Adweek piece on latest RSW/US Survey

Thanks to Adweek for their piece on our latest survey, "A Client's Perspective on Agencies," 277 marketing decision makers surveyed on how they think agencies are performing and how to best win their hearts.

We’ll be posting over the coming week with our thoughts on the survey results. An interesting quote from our owner, Mark, in the piece:

"Simply doing social and digital, such as creating Facebook accounts and developing banner ads, isn't going to be enough as marketers get hungrier for better direction -- and results -- in the digital/social world," Sneider said. "The agency that can help clients understand how to use social/digital and how to integrate these [media] effectively into more traditional initiatives will, in the end, win the day."

Click here for the Adweek article.

Click here to download our "A Client's Perspective on Agencies" survey.

Agency New Business-Tom Petty Was Right

Tom Petty was right, wasn’t he? The waiting is the hardest part, especially when it comes to agency new business. I was reminded of this, yet again, when speaking with an agency principal this week and it also tied into a piece I read the other day.

This principal mentioned they were in the same boat as many agencies, that is, the cobbler’s children story, where new business tends to come last. In this principal’s particular case, she had a very good local and regional reputation and referrals tended to be the bulk of her business.

A good “problem” to have, certainly. But she knew there needed to be more than just referrals, thinking long-term, and started to address this by creating an attractive postcard mailer (which she very graciously emailed and shared with me.) However, the postcard was sent out and nothing really happened.

A lot of questions of course, as to the target list that was being mailed to and how the simple postcard could have been made to stand out more effectively, for example, but specifically I asked how they followed up on the card and the answer was, some follow up but not necessarily as organized or thorough as it could have been.

This made me think of a recent article, Is Your Lead Generation System Causing You to Lose Clients (see link below) and the quote below:

It's simple to drop someone from your target list; having dropped them, they are
out of sight and out of mind. Your sight, your mind, that is. But they have
memories of you. Did you simply drop them? Did you not return the last call?

Now, a caveat in regards to the above quote; unfortunately, not many prospects are waiting by the phone once they receive your mailer and are then put off when you only call them back once or twice. But the quote still makes a good point-prospects do remember a good piece and we’ve heard examples where prospects say they remember the piece very well and there was a voicemail, but they were travelling and never heard back.

So you see where I’m going at this point I hope. You can’t send out the mailer and follow up with one call and be done. It doesn’t work that way. Be reasonable in the initial list you’re building before you send something out to prospects, break it down into something you can manage and follow up respectfully but consistently over months, not just days or weeks.

Yes, Tom is right, waiting is the hardest part, but waiting by itself won’t get you far, take smart and effective action and your efforts will pay off

Click here for Is Your Lead Generation System Causing You to Lose Clients? by Charles H. Green

Social Media and Retail-Crosstown Traffic

Jordan Mccollum at Marketing Pilgrim has a piece on the Hitwise December numbers and I thought they were interesting, as well as potentially helpful to agencies with a retail focus. Per the graph below, downstream traffic from social networks to retail sites is up 37%.

As Jordan asks:

So is it more because users are recommending deals to their friends, or is it because of retailers’ presence on social networks?

Good question. Seems inevitable with these numbers consistently trending upward that big brands will continue to focus more dollars on social. As ever, the comments after the piece were also interesting. Take for example these two extremes:

Great statistics. I think that social media will grow enormously in next 12 months. Because people have this feeling that social media sites like Facebook or MySpace represent more personal information, then you can ever put into the About me page or the blog or website.

And then the other example:

I just cannot see how/why Social advertising works…most are teenagers wasting time. I focus on search.

Showing yet again, just how much social media is still the Wild West.

Read Jordan's piece, Social Network Traffic to Retail Grows here.

4 links ad agencies ought to follow to help new business efforts-RSW/US roundup for 2/1

Because there’s more great stuff out there than anyone can possibly get to, we thought we’d point you to some of the noteworthy links from last week:


Online Branded Communities: Misguided and Missing the Point: If you ask brand managers the purpose of online communities, the reply you’ll most often hear is “customer engagement.” Among marketers, this term is more prevalent than Frisbees at a dog beach. But the real question is this: Are brands providing meaningful and engaging experiences to their customers through their online communities? Kathy Baughman & Steve Hershberger, AMA Marketing Power

RSW Comment: We’ll let you click the link to ge the answer, but important to realize , per the post, “half of the brands in the study were still in the social marketing experimentation stage.” Some interesting best practices in the rest of the post.


