new business « FUEL LINES Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media

B-2-B Agency Gains New Business from a Narrow Niche and Social Media

January 16, 2012

Social media can end the anxiety of creating a niche and differentiation for ad agency new business.

John Sonnhalter, CEO of Sonnhalter, a B2B ad agency located just outside of Cleveland, OH, shares an example of an agency that found a way to finally “draw a line in the sand” and openly declare his agency’s area of expertise for a particular market.

John was able to first ‘test the waters before jumping in’ by creating a ‘niche blog’ clearly targeted to a very specific audience.

Sonnhalter’s primary ability was knowing how to reach the professional tradesmen better than most. John was able to show that knowledge by creating a blog, Tradesmen Insights.

This was blog is different from most agency blogs. It had its own unique URL and stood alone, apart from the agency’s website. It didn’t include any of the agency’s branding. It was John’s personal blog instead of a team blog approach and allowed him to become the face of the agency.

Here are John’s first steps:

Selected a title and subtitle that clearly reflected his intended audience.
He wrote a bank of 50 post articles within a few weeks before adopting a more realistic writing schedule of one to two posts per week.
He also rapidly grew his Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn followers from among his target group.
He leveraged a database of previously collected email addresses from his target group to share content through an eNewsletter that he sent every other week.
By paying attention to his blog’s analytics, John polished the appeal for his blog. He simply wrote more content in the areas his readership liked the best, the post articles that produced the most traffic.
Following a number of new business successes, driven by his social media effort, John was then willing to merge this narrower focus into the branding and positioning of his agency.

John Sonnhalter:

“We call our specialty B2T marketing. Business-To-Tradesman. We know the manufacturers that sell to tradesmen. We know their businesses. Their distribution channels. And the media they use to deliver their messages.”

We are in the B-to-B space, and typically, our clients are slower adopters of new technologies and trends. If you think back to 2008, there weren’t many agencies, big or small, that was participating in social media.

Our agency went through a re-branding process three years ago. Social media became an important part of this effort by allowing us to become focused on a specific audience, manufacturers who were trying to reach professional tradesmen. It also helped us sharpen our point of differentiation and appeal.

I can’t tell you how hard it was over the past few years to turn down opportunities because they were outside of our specialty. But it’s beginning to pay off!

Social media became a great way to generate new business opportunities.

It’s been almost three years later and here’s where we stand:

2011 was our biggest year for new business wins in several years thanks primarily to our social presence.
Our Blog, Tradesmen Insights, is the center of our promotions. We’re almost to 500 posts and we generate more page views on it than we do on our website.
We’re now recognized as an “Industry Expert” in the field of marketing within our space.
We get requests to do interviews, guest posts and take part in industry-related workshops and seminars.
Most our agency’s new business leads now come from social media.
When someone inquires, now it’s because they have followed our blog and like what they are hearing.
We don’t participate in any RFQs from these leads because they have already qualified us as experts.

Social media not only has been a good way to generate new business through thought leadership, it also helps us with current client relationships. It’s difficult to aid a client in the use of social media if you haven’t used it effectively for yourself.

Bottom line is that if your agency isn’t on board with a social program you will be missing many opportunities. We’re all trying to set ourselves apart. Social media, especially a blog, will help you do that.

John Sonnhalter

Check out our agency blog, Tradesmen Insights: Marketing to the professional tradesmen in Construction, Industrial and MRO markets

Have questions? Click here to send me an Email. I also invite you to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

Leave a Comment » | Agency Leadership, Positioning, Promotion, Social Media | Tagged: Ad Agencies, B2B, John Sonnhalter, manufacturers, new business, professional tradesmen, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

It is time for ad agencies to pay attention to Pinterest

January 13, 2012

Pinterest has great potential for ad agencies: storyboards, branding strategies, concept ideas, campaign ideas, design ideas, even organizing agency pitches.

Time Magazine named Pinterest one of the top 50 websites for 2011. It is one of the hottest new social media sites with enduring specialties that qualifies it as the next ‘Twitter.’ Its value through venture financing has soared from $40 million to over $200 million in only a few months.

Pinterest (pronounced to rhyme with interest) is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. The mission statement of Pinterest is to connect everyone in the world through shared tastes and the “things” they find interesting. Wikipedia

A site like Pinterest helps provide a place for discovery, saving and sharing.

Pinterest is like a giant scrapbook of ideas. When you find things of interest, this new platform allows you to upload those images as Pins and place them on customized , themed Boards and organize and share them on any topic that you choose. Others can follow your Boards and add comments. You can also allow them to post to your boards.

A ‘Pinterest Picture’ is worth 1000 words.

People tend to be “eye-minded”. I think this is one of the primary reasons this site has become so popular.

Studies by educational researchers suggest that approximately 83% of human learning occurs visually.

There is a soothing quality in using Pinterest.

Once you spend some time understanding how it works you’ll find it fun and very addictive. I’ve personally spent hours on it.

Here is a listing of my boards, which include some that are business related and some that are personal:

Pinterest is still far behind site visitors comparative to Facebook, but it is making up for it in the amount of time spent on the site. An incredible 88.3 minutes was spent in November, according to comScore. This number is third only to Facebook (394 minutes) and Tumblr (141.7 minutes) and is also twice the amount of time that the average user spends on Twitter and 10 times the time spent on Google +.

