Study: 69% of Businesses Increased New Business Leads Through Blogging

September 30, 2011

Blogging greatly improves search engine optimization, which has proven to be a key lead generating factor for new business.

How new business is being acquired for ad agencies is currently undergoing a paradigm shift; instead of pursuing clients, it’s now more important for your prospective clients to find your agency. Blogs make their search easier.

2011 HubSpot ROI Study

In a recent 2011 HubSpot ROI Study,  69% of businesses surveyed said that blogging attributed their lead generation success. The study also found that 75% of businesses believed SEO was a primary factor. The study shows companies that blog attract 55% more website visitors than non-blogging companies.

Blogs generate far 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 - through 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 - create a blog around your agency’s culture and let your personality shine through. People will be attracted to you. People like to associate with people they 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 tell their friends, who tell their friends … and so on.
  • Authority/credibility – blogging allows you to become an expert in the minds of your prospective clients.

Ad Agency Website | Blog

Your agency’s website functions well as an online brochure, a place for agency credentials and credibility. A website doesn’t have the potential that an agency blog has for significant online traffic and provide prospects a reason to visit often. A blog can be the gateway to your agency. Through content marketing, focused toward a specific target audience, an agency’s blog can become a great lead generation tool for new business.

Your agency’s website is about YOU but your blog should be about THEM. Blogging keeps your agency focused on what is important to your prospective clients. It forces you speak to their benefit instead of agency credentials and capabilities. Blog content, if developed correctly, will have more appeal to your prospective client audience because it is focused on their marketing needs and challenges.

15 Comments | Agency Blogs, New Business Trends, Social Media | 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

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

Social Media: 10 Idea Starters to Keep Fresh Content Churning

August 9, 2011

Content creation is an important part of social media success for ad agency new business, but it is also difficult to maintain without a little help.

I’m going on my 5th year of creating content for my blog. I’ve found that my reading always seems to help fuel my writing and inspire ideas.

So first and foremost, establish a focused reading program that is centered around a specific target audience. When you do, finding resources and developing content becomes mush easier because it is focused.

Here are 10 additional idea starters, along with examples, to help keep you going:

  1. Take non-relevant content and make it relevant to your audience. This is one of the most important tips that I can share with you. There is so much great information online. Most of it won’t be related to your readership but you can easily make it relevant as I did in this post, “When it comes to new business Ad Agencies are ADHD.”  I was reading about multitasking and ADHD from a number of online resources, and knew this type of information would be very helpful for agency new business, particularly given the working environment and culture typical of most agencies. 
  2. Become a reporter at events you attend by conducting on site interviews, take photos and video. Compile a top 10 highlights’ post of the event. You probably will come away with enough material for several blog posts. I was able to interact with attendees of Ad Age’s first Small Agency Conference. From my social media interactions I wrote this article: 50 of the Best Insights from Ad Age’s First Ever Small Agency Conference.  The amazing thing – I wasn’t there!
  3. Create a bulleted list of things to avoid. I’m currently working on a list of “Top 10 Non-productive Office Traps and Solutions for Avoiding Them.”
  4. Use a celebrity to enhance a top 10 list. One post that generates the most traffic to my site, “Steve Jobs 10 Presentation Tactics for Ad Agency New Business.” Be sure and connect the benefits to your particular readership. Make it specific to them and their needs.
  5. Provide resources. Share resources that are specific to your readership’s industry. Here are a couple of examples of resources that I’ve shared: “10 Reading Resources for Ad Agency New Business” and “The Top 14 List of Advertising Agency Networks for New Business.” I wrote a post about agency networks because so many agencies were asking about them and I found very few online sources. I researched and grouped this information conveniently together for my readers. This also helped put me on the radar of many of these agency networks.
  6. If you’ve been writing for a while, revise an older post and beef-it-up with current information, stats, etc. A lot of the information for this article, “3 Quick Tips for Developing a Consistent Program for Ad Agency New Business”, was gleaned from a post that I had written in 2008. I took some of the more important elements to highlight and expand upon in this post. It isn’t copying a pasting, having mirrored content. This takes some work but much easier and quicker than developing a post from scratch while still creating content that is of good value to your readers.
  7. Conduct an industry survey. You can generate some great PR by conducting your own primary research and propagating the results through your social media network, online tools such as PRNewswire and PRWeb. You can generate a number of post as you expand upon pieces of the survey in various posts. Here’s an article that was written on a survey that I conducted, “Ad Agency Survey Finds Traditional New Business Methods Aren’t Working.” The survey became a magnet for a significant amount of web traffic to my site as other bloggers and columnist wrote articles based on my research.
  8. A quick turn around of research and a post can come from conducting a simple online poll. I wrote this post on an ongoing poll being conducted by Mirren Business Development, “The number one reason ad agencies new business plans fail.”
  9. Develop your own online contest. A great jump-starter for my blog’s traffic occurred when I conducted an Ad Agency Blog of the Month contest. Agencies submitted their blogs, readers would review them in a post I created and they would cast their vote of their favorite. A follow-up post announced and highlighted the winner from each month. At the end of the year, a blog synopsis of the 12 Agency Blog of the Month winners was created and vote taken for the Ad Agency Blog of the Year. Here’s a sample article from 2010, “Vote for Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.” 
  10. Set up an editorial calendar for guest posts. Solicit industry experts who are glad to contribute if you give them enough lead time. Guest posts’ can be a huge help and provide some relief during summer breaks and holidays and keep good, helpful content churning out for your audience. Here’s a guest post, written specifically for my audience, by Jay Baer, “Ad Agencies: Don’t Turn Your Back on Digital”

