If you are either looking to start your own agency or restructure your existing firm, Paul Roetzer’s book, The Marketing Agency Blueprint, will be a big help.
Paul is a small agency owner. He is the founder and CEO of PR 20/20 established in 2004. He has built an incredible national and international awareness and appeal for his agency’s new business using social media and inbound marketing. PR 20/20 was also the industry’s first provider of standardized services and set pricing and grew revenue nearly 500 percent in just four years.
Paul’s success led to the writing of his book and speaking opportunities nationwide. As a fellow speaker, I had the privilege of meeting him in person at Hubspot’s Inbound 2012 Conference in Boston, a gathering of over 2,800 inbound marketers from around the globe.
The Marketing Agency Blueprint is more about how to lay the foundation than actually building the house.
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” – Henry David Thoreau
The most essential part of structuring a successful agency is establishing the right foundation which provides the support for the entire structure. A lot of your agency’s new business success rests on how well you build the base that supports the weight of the entire agency. Every part of your agency depends upon the foundation for support. Paul’s book provides a blueprint for setting the vision and foundational building blocks for your agency.
Positioning is Foundational to any new business program.
Your positioning is how you will sell the agency. It is also how you will identify your target audience and create a stronger point of differentiation from your competitors. It is how you create awareness, appeal and get positioned as an expert. Positioning provides focus for your continuing education what conferences and seminars to attend, what books, periodicals and other publications you should be reading. It even helps you to know who to hire.
You will find Paul’s book to be a helpful repositioning tool for any established agencies and a positioning tool for startups.
A Paradigm Shift
Paul discusses a paradigm shift to the industry that has taken place and three primary reasons agencies are having to evolve:
- Change velocity: The rate of change is now accelerating at an incredible pace due to advanced technology and innovation.
- Selective Consumption: Consumers now control when and where they will choose to interact with brands. Brands have lost control, but have a greater opportunity of gaining loyalty. Agencies need to to be structured to deliver the types of services that allow clients to get found and drive buying decisions.
- New Success Factors: In the past, agencies got by on meaningless metrics. Things like PR Value, ad equivalency, media impressions, etc. These were things that didn’t necessarily affect the bottom line. Now agencies have the ability, through the advances in technology, to better monitor the results of their efforts and connect to end goal of driving sales.
Paul further describes this new paradigm shift and its impact:
- “The industry will be redefined by marketing agencies that are more nimble, tech savvy, open, and collaborative. Digital services will be ingrained in the DNA of every agency, and blended with traditional methods to execute integrated campaigns.
- Agencies will create and nurture diverse recurring revenue streams through a mix of services, consulting, training, education, publishing, and software sales.
- They will use efficiency and productivity, not billable hours, as the essential drivers of profitability. Their value and success will be measured in outcomes, not outputs.
- Their strength and stability will depend on their willingness to be in a perpetual state of change, and ability to execute and adapt faster than their competitors. The depth, versatility, and drive of their talent will be the cornerstones of organizations that pursue a higher purpose.”
The book is built around 10 “foundational” rules for building a modern/hybrid marketing agency.
“The Marketing Agency Blueprint presents 10 rules for building tech-savvy, hybrid agencies that are more efficient, influential, and profitable than traditional firms, and, most importantly, are capable of delivering greater results for clients”
Here are Paul’s 10 lessons to help your agency accelerate it’s transformation for unparalleled opportunities to transform, disrupt and thrive:
- Inefficiency is the enemy of success.
- A real-time world demands real-time agencies.
- Talent cannot be replicated.
- The best plan is to prepare for perpetual change.
- Doing is the key to differentiation.
- Everything is sales.
- All clients are not created equal.
- Never hesitate to head in a direction that others seem to fear.
- An agency’s value is measured in outcomes, not outputs.
- It is purpose, not profits, which define an agency.
Paul has practiced what he preaches providing personal examples and tips from his own experience that will help grow your agency. I highly recommend his book to you.
For additional information and reviews of this book, click on the following link:
One of Paul’s favorite quotes, that helped to drive his philosophy, is from Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media:
“Create more value than you capture.”
Paul provides an added value to his book with supporting resources you will find at www.MarketingAgencyInsider.com.
You can also gain great insights by connecting with Paul directly on Twitter @paulroetzer
Additional articles that may be of interest:
- 20 Top Inbound Marketing Resources for the Paradigm Shift in Ad Agency New Business
- Pew Research, Ad Agencies and The Future of Mobile
- 25 Ways to Be Found for Ad Agency New Business
- Blair Enns: 12 Revolutionary Proclamations for Ad Agency New Business
- Ad Agencies: 6 Social Media Steps That Changed Client Perception
- Ad Agency Compensation: The biggest frustration of CMOs
