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The Big Advertising Agency Resource List

January 30, 2021 By Peter 24 Comments

Advertising Agency Resource List – Updated Often

My advertising agency resource list is curated to help advertising, digital, design, and PR agencies easily find the inspiration and industry resources that will help y’all build killer agencies and careers.

If I were you, I’d grab a glass of Larkmead Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 and check out all of these links. I guarantee that at least one of these websites will help you or your team grow your agency. Therefore my friends, share this page with your friends, family, and staff.

I wish I had this advertising resource when I was in the ad biz. All I had was my brain. – David Ogilvy

OK, one more. This here Peter Levitan blog has over 800 posts dedicated to helping your marketing communications company grow. I hope that my insights on the art and science of agency business development, growth and management help you to make more bucks. Speaking of resources, take me up on my Corleone offer. 

A Couple Of Quickies:

Need A Headline That Grabs?

The Portent Content Idea Generator. Yes, it is a bit crazy. But, it does stimulate the mind looking for a click-bait headline for your blog, Instagram thing, or whatever. Put in “advertising“. Then laugh.

Website Speed Is Good.

Google PageSpeed Insights. Do you know how fast your website download speed is and how its performance ranks against your competitive agencies? Here’s the drill. If your site takes too long to download, it will lose some traffic.

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Here’s another very important test. If you are like me, over 20% of your website visitors are looking at you on a mobile device then you better make sure that they are digging how fast your website loads.

BROWSEO.We might be getting a bit geeky here. That said, BROWSEO helps you view any web page like search engines see it. The tool helps you to identify issues with your site and with your current and future clients’ websites.

And, To help Your Thought Leadership Program: What Are People Searching For?

AnswerThePublic. This is a free visual tool that shows you what questions and queries your consumers have by getting a free report of what they’re searching for at Google.

Exploding Topics. Yes, just like it sounds.

Google Trends. Chances are good that you are aware of Google Trends. This a powerful tool to help you know what is hot and what is not on Google’s search universe. A look at the top 2019 Google searches may or may not make you a fan of humanity.

Social Mention.  Ever wonder what the world is saying about you or your company? Here you go.

The Advertising Agency Resource List…

Advertising Agency News Sites

Ad Agency Directories

Top Advertising Blogs

Favorite Social Media Tools

Video Marketing Tools & Information

Creative Inspiration & Idea Generation 

Creative Space & Time

Online Advertising Education

Online Legal Resources

Life After Advertising & How To Make $$$

Top Ten Twitter Tools

Top Advertising And Design Awards

Marketing & Advertising Podcast

Marketing Tool Generators

Advertising Agency News Resources

  • The Ratti Report. Your agency needs fresh business development leads, right? So check out this website for a daily list of business development opportunities. News you can use to buy that new Tesla Roadster.
  • Advertising Age. Ad Age delivers the latest news from the world of advertising and marketing agencies.
  • Ad Asia Online. AdAsia Online focuses on automation, advertising technology, and creative technology,
  • AdNews. Australia’s advertising, marketing, and media industries news resource.
  • Adweek.  Adweek covers media news, including print, technology, plus.
  • branding in asia. Need to know what’s up in the Asian marketing and advertising world? Sure you do. Check out this comprehensive resource for creative work, news, interviews, and insights. Read it and you just might take the next non-stop to Singapore.
  • Business Insider. Business Insider’s daily take on the ad industry.
  • Campaign Asia. Campaign Asia reports on advertising and emerging media in the Asia Pacific region.
  • Campaign Magazine. Ad industry news from the UK’s advertising industry “bible”.
  • Communication Arts. Print publication offering competitions, forums, feature articles, job bank, graphic design resources and online shopping.
  • Creative. The magazine of promotion and marketing.
  • Digiday. Digiday creates content, services, and community that foster change in media and marketing.
  • Direct Marketing News. Provides news, feature articles, columns, and special reports on direct marketing.
  • The Drum. The alternative to Campaign. Delivers lots of news and views.
  • MediaPost. Comprehensive advertising and media industry coverage.
  • TechCrunch. Keep up (or try to keep up) with the fast-paced world of startups and VC’s.

