new business

How High Can Marijuana Marketing Get?

Peter · February 16, 2015 · 1 Comment

Colorado ‘High’ Travel Marketing Meets Marijuana

I’ve written about the blossoming opportunities for marijuana industry marketing that are coming from the ‘Green Rush’. (See below for links to a couple of past posts on this very subject.)

Colorado, as a fully legal state, and Oregon, with its medical marijuana system, are worth looking at as harbingers of what’s coming to a town near you.

How high is up?

I’ll get to mile-high Colorado in a second…

There are ad and design agencies, publishers, ad networks, architects, retail designers, sign makers, website designers, social media experts, VC’s, lawyers, real estate agents, engineers, etc. jumping on this new Rush. The numbers, if you like hockey-stick-like bar charts are LRG! How large? CNBC has estimated that the legal global marijuana market could reach as high as $120 billion.

No surprise here: people like drugs. LOL! Surprisingly, most ad agencies are not paying attention to this brand new market. They are still competing with every other agency for the local hospital, bank, outdoor brand, soda, etc. Even WPP agencies.

My Portland Petri Dish.

I live in Portland where medical marijuana is legal and we will go all out legal in June, 2016. Today, there are over 30 dispensaries in the city and each dispensary needs the help of the marketing community. That’s 30 brand new clients for the marketing services community that came virtually out of nowhere.

The dispensary Farma is an example of a new ‘client’ and is clearly one of the best cases of a well-designed and branded medical marijuana dispensary. An agency or designer made some cash on this. I’ve been inside the shop and Farma has clearly taken a page out of the Apple retail playbook. This shop is the cleanest, neatest, most minimal shop in the city. On the other side of the design spectrum, we have a shop that looks and feels like a 1920’s speakeasy. Each of these needed a brand, a logo, a website, social media platform, packaging, ads and retail design. Multiply this activity by the other shops (and activity from products like edibles) and you start to see a growth category.

Need Some Brand New Clients? Try Marijuana Tourism.

I am consulting for an advertising agency that specializes in the real estate and travel markets so I punched in the search term ‘marijuana resort colorado’ in Google and got a bunch of results that further my case that there is money to be made in this market (yes, I know this should be is obvious.) Take a look at the website for Travel High Colorado.

Travel High offers packaged (get this (“high-cation”) cannibis trips. Here’s how they describe some of their services:

Cannabis Concierge: There is a lot to know about the new Colorado Cannabis laws and about the wonderful plant itself. Trust our experts to answer any questions that you may have as we are “Colorado’s Premiere Cannabis Concierge.”

Reservations: Our Travel Specialists will tailor your transportation, activities, and accommodations into a personalized “high-cation.” We personally plan all the details for your “High Country Experience.”

OK, My Point?

If you live in one of the legal marijuana states, or the growing list of fully legal states, I’d at least start to think about this brand new marketing category opportunity. There are already marijuana specialist agencies. But, you might not want to go that far. That said, start to pay attention to this space and… why wouldn’t you want to have a great branding story like Farma’s in your portfolio?

Feeling squeamish? I can imagine that. Especially if you live in a conservative state or one run by old white guys. However, the times are a-changin. Here is what Gallup has reported.

Gallup’s long-term trend on Americans’ support for legalizing marijuana shows that in 1969, just 12% of U.S. adults were in favor. But that swelled to 28% by the late 1970s, and 34% by 2003. Since then, support steadily increased to the point that 50% supported it in 2011.

Last year was the first time Gallup found a solid majority in favor, at 58%. That poll was conducted amid heavy news coverage of the imminent implementation of Colorado’s marijuana legalization law, which may have contributed to what appears to have been a temporary jump in support. This year, support at 51% is still a majority, but closer to where it was in 2011 and 2012.

Still squeamish? If you ever dreamed of getting some of the $3 billion that Pfizer spends per year selling Ativan and Viagra, then get over pitching a marijuana client — today’s newest ‘drug’ client. Still fearful? I bet you’d probably like to land the Jack Daniels 9o proof account. Nuff said.

