5 Ways Social Media Marketing Makes New Business Easier

September 23, 2011

Photo Credit NCinDC

For agency new business, you need to look at social media as a saviour not a nemesis; an asset rather than a liability; a time saver rather than a time killer.  

Having spent most of my advertising career in new business development I can tell you that social media marketing is the most efficient new business tool that I have ever used.

Here are 5 ways social media marketing makes agency new business easier:

1. Social media marketing allows agencies to easily define and adopt a differentiating new business strategy

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

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

Small to midsize agencies have been reluctant to name what they stand for. Social media marketing allows agencies to adopt a narrower niche and a more differentiating strategy than they would be comfortable in doing through their website.

“We just landed a significant project with Coca-Cola purely through our sustainable marketing niche. The best compliment we could receive was when they said our price was waaay more than the next bid, but given our background in green marketing and sustainability, that it was worth the extra investment. Finally, a value over price purchase. Love it” – Park Howell, president of Park & CO

“Just thought I would let you know. We are participating in a pitch tomorrow for another national account. This opportunity is 100% related to our agency’s new positioning through our blog, She-conomy: A guy’s guide to marketing to women” – Stephanie Holland, president, Holland + Holland Advertising

Holland + Holland advertising, through their blog,  She-conomy, has now been invited to 3 national pitches as a result of their differentiating positioning. Nothing like this had ever happened before in their 25 year history. They even had trouble with local press coverage of their anniversary. But through social media, they have been recognized by Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and NPR radio.

Stephanie had never been comfortable stepping out with this positioning prior to social media. She was like other agency principals who felt that they would be missing opportunities.

Here are a couple of other examples:

  • The Littlefield ad agency, Tulsa, OK,  is carving out a niche through their The One Thing blog: The casino marketers guide to understanding gamers, written by the agency’s new business director, Kelly Fiddner.
  • MAX Advertising, Atlanta, GA, has created The Matte Pad, Marketing know how for the legal profession, written by its CEO, Tom Matte.

The way these agencies are using social media as a differentiating tool doesn’t impact the way the have obtained new business in the past. It doesn’t impede the networking and referral business that is generated offline. MAX advertising will still obtain new business outside of legal marketing and even though Littlefield is focused on casino marketers, it doesn’t impact winning a sizable local bank as a new client.

Why would a prospective client, outside of your market, want to work with your agency? Why would they pass over hundreds of other agencies to work with yours? Through a differentiating social media marketing strategy you can give them a reason.

2. Social media marketing provides an easy system to create intellectual capital and share your area of expertise

Social media marketing is effectively driven by content development and curation. This in turn provides a customized continuing education program for your professional enrichment, keeping you ahead of the learning curve and positioning as a thought leader.

An added plus, social media marketing pays for you to go back to school! What you do for professional enrichment will also provide your FUEL for new business.

3. Social media marketing lessens dependency upon new business tactics that rely on interruption tactics

I’m a cold caller from way back and have had much success with it in the past. But times are changing rapidly. Cold calling isn’t what it use to be and it isn’t an efficient or effective method for agency new business. You make dozens of calls to find the right prospect and the right time but you still have to go through the “dating process”.

Social media marketing has the potential for building prospective client relationships much faster than cold calling. 

Can you imagine a prospective client picking up the phone and initiating a call for the first meeting with your agency? It doesn’t happen very often. That’s not the norm. The vast majority of the time, small to midsize agencies, PR firms and digital shops are chasing after new business opportunities.

Having steadily grown my consultancy over the past 4 years, I have yet to make an initial call for any new business. I strategically built awareness and appeal through my social media networks.

Prospective clients call and  those initial conversations are much further down-the-road. They talk to me as if they know me, because they do know me. I’ve built a relationship with them online through the use of social media and when they make that call, they are usually ready to do business. You skip the dating process and move straight to the altar. 

Why? People want to work with other people that they KNOW, TRUST and LIKE. Social media is an efficient and effective communication channel that allows relationships to be built much faster than they could be offline.

For instance, to have a physical, initial meeting here in my home town of Birmingham, Alabama would take much longer and is less efficient than the way I generate new business opportunities online through my social media networks.

I can be building a relationship with an agency in Costa Mesa, California while simultaneously I’m doing the same with an agency in Portland, Maine and Miami, Florida. I am doing this while I’m networking internationally through a network of agencies in South Africa and a couple of agencies in London.

All of this networking is taking place from my home office located above my garage in Alabaster, Alabama or from where ever I happen to be.