The content that you create will propel your positioning as an expert so it’s worth the price of your time investment.

Here’s a good example: Kelly Fiddner, Business Development Director for Littlefield Brand Development, Tulsa, OK, writes the agency’s blog, “The One Thing: The casino marketer’s guide to understanding gamers.” Within just a few months, Kelly is being recognized for her thought leadership.

Kelly was recently featured in a gaming industry publication iNTERGAMING in this New Technology Interview, because of her content development that is specific to the advertising/marketing needs of the gaming industry.

Additional content marketing articles that may be of interest:

14 Comments | Content Marketing, New Business Tips, New Business Tools, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

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

March 11, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 10, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

Additional articles that may be of interest:

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

5 Ways Ad Agency Blogs Can Produce Significant Traffic for New Business

February 8, 2011

Your ad agency’s blog can become one of the most important tools for new business.

A blog is certainly the most critical component to fuel agency new business through social media. How? As a powerful traffic generator. Traffic = leads and leads = new business opportunities.

In a survey of business technology marketing executives by the research firm MarketingSherpa, blogs were voted the No. 4 tool for generating sales leads.

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

Here are 5 Ways an agency’s blog can increase prospective client traffic:

1. Search visibility

The right search traffic doesn’t just happen. It will only occur if you consistently produce unique content. Frequently updated content makes search engines very happy.

Blogs are organized to be search engine friendly. With focus you can dominate search terms for your best prospects to find you. Writing focused content to a particular audience will help to optimize your blog quickly.  When I want to rank well for something like “ad agency new business” optimizing my blog is much easier.

2. Repeat Traffic

Posting fresh content brings visitors back often. Most agency websites are too stagnant to produce repeat traffic. Helpful content that is reader-centric will naturally attract prospective clients to your site and provide top of mind awareness for your agency without having to rely on an interruption tactics such as cold calling for new business.

3. Click-Throughs from Twitter

At the time of writing this post, I have over 57,000 following my two Twitter accounts, @michaelgass and @fuellines. I’m able to fuel traffic by repurposing over 600 articles through these two accounts. This material gets retweeted often into other people’s Twitter networks and makes my content viral, growing my following and exposing my blog to a highly targeted audience.

