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How To Win New Advertising Agency Business

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How To Win New Advertising Agency Business

How To Win New Advertising Agency BusinessMy thoughts on how to win new advertising agency business from those wonderful clients that you want… was one of the first blog post messages I ran for my advertising agency business development consultancy. I started the consultancy in 2013 after I sold my Portland agency. Whoa: About 850 blog posts ago.

It was a great, useful blog post about, yes, how to win new advertising agency business and got the attention of my ad agency market. The idea is still useful.

“Wait a minute, who are you guys?”

That was the question we got from Harrah’s Las Vegas after they received our iTunes gift card. We told them who we were, thanked them again for their help and a relationship was born. Here’s how we got there.

About 10+ years ago, my Portland ad agency Citrus needed a more distinctive brand positioning. As I suspect you know, finding a new brand position for an advertising agency, especially a “full-service” agency like ours, isn’t easy. While full-service is a highly relevant service offer that many clients seek, it isn’t a particularly distinctive sales proposition in a world with thousands of similar ad agencies. The fact is, full-service sounds rather platitudinous.

There are probably 2,000 advertising agencies called full-service.

Here is how we broke out.

To refresh our brand (and get more notice) we initiated a strategic branding process. We employed the account panning skills of Lynette Xanders, one of the Northwest’s best strategists. Lynette helped us gain a better understanding of the agency’s existing positioning, insights into how our staff perceived the current and future agency, an examination of relevant industry shifts, and a deeper view of our goals and dreams. We added in a competitive review to advance our understanding of what clients need and want from an agency.

Next – We Used A Survey As A How To Win New Advertising Agency Business Sales Tool

Our next step was to create an online survey to show a set of alternative positioning statements to marketing decision-makers – our clients and target companies. We wanted to get past our own internal navel-gazing.

We took the branding exercise and added a new business spin.

We used our new business database to select a list of A-level client prospects and used the positioning research as an introduction to Citrus. The program had 6 low-cost elements.

  1. A list of 5 positioning statements were listed in an agency research section on our website. In addition to the survey, this helped us to drive the responders to our larger agency story.
  2. A Survey Monkey online survey.
  3. An email list compiled from our The List Inc. database. Now WINMO.
  4. Three-stage email outreach.The offer of winning a $50 iTunes gift card twas added as an incentive.
  5. The prospect group’s response rate was surprisingly high at about 30%. Sometimes if you ask nicely people will want to respond.

Winning Harrah’s

One of the respondents from our outreach list (wanna-be client types) was a corporate marketing manager at Harrah’s (now Caesars Entertainment.) After the manager answered the survey we sent her a nice note and the gift card. Her response was, “Wait a minute. Who are you guys?”

This question led to more emails, phone calls, and a trip to Las Vegas. The meeting resulted in our working on Harrah’s national Las Vegas Meeting’s By Harrah’s program that sells thousands of room nights per year for Harrah’s 8 Las Vegas casinos. Our work included a new website, a direct marketing program, and a print advertising campaign.

This was a rather decent result from sending out a couple of emails, asking for some help, and the delivery of an iTunes gift card. Remember iTunes?

Oh, in addition to a new client, our research also netted a new agency brand positioning.

The Message – If you want to know How To Win New Advertising Agency Business – please be different. Or as I call it… be Unignorable.

Oh… I have written lots about advertising agency brand positions. Here.

Why Be A Thought Leader

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Thought Leadership Is Good

thought leadershipThe marketing term thought leadership has become a bit overused. Well, what marketing term is not a bit overused? I mean, do I really want to hear the word disruption again and again?

However, if we step back a bit and ask ourselves if we’d like to be perceived as an insightful, strategic, and problem-solving creative thinker—um… a thought leader—well, I’ll take the words thought leader.

Thought leadership takes time and brain power. Why bother?

Thought leaders deliver actionable…

•     Information

•     Insights

•     Strong opinions

•     Solutions to big problems

•     Inspiration

•     Creativity

•     Innovation

•     Even piece of mind

Since I started my marketing agency consultancy, I have produced more than 850 blog posts; videos using impressionists to talk me up (think Trump and Gandhi); have been a host and a guest on dozens of podcasts; and have spoken at conferences and produced white papers. I’ve recently launched a LinkedIn newsletter. Oh, this is it.

I wrote my book on pitching, The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. and my new book How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency to build my brand by offering business-building advice. These books generate interest and proof of expertise.

My thought leadership, which is 100% dedicated to advertising agency management and business development, works. Specialization works. People pay attention. My books drive leads.

