Why you should stop selling your firm and start marketing it

An effective agency marketing program makes a “sales” program unnecessary.

Agency principals, particularly in smaller agencies, continually wrestle with the question of whether they should do new business themselves or whether they need a new business person. Very often their solution is to hire a “Business Development Director,” which is usually someone with good sales skills.

What’s really needed is a broader view of business development. It’s not just about cold calling prospective clients, but promoting the agency in ways that actually attract new clients. A well-executed “pull” strategy is almost always superior to a
“push” approach.

Notable agencies almost always pursue a “pull” strategy

In the early days of Fallon McElligott Rice, the agency new business strategy was to get as much publicity as possible for its exceptional creative work. The agency set aside a disproportionate amount of its operating budget for award show entries, and dedicated a person to make sure the agency was entered in as many high-profile shows as possible.

At Crispin Porter + Bogusky – an agency without an official public relations function – three full-time people are dedicated to generating publicity about the agency. A lot of agency professionals assume Crispin is just lucky, but the countless pages of publicity the agency receives in the trade and business press is the result of an unusual commitment to agency self-promotion.

Why agencies need a Chief Marketing Officer

If you have a compelling story to tell (and that’s a big “if”), you should consider establishing the role of Chief Marketing Officer in your agency. This means that in addition to an “outbound” new business effort that you also establish an “inbound” component as well.

The essential job of the Chief Marketing Officer is to apply the same kinds of strategies and techniques that agencies use to market their clients’ brands to marketing the agency’s brand. This involves treating the agency as a client, assembling a team to work on this client, and making sure that agency projects are treated with the same level of importance and urgency as client projects.

After all, how do you expect to be seen as expert in marketing brands if you can’t market your own brand?

Following is a role description for a Chief Marketing Officer in a marketing communications firm. Modify it to meet your own particular situation, and keep in mind that it’s not always necessary (particularly in smaller firms) to have a fully-dedicated person in this role. But regardless of the size of the agency, it’s essential that someone is looking after the essential elements of the job.

Role Description: Chief Marketing Officer

The Chief Marketing Officer of the reports to the agency president. The primary areas of responsibility include new business development as well as agency brand development. With the support of internal resources and teams, this position manages both the agency’s new business process as well as the strategies and tactics involved in promoting the agency brand

New Business

  1. Manages and directs the agency’s new business efforts to ensure that the goals of the annual new business plan and being met.
  2. With input from the agency’s new business team, develops and maintains a list of new business prospects.
  3. Establishes a system for proactively pursuing new business.
  4. Serve as the initial point of contact for most new business leads.
  5. Meets with new business prospects to determine marketing communication needs.
  6. Establishes and maintains regular meetings with the agency’s new business team to provide updates to others in the agency.

Agency Marketing

  1. Building and maintaining a permission-based list of prospects and influencers and sends appropriate periodic e-mailings and mailings.
  2. Insuring that the agency web site is constantly refreshed and updated with information, examples, case studies, biographies, etc.
  3. Constantly updating and maintaining both offline and online directory listings, including agency-specific directories, business directories, paid listing services, and those hosted by agency search consultancies.
  4. Regularly reading and posting to appropriate blogs and publications. Fostering relationships with relevant bloggers and online publishers.
  5. Identifying, buying and managing URLs for landing pages that can be used by the agency.
  6. Developing and maintaining agency profile pages on Facebook, Wikipedia, Linked In, Adweek’s “At the Roundtable,” and other appropriate social networks.
  7. Overseeing an online search marketing program for the agency, including the identification and purchase of keywords and phrases.
  8. Identifying and coordinating online advertising opportunities on appropriate websites, blogs, etc.
  9. Maximizing the agency’s online presence by proactively posting agency materials, videos, photos, podcasts, etc. on sites such as YouTube, iTunes, Flickr, SlideShare, Scribd, Screencast, etc.
  10. Where possible, creating agency channels on these sites, as is possible on YouTube and Screencast.
  11. Actively identifying opportunities to publicize the agency’s intellectual capital by monitoring reporter queries using services like HARO.
  12. Creating a positive presence for the agency on websites and blogs that are influential in attracting and recruiting top talent, such as Talent Zoo.
  13. Measuring and refining the agency’s online presence using analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Alexa, Technolorati, etc. and monitoring the success of the agency’s social media program through the use of third-party applications such as BuzzMetrics, BuzzLogic, etc. 

Questions or feedback? Contact us.

Copyright © 2011 Ignition Consulting Group, Inc. Terms of Service