Here are a some ideas on how to use Pinterest for your agency:

Showcase your agency’s brand in a unique way
Great potential for internal use with your agency’s creative teams – storyboards, branding strategies, concept ideas, campaign ideas, design ideas, even organizing agency pitches
Enhance visual thinking and planning
It has important potential for your clients’ social media marketing mix
A great way to keep tabs on what is hot
Potential for greater SEO (you can embed Pinterest to your agency’s website or blog)
Organize areas of focus of the agency – keep up and share what is hot within your agency niche or industry focus
Interact with your audience by testing campaign ideas and concepts

To help you get started I recommend Rob Lammie’s a Pinterest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Hot New Social Network

Please email me if you need an invitation to Pinterest or would like to submit your agency’s photo to the Advertising Agencies’ Offices Board.

2 Comments | New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: Ad Agencies, Advertising, Michael Gass, new business, Pinterest, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

19 Tips for Building an SEO Strategy for Ad Agency New Business

January 4, 2012

SEO, ad agency blogs, agency new business

Photo credit: marciookabe

Having a search engine optimization strategy, or SEO, is important to support lead generation for ad agency new business.

Most agency business development directors have a marketing strategy and are becoming competent with an inbound lead generation strategy that has as its centerpiece – content marketing. Understanding search engines is an important part to content marketing and blogging. Therefore, it is important for business development directors to become familiar with how search engines work and keep up with what is going on.

Recent changes to Google’s search engine ranking algorithms are already having an impact. Google’s own site, www.blogger.com, has seen a 20% drop in search traffic.

How do you become more knowledgeable, reduce the impact of these inevitable changes and create an SEO strategy for new business?

1. By understanding Google’s bottom line. It is important that you be natural and authentic so you will be less likely affected by Google’s ongoing improvements to its algorithms.

Over 90 % of all Internet users are using search engines and they are the main sources of online traffic. The primary search engine is Google. Google’s goal is, they want their users to find specifically what they are looking for because if they don’t, they will be looking for alternatives.

“The perfect search engine would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want,” Google’s cofounder and CEO, Larry Page

2. You can also decrease the impact of these inevitable changes, as Google strives to get better, by focusing your content marketing efforts on the basic elements of SEO. These are the key elements of SEO that also will be less likely affected by Google’s changes.

Here are some basic blog SEO tips to help get you started:

Start with a benchmark. Know what your current page rank is and continue to monitor it with tools like Alexa and the Google toolbar.
Your blog’s theme/template can help or hurt your SEO, so review and choose carefully. Most designers are more concerned with good design and less concerned about SEO. The navigation structure of your blog’s template plays a critical role in how it is indexed and crawled by the search engines. Use a navigation structure that enables every page reached within three clicks.
Check your blog’s referer log regularly to track where your visitors are coming from and the search terms they are using to find your site.
Find your ‘niche’ key words. Choosing the most popular search terms will make it nearly impossible to get to the top spot in search. Instead use niche key words that are relevant to your target audience. Place these keywords throughout your blog site: your titles, content, URLs, and image names. Note: the title tag and page header are the two most important spots to put keywords. You can use Google keyword tool to find keywords relevant to your blog. Just be sure not to overdo by stuffing key words, a Black Hat SEO technique that search engines do not approve and will get your site penalized.
You should make it standard to build internal links back to your archives when creating new content. I invite readers to check other articles that might be of interest, at the bottom of almost every post article that I write. Also remember to always link back to sources cited in your post articles as it is bad etiquette not to do so. You will build quality ‘back-links’ by creating link-worthy content.
Choose a meaningful title and add a descriptor statement that is included in the metadata and under the description title. Mine is “Fueling ad agency new business through social media.”
Pick the right domain name. Try to pick a domain name that says something about your blog site’s content.
The single most important thing you can do is to consistently provide high-quality content on your blog. Google has become good at weeding out poor quality web pages.
Add URL to Google. Improve your site’s visibility in Google search results. It’s free. To get started, simply add and verify your site and you’ll start to see information right away.
Be sure and send a Sitemap using Google Webmaster Tools. A site map is a page listing and linking to all the other major pages on your site and makes it easier for spiders to search your site.
Make your URLs more search-engine friendly by naming them with clear keywords.
Be sure to include the alternative text descriptions for all photos, images and videos. Spiders can only search text, not text in your images. Start with your image names: adding an “ALT” tag allows you to include a keyword-rich description for every image on your site.
Take the time to include blog post tags. Tags are one or two words that briefly describe what your article is all about. I also include any person, entity or publication mentioned in a post. Search engines use tags to index and find your posts faster.
SEO and social media marketing have become intrinsically intertwined so be sure you are utilizing social media. You should grow your social media community and using social media platforms and tools to ‘push-out’ new content and pull-in website traffic.
Your content should be fresh. Updating your content regularly and often is crucial for increasing traffic. The more recent Google update, dubbed the “Freshness” update, designed to rank newer content higher in search results.
Google has started adding Google+ brand pages in search results and some predict that Google will make it harder to do SEO without Google + . I would recommend that you get started by setting up your Google + account and take part.

It would be helpful for you to know how Google finds web pages matching a search query and determines the order of the results.