If you are using Twitter alone, it’s not a very good tool for new business. But in combination with your blog’s content, you are one of the few providing helpful information for the many. Writing in an ‘evergreen’ style your blog’s content has a much longer shelf life than a Tweet. Twitter used in combination with your blog has the potential of creating even more targeted traffic than SEO.

You can continue to generate significant traffic for old posts, if you are intentional about it. Once the blog content is written, Third party Twitter tools like Social Oomph will allow you to easily create a system to consistently keep your content in  front of a large audience with very little effort.

4. Personality

It’s hard to socialize an entity such as your agency. Social media is all about people and relationships. A blog puts a face to your age and allows your personality to shine through. You wont appeal to everyone, but that’s okay. You will have a strong appeal among the prospects who are the best fit for your agency.

A good example of this is Bob Hoffman, CEO of Hoffman/Lewis advertising in San Francisco. Bob’s personality really shines through his writing for his blog, The Ad Contrarian.

I first learned of Bob’s blog through a critical article highlighting his frequent rants about the ad industry, often laced with profanity. I was curious enough to find out for myself and found was intrigued with his writing. Bob came across as a ‘straight-shooter’ who cut through all of the branding and social media b.s. I ended up becoming a fan, as have a significant number of others.

Social media is all about connecting on a personal level. People have a natural desire to work with other people that they know, trust and like. A blog is a great place to foster these initial personal relationships with your prospective clients.

5. Viral Effects

A blog provides content that can be easily shared across multiple social media channels. It can also be repurposed and shared through an email newsletter, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. You could compile related or the best of your content into an eBook or white paper. Readers will share it through bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious or StumbleUpon. You’re return-on-your-time-investment (ROTI), writing content, can be extensive.

Ultimately, a blog can be highly effective and the most powerful and low-cost new business marketing tool your agency will ever use. Provided you know your target audience, have the right positioning, messaging and rich content that is of benefit to those you are trying to reach.

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

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

A Niche Blog for Ad Agency New Business

February 4, 2011

There are many agency blogs out there, if  you don’t go niche, you won’t be able to break out of the crowd.

If you look at all the ad agency blogs out there, most are far to general. Readers are left with thousands of blogs about the same thing. No particular niche, no point of differentiation. The blogging space becomes overcrowded by generalists. There are no experts, no leaders and an agency’s blog gets  lost in a crowd of sameness.

A blog provides your agency the opportunity to truly differentiate itself and create an appeal to a particular prospective client audience with less risk. It offers acceptable conditions for the small to mid size agency’s to fly their differentiated flag proudly without fear of missing “other” opportunities that will still come by way of personal networks and referrals.

In an arena of sameness, you will find it extremely difficult to gain the traction needed to be positioned as an expert, distinguish yourself, your agency and create appeal.  Your blogging efforts wont have much credibility and you’ll miss a great opportunity to generate new business.

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

To be a leader you need a niche.  You need to focus on a narrow topic.

When I began my consultancy, I had some friends who advised me against becoming a consultant for ad agency new business. They said my focus was to narrow, especially  concentrating on ‘fueling ad agency new business through social media’. I was told that I would miss opportunities and wouldn’t be able to support my family. But having such a narrow focus, the opposite happened.  I was able to grow my consultancy much quicker with less expense and effort.

How do you make your agency’s blog different when everyone is writing about the same thing? Instead of another blog about branding, you could find a niche like ‘blue-collar branding’. When you do that you wont be offering the same tips, advice, and stories that every other agency is doing.

Social media has made all niches marketable. With millions of people participating in social media and searching and sharing information daily, even the smallest niche has an audience. You can bring a significant number of prospects together with your niche site.

No niche is too small you will always find interested followers within your area of expertise.

Don’t be everything to everyone. By going narrow-niche, your blog gains a single purpose. Everything you do focuses around one central theme. It helps focus your content and your audience.  It makes blogging much easier.

