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How To Grow A Podcast

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The How To Grow A Podcast Podcast – Growin Ain’t Easy Folks

OK, so you are contemplating launching a podcast or already have one.

OK, your friend has a new one. Ok, the advertising agency down the street has a new podcast.

OK, I have 21 as of late May.

Cool. Now what? As in there are so many freakin podcasts, and growing daily (Apple had a record new podcasts added in June), that one has to wonder how to grow a podcast. Hmm, lots of people talking about this online. But, I wanted to cut to the chase by going to a podcasting and podcast marketing expert for her opinion. Here is the podcast plus the added energy of an edited portion of my podcast interview with Priscilla McKinney of Little Bird Marketing. My suggestions… listen and then read for emphasis.

I know you want the bottom line. I’ll give you a quickie to set this up. The answer to how to grow a podcast is that being a smart podcast publisher is so much more than just doing the podcast. Here you go…

An Expert Interview With Priscilla McKinney Of Little Bird Marketing – The Pace and Process Gems

Peter Levitan:

Priscilla, how did you grow Ponderings From The Perch – your popular podcast?

Priscilla McKinney:

Well, in my years of experience as a podcaster, I would offer this advice to anyone. First of all, if you’re going to start a podcast, really know your audience. Like you need to ask some questions of people that you think might listen and then pander to the audience, do what they want. But the biggest thing for me no matter what it is you do is pace yourself. Because it’s not as simple as you think it is. It does take longer to get to market. It can create stress if you’re saying, “Oh, I’m going to do this every week. Some people do it every day…” It took us a long time to get where we are. We went from once a month, to two a month and kept building things up from there. So I do think pace is really important.

A big part of your strategy is also being effective at search engine optimization because as you keep adding podcasts to your we [Read more…] about How To Grow A Podcast

The Purpose Driven Advertising Agency Podcast

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Russ Stoddard is president of Oliver Russell a purpose driven advertising and branding agency that elevates the impact of companies striving to do good for people and our planet. Hear him talk on this advertising agency podcast about how his agency went global by doing very good stuff. A perfect podcast for today’s world.

If you are one of the first five to email me at peter@peterlevitan.com I will send you a free copy of his book Rise Up: How To Build A Socially Conscious Business

SHOW LINKS

Rise Up: How To Build A Socially Conscious Business

Russ Stoddard On LinkedIn

Oliver Russell A Purpose Driven Branding Agency

Two new shows every week… Do not forget to subscribe to Advertising Stories whenever you Listen To Podcasts.

Use the handy podcast links on this page.

A nice thing… Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

Does Your Advertising Agency Advertise Itself?

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An Advertising Agency Launches An Advertising Campaign – For Itself. Weirdly Wonderful.

I council my advertising agency clients to advertise. I mean, actually use on and offline advertising to advertise the agency to increase awareness within the marketing universe, own their own story, and drive incoming leads.

Oh, and be UNIGNORABLE. A weirdly wonderful thing to do.

Today, LONDON Advertising, an uber-cool, massively award-winning and strategic major league agency, has done just that. These guys are ballsy and not your mother’s advertising agency.

The ad I am highlighting says, “How many advertising agencies can you name? Well, now you can name one more.”

A bit more about LONDON – note how focussed their positioning is:

LONDON Advertising is a global agency with just one office. It was set up in 2008 (two weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers) to disrupt the traditional network agency model. Since then it has worked with clients based on every continent and run campaigns in more countries than WPP has offices. The agency’s iconic “I’m a fan” campaign for Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental has proven to achieve the highest ad recall ever recorded by Ipsos Mori.

LONDON Advertising has been voted Agency of the Year for six out of the last seven years.

The Advertising Deal.

Agencies have historically told their clients to advertise into the headwinds of a recession. Reasons include hold your share or voice; increase your share of voice; be one of the winners while your competitors hunker down; make sure your brands don’t die a slow death. You get this picture. Well here is an agency putting their money where their mouth is. A rarity even in the good days.

I am going to let the LONDON Advertising press release speak for itself.

Ad Agency launches major campaign day after lockdown for a highly unusual client – itself

Ad agencies often tell their clients, brands that advertise in a downturn increase market share.

However, few agencies take their own advice.

LONDON Advertising is taking its own advice and is today launching a major campaign with
10 TV ads, starring Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, on 9,000 spots on Sky News.

The TV is supported by super-premium digital posters across Ocean Outdoor’s UK portfolio and Linked-in. The campaign is running from 6th July to 2nd August and will reach 30 million people.

Michael Moszynski, Founder and CEO, said:

“Our campaign, launching on the first working day after the easing of Lockdown, is a call to arms to all businesses to get Britain going again. We believe in ‘by example shalt thou lead’ and that we all have a duty to help rebuild our economy.”

‘Advertising Legend’ Rupert Howell (Founder HHCL, MD ITV) commented:

“This is the first time I have seen an ad agency do a major campaign like this for itself.
The ads are bloody brilliant!”.

 The agency’s Founder and Creative Director, Alan Jarvie, explains the rationale:

“It is a fact advertising builds brands and fame. We believe the current situation provides a rare opportunity. Audiences are currently higher than normal and media is cheaper, as many companies have cancelled their campaigns. So, we’re doing what we would advise our clients to do; advertise now.