How does Google find web pages matching your query, and decides the order of search results? Check out this helpful summary of Google Basics. Another helpful resource is Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to help Google find, index, and rank your site. Here’s also a handy, downloadable Search Engine Optimization Startet Guide. Look up unfamiliar SEO terms using the Search Engine Marketing Glossary

This is an excellent guide for WordPress bloggers: Must See SEO Guide for All WordPress Bloggers

Additional articles that might be of interest:

Photo credit: marclookabe

6 Comments | Content Marketing, New Business Tips, SEO, Social Media | Tagged: Ad Agencies, business development, CEO Larry Page, content marketing, Google, Michael Gass, new business, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Strategy | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Content Marketing is Hard Work: 4 Tips to Make it Easier

December 15, 2011

Content marketing is the wave of the future for ad agency new business, but to have success you will need to make advance preparations to consistently deliver quality content.

I’ve recently written my 650th blog post article. I have a sense of jubilation mainly because I had been battling one of the most serious bouts of “writers block” since starting my blog. I had dealt with this dreaded writers malady in the past but I have never had this much trouble overcoming it.

Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some “blocked” writers have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers. Wikepedia

If you are discovering just how difficult it is to write and create quality content, you aren’t alone. Here’s a collection of notable quotes on the challenges of writing:

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Red Smith
“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.” Steven Wright
“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” Gene Fowler
“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” James Michener
“Every writer I know has trouble writing.” Joseph Heller
“When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.” Enrique Jardiel Poncela
“I do not like to write – I like to have written.” Gloria Steinem
“Writing is the flip side of sex – it’s good only when it’s over.” Hunter S. Thompson
“Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet.” Anonymous
“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Nathaniel Hawthorne

There is nothing mystical about writing, it is simply hard work. It begins with deciding on the purpose of your writing and who you are writing for. What is the benefit to your readers? What is the benefit to you? It’s also about making a serious time commitment and then grunting the work out until you get it done.

Here are some tips that I would suggest to make content creation easier:

Know your audience: One of the first things you MUST do is to identify who your audience is. Then you must focus your content toward their marketing challenges and needs. Use your analytics for instant feed back to know what content is appealing and what isn’t. Your audience will become the guide for your writing.
Keep your objective top-of-mind: You are writing with a purpose. Use content marketing to generate new business opportunities for the agency by building awareness, lead generation, referrals and positioning as a thought leader. If you don’t have a clear objective you will be wasting your time.
Commit to create original content: Many agencies are trying to take the easy way out by only curating the content of others. There is a place for curating content, but note that original content is in great demand. You will get the best return of your time investment if you are the one that is creating the content that others are curating. That’s where the gold is.
Develop a process for delivering content consistently: Small to midsize agencies should develop a content marketing team, but be sure to name the team leader. If everyone is responsible then no one is. A designated person should be responsible for setting up and managing the editorial calendar and edits as well as managing the content delivery process. I’m hearing from many agencies that have recently created a position of Content Director who oversees the creation of content on behalf of the agency as well as agency clients. I think this is a smart move. Agencies can also hire a freelancer to oversee and manage the process remotely.

Here are some additional articles to help with your agency’s content creation:

7 Comments | Content Marketing, Creating Content, New Business Trends | Tagged: Ad Agencies, business development, content curation, content marketing, Gloria Steinem, Michael Gass, new business, Red Smith | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agency New Business 101: Conduct a SWOT Analysis

October 20, 2011

Photo Credit Pshegubj

A SWOT analysis is a good starting point for someone who is charged with creating new business opportunities for a small to midsize advertising agency, PR firm or digital shop.

Part of Steve Jobs’ 12 Rules of Success: Perform SWOT analysis. As soon as you join/start a company, make a list of strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your company on a piece of paper.

This strategic planning method, when used properly, can be a valuable tool for making decisions, setting strategy, and evaluating courses of action. You should use it as an initial step for defining your agency’s new business objectives. It is a helpful tool for reviewing your agency’s current focus and positioning.

SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are external factors. Internal factors are ones that you have control over. External factors are ones you don’t have much control over.

Strengths: internal characteristics of the agency that gives it an advantage over the competition. What does your agency do well? What resources are available? List your agency’s attributes: people, expertise, credentials, etc.
Weaknesses: internal limitations that are a liability and create a disadvantage relative to the competitor. They are things that detract an agency from its ability to obtain new business. It could be a lack of expertise or resources, location, positioning, training, etc.
Opportunities: the external competitive advantages that are helpful to you achieving your new business objectives.
Threats: external factors that are potential threats to your agency’s new business. These are challenges that are created by an unfavorable trend or development that may lead to deteriorating revenues or profits. Proactively plan for and respond to them.

Ask yourself the following questions from a new business perspective:

How can we leverage our strengths?
How can we improve upon our weaknesses?
How we can capitalize on our opportunities?
How can we minimize our threats?

The true value of the SWOT analysis is in bringing this information together, to assess the most promising opportunities, and the most crucial issues.

Before you begin, review the following 3 steps and keep them in mind to avoid the danger of it becoming a meaningless exercise.

Step 1 – Collect the Information

Conducting a SWOT exercise for your agency is a straight forward exercise. Begin the SWOT analysis by conducting an inventory of internal strengths and weaknesses within your agency. This shouldn’t be only one person’s perspective. You will need to include others in this process. Plan to interview your agency’s key executives and possibly your entire staff. Use open-ended questions built around these four areas. Keep your SWOT short and simple with a bullet point list. The analysis should become an executive summary.

Step 2 – Prepare a Plan of Action

Unbelievably, 62% of agencies don’t have a planned new business effort.

