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Hey agency owner – make 2015 the year of action

My wish for you -is that 2015 is your year of action! I don't know about you but as much as I love the holidays, I look forward to this time of year as well.  The slate is clean and for the first couple weeks in January as things rev back up -- it's the perfect time to finish your annual planning. Want to have a spectacular year?  Here's how to give yourself a fighting chance. Complete the One Page Business Plan for the year and follow it. Institute a bonus program that gets every single employee focused on AGI (ask me more about the AMI model) Have an aggressive, unstoppable new business system and assign a bulldog inside your agency to manage it Resolve to be a owner of action this year What do I mean by being an owner of action? I think one of the human truths that cripples many agencies is that their owners are too slow to take action.  You either overthink everything or you are a little passive/aggressive and hope if you ignore an issue, it will go away. I know running an agency is complicated and exhausting -- but honestly, sometimes you are the one who makes it that way.  (I can say that because I've also said it to the guy in the mirror more than once!)  Are you sometimes going to make the wrong call?  You bet.  But more times than not, you know what you need to do. You're just afraid to do it. Owning an agency takes a blend of insanity, courage and confidence. I think he recession beat a lot of that courage and confidence out of agency owners.  The ones who are back and kicking ass are the [...]

January 12th, 2015|

Hey agency owner – want some fun company Christmas party ideas?

Are you ready for some fresh company Christmas party ideas?  Most agency owners feel kind of blah about their agency's annual holiday party.  They spend a lot of money on it but don't really feel like their employees really appreciate or look forward to it. Of course, when I ask them what they do, they sheepishly say "well, we have a nice dinner." Come on people -- you own an agency.  Surely you can get more creative than that!  Here are some company Christmas party ideas that Agency Management Institute's agencies have implemented over the years.  All of these could be augmented with food and drinks, if you want. Remember -- just because you love a fancy meal doesn't mean it's the only or best way to celebrate the season.   If you have a lot of millennials on your team -- they might like something with a charitable bent or something more casual. Why not mix things up with one of these Christmas party ideas? Give all of your employees $200 and take them to a local or specialty mall. Give them 2 hours to buy themselves something that they think Santa won't put under the tree.  Then, gather for lunch/dinner and everyone has to show what they bought (You can add a secret santa or charity twist too) Touring a winery/doing a tasting Adopting a family together and then delivering all the food/gifts together (and then usually going out to dinner afterwards) Having a party at one of those pottery/do it yourself art studios and everyone gets a set amt to choose an item to paint/fire etc. Renting a Hummer limo and doing a light tour (with snacks/champagne/hot chocolate in the limo or dinner afterwards) Ringing [...]

December 1st, 2014|

Hey Agency Owner – How’s Your Thought Leadership Strategy?

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 publications seek us out to comment on various aspects of the agency business and we're always excited about sharing what we've learned and try to teach. Rather than making you hop all over the web looking for Agency Management Institute's examples of thought leadership -- we thought we'd give you this handy list. As always -- we'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the topics below. Digital Marketer -- 4 Ways to Build a Better Agency with Smarter Hires The Agency Post -- How to Stop Your Client From Shopping Around B2B Marketing -- 5 Ways to Avoid the Last Minute New Business Crunch Washington Post -- Overstaffing Can Break Your Small Business iMedia Connection -- Why You Need to Stop Billing By the Hour Smart Insights -- How Can Agency Account Managers Build Better Client Relationships Marketing Agency Insider -- 10 Ways to Establish Order in Your Advertising Agency HR.com -- When You Should Hire Full Time Staff Digiday -- Time to Retire the Digital Jedi The Agency Post -- Use Content to Tell Your Agency's Story The Agency Post -- Building An Internal Content Strategy for the Long Haul Score.org -- How to Transition from Corporate Thinking to Small Business Thinking CEO.com -- 4 Ways to Compete With the Big Guys Steamfeed -- One Page: The Short, Simple Way to Plan Your Agency's Future Linked2Leadership -- On Leadership, Workshops and Organizational Health Under 30 CEO -- Why Good Writing Matters and 4 Ways to Teach It to Your Team LinkedIn -- Marketers -- Take Digital Out of Your Vocabulary Washington [...]

