Insights

Who Would Invest In Your Advertising Agency?

Peter · August 18, 2015 · 1 Comment

Who Would Invest In Your Advertising Agency?

Sorry. Probably No One.

You are not alone. The vast majority of agencies are not worthy of investment. Would you invest in your competitors? Probably not.

OK, that’s them. What about you? Let’s solve this because a low-value agency to a prospective investor or buyer is a low-value agency to a prospective client. You are not alone if you are a me-too low-value agency. Unfortunately, it comes with the territory of the 2015 ad agency business model. The way out is to be different. Think you can’t do that?

G5 Did.

Way back in 2013, I wrote about Bend, Oregon’s specialist ‘advertising agency’ G5. I wanted to show you, Ms. Agency CEO, that there are advertising agency business models that actually…:

Attract high-margin clients. These are clients that do not need to be mega pitched and really want to love your expertise.

Are more efficient than your project-based approach

Are trully category specific. This is G5’s laser-sharp pitch: “G5 simplifies digital marketing by delivering best-in-class sites, search, and social for Apartments, Self Storage, and Senior Living properties.”

Are unique in a world of me-too agencies.

Leverage the power of digital marketing tech to help client’s grow the agency’s bottom line.

And… increase agency valuations. You do want to sell someday, right?

Way back in 2013 you had to take my word for it. Not anymore. I was right. This kind of agency attracts clients and investment.

G5 Raises $76 Million Investment Led by Peak Equity Partners

An August YouTube Quickie

Peter · August 17, 2015 · Leave a Comment

A YouTube Quickie? No, This Isn’t That Sexy. But…

And, yes, this post is kinda random. I’m just hanging out at my desk wondering if I want to work today. We are day something like 60 for mostly rain-free Portland Oregon. Crazy summer out here! It helps that we are America’s beer capital.

A friend turned me on to this video from YouTube Advertisers: Go Behind The Scenes with David Droga and Emily Anderson. Nice idea to get us thinking about how YouTube advertising isn’t same old same old TV. But, you know that so it’s unfortunate that this video tidbit doesn’t deliver any decent info or inspiration (sorry, David but TV pre-YouTube wasn’t a cul-de-sac for real creative folks. My late 80’s Saatchi teams won sweet awards for two broadcast clients that went way beyond your reference to Formula 1. Pleaaaase… the good old days were actually good and demanded the type of thinking you do today. Thinking big not start in 2005 when YouTube was born.)

But, the video did introduce me to Ogilvy’s Emily Anderson, which makes it all worth while. Watch the video and then read on.

Emily Anderson

Droga we know. Anderson? So, I dug in a bit and found a Creative Director who could have a super dream job of creating high-budget long-form content. And, the work and energy is damn good. Check out her CV website below.

After the work and personal energy, the thing I most dug is her URL: www.littleenglishgenius.com/ The English are much more cheeky than we are. They are also not afraid to promote themselves. If you are a genius, tell your clients. Droga and Anderson do that. Trump does that. Just like the American electorate, clients are a bit short of time and need to have YOU tell them that you are a genius. Just tell them that – they want to hear it. Yes, I am a genius too.

Last thought:

It’s summer so go visit Emily’s Montauk. Note, you won’t have to screw around with combat L.I.E. traffic to get there.

Just Read This: Web Design – The First 100 Years

Peter · July 27, 2015 · 1 Comment

Just Read This – Why?

More is not necessarily a good thing. New is not necessarily a good thing. Internet-scale is not necessarily a good thing. That’s my paraphrase of this extremely insightful perspective on our digital world.

Need a bit more to get you reading? From Web Design – The First 100 Years. (I find this paragraph on youth vs. age particularly interesting because I was a member of the team that did the first consumer advertising program for email in 1983 — Easylink from Western Union – yes, Western Union.)

This contempt for the past also ignores the reality of our industry, which is that we work almost exclusively with legacy technologies.

The operating system that runs the Internet is 45 years old.

The protocols for how devices talk to each other are 40 years old.

Even what we think of as the web is nearing its 25th birthday.

Some of what we use is downright ancient—flat panel displays were invented in 1964, the keyboard is 150 years old.

The processor that’s the model for modern CPUs dates from 1976.

Even email, which everyone keeps trying to reinvent, is nearing retirement age.

I cheated by calling this talk ‘Web Design: The First 100 years’ because we’re already nearly halfway there. However dismissive we are of this stuff, however much we insist that it will get swept away by a new generation of better technology, it stubbornly refuses to go. Our industry has deep roots in the past that we should celebrate and acknowledge.

And this… for a good laugh…

So because powerful people in our industry read bad scifi as children, we now confront a stupid vision of the web as gateway to robot paradise.

Here’s Ray Kurzweil, a man who honestly and sincerely believes he is never going to die. He works at Google. Presumably he stays at Google because he feels it advances his agenda.

Google works on some loopy stuff in between plastering the Internet with ads.

Read, think, slow down, enjoy… That’s one of my mantras.

21 Ad Agency Business Development Must Do’s

Peter · July 24, 2015 · Leave a Comment

What Every Ad Agency Must Do To Grow

A simple fact: You have to decide to work at business development and then do the work.

Here are 21 ad agency business development actions that will absolutely result in growth.

Have clear attainable (or even audacious) business objectives – and, while you are at it, write a business plan to get there.
Nurture an agency business development culture from the CEO on down (or, is it up?)
Craft a business development plan with clear-cut objectives and strategies.
Have an effective sales pitch based on something your agency owns or can act like it owns.
Have an action-oriented hook that generates client interest and meetings. If not, go back to number 4 and work it out.
Make business development an integral part of your agency’s daily life.
Manage business development the same way you treat a client job. Have a process.
Know who is responsible for what and have a calendar.
Make sure that everyone in the agency knows that new business is everyone’s business and that no new business growth = staff reductions and possibly, I am afraid to say this, no new foosball table.
Have a list of the top clients you want and create a compelling sales pitch. I stress: compelling.
Design a sales-oriented agency website for that client who is only going to give you 8 seconds to make an impression. Your goal is getting them to contact you.
Use the website to deliver some human chemistry vibes. Please use video to bring your agency to life. A brief video.
Have a short list of the top clients you want, create personas and build a compelling sales pitch just for them. I stress: compelling. Put yourself in their shoes. They want to succeed at their jobs too.
Stay in touch on a reasonably regular basis via email (gently) or some other form of direct marketing.
Use social media correctly. That means having an objectives-driven LinkedIn, Twitter, blog, Facebook etc. strategy and the will to keep at it. Kill the program if you can’t keep it up. Dated blog posts are worse than no blog posts. I don’t even want to discuss having an empty aging Twitter account.
Consider concentrating on (and owning) a specific client category or becoming a media or technology or creative specialist. Pick one.
Learn to pitch like Steve Jobs (you already know this.)
Learn to negotiate like Steve Jobs. Most agencies have no clue how to negotiate.
Take this offer and contact me. I’ve been there and done it.
Buy my book.
Get a good night’s sleep.