Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

New Business

Why I Guest Post On Agency Post

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Guest Post On Agency Post For Fun and Profit

34-POST-122-11087-P700A post on today’s Agency Post blog got me thinking about the value of guest posting for ad agency new business. In fact, I’ve written on this subject before.

Here: 2 New Levitan Guest Posts on Agency Post and Advertising Week

And, here: Thanks To HubSpot, Ad Contrarian & Advertising Week

Once again, my relationship with Agency Post nets me awareness via my posts to their large and growing audience. Here is a post from Agency Post that includes a quote and shoutout from them about me. This one is about why I think that advertising agencies should write books. Here’s the paragraph:

“Advertising agencies should seriously consider writing books for four reasons: the credibility factor, to stand out because their competition isn’t, the physical nature of books (yes, physical objects are a good thing), and agencies have all of the elements to make it happen –something to say, writers, art directors, and the digital marketing chops to drive awareness,” said Peter Levitan, the author of The Levitan Pitch who spoke at the 2014 INBOUND conference on how agencies can write a book in six months.  

Check out the whole post. –> The Path to New Business? 20 Agencies That Have Published a Book

The post provides a sweet list of ad agency books.

81nOJWKHyFLNote that one of the best agency books is inadvertently missing from the list. I heartedly recommend that you read Mitch Joel’s  Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It. Mitch is President of Canada’s ad agency Twist Image and one the all time leaders in leveraging social media for the agency’s awareness and thought leadership via his blog, podcast and books. This is one prolific dude.

OK, one more guest post: Here is my take on writing advertising agency books via an interview with Beau Fraser, president of the agency The Gate Worldwide. Should Your Advertising Agency Write A Book? (FYI: Beau’s book is mentioned in today’s Agency Post article.)

The New Business Bottom Line:

Agencies that put themselves out in the social universe drive agency awareness and targeted inbound traffic to their messaging.

My advice that I give to all of my agency clients is to write strategic blogs (blogs written for their target markets and not other agencies) / post on other blogs for awareness  / post on Twitter / publish on LinkedIn / play with Facebook / consider Pinterest and Instagram (if you are up for that) / write books (or zines if you want to get out fast) / put your thoughts up on SlideShare / speak at conferences and use the world of social media tools to learn about your potential clients and what your agency competition is doing in the social space.

All it takes is a smart business development and social media plan and a bias for action. Oh, and my help to get this done in early 2015. How? Take me up on my Vito Corleone offer.

 

Advertising Agency: Do Not Pitch That Account!

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Hello Advertising Agency Leaders: Do Not Pitch That Account – Yet!

Please, Don’t Do It!

The following blog post on when not to pitch for a new account is from my book, The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. I suggest that you buy the book if you want to (do I need to say this?) win more pitches.

Buy the book – > Here.

keep-calm-and-just-say-no-10Virtually all of the advertising search consultants that I interviewed for the book said that advertising agencies pitch too often. Many agencies seem to pitch almost any account that knocks.

They are inclined to pitch most incoming because (pick one or more): they are feeling the pinch of lower margins; they just lost their big account; they are generally nervous and don’t know the next time they will be invited to a dance; don’t have a serious new business plan that attracts the right clients; haven’t actually identified the types of clients they really want to work with, etc. This pitch anything that breathes mentality really reared its head big time during the recession, but it has become omnipresent in our new world of projects vs. AOR searches.

From the book….

Just Say No!

Before you embark on a new pitch, you should be asking yourself one extremely important question…

Should we be pitching this account?

I know what you are thinking… Levitan’s kidding, right? We’ve made it through the RFI and RFP stages, and now he wants us to ask if we should even be going to the finals?

It’s still ok to say “no”, and now is the time to take a deep breath and review a go-no-go decision. You are about to spend a great deal of time and money. Are you sure that you should go through the next step? Are your colleague’s groans getting louder? Looking in any way ambivalent about the pitch will not help your pitch team feel good about charging into it. Passionless pitches don’t win.

Pitch or not is usually one of the most difficult decisions agency manage- ment has to make. There is a good chance that you think that you’ve already answered this question if you participated in an RFP that led to your selection as a short list candidate. I believe that even if you’ve performed a sound decision making process, now is the time to stop to determine if this potentially expensive pitch is worth the time, effort, and human and cash cost.

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Advertising Clients Want More Digital And Social Media: Surprised?

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What Do Advertising Clients Want? No Surprise… Digital and Social Media Marketing.

Advertising / design / digital / social and PR agencies need to spend more time thinking through what the world of 2015 clients say they want. Here are some of the findings from Ciceron’s nice infographic — CMO’s 2015 Digital Priorities.

  • CMO’s say that they will increase their digital marketing budgets by 10.8%
  • Social media will represent 21.4% of total marketing spend in the next 5 years.
  • 95% really dig content marketing.
  • Analytical skills will grow in importance.
  • 87% say that social media is the most engaging. However, CMO’s say that social media is often poorly integrated into overall marketing programs.

What should your agency takeaway from this? I’d sure offer….

More digital. But, consider how you are going to express this. Today “all agencies” offer digital. Just saying “digital” is no longer enough.

More social. This is another area where you will need to find a way to look and sound like you have a secret sauce that the agencies down the street don’t have or can’t express.

More tracking / analytical skills. Clients need help in determining what platforms and program deliver results. If you can deliver on this need, you are golden.

Strategy. All of the above will come from sound strategic thinking. As usual, strategy rules.

The CMO’s 2015 Digital Priorities Infographic Social Media Today

 

Laugh, Cry, Drink…. It’s Time For Portland’s Roseys Advertising Awards

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It’s True. Portland Advertising / Digital / Etc. Agencies That Win Roseys Awards Win More Clients.

Many clients need the reinforcement of knowing that an agency has won creative awards . Hey, it is hard to tell what’s a great agency and what isn’t. Winning awards helps. So, go out and win some 2014 Roseys —– and win some new clients.

Enter / book a table for your agency HERE.

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Buy My Book On Ad Agency New Business

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From The Land Of Self Promotion:

Buy My Book On The Art And Science of Ad Agency New Business And Change Your Agency’s Future.

book for pop upImagine spending only $12 bucks on Amazon for the paperback and even less for the digital version to buy a book that will dramatically change how you and your ad agency team creates and runs new client pitches and presentations. Imagine that after you’ve read the book, you will win more pitches!

Imagine not doing  this.

No, don’t imagine that. Because, I want you to buy my book…

“The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.”

I want you to win more business, be happy and make more money.

Buy it here.

Why should you listen to me?

You might be asking… Is this Levitan Pitch for real. Don’t take my word for it: here are two reviews from two serious advertising industry dudes: [Read more…] about Buy My Book On Ad Agency New Business