My blog, Fuel Lines, has a single-mindedness that allows for dominance in one field and builds awareness and recognition within the advertising industry. I’ve been able to build my consultancy well beyond my home state area create a national awareness for my services through my blog.

I recently received this brief email from the president the fastest growing major agency in America according to Ad Age,

It’s impressive how often your blog postings are passed around here.

Best,

Mike

Mike Hughes, President, The Martin Agency, Richmond, VA

You want people to reference your name when people ask where they need to go for help.

There are many agency blogs out there. If you don’t go niche, you won’t be able to create a name for yourself. If you really want to create a blog for new business success, you must pick a niche and be the expert on that. Otherwise, you’ll never break out of the crowd.

2 Comments | Agency Blogs, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Sq1 Agency Top Ad Agency Blog of the Year

January 31, 2011

 

Congratulations to the Square One agency. Their blog, ‘Sq 1′, was selected as Fuel Line’s Blog of the Year for 2010, by 46% of the 3,222 votes cast. Square One is a 15-year-old Dallas Marketing and Advertising agency.

Second in the voting was the agency blog,‘We Make It All Better’, Copeland Communications, Victoria, BC with 1,147 votes and ‘Jane Nation’,  St. John & Partners, Jacksonville, FL, came in third with 497 votes. A special thanks to all of Fuel Lines’s Blog of the Month winners for their participation.

“We are so excited to be Fuel Line’s Blog of the Year. We appreciate all of our support from our fans and followers. You guys rock! Thanks for voting.” – Judge Graham, Sq1 Partner

“Being selected as Blog of the Year means so much to our agency. We are so thankful to everyone who voted. We’re excited to see where our War Room blog can go in 2011.” – Ernie Capobianco, Sq1 Partner

Recent Sq1 blog posts:

“Social Media is the most fluid and influential form of media in the history of journalism. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users – Facebook did it in less than 6 months. Constantly evolving, the social media community has grown exponentially faster than newspaper, radio and television.”

Sq 1 is very involved in social media.  Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.

Fuel Line’s Blog of the Year not only provides examples of agency blogs but it was an opportunity for agencies to showcase their participation in social media, generating interest and traffic to their site.

How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for January’s blog of the month. Send me an email and include:

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

1 Comment | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Something for the 34% of Ad Agencies That Have No Blog

January 21, 2011

 

As important as it was for your ad agency to have a website, it is now equally important that your agency have a blog. A blog is becoming the gateway for agency new business.

Ad 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 an unsolicited direct mail, which consumers are responding to less and less.

In a recent Ad Agency New Business Survey that I recently conducted, 64% of the 430 responding ad agencies said they have a blog. For the remaining 36% of the agencies that don’t but should, I’ve compiled the following check-list to help get your agency’s blog quickly up and running for new business:

