It’s interesting to note that in the preliminary results of the first 200+ agencies that have participated in our 2008 Agency New Business Survey, most are still dependent upon traditional tools to obtain new business.
In the trenches, helping agencies with their new business, I’m of the opinion that social media is changing the way new business is being acquired. Jason Baer, digital consultant to small and midsize ad agencies reports that one of his clients, Off Madison Avenue, a full service ad agency in Arizona, is using these techniques and reports five solid inbound leads a day from their search marketing, blog, email newsletter and Webinar series.
What about your agency:
- What are your most effective new business tactics? u
- Is obtaining new business easier or harder?
- If harder, what is the number one reason why?
Answer these and other questions to help identify leading trends for agency new business by taking the 2008 Ad Agency New Business Survey. We’ll share the results with you as soon as the survey is completed.
Wow. Five new solid inbound leads – that’s fantastic. What is the conversion on these leads do we know?
Shailesh, Jason Baer can provide that information for you. You can email him at Jason
(jason at convinceandconvert dot com)
Jason’s statement “In the trenches, helping agencies with their new business, I’m of the opinion that Web 2.0 tools are the most effective” is exactly what it is, and opinion. Yes they are very effective, but they are not the only new business channel of marketing.
With new business, you should be utilizing many channels promote your agency, from social media to search to consultants to networking to PR, etc. But, if you find that magical “rhythm” that works for your new bus team, keeping working it. Jason, I’d be curious how many of those wins from OffMadisonAvenue are Fortune 500 or 1000 clients? Or are they more small business organizations with modest budgets, just curious. That might be OMA’s target audience, and ideal for their situation.
Greg
We find that social media is a lot less a direct referral business tactic for our agency, as it is a way to stay on top of trends, participate in important discussions around issues affecting our industry (healthcare), and being relevant to our clients. Most importantly, however, i personally think that participating in “social media” and experimenting with and leveraging new technology tools enables us to be credible when the time comes to actually discuss how these tools could be deployed for our clients. I couldnt agree more that social media is critical to ad agency business, but sometimes it’s not just about a direct lead… There are many other important hard and soft metrics we should be looking at to measure how it helps grow our business. One of those metrics that most companies seem to often overlook has to do with staying relevant. It’s hard to measure how much “bleeding” agencies stop, but i am certain that agencies that don’t leverage SM in one way or the other are looking at near-term extinction.
Fabio,
Well said. I’ve stated often, it has been well worth all of the time I’ve spent in social media just for the personal and professional benefit it has brought to my life. I have two graduate degrees but nothing has impacted me professionally as much as my involvement with social media. It is definitely the best way to stay relevant.