Dallas Advertising Agencies What Agency Is On Top At Google?

By Peter | Published: March 5, 2020

Why Is Miller Ad Agency On Top At Google? Why The Answer Is Important For All Advertising Agencies No Matter Where Your Agency Is.

I’ve been doing some work for my advertising agency clients about how they get found by their future marketing clients. To narrow the process, I took a look at how Dallas advertising agencies are listed on Goole’s SERP home page.

It isn’t pretty.

Today is a rather important time to check every “how clients find your agency” box given the current state of the COVID-19 craziness and inevitable client spending pullback. If you were not around during the 2007 recession… ask someone who was. The agencies that fell asleep — fell off the map. I owned an agency at the time and got aggressive – we prospered.

Dallas Advertising Agencies And Google

As part of my research, I did a quick search on Google, via a Chrome incognito browser, to see what Austin, Houston and Dallas advertising agencies are listed first on Google (of course YMMV, depending on your browser and history). I did a fast search as if I was a prospective client searching for a new agency. My search term was simple… “Dallas advertising agencies.”

Here is a screenshot of the results. Kinda critical results for future clients as Google only provides a very limited list on page one.

Dallas Findings

  1. WALO Creative comes up first. They are smart to buy the ad to get out ahead given that Clutch says that there are over 500 Dallas advertising agencies.
  2. Miller Ad Agency is second. They have 75 reviews, so I assume that that helps Google make a decision. However, Slingshot with five reviews is listed as four. So, maybe the number of reviews isn’t the secret.
  3. Finally, I am going like, where is Dallas’ leading Richards Group? They are not on page one. Huh, given their size and history. This time I searched via Google map and Richards shows up as number 4. This makes sense, right? But, again, I am a bit perplexed since smaller Miller is number one.
  4. A “conclusion”. Miller has all five-star reviews as is listed at 5.0. Richards has lots of reviews but because it has a couple of lower review numbers has a 4.5 rank. But wait, Slingshot which is listed as number two only has a 3.4 review rank. Yikes.

My Conclusion… Find a seriously smart, expert SEM / SEO expert and drill down if you want to be listed high on Google’s results for Dallas Advertising Agencies.  Maybe start at Google’s Improve Your Local Ranking On Google page. Keep reading – Google’s algorithms are fluid.

One more… make knowing where a prospective client will look for your agency and make sure you are there. If it means that you might have to buy an ad or a listing, do it. The way to get here is to put on a client hat and understand their buyer persona and act like them. Or, have your mom do the search.

Also, check out my article about there being too many advertising agencies. I also have a list of everywhere you want to be.

Note: If your superior expertise can help ME figure this specific Google ranking stuff out…. make contact. Thanks.

 

 

 

Are There Too Many Advertising Agencies?

By Peter | Published: February 26, 2020

Lots. Like, Um, Too Many.

So… How many advertising agencies are there? OK, it is a bit impossible to count them all – and I am talking essentially every type of agency from Ogilvy down to your ex-Creative Director that does what he used to do for you but now he works (at a lower cost) out of his home.

So, how many? Here is a number I came across yesterday…

According to Clutch there are 17,532 “Top Advertising and Marketing Agencies” In the United States. 17,532.

Yikes. Want more? There are 193 in Dallas, 182 in Austin and 140 in Houston. That’s 515 in major Texas cities. Did I say Yikes? Now, imagine how many in London.

Here are some links to help y’all break out of the pack.

How Clients Find An Advertising Agency.

What Do Advertising Clients Want? I Asked A Real Mad Man.

A link to my enormous ad agency information blog. 

Five Immediate Things To Do To Break Out From The 17,532…

  1. Make sure you are everywhere a client might look to find your agency. Buy attention if you have to.
  2. Run a smart 24/7 business development program. Sorry, referrals are not enough.
  3. Have a competitive and distinctive brand positioning. Being an expert in something might help (actually, it will help a lot.)
  4. Try to look and act unignorable. Good news” your competitors are already ignored given the vast number of agency choices.
  5. Just hire me to help you grow awareness, leads, and closes. LOL. I am not kidding.

