Fueling Ad Agency New Business
If I were the owner of an advertising, digital or media agency, to build my agency’s brand, I would WRITE! This isn’t a new discovery for me. Since the beginning, I’ve written my way into a thriving new business consultancy. My blog provides a consistent flow of inbound leads. I’ve never had to make […]
How to create a predictable pipeline of leads through inbound marketing. You want to attract new clients from outside of your current sphere of influence, spend less time on unqualified prospects, avoid client reviews, and build a predictable pipeline of targeted accounts. And you can accomplish everything on this wish list with blogging. But there’s one problem: […]
Prospective clients shouldn’t hire a marketing agency that can’t market themselves. I wanted to share some excerpts of an interview conducted by Jami Oetting, content strategist for Agency Post, an online publication for agency professionals. The subject of the interview is Douglas Burdett, former artillery officer, Madison Avenue ad man, stand-up comedian and the principal of […]
A perfect platform for new business. For over ten years I’ve prescribed creating a niche blog for agency new business and have helped create over 200 personal blogs for agency principals. A personal blog can provide small to midsize agency owners with a perfect platform to create positioning of expertise and appeal to a very specific […]
LinkedIn has become an ideal platform to strengthen your professional identity by sharing your insights and expertise. When I first started using LinkedIn, it was primarily a place to post your resume and get a job or research prospective clients. It has now become much more. “LinkedIn is opening up our publishing platform to our members, […]
A SMALL agency won BIG business through a strategic content marketing strategy. Despite their tradition with print-based content marketing, advertising agencies are struggling to understand and convert their content-marketing efforts into actual new business success. Why? Most are doing it wrong. Though many agencies now maintain blogs, the content usually highlights things like awards, hires and client […]
Content marketing is the fuel for an inbound marketing strategy for new business, if done the right way. It is now one of the most effective tactics to attract prospective clients, build their trust and gain a positioning of expertise. According to a research report by DemandGen, from a B2B buyer survey, 82% of surveyed senior […]
Timing is critical when it comes to engaging with your social media audience. To increase the Click-Through-Rate of your article links and boot your website traffic, you need to be posting and tweeting at the best times. Figuring out the best times to post, you’ll need to consider such as the time zones where your best prospects […]
There is a higher degree of trust from prospects when they are reading content from credible, third-party experts. The ability to easily access information from a variety of online sources has fundamentally changed the way prospects research advertising, digital, media and PR agencies and, ultimately, is how they choose their marketing partner(s). Instead of chasing business, it’s now more important […]
A framework for writing meaningful, properly constructed and search engine optimized posts will allow you to write faster and more effectively. I’ve known of Michael and his work in helping creative firms improve lead generation through social media for a few years now (I finally met him earlier this year) but recently I started to get […]
From my experience, most agencies finally got on board with social media in 2010. They created their agency’s blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram accounts and jumped in.
70% of marketers report that social media marketing delivers poor or average return on investment.
Many agencies thought that by merely having a social media presence, it would give them social media credibility.… Continue reading
Agency life is chaotic. Too much to do; to little time. The answer to this problem is to work smarter not harder by creating SYSTEMS for new business.
A system is a set of detailed methods, procedures and routines created to carry out a specific activity, perform a duty, or solve a repeated business issue.
Business development doesn’t have to be so difficult.… Continue reading
When you have the right positioning it’s like fishing for a specific fish with a particular bait. You know where the fish are, what bait is appealing to them, the right equipment to use and you have developed the expertise to catch the real trophies.
… Continue reading“By appealing to everyone, brands end up appealing to no one. Standing for everything is the same as standing for nothing.”
My advertising career had been spent working in only two markets, outside of Birmingham, Alabama and Nashville, Tennessee, I had zero awareness. Little did I know that I was about to start my new business at the beginning of one of the longest economic downturns since the Great Depression.… Continue reading
If timing is everything, then Ideasicleˣ is the poster child. Just when the world closes down due to Covid-19, a platform arrives that helps accelerate creativity through remote work. I was intrigued enough with the concept, particularly as a new business idea machine, to reach out to its founder, Will Burns, to learn more about it.
… Continue reading“What the world needs now are ideas. Lots and lots of ideas.”
No one opens an advertising agency because they have a passion for sales. That’s why many agencies only have one dedicated new business specialist or include it in the laundry list of owner responsibilities. By not prioritizing additional revenue opportunities, it only gets done when work is slow or the worst happens.
Maybe your biggest client leaves and now a significant chunk of your annual revenue is gone.… Continue reading
I’ve been working from home for almost thirteen years, but many of you are working from home for the first time. You’re having to adjust to a new work environment that includes kids, spouses, and pets. You’re probably having to develop new skills to successfully work remotely. The last thing you’re probably thinking about is new business.
But just because your environment has changed, doesn’t mean your commitment to growing your agency should change.… Continue reading
This is a guest article written by John Paul Strong, the owner of the Birmingham-based advertising agency, Strong Automotive Merchandising. John Paul has developed a very robust onboarding process that I wanted him to share with you.
Their original roster of 10 employees and eight clients has exploded today, growing to more than 115 full-time employees and 250 automotive dealers. And it hasn’t gone without notice. Strong Automotive Merchandising has been recognized as a perennial winner in Birmingham’s Best Places to Work contest and as a Top 20 Agency among Google’s National Ad Partners.… Continue reading
I read an insightful article on why the focus of a company’s (agency’s) business strategy should not be upon its competitors. The article was written by Gabor George Burt, internationally recognized expert on innovation, creativity and strategy development, and the author of the book, Slingshot.
Burt states,
… Continue reading“In today’s marketplace, I would argue that doing something unprecedented is not just adventurous but imperative … eliminating competition by trying to beat it is dangerously shortsighted.
Many small to midsize agencies have not addressed positioning because of either procrastination or, more likely, their unwillingness to make the difficult business decisions.
… Continue reading“Contrary to common belief, all agencies have pretty much the same basic capabilities, and processes. They all claim to have proprietary tools, and they may have different labels for what they do, but the approach is essentially the same at big or small agencies.”
Michael Gass, Business Development Consultant | Speaker | Author of Fuel Lines
Fuel Lines provides new business resources for Advertising, Digital, Media and PR Agencies.
It has been rated among the top 100 marketing blogs in the world, according to Ad Age’s Power 150.
Since 2007, Michael has helped pioneer the use of social media, inbound and content marketing strategies specifically for agency new business.
Read more about Michael
An essential component to your agency's new business program is a prospective client data base.
In my opinion one of the most accurate online database of marketing and advertising decision makers is Winmo. I highly recommend them.
I'm Michael Gass, I'm an author, speaker and a new business consultant to advertising, digital, media and PR agencies.
Since 2007, I have helped pioneer the use of social media, inbound and content marketing strategies specifically for agency new business.
Fuel Lines is my social media 'home-base. It has been ranked among the top 100 marketing blogs in the world, according to Advertising Age’s, The Power 150.
Learn more about me