The benefits of thought leadership are clear: It demonstrates expertise and authority.

  • It delivers compelling, relevant business-building information and insights. Value!
  • It excites
  • It generates peer-to-peer conversations and builds relationships over time
  • It generates marketing-qualified leads
  • It can be amplified and repurposed for efficiency. One thought can be modified and spread over a range of distribution platforms
  • Kick-ass problem-solving thought leadership is unignorable

I need to repeat this: Kick-ass thought leadership is unignorable.

The Unignorable Insight

Your expert positioning (yes, be an expert) will drive your thought leadership. The power word is authority. Market-building insights are created and delivered via your knowledge, experience, and creative approach to problem-solving. In this case, it is OK to be authoritarian.

Just to be clear, what is an insight? From the Planning Dirty Academy’s Julian Cole:

“Insight unlocks the way around a problem. It reveals a new path.”

Thought leaders reveal that new path. Just look at the people who are quickly building their own personal brands by becoming AI experts. Example: Sam Suzchan and his 122,000 LinkedIn followers.

I’m A Thought Leader Right Here.

thought leaderIn my brand new book… How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency

Top Advertising And Design Awards

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A Lovely List Of The Top Advertising Awards

top advertising and design awardsPut yourself in a marketing client’s shoes. They want to find and select a new advertising, digital or design firm. How to do that? They ask friends; take hours searching the Internet; maybe your agency got its account-based marketing down and the client now knows about the agency; the client hires an agency search consultant or… maybe they look at the top advertising and design awards to find an agency that a third party loves. A third party that gave the agency an award and big kisses. In a world of over 4 trillion ad and digital agencies, a client needs some help.

This list provides a list of the top advertising and design awards plus: deep thoughts on why you should even bother doing the advertising award game. This game is costly and time-consuming.

Across my global and regional advertising career, I’ve won big creative awards like the One Show, EFFIES and regional ad awards. There is a system to winning… Here are my views on advertising awards objectives and strategies. It is mindblowing how many advertising agencies do not know how to enter an award show — to win.

Note: This advertising awards list gets updated. Let me know if I am missing an award.

advertising agency awardsNote #2: I write about advertising awards and other agency and personal branding strategies to make you and your agency more famous in my new book. How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency

Another note: This is obvious but is worth mentioning. Even if you do not want to send out an award entry, these websites will point you to a great place to steal ‘winning’ ideas.

Advertising Awards Are Good… But, Maybe Start Here: Why Enter Award Shows? Do You Have A Strategy?

Winning the right advertising awards is good for business and agency and client morale. Just make sure you know why you are entering. Too many agencies don’t approach the award process with a plan or objectives beyond the search for ego fulfillment. This can make the whole effort a bit too C R A Z Y. But, you know that. Or, do you? Go here to hear an advertising award judge on his less-than-optimal experience reading agency entries.

I have a memory about the power of awards from my first day at Saatchi & Saatchi London way back in the 1990s. I walked through the creative floor and noticed a tall glass case randomly stuffed with lots of creative trophies. This haphazard display delivered two messages: 1) Saatchi wins lots of awards and 2) they don’t take these too seriously. Of course, the second point was bull shit. Saatchi was always about looking like a winner and the award case proved that point in a cheeky manner. It worked better than the usual and obvious shelf of awards that sit behind the ad agency receptionist’s head.

I have always had mixed feelings about advertising awards. On one hand, they are, like winning an Academy Award, i.e. ridiculous. No one ad, digital program or actor is the “best.” On the other hand (the one with the wallet), they are way expensive. As an agency owner, I often cringed when a creative director came to me with his handout asking us to spend hundreds on award entries.

However money aside, advertising awards have some very big advantages for agencies, clients, and creative-class workers:

The awards celebrate creativity itself. Creative strategies, art, copy and the media platforms that deliver the work.

They help our most talented people get noticed.

They help smart well-designed agencies get noticed by occasionally confused clients who need second party confirmation when selecting an agency. To me, this is a very important point and one that makes writing those increasingly expensive entry checks worth the cost. Awards should be a big part of an agency’s business development program – not just an ego stroker.

To put all of this go-for-it into context, I wrote about the Portland agency Pollinate a few years back that has done very well (!) by hammering Advertising Age’s Small Agency awards show. The blog post, “How To Win The Ad Age Small Agency Award? Twice?” is a demonstration of the value of entering and winning an award that has meaning for prospective clients because it is delivered via an industry-leading publication. Check it out.

