book

The Lost Advertising Agency Client

October 26, 2015 By Peter Leave a Comment

Advertising Agency Clients Get Lost

Interview: Bill Duggan – Association of National Advertisers

At the end of phase one of my advertising career, I became a client of advertising and public relations agencies. As CEO and founder of Advance Internet’s New Jersey Online from 1995 to 1999 I was tasked, along with a very talented crew, to ‘invent’ online newspapers and new advertising programs. To introduce our new service and grow our brand, I wanted to find an advertising agency that could understand the emerging world of Internet-based news and create new online advertising units that captured the attention of this nascent market.

From 2000 to 2002, I was CEO of the natural language company ActiveBuddy. ActiveBuddy allowed users of Instant Message platforms like AOL’s AIM to talk with a computer who became their smart & friendly 24/7 buddy. In that role, I wanted a PR resource that would make our intelligent instant messaging bots like SmarterChild famous, help us build a huge audience (we did), and make us look hot to prospective acquirers during the first dot-com bubble.

With 16 years of agency experience, I knew what I needed from ad and PR agencies to achieve my objectives, and I had a large Rolodex of agency friends to call on.

I didn’t feel lost in my agency search.

Advertisers Are Lost

Most advertisers looking for an agency do not have these contacts or knowledge of the agency world. They simply do not perform enough searches to act as experienced and efficient buyers. Individual agencies are partially to blame for adding to client confusion by not providing a clear point of difference vs. their competitor agencies. There are over ten thousand marketing agencies. Just imagine how difficult it is to pick the right one. That’s why clients get lost. [Read more…] about The Lost Advertising Agency Client

The Business Of Marijuana & Advertising

March 6, 2015 By Peter Leave a Comment

The Business Of Marijuana & Advertising & Publishing

I’ve written a bit about the burgeoning marijuana industry and the new business opportunities for ad, digital, social and PR agencies (see a link to articles at the bottom of this post.)

In Portland alone, there are over 35 medical marijuana dispensaries and each one has driven incremental business for a wide range of suppliers including landlords, contractors, interior designers, security firms, lawyers, accountants, venture capitalists, safe companies (each dispensary has at least one), package and graphic designers, ad agencies and publishers. I have a good take on this business because I am an investor in two medical marijuana dispensaries.

To give you an example of how crazy this business can be. Here is what I did yesterday (and why.)

I was in Vancouver, Washington meeting an illustrator friend for lunch. I then went to take a look at two fully recreational marijuana shops. This means that you can just walk in, prove that you are over 21 and then a buy marijuana as you would cigarettes or wine. What was massively interesting was that one of the stores (on Main Street, literally) had 22 customers at 2PM on a Thursday. There weren’t 22 customers buying wine at a single wine shop at 2PM.

Later in the day, I was in the back room of a Portland marijuana shop photographing the store’s ‘joint roller’ and getting a couple of artisanal ‘art’ joints (like the one above). Yes, joints.

So, now the why…

In case you are wondering, I am not at all a big stoner.

But, I am starting a small publishing entity that will cover this huge and growing market. I am currently shooting photographs for two small books (“Joints” and “26 Dispensaries”). I will add other small books (imagine portraits of bud tenders) and apparel based on a new brand that will be coming to a browser near you. All of this will eventually be used as Kickstarter rewards for the funding of a large book on the industry.

I will keep you posted on my progress.

Marijuana Links & The Start Of A Discussion About This new Billion Dollar Industry

Here are the articles I’ve written on the subject.

“The Levitan Pitch” Ad Agency Book Video

January 23, 2015 By Peter Leave a Comment

“The Levitan Pitch” Ad Agency Book Author Video — On Amazon

I’ve written and talked about why and how your ad agency should write a book. You can see my presentation “The Agency Book. From Idea To Published In 6 Months” below.

In the presentation I mention that video is a great way to promote your agency-built book and that the video can go up on your author page on Amazon (very easy to do.) You can see how it fits in right HERE. But, to make your life easier, I put the video below.

As I discussed in the presentation, interviews are a great way to create lots of content – easily. In fact, my author video is an interview I set up with my friend Rebecca Armstrong, the leader of Portland’s ad agency North. The whole experience took about 45 minutes and it was done in one take. Again, very easy.

Here is my SlideShare presentation.

Yes, You Can Write and Publish A Business Book in 6 Months from Peter Levitan & Co.

The Very Merry Advertising Christmas Gift

December 22, 2014 By Peter Leave a Comment

The Very Merry Advertising Book Christmas Gift

I recently had one of the best known people in the advertising industry tell me that I might just be over promoting my book on pitching. I went, um, really? But, I did take note because he does know his advertising stuff. So, that said….

Buy My Book Right Now As A Christmas Gift For Your Advertising Friends

Buy it here on Amazon

Need are some cheery reasons to help you make this decision…

It is a good book that is written to help advertising agencies win more pitches. A few bucks to win more pitches – why wouldn’t you buy it?

The reviews from experts have been very positive. Like this one…

“I possibly have read every book about agency pitches and none come close to the rich, detailed information and guidance that you will find in this book. It lives up to its title. I highly recommend that every advertising, digital, media and PR agency principal read it.” – Michael Gass

Hear me discuss the book and some of my thoughts on pitching care of an interview on the nature of the advertising agency pitch on Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast.

Last but not least…

Advertising People Are Procrastinators

Good News: Amazon will get the book to your special loved one very quickly.

Oh, and a Very Merry Christmas!

The Video: How To Write An Advertising Agency Book

December 8, 2014 By Peter Leave a Comment

My HubSpot Inbound Conference Video: “The Advertising Agency Book – From Idea To Publication in 6 Months”

Here is a video of the talk I gave at HubSpot’s Inbound 2014 conference. Watch my presentation to find out how to write an advertising agency book by mid 2015. Yes, you can do it.

The video will show you how to get a good head start on adding this special arrow to your new business quiver. I discuss the multiple benefits of writing a book; that it can be done relatively quickly (I wrote my 65,000 word The Levitan Pitch, Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. in less than 6 months); how the book will drive your thought-leadership program and how your agency is particularly well set up and well endowed to get a great business-building book out the door.

Writing is a good thing

As I’ve written before: I got the speaking gig at Inbound 2014 because I write for HubSpot’s Agency Post. Using thought leadership to gain broad awareness of your agency is, well, its a very good thing. Here’s my earlier post on the value of guest posting: “Why I Guest post On Agency Post.”

Here is my dedicated post on writing an advertising agency book and how it can be used for new business outreach. The post includes the PowerPoint presentation I used in the following video.

To help you find the gems in the 30 minute talk, I’ve put some highlights below.

Video Timelines

This are approximate…

Intro: :00 to 1:30
6 Months, Really?: 1:30 to 3:00
The how to: 3:00 to 7:00
Mistakes: 7:00 to 10:50
Objectives and Strategies: 10:50 to 25:00
Recap: 25:00 to 30:00

OK, Buy The Book – I wrote my book for you. I want you to win more pitches.

If you read the book you will pitch better than your competition.

Here’s more:

You will mange your agency’s pitch process much better.
You won’t burn out your employees.
You will plan better.
You will reduce your pitch budget.
You will strategize better.
You will arrive better prepared.
You will present better.
You will win more pitches.
You will retire earlier.

Buy multiple copies of the book as Christmas / Hanukah gifts right here: Amazon

Buy the “How Not To Win A Pitch” poster here: Society6