new business

The Big Advertising Agency Resource List

Peter · June 6, 2024 · 14 Comments

Advertising Agency Resource List – Updated Often

The advertising agency resource was recently updated with three new AI information tools. I use them.

My Advertising Agency Resource List is often curated to help advertising, digital, design, and PR agencies easily find the inspiration and industry resources to help you build killer agencies and careers.

FYI: According to Google, people spend mucho minutes perusing this long list.

If I were you, I’d grab a glass of Larkmead Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 (LOL only $150 or a nice craft beer – a bit less expensive) and check out all of these links. I guarantee that at least one of these websites and/or tools will help you or your team grow your agency.

A kudo from David Ogilvy: “I wish I had this advertising resource list when I was in the ad biz. All I had was my brain.”

OK, one more. Go here: Corleone offer.

New Resources.

AI Related… Websites + A Podcast Just For Marketers + YouTube

Marketing Intelligence Institute: From Paul Roetzer (super smart marketer for eons) on how to use AI in marketing and advertising. Read it, attend their seminars, and listen to their “Artificial Intelligence Show” podcast. Do it!

Decode: A daily news and info resource. Decode “unlocks exclusive access to Decode’s ultimate AI tool book, with 500+ verified, vetted, and powerful tools across 40+ categories.” Includes AI tutorials, lists of what’s new, etc. A smart one.

Superhuman: Yes, more info and news. Their words — “Learn how to leverage AI to boost your productivity and accelerate your career. Join the world’s biggest AI newsletter with 650,000+ readers from companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and more.”

AI Tool Report: Yes…. More… “Learn AI in 5 minutes a day. We’ll teach you how to save time and earn more with AI. Join 500,000+ free daily readers from Tesla, Apple, A16z, Meta, & more.”

Matt Wolfe: A rather beyond-decent YouTube channel dedicated to AI.

A Short But Sweet List of The Best AI Directories For Marketers

We are all a bit (understatement) overwhelmed with the barrage of new AI tools. To help sort this overload, here is a list of what I think are today’s easiest-to-use AI directories for marketers. Note, this is a short list.

Futurepedia – From Google Bard: “This directory is one of the largest and most comprehensive, with over 3,000 AI tools and resources listed. It’s a great place to find AI tools for a variety of tasks, including machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.” Just today… 18 new tools. Yikes.

Zain Kahn’s Superhuman – The world’s biggest AI newsletter with 350k+ readers.

Marketing AI Show – THE best AI podcast for marketers.

iLib – AI websites listed by popularity.

Product Hunt – As they say: “Product Hunt surfaces the best new products, every day. It’s a place for product-loving enthusiasts to share and geek out about the latest mobile apps, websites, hardware projects, and tech creations.”

Crunchbase – A comprehensive list of AI startups. Wowzer, this is a hot venture universe. Go find your new marketing agency client here.

GPTE – Just in case you need MORE!

A Zoom Cartoon Just For You

Peter · May 23, 2024 · Leave a Comment

A Zoom Cartoon About A Zoom Pitch Problem

To help illustrate the “mistakes” that often accompany the act of an advertising agency’s new business pitch, I included 12 pitch mistake cartoons in my book “The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.”

I love the fact that cartoons are a fast way to reach overloaded brains and evoke emotion. A cartoon can be remembered well past fleeting podcast interviews and blog posts like this.

Possibly the most memorable Internet meme is the 1993 (!) cartoon “On the Internet, nobody knows you are a dog,” by Peter Steiner in the New Yorker. To help my GenX readers, it’s at the bottom.

My Zoom Pitch Cartoon Just For You

Here is a Zoom cartoon I commissioned from master cartoonist and brilliant Creative Director Steve Klinetobe. Steve was a CD at my Portland agency Citrus.

Steve’s nostril cartoon illustrates one of the worst uses of Zoom. It’s about where people put their camera in relation to their face. In this case, it is the camera that sits below a face and looks into your buddy’s (or future agency client’s nose. YUCK!

When Zooming, pay attention to camera placement + lighting + sound quality + your background. You know this right?

That said, I too often look up way too many nostrils.

Here is the most famous Internet cartoon. No Nostrils.

How To Start, Grow and Sell An Advertising Agency

Peter · May 16, 2024 · Leave a Comment

How To Start an Advertising Agency. Next: How to Grow and Eventually Sell it.