  • RSS Subscription button so your readers can opt to read content through a tool such as  Google Reader. Readers may also choose to get these feeds for new content from your blog through their in-box. You can easily set this up through Feedburner.
  • Email Subscription: provide a linked-button for readers to opt-in to receive your email newsletter.
  • Also provided linked-buttons in your blog’s sidebar for people to be able to connect with you through your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.
  • Use a Facebook app to post new content directly to your Facebook account. There’s also a similar app for LinkedIn. Anytime you posts, those posts will automatically be published to your social media accounts.
  • Provide readers a way to ‘Like’ and ‘Tweet’ your posts. Also provide the button-links for your readers to easily share content through sites like Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit or that would allow them to share it through an email or print out a copy.
  • Host your blog on your own domain. You never know when you might want to change from a WordPress or Typepad blog to something else.
  • SEO Measure: the number of your inbound links and the power of those links.  You can use Page Rank Checker, a free tool, to check the current page rank of your blog. Rankings will range between 1 and 10 (with 10 being the highest)
  • Unique post titles, less than 75 characters. I recommend consistently including key words to dominate in Google (i.e. for me it’s  ”ad agency new business”, which I include in almost every post title.
  • Post 2 to 5 times per week, 1 ‘original’ post for every 4 to 5 ‘resource’ posts.
  • Average post length should be 350 to 450 words. Less than that your post probably doesn’t have enough valued content to make it worths someones effort to click-through. If it’s more than 450 words, the amount of content is daunting and they often wont even begin to read your content.
  • People generally don’t read word-for-word online, they tend to scan. Make your posts scannable. Use bold, italics, indention, quotation marks, bullet-pointed and numbered lists.
  • Add links to your posts when appropriate. Be sure to provide attribution for resources used in your post and links to your primary resources.
  • Add 1 image per post, it will make your copy visually more interesting and emphasize your primary point.
  • Check your blog’s analytics frequently (once or twice a day) to see top posts, number of page views,  referring sites, search engine terms, clicks, incoming links, etc. Keep your blog traffic trending upwards from month-to-month.
  • Your blog should be easy to navigate by your readers. Provide at least 10 to 12 blog post categories and search feature for your blogs content. Highlight your top posts in a sidebar widget.
  • Make it personal. Include your photo in the blog’s sidebar and a welcome which states the purpose of the blog and ways for your audience to connect. Keep in mind that people want to work with other people that they know, trust and like. Your blog provides them that opportunity.
  • I would recommend that you add and About page, Contact page and Services page for when a reader wants to check you out further, in their on time. Provide specific information about your first-steps with a new client so that they know exactly how to engage you. For example, my first-point of engagement with a client is a social media | new business workshop.
  • Be sure that you have a nice a clean blog template that allows for easy navigation and also highlights your content. Content is more important than design and is key to your blog’s traffic.

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

2 Comments | Agency Blogs, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Vote for Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year

January 19, 2011

The following 12 ad agency blogs are all Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blogs of the Month for 2010. Please review and vote for your favorite as the Ad Agency Blog of the year.

Click Here to vote for your selection. The winner will be announced in 1 week.

8 Comments | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month for December 2010

January 4, 2011

The following 26 agency blogs have been submitted for Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month for December. Review and vote for the agency blog that best understands social media.

Cast your VOTE by CLICKING HERE

These are the ad agency blogs submitted for the month of December. The winner will be included in the voting for Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Year:

  1. Daily Axioms, Axiom Marketing, Bloomington, MN
  2. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  3. Emotivator, Emotive Brand, San Francisco, CA
  4. Engauge Blog, Atlanta, GA
  5. Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
  6. i love e-mail, i love e-mail agency,  Malmo, Sweden
  7. Kelsey Pulse, Kelsey Advertising & Design, LaGrange, GA
  8. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
  9. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
  10. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
  11. Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
  12. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
  13. Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
  14. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
  15. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
  16. PubliGestion’s Bloggers’ Block, PubliGestion, Petion-Ville, Haiti
  17. Sharp Ideas, Cactus, Denver, CO
  18. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  19. Sparksheet, Spafax, Toronto, ON, Canada
  20. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  21. Talk is Cheap, Strategis, Stoughton, MA
  22. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
  23. The Net Impact Blog, The Net Impact, St. Louis, MO
  24. The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
  25. The Reach Blog, Reach Marketing, Irving, TX
  26. Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK

Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for November: Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

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: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Welt Branding: Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month

December 16, 2010

“It is the people who figure out how to work simply in the present, rather than the people who mastered the complexities of the past, who get to say what happens in the future.” Clay Shirky

Out of a list of 30 agency blogs, Cincinnati, Ohio agency, Welt Branding, has been chosen as Fuel Lines’s Ad Agency Blog of the Month for November. Their blog, Welt’s Weekly Smackdown! received 45% of the 179 votes cast. Second in the voting was Sparksheet, Spafax Interactive, Toronto, Ontario, CA.

At Welt Branding, we contend that nobody’s an “expert” in social media. How can you master a landscape that is always shifting? However, you can be a marketing professional. Social media is simply a marketing tool that marketing professionals can use.