Ad Agency Directories

[Read more…] about The Big Advertising Agency Resource List

Moving To Mexico

November 21, 2020 By Peter 24 Comments

Moving To Mexico – Perfecto

Move to MexicoA 2021 Update: The Moving To Mexico post below was written when I achieved my 2016 goal of moving to Mexico. I’ll maintain the original post detail intact to keep Google’s indexing happy.

I live in San Miguel de Allende which Conde Nast Traveller named the best small city in the world – not bad. SMA is in the middle of the country, is known for its culture and old-world architecture, music, art, and has two international airports each one hour away. Plus, the great Mexico City is less than four hours away.

To date, this blog post has been read over 4,500 times. I know I am not alone in thinking of moving to Mexico.

I am now 4+ years in and live here full-time. My wife and I built a house across from the neighborhood church in the Guadalupe neighborhood that is known for its murals (that’s our house in the picture).

I am maintaining my global advertising agency consultancy (it helps to be able to work digitally from any location) and am way into a major multi-year global photography project which I started when I arrived in Mexico. After San Miguel de Allende, I have photographed communities in L.A., Selma, and worked across India in January 2020. When I get past this Covid stuff, I’ll go to Ghana to add to my white sheet and Widelux series.

I am convinced that I made the right move. San Miguel de Allende is endearing, culturally rich, very visually stimulating. The people are wonderful and welcome gringos like me. Plus, our town has been named the best city in the world by Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveller. Yes, it earned its “best“, but one does have to wonder who paid off the magazines for us to get signaled out.

By the way, check out my two-year San Miguel de Allende photography series, La Gente. Please pass it on, especially to Americans.

Side note: People ask me all the time about why and how I moved to Mexico. No, it is not just baby boomers – incoming comes from all sizes. It seems that a lot of folks want to get to either a “next” experience or sadly, just want to get the hell out of today’s USA. NOTE: We did not move for political reasons. But, hey, living somewhere where lots of people smile every day and are not addicted to FOX, Google News and Twitter is a ‘good thing’. LOL, sure we have news and social media addicts here. But, at least we do not have to see red political hats when we go to the tienda to buy a mango.

Side-side note: if you are interested in moving to Mexico, give me a shout. I’ll give you my perspective.

——————————————-

[The Original 2016 Blog Post]

Why Mexico? 

This post explains why I moved to Mexico, the where, how, and provides some details should you want to follow me.

The move has been a two-year process for my wife and me to decide to make the move and then choose where to live. We selected San Miguel de Allende (for its culture and high-altitude weather) over Puerto Vallarta (too beachy); Baja (too close to California); the Yucatan (way too humid); Oaxaca (a close second); Mexico City (too crazy); or Lake Chapala (boring – though near Guadalajara).

I like moving to new places and do so about every 7 years. The upside is adventure and having to creatively deal with unknowns. The downside is leaving friends behind. But, some visit and Skype plus Facetime keeps everyone face-to-face.

In addition to pure wanderlust, there are other factors that seem to make me move. Here is a new one. I recently read the Wall Street Journal article, Nature or Nurture? What Makes You an Expat? Is a lust for travel, adventure and new surroundings built into your DNA? The article covers the idea that moving and living in a foreign country might be, partially, a function of your DNA. My kids are in their twenties and they now live in Buenos Aires and Budapest. Is the Levitan DNA responsible? Who knows. But, this is an interesting concept to digest.

By the way, that’s me up above C/O of an artist’s photo booth at a Mexico City art museum.

OK, so why am I moving to Mexico?

I grew up in New York City. Went to college in Boston and San Francisco. Then moved back to New York, to Minneapolis, to New Jersey when we had kids, to London and back. And, 15 years ago my family split from post 9/11 New York metro to go to Bend and then Portland, Oregon. Was it genes? Wanderlust? Career building? I think all of the above.

