Fueling Ad Agency New Business
Enter to win a ticket to a one-day regional workshop, co-sponsored by Fuel Lines Business Development and AAF Orlando. Here’s your opportunity to join Michael Gass on Friday, February 6, 2015, in Orlando, Florida for this ad agency workshop: A New Approach to New Business. The battle for new business has moved ONLINE. Interruptive type tactics such as cold […]
Speaking at events attended by your best prospects will provide you with instant credibility and create immediate new business opportunities. Public speaking is an excellent tactic for business development, particularly for small to midsize agency owners. Having the opportunity to speak in front of a highly targeted, interested group of prospects is the most effective form […]
Learn how to accelerate your agency’s positioning, inbound lead generation, network and referral business. Since 2007, I’ve conducted over 200 new business workshops for agencies in North and South America and Europe. No matter what country, I find there are some common problems when it comes to business development that makes it harder than it needs […]
Building an engaged online community should now be a core responsibility of business development. Inspiration for this article came from Duct Tape Marketing’s founder, John Jantsch, from his recent podcast interview with Jeffrey K. Rohrs, Vice President of Marketing Insights for ExactTarget, Jeffrey is also the author of AUDIENCE: Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans and Followers. […]
Given that 83% of human learning occurs visually, Pinterest has great potential for ad agency new business. Pinterest, a pinboard-style social photo sharing website, continues to create a lot of buzz as one of the hottest social media platforms since Twitter. This unique social media service attracts more than 1.5 million visitors a day and already […]
An infographic can be a great way for small to midsize ad agencies to communicate their unique position in the marketplace. Infographics is derived from two words: ‘information’ and ‘graphics’, and stands for the graphical representation of data and information. Why infographics for ad agency new business? Visually create a positioning for your agency – “A […]
It is absolutely essential that agencies have a plan for their new business development initiatives. I recently spoke to a group of ad agency owners. I was amazed to learn that none of them had a written new business plan. That’s inconceivable to me. If you have no plan you can’t measure what you’re doing, […]
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