Resources: Now What? Life After Advertising

By Peter | Published: May 22, 2020

Is There Life After Advertising? Some Resources.

Yes, there is life after advertising. Since you will most likely age out of this business by 45 (no, I do not have any stats to support this), it might be a good idea to start to think about what else to do.

Me? I became, surprise, a business development consultant for aspiring advertising agencies after I sold my own advertising agency. I spend about a third of my time doing this and it is working very well. Agencies need what I have to offer because my personal experience is steeped in agency management and sales. All in all, a very good fit.

But, But, Now, Add In Coronavirus Complications

…It is 2020 and I am seeing that this blog post, initially posted in March 2016, is getting traffic because people are searching on terms related to “life after advertising”. Obviously, there is a segment of the advertising agency community that is trying to figure what else to do if the ad world does not return to what was “normal”. It will not.

So, here are some resources, just a bunch, that might help you figure out your life after advertising.

Now, what about your life?

Of course, many of you have skills perfectly suited to another industry. After all, smart ad people are generally very smart marketers. Or, vice versa. You could join a client-side company; make a product; join a start-up; go freelance; sell flowers; sail around the world; be an artist; stay in every hostel in Spain; retire early; marry well; even consult.

Here are some links to get your juices flowing. I am particularly interested in what Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income has to say. Hey, you could (like me) move to Mexico and do what you want when you want. For me, it’s all about ‘have laptop will travel’. Hey, when I originally wrote this post, I was writing from Argentina and soon had a call with a London client. Today, I am in San Miguel de Allende Mexico. If you are thinking about moving overseas, or even to Mexico, read my blog post – Moving To Mexico. 

Resources.

Daniel Pink. Read books by one of my favorite ‘business’ book writers. I a great thinker & writer. Also, watch his videos on YouTube.

Entrepreneur. How to start a business online. I know you want to.

Ferris / Kagen. Seriously – How to create a million-dollar business… This weekend. Do this from your beloved cube.

Fizzle.  How can you pass this up? “Excellent courses from real experts and a community of like-minded business builders.”

Razor Social. Ian is another genius who will tell you how to make money from your blog. He does!

Reddit. Hear your peers hash out what your life after your advertising career looks like.

Small Business Association. The SBA to you. Your federal tax dollars want to help you build a business so you can employe your ex-ad agency friends.

Smart Passive Income. How to build an online passive income business. Read every word. Listen to the podcasts. Take control of your life.

Social Media Monitor. Avast resource for social media advice. use it in your day job too.

The Social M’s. How to use guest blogging to help grow your business. I do. Read about it here.

The How. Learn from entrepreneurs.

More & More Online Resources.

Just one more element of my Big Advertising Agency Resource List. Let me know if I am missing anything.

More and more is coming. Stay tuned.

Even More – About You.

Give me a shout if want some career, life advice. Free.

I did this for an online publication yesterday. Here is what some of the staff said about me.

I really enjoyed learning from Peter! He certainly has had an impressive career and it was interesting to see how that progressed. I love learning from people who have seen an industry change over time, and very few industries have developed so much over the past few decades as media—digital media in particular. He has a unique perspective on the field and I look forward to tuning into this podcast when it releases.

For me it was great to hear from someone who’s worn a lot of hats in the biz and seen a lot of success, some hilarious fails and has still come out swinging. It’s great to hear from someone who’s able to be creative at such a high level and who’s also super-strategic, which is essential to making any business or other endeavor successful. I appreciated his humor, concrete examples and look forward to studying up on the resources he’s planning to forward our way.

 

 

Little Bird Marketing Kicks Ass

By Peter | Published: May 10, 2020

I apologize for saying this. It sure seems to me that a lot of advertising agencies are on their back foot. They are in de-accelerate mode. That means it is a great time to accelerate your business development program. There is a gap. Take advantage. Fill it. Juice it up.

This post is about how the advertising agency Little Bird Marketing kicks ass.

But wait, there’s more. Over a couple of blog posts, I am going to highlight three firms in the advertising agency business development space that are making it happen. Strangely, it just so happens that they tapped me to participate in their acceleration mode.

Little Bird Marketing Kicks Ass…

One of my first advertising agency business development clients was my NOW wonderful friend Priscilla McKinney of Missouri’s Little Bird Marketing.

Things I like about Little Bird and Priscilla:

This is a proactive company. They do good work; are well-known in their markets; their website is an active sales tool that is designed to capture leads (not what one usually sees); they are on top of inbound marketing (mucho blog posts and thought leadership).

Priscilla is very active on LinkedIn (and 3,700 Followers on Twitter). You will see lots of posts and videos plus a high volume, awareness-generating podcast. The Ponderings From The Perch podcast is designed to promote and sell the agency by also promoting people like me. For example, I am sharing my podcast interview here. Quid pro quo. Plus… Priscilla is the kind of nice, smart, caring person that clients want to work with. Believe me, this additional ’emotional’ hook works.

My Interview

Below is a brief sample from Little Bird. It is a mini-podcast audio moment promotion that they want me to put on my website to reach you to support them (they also gave me the lead graphic at the top of this podcast). Smart. Click on the image b e l o w before you go listen to the full podcast.

Now… Listen to the full podcast interview here. Note that I am pointing you back to the Little Bird website. That’s what they want to happen. By the way, I was ON that day. It is a brilliant interview about my take on the state of today’s advertising agency and how agencies need to intelligently accelerate their business development program – now.

 

 

Random Marketing And Advertising Resources

By Peter | Published: May 7, 2020

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

By Peter | Published: May 6, 2020

I have been working on a new advertising podcast. 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?

My new podcast should launch in the very near future. The podcast 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 like a good story from the good old days. Stay tuned for it. 

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 »

The Basics: An Advertising Agency New Business Plan 

By Peter | Published: April 20, 2020

Your 2020 Advertising Agency New Business Plan

advertising agency new business planI admit it. I am going to repeat myself (you’ll know it if you’ve read some of my 600+ blog posts). The marketing communications service industry must have a solid advertising agency new business plan to survive in today’s disrupted and lower margin marketing world.

Wha? Agencies do not have a solid plan? According to ad world research, most do not. I’ve seen stats that say only 40% of advertising agencies have solid active business development plans.

While repeating some of the core tenets of sales, I’ll add some new thinking based on my working with agencies in the USA and around the globe.

Be Unignorable.

That said, the bottom-line for building a productive advertising agency new business plan is to do the sales plan actions that are tried and true – with the objective of standing way out. That means having the goal of being unignorable. Not easy, but a ripe goal to pursue.

Start Here.

These actions are general sales actions that are modified for selling a highly competitive service like your advertising agency. By the way, congrats if you’ve gone beyond just offering a service to having a tool or system that you can resell. Give me a shout and I’ll show you examples of what I mean.

You have to break out of the competitive pack. I don’t care if you’re a two-person or a multi-national. You need to say something to a prospective client that stands out and makes them want to make direct contact or say yes when you ask to speak with them.

The agencies that win today deliver messaging that is: well-targeted, succinct and competitive.

Because of this starting point, distinctive agency positionings help clients to quickly recognize the agency’s expertise and value.

I’ve put “winner” agencies into three messaging buckets. They tell prospective clients: ‘what we do’, ‘how we do it’ and ‘who we do it for’ to illustrate the strength of their individual positioning strategy.

The Start Here is without question your agency’s positioning. Read More »