Well, more stuff. Here is just one agency that seems to have figured this out. By the way, do you need to dedicate your entire agency to this industry? Of course not. Here’s a wild idea, why not build a sub brand. Why don’t agencies create sub-brands that targeted specific industries? Hmmm… back to the start. That’s exactly what the real estate agency I am working with is doing. Does every thing you do have to be under your NAME?

Looking For Some Past “Marijuana” Posts?

See the list here.

Is Your Ad Agency Being Held Back?

Peter · February 12, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Is Your Ad Agency Stuck?

I talk with a lot of advertising agency owners and managers. Their business vibrations range from very happy (usually a smart digital agency or a locally focussed one that owns a market) to agencies down in their luck (they lost one or more of their largest clients or their ‘full-service’ positioning’ isn’t very distinctive) to psyched newbies that are working on honing their sales proposition and developing efficient processes.

As someone who has seen agencies come, go big and then fade over the years, it is instructive to be able to look under the hoods of a lot of ad and digital agencies. The up close examination is interesting / often exciting / occasionally sad but always thought provoking as advertising people are very articulate when it comes to discussing the honest state of their business. Well, to me. Maybe, not to the other owner down the street.

Some Ad Agency Issues

I hear about a few universal issues that many agencies have to deal with and I try to help my agency clients navigate these issues and leverage industry trends (that means: what clients want from an agency) to help agency owners and managers build smarter agency sales propositions, business development systems (that they will actually maintain) and tactical uses of inbound and outbound marketing.

Here are some of the more general (decelerating) issues we discuss.

Agency Positioning: Yes, that one. I have been writing about agency brand positioning for a while and you might be interested in my in-depth article “How To Position An Ad Agency”. The primary issues I see are generally concerned with the fact that most agencies do not clearly express what they are today or… haven’t done the deep thinking, homework and client need market research to create a competitive positioning that will attract the clients they want. Agency ‘sameness’ is a big problem. Many agency owners cannot seem to get past the fear of having a narrow positioning that will actually set them apart. They want to be ready to handle every possible account and project. This everything-for-every-client approach dilutes having a distinctive sales proposition.

Agency Messaging: Once an agency has a competitive positioning they need to build a messaging system to deliver it. Most agencies (see these numbers as proof) do not have a systematic approach to how the craft messaging that supports their brand position. They also seem to fear being to bold and don’t subscribe to the use of chutzpah. Need an example? Look at how London Advertising supports their very clear and benefit-oriented brand positioning with a video and a unique way to express their strategy via their case histories. Here is their ‘One Idea’ proposition (note that they were named Agency of The Year by The Drum.)

LONDON is an international advertising agency built for today. We create One Brilliant Idea that can work in any media, anywhere in the world. This has been proven to deliver the highest possible return
on investment.

The Agency Website: Since most agencies are always in the mode of wanting to redesign their website, isolating the issue of agency websites that don’t SELL is easy. There are many reasons that agency websites do not work as hard as they should. Here are just a couple. The website does not tell the visitor what that agency does and can deliver in its allotted six seconds (that is usually all the time you’ll get to capture the attention of a busy client prospect); the website does not sell agency thinking or even the work via smart cases or well-crafted thought leadership that prove that the agency can get the job done for today’s skittish clients; and, the agency does not deliver any compelling sense of who they are… that means that the website does not build any interpersonal chemistry between the agency and the visitor. This is critical: try some video instead of lots of copy. Speaking of video, have you tried Wistia yet? From their website: “Wistia provides professional video hosting with amazing viewer analytics, HD video delivery, and marketing tools to help understand your visitors.”

Outbound Marketing: Failures in outbound marketing include not having created a list of potential clients (or even client categories); no CRM system to keep the program moving forward; no scheduled outreach; and… a fear of cold calling. Note, I agree with fear of cold calling. That’s why I promote the use of ‘Warm Calling’. That means, give the clients the ideas and insights they need and want to warm them up and then make the call.

Inbound Marketing: This is a head scratcher for me. The great majority of agencies do not seem to know how to do inbound marketing. Many agency blogs look like the agency didn’t write a creative brief that clearly states their blog’s objectives including an understanding of what clients they want to reach — or in the case of all inbound programs, the agency wants to have find the agency via smart SEO and guest posting, etc. I could go on to the fact that agencies do not seem to use simple marketing calendars to mange their content programs but I will stop here. Frankly, in many cases, there simply too many missed opportunities. I think a key reason for this missed opportunity is that some agency CEO’s don’t actually understand inbound marketing and the art of content creation. it works. After all, you found me.

