marketing

Ad Agencies See The Growth In Online Video

Peter · May 22, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Opened up my computer this morning to get ready for a call with a potential agency client in Milan and saw two advertising news items that clearly point to the direction that ad agencies must head.

First was a quote from Italy’s Publicita Italia (think AdAge) that said that Publicis thinks that 75% of their revenues will come from digital by 2018. Not surprising but clearly directional.

The second is an article from eMarketer that states…

Ad execs think online video ads are equally or more effective than television ads at reaching audiences.

And…

The popularity of digital video viewing is helping drive the expansion of the online video ad market. eMarketer estimates that video ad spending in the US will grow 41.4% this year, to reach $4.1 billion. BrightRoll found that the greatest percentage of advertising professionals—one-quarter—expected online video ads to see the highest growth rate of any ad category, with mobile video a close second.

Here is the supporting chart. The trend is obvious and the trajectory for agencies and what skills they should be building should be crystal clear. One idea is to become the Six Second Vine Agency.

Does Your Advertising Agency Know Google’s Matt Cutts?

Peter · May 21, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Chances are, and this is the interesting part, if you work in advertising or digital design or mobile marketing there is a good chance that you do not know who Google’s Matt Cutts is. You should because he is one of the most powerful people in global marketing and advertising.

Matt is the head of the webspam team at Goggle. That means that he controls some of the more important methods that Google uses to rank web pages. He and his team can make or break your SEO plans and strategies via updates like Panda and Penguin to Google’s search algorithms (here is some history from SEOMOZ.) Is this really that important? Is it important that your agency is listed high in a Google search for your keywords (i.e., “advertising agency Atlanta” or “storytelling social media agency”)?

Sorry for this Duh but I want to make a point… Is the SEO work you are doing for your clients well rewarded and wouldn’t be if they were served up on page 4? While I understand that you may leave SEO up to an expert, I think that it’s wise to actually have some understanding about the Google team that decides how Google ranks web pages.

Here is a video from Matt on what is coming up. Yes it is way esoteric. But so are many of the elements of digital marketing.

If you’d like a quick take on Matt’s video pointers, visit The Short Cutts for, well, short cuts.

Since early 2009 Google’s Matt Cutts has recorded a superhuman number of videos to help struggling site owners understand their site in search. While the videos are great, sometimes the guy just needs to get to the point. With that in mind we’ve done the hard work and watched every Matt Cutts video to pull out simple, concise versions of his answers: The Short Cutts!

I may not be a SEO specialist but I have been building websites that rank high and drive organic traffic for 18 years. If you need some high level strategic insights into how to integrate your business development strategy with smart SEO…. well, give me a shout.

Why Are These Indian Programmers Protesting?

Peter · May 19, 2013 · Leave a Comment

These are Indian programmers. Why are they so pissed off?

I think only savvy SEO geeks get it. What they’d GET would shock most people in the advertising business. Dig?

If not, I’ll let you know soon.

Regardless, here…

2 Reasons Ad Agencies Fail At New Business

Peter · May 7, 2013 · 1 Comment

You would think that most advertising agencies want to grow and understand that marketing is the way to get what they want. My discussions with ad agencies indicate that less than 50% (and I am being kind) have comprehensive business development plans to create new business programs. This is a major FAIL that is easily rectified with some brain + elbow grease

But, wait… there’s more: the super smart folks at RSW/US report that …

From our report, “79%+ of Marketers say it is “very important” to come to an initial meeting with thoughts about their business and/or smart questions to show they have interest. ”

And, get this:

And yet: “Only a little over 12% of Marketers say that Agencies “always” come to the table prepared in a way that isn’t about the Agency.”

How could this be possible? I’m flummoxed. Arriving prepared and looking interested and hungry to early client prospect meetings is critical. Image all the work that is required to get your in the client’s room in the first place and then to show up empty headed??? Here are the RSW/US charts:

If your agency is stalled go here, read about my programs and call me up. I can help you grow by planning a smart active agency new business program. I bet I’ve been doing it longer than your agency.