November 24th, 2014|

Hey agency owner — your agency’s morale begins with you

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 truth is, even when things are going better than anticipated, there are still those nagging concerns. There's always a shoe just waiting to drop. But as agency owners we need to remember that we're the barometer our employees use to take the agency's temperature. If you're uptight, they're uptight.  If you're frustrated with a certain employee, pretty soon they'll be frustrated with that person too.  If you talk about clients like they're a pain -- your employees will treat them that way. Be honest -- when you have the opportunity to chase a big new account, are you excited or do you dread the effort?  Guess what -- your employees take your lead and feel the same way. It's time to take a good look at your agency's culture and do an honest assessment. Is it the kind of culture that you're proud of and would want to work in day, after day?  Is it snarky?  Does everyone help each other or is there a parade out the door at 5 pm? Before you improve employee morale, your agency's morale begins with you. Every single time. You are the agency's visionary and it's your job to wave the company flag, not burn it. So what do you do if you're feeling worn out, frustrated, under appreciated or worried?  You fake it. You don't burden your employees with agency owner worries. [...]

November 18th, 2014|

Hey Agency Owner — Give your employees context and connect the dots

Sometimes I think as agency owners we forget to connect the dots for our team in an agency management system. Remember when you were a kid and your parents started to talk about something and then in the middle of the conversation, one of them gave the other "the look" and they either stopped their conversation, lowered their voices so you couldn't hear, or left the room to finish the conversation? What did you immediately do?  You tried even harder to listen. If you couldn't hear, your imagination started filling in the blanks. Suddenly the story includes espionage or murder or at the very least your favorite neighbor moving away. In the absence of facts, our brains create a story that is usually wrong and usually way out of proportion from reality. When we were left on our own to connect the dots, the picture got a little crazy. That is happening today in your agency management system, especially as it pertains to money, billings and profitability. How many times have you uttered a sentence like this without any context: Our billings are down again this month.  We've got to reverse this trend or we're in some serious trouble. I don't think that client XYZ won't be around much longer. It doesn't look like we're going to pay out a bonus this year. I get so sick and tired of writing time off. Each of those sentences may be true.  But if you don't connect the dots and give your employees the context to gauge just how serious the situation is, they go into imagination mode.  Suddenly, in their heads, they are all out on the street, looking for work, and begging for change so they can bring [...]

November 12th, 2014|

Hey agency owner – New research reveals that CMOs don’t want just you

Agency Management Institute has partnered with Audience Audit (a firm that does custom attitudinal segmentation research) and Luth Research (Provided the audience research panel) to talk to CMOs and business owners across the US about how they feel about and make decisions about their work with agencies. This research provided great data on new business trends that are prevalent in the agency industry.It's a "look under the hood” of what truly motivates marketing agency partnership decisions and their longevity. It’s quantitative insight at what they are thinking and the results were fascinating.Agencies usually look at marketing decision-makers and their organizations from a demographic perspective but we found that their attitudes are much more relevant than their demographics when it comes to the roles they want their agencies to play, how they find and choose the agencies they work with, and the aspects of agencies they find most valuable (and most frustrating).Our new business trends research opened our eyes to a ton of insights about where CMOs' heads are at.  The results revealed 3 key audience segments:“Looking for Love” (29% of respondents) segment value agencies as a critical partner for business success.For this group, agencies are a key participant in strategic planning efforts, a trusted source of new ideas and insights about marketing trends, and a tactical partner across a wide range of marketing services and expertise.They feel it’s important to develop a long-term relationship with an agency, and expect that if their agency doesn’t have an answer they’ll know where to find it.“Playing the Field” (38% of respondents) segment sees hiring a marketing or advertising agency as a necessary evil to gain specialized expertise.They prefer to work with subject matter experts, and feel it’s important to change agencies periodically even if they’re doing [...]

