Peter Levitan & Co.
The New Business of Advertising
Here is a bit more on how much I love SEO and Google. I use Google Alerts and decided to add “advertising agency new business” to my list. I optimize for this term. As it turns out, Google presented one of my blog posts in the results. That’s my post, “Beer For Advertising Agency New Business“, on the bottom. A nice fuzzy new business moment.
I’ve been on an interview trip lately. I’ve done a couple of soon to be published interviews with industry leaders for Advertising Week Social Club and Agency Post. More are on the way.
One major point I keep hearing is that advertising agency specialization is key to breaking out of the me-too agency positioning malaise. Specialization is one way to get to a more powerful (i.e. relevant, impactful, efficient) new business program.
In my Advertising Week interview with Ian Beavis, Nielsen’s EVP Automotive, on how agencies can win an auto account, he mentions that most advertising agencies do not act as a business solution partner,
“You rarely hear of an agency being a business solution provider, as it just doesn’t sound cool or creative. A good agency solves a client’s business issues and is a partner. Very few qualify and even fewer truly embrace this challenge.”
In another for Agency Post, Rich Sullivan, the CEO of Alabama’s RedSquare Agency, discusses how RedSquare has specialized in casino marketing with growing success.
I’ll let you know when both of these are published.
On to today. I was looking at a new list of Seattle’s largest agencies and noted that Taphandles, the fourth largest agency in Seattle, specializes in, get this, beer. I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of Taphandles and I am just down the road in Portland. I was intrigued.
Taphandles’ Twitter profile @taphandles describes the agency as:
“We know beer. Logos, taphandles, signs, displays, package/label/web design, glassware and all things POS… Let us help you sell more beer.”
There are a few things that work with this positioning. A key factor is that Taphandles has zeroed in on a fast growing category. Here are some stats from the Brewers Association.
Taphandles is well positioned to, yes, tap into the market due to its strong support for their beer expert positioning. They started out designing and manufacturing taphandles for most of the major beer brands. I love their concise story that has to grab the attention of beer clients.
“Since we opened our doors in 1999, we have worked with almost every beer brand worldwide, which has given us comprehensive understanding of competitive landscape, and appreciation for what it takes to build a successful brand. This experience makes us uniquely able to help breweries tell their stories effectively through the brands we design, and the merchandise we make.”
Clearly Taphandles has grown into a full-service provider by building on their taphandle design experience. But, there is something instructive here for all agencies.
Pick a growing category, learn it, own it and then you’ll be able to hammer it on your home page.
I am talking with one of my clients about an agency positioning that positions them as an expert on emotional marketing. As in, the agency is an expert at triggering an emotional response in the consumer. Yes, they have the right chops for this. And, they live in the right country. And, clients, well some, Ok some, understand the emotional vs. the uber rational sell. Kiss me and I’m all yours.
As such, I am sensitized to emotional pitches these days. Here are two examples of emotional marketing in action. One is a movie trailer (from the great Spike Jonze) and the other a Google Nexus website and really sweet video (a really sweet story.)
Why is Google’s advertising getting so much better than Apple’s?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS8zOLOcPMQ
Here is the Nexus website. Watch the video.
I did some personal math the other day. I’ve been positioning agency’s for over 25 years. I’ve got another 13 really smart positionings up my sleeve. If you are interested in separating your agency from the pack, start here…
Advertising – Digital – PR agency new business isn’t hard to do. Its just hard to do… it. Here’s a check list to help.
I talk to a couple of agencies every week that tell me that they can’t seem to get their new business engine cranking. Unfortunately, the one thing that really gets them moving is when they lose an account. Well, guess what, its a bit late if you wait for fear to get motivated. This might help… ask yourself how many months you can run your agency on your credit line and the cash you currently have in the bank? If its less than six, get going.
1. Determine what clients you want. Make a short, manageable list using a set of decision making criteria. The criteria could include client categories, size of account, geography, clients that have demonstrated a love for what you do (as in advertising or PR), clients that could use your speciality (assuming that you have a specialty as in mobile or millennial marketing or Instagram) and decide if the account is too much of a long-shot like Coke.
2. Build a detailed contact database of your Group A clients and then a Group B that includes all the others that you should stay in touch with via automated tactics like monthly emails. Use compiled databases like The List Inc. (well worth the $) and brute force using international workers from oDesk or a local intern to build and manage the list.
3. Have something valuable to say. No, this does not mean sending your latest work. This means sending things that might be of value to the client. OK, if you are targeting Intel in Hillsdale and your new CD worked for Intel in San Jose then send her related work and a case history. Or, if you are really bold… tell them you repositioned your agency to meet their needs like my friends at RedSquare. Click on this link before mid-September to see how they exploded their agency to become more competitive.
4. Get the word out at a scheduled pace. More personalized outreach to Group A and once every month or two to Group B. Be top of mind when the client wakes up and needs a new agency.
5. Make friends. Don’t be passive. Its OK to call up Group A for a chat and maybe invite then to a local gig or online seminar if they are far away. Here is my take on cold-calling, um, warm-calling.
6. Be social. Smart social media marketing will work to bring leads in. But, by smart I mean that you have to build an active social media plan based on meeting your target market’s needs. Do not write tons of content about what interests you or your staff party. Write about what interests the prospect and hit their pain points. Learn to really love LinkedIn and Twitter (use your prospect’s hashtags to subtly get noticed by them.) Facebook is for your employees, your future clients and you mom. And, I love the ease and Google friendliness of Pinterest — is your agency in my agency directory?
7. Be consistent. Have a master calendar and stick to it. The good news here is that the other agencies are not doing this with any consistency.
8. Be active. Passive does not work.
–> Oh, here is a bonus #9: If you really need a kick in the biz dev butt or hand-holding and/or the advice of someone who has been there and done it globally at Saatchi and locally for his very own agency… contact me.
Despite the constant ankle-biting from Republicans about / against Obamacare, Obamacare is starting to roll out.
As a parent with two ex-college kids under 26 and a self-employed lifestyle, I dig the idea of this new healthcare program. The hope that we might (stress might) start to improve our screwed up health care system is also rather appealing.
Obamacare has hit Oregon with the launch of the ad agency North’s Cover Oregon campaign. Of course, there are lovers and haters. Here is an article from our Oregonian on the campaign… the comments are interesting including the ones that sound like they are from Portland agencies that did not win this highly visible campaign.
I’ll let you decide about the TV campaign (its in its early stages.) Me? I dig it. Here are two spots. Its OK to sing along. In fact, these are so representative of the Oregon lifestyle (yes, they are a bit Portlandia), that I think that they will increase the value of my house. Oh, the website is sweet too. That is, if you are a fan of simplifying a complex subject. Maybe the Republicans should read it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVUJNEDpEkg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LNWsVu7qQ