Fueling Ad Agency New Business
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 […]
“It’s not the will to succeed, but the will to prepare to succeed that makes the difference.” Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant It wasn’t until 2010 that most small to mid-size ad agencies gave up fighting against the social media tide and decided to dive in. When most agencies finally jumped into social media, they had […]
Content creation is an important part of social media success for ad agency new business, but it is also difficult to maintain without a little help. I’m going on my 5th year of creating content for my blog. I’ve found that my reading always seems to help fuel my writing and inspire ideas. So […]
Agency new business directors have one of the most important, as well as toughest, jobs in advertising – selling the agency. Why is agency new business so tough? Primarily because agencies are notorious for their inability to sell themselves. Agencies desperately need an expert/specialist in the mechanics of new client acquisition, someone who has the sole […]
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. I recently wrote a post, 50 of the Best Insights from Ad Age’s First Ever Small Agency Conference, the first ever small […]
A strong Call-to-Action is needed to convert your blog’s visitors into new business opportunities. The most important key to converting your agency’s blog visitors into leads is to have a “call-to-action”. A strong call to action is a clear, simple and compelling offer that persuades your readers to take the action you want. Just having a […]
If you look at all the ad agency blogs out there, most are far to general. Readers are left with thousands of blogs about the same thing. No particular niche, no point of differentiation. The blogging space becomes overcrowded by generalists. There are no experts, no leaders and the agency’s blog is lost a crowd of sameness.
Without a differentiated position, agency new business is much harder than it needs to be. But, it doesn’t have to be so hard. There is an easier way to solve the pain in positioning by implementing a comprehensive inbound marketing program and will quickly gain a positioning of expertise and have qualified prospects reaching out to you.… Continue reading
Stop selling your services, that’s not what prospects are buying.
There are two things that prospects want to buy:
The importance of social media on business has dramatically escalated. We have moved through the “hype phase” of social media when businesses felt compelled to participate because it was a fad. We have entered a productive phase where companies are starting to crack social’s code to turn it into a genuine marketing advantage.
… Continue reading“Just as having a company website has become standard operating procedure over the past two decades, utilizing social media channels has now become an increasingly essential platform for companies to communicate their messages to the general public and other audiences.”
Advertising, digital, media and PR firms are struggling to understand and convert their social media and content marketing efforts into actual new business success. I have probably edited no less than 6,000+ agency articles over the past ten years. It’s always a common problem to move them away from self-promotional type content. The content usually highlights awards, new hires and client news.… Continue reading
I recently read the most extraordinary story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about an agency owner that I had to share. Not only because it is such a powerful story, but I know and have worked with the person that was being spotlighted, Tom Matte from Atlanta.
… Continue reading“Tom Matte’s story came to me from former AJC reporter Jim Auchmutey. The author of “Class of ‘65” was teaching a writing class in which Tom was a student, and Jim thought Tom’s story about his fall from grace and ultimate redemption had strong Personal Journeys appeal.
Positioning is the foundation of any agency’s new business program. It is also the area that many agencies have not addressed because of either procrastination or, more likely, their unwillingness to make the difficult business decisions.
… Continue reading“Contrary to common belief, all agencies have pretty much the same basic capabilities, and processes. They all claim to have proprietary tools, and they may have different labels for what they do, but the approach is essentially the same at big or small agencies.”
… Continue reading“When it comes to new business, it’s important that agencies never become complacent, even when times are good. In order to nurture and grow a vibrant agency, there must be a steady stream of new business opportunities in the pipeline. Clients can be unpredictable and losing a piece a business without replacing it quickly can be detrimental to an agency’s future.”
Small to midsize agencies continue to promote themselves as full service, even though it’s rare for an agency to have a full service client. They use “full service” to broaden their appeal to most prospects. But these old adages are true, “a jack of all trades is master of none” and “when you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to none.” … Continue reading
Let’s take it one step further … Can you describe your agency in six words “without” using these 10 Things Ad Agencies “usually” Say About Themselves?
Ten things agencies are most likely to say about themselves:
If you are up for the challenge, share your description in six words or less in the comment section below.… Continue reading
According to the RSW/US survey report,
66% of agency execs stated their new business hire was unsuccessful because the person lacked a methodology.
How many annual planning meetings has your agency gone through to create a strategic new business plan only to have it fail in its implementation? Maybe this year, instead of focusing so much attention on the plan, use annual planning to create a dynamic process for execution.… Continue reading
Michael Gass, Business Development Consultant | Speaker | Author of Fuel Lines
Fuel Lines provides new business resources for Advertising, Digital, Media and PR Agencies.
It has been rated among the top 100 marketing blogs in the world, according to Ad Age’s Power 150.
Since 2007, Michael has helped pioneer the use of social media, inbound and content marketing strategies specifically for agency new business.
Read more about Michael
An essential component to your agency's new business program is a prospective client data base.
In my opinion one of the most accurate online database of marketing and advertising decision makers is Winmo. I highly recommend them.
I'm Michael Gass, I'm an author, speaker and a new business consultant to advertising, digital, media and PR agencies.
Since 2007, I have helped pioneer the use of social media, inbound and content marketing strategies specifically for agency new business.
Fuel Lines is my social media 'home-base. It has been ranked among the top 100 marketing blogs in the world, according to Advertising Age’s, The Power 150.
Learn more about me