Why Your Voice Mails Are Ignored, and What To Do Instead: “I leave voice mail messages all day long for prospects,” the salesperson bemoaned. “Why don’t people call me back?” I didn’t need to listen to his calls to give an answer. The same reasons apply to all telesales people leaving voice mails. Pick any three (or more) of the following reasons. Art Sobczak, Telesales Magic

RSW Comment: Traditional prospecting methods often get overshadowed by social media, but Art’s tips can compliment the mix you, ideally, are already employing for new business.

175 Million Users Per Day Log Into Facebook: Half of all registered users still log in to Facebook every day, says Sandberg in the interview. That’s 175 million people. And that doesn’t include Facebook Connect logins, only those people that visit the Facebook website. The numbers start to become a bit staggering but the one nagging question is revenue and profitability. Frank Reed, Marketing Pilgrim

RSW Comment: Well that’s the real question isn’t it? Who is paying attention to all those ads on FB?

Is Your Lead Generation System Causing You to Lose Clients: It's simple to drop someone from your target list; having dropped them, they are out of sight and out of mind. Your sight, your mind, that is. But they have memories of you. Did you simply drop them? Did you not return the last call? Did you cancel some meeting or event? Did you give the screened-out client any indication that they had been screened out? Most firms don't have any particular approach to screening out prospects; they simply stop doing what they were doing. Yet the same people would never drop a social relationship-Charles H. Green, raintoday.com

RSW Comment: Some valid points on lead generation and the screening process.

The Bigger They Are...The Harder They Hurt - Part II

Recently wrote a post on the glories and challenges of having disproportionately large clients.  Great to have them because they can generate a lot of solid revenue, but oh so tough if/when they disappear.

The story of two principals on two different paths.  Spoke to one yesterday who is "so busy with his big client that he doesn't have time to think about new business" and another one about two weeks ago who said "so busy with this big client...but your post on the dangers of getting sucked in are real...let's talk".  They've since become a client of RSW/US.

Too busy for new business?  I don't care if it's us, or someone else, or you....have we not just been through a near depression.  Have not most of you had to lay off some, if not nearly all (as I've seen with some agencies) of your personnel? 

I don't care how big that client is...or how busy you are.  There are little, simple things you can do to keep a low level of new business activity running.  No time to manage a full blown program, call us, we can help.

Here are some ideas for you...things you can do to keep it going, at least at a low level:

1. Build a list of prospects.  Something the admin can do.  Buy the city's book of lists and start there.  Have him/her call and get names of the key marketing people in the organization.  And the list doesn't have to be huge...but it should have some mass.  Start with 100;

2. Post once a week and push out the post via a value-added email to your prospects.  Maybe to give the email release a little volume, add links to some recent articles you've picked up that you think might be interesting.  Do this the same time every week, so people expect it - or aren't surprised when they see it;

3. Use a system to push out your emails that enables you to track who opens and clicks.  Vertical Response is one mechanism.  There are others, like "Emma" that can do the same thing.  This way, you're only spending time calling on those that take action on your email;

4. Take some action on those that take action - after they open a few times.  Call a few days later to "follow-up and just check in".  Send them a piece of your work.  Drop them a hand written note stating that you would love the chance to speak and will call sometime soon.  Create a mechanism that become rote...something your admin can do (if it's a mailing) or organize for you (Mr. Smith...here's your call list this week).   Do something to provide some consistency.

5. Keep it relevant.  Put your prospects' names/companies in your google news tracker and/or create a tweet deck to follow them on Twitter and/or have someone look them all up on LinkedIn and capture key elements of their profiles.  All good stuff to have to make the reachouts more personal, relevant, and substantive for you (and them).

Ok...so think about it.  What I've described takes a weekend day to organize.  It take 15 minutes a week to post (I've just written this post in 14 minutes at 5:35am), it takes a couple hours every few weeks to place calls or send notes to those who have consistently taken action on your emails.  And it takes the time to set up the team to do the jobs you need to support the effort (e.g. research upfront, pushing out the emails, collecting the opens, etc.).

Maintenance of the outreach is key here. 

Organized methodology is key here. 

And value-added messaging is key here. 

All things you can do to keep a low level of connect...just force yourself to make the time.

Here’s the first step in your agency new business roadmap

Let’s get back to basics for a moment on the subject of agency new business. We consistently preach our philosophy and mantra when speaking with prospects: we maintain a relationship-building approach that doesn’t shove the agency down the prospect’s throat, but instead shows them, through respectful, yet consistent and useful contact, that the agency understands their challenges. (Now we didn’t invent the concept, mind you, as its called lead nurturing, amongst other labels, but it’s one we’ve fully made our own.)