The decision to start an advertising agency in the current business environment requires a judicious evaluation of industry dynamics and market forces. While the advertising sector has demonstrated resilient growth, propelled by burgeoning digital ad expenditures and the escalating demand for specialized services like influencer and even TikTok marketing, the landscape is punctuated by countervailing headwinds.

On the upside, the normalization of remote work paradigms in the post-pandemic era has engendered a set of lean agency models, facilitating access to a geographically dispersed talent pool while mitigating overhead costs. Simultaneously, niche players adroitly carve out specialized verticals or service offerings could potentially unlock unique value propositions.

However, the macroeconomic uncertainty looming on the horizon poses a formidable challenge. Advertising expenditures have historically been among the first casualties when corporations undertake cost-cutting measures during periods of economic contraction. This cyclical vulnerability could potentially dampen demand for agency services. That said, my having lived through multiple recessions has shown me that agencies have continuously prospered over time.

Moreover, the industry’s competitive intensity cannot be overlooked. There is no one count… but clients have thousands of agency skill-set choices – from networks to savvy ex-creative directors. Plus, attracting and retaining top-tier creative, strategic, and digital expertise is an ongoing battle. The era of in-house agencies has not helped here.

Concurrently, client acquisition for fledgling agencies and freelancers that lack extensive portfolios and industry networks can be a tough undertaking in a sector characterized by market saturation and consolidation trends.

Ultimately, while opportune windows may exist for adroit entrepreneurs, a circumspect strategy that astutely navigates the sector’s headwinds is imperative. Meticulous planning, a persuasive value proposition that transcends competitors, and an acute alignment of the launch timeline with propitious economic conditions could elevate the probability of enduring success for the intrepid agency founder.

One could even give me a shout.

One Solution: Be Unignorable.

Another Big Picture Solution: Buy My Book… “How To Build a Kick-Ass Advertising Agency.”

Digging Into How To Start an Advertising Agency

Create a one-page business plan. its in the book.

Sales Cycles

Having run my business development consultancy for ten years, I see a cyclical pattern. Here are the three most important questions that agency managers ask me every week.

What is the best way to start an advertising agency?
What is the best – most efficient – way to grow my advertising agency?
How can I sell my advertising agency?

First, a definition. While I work with digital, PR, hybrid, experiential and other forms of agencies, I use the generic term advertising agency because “advertising” is still a universal term for marketing communications agencies. It is also the term that clients, and other industry people, search (see my post about how clients find agencies to see some research that supports the use of the advertising word).

But, But: Digital Agencies have taken over search: This is a look at a couple of marketing communications search terms from Google Trends: ‘Advertising Agency, ‘’ Digital Agency,’ and ‘PR Agency.’ People still dig the universal term.

OK, back to the three questions and what I’ll call topline answers.

What is the best way to start an advertising agency?

Before you decide to start an advertising agency, ask yourself why you want to do this? If this question sounds ridiculous – it isn’t. I talk to enough burgeoning agency entrepreneurs to know that many do not spend the time to think through the WHY. Here are some of the questions asked and advice I give.

WHY? #1: It’s Fun

Which Social Media Strategy Is Best For Advertising Agency New Business?

Peter · May 13, 2024 · 6 Comments

Your Advertising Agency and Social Media. Oh, And Your Business Development Program.

I am updating this older relatively well-read blog post about the how-to make it happen for an advertising agency social media program. Updating is a good blog strategy to help Google love you.

Does Advertising Agency Social Media Work Anymore (As In Drive Incoming Leads)?

Start here: “Which Social Media Strategy Is Best For Advertising Agency New Business?” I am not going to bullshit you. There is no perfect social media platform for advertising agency new business. Why? Cause ya know… the devil is in the details, and your details might just be different than the agency down the road.

2024.

I originally wrote this very viewed advertising agency social media blog post back in 2014. Yikes. Time for an update, right? Like I said… Updating old blog posts that once had decent activity is critical to bumping them back up on Google searches. There is an art to this.

When I wrote this back in the good old days, blog posts by ad agencies had not yet exploded, Twitter posts had not yet exploded, Instagram was not yet a smash, TikTok had not been invented, and on. Here are some of those “we are now bombarded” stats.