We use social media and blogging as tools to drive results. Some companies think just having these devices is enough; it isn’t. To use the tools as intended, requires constant monitoring and regular updates. We develop your resources and get the most out of them.

With a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, we have built communities that strengthen our web surface area. Our blogs also create community, but provide a better venue for targeting audiences.

Welt’s Smackdown is a mix of topical news with marketing twists and tips. Are you tech savvy? Do you have an interest in marketing? Then Generation Nerd is for you. This blog is built for the latest marketing tech news. On Lab Smack, we are working with the University of Cincinnati marketing students to get a college perspective on marketing.

Post on our Facebook wall at Welt Branding
Tweet us at  WeltBrand
Or join our LinkedIn group at Welt Branding: Challenge

Welt Branding’s blog will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for December’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.

A 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:

Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Month for November 2010

December 9, 2010

The following 30 agency blogs have been submitted for Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Month for November.

Review and vote for your favorite. 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 November:

  1. 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
  2. Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
  3. Blogmaster 2000, mediaRif, Kaysville, UT
  4. Creative Triage, ABZ Design Group, Charlotte, NC
  5. Daily Axioms, Axiom Marketing, Bloomington, MN
  6. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  7. Emotivator, Emotive Brand, San Francisco, CA
  8. Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
  9. Engauge Blog, Atlanta, GA
  10. Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
  11. Kelsey Pulse, Kelsey Advertising & Design, LaGrange, GA
  12. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
  13. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
  14. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
  15. Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
  16. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
  17. Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
  18. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
  19. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
  20. PubliGestion’s Bloggers’ Block, PubliGestion, Petion-Ville, Haiti
  21. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
  22. Sparksheet, Spafax, Toronto, ON, Canada
  23. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  24. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
  25. The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
  26. Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK
  27. The Reach Blog, Reach Marketing, Irving, TX
  28. Trendspottings, NOISE, Milwaukee, WI
  29. We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
  30. Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

    Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for October: B2B Ideas @ Work, MLT Creative, Metro Atlanta, GA

    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:

    Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    MLT Creative: Fuel Lines’ Ad Agency Blog of the Month

    November 18, 2010

    Congratulations to MLT Creative, Atlanta, GA. Their blog B2B Ideas@Work, was selected by Fuel Lines’ readers as the Ad Agency Blog of the Month for October with 201 votes out of the 409 votes cast.  Second in the voting was 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO.

    MLT Creative, based on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, was founded in 1984 by partners Billy Mitchell, Craig Lindberg and Glenn Taylor.

    Known as the Idea Launch Pad for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative’s services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising, direct marketing, inbound marketing and sales promotions.

    MLT Creative’s blog will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

    Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

    How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for November’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.

    A 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:

    Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 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:

    1. Have a clear objective: Create content to generate inbound leads for my agency’s new business.
    2. Identify your target audience.
    3. 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)
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Know the  key words that you want to dominate in Google Search. Be consistent to include your key words into your post titles.
    7. 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.
    8. Start with a simple blogging platform that you can easily switch from in the future. My suggestion would be WordPress.com.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Add these pages: About, Services, Speaking, Contact.
    14. Add social media buttons for your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.
    15. Be sure to add an RSS subscription button and create a Feedburner account through Google to get your link.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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: , , , , , , , | 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:

    1. 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
    2. B2B Ideas @ Work, MLT Creative, Metro Atlanta, GA
    3. Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
    4. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    5. Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
    6. Engauge, Atlanta, GA
    7. Fluid’s Big Idea Blog, Fluid Studio, Salt Lake City, UT
    8. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
    9. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
    10. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
    11. Nology, Nology Media, Seattle, WA
    12. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
    13. Outside Voice, Origin Design + Communications, Whistler, B.C., Canada
    14. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
    15. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
    16. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    17. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    18. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
    19. The Lead, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Minneapolis | New York
    20. Third Degree Creative, Third Degree Advertising & Communications, Oklahoma City, OK
    21. Trendspottings, NOISE, Milwaukee, WI
    22. We make it all better., Copeland, Victoria,BC, Canada
    23. We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
    24. 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: , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Michael Gass

    31 Examples of Agencies Active in Social Media

    September 7, 2010

    Review and decide which of these 31 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 on Fuel Lines throughout the month and included in the voting for agency blog of the year.

