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The Smart B2B Referral Program

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The Advertising Agency B2B Referral Program – Is That Enough For Growth?

B2B refferalIs it just enough to “hope” that your B2B referral program will work? The answer… no.

I just got off the phone with an advertising agency leader in London. I asked, “Where have you been getting business?” he answered, as do most advertising agencies, “from our B2B referral program.”

Ah, the Holy Grail of the B2B client and customer to a friend to agency advertising agency referral. The idea is that if the agency does a good job, a client will tell their friends about the agency. Well, at least for this London agency the good news is that they have an actual, active referral program. Most advertising agencies just hope that their clients will make the nice, sweet B2B referral via fate. I am not a fan of “fate.” You shouldn’t be either.

The B2B Referral – Good News

Don’t get me wrong. I love referrals. The right referral will result in getting the right client with little initial business development effort on the part of the agency. Win-Win. It’s like a great blind-date. Does anyone remember the blind-date? As in, you didn’t meet (as in see and scope out) the referred person until he sat across from you at the Starbucks table? Very 1980’s. OK, back to now.

The B2B Referral – Really Bad News

For the vast majority of advertising, digital and on agencies is that counting on referrals is bad news.

Two simple and compelling problems:

  1. Referrals are not predictable. Never. This isn’t good for any sort of business planning.
  2. Referrals are not scalable. Never. This isn’t good for any sort of business planning.

Counting on referrals is a fool’s game.

I’ve counseled agencies on how to actually plan and manage a referral program — !!! As a part of their overall business development plan. Here are links to a couple of earlier blog posts about the advertising agency referral program.

Three –  I will admit it – smart, effective and easy to activate B2B referral strategies from prior business development posts just for you.

Six Business Development Referral Strategies

A key to having a robust referral strategy is to make sure that your current clients are aware that you actually want referrals. Referrals from happy customers are one of best ways that B2B companies generate new business. OK, this isn’t a huge surprise. However, what is surprising how few companies have a dedicated strategy for fostering these valuable personal hand-offs.

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What I Learned At Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising

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What I Learned At Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising – It Is Relevant Today

I got educated at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. I applied my learning to a career that spanned GM of the Minneapolis office, to London and Europe, to two Internet startups, my own agency, and now my advertising agency consultancy.

I learned about the power of strategy, kick-ass creative, being ballsy and going for it. This is what an agency principal and her agency must use today.

First A Bit On Dancer Fitzgerald Sample

I started my advertising career at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample as an AAE on the large General Mills account. Dancer was known as DFS. It was New York’s largest advertising agency and lived in the glorious Chrysler Building. Its clients also included P&G, Toyota, HP, Wrangler, RJR, Nabisco and other biggies.

During my tenure, it was named Agency Of The Year and had a new business pitch winning streak that hit baseball Hall of Fame numbers… .900+. The agency was also known for delivering highly effective advertising including Wendy’s “Where’s The Beef?” and the advertising that launched Toyota and sustained its growth.

The agency spent a great deal of time and money nurturing its account executives with a weekly training program that pumped out the best AE’s in the industry. DFS taught me how to write brand-building strategies, run a profitable account and how to deliver exceptional account service. It also taught me how to work within an empowering, yet nurturing a culture where everyone loved their job. This last point was driven home every month when we celebrated employees who had worked at the agency for 10, 20 and even 30 years.

I was about to learn even more. [Read more…] about What I Learned At Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising

Dallas Advertising Agencies What Agency Is On Top At Google?

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Why Is Miller Ad Agency On Top At Google? Why The Answer Is Important For All Advertising Agencies No Matter Where Your Agency Is.

I’ve been doing some work for my advertising agency clients about how they get found by their future marketing clients. To narrow the process, I took a look at how Dallas advertising agencies are listed on Goole’s SERP home page.

It isn’t pretty.

Today is a rather important time to check every “how clients find your agency” box given the current state of the COVID-19 craziness and inevitable client spending pullback. If you were not around during the 2007 recession… ask someone who was. The agencies that fell asleep — fell off the map. I owned an agency at the time and got aggressive – we prospered.

Dallas Advertising Agencies And Google

As part of my research, I did a quick search on Google, via a Chrome incognito browser, to see what Austin, Houston and Dallas advertising agencies are listed first on Google (of course YMMV, depending on your browser and history). I did a fast search as if I was a prospective client searching for a new agency. My search term was simple… “Dallas advertising agencies.”

Here is a screenshot of the results. Kinda critical results for future clients as Google only provides a very limited list on page one.

