content will attract a clearly defined and understood target audience.

Content marketing is an overarching term that involves the creation and sharing of content for the purpose of engaging your prospective clients. Educating your potential clients results in building your agency’s brand awareness and recognition as a thought leader and industry expert. The primary objective is lead generation for new business opportunities.

Here are 6 steps for using content marketing to attract prospective clients:

First, define your target audience
Second, determine what are their marketing and advertising challenges, “what keeps them up at night”
Third, create a blog as your central communication platform that becomes a repository of information, “a one stop shop” that provides consistent solutions, rich helpful content
Fourth, continually measure how well you’re doing and adjust as you go
Fifth, “Jump start” your blog’s traffic, accelerate its growth by repurposing content through other social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn using third party tools to that help to make the process easy to manage and time efficient.
Sixth, now, what you’ve done for yourself, do for your clients

Additional articles that may be of interest:

11 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Content Marketing, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: blogs, Blogs I Recommend, content marketing, lead generation, Michael Gass | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Don’t Cap Your Ad Agency’s New Business Pipeline

July 22, 2010

An ad agency’s new business pipeline isn’t something you can just turn on and off. It needs to continually flow, constantly generating leads.

While there are different approaches to successful agency new business development programs, they are made up of some common building blocks. The first secret to a new business program is getting started. The second secret is developing a new business program that your agency can consistently execute and sustain.

As you create a new business plan for your agency you should think in terms of “what is sustainable when our agency is at its busiest”.

Many well-intentioned plans are often derailed by success. When the agency starts to get busy the new business program is put on the back-burner. This creates a roller coaster effect for new business. Your new business pipeline often takes 3 to 4 months to begin generating leads so it is very inefficient to turn it on and off like a spigot.

Often, when your agency is beginning to get busy with new business, it is the best time to step-up your efforts. What agency wouldn’t want to be in the position of being able to turn away business. To be more selective of the type of client accounts your agency is willing to accept.

To be consistent, any agency new business program must:

1. Be realistically achievable within the culture and resources of the agency

Set realistic goals. There are a lot of agencies, when asked what are their new business goals will say, ”we want to double in size” or ”we want to take our agency to the next level”. This aren’t realistic goals unless you have a plan and that plan will be dependent upon what resources of time, personnel and budget that are available for implementation.

2. Have a manager who is held accountable for its execution

If everyone is responsible for your agency’s new business then no one is responsible.

Someone must be accountable, have the authority and ability to drive it. There’s a lot of pushing, prodding and poking that must be done to keep the new business program working. Someone must be responsible for keeping it focused and on track.

3. Top management must be intimately involved in the process

No one in the agency feels the pressure to succeed more than the agency principals. Like it or not, they are the face of the agency. Their involvement is important for new business and they shouldn’t shy away from this responsibility. To maintain consistency, new business, must be a priority in their daily responsibilities.

Mandate that your agency has an integrated new business plan. Unbelievably, 62% of agencies don’t have a planned new business effort.
Define your agency’s positioning. This is the starting point for any ad agency new business program. It is a fundamental prerequisite for small and midsize agencies. But it is also the place where most agencies where most fail. Positioning is everything.
Choose a target audience. This will not deter your agency from still obtaining “other” type of clients through your personal networks and referrals within your local market, but it will go a very long way to creating awareness, appeal, differentiation and focus for your agency’s new business program. It makes new business so much easier when you do.
Resolve to stay the course. New business efforts are relational and take time to come to fruition.

Some additional articles that may be of interest:

5 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips | Tagged: Ad Agencies, Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Is social media making many ad agencies look and act the same?

July 20, 2010

It’s time to un-level the playing field. To have success with social media, agencies need to fly a differentiated social media flag.

Small-to midsize ad agencies tend to constantly promote how they are alike rather than how they are different from other agencies. They tend to look and sound just the same.

When agencies gave up fighting against the social media tide and decided to dive in, instead of using this new communications channel to showcase how they were different, they ended up just following the lead of others. Once again positioned as a generalists instead of a specialist and following the “safe-way” rather than the “smart-way.”

I had hoped that agencies would have learned this lesson by now, “if you try to appeal to everyone, you will appeal to no one”.

Having spent my entire advertising career in new business, I know first hand the financial pressures small to mid-size agencies are under. I understand their reservation for not wanting to focus to narrowly on a target audience or discipline. I know all of the excuses for not wanting to drive a stake in the ground and define themselves for who they are. But agencies are missing a grand opportunity.

Social media provide agencies to boldly declare who their target audience truly is, what their points of differentiation are. Social media allows agencies this freedom without fear of ”throwing the baby out with the bath-water.” It provides favorable, acceptable conditions for the agency’s principals to fly their differentiated flag proudly without fear of missing “other” opportunities that use to come by way of their personal networks and referrals.

Agencies tend to look and act the same because they merely have a check list of social media tools and platforms to prove their participation. But their social media practice has no strategy, no connection to a particular target audience, no demonstration of how they are different. Merely showcasing that they are a bona-fide member of the global social media community.