So it’s always heartening to see it touted by others, and specifically in this case, at the site marketo.com. Marketo, if you’re not familiar, is “the fastest growing provider of marketing automation and revenue-building best practices.” While their focus is on B2B, they have a great (and free) guide called The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing. It’s a bit lengthy, but their tips can be very easily adapted to agency new business and it’s well worth a look. A couple of points to take away, the first slightly modified by me:

Up to 95 percent of qualified prospects on your Web site are there to research and are not yet ready to talk . . . but as many as 70 percent of them will eventually engage you.

Think about this in terms of agency new business. I’m not going to say these numbers match up precisely on the agency side, but the general premise rings true. Quite often, a visit to your site or a show of initial interest from a mail or email campaign doesn’t translate to immediate work-in-hand. And this is where agencies so often fall short-they stop too early, sometimes after only one follow up email or phone call!

I altered the following chart to read “agency new business", and I love these tips:


That last bit, “How can you tell” should be at the top of your agency new business road map. Per the report:

Most non-sales-ready leads will eventually be ready — and it is up to you to both provide them with relevant information and to be there when they are ready to make a buying decision.

Take this advice to heart-it will serve you well.

Download The Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing here.

What is social media really doing for your agency new business program?

None of our posts this year to-date have been about social media and that’s been somewhat purposeful. Before the New Year, we sat down and talked about where we were as a company in regards to social media and what had it really gotten us? Was the amount of time we put into it commensurate with our return up to this point?

The short answer to that last question was, it’s a bit early to say in concrete terms, but mostly, yes, it’s been worth it. (FYI, our blog has existed for a little while, but it was really July of last year that we put a formal push against social media.) We did put some caveats on our social media plan for the first 6 months of this year and we’ll see where we end up. Far from being experts, we did come to a few conclusions I wanted to share and would be interested to see if it strikes a chord.

1) You can’t do it all: We said from the beginning, we’re going to try and be smart about this, participating but not becoming a slave to social media. In that I think we succeeded, but still, 2-3 blog posts a week, plus Twitter and Facebook is a lot of work. Pace yourself.

2) Don’t be overly concerned that what a social media expert tells you is gospel, or that if you handle your strategy differently it’s wrong: It’s not a knock on the social media folks out there, but wow, there are a lot of them, all vying for your eyeballs. Pick a few you like and don’t worry about the rest. It’s always good to get a different perspective, especially from someone who knows what they’re talking about, but you’ll learn from experience how much you can give to social media and what’s working for your space.

3) Activate your social media: With thousands of agencies blogging, you can't rely on prospects to find you. There are lots of ways to do this, whether it's a weekly newsletter, LinkedIn group or an online forum.

4) Per Alexander Vanelsas, the real value of social media = interaction. If nothing else, I think this is key to remember in your efforts. If all you’re doing is talking at your colleagues or prospects, I personally don’t think it’s worth your time in regards to agency new business. That doesn’t mean you stop blogging because you haven’t gotten a comment or a retweet lately by the way.

Continuing my last point with an example, we got a little discouraged initially when we re-launched our site and blog because we had very few comments after posts. But now, just about at the six month mark, we realize we succeeded in the interaction, regardless of the number of comments on our blog.

We realized, and inherently knew, people are just way too busy to comment on every blog post we create, especially with 2-3 a week. But the great thing-over these last six months, we’ve gotten some very positive and complimentary feedback on our blog, in direct emails and conversations with clients and prospects. And while good content was key, activating it with our weekly email blog digest, for example, was just as important. In fact, we can directly point to a new client coming on board because of a recent blog post. Now that’s a return.

But we can’t say the same for Twitter, for example. Not to pick on Twitter, but now with followers too numerous to count, it just seems like a place that people talk at each other. I see less and less interaction. I’m sure there are many out there that disagree, and can prove me wrong in regards to their own benefits from Twitter, but that’s our take on it. Pointing back to Alexander Vanelsas, he recently laid out 5 predictions for 2010 and he says this in regards to status message services:

I believe that in 2010 we will see a backlash of current Twitter and otherstatus message services. These services will be occupied with SPAM andaggregation bots. Twitter traffic may go up, but activity will be mostlycomputer generated. Real people will leave the service alone as the SPAMpressure increases.

I’d have to agree, Twitter’s getting close to that prediction already in my opinion. But enough about specific services. For the first six months of this year, we decided to keep the blog rolling at full speed and cut back a bit on FB and Twitter for the time being.

There’s just not enough time in the day, especially for small to medium businesses and agencies. As far as we’re concerned, social media is a part of any marketing mix, now and forever. So it’s not that we’re abandoning it, but now that we’ve settled in, it’s time to look past it’s shiny newness and gauge which parts of it are truly valuable.


