Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

Insights

Blogging + Interpersonal Chemistry Drives Ad Agency New Business

· · 1 Comment

This is my 400th blog post. Why 400? I Am Driving Interpersonal Chemistry.

300First of all, I enjoy writing. I started this blog when I published my first book, “Boomercide: From Woodstock To Suicide”. The blog also supports the marketing of my agency consultation business and my second book, “The Levitan Pitch. Buy This book. Win More Pitches”.

Beyond the fun of writing and expressing my views on the advertising industry, the blog’s primary purpose is to act as my main marketing vehicle for my ad agency new business consultancy (and marketing ‘guinea pig’ to learn more to help my clients).

Last year, 32,111 people visited the blog and viewed 70,202 pages. My blog posts were marketed across LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and in guest blog posts on websites like AdPulp, Agency Post (now HubSpot) and Advertising Week.

The blog, guest posts and my book on pitching have also made me new friends that have helped expand the reach of my marketing program. Guest blogging got me a speaking gigs at conferences like HubSpot’s Inbound conference and the publication of my book made friends like Mitch Joel who invited me to be a guest on his 9-year-old “6 Pixels of Separation” podcast. Mitch has over 64,000 Twitter followers.

Michael Gass of Fuel Lines advertising agency new business fame gave me this great review (which he promoted onto his 71,000 followers)

I possibly have read every book about agency pitches and none come close to the rich, detailed information and guidance that you will find in this book, The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches, written by Peter Levitan. The book lives up to its title. I highly recommend that every advertising, digital, media and PR agency principal read it. (Yes, go ahead, you can Tweet this.)

All of this activity resulted in my working with advertising agency clients on three continents. As you can see, the blog has been read in virtually every country. I even had 5 views in Syria. [Read more…] about Blogging + Interpersonal Chemistry Drives Ad Agency New Business

Inside Look: An Advertising Agency Search Consultant

· · Leave a Comment

An Inside Look At The World Of An Advertising Agency Search Consultant

screen-shot-2016-11-17-at-8-48-13-amThis interview is all about the world of an advertising agency search consultant and how your firm might get on their radar. To understand this world, I interviewed leading consultant Russel Wholwerth of External View Consulting Group. The interview is in my book, The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. Sales message coming… buy the book at the top of this page. I’ve sold lots to your competitors. By the way, I know for a fact that everyone that has read this book is now much better looking, smarter, richer and thinner.

Go Forth

If you think that your agency isn’t ready for the primetime of being vetted by an agency search consultant, here are a couple of Russel’s insights that are s applicable to even a two-person shop – tone-deaf is not a good thing:

PL: Conversely, are there any standard presentation blunders that agencies make — over and over?

Russel: Agencies can often appear tone-deaf to the client’s needs. These agencies tend to be intoxicated with their own attributes like the number of offices they have around the world.

Here is one more BIG insight:

Russel: We get at least 20 to 30 inquiries from agencies every week. Most agencies act as if they have no clue how we operate or that they will need to really stand out to generate interest.

Imagine, this is how some agencies run their business. Read on… [Read more…] about Inside Look: An Advertising Agency Search Consultant

A Massive Ad Agency Blog Fail

· · Leave a Comment

images failThere is no question that advertising, digital and PR agencies that have sound blog strategies attract (attract!) the type of clients that they want to their websites. Obviously, starting with clear blog objectives and an understanding of viewer personas is key. However, even with the right intentions, agencies can still fail big time.

A Massive ‘Content’ Agency Blog Fail

I was doing a bit of self-education today about advertising agencies that specialize in and position themselves as experts in telling brand stories. I’ve always thought that this has been a underserved positioning (or sub-positiong) for agencies. In my search, I came across one of the segment’s leaders…. Story Worldwide. Here is what I found. [Read more…] about A Massive Ad Agency Blog Fail

My 2 Favorite Advertising Agency New Business Quotes

· · Leave a Comment

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

Mario Andretti

My take: It is OK to drive past your comfort zone. In fact, you won’t win without doing it.

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

General Eric Shinseki

My take: Advertising, PR, digital and mobile marketing is changing so fast that it makes me think of one more quote.

OK…. One more: This is the one that I think your advertising agency must (has to) live by if you want to succeed and grow in 2015.

“Lead, follow or get out of the way.”

Ted Turner

Steve Jobs & The Macintosh Were, Um, Cool

· · Leave a Comment

I bought my first Macintosh computer from Steve Jobs in 1984. It was um, cool.

I just found this video of Steve Jobs introducing the Mac. He was, um, cool too. But, you know that. So, this is just a reminder.

Here is what the Smithsonian had to say about the introduction:

Nearly thirty years ago, on January 24, 1984, a 28-year-old Steve Jobs appeared onstage in a tuxedo to introduce a new Apple computer that had been in the works for years: the Macintosh.

Two days earlier, during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII, Apple aired a commercial that brought already-high expectations for the Mac to a fever pitch. In the ad, a nameless heroine runs through a dystopian setting, where a face projected onto an enormous screen commands a room full of conformists to obey. Evading police in riot gear, the heroine smashes the screen with a giant hammer, freeing the audience. The message: IBM was 1984’s Big Brother, and Mac was the audacious liberator. 

Up on stage, after unzipping the 17-pound computer from a carrying case, plugging it in and turning it on, Jobs showed a feverishly cheering audience screenshots of killer applications like MacWrite and MacPaint. The device—designed around a user-friendly graphical user interface and mouse that debuted in the previous Lisa computer—was remarkably intuitive for non-experts, allowing them to use the mouse to select programs they wanted to run, rather than type in code.

I want to be, um, cool(er) too. I’ll be working on it in 2015.

Happy New Year!!