4. Social media marketing allows agencies to broaden their market 

Small to midsize ad agencies can affordably build a national awareness.

Prior to using social media for new business, The Russo Group in Lafayette, LA, 94% of their new business came from within their market. Since implementing social media, 94% of their new business has been generated outside their market and has extended their  business in over 9 different states.

The growth clients well outside of their market of Lafayette had never happened before. Social media marketing made the difference.

Not long ago I received this message from a midsize agency located outside of Cleveland, Ohio:

“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

This agency has a very narrow niche, manufacturers who target professional tradesmen, plumbers, electricians, contractors. They’ve been able to play to their strengths because social media marketing broadens their business opportunities.

5. Social media marketing helps create consistent new business practices

You can keep your prospective pipeline full even when your agency is at its busiest. Once you develop your social media marketing strategy and get it in place, it will take little effort to keep it working on your behalf.

We previously owned a houseboat that was docked at a marina in Nashville, TN.  I often would make the 250 mile drive to spend time on the boat.  I absolutely loved the atmosphere and the culture around the docks at Black Jack Cove Marina. My new business pipeline didn’t suffer when I spent weeks there. Often I would be sitting on the back of the boat watching the sun set while cranking out another blog post and engaging with new business prospects hundreds of miles away.

I can easily create, maintain and grow new prospective client relations through my social media network. It is similar to how I would network offline but much more efficient. It is like networking on steroids.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

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

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:

 

3 Comments | Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Promotion | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michael Gass

Ad Agency: Social Media | New Business Roundtable

November 4, 2009

100_1990

Social media provides great opportunities for ad agencies to network with prospective clients. It is also provides opportunity to network with other agencies.

Stephanie Holland was kind enough to host a social media/new business roundtable discussion with a small group of us who I have worked with over the past couple of years. Stephanie is president/creative director for Holland + Holland Advertising, here in Birmingham, AL. Our group also included Jaci Russo, principal of The Russo Group, Lafayette, LA, S.A. Habib, president of Locomotion Creative, Nashville, TN, John Sonnhalter, founder and CEO of SONNHALTER, a B to B ad agency in Cleveland, OH, and Park Howell, president of Park&Co, a full service ad agency in Phoenix, AZ.

Though everyone had been introduced to one another online this was the first time that our group had met face-to-face. We decided to get together for a couple of days of personal interaction to measure how far we have come and where do we go from here.

This meeting provided an opportunity for us to learn from one another and create some camaraderie as we go forward. Too be a help and a resource for one another.

These were some of our initial questions and thoughts that were used to facilitate our discussions:

  • How do you monetize your social media efforts for new business?
  • What has been the best return on your time investment with social, best time management practices?
  • What still are your biggest challenges?
  • Reviewing and providing input for each agency blog’s positioning
  • Is your staff buying in and participating?
  • How to implement a call to action through social media?

It was an enjoyable and rewarding two days. We came away with renewed energy and focus.

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Here’s a link if you’d like to see additional photos of our roundtable discussion group

You can review these agency principal’s blogs below. I’m sure each of them would welcome your thoughtful insights:

Blue Collar Branding (S.A. Habib)

Park Howell: A brighter shade of green marketing (Park Howell)

Razor Branding Blog (Jaci Russo)

She-conomy: A Guys Guide to Marketing to Women (Stephanie Holland)

Tradesmen Insights (John Sonnhalter)

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

Ad Agency Generates Inbound New Business Leads Through Social Media

October 12, 2009

Social media can greatly help with your agency’s positioning. It can also create appeal and generate inbound leads, but you’ll need to start by answering two questions:

  1. Who is our best target audience?
  2. What is our agency’s most appealing point of differentiation?

Holland + Holland, a small advertising agency in Birmingham, AL, provides an excellent example of how a small agency can create an appeal to a specific target audience using social media.

  • Their point of differentiation: Stephanie Holland, agency president and creative director is one of only 3% of female creative directors in the US, 97% of creative directors are men.
  • The strength of their positioning, 85% of all brand purchases are made by women. Women bought more product from HomeDepot and Lowes last year than did men, they also purchased more hamburgers, consumer electronics, NBA and NFL apparel … women are the purchasing agent for the family. Holland now has a distinctive advantage over their competitors, because most of them have male creative directors.  Its much easier for Holland to call into question their competitors understanding of reaching women.
  • Focusing on a target. The agency is targeting male advertisers who should be marketing to women. Stephanie, through her blog, educates her readers about this important consumer group that most are not reaching through their marketing efforts. She is careful not to talk down to or berate her audience. Her blog’s descriptor statement is crystal clear, “a guys guide to marketing to women.”
  • The initial results for Holland + Holland: For the first time in their 25 year history, the agency was selected to pitch for two nationally known brands, winning one of those accounts and invited to handle the social media for the other. The two companies are not headquartered within Holland’s market. They discovered Stephanie and her agency through their online presence using social media and were chosen for their expertise in marketing to women. One midwestern prospective client flew over hundreds of other agencies to meet in person with Stephanie at her office in Birmingham because of getting to know her through her blog.
she-conomy