Read Alex's The real value of Socail media= Interaction post here

Six more new business pitch ideas for agencies, from the client perspective

Last week, I posted on a conversation I had with an agency principal and their successful pitch techniques. In a similar vein, an article was recently brought to my attention that I missed back in December and I think is worth sharing.

The piece is called Making New Biz Pitches Nearly Painless and is by Antony Young, CEO of Optimedia. Antony hits on some interesting big-picture topics, as he says, “from the viewpoint of the pitchee,” that we plan to touch on in the future here on this blog.

So for the moment, here are those six points in brief and I’m going to leave off our perspective initially, but would love to see some first-thoughts in the comments if you’re feeling the urge. You can also click on the link at the end to read the entire piece.

1. Start by not pitching: Even the best agency partnerships go through their fair share of ups and downs. Before entering a pitch, give your incumbent agency an opportunity to turn things around. An early call to your agency's CEO to say, "Things are not going well" will resolve your issues nine out of 10 times.

2. Don't invite the incumbent to re-pitch: If a concerted effort to get the agency back on track doesn't produce results, then you should call a pitch. You might think you're doing the right thing to give the incumbent a chance to defend the business, and for agencies, it's hard to turn this chance down. But few agency executives are great statisticians. They believe that even 5 percent chance is a chance.

3. Don't provide a brief for the introduction meeting: Agencies are very good at playing back your brief or responding with very slick responses to an RFI. Let the agency decide who should attend and what to present. It will tell you a lot about the agency by whom and how many people they bring, how they conduct the meeting, what they present and how good they are on their feet.

4. Have lunch with the CMO: There's nothing more thrilling than the glitz and drama of an agency pitch presentation. But when the lights and curtains come down, what you're really left with is how you work with these folks and that's when the personal relationships and chemistry with an agency really counts. Just before the final pitch meeting, organize a lunch with your CMO and agency CEO.

5. Negotiate compensation terms before the final pitch: Understandably, clients don't want to overpay for agency services. Equally, an agency will want to put strong people on a potential new account. Usually it's only after the final pitch when the clients start negotiating the fee. The potential for an agency and client being disappointed down the line is high.

6. Get the right team: I'm actually a fan of doing the big pitch presentation. But let's face it: most of the time, what's presented in the finals is rarely executed and therefore is quite wasteful. I once participated in a pitch where the client's emphasis was just in finding the right team. They insisted on only meeting the account director, creative team and the media planning director. They also insisted that they didn't need people with category experience, just a proven team.

Antony's entire article here.

You, You, You-The Agency Pitch and New Business 101

Part of what I like best about my job is talking to agencies and agency principals. It’s a world I enjoy, in main part due to the outpouring of creativity and passion usually associated with it.

And so I was speaking with an agency principal yesterday, and turns out they just signed the contract on a new piece of business. Not giant business, but good business and they’re a small agency, so were pretty happy about it. Even sweeter, they beat out a larger competitor. The million dollar question: how?

The answer to that question is one of the many reasons we (RSW/US) exist as a company. We work with agencies of all sizes, and each one has its similar as well as unique challenges, but as I spoke with this principal, my post from last week regarding the changing face of smaller agencies came to mind.

The principal’s answer to that “how” question in this case? The first thing out of their mouth was “What can we do to help you?” Simple right? And goes back to one of the golden rules of new business, “It’s not about you.” Yes, you’ve heard it before, but it never hurts to hear it again.

The competitor in this case essentially did just the opposite. A few examples:

-They never really asked that “How can we help you question.”

-They required, with little to no flexibility, a fairly large sum up front.

-They instructed the CEO fairly early and dogmatically that their company logo had to be changed, to the great displeasure of said CEO.

-Apparently they didn’t have a conversation with the CEO and his team, they talked at them.

Now, this isn’t a knock on larger agencies and shouldn’t be taken as such, but it is indicative, I think, of the changing nature of the industry as a whole. Smaller, more nimble agencies, seem to be winning business because they are more flexible, they truly listen, and with trusted partners and freelancers supplementing staff, are able to handle just about any project.

More to come, but interesting to see this evolution continue.

Did You Plan for 2010?

Your clients create marketing plans as the year comes to a close, did you?

Without a roadmap of where you need to go and how you need to support your business, you'll end up with a series of tactics that are likely to be short-lived, not sustainable, and not consistent in terms of their messaging and impact.

Every year, we take an objective look at the performance of each our client's programs (the agencies we represent as their outsourced business development group), and map out the improvements we need to make to strengthen their initiative so they can win more business in the upcoming year.

We discuss messaging, collateral support, success metrics, and goals.

