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 [...]
I've been spending a lot of time with agency owners and their leadership teams over the past month or so, talking about agency metrics and strategic planning tools. I'm always a little surprised but in almost every instance, there is a missing component that gets in the way of the leadership team really working cohesively and [...]
We work hard to help our agency clients embrace thought leadership as a way to position themselves as a premiere choice among their competitors. Which means we need to walk our talk, eat our own dog food or whatever cliché you'd like to use to prove that it works. We're very grateful that many other [...]
Most agencies believe they don’t have an agency new business program. They say that they their business development strategy just relies on referrals and growing their current clients. And it’s working great. But they’re wrong. They do have one. Here’s how it works. Big client either fires them or notifies them that the account is going [...]
In this era of instant access to just about anything, clients are seeking out not only a good product but a personalized experience and human connection. Mass produced options may be convenient for customers and cost effective for corporations, but with so many more options available via the internet and reinforced in social media, the [...]
Some interesting stats on this infographic created by Levelwing.com. They tell quite a story. How close to your story is it?
I talk to advertising agency owners all day long. We talk about staffing issues, new business challenges and the angst that comes with clients. My job is to listen, ask good questions and try to help the agency owner sort things out and plan next steps. Truth be told -- it's an easy job. Because [...]
<A guest post by Rosemary Breehl> Smart Ad Agency principals are getting a seat at the CEO’s table and they’re doing it by building client relationships. It’s a new day out there for all of us. Competition is tougher. There are now “ten marketing dogs chasing that one corporate car.” CEO’s today are under terrible pressure [...]
How often has a prospect or client come to you asking for a brochure, app or some other tactic when it’s actually not what they need? The truth is — clients often don’t know what they need, but they know they have a problem. They don’t know how to ask for it but what they’re [...]
At Agency Management Roundtable (AMR) we've been preaching this for years. Agencies need to get out of the "making stuff" business and get into the business problem solving business. Agencies need to behave like consultancies. We need to shift from doing to thinking. Our clients expect us to help them hit their goals and dodge [...]
