Every business has a sales life cycle and communications agencies (whether you're an ad agency, digital, PR, etc.) are no exception. It used to be pretty straightforward -- you either chased after a prospect or met them at some networking event or got a referral but the face to face happened early on. Today, an [...]
How do you track billable time in an agency, and how many hours should ad agency employees work? This is a question that comes up all the time in my work with agencies. The expectation in terms of a work week ranges from 37.5 hours a week to 50 hours a week although most agencies [...]
There have been a lot of articles, blog posts, tweets and speeches of late that are all lamenting that many agencies are closing their blogs because no one reads them. Most tiptoe around the "why" suggesting that people are getting more visual (so have a Pinterest board or have your agency get active on Instagram) [...]
One of the biggest challenges for agency leaders today is stay on top of the trends, shifts and ever-shifting landscape so they can help their clients stay plugged in. It's tough to find reliable sources that aren't either so well known they don't provide an edge or are so far out there that they're too [...]
Don't get carried away with your enthusiasm about the increase in business activity. We are recovering from the Great Recession. You've survived it and have earned the right to celebrate. A little. But now is not the time to take your eye off the prize. In this recovery period, agency management can be tricky, because we're [...]
According to the Q2 Pearlfinders Index, which is digital marketing research based on interviews with more than 4,000 marketing executives across all industries -- digital and social media services have become more sought-after disciplines, while consumer PR, though still popular, is becoming less of a consideration. However, agencies that only offer digital services are not getting the [...]
Should you be concerned about possible fraud in your business? You bet. Here are some things to pay attention to when it comes to business fraud prevention. You may think that because your agency is a small business that you aren’t susceptible to employee theft and fraud. In our work with agencies, the biggest problem is [...]
An annual salary increase should be tied to profitability not the calendar. We don't recommend automatic annual salary increases. When learning how to manage payroll, we do wholeheartedly recommend is a salary plan that is fair and rewarding to all employees that inspires them to go above and beyond for the agency and its clients. [...]
Every advertising agency says they have a new business program. Most, I've discovered... have the "oh crap, billings are slow, we need to work the phones, networking events and call some dormant clients" model of prospecting. Over the next month, we're going to delve into advertising and marketing agency new business efforts in a much [...]
I had the good fortune of being a guest on a RockStar Radio Network show a couple weeks ago to talk about a topic I believe in strongly -- agencies need to walk their social media talk. My good friend Steve Olenski was guest hosting for Carol McManus, the LinkedIn Lady and he asked me to [...]