You should review your SWOT summary with a view of creating a plan that addresses each of the four areas. It serves as a basis for the development of a new business plan that will be your guide for implementing a successful new business program.

The SWOT analysis will act as a filter for lots of information and will allow you to better interpret and identify the primary keys for your new business plan.

Follow the KISS (keep-it-simple-stupid) method. Keep everything as simple as possible including the plan. A one page plan will easily suffice.

Step 3 – Benchmarks for Measurement

Set goals that are realistically achievable within the culture and resources of the agency.

There is a lot of truth to the old cliché, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Conducting a SWOT analysis will allow you to know what agency data needs to be collected to use as a benchmark for key objectives for the future.

The SWOT exercise will provide a clearer direction for new business and will allow you to easily set new business goals that stretch your agency while being realistically attainable.

For instance, a lot of agencies will say, “we want to double the size of our agency over the next year.” Your SWOT analysis provides the kind of information that helps determine if that goal is attainable. It may be more realistic to state the objective as: “We want to increase the agency’s new business by 25% over the next three years.”

You want to set goals that are realistic given the agency’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

6 Comments | Best Practices, New Business Plans, New Business Tactics, New Business Tips | Tagged: ad agency, business development, Michael Gass, new business, SWOT Analysis | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

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

October 13, 2011

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

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

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

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

The Importance of Social Media

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

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

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

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

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

Additional insights from this study:

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

The IBM 2011 CMO Study Video News Release:

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

9 Comments | Agency Leadership, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: advertising agencies, CMO, digital shops, IBM CMO Study, Michael Gass, new business, pr firms | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The Single Most Important Twitter Tool for Ad Agency New Business

October 7, 2011

TweetAdder is one of the most important tools you can use to build a targeted following on Twitter.

There are hundreds of 3^rd party tools for Twitter, but one stands out above the rest as the most productive for using Twitter for new business.

You don’t want followers just to have followers. Inbound lead generation will only happen if the bulk of your followers are your agency’s best prospects.

TweetAdder is a software program that charges a one-time fee to download and use this tool to build a Twitter database of people to follow.

The program allows you to search by profile data, such as searching for a companies CMOs. Anyone with that title in their Twitter profile you can add to your database of people to follow.

Another important feature of TweetAdder allows you to follow everyone that follows a particular Twitter account. For example, you can follow everyone that follows the AdAge’s Twitter account and also follow everyone that AdAge follows.

It would be best to find and follow the Twitter accounts that have an appeal primarily to your target audience such as a Twitter account for an association or tradeshow. You will get more people to follow that are your true targets.

Here’s an example: The Littlefield agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has Casino marketers as a primary target audience. They wouldn’t want to follow everyone that follows the Isle of Capris Casinos, the better choice would be to follow everyone that follows the American Gaming Association’s Twitter account and all those that the American Gaming follows.

Another great benefit for using TweetAdder is you can follow all who follow your competition’s Twitter account and everyone your competitor follows.

TweetAdder also has filters to help eliminate Twitter accounts that are least likely to be true prospects, such as those which have no profile photo. No profile photo is an indication that a Twitter account isn’t very active.

TweetAdder also allows you to automatically Follow, Unfollow and Followback Twitter accounts. Doing this manually requires a great amount of time. TweetAdder simplifies these processes.

Once it is set-up, TweetAdder is easy to maintain. All you need to do is open the program each day and let it run in the background on the computer. To add additional prospectives to your database, when it runs low, is easily done.

This program is very simple to use, an intern or a college student could be trained to use it. This task could also be added to the responsibilities of your agency’s receptionist and would require mere minutes of time each day.

Click on the following link to review TweetAdder with a Free Trial Demo

Additional Twitter tools that I recommend for your review:

7 Comments | Twitter | Tagged: Ad Agencies, ad agency new business, Michael Gass, new business, Social Media, TweetAdder, Twitter | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

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

October 5, 2011

Big Fuel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 Comments | Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips, New Business Trends | Tagged: ad agency, advertising agencies, inbound lead generation, Michael Gass, new business, public relation firms, Recession, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

4A’s New Business | Social Media Workshop

September 22, 2011

A Formula for Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media

Nov. 3 , New York, NY

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

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

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

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

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

You will learn:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leave a Comment » | Agency Leadership, Best Practices | Tagged: 4A's, advertising agencies, Draftfcb, Michael Gass, new business, New York, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Prime Time Benefits of Blogging for New Business

September 22, 2011

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:

momentum: Moms rule the social web. Does your brand have momentum? - Big Fuel, Manhattan, NY
Off The Shelf: Helping private label food brands take advantage of all the opportunities the market offers – Barkley, Kansas City, MO
Park Howell: Sustainable Storyteller. How sustainable are you and your green marketing - Park & Company, Phoenix, AZ
Roxanne Joffe: Helping women to start, run and grow their business - Cap Brand Marketing, Sarasota, FL
Tradesmen Insights: Marketing to the professional tradesman in the Construction, Industrial and MRO markets - SONNHALTER, Berea, OH
Creative Triage: Market your community hospital efficiently – ABZ Design Group, Charlotte, NC
The Matte Pad: Marketing Know-How for the legal profession – MAX Advertising, Atlanta, GA
Turn Up Your Volume: Strategists and marketers that are looking for ways to drive high-contribution patient volume – The Heavyweights, Indianapolis, IN
Healthy Conversations: Inspiration, Insights & Ideas for Creating New Value – Trajectory, Morristown, NJ
MARKETINGHOMEPRODUCTS: Marketing strategies and communication tactics related to the home and building channel – Kleber & Associates, Atlanta, GA
The One Thing Blog: The casino marketers guide to understanding gamers - Littlefield, Tulsa, OK
Fifth Gear Analytics: Accerlarting sales through analytical insights – SIGMA Marketing Group, Rochester, NY
Ask Smarter Questions: Data drive marketing & business intelligence – Levelwing, Charleston, SC

