Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

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You And Your Blog Posts Are Getting Older

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I’ve been thinking lately about the dates on my blog posts. Like when is a blog post perceived as too old? Is there a point when y’all start to think that the posts are getting too gray?

Quick Background

I launched my advertising agency business development blog in 2013.

I now have over 650 blog posts on ad agency biz dev, agency management, presenting and pitching, how to keep clients and, for many, how to sell the agency you built.

The best read are – we are talking thousands of reads – right here:

How To Build An Advertising New Business Program 

How To Name Your Advertising Agency: Part One 

8 Tips For How To Sell Your Agency

The Worst Advertising Agency presentation – Ever 

So, When Is Old Too Old?

The Issues & Opportunities Of Managing Past Blog Posts…

Some of my most important, as in insightful/informational/designed to help your agency, blog posts are over two years old. I wonder how much an ageing blog date impacts a visitor’s sense of relevance.

I have been thinking about writing some CSS code to only keep dates on recent posts, like let’s say posts no older than a year. And dumping the dates on older posts.

Many of my best, as in most informative, blog posts are now well down the loooong list. I can easily change the date of an individual blog post in WordPress’ Settings / General / Date Format. If I do this date-delete, I need to make sure that the post sounds ‘recent’ and does not reference something too far in the past.

This is just something I am wrestling with. It isn’t hard to fix. But, like everything when you are busy… It takes a bit of time.

Good News

This is the kind of stuff I think about so when you hire me to help grow your agency, I’ve thought this through. Good news because many of you should be thinking about getting older.

I know you want to talk to me… go ahead, go here.

 

 

3 Thoughts On Advertising

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Actually 4 Thoughts On Advertising

Here are some thoughts on advertising driven by four recent reads.

What If There Was No Advertising?

Imagine a world where all advertising was erased from the environment. That means no more escalator, or bathroom stall ads; no more behavioral retargeting; movies and tv shows without commercials (oh, that’s Netflix); no outdoor boards on Montana highways, and on. Hard to visualize? Maybe (um not), to help, here is a series of “ads” that have been erased. Check out Jorge Pérez Higuera’s photo series Public Spaces. 

Back to reality.

But, First The Good Old Days & ROI

I am having a drink tonight in my town San Miguel de Allende with Michael Farmer whose book, “Madison Avenue Manslaughter: An Inside View of Fee-Cutting Clients, Profit-Hungry Owners and Declining Ad Agencies” is the most informative and insightful book on the reasons for the demise of the good old days of advertising. Michael covers the advertising world from the high-profit Mad Men days to where we are today (much less-profit). Today’s ad world is strapped by client jitters, the quest for low-cost advertising services and way too many advertising platforms that equal an ever-increasing workload.

I suggest you buy the book and listen to Michael’s interview with Jack Meyer’s on MediaVillage. From the interview:

Jack Meyers: Last week we talked about the deterioration in agency-client relationships — fee cuts, shorter relationships, in-house agencies, etc.  You said that agencies were downsizing and liquidating their capabilities — becoming less capable of helping their clients solve “brand growth problems.”  You predicted that this would lead to financial problems for the holding companies. This did not paint a very optimistic picture of the industry.  Where do you think things are headed?

Michael Farmer:  There’s a difference between where things are probably headed and where they could be headed.  In a funny way, I’m still optimistic about the potential for a turnaround in the industry.  As long as advertisers have performance problems — stagnant brand performance, for instance — there are attractive opportunities for problem-solving partners.  The question today is whether the current leaders of advertising agencies and holding companies will transform their operations and help them become the problem-solvers that their clients need.

We will not return to the good old days of 15% commissions on large TV, print and radio buys. Today we are paid by the hour and seem to need to run Instagram at a 24/7 pace.

