Archives for May 2010

How Can I Make FUEL LINES More Useful for You?

FUEL LINES was started to help small-to midsize ad agencies, interactive agencies and PR firms with their new business practices. New Business tips, tools, tactics and trends that help give them a differentiating strategy, a competitive advantage, a higher-profile reputation, and an improved ability to attract and win the kind of clients  they really want.

Following the writing of my 500th post and closing in on my third anniversary for FUEL LINES,  I ask for your input on how I can make this blog more useful to you?… Continue reading

Filed Under: Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Fuel for Thought Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Ad Agency New Business is Driven to Distraction

focus for ad agency new business

If you want to EXPAND your agency, NARROW your FOCUS.

Most small to mid-size ad agencies seem to be suffering from ADHD. They have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when it comes to new business. There may be lots of hyperactivity but most of that activity is unfocused.

In turbulent times … the natural response is to try  and “be everything to everybody.” To appeal to more clients seems like common sense, but it’s exactly the wrong growth strategy.… Continue reading

Filed Under: Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Tips Tagged With: , , ,

Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing for Ad Agency New Business

I believe there has been a paradigm shift that has had permanent impact upon ad agency new business.

My epiphany came in January of 2008 when I was reading a CMO Study that stated, 80% of CMOs surveyed found their vendors not the other way around. That stat impressed upon me the shifting importance from chasing new business to “getting found” by your target audience. People are much more in control of what information they receive and how they receive it.… Continue reading

Filed Under: Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, Social Media

Outlook Report 2010: The Great Recession and Ad Agency New Business

ad agency new business outlook

Advertising and PR agencies have lost 65,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of the pre-recession total and will lose even more within five years.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls it “the worst financial crisis in modern history.” His predecessor, Alan Greenspan, says it was “the most virulent global financial crisis ever.” The resulting recession was longer and deeper than any the U.S. has suffered since World War II.

On hopefully the heels of The Great Recession, my good friend, David Deal sent me the new sixth annual Razorfish Outlook Report 2010, it suggests the economic recession is subsiding.… Continue reading

Filed Under: Agency Leadership, New Business Trends, Research Tagged With: , , ,

10 Twitter Networking Tips for Ad Agency New Business

10 twitter tips for ad agency new business

Get more out of Twitter and generate inbound leads for your agency’s new business by creating a personal network of prospective clients.

I didn’t quite know what to do with Twitter in the beginning until I read an article from Angela Maiers, educator, author, blogger who now leads Maier Educational Services. Angela developed a simple Twitter Engagement Formula that provides purpose and direction for her participation. She calls it the 70-20-10 Formula. My formula for using Twitter has evolved differently from hers but it provided a great example on how to get started.

… Continue reading
Filed Under: Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Ad Agency CEOs: Social Media Philosophy and Tips for New Business

 

These are my personal observations, opinions, philosophy and tips from my experience working with social media honed and refined through my personal use and my work with over 50 ad agencies, PR firms, interactive and design shops over the past  three years.

My work with social media, from the beginning, has been from a new business perspective to grow inbound lead generation and personal networks.

I’ve tried to develop the kind of practical new businesses processes, incorporating social media,  that make sense within the environments of small to mid-sized agencies to overcome a commonality of problems such as:

  • No primary target audience
  • No point of differentiation
  • No strong appeal
  • No time left to create a “consistent” new business pipeline

My philosophy and personal opinions for using social media for ad agency new business:

  • Social media “teaches” agencies to promote themselves the way they should have been doing new business all along; to lead with benefits instead of agency capabilities and credentials.
… Continue reading
Filed Under: Agency Blogs, Agency Branding, Agency Leadership, Best Practices, New Business Trends, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Ad Agency Blog of the Month: JaneNation.com

Out of a a group of 38 ad agencies blogs Jane Nation, was selected as Fuel Lines’s Blog of the Month Month for April capturing 42% of the votes casts.

Ninety-one percent of women feel misunderstood by advertisers, yet they influence 85 percent of all purchasing decisions.

Jane Nation was built to tap into the minds of females and includes blogs, forums, quizzes, polls, and other micro communities called sisterhoods. It was cleverly launched and is powered by St.… Continue reading

Filed Under: Agency Blogs, Agency Leadership, New Business Tactics, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Copyblogger: Content Marketing for Ad Agency New Business

Blogging has become a smart strategy to be found by your agency’s best prospects. Everyone has a desire to work with others that they know, like and trust. A blog provides a great way to network and generate new business leads, by plain written words designed to focus on the needs of your readers.

One of my favorite resources that has helped hone my online writing skills is Copyblogger.  This blog writing resource was founded in January of 2006 by Brian Clark.… Continue reading

Filed Under: Agency Blogs, Content Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Twitter Usage In America: 2010 Study and Ad Agency New Business


Twitter is one of the social media tools that can be used as tool for your agency’s social media marketing strategy to generate online traffic and a pipeline for new business leads.  Over the past 3 years the leading traffic generator to my blog has been Twitter.

Twitter Usage In America: 2010 is a new report derived from the Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Series. This report is derived from three years of tracking data on Twitter usage in the United States.… Continue reading

Filed Under: Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

JetBlue tests the social media credibility of ad agencies vying for its account

Social media recognizance could provide a significant advantage to your agency’s new business initiatives. Twitter, along with blogs, blog comments, and other social networks, is abundant with conversations that can give your agency a boost over your competition.

JetBlue Airways tested the social media credibility of ad agencies vying for the airline’s marketing account by tweeting. Ad Age’s Kunur Patel recently reported, in his article JetBlue Marketer to Agencies: Find Me on Twitter, wrote,

“One basic way agencies can demonstrate digital chops to a potential client?

… Continue reading
Filed Under: Agency Leadership, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,
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