You need to do the same for your agency if you haven't already. When your plan is complete, create a flowchart of planned activity and pin it to your wall so you can see what's in front of you and you can effectively allocate resources to address the needs of your plan.

Be relentless. Stay with it. Be objective. Constantly add value. Know that nothing is ever perfect.

The Future, Where Small Agencies Compete with Any Agency (Updated)

Happy New Year. We’re excited for 2010 and excited to roll out some new initiatives this year as well-watch for some announcements in the coming weeks.

To kick off the New Year, I wanted to post a few interesting charts from our strategic partner, Second Wind Online. Their last Newsletter of 2009 (see link at bottom) had a great piece called The Small + Smart Agency Model. The author, Second Wind’s Tony Mikes, quotes Jim Hughes, of The Brand Establishment, throughout the piece and discusses "the old agency model." I encourage you to download the article, but wanted to focus on the two charts I mentioned earlier.

The first, below, represents most larger agencies, as the piece describes it,

That’s the “tail-end in every seat” model where agencies worked hard to build their internal resources so they could be viewed as “full service” by their clients and prospects.

“The days of small agencies trying to operate like large shops are over,” says Jim. “But, the days of larger agencies operating as they have in the past areover as well.”

Today, marketers want capable marketing partners, BUT they don’t
want the fat agency overhead.” So… what IS the new agency structure that offers
clients all the capability without the overhead?

This is the key to the future of your smaller agency. You are structured
just as competently as any larger agency, but don’t have the overhead.

There’s obviously some room for argument here in regards to larger agencies and the changes ahead, but in regards to smaller agencies, of which we work with quite a few, we’ve already seen this smart + small structure put into place. 2010 will be interesting indeed.

UPDATE: Just goes to show that you've always got to do your detective work. Second Wind's newsletter was initially available to members only, so they've been kind enough to post Tony's original piece in its entirety here and will also be holding a one-day seminar on how to move your agency to the Small + Smart Agency Model on February 9 in Las Vegas. Click here for more info on the seminar, should be some great information as always.

Thanks to the folks at Second Wind for the piece.

The Bigger They Are...The Harder They Hurt

Big clients can be great.  They can be the bread and butter of any agency organization.

Unfortuntately I've seen way too many agencies get consumed by large clients to the point that they no longer have the time or the desire to look for new business.  "Simply don't have the time" some will say.  "We are at capacity and can't handle another thing", others will say.  All true.  You don't have the time and you can't handle another thing.

But one must remember two things:

1) The loss of a client that represents 40%+ of your revenue can be a painful thing.  I've seen it all too often.  A story I've told before is one about a Michigan agency man that called me on vacation back in 2008.  He had just lost a client that represented 40% of his business because of all the things I note above.  Sad thing is, is that it had happened to him more than one time before.  Layoffs, scramblling, re-grouping, starting over.  All things no one likes to do;

2) New business prospecting isn't an overnight sensation.  Something I told this Michigan agency man.  "We aren't going to be the pot of gold at the end of the 6 month rainbow", I emphasized as my wife gently nudged me for a third time, reminding me that I was on vacation.  New business prospecting not only takes a bit of time to get everything ramped up and ready to go (e.g. collateral development, lists), but once the first mailing goes out or the first call is made, it takes a good month or two just to start seeing meetings, let alone seeing business convert.  Some will get damn lucky and hit it at the right time early.  We see it happen only occasionally at RSW/US for our agency clients.  Most of the time, conversion occurs month 7+ for programs.

And I guess one more thing to consider.  If you don't have the time, and you don't want to spend the time bringing someone on board to train them and work with them to make sure they get your story and know how to sell the intangibles of an agency...look outside.  There are plenty of agencies like RSW/US that are in the business to help agencies find new business.  Some are (a lot) better than others (hint, hint)...but bottom line is they are out there, they won't break the bank and they can be a huge help if they know what they're doing.

The Second Hardest Part About Prospecting

What I find in my world of helping marketing services firms, acting as their outsourced lead generation/business development firm, is that there is usually a lot of enthusiasm, energy, and excitement leading up to and coming directly out of a meeting we set up for them.

Then it’s a bit like how a car dramatically loses its value as soon as it leaves the lot. Agency Principals get distracted with other things (like managing existing business, putting out fires, dealing with personnel issues) and they don’t stay with the prospect well enough to see it through to closure and success. Unless a proposal is a specifically discussed next step, closing the sale takes almost as much effort as opening the door.

You have to stay on the radar, you have to show the prospect that you’re there to help and add value to their world. Because if you don’t, they, just like you, will get distracted, put off moving on the things they talked to you about, and the “mojo” will start moving too slow.