Dallas Findings

  1. WALO Creative comes up first. They are smart to buy the ad to get out ahead given that Clutch says that there are over 500 Dallas advertising agencies.
  2. Miller Ad Agency is second. They have 75 reviews, so I assume that that helps Google make a decision. However, Slingshot with five reviews is listed as four. So, maybe the number of reviews isn’t the secret.
  3. Finally, I am going like, where is Dallas’ leading Richards Group? They are not on page one. Huh, given their size and history. This time I searched via Google map and Richards shows up as number 4. This makes sense, right? But, again, I am a bit perplexed since smaller Miller is number one.
  4. A “conclusion”. Miller has all five-star reviews as is listed at 5.0. Richards has lots of reviews but because it has a couple of lower review numbers has a 4.5 rank. But wait, Slingshot which is listed as number two only has a 3.4 review rank. Yikes.

My Conclusion… Find a seriously smart, expert SEM / SEO expert and drill down if you want to be listed high on Google’s results for Dallas Advertising Agencies.  Maybe start at Google’s Improve Your Local Ranking On Google page. Keep reading – Google’s algorithms are fluid.

One more… make knowing where a prospective client will look for your agency and make sure you are there. If it means that you might have to buy an ad or a listing, do it. The way to get here is to put on a client hat and understand their buyer persona and act like them. Or, have your mom do the search.

Also, check out my article about there being too many advertising agencies. I also have a list of everywhere you want to be.

Note: If your superior expertise can help ME figure this specific Google ranking stuff out…. make contact. Thanks.

 

 

 

Are There Too Many Advertising Agencies?

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Lots. Like, Um, Too Many.

So… How many advertising agencies are there? OK, it is a bit impossible to count them all – and I am talking essentially every type of agency from Ogilvy down to your ex-Creative Director that does what he used to do for you but now he works (at a lower cost) out of his home.

So, how many? Here is a number I came across yesterday…

According to Clutch there are 17,532 “Top Advertising and Marketing Agencies” In the United States. 17,532.

Yikes. Want more? There are 193 in Dallas, 182 in Austin and 140 in Houston. That’s 515 in major Texas cities. Did I say Yikes? Now, imagine how many in London.

Here are some links to help y’all break out of the pack.

How Clients Find An Advertising Agency.

What Do Advertising Clients Want? I Asked A Real Mad Man.

A link to my enormous ad agency information blog. 

Five Immediate Things To Do To Break Out From The 17,532…

  1. Make sure you are everywhere a client might look to find your agency. Buy attention if you have to.
  2. Run a smart 24/7 business development program. Sorry, referrals are not enough.
  3. Have a competitive and distinctive brand positioning. Being an expert in something might help (actually, it will help a lot.)
  4. Try to look and act unignorable. Good news” your competitors are already ignored given the vast number of agency choices.
  5. Just hire me to help you grow awareness, leads, and closes. LOL. I am not kidding.

So, how many advertising agencies are in your market? Just to be outrageously obnoxious, a Google search on “Tulsa advertising agencies” turned up 2,820,000 results.

Three Powerful Advertising Agency Quotes

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Here Are Three Advertising Agency Quotes To Help You Focus On Business Development

Mario Andretti

The first quote is from Mario Andretti. Andretti won races in Formula 1 (a world champion), NASCAR, IndyCar (three-time champion), and World Sportscar Championship. This is a serious dude. The quote is intended to kick you in your ass.

“If everything seems under control, you are just not going fast enough.”

Here is the deal. OK, one of the deals. Virtually every advertising agency will have one or more clients walk out the back door this year. The only way you counteract that inevitable loss is to work hard, work smart, act fast to get new clients coming in the front door.

General Eric Shinseki

This quote about embracing change is from the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army and four-star General Eric Shinseki.

“If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.”

I know I do not have to point out the speed of change in the advertising industry. What I am pointing out is that you better pay attention to change and be ready to act. Need an example? When your client asks about Tik Tok you better be able to have that conversation.

Peter Levitan

This advertising agency quote is from the most experienced business development consultant. Me.

“Advertising agency marketing programs have to be ‘unignorable’. This must be a primary agency objective. The alternative to unignorabilty is being ignored.”

I consider that one of my key jobs, when I work with my advertising agency clients, is to provide actionable and unignorable ideas and tactics that bring the agency’s brand positioning to life. I am not into pontificating. My goal is to help you make the agency stand out from the ever-growing competitive pack so that that the agency sells in its core sales proposition. And, if you do it right, you will become famous as well.