The Seven Tips for Advertising Agency Survival

I have been wanting to talk to you about this Futurelab article for a long time. It reminds me of the day I was working for an ad agency myself and we were pitched on the great value of placing banner ads on Canada.com for one of our clients. Since I have never been a fan of banners ads, or any kind of online ads for that matter because everybody I talk to hate them or ignore them, I ask the rep this simple question: What is it that you did to generate that much traffic to Canada.com? The rep answered without hesitation that they have been working heavily on generating good content, optimizing the site for search engines, implementing link exchange programs and so on. I ask: Have you ever done some form of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to generate traffic to your site? Hell no! We get all our traffic for free from the organic side of search results. So, have you purchased any banner ads to promote your site then? Are you crazy! This is way too expensive and the ROI is not there. You see where I am going here… The Ad Agency model is no different than this scenario and is full of disconnects that do not make any sense.

Here is an excerpt from the article that I love:

TIP 2: DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF
“Here’s a challenge.  Look at any list of major international agencies and tell me in one word how each truly differentiates itself in the marketplace.  If you can get beyond half a dozen unique value propositions, I want to talk to you ‘cause I ain’t seein’ them.  Everyone has large networks, everyone is creative, everyone has the best people and everyone has a bunch of awards on their wall.

Now look at this from a client’s perspective.  Here’s an industry which claims to advise brands on how to differentiate themselves in the market place, yet can’t get beyond bland whiter than white rethoric itself.

Rather than chase every budget-dollar through a middle-of-the-road positioning, agencies should clearly state what they are about and live by it.  Clients should be made to love the agency brand or hate it, yet not even contemplate the commodity purchasing indifference they display today. After all, if you can’t make your own agency stand out in the crowd, how do you expect your customers to ever take you seriously if you claim you can do it for them?”

It is brilliant. There are 7 Tips for Ad Agency Survival in the article. Please make sure you read it and stop wasting your money on the archaic advertising model unsupported by key success metrics.

If you want to learn more about how I can help you generate more revenues from core online marketing tactics, such as Search Marketing, feel free to contact me. 

Permalink /// Comments (3)

Comments

1. Get a hobby.  And no your advertising blog does not count.  Take up knitting, spelunking, salsa dancing, chess playing, painting, stalking, creating puzzle paintings, really it can be anything.

   Posted by az web design on 09/01 at 07:20 AM

2. I have a business that provides an OUT OF HOME advertising and promotional service for any type of business.I’m looking for information, tips and advice on how to get advertising agencies interested and take notice of our very effective and unique service and make them realize the impact potential for their clients.
   I have sent out information packs and contacted several agencies but to no avail, they cannot even return phone calls.

   Posted by Vinyl Banner Printing on 07/28 at 03:59 PM

3. @az web design.... Haven’t your mother taught you when you were a child “if you cant say something nice...dont say anything at all!! “

   I wish to learn everything from you....could you please send me a mail....so that i can talk to you in private. I would be really grateful...thanks

   Posted by Arun Aravindakshan on 02/24 at 08:55 PM