Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

Insights

Ogilvy, Pinterest and Ad Agency New Business

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ogilvy on pinterestTake a look at how Ogilvy is using Pinterest as a new business tool and as a rich information resource for their global employees. They have over 110 boards, 1,000 pins and over 8,000 followers.

Sure, Ogilvy has cadres of workers to pin the globe but someone in management is clearly committed to this new (OK, relatively new) and massively growing social media platform. This site looks like it has more infographics than, well, who knows. It’s a great infographic resource and they add to it every week.

I use Pinterest as a business development tool as well – it delivers traffic to this very blog. To gain a footprint on Pinterest and to target folks like you, I built the Pinterest advertising agency directory.

Do you need some help in deciding if Pinterest is a good tool for your agency’s new business program? Here is my post:

10 Reasons To Use Pinterest For Advertising Agency New Business

A Critical Ad Agency New Business Mistake

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MistakenThrough my agency consultancy, I have been able to look under the hood of lots of advertising, digital and video agencies. One of the most apparent mistakes that some, not all, just some, are making is to not step back and take a hard look at their current assets.

Here’s one mistake.

Online and mobile video marketing is booming. By now we should all know the power of YouTube as a business development tool (well, maybe I should write about this more) and the astonishing growth of video marketing across all of our screens – especially on mobile devices. With all of this activity and daily press, I cannot understand why advertising agencies are not using video marketing in greater numbers as a business development tool. Agency clients are looking for video solutions but most agencies are not leading with their video skill set.

The mistake isn’t that the agencies aren’t using video. The BIG mistake is that they are perfectly positioned to produce quality video but don’t. Huh? Well, if you are a full-service agency then you know how to make videos because you have been producing commercials, and telling short-form stories, for eons. Yet, most of these TV savvy agencies haven’t used video to tell their agency stories on their websites, build compelling YouTube channels, emailed out videos or used new tools like Vine. This is a crazy and a serious missed opportunity.

Here is just one video factoid: Forrester Research reported…

85% of people choose to watch a video about a company online rather than read the rest of the website.

Here is a great example of how to promote your agency using video from London Advertising. Note that their video is up front and way center. It’s the first thing that London wants you to see. It is one of the agency’s primary new business tools.

There is more on online video and that some agencies get it right here.

Advertising Agencies, Business Development & Contact

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agency postMy friends at Agency Post just published my second guest post on ad agency websites and social media programs…  “Agencies And The Art Of Contact.”

This time its about how agencies do or do not do a good job with their website’s Contact sections. Most don’t. Considering how important the idea of driving a client prospect to make contact is (do I really have to say this?) you would think that agencies think through how to build a very compelling Contact section.  Most don’t.

If you want to take a quick look at over a thousand agency website Contact sections (and who wouldn’t?), visit my Pinterest agency directory. 

Business Insider Already Attacking Tumblr Yahoo Deal

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The press is already attacking the Tumblr deal. The Internet press, as in Business Insider, needs something else to do.

This Survey Says Tumblr Is a Ghost Town For Brands (YHOO)…

The median number of engagements per brand is … just two.

One issue Yahoo will have now that it plans to build out Tumblr’s advertising offerings is persuading advertisers to actually show up on Tumblr.

Gee… maybe give Yahoo more than a couple of days to play their cards.

Read more from the source: businessinsider.com

(Oh, I’m on Tumblr with my Widelux.)

At 4A’s Presenting About Ad Agency Websites

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imagesI am speaking at a CEO conference today at the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies.) My presentation is on the Good, Bad and Ugly of how agencies use their websites, social media and other digital tools for business development. Should be interesting as agency websites are a great window into how they think and position themselves.

To give you a couple of examples of what I am taking about:

Good: Maybe the best social agency (certainly in terms of self promotion) Likeable Media 

Really bad: Insane ad agency website home pages

If you are an ad agency and would like to see the presentation give me a shout.