new business

Why I Don’t Live In New York

Peter · August 21, 2015 · 3 Comments

Live In New York? Not.

I grew up on the upper west side of Manhattan. Central Park was my backyard. After going to high school across the street from Lincoln Center, I went to college in Boston and San Francisco. I returned to NYC to go into advertising and spent my formative advertising years at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample and Saatchi.

In the early 90’s we shut down the agency at 1 PM. This was rather easy as we were in the pre-24/7-Internet days. We weren’t as ‘on-call’ as we are today when its all-on-all-the-time. When we left the office, we left. And, our clients knew it. And, because it was the olden days before they really squeezed the hell out of our margins, my clients didn’t seem to mind.

Back To NYC.

Thinking about half-day Fridays reminded me of the incredibly stressful mad dash to get out on the Long Island Expressway before 1:30 to try to beat the rush hour traffic to the Hamptons where I had a house. Every summer weekend started with the MEGA stress of getting out of town and ended with the stress of trying to get back in.

So, here’s to my NYC buddies. Me… I’ll take Portland Oregon. And, yes I have a guest room if you ever want to really take it easy.

Which brings me to a point. Finally.

21 Ad Agency Business Development Must Do’s

Peter · July 24, 2015 · Leave a Comment

What Every Ad Agency Must Do To Grow

A simple fact: You have to decide to work at business development and then do the work.

Here are 21 ad agency business development actions that will absolutely result in growth.

Have clear attainable (or even audacious) business objectives – and, while you are at it, write a business plan to get there.
Nurture an agency business development culture from the CEO on down (or, is it up?)
Craft a business development plan with clear-cut objectives and strategies.
Have an effective sales pitch based on something your agency owns or can act like it owns.
Have an action-oriented hook that generates client interest and meetings. If not, go back to number 4 and work it out.
Make business development an integral part of your agency’s daily life.
Manage business development the same way you treat a client job. Have a process.
Know who is responsible for what and have a calendar.
Make sure that everyone in the agency knows that new business is everyone’s business and that no new business growth = staff reductions and possibly, I am afraid to say this, no new foosball table.
Have a list of the top clients you want and create a compelling sales pitch. I stress: compelling.
Design a sales-oriented agency website for that client who is only going to give you 8 seconds to make an impression. Your goal is getting them to contact you.
Use the website to deliver some human chemistry vibes. Please use video to bring your agency to life. A brief video.
Have a short list of the top clients you want, create personas and build a compelling sales pitch just for them. I stress: compelling. Put yourself in their shoes. They want to succeed at their jobs too.
Stay in touch on a reasonably regular basis via email (gently) or some other form of direct marketing.
Use social media correctly. That means having an objectives-driven LinkedIn, Twitter, blog, Facebook etc. strategy and the will to keep at it. Kill the program if you can’t keep it up. Dated blog posts are worse than no blog posts. I don’t even want to discuss having an empty aging Twitter account.
Consider concentrating on (and owning) a specific client category or becoming a media or technology or creative specialist. Pick one.
Learn to pitch like Steve Jobs (you already know this.)
Learn to negotiate like Steve Jobs. Most agencies have no clue how to negotiate.
Take this offer and contact me. I’ve been there and done it.
Buy my book.
Get a good night’s sleep.

UK Advertising New Business Is Down

Peter · July 23, 2015 · Leave a Comment

News To You? Digital is Up But… “New business on the slide in 2015”

Interested in seeing where the advertising action is these days?

Here are some bellwether numbers from the UK market for January through June 2015.

Digital continues to be the only area (vs. advertising, direct marketing, carrier pigeon) that is moving on up.

I think that a part of this is that ‘everything’ is now digital. And, we don’t really know what the definitions mean anymore. What do I mean? Video and TV have mashed up. Direct marketing has mashed into digital. Media is what… digital +. Integrated means what? Like, don’t digital agencies integrate?

This from Campaign Magazine:

The Real Power Of Video

Peter · July 21, 2015 · 1 Comment

The Power of The Advertising Agency Video

Putting a video on your website will increase your odds of selling your advertising agency’s services. I’d like to think that most agencies get this. But, not all do. Here are some compelling stats to help you make sure that you use the power of video on your website.

59% of senior executives prefer video over text. (Source: Brainshark)
The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video. (Source: Mist Media)Of the 80% of internet users who watched a video ad, 46% took some sort of action after viewing the ad. (Source: Video Brewery)
About 46% of people say they’d be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video. (Source: Eloqua)
Zappos has reported that placing a video on a sales page increases sales impact from 6% to 30%.

Surprising? I didn’t think so. So… how do advertising agencies use video on their websites to help sell the agency?

Four Ways Advertising Agencies Use Video As A Sales Tool

Do You Me-Me When Selling Your Advertising Agency?

Peter · July 16, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Me-Me!

I’ve been told my entire advertising and marketing career that talking about ME and not my business prospect in a sales situation will lead to failure. I’ve had this confirmed over the past couple of years in my conversations with advertising agencies, clients and advertising agency search consultants. Here are three quotes from agency search consultants from my book, “The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.” The point being… [Read more…] about Do You Me-Me When Selling Your Advertising Agency?