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:

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.
Identify the true prospect from those that just want to pick your brain for free and will never pay for your services.
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: ad agency, advertising agencies, blogs, business development, content marketing, Michael Gass, networks, new business, referrals, Social Media | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ten Toughest Content Marketing Challenges for Ad Agency New Business

August 28, 2011

Original content is by far the most difficult and important tactic to fuel ad agency new business through social media.

Speakers for Content Marketing World 2011, recently shared some of their biggest content marketing challenges in a pre conference Q&A orchestrated by Content Development Director of the Content Marketing Institute. I’ve pulled some of the best challenges and insights from among these speakers.

Here are the top 10 to help with your content marketing challenges:

1. Quality Content

‘The very act of staying focused on quality is one of the most important things you can do if you’re serious about your craft.” Susan Blue, @susangrayblue.

Lots of agencies soon become lazy in content creation. If you can’t see the value and won’t commit the time you won’t have success with content marketing for new business.

2. Understanding Your Audience

Understanding your customers well enough to develop content that is useful and relevant for them. Allison Bolen, @alisonbolen.

One of the first things you MUST do is to identify who your audience is. Most agencies are generalists. They want to appeal to EVERYBODY. If you try appealing to everyone you won’t appeal to anyone. No appeal, no online traffic = no new business leads.

3. Keeping Your Objective Top of Mind

It is critical to always keep your business objectives top of mind and use them to guide your content strategy. Cam Brown, @CamBrown1.

If you want to greatly boost agency network and referral business, social media is key and the cornerstone for your social media initiatives should be in content development. If not, social media can be a great waste of time.

4. Empowering the Time and Resources

Being allowed by their superiors to take the time, energy, and resources to do it right. CC Chapman, @cc_chapman.

Agency principals must first be convinced of the value of content creation for agency new business, then be willing to commit the right person(s), time and resources toward it.

5. Resources and Focus

Unless a marketing organization has the resources and focus to get content created, it will always be difficult to accomplish content marketing goals. Pawan Deshpande, @TweetsFromPawan.

The tighter your niche, the easier content creation will become. Less time, a better focus and a greater return on the time invested.

6. Creating an Internal Process

With content, and the evolving forms of content for customer engagement, it’s critical that there’s a process internally that enables successful creation and delivery. Barbara Gago, @BarbraGago.

Content creation will require a system for your agency to have success. Create and implement a plan of action: One person who is responsible, realistic goals and objectives set, resources gathered and organized, plan your work and work your plan.

7. Having an Initial Base of Content

It’s incredibly difficult to develop interesting and relevant campaigns if you’ve not built a library of content that you can pull from throughout the fiscal year. Nate Riggs, @nateriggs.

When I consult with agencies, creating a new business program fueled through social media, the first thing I have them do is create 60 blog posts in 60 days. It then gives us our library of content that we can repurpose through many other channels and have a base that fresh content is consistently being added. Also, when you create this initial library of content within a short time frame, helps to work out the bugs of your internal processes.

8. Writing Content that Will Relate

Learning to write and communicate in a way that is completely and utterly on the level of their audience, not the level of the industry professional.Marcus Sheridan, @TheSalesLion.

Agency’s are bad about using agency speak, when talking and presenting to prospects. Agency speak doesn’t resonate with prospects and isn’t very appealing. They tend to carry over this habit when creating online content. They will need to learn to write in a manner that is reflective of the audience you are trying to reach.

9. Just Doing It

Most people seem to know what they should be doing; the trouble is actually getting it done. Consistency counts for everything.Todd Wheatland, @ToddWheatland.

If you can’t be consistent, your efforts are going to be in vain. As you create a program for content creation you should think in terms of “what is sustainable when our agency is at its busiest”. So begin this process with an action plan, using the K.I.S.S. principle. A plan is just a plan until its executed, so set dates and get started.

Consistency is much more important than perfection. It will be much easier to make changes if you get the process moving.

10. Presenting the Right Content, to the Right Audience in the Right Ways

Consistently coming up with new, timely, interesting ways to present the right content to the right audiences. Arnie Kuenn, @ArnieK

Currently an agency blog is one of the best platforms for delivering content to your prospective client audience. This will evolve and change over time. Other ways that you can disseminate content landing pages, email newsletters, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google +, etc.

For additional information and helps, click on the following link to read Michele Linn’s article, Content Marketers Reveal Their Toughest Challenges, written for the Content Marketing Institute. I would also encourage you to explore the Content Marketing, a great resource for how-to of content marketing.

