The Way To Their Hearts

In this time of economic crisis, woe, sorrow, depression, and several other adjectives that may or may not adequately describe it, ad agencies are now turning to new ways to acquire new business. Since this is the subject I'm most interested in, the article from AdAge, posted two days ago, says a lot about the future of my potential career.

According to the article, there are six factors agencies are utilizing to drum up some new clients.
1. Innovative Networking
Apparently, a meeting of a close group of marketing executives at your agency once a month or so could be extremely good for business. AdAge cites Via Group's founder-CEO John Coleman, who does this every month, with extremely successful results. This way, they not only get a chance to discuss prevalent issues in the current world of marketing, but they also get your agency's name on the radar just in case those companies need a commercial or two...
So networking's not always about the martini lunches or the career fairs. Instead, maybe it, like an ad campaign, needs to be creative to be successful. Perhaps this is true of everything in life.

2. Show Your Social Media Savvy
Thanks to my best friend, I have now become a social media-savvy chick. Due to the epidemic success of social sites such as Facebook, the rapid development and expansion of Twitter, and the growing popularity of blogs, social media has become an essential factor to successful marketing. It's quite a plus to know what you're doing on the Internet these days. Not only does it provide great word-of-mouth marketing (which, we all know, is the most powerful type there is), but it also proves that you realize where the future of the marketing business will be: a bigger-than-ever-before mixture of digital and traditional, where the ratio of digital advertising to traditional ads will probably fall somewhere around the lines of 80%:20%.

3. Adopt A Recognizable Platform
To sum up this section: what is your theory of perception? How do you feel that advertising should be done, and how should the respective parts of your agency fit together to create a lasting campaign? Ogilvy makes use of its "360 degree Brand Stewardization" in which they monitor every aspect of a brand, from its inception to its execution, and Woods Witt Dealy & Sons has a philosophy where they have an individual team of account managers, planners, creatives, and media people working on the same client together, in a more intimate environment than those found in larger agencies. It's all about your brand philosophy, your perception of how these things should be done, along with (in most cases) a catchy name. And if that fits with the client, you're sold.

4. Be Willing To Contort
Haven't I said that advertising was like yoga? There's something in custom-made solutions. Obviously, you can't treat every client the same. And, let's face it, even though stretching hurts sometimes, in the end you end up feeling better and more flexible. A happy client breeds a happy agency. It's a win-win situation. Be willing to try something new.

5. Write A Book
Why, you may ask? Because it's fun, because it gives you a topic to explore in detail (I'm an English major, I love analyzation), and because it gets your name out there and brings you credibility. Authors of major works, such as John Steele's Truth, Lies, and Advertising, (also one of the best books I have ever read) are renowned throughout the advertising world, in agencies as well as in classrooms, and are always invited to speak at conferences and conventions due to their "expertise" on the issues discussed. Plus, how cool would it be to say you got a book published?

6. Offer A Direct Line to the CEO
AdAge cites this, but I'd like to as well: Zimmerman and Partners Advertising in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (the agency that I've interned for twice), is great at this. Jordan Zimmerman, founder and CEO, is available to his clients 24/7 and checks in with them on a daily basis. This not only breeds trust and companionability between the agency and its clients, but it gives the agency a certain edge over others who may not be as close with their clients. As a result of this constant attention, Zimmerman wins 85% of their pitches, and has managed to significantly expand the businesses of all of their clients. For specific cases, see their regional Nissan work and the results they've gotten for Papa John's.

All in all, the things that can be accomplished with putting in just a little bit of extra effort can be astounding. Even in today's economic situation, new businesses are still being pitched, fought over, and won. Everyone is looking for a way to get their product sold, and the way to help them lies in your agency's ability to break outside of the boundaries of traditional new business pitches. Don't just create a campaign to pitch, create a relationship. Create credibility, companionability, and compatibility.

And, most of all, create wonderful advertisements.