inbound marketing « FUEL LINES Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media

Ad Agencies Need More Content for New Business

February 7, 2012

All ad agencies need more content as part of their promotional strategy to create and keep a relevant and positive engagement with their best prospects 24/7.

Coca Cola has always been at the forefront of innovation. The company recently announced they were committing to a different marketing strategy that no longer relied on traditional advertising to build their business. Coke will be the first major brand to place a major emphasis on content marketing.

In the videos below, Jonathan Mildenhall, Vice-President, Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence at The Coca-Cola Company is the person leading the global strategy for the Company’s portfolio of global brands. In these two videos called Content 2020, he explains Coke’s new content marketing strategy.

I would urge you to take the time to not only watch these two videos but digest them. Many advertising agencies and companies have yet realized the power of content marketing for their own business. I hope these videos will help give you a better understanding of the importance and potential to drive new business opportunities for ad agencies, PR firms and digital shops.

Chapter 7 describes Coca-Cola’s 70/20/10 plan for content distribution and creation which I think you will find helpful:

70% of content – low risk “bread & butter” content . 50% of time investment. Low risk content will require less time resources to create.
20% of content – innovate off what works to a more specific audience.
10% of content – high risk content, brand new ideas

Here’s the outline for Coca Cola Content 2020:

Chapter 1: How does content excellence approach “liquid and linked content development”?

Chapter 2: The Case for Change – On demand culture

Chapter 3: The Evolution of Storytelling

Chapter 4: Baking Live Positively Into Our Storytelling Plans – a huge creative opportunity

Chapter 5: From Insights To Provocations, The Big Fat Fertile Creative Brief

Chapter 6: Developing Liquid Content – the creation of stories that are expressed through every possible connection. Different processes but the same principles

Chapter 7: Applying the 70/20/10 Investment Principles for Liquid Content

My Story

Since 2007, my new business consultancy for small to midsize ad agencies was built through content marketing

I worked in new business development almost my entire advertising career, but only at agencies in either Birmingham, Alabama or Nashville, Tennessee. There were very few agencies outside of these two states that even knew who I was. But through creating helpful content for my blog, Fuel Lines, I was able to quickly build awareness for my services from my home base in Alabaster, Alabama. One of my first agency clients was 2,058 miles away on the West Coast, in Costa Mesa, CA.

I’ve now worked with over 100 agencies in almost all 50 states, as well as agencies in Canada and the UK. Plus I’ve been able to do generate these new business opportunities without having to rely on distributive outbound marketing tactics such as direct mail and cold calling.

What has worked for me will also work for your agency’s new business.

Additional Content Marketing Resources:

1 Comment | Content Marketing | Tagged: ad agency new business, business development, content marketing, inbound marketing, Jonathan Mildenhall, Michael Gass, outbound marketing, The Coca Cola Company | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

20 Top Inbound Marketing Resources for the Paradigm Shift in Ad Agency New Business

November 9, 2011

Intersection Consulting

Advertising agencies, PR firms and digital shops should reverse their new business efforts from “Outbound Marketing” techniques to “Inbound Marketing.”

There is a dramatic paradigm shift for acquiring new business opportunities for advertising agencies, digital shops and PR firms. Agencies need to rethink their approach to new business and intensify their focus on inbound tactics, such as creating magnetic content that will attract prospective clients, rather than relying on the traditional interruption model which consumers are responding to less and less.

MarketingSherpa reported in a CMO Study, 80 percent of decision makers said they FOUND their vendors (not the other way around). Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers.

Most agencies are spending the majority of their new business efforts on “Outbound Marketing” tactics such as direct mail, cold calling, email blasts and other efforts that push their message out to a wide, diverse prospective client audience. Their prospects are already inundated with over 2000 interruptions per day. They are becoming experts at blocking out those unsolicited outbound tactics.