Why Mexico?

san-miguel-de-allende-mexico_87359_990x742We love Mexico and Mexicans. And, I can run my consultancy from anywhere, so why not head south.

We are not alone. Mexico has the highest number of American expats. The actual numbers are a bit flaky but the U.S. government estimates the number at over 1 million. These include people working in Mexico, folks just hanging out, Mexican Americans and a very large number of American retirees.

But, hey, this blog post is about me.

My reasons…

  • Numero uno: Adventure (life is short.) See David Bowie for inspiration. ‘”Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange) Turn and face the strain. Ch-ch-Changes”
  • Our new home is San Miguel de Allende which is in the middle of the country. That’s one of its most famous scenes in the picture. SMA is one of the coolest towns in the world (yes, the world.) Here is what Huffington Post says.
  • If you don’t mind skipping heat and humidity, San Miguel de Allende’s weather is perfect (high desert at over 6,000 feet.) See the map at the bottom for its location.
  • The people in San Miguel are always smiling.
  • It’s safe. Please stop the silly ‘gringo’ question… “Is it safe?” Get this: most of Mexico is safer than New Orleans and Detroit. And, you know that if Americans stopped doing tons of coke, meth and heroin, we’d help to solve the cartels problem. The key is that you don’t go hang out where the bad guys do business because that is where the crime is.
  • Mexican culture combines indigenous and Spanish cultural influences. There are endless street, art and music festivals and a very vibrant art scene.
  • The cost of living is about 60% or less than living in the USA. In our first ‘test’ year, we are renting a fully furnished 4 bedroom house with 3 days of housekeeper service and a gardener for $2,000 per month (this is considered on the high end). At over 18 pesos per dollar, the dollar is as high as it has been in years.
  • San Miguel has the second-best restaurant scene in the country. It has become a major weekend destination for people living in Mexico City.
  • Surrounding towns deliver sweet day trips to visit hot springs, local ice cream meccas and university towns. And… truly exciting things like a Costco and the largest shopping mall in Latin America. I haven’t been there yet but will avoid a Chili’s if they have one.
  • I can easily fly nonstop to L.A., Dallas, and Houston out of two local airports and internationally from Mexico City.
  • Getting a long-term visa easy. Try living long-term in the U.K. or France or Thailand. Not going to happen.
  • I’ll try to avoid CNN and FOX and MSNBC.
  • Oh, and I can work from anywhere I have a laptop and WIFI. Plus, my town is conveniently in the central time zone.

Have you considered living in Mexico?

googleA recent research study I did testing Google Consumer Research focused on where Americans want to retire. My findings show that 13% (13%!) of Americans between 45 and 65 “have considered retiring in Mexico”. By the way, you do use easy-to-use-super fast Google Research in your business development program, right?

Who will thrive in Mexico? [Read more…] about Moving To Mexico

Random Marketing And Advertising Resources

May 7, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

How do you know that Google is working for your company – as in SEO? Here are some random marketing and advertising resources that make me feel that Google loves me.

Ok, wait. I do know that Google loves me just by looking at my Google Analytics. The other way I know is that I get qualified leads. Plus, lots of incoming from companies looking to have me put links to their websites from my Agency Resources page. They would not find me if they did not do their own Google searches. So, to move fast to help them, more so you and a little bit me, here are some new resources for you.

A Marketing Point

A pre-point… I have a very well-read Advertising Agency Resources page as well as a few blog posts about resources. This drives traffic to me. Driving traffic is a good thing. The following companies do just that with their tools. I think, understatement coming, more agencies should develop some tools. How do your clients find you?

The Random Marketing And Advertising Resources

Business Name Generator: Chris from The Really Useful Information Company sent this business name generator. This tool works, is fun to play with and grows The Really Useful Information Company… and make some bucks from referrals to GoDaddy.

Business Plan Template: Bridget from Growthink.com sent this handy business plan guide. Why is this important? Important that the great majority of advertising agencies do not have an active business plan. I’m not talking business development plan. I’m talking having a go-to-market business plan.

Airtasker: Roy from Airtasker helps you find people who will do tasks for you. I’m thinking that this is very UK and Australia centric. But, hey, give it a go wherever you are.

Convertica: Kurt turned me on to Convertica that says “Convertica are the done-for-you conversion rate optimization specialists that allow you to maximize revenue from the same search engine rankings or paid advertising campaigns on your Affiliate, Lead Generation or eCommerce website.”

LinkedIn Marketing Guide: Miles from Wisconsin’s Imaginaisium ad agency produced this guide to LinkedIn marketing. Since advertising agencies come to me to help them with their marketing, why would I include someone else’s LinkedIn guide?  1) Because it looks good; 2) because you probably should read it.

Want Some Quality Leads? Call Me.

Just do it. it is painless.

Advertising Agency Podcast Guide

May 6, 2020 By Peter 1 Comment

I launched a new advertising podcast = Advertising Stories (you can listen to it everywhere). So, why not create a quick advertising agency podcast guide based on my research? Here you go.

FYI: My last podcast series which, I did for my own Portland Oregon agency, faded away in 2008. Ya think I was too early for the podcast market?

Advertising Stories is designed to be entertaining and filled with teachable moments. The keyword is entertaining. Entertaining for you advertising and marketing folks – and, frankly, anyone that just likes a good story from the good old days (or today). 

Oh, if you do not get my email newsletter – sign up on the left and you will automatically know when I launch my podcast.

A Quick – Advertising Agency Podcast Guide

There are 213,000 results for the Google search “Podcast Guide” so I am not going into big detail here. I’ll just point you to some of my thinking and the resources I’ve found. [Read more…] about Advertising Agency Podcast Guide

Freelance Advertising Art Design Video Illustration Photography Photoshop Assistant Resources

February 24, 2020 By Peter Leave a Comment

7 Advertising Agency Freelance Resources

Here is a list of advertising agency freelance resources. I’d bet that every advertising agency uses freelance talent to supplement their staff. These resources include art direction, copyrighting, design, video production, Illustration, and photography – oh, and management services. This is a list to get you to people that you might not already know.

Caveat… Like with any human-to-human working relationship, YMMV when it comes to using these freelance services. My advice is to try to use as much research and due diligence that you can before going for it. That said, I have had great success in using freelance talent to help me with my ad agency consulting practice. Hey, consider giving a freelancer a test job first.

I’ll add these to my master advertising resources list. But, for now, here you go.

Note: Please let me know if I am missing any valuable resources.

Behance: Adobe’s Behance is a marketplace for creative services. Behance provides a sweet list of creatives and if you need it, some decent inspiration.

Fiverr: Fiverr is the largest freelance marketplace for lean entrepreneurs to focus on growth. Create a successful business at affordable costs. VIP Customer Support. Improved Billing Options. Categories: Graphics & Design, Digital Marketing, Writing & Translation, Music & Audio.

Freelancer.com: I’ll just let them do the talking… “Instant Access To 30M+ Designers, Developers, Writers & More. Hire Online Today. Award-Winning Marketplace. 14M+ Jobs Completed. 95% Rehire Rate. 5-Star Satisfaction. Pay When 100% Happy. 24/7 Support. Pricing For Any Budget. Save Time & Money.”

PeoplePerHour: PeoplePerHour “connects clients to our community of expert freelancers who are available to hire by the hour or project.”

Task Rabbit: Task Rabbit is more about local help. I’ve used them in my office, home to get things done. Extra hands help! “Your trusted and local handyman. Furniture assembly, TV mounting, help moving, and much more. Our Taskers can tackle all your home projects.”

Upwork: Web dev, admin support, mobile dev, front end, and ios development, you name it….. and on. Nice vision statement: To connect businesses with great talent to work without limits.

Zirtual: Zirtual offers virtual assistant services for entrepreneurs, professionals, and small teams. The service matches busy people like you with dedicated assistants.

That’s It (Plus)

Hmmm, if you want to grow your advertising agency, its client list that is, give me a shout.

Remember, go to my master advertising agency resources list.

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