Additional articles to help with your agency’s content creation:

Image credit: Hubspot

9 Comments | Best Practices, Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media | Tagged: ad agency, Content Marketing Institute, Content Marketing World, Michael Gass, Michele Linn, new business | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

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

August 23, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How he has brought innovation and collaboration to McKinney:

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

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

Leave a Comment » | Agency Branding, Agency Leadership, New Business Talents, New Business Trends | Tagged: Ad Age, advertising agencies, adweek, collaboration, Durham, innovation, McKinney, Michael Gass, NC, new business | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

7 Tips for Emailing Busy Prospects for Ad Agency New Business

July 28, 2011

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

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

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

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

Dear Michael

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

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

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

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

NIGEL BROWN

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

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

Photo credit: Frank Gruber

2 Comments | Digital, Fuel for Thought, New Business Tips | Tagged: ad agency, advertising agencies, business development, email marketing, Michael Gass, new business | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

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

July 25, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

Thinking
Sketching
Building
Slides
Scripting
Rehearsing
90 hours | 30 slides

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

4 Comments | Best Practices, Fuel for Thought, Pitches, Speaking | Tagged: advertising agencies, Carmine Gallo, Michael Gass, Nancy Duarte, new business, Peter Walker, Pitches, presentations, Steve Jobs | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Cause Branding: It is Now B-2-WE for Ad Agency New Business

June 8, 2011

WE -habilitating Capitalism – How valuable your agency will Be to ME no longer depends on b2c or b2b but on b2we

Simon Mainwaring is founder of We First, a social branding consulting firm that helps companies use social media to build communities, profits and positive social impact. A highly recognized creative director, he has worked at many of the world’s top creative advertising agencies in Asia, Europe and the U.S. including Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, on Nike and as Worldwide Creative Director for Motorola at Ogilvy, Los Angeles.

Simon’s first book, entitled We First, presents a new vision for business. An answer to Bill Gate’s “Creative Capitalism” challenge, a practical and actionable plan for how brands and consumers use social media to create a partnership that provides sustained prosperity for business and our world.

Ad agencies could learn much from Simon’s approach where clients are expecting their agency partners … to contribute to the social good, where the future of profit is purpose and agencies that thrive … will be will be those that put the well-being of their brand community and the world at large first.

Enjoy the We First video, how brands and consumers use social media to build communities, profits and positive impact. WE-defining Me written and performed by Sekou Andrews (sekouworld.com). Design and animation by Troika (troika.tv). Original music and sound design by Machine Head (machinehead.com).

Edelman Goodpurpose Survey measures consumer attitudes about corporate responsibility. The survey was conducted in 13 countries among more than 7,000 adults. It is the only global study of its kind. Here are some highlights from that report:

71% believe “brands and consumers could do more to support good causes by working together”
65% say they “have more trust in a brand that is ethically and socially responsible.”
73% agree government and business need to work together more closely to ensure the environment is protected
62% would “help a brand to promote their products or services if there is a good cause behind them. (compared to 53% in 2008 and 59% in 2009)
62% of global consumers “would switch brands if a different brand of similar quality supported a good cause”
64% believe it is no longer enough for corporations to give money; they must integrate good causes into their everyday business

3 Comments | Agency Branding, Agency Leadership, Fuel for Thought, New Business Trends, Positioning, Social Media | Tagged: ad agency, Bill Gates, cause branding, creative capitalism, new business, Simon Mainwaring, Social Media, We First | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

12 Tips for Building a Rewards Program for Ad Agency New Business

June 6, 2011

Everyone in the agency should contribute to new business and one of the best ways to encourage lead generation is through a referral program.

A referral program is one of the most cost-effective and efficient methods for generating new business for small-to-midsize ad agencies. Here are my 12 tips on how to create or enhance your agency’s new business referral program:

Identify the kinds of clients you are looking for and set parameters for qualifying leads (size, niche or category, etc.) so all employees know the kinds of clients you want to pursue.
Make your process simple and easy to understand. Your staff will not be willing to jump through lots of hoops to participate.
Set goals such as getting a 75 percent participation rate or a certain number of referrals per employee by year’s end.
Regularly encourage employees to make referrals. Get in front of them often and present a clear message of how your new business referral program works, why they are an integral part of its success, and what’s in it for them.
As a way to increase the quality of referrals, pay out their incentives in two stages, offering an initial payout upon a referral as well as a second, supplementary bonus if the initial lead turns into a new account for the agency. The “right” reward will depend upon your agency’s size and the size of the new business account.
For initial leads offer gift cards, movie tickets, dinner or non-monetary prizes like reserved parking spaces or a cubicle by the window, or thanking them at a reception with their peers. I would suggest rewarding ALL qualified referrals in some way to ratchet-up participation.
If the referral leads to a new account for your agency, provide a much larger financial bonus or allow employees too earn extra vacation days – with pay.
Be sure to publicly say “thank you” to the person who supplied the lead that generates new business. Make it impressive enough that employees will proactively feed you names on a regular basis.
Teach your staff how to ask for referrals and train them to be better networkers, especially integrating social media into the mix of tools available. You will systematically turn your employees into indispensable brand advocates.
Do a good job of providing periodic status updates. Employees will be frustrated with the lack of follow-up on the status of their referrals.
Continuously find ways to improve the program.
Create consistency. The deeper you draw your employees into the hunt for new business “hunt,” the easier it will be for your agency will stay focused and consistent in generating new business.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

Leave a Comment » | New Business Tactics, New Business Tips | Tagged: lead generation, Michael Gass, new business, referrals, rewards program | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

10 Tips For Creating a Game Plan For Ad Agency New Business

May 18, 2011

It is absolutely essential that every ad agency have a plan for their new business development initiatives.