October 21st, 2014|

Agency owners: Isn’t it time to get a real agency new business program?

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 up for review. Agency owner wets himself and goes into either a full-blown panic attack or into a catatonic stupor. There’s usually a drink or three consumed. The next day the owner pulls together the leadership team and there’s a flurry of activity to drum up some money. The owner sits in her dark office, putting together “the list” of who will be laid off if the revenue can’t be replaced. The creatives come up with a direct mail campaign and the account service team is tasked with creating or updating the cobweb covered prospect list of about 300 companies. The agency does the new business mad scramble until they either have to lay off some people or score a new account. All of a sudden, they get so busy servicing the clients they have that they don’t have time to keep up whatever new business activity they’d been pursuing. And so the cycle begins again. Want to finally break the chain reaction? Want a business development strategy that you can actually deploy and implement no matter how busy your agency is? You need to create a macro – micro – nano agency new business program. Macro: The macro portion of your agency new business program is aimed at people who have never heard of you or your agency before. There are multiple research studies done with decision makers that hire [...]

October 14th, 2014|

Hey agency owner — Should PR be part of your mix?

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 to your agency. Traditional PR and media placements, media training etc. Digital PR -- everything from guest blogging to securing back links Content marketing -- creating content, curating content, thought leadership Crisis communications planning and prep Reputation management I get it -- you’ve established yourself as an advertising agency. You have a list of devoted clients. Your work has earned you numerous industry awards and the respect and admiration of your peers. So why should you consider branching out into PR? I asked Nancy Marshall -- Maine's PR Maven, who is co-leading AMI's Build a PR Department Inside Your Agency workshop this November 6th and 7th to share her thoughts on how adding PR to your shop would add value.  Here's what she said. Here are five ways PR will improve your entire agency: You will be able to generate a bigger and better ROI for your clients. Let’s face it, advertising and PR work best when used together, reaching for the same goal. It will create an additional revenue stream for your agency. You will now be able to pitch prospects seeking PR services exclusively, representing an entirely new pool of potential clients for your agency. You can also upsell PR services to your existing clients. PR will add value to your client relationships. Current and prospective clients will like the fact that they can work with one agency to meet [...]

October 5th, 2014|

Advertising Agency focused blogs

It's tough to find people who are genuinely experts in the advertising and marketing agency space. My goal is for this website to be a resource of not only what Agency Management Institute can do for you, but also to point you to other reliable and relevant sources. That's why I put together this list of advertising agency focused blogs. They're all great reads and I encourage you to subscribe to their words of wisdom. Adventures in Client Service Agency Management Institute Steve Congdon BluHorn TV Michael Gass Tim Williams  

September 27th, 2014|

What does an advertising agency consultant do?

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) Experienced --a seasoned pro in the business of successfully running an agency.  I’ve been running my own agency for the past 20 years. 2) Someone who understands that to offer relevant counsel, he/she must stay relevant.  That’s why I still run my agency. 3) Actively working with all variations of agencies — advertising, marketing, digital, media, SEO, PR etc. 4) A teacher — I try to be a thoughtful teacher in as many ways as possible:4) Our workshops, offered for agency owners/leaders and account service staff Our agency owner peer networks — each one facilitated by me My work as I consult one on one with agency owners  Through my writing, both on this site and in other publications 5) Going to ask some pretty uncomfortable questions sometimes.  It's my job to listen and hear what's underneath the first answer.  Sometimes you already know the answer -- you just don't want it to be the answer.  And other times you need someone to tilt the mirror slightly, so you can see the truth. 6) A BS meter. Part of my job in this ad agency structure is to help you see when you’re telling yourself things that don’t serve you or your agency.  Call it tough love, call it accountability or call it caring enough to tell you what you need to hear.  You’ll always get a straight answer from me. 7) A networker.  Part of my [...]

September 10th, 2014|

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