    Cast your VOTE by Clicking Here

    These are the ad agency blogs submitted for the month of August:

    1. 5 to 9 Branding, Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising, Denver, CO
    2. 6 AM – Richard Edelman, Chicago, IL
    3. BBH Labs, NYC and London
    4. Bill’s B2 Blog, Mintz & Hoke Communications Group, Avon, CT
    5. Content to Commerce, Big Fuel, Manhattan, NY
    6. Digitally Approved, Fanscape Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    7. Energy Efficiency Marketing, Kelliher Samets Volk, Burlington, VT
    8. Enviromedia Social Marketing, Austin, TX
    9. Fifth Gear Analytics, Sigma Marketing Group, Rochester, NY
    10. From Bogota With Love, Zemoga, New York, NY
    11. Healthy Conversations, Trajectory, Morristown, NJ
    12. Hill Holiday blog, Boston, MA
    13. Ideas & Innovation, Mullen, Boston, MA
    14. L&S Unscripted, Lawrence & Schiller, Sioux Falls, SD
    15. Marketing OC Blog, MarketingOC, Orange, CA
    16. Marketing Premium Food, Stephan & Brady, Madison, WI
    17. MediaCom Beyond Advertising, MediaCom, London, UK
    18. New FoundNation, The Communications Group, Little Rock, AR
    19. Off the Shelf, Barkley, Kansas City, MO
    20. Oh no, not another agency blog, Brokaw Inc., Cleveland, OH
    21. Overdrive eMarketing Blog, Overdrive Interactive, Boston, MA
    22. Priority Integrated Marketing Blog, Priority Integrated Marketing, Minneapolis, MN
    23. Scatter/Gather, Razorfish, Seattle, WA
    24. Smart Marketing with Larry Weintraub, Fanscape, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
    25. Spring Blog, Spring Advertising, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    26. The Green Detectives, Enviromedia, Austin, TX
    27. Turn Up Your Volume, The Heavyweights, Indianapolis, IN
    28. Under the Iconic Influence, Preston Kelly, Minneapolis, MN
    29. We make it all better., Copeland, Victoria,BC, Canada
    30. We Think. We Can. Blog, Murdoch Marketing, Holland, MI
    31. Welt’s Weekly Smack Down!,Welt Branding, Cincinnati, OH

    Fuel Lines Agency Blog of the Month for July: “Sq1 War Room,“ Square One Agency, Dallas, 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:

      Share

      1 Comment | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
      Posted by Michael Gass

      Square One Ad Agency: Voted as Best Agency Blog of the Month

      August 9, 2010

      Congratulations to the Square One agency, Dallas, TX. Their blog, SQ 1 War Room, was selected as Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month for July, by 61% of the 638 votes cast.

      “Ever wonder what’s going on inside our heads? Our blog is a peek into our thought process, an exhibition of work we’re proud of, a celebration of things that impressed us, and a few observations and insights into what makes advertising work.” Square One, Dallas, TX

      Fuel Line’s Blog of the Month not only provides examples of agency blogs but it is an opportunity for agencies to showcase their blog and participation in social media, generating traffic and interest in their site.

      Square One’s blog will automatically be included in Fuel Line’s Ad Agency Blog of the Year.

      How is your agency using a blog for your new business? Submit it for August 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:

      Share

      Leave a Comment » | Agency Blogs | Tagged: , , , , , | 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:

        Share

        11 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, Content Marketing, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
        Posted by Michael Gass

        « Previous Entries