However, it does not have to be gloom and doom. As I have written about over the past few years and council my agency clients… we need to, as Michael says, address the core need of our clients and that is sales growth – not mindless Instagram posts. In the case of 2019’s ability to track much of what we do, that means addressing Return On Investment. Yes, you better be creative art directors, media planners and database experts. But, you have to be able to recognize sales opportunities, have the time to find solutions and deliver ROI.

Advertising Is Back! Y’all. I Hope.

From a Business Insider article.

2017 was a trying time for ad agencies, with issues ranging from transparency and brand safety concerns to the looming threat of consulting firms coming to a head last year.

But the prospects for the advertising industry look a lot brighter in 2018, according to new research issued by UBS.

The investment bank surveyed 350 global marketing executives and 500 US CFOs and has predicted that ad agencies will bounce back in 2018, buoyed by a growth of 4-5% in global advertising spend.

The recovery in 2018 will be driven by a number of factors, UBS analysts said, including large advertisers increasing the scope of work with creative agencies and big sporting and political events driving increasing spend on brand media.

This is particularly interesting, as it runs counter to the trend of advertisers doubling down on direct advertising in recent years, where they have prioritized marketing strategies that drive measurable results.

[Read more…] about 3 Thoughts On Advertising

Advertising Agencies, Nerds And Digital Marketing

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NerdThis is a post about advertising agencies and the ongoing move to digital marketing and as a result, the need for more nerds. In this case, I mean a single-minded person that is highly focused on a technical field, like mobile advertising; programmatic media, database marketing or, well you get it. Stick with me on this one.

There is some personal history here and yes, the name dropping is important. I am trying to make a point and can use all the help I can get.

History

I “discovered” digital marketing in 1994 when I came home to the U.S.A. from Saatchi London where no one had a computer on their desk. I returned to work as Business Development Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising New York and as it turned out, it was my 16th and last year at the agency.

aol-america-online-welcome-screen-main-menuMy eventual move out of advertising was stimulated by my discovery of and fascination with the new world of interactivity via CD-ROMs and a life-changing conversation I had with Ted Leonsis who, at that time ran Florida’s Redgate Communications. Redgate was very early digital agency founded in 1987. I found Ted through the 4A’s Michael Donahue another early digerati (you could say this word then without cringing). Using my Saatchi credential, I met with Ted and he told me two very interesting things. One, his company had just been bought by America Online and two, this advice,

“Get the hell out of advertising, it is going to die. Move into digital.”

Well, after the meeting I did two things – one a mistake and the other, the smart one: I listened.

The mistake was that I didn’t buy America Online stock (its stock rose 600 percent in 1998). Had I, I might be sorta near (well, kinda near) where Ted wound up. Today, he is the owner of Washington D.C.’s Capitals, Wizards and Mystics. [Read more…] about Advertising Agencies, Nerds And Digital Marketing

How To Grow With Linkedin

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Get Heavy With Linkedin

I am looking at Linkedin over the past couple of days and I see a very smart Australian sales/ marketing buddy posting with heavy frequency on LinkedIn. I am like: “What’s Up?”

Here is our quick but valuable discussion.

(SHHH… the secret is Reach & Frequency)

Peter:

Damn. You are cranking out content on Linkedin. Does it work?

Mystery Marketer:

Yes, it does

Was posting three times a day and got little traction

Then increased to six times a day and got more traction.

Now 12 times a day and 24 hours a day and getting a lot of traction.

Big insight is most people on average only check LinkedIn once every 17 days and for no more than 30 minutes.

Therefore while you and I may sit on it every day the audience I want could be coming online at any time so I always have to be there.

12 times a day and 364 days a year (I take Christmas Day off)

And, no piece of content is shared more than three times. 2/3 of the content shared is relevant content from the industry and 1/3 is our own content.

Peter:

Thanks for the info. Agree… action begets leads, interest. Heavy, active marketers can get lost in the thought that their audience is as enthralled with marketing platforms (i.e. Linkedin) as they are.
In my head, it always comes down to the old idea of reach and frequency. This worked for P&G, why not your advertising agency?
And, the idea of running an active business development program fits in with yesterday’s post.

