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2 New Levitan Guest Posts on Agency Post and Advertising Week

Peter · October 30, 2013 · Leave a Comment

I am keeping up my guest posting on authoritative advertising websites to get my thought-leadership out and build my website’s authority and page rank. Just in case you don’t know what these important SEO terms are, here are definitions:

Authority from Search Engine Land: Is your site an authority? Is it a widely recognized leader in its field, area, business or in some other way? That’s the goal. No one knows exactly how search engines calculate authority and, in fact, there are probably multiple “authority” signals. The type of links your site receives (lots of quality or ‘neighborhood’ links?) or social references (from respected accounts?) and engagement metrics (long clicks?) may all play a role in site authority.

Page Rank from Search Engine Land and Google: PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.”Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages’ relative importance.

This Week’s Guest Posts

On Advertising Week Social Club — “Advertising Account Executives On The Frontline”

Intro: “I think that advertising agencies have to think hard about how they deliver value. It is often more about intangibles than the actual “work.” A great deal of our value resides in the Account Executive role and the client relationship. We know this because poor “account service” is often listed as the primary reason that a client has decided to switch agencies.”

On Agency Post — “eatbigfish Challenges The Limits.” FYI: eatbigfish is the leading “challerger brand” advertising agency.

Intro: “Aside from the agency name, most advertising, digital, branding and strategic consultancy websites are interchangeable. However, eatbigfish’s isn’t. It’s a marketing and business development juggernaut. Shouldn’t that be the point? “

Does your Agency Guest Post?

No? Send me an email and lets schedule a conversation about how you can amp up your social media marketing program so you get  more incoming leads – I mean lots more. Believe me smart, dedicated advertising agency social media tied to intelligent, action-oriented SEO works… I’ve got advertising agency clients on three continents from my SEO programs.

 

The Sweet “Why’s” of Online Video

Peter · October 15, 2013 · Leave a Comment

emarketer online video advertisingAccording to eMarketer, advertisers are using online video for awareness and branding. No surprise there. This is how “commercials” have been used for years.

Read on…

So, What Are The Sweet Why’s?

  1. The use of online brand video as “old-fashioned” TV commercials is why agencies that know how to write and produce TV commercials have a leg up on the young digital upstarts.
  2. The use of online brand video is why young upstart agencies need to begin to act like old-fashioned TV advertisers. I often hear newish digital agencies ask, “how do I do TV advertising?”

What goes around goes around.

OK, one more thing. Remember when the digital guys said that interruption advertising was dead. Well, guess what, it ain’t. Just try to watch a video on YouTube without a commercial interruption.

OK, OK. Sure things will change. And, yes the TV creative director generation will die off. But, it will be a slow death. Why? TV commercials WORK!

Advertising Is, Well, Advertising

Peter · October 7, 2013 · Leave a Comment

It’s Called Advertising ‹ Advertising Week Social ClubHere is my latest post for Advertising Week Social Club, Advertising Week’s blog.

The post discusses my take on what advertising means today. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion since the introduction of digital media platforms, social and mobile. But, I think that advertising continues to be about brands spending money to get consumer’s attention regardless of the platform. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of advertising. I don’t see why Twitter, iPhone apps or content marketing doesn’t fit in.

“Advertising is a form of communication for marketing and is used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience   (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action.”

For a bit more on this, head over to my post on how to position advertising agencies. I use some Google stats to help understand the value of the word “advertising.”

Advertising Agencies: “Do Not Pitch”

Peter · October 6, 2013 · 1 Comment

Cruise around the world of advertising agency new business consultants and you will often hear that ad agencies shouldn’t ever have to pitch for new business. The “pitch” for not pitching is that if you do a well-targeted, brilliant in-bound marketing program you will get direct “I love you, I want you” incoming from all the qualified new clients you desire. Cool. You’ll get all the new business you want without the cost and hardship of pitching.

This “win without pitching” dream does come true for some agencies. And, I do discuss how to build and run targeted in-bound programs with my clients. These programs include the hyper-targeting of specific clients and selected categories and the employment of SEO best practices (understanding your target market; smart keyword strategies; use of longer posts; syncing your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and Slideshare, channels; leveraging YouTube.)

However, for the vast majority of agencies, in-bound marketing simply isn’t enough.

Telling Advertising Agencies “Do Not Pitch” For New Business Is Simply BS

I’ve been involved in advertising agency new business since my first pitch (we won) for Western Union’s EasyLink email service in 1984 (yes, this was the first commercial email service — just a touch early.) I’ve run business development at Saatchi and my own agency. Guess what, unless you are the darling of ADWEEK; just won the Gold Lion and some Clios; do Apple or Samsung or Coke advertising; have some form of secret sauce (you are the first ad agency to actually get mobile advertising with ROI proof); have an outrageous database of marketing friends for continuous referrals or are well-know as a category expert…

Fuhgeddaboudit. Chances are rather high that you will have to pitch the accounts that you want. Sitting back and waiting for those love-child clients to call you ain’t going to keep your agency afloat. Wishing that you will never have to pitch is lunacy.

So, please, win without ever pitching? Maybe for the 1%. But, not the other 3,999 agencies.

My bottom line? Learn how to win more of the pitches you should be invited to. I’m going to start to write about how to pitch. It will be a good “pitch” for my business.

And…. Here is how to position your agency so you might win those pitches you are invited to.

Yo!… Don’t miss any of my brilliant (LOL, but I mean it) thoughts on new business.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter.

 

Nike+ Accelerator, TechStars, Wieden+Kennedy, Opal Labs and Moi

Peter · September 30, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Nike Fuel Band Preorder  Restock    Nike InsiderShould advertising agencies get involved with the digital startup scene? Is going down this digital road a smart idea? What’s the payoff? I wanted to know so I assembled some of Portland’s leading accelerator (Nike+ Accelerator and UpStart Labs), advertising agency (Wieden+Kennedy) and very sharp startup (Opal Labs) leaders for a Portland Ad Federation session.

It grooved. Check it out. Oh, moi? I’m the moderator.

Here is how the Ad Fed announced the program:

GET STARTED:  PORTLAND’S CREATIVE COMMUNITY AND THE STARTUP SCENE

Portland has hit the radar: Business Week has noted the stunning growth of our tech scene. Local start-ups are actually being funded fueling awareness and rivaling Portland’s larger competitors (like San Francisco).

The fuel for the fire? Accelerators (PIE: Portland Incubator Experiment) in partnership with leading brands, technology innovators, and trend setting local agencies (Wieden+Kennedy); Upstart Labs is helping grow local companies Chirpify and Celly; and the Nike+ Accelerator is powering TechStars and Nike.

PAF’s GET STARTED gives you a front-row seat by bringing together the leaders of PIE, Upstart and Nike+ Accelerator. Unearthing the magic behind growing startups, they’ll outline how advertising and digital agencies can and are providing guidance and support to bring companies to life. You’ll learn how your agency/company can participate in this trend and how you’ll benefit and grow from your own tech chops alongside your startup partners.

Our panel of PORTLAND INSIDERS will add perspective to nurturing an internal startup:

DYLAN BOYD, Managing Director, Nike+ Accelerator
KEVIN TATE, General Partner, Upstart Labs
RENNY GLEESON, Co-Founder, PIE / Digital Guru at Wieden+Kennedy
STEVE GIANNINI, President & CFO, Opal Labs
GEORGE HUFF, CEO, Opal Labs
PETER LEVITAN, Peter Levitan & Co.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
By the way, I was the founder and CEO of two Internet startups. Microsoft bought one. You can read about them and other fascinating facts right here.
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