Our campaign demonstrates the three criteria we believe work must satisfy to be effective: Is it simple? Does it stand out? Can you remember who it’s for? A lot of advertising fails to do one, two or all three of these things.

We also wanted to show it’s the size of your idea that matters, not the size of your production budget. We would like to thank Dame Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, OBE, for making themselves available to take part in the campaign.”

Here Is The Advertising.

Videos of all 10 TV ads featuring Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson can be downloaded here 

Hi-res image of the poster ads can be downloaded here

If you are a serious client… contact: michael@LONDONadvertising.com +44 7968 063 155

If You Are An Advertising Agency That Wants To Grow Its Client List… Contact Me.

A Lost $80 Million Advertising Agency Account That Rocked The Ad World

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Would You Like Your Advertising Agency And TV Commercial On The Front Page Of The New York Times Because You Lost an $80 Million Advertising Agency Account? Not This Executive Creative Director. Not This Time.

Let’s just start with 1988’s The New York Times headline

Cigarette Maker Cuts Off Agency That Made Smoking-Ban TV Ads

Patrick Peduto was the ECD and I was the Management Supervisor on Saatchi’s Northwest Airlines account. We were just doing our jobs, even super well, when unbeknownst to us, RJR Nabisco simply got pissed off at one of our Northwest Airlines commercials.

SHOW LINKS

Patrick Peduto On LinkedIn

New York Times RJR Nabisco Article

Northwest Airlines No Smoking TV Commercial

Do not forget to subscribe to Advertising Stories whenever you Listen To Podcasts. See the handy links to podcast players.

A nice thing for me… Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

 

Is Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Doomed?

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Yes, Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Might Be Doomed. A 2020 Update.

The interview below was done in 2014. It remains 100% right on.

Some updated thinking. I am asked on a high-frequency basis by agency management, that means CEO types, if their advertising agency should have a business development director. Because of this question, I thought I’d update this evergreen interview with Brooks Gilley who knows what’s up.

My current thinking based on talking with many agencies is that, at best, only 50% of advertising agency business development directors succeed. I am about to do some haranguing. Why?

  1. As is pointed out below, most advertising agencies have a low to a non-competitive brand position. The degree of positioning sameness –  “we are a digital agency” or “we are creative thinkers” – and messaging sameness – as in no soul or a distinctive opinion or having the goal of being unignorable – is crazy. How could even a competent business director sell the 50% of agencies that cannot define a strong sales proposition? Or not have a well-considered target market?
  2. A huge chunk of agencies (it has been reported that up to 75% of agencies) do not have a master business development plan, think of it as a sales plan. How is this possible? And, worse, who is supposed to write the plan? I do not think that a business development director alone can write this plan. It should be an agency self-preservation and growth project.
  3. Many advertising agency leaders have little experience in writing a sales manager compensation plan. Here is a compensation plan you can use.
  4. Too many agency leaders hand off the role of business development to the director. I owned my own agency and I devoted at least half of my time to business development. And, I provided daily support and thinking and budget.

Give me a shout if you want to discuss your agency and its specifics.

Back To The Interview About The Doomed Business Development Director.

To quote the Beach Boys… Wouldn’t It Be Nice. Yes, wouldn’t it be nice to have a business development director that brought in more business for your advertising agency than you can handle? But is your business development director doomed from the start?

She or he could be if you do not have agency objectives, a competitive agency brand positioning, something to sell beyond, “Hey we are a full-service/digital/social media agency”. Or, not having a list of clients and categories you want to nail; an active up-to-date CRM system or you are now in a state of panic because you just lost your largest client.

I know that this is a tough job to fill and do. I managed my agency’s business development director at my own ad agency; for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in New York and London and as CEO at two Internet start-ups. I have hired ten business development directors over the past twenty years. Some worked out and some, well, not so well. Again, this is one of, if not the toughest, agency jobs to position for success.

But, don’t take my word for it. Before you read on for an expert interview, you might also want to go to my blog post on how to pay an agency business development director.

An Expert Interview With Brooks Gilley On How To Hire A Business Development Director.

Brooks Gilley is the Founder and CEO of Portland’s 52 Limited. 52 LTD is a 15-year-old creative resource company that connects world-class talent with leading brands, marketing departments, design firms, advertising and digital agencies.

In addition to running one of the west coast’s leading creative talent agencies, Brooks ran the Portland Advertising Federation and worked at advertising agencies.

Peter: According to the RSW/US 2014 RSW/US Agency-Marketer Business Report, the tenure of agency business development directors was two years or less. ADWEEK reports that people in this position at large agencies last less than one year. Is this surprising to you?

Brooks: It’s not surprising at all, largely for the fact that agencies I have worked with on business development director searches come to us in a moment of panic, and that’s usually where the ask starts. It’s a role that is needed now but was probably needed at least twelve months before new business gains became an issue. Additionally, it’s not necessarily a strategic role that is esteemed at and supported within a ‘creative’ organization. [Read more…] about Is Your Advertising Agency Business Development Director Doomed?