Holland + Holland's Blog: She-conomy

Over a year ago, Stephanie created her agency’s blog, She-conomy: A Guys Guide to Marketing to Women. She has created a community of followers, providing helpful resources to their marketing challenges in reaching women.

Here’s an example of the kinds of posts that Stephanie uses to reach her audience and keep them coming back:

Stephanie is using her blog as the “gateway” to her agency. This is the place, the central platform of her social media strategy. Instead of the agency’s website, Stephanie generates traffic initially through her blog.

Stephanie has a strategic reading program that helps keep ahead of trends and her clients. Instead of searching for resources, most of the resources are sent to her through RSS feeds, Google Alerts, etc. Her writing is an important component to her professional enrichment. It helps her better articulate her thoughts and the way she communicates to prospective clients. She’s learned to lead her new business efforts through benefits instead of agency capabilities. She speaks to her prospective clients marketing challenges and provides to them her thoughts, opinions and resources to help provide solutions.

People have a strong desire to work with other people that they know, trust and like. Stephanie has become the face for her agency. Her audience feels like they know her, because they do.

sheconomy website

Holland + Holland’s website has become their online brochure. It is designed simply in a way which easily highlights the agency’s latest work and case studies. If you’ll notice, the blog intentionally lives apart from the branding of the agency’s website. It was allowed room to breath and grow. It will actually provide a great resource for the agency’s brand through the engagement with their targeted audience. It’s their audience that decides what’s appealing and what’s not.

Stephanie's Twitter Account

Stephanie's Twitter Account

Stephanie is using Twitter to network and repurpose her blog’s content to a growing following. Twitter has become the leading traffic generator to her blog.

sheconomy seo

She-conomy allows for greater SEO. Stephanie can generate organic search placement in Google by consistently using the search terms her audience is most likely to use to find the resources she provides.

She-conomy Email Newsletter

She-conomy Email Newsletter

A She-conomy email newsletter is generated monthly to a database of over 2,000. The newsletter is easily created and sent using blog posts that are already generating higher traffic. It takes only minutes to create and send. This allows the agency to be consistent, sending the newsletter out twice a month, even when they are at their busiest.

sheconomy facebook

Stephanie's Facebook Page

Facebook allows for Stephanie to integrate her professional life and personal life. Facebook shows a much more personal side. It is the inclusion of family members, friends, colleagues, fellow alumni. There are applications found in Facebook that allows her to repurpose her blog’s content.

sheconomy linkedin

Stephanie's LinkedIn Page

Stephanie uses LinkedIn to network professionally. It is a great tool for highlighting her profile and recommendations from others. Like FaceBook, LinkedIn has an application that allows for automatically repurposing of content from She-conomy.

YouTube

The agency created a video for YouTube to create a strong appeal around their niche, which is marketing to women.

Stephanie Holland and her staff follow a simple social media plan for an inbound lead generation program for their new business. It is consistent and easily maintained. It is an integrated effort with specific goals and objectives and its bearing fruit.

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

Expand Your Agency By Narrowing Your Focus

August 6, 2009

Most ad agencies have an unfocused new business strategy. They try to be everything to everybody. Tim Williams, in a recent article titled, “Focus to Grow”, says,

“In turbulent times … The natural response is to “try a little bit of everything”; to expand your services, broaden your capabilities, and try to appeal to more clients. It seems like common sense, but it’s exactly the wrong response. The best growth strategy — in good economies or bad — is to decide what not to do.”

Tim sites these five benefits for the agencies that are willing to expand by narrowing their focus:

  1. The greatest earning power. It is a no brainer, a specialist will always earn more than the generalist.
  2. The largest geographical market area. “Focused firms draw clients from all over the globe, not just from their own Zip code.”  
  3. The fewest competitors. ”The easiest way to narrow your competition is to narrow your focus.”
  4. The greatest degree of respect from clients. ”Knowledge and expertise = respect.”
  5. The most sophisticated clients. “A quality value proposition attracts a quality client.”