So, how many advertising agencies are in your market? Just to be outrageously obnoxious, a Google search on “Tulsa advertising agencies” turned up 2,820,000 results.

Freelance Advertising Art Design Video Illustration Photography Photoshop Assistant Resources

By Peter | Published: February 24, 2020

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.

The Advertising Agency Of The Future

By Peter | Published: February 22, 2020

What Does The Advertising Agency Of The Future Look Like? How About Your Agency?

The advertising agency of the future needs some serious planning and agility. No surprise here. But, what is surprising to me is the lack of attention paid to how to craft an advertising agency for the future.

Just for the hell of it. I’ll start with the good old days.

My first job in advertising was at Dancer Fitzgerald & Sample. Back in the 1980’s DFS was New York’s largest advertising agency. We were sweetly based in the iconic Chrysler Building. At that time, we did not spend lots of gray matter on thinking about the future of the advertising agency business because we were making a 15% commission on media and 16.5% on production. We had a sweet client list that included General Mills, P&G, RJR Nabisco, Sara Lee, Northwest Airlines (I ran the account and our annual profits were $6 million on $9 million in revenues), HP and Toyota. As you might expect, we were not too concerned about reinvention. All this client and revenue firepower helped Saatchi & Saatchi love and buy Dancer in 1986.

Today advertising is a radically different business and ad agencies need to be thinking about how to be positioned for a future where multi-year AOR clients; 15% media commissions; three primary media types (TV, print, radio); a positive global network effect and loyalty are attributes of the past.

Not to get too down, but today the advertising world is about project work, crazy price consciousness, competition from all sides (large consultancies, in-house agencies and your ex-Creative Director who does just fine as a freelancer).

Bummed Out?

Look, for many agencies, it is kinda fucked up out there. As the famous Chinese curse says,

“May you live in interesting times”.

But, but, there are still agencies that grow and make bucks. You can too.

So, in preparation for this blog post – yes, it is ultimately about how to position your agency for the future – I read a bunch of articles on “the advertising agency of the future.” Not too surprising, this is a hot topic.

Interesting (as in ‘Uh Oh’) the first page of Google has articles on your future from traditional agency killers like Deloitte, Accenture, Adobe, CMO.com (an Adobe site).

The agency industry perspective is not on Google’s page one. It isn’t until page two that Inc., AdAge, The Drum and the ANA get to chime in.

I stopped trying to find an actual advertising agency perspective delivered via this search term by the time I got to page four. Do the big guys (even WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, etc.) not want to discuss the future?

Some Findings On The Future on Advertising

Here are some of the highlights from my research. I’m listing these in random order. I’ll have my personal thoughts a bit later. Read More »

Three Powerful Advertising Agency Quotes

By Peter | Published: February 19, 2020

Here Are Three Advertising Agency Quotes To Help You Focus On Business Development

Mario Andretti

The first quote is from Mario Andretti. Andretti won races in Formula 1 (a world champion), NASCAR, IndyCar (three-time champion), and World Sportscar Championship. This is a serious dude. The quote is intended to kick you in your ass.

“If everything seems under control, you are just not going fast enough.”

Here is the deal. OK, one of the deals. Virtually every advertising agency will have one or more clients walk out the back door this year. The only way you counteract that inevitable loss is to work hard, work smart, act fast to get new clients coming in the front door.

General Eric Shinseki

This quote about embracing change is from the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army and four-star General Eric Shinseki.

“If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.”

I know I do not have to point out the speed of change in the advertising industry. What I am pointing out is that you better pay attention to change and be ready to act. Need an example? When your client asks about Tik Tok you better be able to have that conversation.

Peter Levitan

This advertising agency quote is from the most experienced business development consultant. Me.

“Advertising agency marketing programs have to be ‘unignorable’. This must be a primary agency objective. The alternative to unignorabilty is being ignored.”

I consider that one of my key jobs, when I work with my advertising agency clients, is to provide actionable and unignorable ideas and tactics that bring the agency’s brand positioning to life. I am not into pontificating. My goal is to help you make the agency stand out from the ever-growing competitive pack so that that the agency sells in its core sales proposition. And, if you do it right, you will become famous as well.