Five key steps you should take following your initial meeting with your prospect that can help better your chances of winning a piece of business:

Re-Connect ASAP
Immediately after the meeting, follow-up (either you or your new business manager) to thank them and see if any questions remain unanswered.

Be There
Find reasons to stay in front of your prospect because if you don’t, someone else will. You never know when the prospect is going to be ready to make the move to start the project or move on some other project..or better yet, be ready to make that agency change.

Add Value
Simply being there isn’t enough. You need good reason to connect.  Set up a google news tracker on the prospect (the person and the company). When you come across news, drop them a line with a "congrats" or a "hey, I was thinking".  It will show you care.

Don’t Give Up
I’ve seen agency Principals “dog it” until the cows come home and oftentimes it is key to their winning more business. I’ve seen more agency Principals get discouraged when someone doesn’t call them back in a few days (or sometimes as long as a few weeks) after a call in after the initial meeting. The prospect’s world gets just as busy (if not busier) than your world. So understand that you’re not their number one priority.

Keep Yourself Seeming Fresh
When you’re in conversation with prospects following meetings or exchanging emails about some value-add you’ve pushed their way, use that time to talk about the new things going on at your agency to keep the prospect excited, energized, and motivated to want to eventually work with you.

So the bottom line is recognize that closing business isn’t a short-term adventure.  Opportunities are never ready-made. They take hard work, creative thinking, and breakthrough, value-added persistence to make prospects take and keep notice of your compelling value and points of difference.

So if you’re going to put the energy in upfront to get the meeting (or hire a group like ours to find the opportunities for you), put the same amount of energy into the back-end to win the prize as you put into the front end to open up the door!

What will agency AOR relationships look like in 2010 and how does it affect new business strategy?

Copeland Communications in Victoria, BC write a blog called ‘We Make it All Better," and their latest post by Doug Brown is titled Are AOR Days Numbered. It reflects much of what we’re hearing from clients and prospects as of late. Per Doug’s post:

Over the past few years, the trend away from AOR relationships has significantly changed how agencies do business. Clients look increasingly for value and split their work to leverage more competitive pricing and greater degrees of specialization.

It’s not at all unusual for a client to have their media buying with one agency, their above-the-line strategy and creative with another, their social media and web work somewhere else. Throw in a PR company and a graphic design shop or two to handle labour-intensive jobs like catalogues and special events, and its a bit like squeezing people into a Volkswagen.

We’ve increasingly seen this trend as we reach out on behalf of our clients. Most have embraced the resultant project work with expectations that the traditional agency/client relationship is irreparably changed. But Doug is not so sure:

My guess is that AOR relationships will make a comeback as clients realize that the alliance-based, one-stop shops forming today give them the very things they walked off in search of.

A good point, and one of the commenters, Bill W Sr., also puts it into appropriate perspective:

This profession of ours, to me, reminds me of the Hindu Wheel…ever turning to eventually repeat the same events and changes that have happened before…many times. In my view, it’s all about people-chemistry. Some client relationships turn into lasting friendships. It’s up to us to develop those kinds of relationships.

Which leads me to agency new business and how this current trend away from AOR relationships should be confronted: Bill is right in the comment above, it is about relationships, and in order to make your new business strategy effective, you’ve got to start the relationship at the very first point of contact.

If the current trend is project work, embrace that trend. Per our mantra here at RSW/US-when you first reach out to a prospect, don’t shove the agency down their throat, instead, have a peer-to-peer conversation. Yes, that’s tough to do immediately out of the gate, but it is a process and don’t be discouraged by that fact.

Over time (and it does go quickly) you have to develop a rapport by providing something of value to the prospect and consistently showing your category understanding. Develop the relationship with your future clients from day one and create that personal stake in the relationship. It will be that much harder for the client to walk away after one project.

Copeland Communication’s Are AOR Days Numbered post here.

Want to see an example of agency new business/social media success? Then you have to watch this video.

We posted a few months back on the dangers associated with agencies not participating in social media (for themselves) or participating and not keeping current, or activating their social media efforts. In Mark’s post, he wrote the following about an agency (The Russo Group) that found new business success through social media:

I recently spoke with an agency principal who has met with a lot of success using social media, but a lot of it has to do with two realities: 1) She keeps it current and relevant and consistent in theme; and 2) She activates it. At the end of last year, she and her agency created a Holiday video that she posted on YouTube. She activated it by pushing it out to her prospect list. Soon after its release it became something of a viral phenomenon. It received a large number of hits, and the agency received a large number of inquiries, which in the end translated into new business.