Last point before the list. Award judges have told me that around 30% of agencies do not know how to create an entry that is designed to win. Poor copy, poor strategy, even typos. Many agencies rush through the process at the very last minute. Do you? Do you have an annual award plan? Who is in charge?

My Favorite Advertising & Marketing Awards

[Read more…] about Top Advertising And Design Awards

Add Humor to Your Advertising Agency Marketing

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advertising agency marketingWhy Are Advertising Agencies So Boring? But, Not ADWEAK.

I wrote about the humorous ADWEAK in my book (yes, me promoting again, and why not?) My key point is that the #advertisingagency universe is so boring. Seldom do we see an agency use humor to grow awareness and get past sameness. My main point: Add Humor to Your Advertising Agency Marketing.

How Many Advertising Agencies Does It Take To Screw In A Lightbulb?

Once upon a time, I thought that it would be “different and unignorable” to have my agency’s website open with a video of a stand-up comedian riffing on the advertising industry and our wonderful agency.

Why would I consider using a comedian to introduce the agency? I am a believer in the power of humor to arrest attention and open up the mind. Plus, this angle gives the agency a personality in a generally personality-free zone. And I guarantee a comedian will keep a visitor on the home page for longer than 10 seconds.

Oh, to answer the question of how many “How many advertising agencies does it take to screw in a light bulb?” — “Oh well that all depends… what’s your budget?” OK, not a killer riff. But, you get the idea.

Yeah, I have an opinion. However, I’m not alone. From the Harvard Business Review:

The workplace needs laughter. According to research from institutions as serious as Wharton, MIT, and London Business School, every chuckle or guffaw brings with it a host of business benefits. Laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity.

Go ahead and take this humor-first idea… please.

A unique example of leading with humor is the creative / production studio ADWEAK. The agency drives interest—for example, it has 100,000 Twitter followers—via its unique look at agency and client life. They nail the idea of delivering truth via humor.

BREAKING: Agency Just Listing Anything They Can Think of on Capabilities Slide for New Business Pitch

BREAKING: Agency Staffers Still Have No Idea What Recently Hired “Thought Leader” Actually Does

BREAKING: VLMY&R Considers Adding Another Couple Letters to Name

The ADWEAKwebsite has few words but delivers this compelling key message:

We’re good, we’re smart, we’re fast and we’re not A-holes.

Now To PROVE That I Put My Money Where My Mouth Is. I Leverage ADWEAK’s Humor.

I am now “advertising / promoting” my book on ADWEAK’s LinkedIn and Twitter posts. Here is their reach…  Twitter (99k followers) and LinkedIn (28K followers). See the image at the top to see how they are promoting me.

Does your agency use advertising for itself? Are you funny? If you have gotten this far, read and act on the next sentence. Thanks.

advertising agencyHere is a link to How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency. BUY it now – (lots of caps today).

The 88% Interest Message: Use Video Marketing

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Video marketingVideo Marketing Drives More Interest & Leads. Like 88% More Interest. 

(Side note… Keep reading to find out why Gandhi is in the pic above…)

Here are a couple of paragraphs on how to build a great/powerful advertising agency website from my book. It is amazing how few agencies use video marketing to tell their own brand story.

It is a long detailed chapter, this is just a tidbit. I’ll get personal below.

Video, Please

Too few agencies include brand-building video on their website. If they do, there’s a high degree of chance that it will be a sizzle reel.

I prefer a video that helps deliver the agency’s USP. The digital agency HawkSEM opens with an animated video that clearly states the agency’s mantra and client benefits—in 10 seconds:

“We could start by talking and bragging about award this and featuring that, but who cares? We believe in results. At the end of the day delivering measurable marketing results, predictable revenue, and high ROI is what matters.”

Another approach is to put a real human in the video. Why not have an agency leader deliver the message, and while they’re at it, also deliver some agency soul? You can make a compelling video introduction. You are creative.

Videos engage, are more memorable, are better at brand recall than text and… increase buying intent.

Still with me? MarketingProfs reports that “the average user spends

88% more time on a website with video than a website without one.” How can one ignore this 88% finding? 

Ok. I admit it. I haven’t used enough video enough.

I spent some time today looking at how to use Apple’s video apps. If I can do it, you can. And, yes, there are ways to make your videos better… from editing to including subtitles. Let me know and I can turn you onto some new AI tools and a smart video production company that is waaaaay affordable.

The video that Mahatma Gandhi made for me!

Check out even more thinking on advertising agency video marketing: HERE

Plus why haven’t you bought my Guide to Building A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency book?????? It is a paperback & eBook.