Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

New Business

2 Must Have Social Media Tools

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“Must have” Social Media Tools… “Must Have”, really? Well, ya know, directive copy like that just may have gotten you to click on this post – so there. OK, on to the meat.

Social media is a very hard working marketing tool. But, authoring social media is time consuming and we need to make sure that we are efficient  Now that’s an understatement. Here are a couple of tools that will make your social media campaigns work harder and look better.

Twylah

Get a free Twitter Brand Assessment Action Plan Twylah

Here is a nice freebie. Go to Twylah and get a free brand assessment of your Twitter activity. I filled out the form and a day later got a very revealing report that told me that I was not creating twitter copy that delivered on my core strategy of letting the world know that I am a master at helping ad and digital agencies grow. Oops. I learned a lot. Here is what Twylah says on their website…

YOUR BRAND ASSESSMENT REVEALS

  • Your true brand identity (it may not be what you think!)
  • Which of your brand topics are resonating with your audience and which are not!
  • The simplest and quickest way possible to create branded content that showcases your unique brand and business value

PicMonkey

PicMonkey_Logo

PicMonkey is an online photo editor that rivals the basics of Photoshop without your needing to go to Photoshop academy. I’ve been using Photoshop for years but know that I probably only use 15% of its features. PicMonkey gives me that 15% and its way easier and faster to use. This is a great tool for editing, and adding copy, to your social media images.

Don’t forget to visit my Pinterest Advertising Agency Directory. Is your agency on it?

2 Reasons Ad Agencies Fail At New Business

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You would think that most advertising agencies want to grow and understand that marketing is the way to get what they want. My discussions with ad agencies indicate that less than 50% (and I am being kind) have comprehensive business development plans to create new business programs. This is a major FAIL that is easily rectified with some brain + elbow grease

But, wait… there’s more: the super smart folks at RSW/US report that …

From our report, “79%+ of Marketers say it is “very important” to come to an initial meeting with thoughts about their business and/or smart questions to show they have interest. ”

And, get this:

And yet: “Only a little over 12% of Marketers say that Agencies “always” come to the table prepared in a way that isn’t about the Agency.”

How could this be possible? I’m flummoxed.  Arriving prepared and looking interested and hungry to early client prospect meetings is critical. Image all the work that is required to get your in the client’s room in the first place and then to show up empty headed??? Here are the RSW/US charts:

Agency New Business The Area Where Marketers Think You’re Still Falling Down Agency New Business

If your agency is stalled go here, read about my programs and call me up. I can help you grow by planning a smart active agency new business program. I bet I’ve been doing it longer than your agency.

 

Is Likeable Media The Best Social Media Agency?

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Likeable is a Good Thing.

About — likeable mediaI just wrote a blog post for Agency Post on the social media agency Likeable Media. I like Likeable media because they make themselves so likeable. Most agencies don’t try that hard at being liked. Personally, I think that you can project a professional image and be liked at the same time. It’s so social.

Likeable has a very strategic approach to how they present the agency and its messaging across what seems to be every social media channel. As I write in the post…

I’ve liked watching Likeable for the past seven years because it aggressively walks the social media walk. I view them as an instructive benchmark for how an agency should be using integrated social media as a high-energy business development platform.

If you need some proof of their success, Likeable’s Alexa website ranking (lower is better) is 89,889, while BBDO’s is 256,867 and Saatchi & Saatchi’s is 185,871. Both agencies are decades older than Likeable.

In addition to having a very well-developed agency story (its, yes, Likeable, cute and memorable in a very sweet human way that’s rare for agencies), Likeable is everywhere:

SlideShare (67 SlideShares)

Facebook (32,000 Likes)

YouTube (137,000 views)

Pinterest (2 Pinterest sites)

Tumblr.

Google+ (a rather Google friendly social tool that most agencies ignore)

Twitter (29,000 Followers)

Vine

iTunes

On their website with their active Blog and White Papers

Even Amazon where they sell their two social media best sellers

You can find out about even more things that I like by talking with me. Just click here for my Vito Corleone offer.

How Advertising Agencies Get New Business – An Infographic

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Instructive infographic on How Agencies Get New Business from RSW/US’s 2012 study.

59% of agency principles say that referrals are the most effective way to get new business.

I completely understand the power of referrals. However, I think that the high referrals percentage is partially a symptom of the fact that many agencies have ineffective outbound new business plans and programs – if they even have a consistant plan. If you aren’t aggressively going after new business from targeted companies (this includes inbound-oriented social media campaigns), then you will of course wind up getting most of your leads from friends. Its kind of like staying in your room and having your mom find you dates. Any lead is good but a high volume of high-value targeted conversations are better.

As RSW/US says on their website: “A huge thank you to the Agency san diego for creating this infographic based on the findings from our most recent survey, 2012 New Business Report: Client & Agency Perspective On Topics Related To Agency New Business.”  I thank both of them.

By the way, if you are an agency that doesn’t have a brilliant new business plan that includes lead genration (and you know who you are)…. I can help you today right here.

And here is the infographic…

RSWUS-Infographic-How-Agencies-Get-New-Business

3 Ways for Floundering Advertising Agencies to Find Growth

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Hubspot’s article “3 Ways for Floundering Agencies to Find Growth” is mighty fine take on how agencies need to act if they want to grow care of a guest post by Agency Post’s Jamie Oetting.

Jamie highlights three areas for agency concentration.

Find A Focus. Being everything to everyone (an agency malaise) is as far as being single-minded (a point pitched to agency clients) as possible.

Invest In Education. Training your employees is a very good thing. It, well, educates them (and you agency manager too) and should make them more loyal.

Acquire More New Business Strategically. Having a new business plan and systematic approach is critical to keeping the agency shark swimming forward. Or, else. Oh, and I’m quoted inside.