Had prospects checked this agency’s site after receiving the video and seen very little current content, very little social activity, and a site that screamed “I’m only pretending to participate in social media”, she might not have received so many requests.

In the end, the fact that she actively supported her social media program, created a consistent theme, targeted messaging to the right set of prospects in the right places, and activated its mere existence helped her deliver the goods for her agency…and her clients. She understood how to make it work and it paid out handsomely for her.

So this post is something of a part two, because the one thing we didn’t do-post the actual video. Would probably help, wouldn’t it? Well, this is one you should definitely watch to see the seeds of social media/agency new business success in action (and click the link below to get directly to The Russo Group’s site.)

Click here to see more of the Russo Group.

Agency New Business Truths You May Be Avoiding

As we get closer to the holiday, ideally you’ll have some time (don’t laugh, you might) or to put it another way, you’ll make some time, to think about how you’re going to improve on your agency’s new business process. It’s amazing how many agencies we talk to that still don’t have one. If you’re one of those, or even if you already have a process in place, don’t avoid the truth about new business. I’ll explain.Social media continues to get the lion’s share of press and attention, but I came across a post from Brian Carroll’s B2B lead generation blog this week that deserves some attention. He post is entitled How to improve lead generation with prospecting 2.0 and touches on cold calling, social media and other techniques that, in total, need to be employed for a successful effort. From Brian’s post:

Cold calling. Feel a shiver move up your spine? Too bad. It’s a shame that you, like many others, choose to dismiss cold calling as a lead generation tool (there’s that shiver again). I’m not saying that its reputation hasn’t been earned. I just think everybody is going about it all wrong. Cold calling works…you’ve probably just never been shown the right way to do it.

I hope I don’t sound like a broken report from previous posts here on The ANB, but Brian’s absolutely right. Another quote that Brian takes from Mike Schultz, Publisher of RainToday.com encapsulates parts of the methodology we employ for our agency clients here at RSW/US. (The portions in bold are mine.)

Of course, not everyone is going to respond the way you want them to. But, if your list has been carefully planned and targets specific people that need your service - people that are already exploring versions of what you have to offer - a good number of people will give you a foot in the door.

If your problem is that you’re just too busy to do it, hire someone to do it for you. And, then once you get someone’s attention, don’t fail to stay in touch regularly and meaningfully. We can’t expect that first conversation to make the sell; Cold calling done correctly will achieve exactly what it’s supposed to: it will give your company an introduction that could turn into a fruitful relationship.

The truth as succinctly put as you’ll ever hear it and one of the biggest challenges agencies face, hands down-they don’t have time to go after new business the right way. Because it’s not a quick fix, it’s a process. Per the quote above, staying in touch regularly and meaningfully is absolutely essential, as is a targeted list. Also, per Mike’s quote above, if you can’t do it yourself, hire someone. That could be someone internal, although certainly that has associated challenges we’ve covered here recently.

The other alternative, you may not be surprised to read, is the outsourced option, like RSW’s program. We won’t start the hard sell now, but the truth about agency new business: you have to structure a comprehensive, ongoing strategy that includes accurate, targeted lists and a seasoned professional who knows, not only how to sell your agency, but can “talk the talk” when conversing with a prospect, all along providing that regular and meaningful contact.

In the long run, whether it’s RSW/US that you contact to help you do that or if you decide to go a different route, accept this agency new business truth. Don’t think you can truly build your business without a structured new business effort.

Brian's post here

4 links ad agencies should follow to help new business efforts-RSW/US roundup for 12/9

Because there’s more great stuff out there than anyone can possibly get to, we thought we’d point you to some of the noteworthy pieces from last week:

Making Your Corporate Blog More Social: A blog should be your first step into social media and it can form the hub of all your social marketing efforts. There are a number of great ways to integrate a blog with other platforms, including Twitter, social networks, social news and social media sharing sites. Here’s the 8 most important ways.-Dan Zarella (Guest Post), Social Media Explorer

RSW Comment: Well worth implementing into your blogging efforts. Several of these we’ve talked about before here on our blog. Anything you can do to supplement the hard work you’re putting toward writing those posts is worth the effort.

Hospital Twitter Chat List: I’m not aware of anything like a comprehensive list of hospital Twitter chats. Ed Bennett’s Hospital Social Networking List is a great resource to tell us which hospitals have social media presence, and he even has some great hospital Twitter lists by state, but the list doesn’t include specific projects (such as surgical cases being “tweeted” that have been undertaken by hospitals or healthcare organizations. But the great thing about social media is that you can build a list pretty quickly by crowdsourcing…via Twitter. Or at least I think we can. Let’s see! I’m listing below some of the Twitter chats/events I’ve been involved with through Mayo Clinic, along with some others I’m aware of that others have done.-Lee Aase, SMUG – Social Media University, Global

RSW Comment: This was sent to us by a client and for those agencies with healthcare expertise, this could be a great resource. The list is still being built, so check back and ideally, add where you can.