Here are my 5 tips for flying your agency’s differentiated social media flag:

Create an agency blog for a specific targeted audience. If you don’t, it will lack focus and be nothing more than mishmash that has no flavor , appeal or audience.
Have an objective. I would suggest the objective to be using social media for your agency’s new business pipeline. Inbound new business leads through content marketing that positions you as a thought leader to your best prospective clients.
Remember that social is about people. I would strongly suggest that you don’t incorporate your blog into the branding of your agency’s website. Give it room to breath and grow on its own. Let your agency’s blog be a reflection of key persons within the agency instead of trying to socialize an entity. You connect with people online the same way you do offline, but online you can efficiently reach more people over a much broader geographical area. People want to work with people that they know, trust and like. Social media provides you with this great opportunity to network.
Don’t be afraid to use social media differently than the way it was intended. Some social media purists act like Barney Fife and may threaten you with”citizens arrest,” but there is just one social media rule for you to keep in mind, there are no rules! This is still the wild, wild west.
Never lose your marketing mind when it comes to social media. Remember that it is just another communication’s channel. I have had much better success working with the agency “baby boomers” and their getting up-to-speed with social media than younger staffers who understand this new communication technology but they lack the experience in marketing and advertising. Don’t be intimidated. It’s not as hard as it may appear to get your marketing mind around the social media space.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

11 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, New Business Tools, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, Michael Gass, small ad agencies, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ideas for Creating an Ad Agency New Business War Room

July 15, 2010

A command center (often called a war room) is any place that is used to provide centralized command to determine the best course of action.

Every agency needs a “new business war room”, a place within your building that is organized for and focused on nothing but new business.

Usually the new business person is the “odd duck” of the agency. Why? No one else likes doing what they have to do, which is to sell the agency. But it is amazing at how quickly the new business director can get roped into almost everything but agency new business. Endless meetings throughout most days with no time left for execution of the agency’s new business strategy.

When I served as the VP of new business for the BOHAN agency in Nashville, we were fortunate to have our own space dedicated solely for the purpose of new business. We often called it our New Business War Room, because this was the place that we were able to focus on the lifeblood of the agency’s new business efforts.

No matter the size of your agency, I would suggest that you designate an area just for the purpose of agency new business. Here are some of the features, equipment and arrangements we had for our new business area that may spark some ideas of your own:

Multipurpose Room:

Comfortable seating for about 15 people. The chairs were on rollers and could be easily re-arranged or moved entirely out of the way.
Not a typical conference table, but two tables that could be set apart for workshops, focus groups, etc. A large whiteboard, flip-chart, a large bulletin type display board. This provided us our own space where we could keep visuals of on-going new business projects.
Large flat screen TV, wireless Apple keyboard and presentation remote, Apple Airport, DVD player and sound bar.

Work Room:

Equipment and materials to create customized notebooks, presentation-leave behinds, RFP covers and special delivery boxes.
A collection of agency work that was well organized, that could be easily gathered and customized for a specific prospect.
Storage for agency collateral materials, new business direct mail pieces, printed agency newsletters, prospective client gift items such as hats, shirts, pens, thumb-drives, etc.
Files: Hard copies of previous RFPs, new business intel on current prospective clients, materials from prior pitches.

New Business Server:

On our agency’s server, we had a designated area for new business that was password protected. Only a limited number of staff persons had access. It included:

RFP resources: to help with new RFP requests, we had all of the previous RFPs broken down into sections such as Experience, Staff, Billings, Case Studies, Processes, Client Lists, Work Samples. This made the RFP process much easier.
New business intelligence on prospective clients: current news, press releases, staffing info, current work, agency relationships, etc.
Intelligence on competitor agencies: client lists, news updates, press releases, staff changes, etc.
Electronic prospective client data base, a collection of prospective client data from sources such as The List.
Electronic samples of the agency’s creative work and a system to add new work consistently.
Web-based microsites for prospective clients, specific to certain areas such as healthcare and leisure products. Two of the agency’s core strengths.
Downloadable Agency Fact Sheet and Agency Brochures that were specific to certain prospective client groups.

Offices:

Quiet, comfortable, individual offices, designed for long hours, for the entire new business team.
Nice common areas for collaborative discussions.
Our own kitchen area with bar seating. A nice plus for prospective client meetings as well as meetings for our our agency staff.
Our offices included a large balcony overlooking the city of Nashville, where we also entertained prospective clients, after hour drinks, grilling, etc.

Having our own space on a separate floor of the agency allowed us to stay rifled focused on new business. Making calls, gathering intelligence, cultivating and engaging our prospects. It was amazing the amount of work we were able to do.

Systems were in place to keep us in the loop of the new creative work and we had consistent communications with our staff regarding the efforts of the new business team working on their behalf. We still participated in the monthly and quarterly meetings but avoided being brought in for a lot of the daily meetings that went on in one of the agency’s other four conference rooms.

I hope this can serve to help spark your own ideas for creating a space for your agency’s new business. Be sure and share some of your best ideas us.

9 Comments | Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips | Tagged: Blogs I Recommend, BOHAN, business development, Michael Gass | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agency Blog of the Month: Murdoch Marketing

July 13, 2010

Out of a a group of 53 ad agencies, Murdoch Marketing’s blog, We Think. We Can. Blog., was selected as Fuel Lines’s Blog of the Month for June capturing 40% of the votes casts. They are a 27 year old full service agency located in Holland, MI.

Why We Get Social

We Think. We Can. Social Media – Our clients know first hand how seriously We Do social media. Whether it’s managing multiple Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn accounts, blogging for our clients or creating viral videos, we know that at the end of the day only one thing matters – tangible results. That’s why we measure. Our social media metrics track interactions, site visits, analytics and rankings. And the fun doesn’t stop there. We drill down into the social media-sphere to ensure our clients are forming valuable relationships with their audience. – Murdoch Marketing

How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for July’s blog of the month.

Ad agencies all need an integrated social media strategy if they are ever going to see the payoff from their participation in social media. An agency blog should be the central component. The place you can drive targeted online traffic through SEO, Twitter, email newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The blog becomes the “gateway” to your agency and the“face” of your agency. As important as it was to have an agency website, it is now equally important to have an agency blog.

But … having a blog isn’t something you check off your list of social media “to do list.” Nor is it a place to lead with agency capabilities and credentials. It must be of benefit to your audience.

Here is a collection of agency blogging resources: