Peter Levitan & Co.

The New Business of Advertising

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Podcast Guest Proposal

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A Podcast Guest Proposal – The How To

podcast guest proposalI’ve been on over 100 podcasts as both a guest and interviewer. I love being a guest because I can “borrow” the host’s audience. I get eyeballs and links back to my website and LinkedIn profile.

To be a guest you need to have something to say, hopefully different. In my case I have a new book to promote. How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency. Yes, check it out.

Back to My Podcast Guest Proposal

Here it is. Note that it says who I am. Delivers a why interview Peter. Discusses my marketing energy that will help promote the podcast. And, provides some links to help the host figure out who I am.

Here you go… The Proposal

Peter Levitan – An Experienced Podcast Guest

Peter Levitan is a leading marketing industry consultant on the art and science of running advertising, digital and PR agencies. His client base is global.

Why Interview Peter. 

Peter’s History.

During 16 years at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide Peter ran business development across Europe and the USA, was EVP Management Director in London and New York and was GM of the Minneapolis office. His client base was Fortune 500.

He was CEO and a founder of two major Internet startups during the dotcom boom. Advance Publication’s New Jersey Online was an early leader in online news (it was named the best online newspaper by the Columbia Journalism Review).

Peter’s natural language intelligent bot company ActiveBuddy (and its famous SmarterChild) beat Siri, Alexa and AI. The company was sold to Microsoft in 2006. A recent TechCrunch article on SmarterChild.

From 2002 to 2012, he owned Citrus Advertising in Portland, Oregon. His clients included Nike, Harrah’s Casinos, Dr. Mareins, Legalzoom, Montana Lottery, the U.N., and multiple healthcare and financial services accounts. He sold the agency in 2012.

Peter has advised over 100+ advertising, marketing, design, and PR agencies on their business practices.

Accomplished Author, Thought-Leader, Speaker, Podcast Interviewee.

He has spoken at the 4A’s, the Association of National Advertisers, Newspaper Association of America, Radio Advertising Bureau, international and regional advertising orgs, HubSpot’s Inbound, and at marketing universities in Mumbai and Delhi.

Peter has appeared on dozens of podcasts. Including Mitch Joel’s “Six Pixels Of Separation”, “HubSpot”, “Ponderings From The Perch”, and “Agency Management Institute”.

Potential Podcast Promotion Energy.

Peter is an accomplished thought-leader with 850+ blog posts. He has over 5,000 Followers on LinkedIn and 4,000+ newsletter subs.

He knows how to promote podcasts.

He did 40 interviews for his Covid-era podcast “Advertising Stories”. He produced and hosted his first marketing agency podcast in 2006.

Potential Interview Topics. Really, Just Name it.

Peter can talk about today’s challenged agency world, inbound and account-based marketing, and sales; marketing agency management; buying and selling agencies (he did this 3 times); personal branding (underutilized); and digital entrepreneurship. He has written three books and two photography books on the early-stage cannabis industry – Jointlandia and Potlandia.

He also has a zillion funny and instructive stories.

Peter is a native New Yorker, has lived in eight cities and now lives as a digital nomad in San Miguel de Allende, which is considered Mexico’s coolest town.

Logical Links.

Website: https://peterlevitan.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterlevitan/

“Kick-Ass” book landing page.

Photography: https://peterlevitanphotography.com/

Want to talk or need more info on podcasting or how to write your own Podcast Guest Proposal? Give moi a shout. peter@peterlevitan.com

The Idiocy Of Ad Agency Christmas Giving

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Yes, Most Ad Agency Christmas Giving Is Ineffectual

OK. It’s 2023 and what a wonderful year it has been. yMucho agency leaders are thinking… huh, shouldn’t we do something cool for our clients? Like, deliver a bit of ad agency Christmas giving. But, um, no, do not do that. So in honor of my magical anti-gifting thought and advice, I offer MY annual Christmas gift rant (or better yet, a strategic approach to giving).

It is that time of year again.