10 Tips for Viral Marketers from a Military Propaganda Manual: Do you know that signature line from Henry Jenkins about how if it doesn't spread, it's dead? Yes, well, this is the "if it doesn't spread, you are dead" kind of thing: a military rumor manual dated 1943, now declassified, and unearthed by a colleague of mine. Plenty of solid insight for the designers of spreadable media, some already familiar from the books like Made to Stick and Rumor Psychology , written more than half a century after this document. My top ten favorites follow, mostly verbatim. .-Advertising Lab

RSW Comment: I’m a history buff, hence the inclusion of this post, but it really is interesting how relevant this manual is to today’s social media landscape.

Beware Social Media Snake Oil: For business, the rising popularity of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media Web sites presents a tantalizing opportunity. As millions of people flock to these online services to chat, flirt, swap photos, and network, companies have the chance to tune in to billions of digital conversations. Over the past five years, an entire industry of consultants has arisen to help companies navigate the world of social networks, blogs, and wikis. The self-proclaimed experts range from legions of wannabes, many of them refugees from the real estate bust, to industry superstars such as Chris Brogan and Gary Vaynerchuk.- Stephen Baker, Business Week

RSW Comment: This post has caused some flap on the net over the past week or so. Some valid points on what to look for and be wary of in social media experts.

RSW/US Named to the Cincinnati Fast 55

We’re taking a break in our normal blogging activities for a bit of (brief) self promotion.

We're very proud that RSW/US has been nominated for the second year in a row as one of the 55 fastest-growing companies in the Cincinnati area.

The 55 companies will be honored at a Dec. 10 luncheon, where winners will be named in five revenue categories. We’ll update our Facebook page and possibly this blog with details of the event later this week.

9 Tips to Get Prospects to Call You Back

So much is made of social media these days when it comes to ad agency new business, and rightfully so, as it can be a powerful tool. But it’s critically important to remember the personal call (notice I didn’t say cold call, as we’ve talked about before on this blog). It’s still one of the most powerful tools, and skills, we employ here at RSW/US to help our agency clients gain new business. And with social media gaining more prominence, speaking articulately, persuasively and with empathy becomes even more valuable. In other words, don’t lose your edge while you tweet and post away.

Along those lines, we had a client send us the below list from Jill Konrath’s site, Selling to Big Companies. All 9 of these are excellent points and are RSW/US gospel when it comes to personal calling.

The only quibble I have is the title of #9. Jill uses the word script in the title, but in the body of the text, mentions outline, which I think is a better fit.

Take these to heart. (You'll need to click on the image to read.)


Great tips, and what’s key to remember in a new business outreach is not to rely too heavily on any one medium. Make sure it’s a healthy mix, or you’ll deprive yourself of potential opportunities.

Click here for Jill Konrath's blog

What’s the ROI of Social Media? Well . . .what’s the ROI of your telephone?*

As we head to the end of the decade, it’s as crazy as it gets in the office (and in our lives for that matter) and I’m not just talking about the people here at RSW/US, but every agency we’ve spoken with over the past few weeks. That’s good news, we like to hear about busy-here’s to “busy” carrying over into 2010.

But I digress. In my daily reading, I try to keep up with as many agency blogs as I can. No small feat, but it’s immensely helpful. As more readers visit us here on the ANB (and thank you for stopping by), I encourage you to direct to me to worthwhile agency blogs out there. (In the comments or you can email me directly by clicking here.) Recently I came across an excellent post from Big Fuel’s blog, Content to Commerce. You can check out Big Fuel’s site at the link below, they’re a consumer engagement/full service agency and they do some exciting work with social media.

The video below (by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman) is from the post, What’s the ROI of Social Media? Don’t Ask… Just Watch This Video! , by Avi Savar, founding partner and CEO of Big Fuel. The video is 4 minutes long, but you can watch it with the sound off if need be and you should watch it, it’s got some great takeaways agencies can use if a client is dubious on social media. Just one stat from the video:

BK Whopper Sacrifice Facebook Application:
- Estimated Investment <$50k - Estimated Return > $400k in press/media value
- 32 million Free Media Impressions.
It’s like reaching the combined populations of 19 states

It’s not aimed directly at agency new business but if social media is one of your offerings or you’re developing it as a offering, you should watch it.

Click here for Big Fuel blog, Content to Commerce

*Title pilfered from Avi Savar.