I recently spoke to a group of ad agency owners. I was amazed to learn that none of them had a written new business plan. That’s inconceivable to me. If you have no plan you can’t measure what you’re doing, there’s no real strategy behind your new business activities, no focus or direction.

“He who fails to plan, is planning to fail” - Winston Churchill

If you want to build a consistent pipeline for lead generation and new business opportunities for your agency you must have a game plan in place.

Here are my 10 tips for creating a game plan for your agency’s new business:

It might be a helpful exercise to create a SWOT analysis of your agency: it’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Set realistic new business goals. I can’t tell you how often I hear “our goal is to take the agency to the next level,” but they have no clue what that level is or what it looks like. In my opinion new business goals should be obtainable.
If your goal is to double your RFP responses or double your pitches, you also must have the processes in place to handle the additional workload if those things are to come to fruition.
Identify your top category and audience you are going to target. You must have an identifiable target.
Know who is your primary competition and create a strong point of differentiation from them.
Follow the KISS method. Keep everything simple as possible including the plan. A one page plan can easily suffice.
Outline the new business plan through specific strategies: Public Relations, Social Media, Direct Mail, Digital, etc.
Establish benchmarks for the things you can measure. Have a review, update, make changes and refocus your efforts once a month.
Use a program such as Basecamp, an excellent, inexpensive online tool to help implement your plan. Set milestone dates, create an actionable To-Do List for keeping track of who is doing, what, when, etc.
The person charged with new business should be empowered to implement the plan as if this was one of your agency’s client accounts. The new business person must be like a rudder of a ship to keep the process moving in the same direction, no matter how the wind is blowing.

Additional agency new business articles that may be of interest:

14 Comments | Best Practices, New Business Tips, New Business Tools, Promotion | Tagged: Ad Agencies, business development, Michael Gass, new business, new business plan | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Social Media Has Changed My Life and Ad Agency New Business

May 9, 2011

The single greatest impact upon my life professionally has been social media. It has changed the way I conduct my day, it has changed my perspective, it has impacted my intellectual outlook and it has become the best new business tool that I’ve ever had as a business development professional.

I’m writing this post from my hotel room in London, England reflecting on how far I’ve come since I was introduced to social media over four years ago when I started my consultancy. I have worked with new clients all across the United States from Costa Mesa, CA to Port Clyde, Maine and now my first overseas client located in the UK.

From my home office located above my garage in Alabaster, Alabama, I have built a global awareness for my services and established an international network of prospective clients solely through social media.

Almost every new business opportunity has come about the same way. Usually a prospective client is introduced to my blog ‘Fuel Lines’ by searching for “ad agency new business” through Google or they will click on a link to one of over 600 articles that has been repurposed through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or through a bi-weekly email newsletter. A growing audience helps to make my content viral. Acting as your brand ambassadors they fan these articles through their personal networks.

After becoming a reader, when a prospective client has a need for my type of service, they initiate the contact. This is a new business person’s dream because you’re not having to constantly chase business. You merely read and write, providing helpful content to your audience. The ones who are drawn to you will initiate the contact when they need help with their new business and social media efforts. I have yet to make a single cold call for any business since starting my consulting services.

A prospect who initiates a call and talks to you as if they know you. That’s because they do! Social media has allowed them to get to know a great deal about you. In their own time frame, they check under the hood, kick the tires and check out the upholstery so to speak. Rather than going through the dating process you’ve moved directly to engagement shortening the purchasing cycle.

You need to look at social media as a savior not a nemesis, an asset rather than a liability and time saver rather than time killer for ad agency new business.

Agencies were reluctant to participate as social media was becoming mainstream because they saw it as a major commitment of their time without much value to show in return. Fortunately a lot of negative perceptions of social media has been changed. But I don’t believe the majority of agencies have yet to appreciate the huge benefit that social media can actually make new business easier.

Most agencies generate new business through networks and referrals. Social media can greatly accelerates this process. It is networking on steroids. Taking its offline networking expertise online, an agency can now affordably create an international reach for its services.

“Kudos to all! Our social program is generating leads and business from around the world. Earlier this year got a client out of Australia and currently talking to a company in Japan that follows me on twitter” – John Sonnhalter, CEO, SONNHALTER

Utilizing social media can help you to be more consistent for new business. 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 social media can keep your new business pipeline full even when are away.

With very little effort I have created, maintained and am growing touch points through social media networks with my best prospective clients and all I’ve had to do is read and write.

Click here to view some of my London trip photos I’ve shared on Facebook.

7 Comments | Agency Leadership, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: advertising agencies, business development, London, Michael Gass, networking, new business, referrals, Social Media, UK | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

16 Signs That Social Media Isn’t Working for Ad Agency New Business

April 18, 2011

If your agency’s social media participation isn’t generating traffic and new business leads, it is important to know why.

How can an agency help a client monetize their social media when it doesn’t have a handle on how to use it for itself? As more-and-more agencies jump on the social media band-wagon, clients are beginning to ask them,“what has social media done for you?”

Gone are the days when an agency can get by “talking the talk but not walking the walk.” Clients will be able to discern between the agencies that truly get social media from the ones that don’t with just a few clicks of their mouse.

100% of our clients are online and all they have to do is take a quick look and they can easily tell that most agencies have no plan with regards to social media. Agencies may have a blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, but those accounts often hide behind the agency name and tend to be blatantly self promotional with little value to an undefinable audience.

