Search Results for: pitch

The Internet – A New Discovery

Peter · July 30, 2018 · Leave a Comment

The Internet – Great Music

I’m heading to Mexico City for a few days. So, here is something to keep you busy. It’s about the Internet.

I discovered The Internet in 1994. I had been working in Saatchi’s London office. An office sans any discussion of the Internet, or better yet digital marketing platforms like CD-ROM’s (look them up if you are way young.) Luddite land.

My discovery happened when I returned to New York. I remember watching my first CD-ROM and said, ‘Whoa” what is this stuff and, yup it’s a marketing platform. This discovery got me to meet with digital guys like Ted Leonsis.

Digital Native

I love the term ‘digital native’. It describes my kids. I am not sure that they remember the days pre AOL and the birth of the graphical browser – the ever-present mobile phone. A definition…

Digital native: a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and therefore familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age.

Why mention this? I view myself as a digital native. While not “born or brought up during the age of digital technology”, I cannot remember the days pre-digital. OK, that’s bullshit. I do remember. Most importantly for my audience, we seem to have forgotten some of what actually makes marketing work – stuff from the old days. I’ll keep it simple… I mean having a big idea, something that resonates with your audience, something that a creative mind (not an algorithm) serves up — I know you know this. Therefore here is a creative organization that might get your creative juices flowing.

Today’s The Internet.

Heard of The Internet? Um, the band?

Here’s the band’s Come Over video. Very cool. They are simply in the groove – a modern take on R&B. What Pitchfork has to say,

The fourth album from the R&B collective is a peak example of their combined powers. It simplifies their sound with soft-focus blues, plush arrangements, and deep-in-the-ground grooves.

The video. While you are at it, check out the band’s other videos. Maybe you’ll get an idea for your ad agency videos.

Does Your Advertising Agency Do Content Marketing Right?

Peter · July 2, 2018 · 1 Comment

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?

What’s After Advertising?

Peter · June 19, 2018 · Leave a Comment

After Advertising

I am often asked by advertising agency people… what do people do after they leave advertising (or at least, a stay-put advertising job)? Well, to be more specific, what have I done after advertising as in, since I sold my Portland agency six years ago?

I live in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (built a house/60% cost of living/travel all over/work from anywhere)

I work with advertising agencies around the world on helping them build lead generating business development programs

I am on a global quest to photograph the world’s people (starting here with this 210 portrait series)

Some days I just hang out and I constantly try to satisfy my curious mind.

One way I satisfy my curiosity is to stay in long-distance touch (usually by newsletter) with Faris Yakob…. brand strategist (I guess that is one description) who I interviewed for my book on pitching. Here is the interview. By the way, buy the book and win more business so you can get out of your office.

Genius Steals

Faris can show you a way out of the cube, open office or if you’ve been lucky, an office with a couch.

To get going, I suggest that you sign up for Faris and his wife Rosie’s newsletter and visit their website. Why?

They are very smart and you will learn stuff that should make you a better marketer. From the sign-up page… “Put together by husband and wife creative duo Faris and Rosie Yakob, this weekly email is a source of interesting and fun links from around the web on a variety of topics. The content is expertly curated, and if you can’t find something inspiring in each edition, it will at least make you a more interesting dinner date.”

But, but, there’s more. Faris and Rosie live a nomadic lifestyle. As they say…

“We used to live and work in NYC where we had fancy titles and bars in our offices. It was rad. Mostly. Except there were so. many. meetings. When Faris sold his share in a digital agency he started, he proposed that we quit our jobs and travel the world for 6 months, to take a break, to explore. We both really loved traveling, and the stars aligned, and so we’ve been traveling ever since.”

Read more about them here at Technomadix. Start to plan on how to… get out of advertising. The time will come.

Tom Peters And Your Search For Excellence

Peter · April 22, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Listen To Tom Peters

Way back in 1982, I read Tom Peters and Robert Waterman’s “In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies.” While this may sound a bit over-the-top silly – it changed my perspective on business.

From the Book’s Amazon blurb:

The “Greatest Business Book of All Time” (Bloomsbury UK), In Search of Excellence, has long been a must-have for the boardroom, business school, and bedside table.Based on a study of forty-three of America’s best-run companies from a diverse array of business sectors, In Search of Excellence describes eight basic principles of management — action-stimulating, people-oriented, profit-maximizing practices — that made these organizations successful.

Me…

This book has formed the backbone of my business goals for over 30 years. I view the never-ending search for excellence plus the power of studying smart successful business leaders, a critical element of my personal success. I recommend that you take the 6.3 hours per week you spend on useless Trump news and read this seminal book. But wait… there’s more…

Much More Tom Peters

Peters has written 17 books. (17!) His latest book, “The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last” was published this month. It is now on my iPad. Perfect airplane reading during my next flight.

I was made aware of the book via Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels Of Separation podcast (his 312th podcast!) “Tom Peter’s Is Back and Demands Excellence.” Listen to it. Peters is thoughtful; totally relates to today’s business environment, issues and opportunities (including ones that impact your agency); and entertains like crazy. Go for the information but stay for the energy. You’ll leave totally stoked.

By the way, how cool is your agency’s bathroom? Listen to the podcast and you’ll know what I mean.

What About Your Agency’s Excellence?

One of the points that Peters points out is that it is often the small (ish) things that create excellence, brand excellence, distinction excellence, customer love excellence. He points us to Vernon Hill, the founder of Commerce Bank and now CEO of the U.K.’s Metro Bank. Both are highly competitive and growing “small” banks at a time when most banks are trying to shed staff and branches. Hill’s banks have bathrooms in the lobby (sounds crazy, huh); very long 7-day hours and they love dogs. Compare that to your last visit to Bank of America or HSBC. Peters’ point is that customer service breeds love and incremental sales. I know you know this. But, do you practice it? From Metro’s website (as in, their promise):

Changing the way Britain banks — “We’ve built a different kind of high street bank. A bank with stores that are open when it suits you, 7 days a week. A bank where you can walk in without an appointment and walk out with a working account, debit card and all. A bank that tells you exactly what you’re getting, in language that actually makes sense. A bank that puts you first.”

So, agency people, what is excellent about your agency? LOL – I already know that you work 7 days a week.

Every large and small agency says they are service oriented. Every. So, how do you deliver service that is different / better? Some very general thoughts…

Do you have a standard, scheduled client/agency status review? In a simple format? It should be scheduled. Get the issues out front early. And, promote all the good you’ve done. Client’s have very short attention spans (except for past shit-storms).
Do you have a clearly stated client – agency – work process? A process that explains everyone’s roles. A process you share? If so, reshare it.
Does your CEO or President call the client? Ever?
Ever rebate the client for something? I know this may sound absurd. But.
Do you send your client highly relevant/useful insights? Here’s a good, easy to implement and surprising idea: do a flash, overnight online survey about something that’s on the client’s mind using Google’s inexpensive Google Surveys.
You probably have an agency newsletter. Is it smart/great? Opinionated? Um, different? Impossible to ignore? I am going to admit something. I need to redo my email newsletter. My 2,000+ subscribers are not seeing my best look. But, I am 1 busy guy. I can get away with this because my content is wonderful. You are an agency, you can’t get away with anything in 2018.
Do you train your agency staff, especially account managers? If so (a good old 1980’s idea right?), then let your clients know that you are proactive. Ever done a seminar for your clients? Example: “The Good, Bad and Ugly of Online Influencers”. Just sayin.
Have you found a way to make your case histories “interesting”?
If you are a small agency, do the right things to get and keep the larger accounts. Don’t take my word for it: “How Small Advertising Agencies Can Win Big Clients.”
How does your agency answer the phone? Especially when your automated answering system accepts the call? Go get Kat Cressida.
Ask yourself what you do in a pitch meeting that is actually stand-out? An interview with Tony Mikes in my book on pitching points out how an agency stood out from the pack by using 1970-like foam core boards – not PPT. Read the book, win more pitches. A link to it is on top of my homepage.
Do you have a cool/memorable bathroom? Believe me, this would be more interesting than most overblown agency reception areas.

OK.

Now for a crazy bit. Peters has one of the most engaging presentation styles I’ve seen. Yes, he gives good presentation (watch some on his website). But, it’s his PowerPoint slide design that has blown my mind. An overstatement? Well, maybe. But, it sure is nutso compared to the 100’s of boring advertising agency presentation slides I’ve seen over the years.

Go here to see what I’m talking about. I’ve put one below. It breaks all of our PPT rules. He even LOVES what we all know are the bad habits.

But, when a guy this good presents, these in-your-face slides help to get attention and deliver the info.