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Your Ad Agency Name And Getting Found

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Your Ad Agency Name

I am about to make two points. One is about the value of an ad agency name. The second is how to get future clients to find, notice and love you.

How is your ad agency name doing for ya? Is it memorable? Does it create some brand power? Does it describe what you do? Does it just sound ‘cool’? Does it help grow your agency?

Frankly, I do not think that a name matters that much. Sure, it probably shouldn’t be too complex, or too cute (though many are very cute) and it should be memorable in some way (there are, after all, 4,000 plus “agenceis” to choose from.)

By the way, head over to my two-part post on how to name your agency (or even help a client with their name). This post has been read over 31,000 times. Crazy!

An ‘Ad Agency Name Generator’ = Borrowed Interest To Get Found

I don’t know about you, but I get a few emails a month from people asking me if I take guest posts on this blog. This week I got a request from an ad agency name generator. I said no – but I like the website.

The ad agency name generator. Actually, it is called Business Name Generator. Like most automated web-based generator tools it is kinda fun to play with. That said, it could actually offer you some (LOL) branding ideas.

I played with the tool and came up with a few names just for you should you want to rename your agency or need a fresh one for your new gig. Here are a few for inspiration or just laughs.

I got to these random names by searching on: “ad agency”…

  • Poke
  • Woop
  • Velocity
  • Surge
  • Gorilla
  • Rogue
  • Tiger
  • Kick
  • Quicksilver
  • Ricochet

OK, I’ll stop (and, yes, some of these are already in use). Hey, go play.

Drive Traffic

The Business Name Generator tool is interesting since it is really a website designed to sell domains – not ad business names. The Name Generator is just a smart traffic generating hook. The website also has these other name generators: Blog Name Generator; Podcast Name; Startup Name; Product Name, etc. to target people looking for these other names. Of course, hopefully, once they find the name they’ll go buy the URL.

I love the idea of using a list, or relevant resources or some other form of bait to get people to pay attention to what you are selling.

A ‘Leadership’ Idea

No question: a clear way to own a marketing or brand category is to look and sound like the leader. The right name could do this (maybe not.) Blogs do this, kinda. Well, if you can actually break out of blog-subject-clutter and are willing to commit to single expert subjects. However, this takes a lot of time to get traction.

A suggestion… Build the go-to data-driven category directory – possibly a stand-alone website/microsite. Become positioned as a leader that is the category information resource. This acts as a nice magnet.

Consider doing what tiny Growth Supply does. This simple information website  delivers “All Free Tools For Entrepreneurs and Startups”. This directory get views — as a result, it has a very high USA Alexa ranking at 152,734 vs., for example, the New York agency Barton F. Graf at 348,470. By the way, what is your ad agency rank?

Think about your agency and a resource tool. An ad agancy brand that actually owns a category via an information resource a can rule.

What could it look like? Build a database marketing / brand category / industry directory & resource that lists:

  • The ultimate resource for news on database marketing
  • Industry news websites.
  • Industry events. Global and regional.
  • Industry awards.
  • Related ‘ marketing idea’ websites.
  • Review websites.
  • Industry research – primary and secondary.
  • Category advertising history websites.
  • And, on…

Keep it up to date with new listings. There is something new every week that a brand might find interesting.

Pay an intern to do this ‘fill in the blanks’ work.

Become THE resource… a resource that gets shared.

A brand that actually owns a category like database-marketing can be the ultimate resource.

Just food for thought.

By the way, I have a resource list – and it gets viewed and shared: The Big Advertising Agency Resource List.

 

 

Does Your Advertising Agency Do Content Marketing Right?

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Is Your Advertising Agency A Savvy Content Marketer?

I’ve read acres of advertising agency content (blogs, white papers, videos, on LinkedIn, etc.). Some rock and some suck. Many agencies, once they have stellar content, do not put in the effort to spread the wealth. As in, they do not amplify their brilliant thinking across a range of social media and traditional marketing platforms. This is a missed efficiency driver. Here’s a how to maximize your hard content building work.

To be clear, ‘content’ means the stuff that agency’s use to deliver their insightful thought leadership programs which are designed to sell the agency’s brains, expertise and to drive inbound visits and interest. Just for the hell of it, here is the definition of content from Google…

A type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.

