Multitasking Kills Productivity and That’s Bad for New Business

Research shows that the more you multitask, the worse you are at it and that can be bad for ad agency new business. In some situations multitasking is deadly. I recently read of a well-known plastic surgeon who was killed when he accidentally drove his car over a cliff while sending a Twitter message about his […]

The number one reason ad agencies new business plans fail

discipline ad agency new business

Why new business plans tend to fail and what you can do about it. For ad agencies that have a new business plan, the majority fall short in its implementation. The reason? According to a poll conducted by Mirren Business Development , when asked “What is the primary reason new business plans fail?”, 57% responded that […]

Vacationing for Ad Agency New Business

Hopefully my personal experience can provide you with some ideas for you can keep your social media | new business program churning even while on vacation. As I was preparing to write this post, I noticed that Edward Boches, Mullen’s Chief Creative Office,  had disconnected for a short period from his social media activity and […]

7 Ways to Stay Connected for Ad Agency New Business

  Some simple tips to stay connected and be available for prospects while you are traveling.  Many agency CEOs and those charged with agency new business are traveling a lot these days. I just returned from an overseas trip and it was important for me to stay connected to my own social media new business […]

10 Tips to Create a Consistent Ad Agency New Business Program

10 tips ad agency new business

Your agency’s new business program must be sustainable at the times when your agency is at its busiest. Too often new business development is put on the back burner until existing business decreases and a downturn begins. That creates a roller coaster effect on your agency’s pipeline of prospects which impacts agency income and causes you to accept the wrong type of client, from the wrong pool of prospects which do not fit your agency’s strengths and core competencies.

Content Marketing: Reading Will Fuel Your Writing

reading fuels your writing for content marketing Michael Gass

Okay, I believe that content marketing can create significant traffic to my agency’s blog and generate inbound new business leads. But my main concern is that I wont have enough to write about that would be of interest to my audience. What should I do?

Recycling Older Posts and Articles for Ad Agency New Business

recycle older posts Michael Gass

Older posts and articles can still be recycled for ad agency new business. Keeping older content alive can also generate a tremendous return on your time investment. Some of the most helpful tips on blog writing I have found online from resources as old as 1996

7 Tips to Find Time for Ad Agency New Business

Your agency’s new business program must be sustainable at the times when your agency is at its busiest. Too often new business development is put on the back burner until existing business decreases and a downturn begins. That creates a roller coaster effect on your agency’s pipeline of prospects which impacts agency income and causes you to accept the wrong type of client, from the wrong pool of prospects who do not fit your agency’s strengths and core competencies.

Three Helpful Services Improves Ad Agency New Business

Ad agencies can’t wait six months to start generating leads. They need to new business now. To accelerate the time it takes for your online new business activities to begin producing, there are three services that I recommend:

A New Tool for Ad Agencies to Service Client’s Social Media?

Agencies need to track, measure and engage social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and others. The New Radian6 Engagement Console is a promising tool that equip your agency to listen, engage, and respond, in real time to conversations about your agency and your client’s brands.

Social Media Isn’t Working for Ad Agency New Business

social media and ad agency new business

 

If your agency’s social media participation isn’t developing new business leads, it’s important to know WHY. 

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

Ad Agencies Need Systems to Consistently Produce Leads

Systems for Ad Agency New Business

Believe it or not, most small to midsize agencies are not organized to consistently generate leads.

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

7 Benefits from the Right Positioning for Ad Agency New Business

seven benefits of ad agency positioning

The FOUNDATION of an ad agency’s new business program is its positioning.

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.

“By appealing to everyone, brands end up appealing to no one.  Standing for everything is the same as standing for nothing.” 

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How to Create Your Personal Brand Story for Ad Agency New Business

Michael Gass Ad Agency New Business

I’ve learned the importance of creating my personal brand story when I launched my own consultancy a decade ago. I had led new business for a number of advertising agencies before deciding to start my own consulting firm. This could have easily been one of the worst decisions of my life.

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

An Idea Platform for Ad Agency New Business

A New Business Idea Platform for Ad Agencies

Ideasicleˣ: The First Advertising SaaS Platform For Virtual Creativity.

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.

“What the world needs now are ideas. Lots and lots of ideas.”

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Panic is Not a Strategy for Ad Agency New Business

Panic is not strategy for ad agency new business

How to implement sales intelligence for agency growth.

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

Tips for Working from Home for Agency New Business

Home Office Ad Agency New Business

Your number one objective should be to maintain, if not increase, your engagement with prospects.

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

Great Onboarding: The Secret to 88% Employee Retention

employee retention ad agencies

How to cut employee turnover in half.

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

Change the Rules of Competition for Ad Agency New Business

Michael Gass Ad Agency new business

“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to step away from the shore” – Nobel Prize-winning author André Gide.

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,

“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.

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Positioning is the Foundation for Ad Agency New Business

positioning for ad agency new business

Without a differentiated position, new business is much harder than it needs to be. 

Many small to midsize agencies have not addressed positioning because of either procrastination or, more likely, their unwillingness to make the difficult business decisions.

“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.”

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