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The Advertising Business Is Growing. Is Your Agency?
The Advertising Business Is Growing. Is Your Agency? I have some unusually good news for agency owners. The advertising business is growing. Really growing. Madison & Wall estimates that global advertising revenue increased 12.7% year…
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Winmo. The best tool for agency new business
Winmo. Best tool for agency new business Full transparency: I’m a big Winmo fan and a daily user, going way back to when they were the List. I blog about it, speak about it, use…
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The Next Agency Inflection: 2026’s Blueprint for Growth
The Next Agency Inflection: 2026’s Blueprint for Growth Forget “business as usual.” The world agencies once dominated is breaking. The Forrester “Predictions 2026“ already gives us a structural map: agencies must become resellers, product‐builders, embedded…
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The Art of the List: Win More and Better Clients
The Art of the List: Win More and Better Clients For many ad agencies, new business often feels like an endless hustle. Pitches, proposals, referrals, and the occasional inbound lead that leads nowhere. But here’s…
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Your Ad Agency Prospecting Platform
Your Ad Agency Prospecting Platform Reach more prospects. Guide the journey. Make decisions with data. Track your progress. Convert more clients. Affordable. Easy to use. Powerful. Backed by 20 years of new business experience. All…
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From Chasing Anything to Strategic Business Development
From Chasing Anything to Strategic Business Development In the fast-paced advertising world, agencies often rely on a whirlwind of short-term new business prospecting tactics, hoping for quick wins in client acquisition. However, a new business…
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Find Your Agency’s “Aha!”
Find Your Agency’s “Aha!” There is no doubt about the importance of understanding the difference between two or more choices. That difference has never been more critical for agencies, but more on that later. Whether…
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Winning the battle for new clients
Winning the battle for new clients As the pace of change continues, agencies must adapt to the ever-evolving landscape to win the battle for new clients. Reports indicate increased difficulty obtaining new business opportunities, necessitating…
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Ad agency business development is hard–It doesn’t have to be
It’s been my world for more than 20 years. Not as a consultant, but in the trenches, perfecting my craft at small, mid-size, and large agencies, selling marketing services, AOR engagements, and everything in between.…
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Perfect is the Enemy of Good
Perfect is the Enemy of Good No truer words for ad agencies this time of year. “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” Gen. George Patton. The clock…
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The Allure of a Silver Bullet
The Allure of a Silver Bullet In the fast-paced, ever-evolving advertising world, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for survival. New trends and techniques emerge daily, promising to revolutionize how we reach potential audiences.…
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The ad agency sales cycle
The ad agency sales cycle Agency business development is a long game, unfortunately. The average client-agency relationship is about two and a half years. The average CMO tenure is between three and four years. Marketing…
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5 Reasons You Need a Consultant NOW
5 Reasons You Need a Consultant NOW The first half was slow. Declining agency tenure, increasing client turnover, in-housing continues, project relationships, and tighter margins put even greater pressure on the need to add, replace,…
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From referrals to outreach
From referrals to outreach It is a common experience. For years, an agency startup thrived on a steady stream of referrals, never having to do proactive business development. The founders had stellar reputations for delivering…
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Can Anyone Really Predict the First Bite
Can Anyone Really Predict the First Bite When you embark on a new business planning process and look at all the time and effort required to develop an effective program, one question is top of…
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The AI revolution is on fire
The AI Revolution is On Fire I prompted ChatGPT to write this post in May, 2023. More on that later. See what you think of the quality of AI over a year ago and image…
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A new era in prospect targeting
When you define a target audience for your business development program, you will probably use criteria like CPG, Hospital system, Fintech, or startups with a minimum of $50M in total funding, $100M+ annual sales, 100+…
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No more Whac-A-Mole
The ad agency sales cycle can be long. The average tenure of an agency-client relationship is about three years. The average CMO tenure is about 3.3 years. What’s worse (or better if you have one),…
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Help! My pipeline is empty
If you are saying that at this time of year, it will be a tough year indeed. The truth is, almost every agency gets to that point every so often. It may be that your…
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Win before the pitch
Pitching new business is the oxygen that keeps agencies alive. Ask any agency leader, and you’ll probably hear how much they hate it. It’s disruptive, costly, mismanaged, unfair, and many other NSFW comments will ensue.…