Here is another well-crafted definition from the Content Marketing Institute…

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

Great Content: Part One

One of the best content marketing companies I’ve visited/read is TrinityP3 an Australian-based global marketing management consultancy with offices on four continents. TrinityP3 is a primary thought leader in the advertising client and agency space.

Darren Woolley, founder and Global CEO, along with Mike Morgan, are the driving force behind TrinityP3. To date, they have hundreds of blog posts covering a wide range of subjects including agency management, agency search, compensation, media buying, procurement, and scope of work and, even infographics. I’m talking lots of content.  [Read more…] about Does Your Advertising Agency Do Content Marketing Right?

Does Search Engine Optimization Work?

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Guess What… Search Engine Optimization Does Work

The chart above is from WordPress analytics on the source of my incoming traffic. Yup, Search Engine Optimization works. Just look at all the traffic I get from search engines. And, note how many searches come from just Google. In one month… 2,538!

When I ask agencies that contact me how they found me… the answer is always via a search engine (OK, sometimes because they read my book on pitching – know what, go up top and buy it.)

The Drill

So, here’s the drill. I’ve been blogging on one subject, ad / advertising agency business development for five or so years. I’ve got over 600 super well targeted and keyword optimized blog posts. I support these with amplified mentions, emails to over 2,000 subscribers, posts on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. As you can see, Google wins hands down.

What can your agency learn from this?

  • Be single-minded. Find your competitive agency positioning and blog accordingly.
  • Use the right keywords that your audience wants to read.
  • Blog often.
  • Have long posts. Yes, its ok to have short ones like this. But, Google likes loooong posts.
  • Work to get people to link to you.

You know this stuff. So, just do it. If you want incoming, you have to work at it.

But…

I know, you are very busy. And, you only have 17 blog posts. And, your best writers don’t want to blog. And, you worry about being too dedicated to one subject. Then, I advise my clients to do a range of other tactics.

One is to guest blog on much busier sites.

On Being Smart

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Smart Is A Good Thing (For 2018)

Hey, I like being smart. Yeah, I just said that.

I bet you like being smart too. In fact, as you know, being smart is an essential element in driving brilliant marketing. This includes being curious.

So, without further ado, here are a couple of smart places to help you get smarter before 2018. This MIT article and Stanford interview got my intellectual juices flowing and I’ll assume yours will flow too.

First, here is a hot list from MIT’s Technology Review. Its list of the 50 Smartest Companies 2017 offers a look at companies that have found the inflection point between innovative technology and a sound business model. Something I’d think a savvy 2018 advertising agency would like to find.

Second, is a video of the Stanford interview with Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and CEO Social Capital, on Money as an Instrument of Change. I have listened to Chamath in YouTube videos this past week (the CNBC guest host is also worth your time) and find that he opens up my mind and, yup, makes me smarter.

 

The History Of Podcasting

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The History of Podcasting +

google meThis is my 600th blog post so I thought that I’d be particularly insightful (in my mind at least.) Stay with me as I am about to ramble about me and some business development insights. A bit later, I’ll actually discuss the history of podcasting. But first, some back-patting.

I am consistently on Google’s page one for searches for ‘advertising agency business development’. This in-your-face ranking drives my business. How did I wind up on page one?

My Blog @ 600 Posts

I have posted about one subject = advertising agency business development since January 12, 2013. With this post, I am now at 600 posts. While not totally slavish to my primary keywords of ‘advertising & agency & business & development’ (note today’s Podcasting headline), I have hammed the subject of advertising, digital, design and PR agency business development and sales with short 200 to 500-word posts up to very long 3,000 word plus posts for 4.5 years. Google seems to like the consistency and dedication to providing relevant targeted information.

In addition to being a dedicated weekly blogger, I have effectively increased the amount of my content by publishing chapters from my 70,000-word book, The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. and love using interviews as long-form blog content. Interviews are a go-easy way to deliver 1000+ word content. Interview the right people via audio or video (I use my iPhone, Skype and Zoom) and voila – content. Interviews deliver content that can be transcribed to text overnight via a company like Rev.com. With just a bit of editing, you can easily have very valuable text (Google candy), audio, podcasting, and video (YouTube candy) for your blog and beyond.

Beyond? I amplify my content via my email list, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and SlideShare. This meets my Rule Of Five — get the content on at least five distribution platforms.

There is more to my content marketing strategy including a love of guest posting. However, you will have to take me up on my Vito Corleone Offer to learn more. [Read more…] about The History Of Podcasting