Used correctly, social media makes new business easier not harder. It is an incredible communication’s channel for easily generating new business leads and creating personal networks far beyond your local market.

No traffic + no leads = no new business. Here are 16 signs that most likely indicate your social media isn’t working for your agency:

No social media strategy, no plan. 60% of companies using social media have no plan. I would say from my own experience that is probably true of most agencies.
No clear objective for using social media. The first step in creating a social media strategy for your agency, you MUST have an objective. I suggest it should be for new business.
There is no focus on a particular target audience. The second step in creating in a social media strategy is to identify who you are trying to reach.
A lack of positioning for agencies. The FOUNDATION of an ad agency’s new business program is its positioning.
“The common failing among agencies seeking new business is the inability, or unwillingness, to name what they stand for,”Bob Lundin, Agency search consultancy Jones Lundin Beals. Social media provides a great opportunity to showcase how your agencies are different.
Agencies using social media for blatant self-promotion. Credentials and capabilities belong on an agencies website but shouldn’t be the driving force of their social media program. Social media should be centered around benefits.
No integration between blogging, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. When the majority of agencies finally ‘jumped into’ social media, they just jumped in with a check list of channels. Yes we have a blog, Facebook Fan page, Twitter account and LinkedIn. But there was no convergence, bringing them together into a single social media strategy.
Agencies are waiting passively for prospective clients to them. If you build it, doesn’t guarantee that prospects are going to come.
Many agencies lack appreciation for those that are willing ambassadors for your agency. Zig Ziglar’s statement, “You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want.” His philosophy works well in the arena of social media.
A lot of social media efforts fail because of the lack of value/benefit for the intended audience. Your audience will be your judge and jury as to whether you have an appealing position, post titles that spur interest, content that is beneficial.
A lot of agencies obviously don’t care about anybody but themselves. To successfully build an online community, you must staf focused on the perspective and interests of your prospective clients. You have to genuinely care about their challenges and obstacles.
There’s no SEO strategy for your agency’s social media presence. According to Marketing Sherpa, 80-90% of business to business transactions begin with a search on the web. A CMO survey, 80% of decision makers say they found the vendor, not the other way around. “Content Doesn’t Win. Optimized Content Wins” – Li Evans, search marketing guru
Your agency’s social media ship has no rudder. Getting your staff on the same page and keeping them there is like herding cats. Empower the person charged with your agency’s new business to keep your social media efforts focused and directed.
Followers instead of leaders. Most agencies are still using social media the way the early adopters of social media intended. Instead of pressing the envelope for lead generation and networking for new business. This in no way means that you are SELLING.
A mindset of income first. Just like in our offline networks and referrals, it’s relationships first. People want to work with other people that they know, trust and like.
Attending offline events such as trade shows and conferences without inclusion in your agency’s social media efforts. Social media has transformed offline events and can maximize the personnel connections with prospective clients. Your involvement with blogging, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can change your whole experience.
No social media training for their staffs. According to a recent 4A’s and Arnold Worldwide survey, 90% of agency staff say they have to figure things out on their own due to the lack of training.

Additional social media + ad agency new business articles that may be of interest:

6 Comments | Best Practices, New Business Tips, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: Ad Agencies, Advertising, Jones Lundin Beals, Marketing Sherpa, Michael Gass, new business, Social Media, Zig Ziglar | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

The List for Ad Agency New Business

March 2, 2011

To begin a successful agency new business program one of the first steps is to identify your best target audience and build a data base of company information that would include a contact database.

The List is a B2B sales lead generation resource with access to over 108,000 marketing, advertising, and media decision makers. Subscribers use the corporate decision makers contact database to generate sales leads and target new business prospects.

The List is one of the better services that I’ve used when I was leading new business efforts for a number of agencies. They specialize in providing intelligence to advertising, marketing, and creative agencies.

Ad agency new business directors spend lots of time locating and pre-qualify prospective clients for their agency. The List simplifies this process and allows them to connect with prospective clients faster and easier. A very comprehensive new business prospecting tool.

Email and mailing list are easily assembled through a quick search and can be downloaded as an Excel or .cvs file. I’m already spending more of my time executing tactics to win new business and far less time looking for the right contact information.

The best way to evaluate whether or not The List provides the new business intelligence for the type of prospects you agency is focused upon it is to take advantage of their free trial. If you are interested, access it by Clicking Here

Conduct some prospective client advanced searches by geography, industries, specialties and revenue/media spend/size.

To evaluate any data resources for prospective clients here are a few helpful tips:

Out of 100 contacts, how many are incorrect information? More than 10 incorrect data points and you’re dealing with inaccurate information.
How long does it take you to find the contact you’re looking for? How does this compare to your current data provider?
Once you have your desired contact, do you have the (correct) email, direct dial, address? Does your current information provider have it? Is it accurate?

Trying to maintain your own database is not the best return on your time investment, that’s why services such as The List are valuable.

Todd Knutson, CEO of The List, has created a blog, New Business Intel: Driving Ad Agency New Business. Todd provides lots of resources, tips and tactics for new business that I’m sure you will find helpful. You can also follow and engage with Todd through Twitter: @Todd_Knutson

2 Comments | New Business Tools | Tagged: advertising agencies, data base, Michael Gass, new business, prospective clients, The List, Todd Knutson | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass