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The Biggest Content Marketing Secret

Peter · July 18, 2017 · Leave a Comment

And Ladies and Gentlemen…. The Biggest Content Marketing Secret

Ready, set, go. Shh… Here is the big content marketing secret to delivering brilliant insights, mucho content and a simple way of making you look real smart.

Creating relevant content every week is a bitch for small and medium sized advertising, digital, PR and whateva agencies. The hard part isn’t ‘relevant’, the hard part is doing it consistently.

The Secret

Interview the right, smart, eloquent people that can riff on tight subjets for 15 to 60 minutes. OK, 60 is too much cause you’ll have to edit it.

Do the interview on the telephone, via text-based questions or on Skype (or other Internet conversation platforms). Record the calls. Then, head over to Rev and have them transcribe the audio – overnight.

Easy, right? Yup!

I’ve done dozens of interviews for this blog, for my book (see above) and in guest posts.

Google loves SEO optimized content. Interviews rock.

Then… Amplify It

Every insight / AHA! blog or whatever post must be amplified via one or more of the following (I amplify everything.) I use the Rule of Five – amplify everything at least five ways. Here are some ideas.:

On your site in a very simple resources page or blog
To your current and past clients
To your lists as part of your email newsletter
In white papers
On LinkedIn to your ‘growing’ Followers
To your Facebook Followers
On Twitter (yes, it still works and can be used for targeting your competitor’s followers)
SlideShare (an underused platform)
Commenting (presence on LinkedIn Groups and big blogs)
Guest posting (seriously borrowed reach)
Your zine
And, on…

Need content (and who doesn’t?) Go forth and interview people.

Oh, I get interviewed too.

Here from Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels Of Separation (a master interview website /podcast):

SPOS #569 – The Relevance Of Marketing Agencies With Peter Levitan

You Will Lose 75% Of Your Advertising Agency Pitches

Peter · July 13, 2017 · Leave a Comment

How To Win More Advertising Agency Pitches? Well, Buy My Book

Think I’m kidding. I’ve seen the common sense and insights and techniques inside my book work after people have simply read the book – they’ve won more advertising, PR, digital, experiential agency pitches. Other agencies have benefitted by hiring me as a business development and pitch coach; or, I’d imagine by watching my HubSpot pitch presentation which is nicely situated below for your viewing pleasure.

75% Sucks

Here’s the drill. You, if you are like most agencies, you will lose about 75% of your pitches*. This fact, of course, is painful. Kinda nuf said. But I’ll add some more heat to this fire. Pitches + the cost of daily business development + a business development director salary and bonus can raise the hard and soft costs (labor, freelancers, and overhead) of an individual pitch to over $100,000.

FYI: Most agency leaders tell me that, given their sales skills, all they need to do is to get into a room with a client and they will sell them on hiring the agency. Hmmmm, sorry, the math does not work.

$10.99 To Leverage Your $100,000

So, for $10.99 – much less on Kindle – you can buy a book that will at least remind you of all of the mistakes you should not make that might reduce your odds. At best, the book will help you win the pitch you are giving in three weeks. Am I selling hard here? You bet. I am getting tired of hearing about the mistakes that it seems every agency – large to small make every day. How do I know this? I talk to the kinds of advertising agency search consultants and clients that are interviewed in the book.

From HubSpot – The YouTube Video

Here’s the online seminar I gave to HubSpot peeps. Hope you enjoy it. Oh, and Win More Pitches. Oh #2, don’t forget to go to the top of this page to buy the book. Or, just go here.

How To Win The Advertising Agency Pitch

Peter · May 31, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Hubspot Advertising Agency Expert Series: How To Win The Pitch

I won my first advertising agency pitch over 30 years ago and have been pitching ever since. And, channeling a bit of chutzpah, I’ve won more than my fair share at Saatchi & Saatchi, at my two Internet startups (I pitched VC’s and advertising clients) and at my own ad agency. In fact, I put my not so secret secrets in my book, The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. I say not so secret because the agencies that win more pitches do so by following a set of logical rules or processes and truly understand the needs of the client being pitched.

Frankly, I’d love you to buy the book. However, our friends at Hubspot will help you get going to more wins by having me deliver a 1-hour seminar on pitching in their Agency Expert Webinar Series.

The “Win” session is in a couple of weeks – so get it on your calendar…. June 14 at 11 AM ET that’s 4 PM GMT.

My online presentation: The Pitch: Present Smarter To Win MoreClients. You can sign up right here @ Registration.

My goal is to help your agency and people master the new business pitch process. This means more wins; more profits; more happiness; more craft beers and longer holidays (OK, more beers.)

HubSpot’s Agency Expert Webinar series is an opportunity for professionals in the agency space to hear from industry leaders and learn about their areas of expertise.

Hear from thought leaders about their experiences in agency life in one-hour YouTube live segments, focusing on topics ranging from agency growth and brand experiences to finding new talent and procuring clients.

My Presentation On Pitching & Presenting

My presentation will track the key elements and advice from my book, “The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.”

You don’t have to buy the book to track the presentation. But, why not buy it anyway – you will win more advertising agency pitches. Hey, go ahead and buy multiple copies. You can do that with just a couple of clicks … and even get a free chapter at the top of this page.

What You Will Learn

I’ll track these key elements of the book…

Chapters One & Two:

These chapters reveal the very high cost of failing to run well-crafted, efficient pitches. Chapter One includes an instructive and humorous story about the worst advertising pitch ever… for the global Adidas account at Saatchi London. Chapter Two offers a system for how to choose which pitches to go for and which must be avoided.

Chapters Three & Four:

Chapter Three begins to help you position your pitch and presentation for success by learning how you will understand the client’s mindset, type of assignment and what style of agency and relationship the client is actually looking for. Chapter Four covers “The 12 Deadliest Presentation Mistakes” that must be avoided to win that new account.

Chapter Five:

This detailed chapter is a ‘how-to’ of 30 techniques on how to build a brilliant presentation that will increase your odds of winning. These ideas cover the three major elements of a successful pitch: process management, content development, and how to craft a compelling presentation. Each element is supported by an insight that offers a fast way to achieve these objectives.

Chapters Six & Seven:

These chapters deliver insightful interviews with advertising industry leaders. You’ll get valuable learning via 14 interviews with a range of clients, presentation gurus, and industry association experts. Finally, the book includes real-world insights from 16 of the world’s leading search consultants. Believe me, they’ve heard it all.

Write Your Advertising Book

Peter · April 4, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Write Your Advertising Agency Book

I’ve written and presented at conferences about writing an advertising agency book. It could be a book book, a digital book or even a zine. Just write it and benefit.

The benefits? People will buy it. You will look like an expert. You could make a few bucks. You will get more incoming leads. Actually, it should be about getting more leads.

The Levitan Pitch — My Sales

The sales of my book The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. (look at the top of this page) are still growing. And, I keep getting leads from people that read it. This is all good. While not a goal, I even make some bucks (for me and Jeff Bezos). See a decent the two month period below. Hey, book sales are buying me my trip to this summer’s Hungarian Grand Prix (that’s Formula 1 for you NASCAR fans.)

Your Advertising Agency Must Kick Ass In 2017

Peter · December 21, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Dear Advertising Agency: Kick Ass In 2017

As you will see below, times are tough and getting tougher for advertising agency business development. Clients are confused; are (massive understatement coming…) a bit uneducated in all of the new advertising options; worried about their budgets; worried about ROI; worried about data overload; find it hard to work with a range of specialists from PPC to video to mobile to chatbots and on.

Oh, and if you are an advertising, digital, PR, SEO, PPC, experiential and on and on agency… you have like (massive understatement coming…) 4,000 agency competitors ranging from multinationals to single really smart dudes (as The Donald says) who are working from their bed in New Jersey.

Daunting?

Sounds daunting, right?

Sure, sales is daunting. But, the only people that will win new business in 2017 are the people that kill it. Sleeping through your business development program (or lack thereof) is, well, sleepy. From a sales perspective, given how tough business development has become, being sleepy is not gonna work. Your agency will fail.

The only advertising, digital, PR, SEO, PPC, experiential agencies that will grow in 2017 are the ones that realize that EXECUTION rules. Having a business development / sales plan is nice (and most agencies do not have one.) But, having that plan and not kicking ass with it, as in executing, is a losing proposition.

It’s Tough Out There

eMarketer’s advertising agency new business article, “Agencies Face Tougher New Business Environment” was in my inbox last week. The article references RSW/US’s (always smart) industry research. In this case, RSW/US reports that…

“In an October 2016 survey of ad agency professionals by business development group RSW/US, 43% of respondents said that obtaining new business had gotten either “harder” or “a lot harder” this year.”

Surprised? I’m not. Sales isn’t easy.

OK, So It Has Gotten Harder

What is your advertising agency going to do about it? Here are some of my thoughts and advice from working with dozens of agencies on their sales plans.

But first, back to my rant. Everything I am about to say is smart and actionable. However, if you do not actually do it, as in run it, 24/7 you will fail.

The 2017 Advertising Agency New Business Sucess List

This is the must do list. Once you agree to this list, the hard part is doing it. Yes, I am repeating myself. The single biggest issue confronting advertising agency sales is not running the plan. And. I do know all of your excuses for not running your plan with any consistency.

Can the excuses.

Have a business plan that outlines how your agency is going to make money.

Build your agency to deliver on the promises in your business plan.

Do not be one of the 17% of agencies that actually admits that they “Can’t make the investment in a new business program.” WHAT 17%? Are you kidding me? I bet that 17% is probably more like 30%. If 30% of advertising agencies do not invest then you must.

Have a business development plan that is based on what the market needs.

Make sure you treat your business development program with the same care and attention you deliver to a client. Put sales on your daily production list.

Know exactly who you want as a client. Have a set of criteria that makes sense for your agency.

Position your agency for success. What does that mean? It means that you cannot be everything to everyone. Know if you are a skill set specialist; a client category specialist; a regional or global specialist; a demographic specialist. “Specialist”… get it? If you want to “break through to prospects” (see the RSW/US research), give them a single-minded sales proposition.

Build brand messaging that clearly supports and amplifies your positioning.

Tell the market that you are the leader. Be bold.

Please… have a website that is more than a brochure; that does not look like your competitor’s WordPress site; that is designed to sell; that creates some agency to client chemistry and then asks for the clnet to make contact. Make them an offer they cannot refuse.

Have an inbound marketing strategy. An attraction strategy. One that makes sure that you can be found by that client that wants to meet you.

Go outbound to talk directly to the prospective clients that you have on your master list. Use the tools that will get their attention. I mean everything from direct mail 9yes, paper) to facebook ads to email to Instagram. Whatever makes sense for the category you are pursuing.

Be a thought leader. I mean an INSIGHT leader. Have things to say that cannot be ignored.

Busy? Use design, copy, sales, research or whatever outsourcing to help you run the plan.

Be an unignorable agency.

Write RFP’s that follow instructions to a ‘T’ then find a way to kick some ass to stand out.

OK, Last Point

You have a business plan. You’ve run a smart sales program. You got that RFP. You nailed it. You’ve been invited to pitch the business. Now, do not look and sound like every other agency.

Pitch smarter than the other agencies. Buy my book. Win more pitches.