Insights

11 B2B Email Marketing Statistics (2022)

April 19, 2022 By Peter 2 Comments

Yup 11 B2B Email Marketing Statistics – A Sweet List Just For Your Advertising Agency Business Development Program

I just got off a long business development planning call with an advertising agency in Canada. We spent a good deal of time discussing the value of building and running an advertising agency email newsletter. I have written about email newsletters before but just built a set of statistics that supports my email advice that your agency should think hard about getting that newsletter out there (if you have a newsletter, good for you), Bottom line = email marketing should be a key element of your business development program.

My email marketing statistics list is below. But, just for the hell of it, here are a couple of earlier email marketing blog posts. Worth a read.

My 11 B2B Email Marketing Statistics (2022)

81% of B2B marketers use email marketing newsletters for biz dev. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020)
B2B marketers send email marketing newsletters every 25 days. (SuperOffice, 2020)
31% of B2B marketers use email to nurture leads. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020)
87% of B2B marketers say email is one of their top free organic distribution channels. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020)
90% of content marketers say email engagement is the top metric they track to measure content performance. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020)
89% of all B2B email campaigns are sent from a company name. (SuperOffice, 2020)
85% of marketers say they work with email marketing platforms. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020)
The highest email click-through rate goes to the consulting services companies at 25%. (Constant Contact, 2021)
Marketers who segment their campaigns see as much as a 760% increase in revenue. (Campaign Monitor, 2019)
Over 80% of marketers said they’d rather give up social media than email marketing. (Litmus, 2020)
YIKES!!!! You better be good at email marketing – 306 billion to be exact. And this number is expected to reach 361 billion by the end of 2024. (Constant Contact 2022)

And Now – B2B Email Marketing Guidance

The 9 Best Consumer Insight Definitions

March 31, 2022 By Peter Leave a Comment

What Is a Consumer Insight? Some Definitions.

Importantly, Why the Use of Insights Is Critical to Advertising Agency New Business.

Whatever you want to call it… a consumer insight, marketing insight, brand insight or research insight, the idea of developing Ah-Ha insights is a primary driver of brand and revenue growth. The Ah-Ha element is critical to creating a powerful consumer insight. This is true for advertising agency B2B new business gains as well. Opening a conversation with a prospective new client with an Ah-Ha insight will get their attention, will quickly begin to help them realize that you understand their market, create a marketing opportunity and that, yup, you are smart.

Appearing smart at the start of a new business conversation delivers the Holy Grail of prospective clients’ needs – BIG word coming… confidence.

I will be writing in the coming about the wonderful world of insights and – importantly – the tools to get you there. However, I thought that it might make a bit of sense to provide a quick list of various definitions of just want a consumer insight is. As I move forward, I’ll give you examples of insights that have driven business growth (like the MAN). I’ll highlight how I think and actually know how a consumer insight can help an advertising agency win new business. Even win the pitch in the first minute.

9 Consumer Insight Definitions

Oxford Dictionary

“The capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing.”

Merriam Webster

1: The power or act of seeing into a situation: PENETRATION

2: The act or result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively

McKinsey

“Insights into consumers and how they think can help companies spark innovation, uncover the most promising (though not always most intuitive) sources of growth, and develop or maintain successful products and brands.

Generating customer insights through qualitative research. Qualitative research helps bring customers to life. It illuminates their needs, their decision-making processes, and their reactions to companies and brands.”

How To Create A Tactile Brand Experience

March 31, 2022 By Peter Leave a Comment

Yikes, What Is Tactile Brand Marketing? And What’s In It For My Advertising Agency? Hmm… Maybe It’s Making Sure You Are Unignorable.

One of my core marketing mantras is that advertising agencies need to become unignorable. Unignorable means not being ignored. This sounds obvious but most advertising agency marketing is, unfortunately, ignorable. One, one, of the many ideas that I share with my advertising agency clients, is the idea of using tactile brand marketing. Well, I usually call it direct marketing (just like in the old days when you got something in the mail — paper-based mail that is).

In fact, I just got off a call with a Northeast agency where I pointed to one of my favorite paper-based tactile brand marketing tools — The UK Newspaper Club. Hey, I have written about the value of what the Newspaper Club offers in this blog post – Really, An Advertising Agency Newspaper? Peter, You Must Be Kidding.

And Then Just Like That, I Got A Well-Done Lead Gen Email From PFL About, Yup, Tactile Brand Marketing.

It is worth reading the email below because it does a really good job of selling in the PFL pitch story. The email is short (thank you!!), concise, and drives you to a 1-minute sales video. A video that actually sells. Here is the email. And, go ahead and watch the video – and consider adding a tactile approach to your marketing. Think direct mail – like a zine, newspaper, or box – and how it breaks through the clutter of digital marketing. And, then do that fast & sweet & effective sales video.