Depending on who you listen to, you’ve got like 4,000 competitive agencies and freelancers.
How many blog posts are there today? Here is just one directional figure: there are “like” over 2 million blog posts daily – out of 1.7 billion websites. You think your ad agency can stand out?
From Claude: Assuming 85% of the 229 million daily active users on X, that’s around 195 million real users tweeting daily.
It’s estimated that around 200 million businesses across the world use Instagram each month. Around 90% of Instagram’s users follow at least one business account on the platform.
There seem to a billion LinkedIn posts a day.
I have over 6,000 “advertising people” connections, yet when I post on LinkedIn, I get maybe 80 individual post views. Pay per play, baby. It’s not so organic these days.

Do you get the idea here? You are kinda fucked if you think that your blogs, tweets, etc are gonna get noticed. You are competing with other, probably really good at SEO agencies.

The best I can do is share my personal experiences. First, here are my social media objectives.

How to Build A Winning Advertising Agency Business Development Program

Peter · May 13, 2024 · 6 Comments

How To Build An Effective, High-ROI Advertising Agency Business Development Program

Start Here. Ask Yourself: How Is Your Marketing, Digital, and Advertising Agency Business Development Program Going?

What do I mean? Are you getting the leads you want? Are these clients high margin? Do they want great thinking, media planning and creativity from you? Might they be long-term? Do they look cool on your client list?

#1: Tough News From the 2024 RSW/US Agency New Business Report

RSW/US asked agencies: “How Difficult Is Obtaining New Business, Compared to Last Year?”

58% of agencies found it harder to obtain new business in 2023, and 38% of ad agencies reported a decrease in new business opportunities in 2023, up from 26% in 2022.

#2: My Second Book On How To Run And Grow A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency Is being bought by your competitor down the street.

If you want to run a kick-ass advertising, digital, or whatever you call your agency business development program that stands out, makes more money, and is happy, then buy my new book. Its 27 chapters cover every aspect of agency management (including staffing issues), business development, and building critical personal branding. Go here: “How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency.”

Advertising Agency Business Development Strategies and Tactics

This is an update to “How to Build A Winning Advertising Agency New Business Program.” Your competitors have read it over 50,000 times.

Advertising agency business development is a 24/7 operation that requires the right agency positioning, strategies, action, and efficiency. I help my agency clients get there faster by building them a custom, efficient business development plan. A plan that they will run 24/7.

The post’s popularity is due to three key factors:

1. It directly addresses a major marketing pain point: how to build a winning and efficient advertising agency business growth plan.

2. The post is well optimized for search engines, delivers high value, and, therefore…

3. Google loves it. FYI, my number two trafficked post is, “How To Name Your Advertising Agency – Part One” at 30,000 + views. While always rethinking their website, advertising agencies also obsess about their name. By the way, the How to Name post is also a very good cheat sheet on naming that you can steal if a client ever needs a new brand name.

Your Competiton Is Growing – Be Unignorable

Your potential clients have over 4,000 marketing communications ‘agency’ options (other agencies, new consultancies, freelancers, even your ex-creative director…).

Therefore, any form of business development passivity on your part – sucks. If you think you are doing everything right, you probably are not. How can I say this? I never thought that all was well whilst running business development at Saatchi & Saatchi and when I owned my own west coast agency.

A critical message about not being unignorable… Watch this. I built it for my friends at AAR Partners, the leading ad agency search consultant. By the way, I read this thinking about consultants, “34 Advertising Agency Search Consultants“.

OK, Let’s Go… The 24/7 Business Development Plan

I moved from New York to Bend, Oregon, in 2002 to buy a very successful advertising agency (and raise a family 20 minutes from a ski lift).

Citrus grew to add a Portland office and national accounts including Dr. Martens, Harrah’s, Leagalzoom, Nike, Providence Health & Services, the Montana Lottery, and the UN.

I woke up every day as if a client like Nike would walk out the back door along with its revenues. I bet as an ad agency owner or manager you have rough nights too. One of the things I knew I could and should do was to manage this back-door issue was to have an active, I stress active, new business plan in place.

Here are some (I stress some) of the elements of my marketing plan. They helped me grow Saatchi & Saatchi and my agency Citrus. I hope my insights help you grow your agency.

Execution Rules.