There are a lot of agency principals that agree with this thinking but are afraid to take the initial step-out. I understand their hesitation. But there is a way to take the initial steps without the perceived risks through the use of social media. Social media allows an agency to:

  • “Easily” target a specific audience (i.e. Locomotion Creative, Blue Collar Branding)
  • Discover its most appealing point of differentiation through an active engagement with its best prospective clients (i.e. Stephanie Holland, She-conomy)
  • Be positioned as an expert (i.e. Park Howell, A Brighter Shade of Green Marketing)
  • Affordably build a national awareness among your best prospects (ie. Jaci Russo, The Russo Group)
  • Allow your prospects to better understand how you think, your philosophy and strong points of view (i.e. Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian, )

These are some helpful articles to get started. I would also encourage you to read Tim Summer’s book Take a Stand for Your Brand

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6 Comments | New Business Trends, Recession, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
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

How I typically start my day using social media tools for new business

March 18, 2009

Without some established habits the internet can become a black hole where you  waste a ton of time and accomplish little. I have client responsibilities plus things that must be done for my own company so I try to have a strategic, disciplined approach for the start of my day that works well for me.

I’m often asked to describe my typical morning  using social media tools for new business. 

The first thing I do every morning is check for messages. I’ve set up online monitors to keep me aware of conversations, links, comments regarding my personal brand, client’s, competitors, industry info as well as new business opportunities for agencies through RFPs, agency reviews, etc.

I use tools like Google Alerts, TweetBeeps and currently have daily alerts using terms like the examples below that are automatically emailed to me.

  • “Michael Gass”
  • “www.michaelgass.com”
  • “www.fuelingnewbusiness.com”
  • “agency review”
  • “advertising RFP”
  • “environmental marketing”
  • “www.parkhowell”
  • “Park Howell”

I scan through the email alerts to see if there is important info for me or one of my readers, clients and others who are in my network.

The next thing that I typically do is check my Twitter account to see if there are any “Replies or Direct messages.” I then check for new followers and send them a personal direct message. I will conduct  a quick search using search.twitter.com and/or Tweetscan checking for conversations  and comments about @michaelgass. I then make appropriate responses. When you get in a habit of doing these things it takes only a few minutes.

I go next to my Google Reader account which contains RSS feed subscriptions for some 30 blogs, local, state and national news and of course sports. I use the list view to quickly scan through typically 125 to 160 daily articles.

I have several favorite blog authors that I read everything that they write and others I look for post titles that draw my interest. I’ll click on the ones of interest. If the article warrants I’ll “Share” the item and/or “Star the Item” in Google Reader. I may use the info for one of my blog posts or I may click on my “Twitthat!” button that I’ve setup in my browser bar. Twitthat is a shortcut to posting an article on Twitter that might be of interest to my audience. It automatically states the article title and compresses the URL. It takes literally seconds to post an article to Twitter. A great tool.

Another tool that I might use is “PressThis,” also in my browser bar. If I come across an article that gives me inspiration for a post or one that I want to identify in a post as a resource for my readers I can PressThis and it will automatically post a draft post in my WordPress blog that automatically will include the post title and link to the source.

I may spend 20 to 45 minutes scanning and reading posts that are organized for me in GoogleReader. But it is a more focused approach that saves lots of time.

After I’ve done these tasks which mostly involves reading I go to my WordPress blog account for FUEL LINES. I quickly check the analytics to see what my blog traffic has been, what posts have generated the most traffic, what words were used in search to find my blog, etc.

I try to publish one new blog post per business day but I generally write these on nights and weekends and preset the publishing date/time. I have roughly 90 blog post drafts so I don’t have much difficulty finding something to write about even though I now have over 282 blog posts published on FUEL LINES.

This reflects a typical morning that takes approximately an hour of my time but I find that it is an hour well spent and provides a great start for the day.

What are some tips that have been helpful to you that you’d like to share?

Additional articles that may be of interest:

 

8 Comments | New Business Tips, Social Media, Time Management | 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

The First of Five Ways to Promote Your Ad Agency Using Social Media

November 19, 2008

1. Learn to Use Social Media 

Eric Kintz, a Hewlett-Packard marketing exec and blogger said: “I think they [agencies] are somewhat helping. But they need to show how social media has helped them further their own agenda. So if an ad agency comes to me, I’d ask if they have their own page on a social network site? Are they posting videos on YouTube? Do they have their own blog? And how has it helped them in their own business?”

Ad agencies have alot of non-traditional marketing tools now available to promote their agency. It is important that they understand how to use these tools because today’s clients are more resistive to traditional marketing practices.