Oh, before I show you the email and the video – maybe you want more ideas about becoming unignorable? You should. And, you should contact me. The Don did…

Ok, ta-da, the email…

Moving To Mexico

March 16, 2022 By Peter 34 Comments

Moving To Mexico – Perfecto

A 2022 Update – (Six years later): The Moving To Mexico post below was written when I achieved my 2016 goal of moving to Mexico from Portland, Oregon. I’ll maintain the original post detail intact to keep Google’s indexing happy. But, here is an update.

I live in San Miguel de Allende which Conde Nast Traveller named – get this – “the best small city in the world” – not bad. SMA is in the middle of the country, is known for its culture, old-world architecture, music, art, gourmet to street food, wonderful people, 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 5,000 times. I know I am not alone in thinking of moving to Mexico.

Interesting side note. My consultancy works with advertising agencies. In the past couple of years, three of my clients have decided to either move to Mexico full-time or to buy a second home.

Why move to Mexico? Sevens reasons.

The cost of living is 50% of, say, Chicago.
Remote work — works here.
You can get a permanent visa.
The right time zone (vs. say Bali or Portugal.)
Easy flights to the USA and beyond.
The weather.
Your neighbor does not have a MAGA flag in their front yard.
Nice culture.

Moving To Mexico Was a Good Idea

My wife and I are now five-plus years in and live here full-time. Four years ago we 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). Well, it’s our old house – we just sold it for a nice profit. We now live in a very modern house up the hill that has an amazing view. it is a ten-minute walk to Centro.

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 (I think) to add Africa to my white sheet and Widelux film camera series.

I am convinced that I made the right move. San Miguel de Allende is endearing, culturally rich, and 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. The work from home shift has made moving and living in Mexico easier for 30 – 40-year-olds, and we are seeing more young families come down.

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, MNNBC, 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. I get a few calls a year.

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The Original 2016 Blog Post About the Why and How Moving To Mexico is a Good Idea

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 living an 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.

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?

We 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 cartel 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 is 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?

A 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

Campaign UK On Advertising Agency New Business

March 11, 2022 By Peter Leave a Comment

Thanks… Campaign UK On Advertising Agency New Business Trends

My brain perked up when I saw that Campaign UK was doing a podcast interview show about advertising agency new business, i.e., today’s business development environment and the good, bad and ugly of the client + agency search process.

Campaign’s podcast “Agency New-Business Trends & Super Bowl Ads” enlisted Greg Paull, principal of R3 Worldwide (…a global consultancy that offers marketers access to the expertise and services required to establish and administer effective multi-national agency engagements.) And Tracey Barber, global chief marketing officer of Havas Creative Group. They were joined by Campaign’s media editor Arvin Hickman to discuss agency new business trends. The Super Bowl discussion – meh.

I’ve taken bits of the interview, edited for brevity, and popped in my thoughts. Remember other than working closely with agencies on their business development plans, I wrote, just in case you missed it, The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.

More Pitches But Smaller and Smaller Accounts:

Greg: There were 58% more pitches this year, but only 9% more revenue. And I think that just sends the message to agencies that it’s becoming a fight for smaller and smaller pieces of an individual business. That’s a challenge for our agency’s work.

Marketers are increasingly looking at project-based assignments and that’s always a challenge for agencies that are quite used to this traditional AOR structure. So, they’re having to pivot a little bit in order to be able to cope with the way clients want to buy their services.

Peter’s Take: Nothing new or surprising here. The client-to-agency relationship pivot started to happen way back in the late 1990’s when we began to see the shift from the 15% media commission to fee based payments. One of my mega clients fired Saatchi one day within moments of a new marketing director parachuting in. He was both an asshole (the client’s mega airline was growing faster that its competitors and we had just won two EFFIE’s for strategic brilliance and he fired us at the ceremony’s dinner table). He then gave the $60 million business to Ogilvy because they were going to charge ½ of our the AOR commission.

OK, enough bitching. Yes, clients are wanting project-based relationships. It is then up to agency managment to leverage that project into more work. Easier said than done but if you give that assignment to a junior account manager or producer, worse untrained folks, I am not sure how you effectively grow that client. A Duh coming: growing an existing account is way more efficient than running after advertising agency new business from strangers.

More Projects Less AOR

Arvin: Can I just ask in terms of that trend of it becoming a bit more project-based? Are you noticing that a bit more on the Creative side versus the Media side or is that across the board?

Greg: Yeah. It’s been more on Creative than Media. And in fact, if you looked at the top 10 wins for last year, nine of them were global for Media. Only four of them are global for Creative, and that’s been a system trend that… Creative tends to be more piecemeal, clients are always looking for the best creativity they can and as a result, they’re more and more looking at project-based work.

Peter: Even if you are a ‘creative’ agency, make sure that the client loves your media and strategic planning. Make it an integral element of your deliverable even if you have to team up with a media specialist. ‘Creative’ is way too subjective.

Plus: It is easier to fire an artist than a scientist.

Just Say No To That Pitch

Arvin: Now one agency that many would argue isn’t having this whole dissatisfaction problem would be Havas Creative. Tracy had a lot of new business wins in the past year. What was the recipe for your success do you think? [Read more…] about Campaign UK On Advertising Agency New Business