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The New Business of Advertising

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How To Win More Webby Awards

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How Do You Win Webby Awards? Super Strategic Basic ‘Agency’ And CEO Matt Faulk Are Not Remotely Basic. That Is What This Podcast Is All About.

Here is some insightful inspiration for you and your agency all the way from California. Hear how Basic, a winner, wins notoriety, the trust of leading clients, and the industry…  should help you grow your own agency – and career.

Meet Matt Faulk, the CEO of Basic, a multi-office branding & digital design & experience “advertising” agency that works with uber-creative clients like Google, Airbnb, Patagonia, Apple, and Beats by Dre.

Check out our conversation about the agency, its vision, where the world of marketing must go, and how Basic grows its client roster by just being seriously good at what they do.

Want more? Basic is a supersonic Webby Awards winner (check out this list), more than like anyone. Let’s face it, awards are a good thing. The right ones get you more clients. Here is my master list of advertising and design awards.

In addition to having a stellar client and program history, Basic also delivers one of the smartest, coolest, and well-listened to advertising podcasts in the biz – BRANDBEATS.

 

SHOW LINKS

Matt Faulk – LinkedIn.

Basic.

BRANDBEATS Podcast.

Webby Awards.

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

Do Not Forget To Subscribe to Advertising Stories Whenever you Listen To Podcasts. Please Tell Your Advertising Friends To Put Advertising Stories between their ears. I LOVE word of mouth.

Does Your Advertising Agency Fear Fear?

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Fear Can Be A Great Motivator In The World Of Advertising. Or, It Can Be Debilitating. Pick One.

The feeling of “fear” can be a part of everyday life at many advertising agencies. Fear of losing a valuable client; fear of not winning a new business pitch; fear of slow growth; fear of not being able to sell in that great idea; fear for your job or slow career growth… I’ll stop there.

Fearless Don Tolep discusses advertising agency fear. But more importantly, how to overcome fear to win.

Don has won lots of new clients and pitches and Tellys. He is a master at business development. He lives near the beach. OK, but better, he is the Creative Brand Strategist at Florida’s OGK Creative. He grows his clients and grows the agency. A good combo.

 

SHOW LINKS

Don Tolep On LinkedIn

OGK Creative

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

Do Not Forget To Subscribe to Advertising Stories Whenever you Listen To Podcasts. Please Tell Your Advertising Friends.

From Advertising Agency Copywriter To Fiction Book Author

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How To Go From Advertising Copywriter To Fiction Book Author.

Kathy has written advertising copy for mega-brands like Nike, Dr. Martens, Harrah’s, and Subway. Her wordsmithing has won numerous awards. But more importantly, it has led her to a life of writing fiction.

Kathy, well actually Kathleen Valenti, is the author of Protocol, 39 Winks and As Directed all part of the Maggie O’Malley Mystery Series, published by Henery Press.

Our talk covers the skills required to be a powerful copywriter and author. Many of these skills are required to build characters, stories, and hold a reader’s attention. Skills that work for both a Nike and a murder mystery series. Kathy’s fourth book is in the works.

SHOW LINKS

Kathy Valenti On LinkedIn

Kathleen Valenti Author

Kathleen On Powell’s Books Online

Kathleen Valenti On Amazon

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

Do Not Forget To Subscribe to Advertising Stories Whenever You Listen To Podcasts. Please Tell Your Advertising Friends.

Resources: Now What? Life After Advertising

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Is There Life After Advertising? Some Resources.

Yes, there is life after advertising. Since you will most likely age out of this business by 45 (no, I do not have any stats to support this), it might be a good idea to start to think about what else to do.

Me? I became, surprise, a business development consultant for aspiring advertising agencies after I sold my own advertising agency. I spend about a third of my time doing this and it is working very well. Agencies need what I have to offer because my personal experience is steeped in agency management and sales. All in all, a very good fit.

But, But, Now, Add In Coronavirus Complications

…It is 2020 and I am seeing that this blog post, initially posted in March 2016, is getting traffic because people are searching on terms related to “life after advertising”. Obviously, there is a segment of the advertising agency community that is trying to figure what else to do if the ad world does not return to what was “normal”. It will not.

So, here are some resources, just a bunch, that might help you figure out your life after advertising.

Now, what about your life?

[Read more…] about Resources: Now What? Life After Advertising

The Basics: An Advertising Agency New Business Plan 

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Your 2020 Advertising Agency New Business Plan

advertising agency new business planI admit it. I am going to repeat myself (you’ll know it if you’ve read some of my 600+ blog posts). The marketing communications service industry must have a solid advertising agency new business plan to survive in today’s disrupted and lower margin marketing world.

Wha? Agencies do not have a solid plan? According to ad world research, most do not. I’ve seen stats that say only 40% of advertising agencies have solid active business development plans.

While repeating some of the core tenets of sales, I’ll add some new thinking based on my working with agencies in the USA and around the globe.

Be Unignorable.

That said, the bottom-line for building a productive advertising agency new business plan is to do the sales plan actions that are tried and true – with the objective of standing way out. That means having the goal of being unignorable. Not easy, but a ripe goal to pursue.

Start Here.

These actions are general sales actions that are modified for selling a highly competitive service like your advertising agency. By the way, congrats if you’ve gone beyond just offering a service to having a tool or system that you can resell. Give me a shout and I’ll show you examples of what I mean.

You have to break out of the competitive pack. I don’t care if you’re a two-person or a multi-national. You need to say something to a prospective client that stands out and makes them want to make direct contact or say yes when you ask to speak with them.

The agencies that win today deliver messaging that is: well-targeted, succinct and competitive.

Because of this starting point, distinctive agency positionings help clients to quickly recognize the agency’s expertise and value.

I’ve put “winner” agencies into three messaging buckets. They tell prospective clients: ‘what we do’, ‘how we do it’ and ‘who we do it for’ to illustrate the strength of their individual positioning strategy.

The Start Here is without question your agency’s positioning. [Read more…] about The Basics: An Advertising Agency New Business Plan