ADWEEK.COM: All 61 Ads from Super Bowl 2011 in 2 Minutes

ADWEEK and the Mullen agency create excellent awareness for themselves through the Super Bowl and their use of social media. ADWEEK’s video generated over 60,000 views in 1.5 days. There were over 47,000 Tweets that used #brandbowl hashtag and over 18,000 people who visited their site during game night. Not bad exposure for Mullen. In […]

An Ad Agency’s ‘Buy Local Campaign’ Generates New Business

Park Howell, president of Park&Co, a full service agency that specializes in environmental marketing, provides a successful promotional campaign example for how he built awareness for his agency … by promoting its competition.

2011 Forecast: 100 Global Trends That Will Drive Consumer Behavior

JWT has released its sixth annual year-end forecast of key trends that will drive or significantly impact consumer behaviour in the year ahead. The result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted throughout the year and pulling from the input of more than 50 trendscouts around the world. JWT is a believer in scoping out trends through its JWT Intelligence unit.

Ad Age: A List of the Worst Agency Websites for IPhones and IPads

Attention Agencies: You provide a sweet target for your competition if you don’t practice what you preach and aren’t doing for yourself what you recommend for clients. The McKinney agency, Durham, NC, recently created some positive press for themselves while creating a firestorm around some of the biggest advertising agencies websites.

Can you describe your ad agency’s positioning in 30 seconds?

foundation for ad agency new business is positioning

Can you define your agency’s positioning in a simple statement? I can’t begin to tell you how many agencies I know struggle with this. The starting point for any ad agency new business program is your positioning. It is a fundamental prerequisite for small and midsize agencies. Positioning is everything. But it is also the place where most agencies where most fail.

Combine Email Marketing and Social Media for Ad Agency New Business

The mix of social media and email marketing can greatly accelerate both your social media presence and in turn generate inbound leads for your agency’s new business. The rise in popularity of social media only enhances email newsletters. The two can work powerfully together to generate inbound leads for your agency’s new business pipeline as you share content and engage in conversations.

85 social media infographics for ad agency new business

Infographics (information graphics) are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge. They are mostly image-based with little text. Infographics is a good way to illustrate social media to clients. This is a good example of infographics used in a video to reach prospective clients: She-conomy, A Guys Guide to Marketing to Women.

Contests; A Lead Generation Tactic For Ad Agency New Business

According to Jupiter Research: companies that run contests or sweepstakes have twice as many fans on their sponsored social network pages as those who don’t. Social media provides agencies with many avenues for new business lead generation. One particular strategy, creating contests to engage an audience, quickly build online traffic and generate leads, is now even more feasible for agencies thanks to easy-to-use platforms that have recently emerged.

Small Ad Agency Generates National Attention Through Social Media

sheconomy a guys guide to marketing to 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. 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, “No advertising love for single women”

Advertising Agency Descriptions in 6 Words – Vote for Your Favorite

50 ad agencies descriptions

A recent challenge to advertising agencies enlisted over 50 responses. They were asked to describe their agency in six words or less. They were also asked to describe their agency in six words “without” using these 10 Things Ad Agencies “Usually” Say About Themselves ?

A New Business Plan is Just a Plan Until It’s Executed

Execution is the battleground that determines success or failure.

For ad agencies that even have a new business plan, the majority fall short in its implementation.

How many annual planning meetings has your agency gone through to create a strategic marketing 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.

Experience has taught me that successfully executing a new business strategy requires a system.… Continue reading

A Plan for Ad Agency New Business in 3 Simple Steps

A Plan for Ad Agency New Business

Having a written marketing plan makes new business easier and much more consistent.

Most agencies have no plan for new business. They can’t express what they are selling or who they are selling it to.

For you to state that you want to “take your agency to the next level” is not a strategy, it’s a goal. A strategy is not your agency’s mission statement. Your marketing strategy is a plan of execution.

Goals, objectives and mission statements are all fine.… Continue reading

12 Tips for Using Testimonials for Ad Agency New Business

client testimonials for ad agency new business

Adding recommendations is an easy way to empower a new business program.

As part of my consulting work, I’m asked to review a lot of agency websites from a new business perspective. Recently, I had a request to review the website of a large ad agency in New York. I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t find a single testimonial from a happy client. A good number of agencies neglect to add this important component to their marketing mix.… Continue reading

7 Helps for Consistent Online Leads for Ad Agency New Business

help for ad agency new business

Business development doesn’t have to be so difficult. By creating simple steps and processes you’ll have a system to boost online leads.

Here are 7 tips to get started:

1. Consistently Use Lead Generation Platforms

The battle for new business has moved online.

You want to enlarge your agency’s online footprint to generate more leads.

These are some proven platforms:

  • For over the past 10 years, I’ve recommended a niche blog for agency new busines. I’ve helped create over 450 personal blogs for agency principals.
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You Can’t Grow Your Ad Agency Quicker Alone

Being an agency owner can be lonely. 

It’s natural. We’re at the top and insulated. Our world consists of our employees, clients, vendors and the small, finite amount of time we get to spend with our friends and families.

Sure, it can be fun, exciting and rewarding. Hell, we wouldn’t do it otherwise. These are the highs.

But on the other hand, there are lows. And they get well, really low. In some cases, it seems you don’t have anyone to turn to.

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Social Media is now Pay to Play for Ad Agency New Business

social media is pay to play for ad agency new business

Paid social advertising can accelerate the process of attracting qualified traffic and leads.

Since 2007, I’ve preached that there was a new model for new business that made the existing model obsolete. Agencies needed a new approach to new business.

During the past decade, technology and the rise of social media changed how people communicated. This dramatically impacted business development. Prospects became self-sufficent. Any business information they wanted about a product or service became easily available online.… Continue reading

Distractions Can Take A Toll On Ad Agency New Business

Why it’s so hard to remain focused on new business and how to deal with distractions.

The atmosphere is often chaotic at most agencies. There are numerous interruptions and urgent requests throughout each day. It’s an environment that’s in a perpetual state of distraction. Working in this kind of climate is stressful. You’re constantly shifting from one task to the next.

In addition to agency our agency life, we’re now having to process an extreme amount of information daily.… Continue reading

Ad Agencies: The Two Things Prospects Want to Buy

stop selling for ad agency new business

You should stop selling your services, that’s not what prospects are buying.

Agency business development programs are often sales focused. They’re built around outbound, interruptive sales tactics that are designed to start engagements with prospective clients. The prospects have little, if any, awareness of the agency or how they’re different from their competitors.

Success in “selling the agency” is proving to be extremely difficult. And when business development isn’t successful, they think the sensible thing to do is to step-up outbound sales.… Continue reading

Targeting First-time CMOs for Ad Agency New Business

Here are five brands that have added their first CMO.

As any agency business development executive knows, it’s crucial to track decision-maker shifts in order to beat competitors to the pitch. First-time CMOs are one of the top new business triggers for agency changes, media shifts, and new marketing technology investments, as new hires tend to make changes within 3-12 months following their appointment.

First-time CMO hires signal that a company is making moves to bolster their marketing efforts, and also indicates a probable increase in spend in order to support these initiatives.… Continue reading

Your Personal Brand is Key for Ad Agency New Business

Your Personal Brand and Ad Agency New Business

Developing your personal brand is one of the best investments you can make for new business.

Through my experience working with hundreds of advertising, digital, media and PR firms, I’ve discovered how important it is for the agency owner to be the face of their company. Given the rise of social media, their personal brand story is as essential, or even more so, than the agency’s brand.

Being the “face” of an agency is an intimidating role, and as a result, many owners and founders avoid the spotlight. 

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