Pitching

An Advertising, PR, Marketing, SEO, Design & Sales Listicle

Peter · July 9, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Advertising, Marketing, Design Tool Freak Listicle Lovers Unite

I am starting to see lots of lists (OK, listicles) of tools for marketers and advertising folks. I love these lists because a real human being has curated the list so I don’t have to spend hours Googling the marketing world. Curation is a good thing. Lists are a good thing. I like humans more than algorythms.

Here Are Three Favorite Marketing Tools Lists

Um, yes, this list itself is a mini-list.

MAQTOOB

As of today, MAQTOOB lists 1,482 tools that cover 112 categories. Here’s what they say:

We want to help you with one single thing. Being your own boss and having control of your own time and money. That’s it. You will find here the best available tools to start and grow your business. If not, let us know what’s missing, or help other entrepreneurs by sharing your feedback…So we can all make a difference.

How about 43 website builders? 79 design resources? 7 ways to make infographics?

Freebie Supply

Ali Mese is one of the smarter self-marketers out there. His looong list that covers: Business, Marketing, Design & Code, Productivity and Learn is made for you Ms. marketer / advertising person / designer and on. Here’s what he says:

I’m a freelance marketer and blogger.

Storytelling, entrepreneurship, and wandering pretty much summarize the things I am passionate about. Recently, I moved from Rome to amazing Singapore to explore Asian countries and learn more about their incredible cultures.

And…

Growth Supply is… my base for things like my newsletter and where I plan to place my side projects such as Freebie Supply.

Razorsocial

Ian Cleary’s Razorsocial is my go-to list of digital tools. His list covers 15 marketing categories. It is very list-like but also includes his words of wisdom (read the blog). The website and tutorials are oriented towards online marketers. He keeps the lists up to date and, if you follow him like I do, you will look smarter than the ad guy down the street. And, isn’t that a positive bene? What he says:

Are you struggling finding the time to be effective with social media and online marketing?

Finding it difficult to find the best online marketing tools and the best process to deliver results?

We are here to help you achieve better results and become more productive with online marketing using the best tools and technology.

We are not the strategy people, we are the tools and technology people.

Even more tools, especially ones that I think will work for advertising professionals are right here. Yes, you can use these to spy on Droga5.

What Your Ad Agency Can Learn From The Army

Peter · June 16, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Your Ad Agency Failed. Now What?

“Oh well” should never be the last thing you say when your ad agency failed to sell in an idea, a new advertising program or are at the losing end of a pitch for a new account.

“Oh well” simply isn’t good business. Advertising agencies need to have a process for evaluating what did not work (even what worked) in order to improve its business systems — including how to pitch ideas. I suggest that agencies consider using what the U.S. military calls, the After-Action Review (AAR). Here’s a definition from the Air Force:

An after-action review (AAR) is a professional discussion of an event, focused on performance standards, that enables soldiers to discover for themselves what happened, why it happened, and how to sustain strengths and improve on weaknesses. It is a tool leaders and units can use to get maximum benefit from every mission or task.

Stop Failing… The Ad Agency After-Action Review

A Deep Look At Advertising Agency Compensation

Peter · June 10, 2015 · Leave a Comment

A Down Under Look At Advertising Agency Compensation.

Here is some real fine thinking on the ‘art’ of advertising agency compensation from my book on pitching and presenting: The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches. Do yourself, and even me, a favor and buy the book right HERE.

For a very experienced expert opinion on compensation (or as the down unders say: remuneration), I turned to Darren Woolley, Manging Director of Australia’s TrinityP3 for his views on something of great import for agency CEO’s that often wake up in the middle of the night screaming…

“Show me the money.”

FYI: Darren is one of 20 advertising search agency consultants in the book that offered their perspective on what agencies do right and wrong when pitching for new business.

TrinityP3.

Trinity P3 is an independent strategic marketing management consultancy based in Melbourne, Australia. Trinity P3 works across continents and has 40 of Australia’s top 100 advertisers using its services. The company assists marketers, advertisers, and procurement with agency search & selection, agency engagement & alignment, and agency monitoring & benchmarking to ensure maximum performance in efficiency and effectiveness of their advertising and marketing budgets.

Darren started as a scientist, got into advertising as a copywriter, and ended up a creative director. After 15 years in advertising, he realized when marketers and their agencies work well together, amazing things happen. He established TrinityP3 in 2000 as an independent marketing management consulting company that provides marketers and advertisers with benchmarks, training, and advice on how to maximize the value of their marketing budgets.

Regardless of your word choice (and you will see that it is important), how agencies get paid and then make a profit needs to be considered during the agency selection process. Too often agencies wait until they win an account to find out if the account will be profitable.

PL: You work across Asia. Are agencies compensated differently in each country? Is Asia different than Europe or the U.S.?

Darren: The basic methodologies for agency compensation are the same. The application varies across various markets due to culture and government legislation. As you may know, in Brazil, media and creative are legislated to remain together, and the commission system therefore continues to dominate. In India, the commission system is also more common than other markets. But increasingly, the dominant model is the resource-based model as either a retainer or project basis.