Prospective Clients:

  • Don’t want to be interrupted
  • Have found ways to screen out, throw out and tune out unwanted marketing messages
  • Use online tools and techniques to seize control of their agency selection process
  • Seek out the information they want when they want it
  • Are finding their agency, rather than the agency finding them. 

First and foremost, it is critical that you and your staff understand and participate in social media by learning about it firsthand. One of the best ways you can learn is to develop a blog site for your agency.  Just remember that motive matters. It is not about your agency, it is about benefiting your audience. If done correctly, you will be amazed at the response.

Holland + Holland Advertising, a small ad agency in Birmingham, AL recently started a blog, She-conomy. The president and creative director, Stephanie Holland, is one of the few female creative directors in the country. Only 3% of creative directors are women but 85% of brand purchases are made by women. The agency’s blog site provides a clear point of differentiation from its competitors and a great opportunity to build a prospective client audience targeting men advertisers by helping them learn how to market to women.

Having your agency’s own agency blog will also help by:

  • Defining your target audience
  • Learning to write specifically to their needs
  • Learning the basics of Search Engine Optimization so your target audience can easily find your agency
  • Establishing a clear point of differentiation
  • Testing your message
  • Identifying the most important marketing challenges and obstacles your target audience is facing and providing solutions

You will also better understand YouTube, del.icio.us, Flickr, digg, MySpace, and Technorati.

Learn and use these great tools to reach your target audience. In turn, you will also understand how Social Media works and can better help your clients! A win-win.

Additional articles of interest:

20 Comments | New Business Tactics, New Business Tips, New Business Trends, Social Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
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

She-conomy: Why Your Advertising May be Missing the Mark

April 21, 2008

Stephanie Holland PhotoToday’s post is guest post written by Stephanie Holland. Stephanie  one of only 3% of female creative directors in the country. That minority status is becoming a strong point of differentiation for her agency, Holland + Holland, located in Birmingham, Alabama. Especially since 85% of all brands purchases are made by women. It gives her a unique selling proposition and strength as her agency competes with the “big boys.”

Check out Stephanie’s new blog: she-conomy.com. Even though she’s speaking about marketing to women, she isn’t losing sight that her target audience is primarily men, who should be marketing to women. She has discovered that her blog allows her more flexibility to explore this positioning as her agency’s brand evolves.

GUEST BLOG: Is Your Advertising Missing the Mark?

A quick Google search will flood your screen with seminars, new business models, web sites, articles and blogs dedicated to the recently discovered art of marketing to women. The foundation being that 85% of all brand purchases (that’s about $7 trillion annually-more that half of the GNP) are made by women. And yet more and more conclusive research is revealing women are not swayed or influenced by the traditional branding messages. In fact, more often than not, women are turned-off by the very brands seeking to target them. The modern woman has become numb and indifferent to ads that speak to her husband, or even worse, her great aunt.

“Only 3% of advertising creative directors are women”

This is not at all surprising considering a measly 3% of advertising creative directors-the people in charge of communicating to purchasers-are women. Even the advertising industry award shows can’t argue the point. Less than 15% of the top honors are awarded to ads targeting women. It’s like some very valuable logic was lost somewhere in the last 50 years.

Change is on the Horizon
It’s been a very slow realization, but it’s finally happening. Established traditional agencies are seeking out the female creatives, new female-focused agencies are cropping up all over the U.S. and Europe, and even the huge, super-star ad agencies are adding entire departments dedicated to tapping into this gold mine of a market.

“71% of women feel that brands only consider them for beauty products and cleaning products”

More Stats Making the News
Research tells us that 71% of women feel that brands only consider them for beauty products and cleaning products. Which is astounding considering the additional statistics state the following:

  • 94% the wealth acquired in the next four years, will be acquired by women
  • 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

Does this Mean Excluding Men? Absolutely not.
Improving your marketing doesn’t mean making it “for her eyes only.” That would be short-sighted to say the least. In fact, making your product more desirable to women will more than likely make it more appealing to everyone. Quite simply, if you connect with the intelligence and sensibilities of a woman, chances are good your message is effective across the sexes.

Business owners, both male and female, should consider the fact that this information is immensely valuable to every person wanting to thrive or, and in some cases, survive in today’s tenuous market place. Particularly in a fragile economy, advertisers should focus on trying to understand how women think and feel in order to expand their audience.

In other words, if you want your company to shoot for the stars, you may want to aim more in the direction of Venus.

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Posted by Michael Gass