Small Ad Agency Generates National Attention Through Social Media

March 29, 2010

 

I received a call today from a Fuel Lines reader who was excited to hear a Marketplace radio interview with ad agency president, Stephanie Holland, the program entitled, “No advertising love for single women”.  The radio program Marketplace, is heard by an audience of more than 9.1 million unique listeners in the course of a week, on 486 public radio stations nationwide.

An increasing number of women are single — getting married later, not at all, or single later in life. So why aren’t more advertisements directed their way?  Ashley Milne-Tyte reports

The interview further positions Stephanie as a “thought leader” for marketing to women. For the first time in their 25 year history,Holland + Holland has been invited to participate in two national pitches in 2009.  Their president is now frequently called upon to speak across the country and author guest columns and posts. Her blog, She-conomy, has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and she was recently named to Forbes Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow on Twitter.

This was your typical small, full service advertising agency that used the same agency speak to describe how they were unique …

Excellent creative that is strategically based with a staff that has great chemistry and is fun to work with.

Sound familiar? Then Stephanie and her agency created a more narrow and unique positioning created through as part of their social media strategy for new business. The results have been revolutionary.

Stephanie also serves the agency as creative director. Not knowing of any other creative directors in their market, she conducted some research and discovered that 97 percent of all creative directors in the country are male, only 3 percent are female.

The real jewel that was unearthed was to learn that 85 percent of all brand purchases are made by women. Women had bought more product from Home Depot and Lowes than did men, more consumer electronics, more NFL and NBA apparel than men, they even purchased more hamburgers than did men! Women have become the purchasing agent for the family.

Social media allows this agency to  hang their hat on a unique and appealing position that has in turn created a national interest for this small ad agency.

Social media has also allowed Stephanie and her agency to compete in a much larger arena without geographical limitations. Their agency’s positioning gives companies a reason to seek them out.

Check out Stephanie’s blog: She-conomy: A Guy’s Guide to Marketing to Women

Additional articles that may be of interests:

 

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Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agency Creates YouTube Video to Generate Appeal for their Niche

June 4, 2009

Ad Agencies, Select Your Audience, Find Your Niche, Promote Your Agency

An ad agency used YouTube to create a strong appeal around their niche, which is marketing to women. Their audience is male advertisers who should be marketing to women.

 

It’s been just over a year since the principals at  Holland + Holland  Advertising put their stake in the ground declaring who their target audience was and what was their point of differentiation. This small agency located in Birmingham, Alabama, had been accustom to competing for local work but narrowing their focus has brought about regional and even some national attention. 

Their president, Stephanie Holland, also serves as the agency’s creative director. The epiphany came when she realized that …

97% of all creative directors are men and 85% of all brand purchases are made by women.  

To test and grow this point of differentiation was done through the creation of an agency blog, that would live apart from their agency’s website. This would give it room to breath, grow and put a face to the agency through Stephanie. She-conomy, A Guy’s Guide to Marketing to Women was developed.

Their niche has provided the agency with discipline, focus and a clearer direction than ever before. It is a very strong point of differentiation. 

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4 Comments | New Business Tips, New Business Tools, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Fuel for Thought: Focus Needed for Agency New Business

December 10, 2008

“As a general rule ad agencies try to be all things to all clients for fear of losing potential business. We were no different. But narrowing our focus on a particular target audience gives us a much better focus for new business and has led to more opportunities than we could have imagined.” 

Stephanie Holland, President/Creative Director Holland + Holland Advertising, author of the blog She-conomy, A Guys Guide to Marketing to Women

She-conomy in the news: ‘She-conomy’ teaches marketers how to capture the biggest consumer demographic: Women

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Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agencies on Target by Blogging for New Business

July 27, 2008

Most ad agencies are target-less. Just ask, they wont be able to adequately define who is their target audience. They want to be everything to everybody. That is why they are viewed as generalist instead of specialist. A generalist is going to make less money, be confined primarily to business acquired because of location, personal chemistry and networks. They are forced to take on accounts they don’t want and do work they don’t want to do.

For a small or midsize ad agencies client diversity isn’t a strength its a weakness. 

Without a target a new business program becomes much more difficult. Focusing on a target audience is foundational, it impacts everything about an agency from how it is promoted to even staffing.

A blog is a great tool to help a small or midsize agency focus on a target audience for new business.

To have an effective agency blog you must have a target audience in mind. Another blog about marketing isn’t going to stand out. A blog however that is targeted to marketing for real estate developers would be more effective. If it were a blog for real estate developers using Web 2.0 tools would stand out even more. Such a blog isn’t attractive to everyone but it can be highly attractive to a specific target group and helps build awareness and an expertise for your agency.

G&G ADVERTISING, Orlando, Florida, provides a good example of how a full service advertising agency can position itself as being experts to a specific target audience. Their main Website is general, but they created another division specifically to marketing real estate. This division is called RENDERINGS.COM. 


The RENDERINGS.COM agency created a blog about Real Estate Marketing. Allowing the agency to engage their target audience online, providing helpful marketing tips, trends and tactics for developers.

Small and midsize ad agencies can use a blog to build awareness and trust with a particular target audience. 

If an agency’s strength is marketing destinations, or professional services, leisure products, healthcare or whatever it may be, they can identify and reach their best target audience through a blog. This is a communications tool that must be used correctly. There are many examples of agencies with bad blogs who have no idea how they should be used to build an online community of prospective clients.

An example of a smaller ad agency that has developed a blog to a broader, but still specific, target audience, is Holland + Holland in Birmingham, Alabama. The agency’s president and creative director, Stephanie Holland, is one of only three percent of female creative directors in the country. This was the biggest and best point of differentiation her agency.

Stephanie’s agency developed an appealing position to male advertisers whose primary target audience is women. The agency developed a blog called www.she-conomy.com, a guy’s guide to marketing to women. The agency has already acquired new business directly related to their blog. She-conomy positions the agency as having an expertise in marketing to women.

This isn’t a niche market and doesn’t lessen but enhances the agency’s new business opportunities. Just look at the following stats. All the agency has to do is target categories that are dominated by the female consumer. Eighty-five percent of all brands purchased are purchased by women. They are the purchasing agency for the family. Plus:

  • 69% of household health decisions are made by women
  • 74% of all NBA & NFL apparel is purchased by women
  • 91% of new home decisions are made by women
  • 81% of grocery decisions are made by women
  • 60% of the online population are women
  • 62% of all workers are women

The agencies target group is bright for the future, ninety-four percent of the wealth acquired in the next four years, will be acquired by women.

“As a general rule ad agencies try to be all things to all clients for fear of losing potential business. We were no different. But narrowing our focus on a particular target audience gives us a much better focus for new business and has led to more opportunities than we could have imagined.” - Stephanie Holland, President/Creative Director Holland + Holland Advertising

Stephanie says they have to continually remind themselves that their target audience is male advertisers as they write their blog post on how to market to women. They even designed their blog with graphics and colors that would not be offensive to men and copy that is helpful not demeaning.

For additional info read my Top Ten Reasons Agencies Need a Blog

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