One more big issue:

No Business Development Plan: I’ve saved the best for last. An agency cannot solve any of these issues without having a master business development plan that details objectives and strategies. Even a two-pager would help.

Need help getting unbound? Vito can help.

I know that I can help you solve the problems that might be holding your agency back. Give me a call and take me up on my Corleone offer.

Ad Agency New Business – How To Win The Client

Peter · February 9, 2015 · Leave a Comment

You Can’t Win At Ad Agency New BusinessWithout Understanding What Clients Want – Not As Easy As It Sounds.

What is the second sweetest sound in ad agency new business?

Its the sound of prospective client on the other side of an email or phone call (remember those?) that tells you that you are on the short (or most shortest list) for a sexy project, or better yet, their AOR assignment.

You put the phone or Mac down and you say your equivalent for ‘sweeeeet!.”

By the way, the first sweetest sound is… You’ve won.

Back to reality. OK, now what?

(FYI: This blog post is an excerpt from my new book on pitching and presenting, see the ** below.)

After you have covered the basics with your team, it’s time to start to begin to craft the presentation outline (hopefully you are past a go-fishing RFP) via a deep dive into this client’s head.

From a pure sales perspective, this is the hottest type of new business lead your ad agency will ever get. This client is motivated and has been thinking about their needs for a while. They have put in the time to launch their process. They are very serious. They asked you to participate and want to like you.

Empathy please. Agency selection is hard work for clients. They know that poor decisions at the beginning of the pitch process will lead to selecting the wrong agency and will therefore cost time, money and possibly delay the market share gains they need. CMOs want to look like they are making the right decisions. New CMO’s need to look sharp fast.

[Read more…] about Ad Agency New Business – How To Win The Client

How To Predict An Advertising Agency Search

Peter · January 28, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Can You Predict When A Client Will Search For A New Advertising Agency?

A friend who ran an advertising agency in L.A. once told me that he made at least five ‘warm calls’ every week to prospective clients. This agency CEO was gregarious, had a great rap about advertising trends that clients liked to hear and he was very smart. He knew that on any given day, a few clients woke up thinking that they needed a new agency to replace their AOR or to hand out a project. He just wanted to be on the client’s radar when that day happened.

Clearly, not all agency CEO’s can or will make these calls. Though, sales pressure applied with TLC does work for some.

Another way to get ahead of the search process is to use a business development database and news tool like Access Confidential. To get a better understanding of Access Confidential and their pitch that they can help agencies know about a new business pitch before the other agencies, I interviewed Lisa Colantuono, a partner at the highly successful agency search consultancy AAR and a contributor to my book on pitching. I posted this interview on HubSpot’s Agency Post. Here is my lead-in.

Another Holy Grail (can there be more than one?) is being able to predict when a client is unhappy with their current agency and is getting ready to begin the search process. This is a tough one, so I searched to see if there was any existing advice on being able to predict when a client is about to search for a new agency. My quest led me to Access Confidential.

Access Confidential is an online new business tool from AAR Partners, a leading agency search consultancy with a history of conducting more than 1,500 searches. Access Confidential includes an up-to-date client database, business news, and a research hotline, and it is used to forecast when clients will look for a new agency.

I also asked Lisa about the current new business landscape. Here is the Q&A.

What do you think is the biggest or fastest-growing client need as we move into 2015?

Innovation with an eye toward creating purposed-based brands.

Successful agencies will help identify emotional values in their client’s brands and use them for real-time engagement and meaningful positioning. Consumers are going to continue to have influence over brands. Agencies that help marketers to embrace it will succeed. You can boil this down to the need to turn big data (and the overwhelming amount of data) into core brand insights for marketers, which will remain as an asset. Analytics and programmatic and real-time buying, as well as social command centers to keep an ear to the ground on what’s trending, are all important tools to offer a client. But the greatest tool will be the interpretation of the data.

Ah, innovation.