When I set out to write this advertising agency new business post I didn’t think that it would be this long – a warning to the ADHD types. However, advertising agencies’ new business planning is complex and becoming more complex every day due to the rapid changes in our industry and technology. That said, the devil in business development, you know what’s coming, is in the detail. Success is all about execution.

For example, running a successful inbound biz dev program that attracts market attention must be based on a sound strategy and smart agency process if you want to run a 24/7 sales program. Staying the course is critical.

OK. OK. Help Me ChatGPT. Here is a quick FAQ that my buddy Chat created to help you understand the core elements of this missive.

What are the key elements of a successful advertising agency new business program?

Strategic Positioning: Define clear business and sales objectives, including your agency’s unique value propositions like media expertise or demographic specializations (e.g., mobile advertising, Gen X marketing).
Proactive Business Development: Employ a dedicated Business Development Director to lead client acquisition efforts, ensuring alignment with agency goals and maintaining regular prospect engagement.
Inbound and Outbound Marketing: Implement a balanced strategy with targeted content marketing (blogs, white papers) and smart use of social media platforms to generate inbound leads. Complement this with aggressive outbound tactics like cold calling, personalized emails, and strategic ad placements.
Client Acquisition and Retention: Focus on acquiring clients through thoughtful qualification of leads, engaging pitches, and effective management of proposals and pitches. Post-acquisition, ensure smooth transitions and high client satisfaction to foster long-term relationships.
Continuous Learning and Adaptation: Regularly update the business development plan to reflect market changes and internal growth goals. Utilize tools like CRM systems to track progress and optimize strategies based on data-driven insights.

How can an agency maintain continuous new business growth?

Consistency in Marketing Efforts: Regular updates and interactions via high-value emails and social media posts ensure continuous engagement with potential clients.
Leveraging Thought Leadership: Establish your agency as a thought leader by narrowing your focus to specific niches or industries, thus standing out from the competition.
Utilizing Advanced Tools and Analytics: Keep track of all marketing and pitch efforts through detailed analytics to understand what strategies work best and adjust accordingly.

What are common mistakes to avoid in agency new business development?

Overextending Without Focus: Avoid trying to be everything to everyone. Specialize in certain areas to differentiate your agency from others.
Neglecting Business Development Culture: Ensure that business development is ingrained in the agency’s culture, with all team members actively participating in growth activities.
Inefficient Use of Resources: Focus on quality over quantity in marketing efforts to avoid wasting resources on unqualified leads or ineffective strategies.

Back To Me: The Advertising Agency Business Development Plan. First Things First.

I have never been able to construct an effective business development program without first having an agency business plan.

The business plan should include (at least):

Your agency’s business and business development objectives
An assessment of your current strengths and weakness (I have all of my clients do an internal SWOT analysis)
A competitive agency positioning (specialization is a good thing)
An analysis of your space in the world – as in, why would a client hire you?
Clear target market objectives and target market personas
A service plan (it might mean adding new services)
Your inbound and outbound (think Account-Based Marketing) plan
The very important objective of running unignorable messaging
A dedication to being consistent and efficient – as in having a process

Your business plan should also help you plan for your future in the evolving world of marketing communications. I think that client confusion with the evolving state of advertising and marketing – this includes big and small clients – makes today a great time to be an agency. Winning agencies are resolving their business challenges, crafting the right services and guidance, and, importantly, are willing to modify their business model to avoid disruption to achieve success.

It is also imperative that you develop a roadmap for how to grow your current agency to become the agency of the future. The market, communication platforms, and client expectations are changing rapidly. Assess your current strengths, weaknesses, and how your agency expertise and personnel are going to stay ahead of change (do an annual SWOT analysis).

Change can be very profitable. What if you could restart your agency using a blank sheet of paper? Would you build a replica of your current agency or would it look dramatically different? If you think that change is in order, you better get started. Here is a powerful mantra from General Eric Shinseki.

“If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.”

The Agency New Business Program – Join The 34%

Armed with your business plan you can get ahead of your competitors by having a comprehensive new business plan. Most agencies do not have a plan. Get this industry research…

66% Of Advertising Agencies Report That They Do Not Have a Business Development Plan. This Is Lunacy!

Your plan should include most, if not all of the following: [Read more…] about How to Build A Winning Advertising Agency Business Development Program