Fueling Ad Agency New Business Through Social Media
I am a Bob Hoffman fan. I have read everything he has written, from his book The Ad Contrarian, to every ADWEEK and blog post article and now his new book, 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising.
Bob is the CEO of Hoffman/Lewis advertising located in San Francisco and St.… Continue reading
Social Media = transparency and you can’t be more transparent than ad agency CEO Bob Hoffman
Recently I was introduced to the blog, The Ad Contrarian, cranky opinions and advice from the CEO of a pretty big ad agency. Bob Hoffman the author is CEO of Hoffman/Lewis advertising in San Francisco and St. Louis. He is the author of the book by the same name, The Ad Contrarian. Bob has a growing following as one fan recently wrote, “Your no b.s., take-no-prisoners approach to our business is entertaining, informative, and spot-on…”
You see a personal side of Bob through his blog.… Continue reading
The best “tell-tale” sign that an agency is doing well is when they are having to fill staff positions due to new business. Bob Hoffman, CEO of Hoffman/Lewis Advertising in San Francisco sent me a heads-up on a new post he had written for his blog, The Ad Contrarian.
Instead of using a “head-hunter” Hoffman/Lewis Advertising is using Bob’s social media network to fill the following 12 positions:
Most ad agencies have an unfocused new business strategy. They try to be everything to everybody. Tim Williams, in a recent article titled, “Focus to Grow”, says,
“In turbulent times … The natural response is to “try a little bit of everything”; to expand your services, broaden your capabilities, and try to appeal to more clients. It seems like common sense, but it’s exactly the wrong response. The best growth strategy — in good economies or bad — is to decide what not to do.”
Tim sites these five benefits for the agencies that are willing to expand by narrowing their focus:
I was first introduced to Bob through the not so flattering AdAge article above. What the author viewed as a negative I saw as positive, particularly for an opportunity to generate new business for Bob’s agency.
Social media is suppose to be transparent, but Bob is beyond transparent.… Continue reading
Writing a book a book can put your agency on the map. It benefits new business.
When I started my blog I tried to be strategic and think further down the road. Surely there were ways to reuse the content. One of the ways that I identified was a book. I actually outlined a book prior to starting my blog and 290+ blog posts later I’m almost there.
I’ve identified 8 benefits to writing a book feel free to ad some of your own:
Here are a few of examples of agency principals that have written a book.… Continue reading
Social media provides such a great platform for collaboration. I’ve gained a lot of insight by listening and by engaging in online conversations particularly through my blog, Twitter. I love that it is still evolving and all of us are figuring it out as we go. I’m appreciative to the early social media adopters and for their continued influence within this new space. My interest in social media is from a communications, marketing and new business perspective.… Continue reading
These are my personal opinions, observations and tips that have been honed and refined over this past year. They are part of my overall philosophy of incorporating social media into an agency’s new business program.
Social media “teaches” agencies to promote themselves the way they should have been doing it all along. Agencies need a differentiated and appealing position to a particular target audience. The should always lead with the benefits to their target audience rather than agency capabilities.
Read more about me
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 The List. 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.
My social media 'home-base' is Fuel Lines, which in 3 years time grew into an influential business development blog and has been ranked among the top 100 marketing blogs in the world, according to Advertising Age’s, The Power 150.
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