A recent article by Blair Enns has re-ginited an age-old question: should agencies be re-inventing themselves? My answer is that question is -- of course. But this isn't a new business development strategy. Agencies have been re-inventing themselves since they started. Grants, the pace is very different but how an agency works and how it sells [...]
The day to day functions of an agency can be both thrilling and chaotic. And when you’re in the heat of the moment, it’s often easy to forget to revisit your long term plans and strategies. And more so, those long term strategies are often kept in the executive suite. But how can you expect [...]
If you're frustrated with the attitude permeating your agency, I'd like to remind you that your agency's morale begins with you. You must improve your own attitude before you begin to improve employee morale. I get it. I've owned my agency for almost 20 years and I'd had more than my share of sleepless nights. The [...]
I work with over 200 agencies a year and the ones who are really crushing their AGI goals are the ones who have blended digital and PR into their shops. The addition of PR into a traditional ad shop (even one who has made the leap to digital) brings all kinds of new revenue opportunities [...]
Hiring the right employee is always the goal -- but so often -- not the reality. Many agency owners particularly suck at hiring. Worse than not hiring the right employee -- agency owners suck at firing the wrong ones. If there's one universal flaw among agency owners it's that they hang onto bad employees much longer [...]
Looking for tips on advertising agency management? Look no further. I just attended a Disney Institute event where I was reminded of Walt Disney's business philosophy. I am paraphrasing here, but basically Walt said, "If you take good care of your employees, they'll take good care of your customers. And that takes good care of [...]
There are a small handful of advertising agency consultants out there and each of us serves our clients a little differently. I thought it might be helpful for you to see our ad agency structure and how we define the role in our work with small to mid-sized agencies. An advertising agency consultant is: 1) [...]
We’ve talked about the advertising industry’s love for gross billings. But again, gross billings is a misleading metric. So much of your result is impacted by the kind of services you’re offering your client and what the cost of goods for those services is. Clearly we need to find a better way to monitor and [...]
Many people dream of starting their own businesses. Making the transition from a corporate to small business environment can either seem deceptively simple, or can feel like you’re the only one speaking a language you understand. Assuming that processes and communication styles can transition from one to the other is setting yourself up for failure. [...]
Are you the kind of person who is better at solving someone else’s problems than your own? Do you see the same pattern in your agency? Do your clients get the benefit of strategy and planning and yet you can’t seem to find the time to give your own company the same focus? You’re not [...]
