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The Unignorable Advertising Agency

Peter · May 23, 2016 · 1 Comment

The Unignorable Advertising Agency Wins New Clients

There are lots of ways to win a new account for your advertising agency. You get a referral (the default for many agencies); you have unique expertise (let’s say e-commerce); you are known as a specialist in a category or geography; you have a kick-ass thought leadership program that gets read and passed along; you are an SEO genius and are listed on page one for your Google keywords.

I’ll show you one more approach below.

An Unignorable List

But first, here’s a list of ways to avoid getting a prospective client’s positive attention. Even worse, some profound ways for you to be very very ignored.

Send them a one-off copy-heavy email and hope they respond.
Send them a series of emails about how wonderful your agency is (not them or their issues), and then hope they respond.
Find other special ways to bug the hell out of them. Multiple voicemail messages anyone?
Ensure that your agency sounds exactly like the other agencies trying to get the client’s attention. Here’s a list of me-too advertising agency positionings. Where are you on this list?
Make sure your agency’s website looks just like your competitor’s website. Similar jargon? WordPress templates, anyone?
Hope that the prospects will go on and on to find your position on Google that’s on page 4 of the listings for your competitive agency set.
Start, stop, start, stop, start your inbound and outbound business development program.
Make new business an “oh, we’ll get to that” proposition.

And on and on. I’ll stop so I won’t bore you. Or worse, scare you.

Maybe smarter… here is a way out.

Why Not Try Being Unignorably Creative?

Clients are smart. Clients get social media. Clients can produce their own content these days. Clients understand marketing (sort of). Even worse, many clients think they can bring all of that in-house.

But what they can’t do is be unignorably creative thinkers. Just can’t do that. Not in their DNA. Nope. But it’s in yours, and it is a major reason for your existence (unless you are just data marketing or apps geeks, etc.) and, if used intelligently — your creative secret sauce.

One of the ways that the leading (and famous) agencies get incoming new business inquiries is by being ‘unignorable‘ and you know the usual agency suspects because you hear about them every award season and read about them in AD AGE. The thing is that you know how to be famous too. Many in our industry are chasing technology when they should be chasing and proving their creativity. In the advertising industry, creativity breeds fame.

Chase Unignorable – Canada Style [Read more…] about The Unignorable Advertising Agency

Watch This Amazing Steve Jobs Talk On Advertising

Peter · May 9, 2016 · 3 Comments

I Thought That I Was Way Tired Of Steve Jobs And The Glory Days Of Apple Advertising

But…

I took a re-look at Apple’s 1997 Think Different TV commercial. You’ve seen it. Watch it again, please. Ads like this are why experienced advertising people from the olden days can (I stress “can”) get real sick about how the advertising industry spends more time thinking about content, programmatic buying, ads that follow you around for the rest of your freakin online life, how to squeeze ads that you don’t want on your phone and how to create brilliant Facebook ads. Oh, and lame click bait headlines like my, “Watch This Amazing Steve Jobs Talk On Advertising”.

OK, stuff it Peter. We’ve heard all of this before.

Just watch the commercial – again. Here’s a line from the spot… (And, then, more importantly, watch the next video.)

“Because the people who care enough about changing the world are the ones that do.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwXdGm89Tk

OK, BUT!

I’ll stop. But, not till you see this internal Apple meeting where Jobs discusses his vision for the company and introduces the ‘”new” Apple (after he returned from exile) and the new :60 Think Different TV spot. Job’s says the new TV commercial is:

“It’s about what we are. It touches the soul of the company.”

I admit it. I can’t control myself: When was the last time your client said that about your advertising? I know 1997 Jobs and Apple doesn’t represent our everyday advertising world reality and your client isn’t Steve Jobs.

But… please start to really want to have your clients get emotional when they see your ad ideas, not your invoice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMQhOm-Dqo

That’s it.

Oh, want your agency to Think Different? Call me. That’s what I do.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google & The Death Of Advertising

Peter · February 9, 2016 · 1 Comment

Does Advertising Still Work In The World Of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google?

According to Scott Galloway, professor of Marketing and Brand Strategy at the NYU Stern School of Business, “The Gang of Four” (Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon) and the new world of digital (I actually don’t know what to call user owned media anymore) are killing your advertising agency. Or, at least dramatically decreasing its effectiveness. Watch the video.

By the way, read to the bottom and see how Galloway helped me to grow my agency.

“Advertising is a tax that only poor people pay.”

Yup, he said this. You have some bucks. Do you watch ads unless you put on your agency “I better pay attention” hat? Do you use an ad blocker? Do you record TV shows and skip the ads? Would you rather pay a ‘Netflix tax’ to watch almost anything and avoid the ads? Yes or no, watch this video. Especially at the 3:00 mark where Galloway shows how advertising does not work (or as hard) as it used to, especially for CPG brands. And, of course, note the tepid valuation growth of WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic.

Back To Me.

Two things.

One: Pay attention to what’s happening in the macro business universe. Clients are and you need to tailor your sales message to overcome, or better yet, leverage what is happening to advertising today.

Two: OK, how did Galloway help me grow my agency? I stole a very Big idea from his L2. Go here and see what I mean at “An Irresistible New Business Sales Pitch.”. I’ve stolen other great ideas to my advantage. Give me a shout and I’ll show you what I mean.