The other big difference is the term used. In the UK, and markets previously colonized by the UK, it is called remuneration. While US and US influenced markets call it compensation. While many think the two are synonyms, the fact is they reflect different philosophies. To compensate is to make good for damage or loss. While to remunerate, is to reward for output of effort. To provide the difference, you would never say, “The middle-aged executive purchased a new sports car to remunerate for his flagging libido.”, would you?

But I think that the use of each reflects a very different underlying philosophy to the payment of agencies for their services and efforts.

PL: What compensation systems are your advertiser clients using?

Darren: The majority of clients are moving to or sticking to a resource based model using direct salary costs multiplied by the overhead and profit multiple, and divided by the number of annual billable hours in the year. In fact, it is so common that we created a smartphone business app that calculates the cost of resource per hour using this approach or can calculate the salaries from the hourly rate. It is called the TrinityP3 Resource Rate Calculator and is available in all smartphone app stores. This is not an ad, as the app is free.

Do Your Advertising Agency Presentations KISS?

Peter · April 21, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Use The Power Of KISS In Your Advertising Agency Presentations

Here is an excerpt on KISS – the art and power of simplicity – from my book on ad agency pitching and presentation management. The whole 249-page advice-rich book can be bought at Amazon. Right here.

KISS

KISS — Keep It Simple Stupid — works.

A jam-packed presentation loaded with agency credentials, too many ideas, too many presenters and a dozen creative executions that cover every issue the client has or might ever have in their lifetime, will not help you win. The client will be overwhelmed, and even worse, you won’t be able to build personal rapport and all important interpersonal chemistry. The client, especially the client that has to sit through four other agency presentations, could even go into deep REM sleep. I have seen it happen.they won’t leave the room hearing or remembering your agency’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Think of it this way:

An over-built presentation could also result in their leaving the room without hearing or remembering your agency’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Think of it this way:

CMO + REM + No memorable USP = No Sale.

I truly want to think that an agency could walk into a pitch meeting room and just present one concise insight that leads to one brilliant advertising idea that leads to one mind-blowing execution that leads to the client decision maker saying “I love you, I need you, where’s the contract?” But I am not that crazy. Or am I?

Keep these super KISS Moments in mind.

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was only 272 words long.

Churchill is famously known for his request for brevity in cabinet documents.

M&C Saatchi recognizes that in today’s digital-overload world, where people have the attention span of butterflies, getting even one point across and being remembered for it is golden. In M&C Saatchi parlance, ‘Brutal Simplicity’ rules. They’ve won clients behind this message.

Conversely, we’ve all sat through State Of The Union addresses that are so jam-packed that we don’t remember anything. Clinton’s 2000 speech was 2 hours, 28 minutes and 49 seconds long. What do you remember him saying that night?

A KISS Tip:

Of course, you can use all the time the client has given you to deliver your presentation. But that does not mean that you need to overwhelm them with detail about your thinking and and agency factoids..

Think Like Martin Luther King & Johnny Cochrane

Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech was only 17 minutes long and included the key (as in easy to remember) line “I have a dream.”

Johnny Cochrane understood tactical brevity when he helped O.J. Simpson with the line, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

You are in advertising and study culture. Think like a preacher, lawyer or even a skilled headline copywriter who knows the power of a concise headline. Think of the power of Apple’s simple tagline that delivered this highly competitive message: “Think Different”.

In the case of ad agency presentations… thinking different can be all about keeping it all a little bit bit simpler.

Ad Agency New Business Conferences

Peter · April 3, 2015 · Leave a Comment

I am going to be speaking about ad agency new business, how to attract the attention of the right clients and how to win the pitch at a couple of ad agency new business conferences.

I’ll be in Miami in late April for AHAA’s annual conference. AHAA is the association of Hispanic ad agencies.

I’ll head north in May to speak to the membership of Canada’s ICA, the Institute of Advertising Agencies.

This Conference Is For You

I’ll be a speaker at Michael Gass’s Fuel Lines New Business Conference 2015 in Nashville in October. Michael has assembled a fine cast of speakers that will, without question, spark business building ideas and, more importantly, action plans.

Registration is now open and there is an early bird deal. As the website says, “Super Early Tickets are available for $650 until May 1st, a $300 savings!.’ from this link:

The conference website… Scroll down on that site to see the venue (very cool) and speakers.

Agenda

Inspiring insights, top-notch sessions from the best and brightest new business thought leaders with a laser focus on the NEW drivers of business development. It’s now more important to be found than to chase new business.

Who Should Attend

This premiere two-day conference will include everything needed to create new business success for advertising, digital, media and PR agencies.

If you are charged with developing a new business program for your agency, this conference is for you.

For a more personal experience, the conference is limited to the first 200 registrants. This will allow for greater access to speakers, sponsors, partners, networking opportunities and a greater sense of community.

I hope to see you in the land of bourbon.