It is the time that many an ad agency decides that it is a great time of year to add to the upcoming ad agency (and universal) Christmas giving clutter. OY – Am I being Grinch-like? You bet.

Does your ad agency send out Christmas cards or gifts or online trinkets (or other creative ideas) to clients — even prospects? I call this practice stupid silly. Strong words? Sure. but, why am I saying this?

Look, I have nothing against season’s greetings. But, after working at a couple of mega agencies (including my own) and watching dozens/hundreds of agencies send out very “creative” Christmas (Chanukah, Kwanza, etc.) cards and gifts during the late-December season, I have to say this is very ill-timed even highly-inefficient outreach.

Silly gifting is wasteful in three critical ways: [Read more…] about The Idiocy Of Ad Agency Christmas Giving

Check our ChatGpt FAQ Generator

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See The New ChatGPT FAQ Generator In Action

ChatGPT FAQ GeneratorI used the ChatGPT FAQ Generator to produce the following Q&A from my detailed blog post: “Smart Advertising Agency Lead Generation.”

Wow, it’s relatively fast and way easy to build a FAQ.

Here You Go – ChatGPT FAQ Generator

Based on the content from my blog page “Grow Advertising Agency Business Development”, here are some FAQs and their answers in a simple list format:

Q. What is the current challenge in advertising agency business development?

A. In 2023, 57% of agencies report that obtaining new business has become harder, nearing the difficulty levels of 2020.

Q. What strategy does Peter Levitan suggest for advertising agencies to stand out?

A. Levitan advises leveraging FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) and conducting custom research to capture the attention of potential clients.

Q. What are the key points of Seth Godin’s book “Purple Cow”?

A. The book emphasizes being remarkable in a saturated market, breaking the old marketing paradigm, targeting innovators and early adopters, the power of word of mouth, being genuine, embracing criticism, and the lifecycle of a “Purple Cow” in business.

Q. How can agencies grow their business development successfully?

A. Agencies should focus on being unique and remarkable, as standard B2B marketing methods are less effective in a cluttered marketplace.

GO ++

I am trying lots of #AI tools like ChatGPT FAQ to dial up advertising agency business development. Stay tuned. Share this doc with your closest friends.

Yo ———- Here is how I used ChatGPT and Grammarly to write a sweet blog posr.

Ten Important Questions For Your Advertising Agency

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Ten Important Questions For Your Advertising Agency Ten Questions Every Advertising and Digital Agency Has to Answerer to Lead the Market

But First… Some Pain. The Why I Wrote: Ten Important Questions For Your Advertising Agency 

There is a high degree of fear, doubt, and uncertainty in the Advertising Industry. According to the 2023 RSW/US New Business Report:

            “This year (2023), 58% of agencies report obtaining new business has been harder, or a lot harder, compared to the previous year.”

            “38% of agencies said the number of opportunities for new business decreased this year, versus 26% last year.”

As an ex-agency owner and the Director of Global Business Development at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide, I know these facts are insane and worrying.

Frankly, only kick-ass agencies will survive.

Here Are Ten Questions (and Thoughts) That Will Kick-Start Your Agency’s Success.

These are food for thought. This is where I start with my advertising agency consultation clients.

  1. Do You Update Your Business Plan? How hard do you look at and possibly adjust your business plan? How will you generate maximum revenues and profits moving forward? Do you adjust? Do you understand your Total Addressable Market (TAM)? I have a one-page business plan guide in my book, “How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency.”

  2. Have You Defined Your advertising agency positioning? This is a tough and hard look at your primary brand proposition. Stand out. be clear. Be compelling. Be an expert. Expert agencies win more clients and get bought faster.

  3. Do You Have a Competitive ++ Sales Oriented Website? This is one of the first places that anyone sees your agency. How do you rank vs. your competition? What do you say (fast!) that will get a prospect to pay attention and want to dig in? In many cases, you only have around five seconds to make me pay attention, decide you are right for me, and stick around vs. the other 3,999 advertising, digital, etc. agency websites. Your website is a sales tool. Sell!

  4. Is Your Business Development Plan A Winner? How have you managed your plan over the past year? My blog has 850+ blog posts discussing how to market your agency. Plus, I’ve written two advertising agency “guide” books just for you on this rather critical

  5. Have You Perfected Account-Based Marketing? You do this, right? If so, how? I am blown away by the number of new, smart, easy-to-use AI-based marketing tools designed to energize and streamline your marketing. Ask me about them.

  6. Are You a Thought Leader? Are you an active and efficient thinker, blogger, LinkedIn guru, or podcaster? How do you look on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok? Are you perceived as a category thought leader? What do your analytics tell you?

  7. What Is Your ‘findable’ quotient: Can I find your advertising agency if I search for you or your expertise? You should be everywhere I might search for you. Your competition will probably be there.

  8. How Is the Client List? Does your client list look powerful to an outsider? Do you know how to position your client list for business development? Do one or two clients account for too high a percentage of your revenues? If so, go out and get new clients. And love the one you are with.

  9. Got Intellectual property? Do you have any IP? Something that will differentiate and add sustainable value to your agency? You can do this. I know how to make this happen by hyping your current client-facing systems and licensing white-label tools.

  10. Do You Manage Your Creative Vibe? How does your creativity stack up, and how do you prove it? I am talking about the vibe of your creative ideas, use of media, and just plain methodology to help clients stand out.

One More BIG One. Man Bites Dog.

Is your agency, as in, for example, #digitalagency Unignorable? If you are, um, ignorable, you will not win. It is that simple. I concentrate on how to make agencies UNIGNORABLE.

Dog bites man, isn’t unignorable. Man bites dog is. What is your breakout message?

Here It Comes – An Unignorable Offer

Take me up on my free Godfather offer. This is an offer you can’t—or rather, shouldn’t—refuse.

Need a starting point? Let’s talk for 15 minutes—just 0.25 on the timesheet— to discuss your agency’s issues & opportunities and how I will help you build a more powerful advertising agency business development program. You will leave the call with at least one powerful business development idea. I guarantee it.

Here is my calendar: www.calendly.com/peterlevitan

Smart Advertising Agency Lead Generation

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Unignorable Marketing Program Delivers A Smart Advertising Agency Lead Generation System

Smart Advertising Agency Lead GenerationThis is a thought starter for how to deliver on and support the promise that your advertising agency can make a client, its services, or its products unignorable. Deliver an unignorable message to develop a smart advertising agency lead generation system.

To prove your point and demonstrate your unignorable belief system your advertising agency will need to think about how to express its own marketing messaging in an unignorable way. Your advertising agency will need to tailor its promise based on its own skills and history.

You have to walk the talk.

Now, consider this…

“My brain is full.”

It is common knowledge that we are bombarded by 24/7 news, social media content, incoming alerts, messaging and emails, digital notifications, and multiple forms of advertising every day. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people and brands and sales messages want our attention.

“My brain forgets”

Even worse than message bombardment is the fact that we can hardly even remember the messages that we want to remember. Neuroscientists tell us that, at best, 90% of what we hear and see will be forgotten. These scientists have even invented the Forgetting Curve chart to help us to visualize how much does not sink in.

Marketing clients understand the high cost of this cognitive problem and are looking for marketing techniques, systems, platforms, and efficient solutions that help deliver sales messages that get noticed and are memorable. These clients are looking for marketing communications agencies that can offer marketing that cannot be ignored.

I call it getting to being Unignorable.

Unignorable delivers smart advertising agency lead generation.

What is the definition of Unignorable? The online dictionary Merriam–Webster defines “Unignorable” as being – unable to be ignored: not ignorable.

 According to me, the opposite of being Unignorable is to be ignored. Being ignored is a marketing disaster. A waste of everyone’s time and money.

Your Advertising Agency’s Must-Do Approach to Delivering Unignorable Marketing.

OK. How to express your advertising agency’s solution to current and future clients? [Read more…] about Smart Advertising Agency Lead Generation