Peter Levitan & Co.
The New Business of Advertising
JESS3 has grown an “advertising” agency by being a leader in Infographic development. They got it down – and are sharing – which is real nice of them.
I’ve been collecting marketing Infographics on my Pinterest site… Up to 48…
The JESS3 article is on the Creative Bloq network, featuring Computer Arts, .net, and 3D World.
Read more from the source: creativebloq.com
Also….. I wrote a post on JESS3 as an agency to watch.
I just wrote a blog post for Agency Post on the social media agency Likeable Media. I like Likeable media because they make themselves so likeable. Most agencies don’t try that hard at being liked. Personally, I think that you can project a professional image and be liked at the same time. It’s so social.
Likeable has a very strategic approach to how they present the agency and its messaging across what seems to be every social media channel. As I write in the post…
I’ve liked watching Likeable for the past seven years because it aggressively walks the social media walk. I view them as an instructive benchmark for how an agency should be using integrated social media as a high-energy business development platform.
If you need some proof of their success, Likeable’s Alexa website ranking (lower is better) is 89,889, while BBDO’s is 256,867 and Saatchi & Saatchi’s is 185,871. Both agencies are decades older than Likeable.
In addition to having a very well-developed agency story (its, yes, Likeable, cute and memorable in a very sweet human way that’s rare for agencies), Likeable is everywhere:
SlideShare (67 SlideShares)
Facebook (32,000 Likes)
YouTube (137,000 views)
Pinterest (2 Pinterest sites)
Tumblr.
Google+ (a rather Google friendly social tool that most agencies ignore)
Twitter (29,000 Followers)
Vine
iTunes
On their website with their active Blog and White Papers
Even Amazon where they sell their two social media best sellers
You can find out about even more things that I like by talking with me. Just click here for my Vito Corleone offer.
I’ve been studying advertising, branding and digital agency websites using my Pinterest Advertising Agency Directory. I’ll be writing about my findings over the next few weeks.
Here are 4 local and international agency home pages that are insane. Can you imagine an agency that is in the business of branding and digital marketing — and being creative — having a home page that announces: “Coming Soon?”
Allow me to state my somewhat obvious (but not apparently to some agencies) POV.
An existing agency should never, under any circumstances, have a Coming Soon home page. Visitors will come, see that you have nothing to say, have no creative approach to transitioning from one site to another and will split fast. Will they ever come back? Are they going to keep coming back to see if and when you’ve finally launced the new home page? My bet is not often and maybe never.
One more obvious point, this is not a good thing for your new business program.
The solution: be patient and wait until you make any changes until you’ve designed the new home page ready to go. Here is my little secret. I guarantee that no one is wondering when you are going to update your website. So, sit tight and live with what you have intill you are ready to relaunch. tell your CEO or ECD to chill.
Here are the 4 agencies. I’ll end with my “favorite” serial Coming Soon home page agency and, interestingly, its a big one:
Carrot Creative. This is a savvy digital agency. What’s up?
TBWA/LONDON, a rather large agency, OK a very big agency with clients like Nissan, Absolute and GSK, had the Coming Soon page on your left up for at least a couple of months.
Baron & Company. A Bellingham Washington agency with the tagline, “Technically Creative.”
Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Get this… the first Coming Soon page is from April 2013 and the second is from 2003. Yikes, these guys are repeat offenders.
I am building a presentation for the 4A’s on good, bad and ugly advertising agency websites and social media programs from the perspective of business development. In my travels across the globe and my Pinterest advertising agency directory, I happend upon Vancouver’s Wasserman + Partners Advertising.
Wasserman + Partners is the largest full-service agency in British Columbia (that’s in the upper left hand corner of Canada.) Their message:
LET’S LAY IT ALL OUT ON THE TABLE HERE, SHALL WE. WE ARE WESTERN CANADA’S LOCALLY OWNED, LOCALLY OPERATED, SILO-FREE, EGO-FREE, CREATIVELY STRATEGIC, STRATEGICALLY CREATIVE, CAFFEINE GUZZLING, COFFEE-CUP RECYCLING, MILK DRINKING, HIGH ENERGY, LOW DRAMA, KARAOKE SINGING, MICROPHONE SWINGING, FULLY INTEGRATED, FULL-SERVICE, AND FULL-ON INDEPENDENT ADVERTISING AGENCY. ANYTHING WE MISSED THAT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW?
Wasserman’s website is simple, easy to navigate and gets out their brand message without complexity. Look at dozens of agency websites and ask yourself why so much clutter? These guys are into simplicity and isn’t that what much advertising is built on?
I think my favorite section is the blog. While it is built into the home page, an element that is often overdone, Wasserman has done an excellent job of incorporating the blog into the page that essentially has two sections: the work and what people are saying. Click on Saying and you go to one of the very rare blogs that delivers personality and a who’s who of the agency staff. In most blogland cases, and this goes for the entire world of blogging, the person or people creating the content are somewhat invisible. Not here. In Wasserman’s case, the blog has become a central part of the web experience and not an appendage. If I had a nock, I’d ask for more post frequency. But, at leaset I am not inundated.
Want more Agencies Of The Week? They are here.
Yes, I am going to pat myself on the back. Why, because in less than a month my website is now on the first page of a search on Google for “advertising agency new business.” Why is this cool? Other than the fact that this is good for my business, allow me repeat myself… “in less than a month my website is now on the first page of a search”… OK. I’ll stop that. Also, why only two listings with a picture? Pictures drive higher click-throughs.
But, here is the main point. I am blown away at how poorly many advertising agencies manage their website SEO. The ones that do are obvious because when you search on related terms, terms that could actually lead to new business, they show up. How is it possible that advertising agencies, even digital agencies, can’t get SEO right? Or, is it that they don’t care? Possibly, if you are not a local agency or specialized (as in a mobile or healthcare expert) you asume that your new business will come from search consultants or awareness from an AdWeek article on your latest Facebook campaign. I guess if you are Ogilvy, search isn’t that important. But, having worked across the Saatchi network, I can say that the smaller offices needed a high SERP.
For me, the bottom line is that many agencies seem to design their sites for the creative directors at other agencies and not prospective clients. In these cases, SEO isn’t a critical objective.
Want more (I bet not, but, I can’t control myself…) Below is a screenshot of a search on “San Francisco Advertising Agency.” Note the Pinterest advertising agency directory. That’s mine. Also about one month in existence. But, I am especially hyped because I am listed ahead of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and they were founded in 1983.