It is much more effective and efficient to follow the paradigm shift to “Inbound Marketing” techniques where 100% of your potential clients will begin an agency search by using Google. The internet, coupled with social media marketing and inbound marketing techniques, takes the ability to network and gain referral business to a whole new level. It allows agencies to maintain a top of mind awareness without using interruption tactics and helps to build relationships quickly.

If an agency has been 90% focused on outbound marketing tactics and only 10% on inbound marketing, I recommend that they do just the opposite.

To make this shift effective, the most successful Inbound Marketing programs will have three key parts:

Content – Content is the fuel for this new business engine. It is what attracts potential clients to your site.
Search Engine Optimization – 90% of new business begins with online search.
Social Media – This will amplify the impact of your content.

Those agencies that adapt to this new business paradigm shift from “outbound marketing” methods to “inbound marketing” will have a distinct advantage over their competition. Some are already seeing results.

In a recent 2011 HubSpot ROI Study, 69% of businesses surveyed said that inbound marketing attributed to their lead generation success.

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 inbound marketing was a key lead generation source for 63% of the respondents:

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

The internet and the rise of social media has changed the nature of ad agency new business and subsequently changed the shape of the sales funnel. That initial client conversation today is much different from the one a decade ago because the prospect often knows as much about your agency as the new business director does and the prospect is already much more “qualified.”

Here are 20 of Fuel Lines’s most popular resources for helping agencies make the shift from outbound marketing to inbound marketing for new business:

Image Credit: Intersection Consulting

3 Comments | Agency Blogs, Content Marketing, Creating Content, New Business Tactics, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: ad agency new business, business development, digital shops, inbound marketing, lead generation, Michael Gass, Public Relations, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

A 7 Step Guide to Successful Infographic Production for Ad Agency New Business

October 31, 2011

An infographic can be a great way for small to midsize ad agencies to communicate their unique position in the marketplace.

Infographics is derived from two words: ‘information’ and ‘graphics’, and stands for the graphical representation of data and information.

Why infographics for ad agency new business?

Visually create a positioning for your agency - “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Gain a positioning of expertise within a particular industry or discipline.
If you include an “embed code” for your infographic, it can help your agency’s website or blog site gain rankings for a particular niche. l
Infographics are easily shared and become viral that will also increase online traffic and build awareness for your agency.

Voltier Digital agency located in Delray Beach, FL, is a content marketing agency that has been creating lots of buzz for themselves through the use of Infographics. One of their newest inforgraphics was recently highlighted in this Mashable article, Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC] building a great deal of exposure for the agency.

“At Voltier Digital, we aim to stay on top of new inbound marketing tactics. Infographics have become super hot over the past 24 months and we are excited to share our experience and to give you a little direction on how to execute world-class infographics for your brand.”

Voltier Digital shares some helpful tips on how to create your own infographic in 7 simple steps:

Additional articles that may be of interest:

7 Comments | Digital, Promotion, Social Media | Tagged: ad agency new business, inbound marketing, infographics, Michael Gass, outbound marketing, Social Media, Voltier Digital | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing for Ad Agency New Business

September 19, 2011

Photo Credit Hubspot

Inbound marketing techniques are rapidly becoming more important for agency new business.

Over the past four years I’ve seen a steady progression of agencies embracing social media as part of their new business program. Primarily because of the way their prospective clients are making decisions on how they are finding their agency partner. Traditional, “outbound marketing” methods are getting less and less effective.

CMO Survey: 80 percent of decision makers said they found there vendors, not the other way around. MarketingSherpa

Social media is now mainstream and has greatly advanced the importance of “inbound marketing” techniques. Your agency’s prospects are more in control of what information they receive and how they receive it. They are able to get a considerable amount of information about your agency without ever interacting with you directly.

Those agencies that have adapted to this new business paradigm shift from “outbound marketing” methods to “inbound marketing” have an distinct advantage over their competition.

A helpful resource on how companies are generating business through inbound marketing is the “2011 State of Inbound Marketing” report. This is a study, conducted by Hubspot., and is based on responses from 644 marketing professionals.

Here are the reports top 10 key takeaways:

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.
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.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.