More Linkedin To Come

There are lots of articles about how to use Linkedin but not too many on how to use it to specifically grow your advertising agency. I am going to write more on this subject — and use my own experiences as examples.

13 Steps To Building A Well-Read Ad Agency Blog

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What Is The Purpose Of My Ad Agency Blog?

If you run an ad agency blog – or any other word-centric social media platform – you will often ask yourself the difficult question, “What should I write about today? What pearls of wisdom will get us more attention?” Despite blogging for 15 years, I ask this all the time. It is like having an editorial meeting in my head.

The blog you are currently reading has, with this, 651 individual posts. The vast majority are spot on dedicated to one primary subject… ad agency business development. This dedication has yielded me page one positions for my keywords on Google. Good news, Google is the main driver of my consultancy’s awareness and business.

What To Write About? Where To Start?

The first success-oriented objective of a blog is getting traffic. To get there, business blogs need to be focused. With a billion blogs and opinions out in the world, being a generalist will not cut it. This is especially true in the advertising space where agencies often regurgitate the same, as in, similar, subject matter.

To really kick it, you need a solid plan. I suggest using the same type of creative or media brief you use for your clients. Clarify and agree on the following:

  1. Nail your blog’s objectives. Is it general awareness (if so, you better act-up a bit more like Gary Vaynerchuck)? Do you want to own a category i.e. pet products? A technology like mobile advertising? Your city?
  2. Nail your target market. Is it current or future clients? Your staff? Future employees?
  3. Have systems for finding new subjects. I read the trade press. I read my competition. I get off topic sometimes. But, I always have my eyes and ears open to even accidentally hear about a smart blog subject. A smart, traffic-generating, subject like this: What Should I Write About On My Ad Agency Blog?
  4. Have a point of view. Have some attitude. Please. That means having some personality. A voice. People tell me that I write the way I talk. It works for me. I write good stuff but I do not sound too serious.
  5. If you have multiple authors, agree on some parameters.
  6. Create a scheduled content plan. Schedule out three or so months of subject matter on your content calendar. However, pay attention to today’s hot topics. Example, Facebook and privacy is really heating up as I write. L2’s Scott Galloway has a strong opinion… do you?
  7. Understand your frequency. When I started blogging a few years ago, I wrote two or more times a week. Today, once a week sustains Google’s attention and gooses its algorithm.
  8. Vary your content. You will need to must have a bunch of 1,000-word posts (to look like an authority) as well and shorter punchier posts. Add photographs and videos.
  9. Do expert interviews. A 15-minute interview recorded and then transcribed by companies like Rev.com yields the fastest easiest way to build content. The interviews from my book on pitching are also up on this blog.
  10. Repurpose your content as in amplifying it. Why just have your thoughts on the blog – re-post it as a long white paper (and vice versa). Take a blog post and turn it into a LinkedIn article. Amplify! Have this in your plan.
  11. Promote what you write. The idea that, “If I build it, they will come” is a recipe for disaster. Promote the blog on your website 9make it easy to find), in your emails, on your social sites, etc.
  12. Marketing 101! Make the blog a sales tool. This is a key reason you have it, right? Make an offer to your readers can’t resist that will get them to subscribe.
  13. Be very patient. Let’s face it, the world is not looking for another ad agency blog. However, the world is looking for relevant information that will make them smarter via insights and answers to their marketing questions — and even resolves their insecurities.

The blogger’s bottom line(s)… Nobody automatically loves you can and you can count the ones that do

Just realize that the world is not waking up every morning to read your blog. Give the people something they want to read. Serve it up in ways they will find it. A great ad agency blog will attract website views, will help sell you POV and will act as a powerful marketing tool.

One more bottom line… pay close attention to your blog’s analytics. I use both Google Analytics and my WordPress stats. Not surprising, my very targeted ad agency blog post, Cures For Poor Advertising Agency Profits is a hot seller this month.