Recent Additions

Propulsion Blog: Why your agency positioning strategy should not be based on facts

January 31, 2012 | Author: Tim Williams

When it comes to your agency’s business strategy (positioning), the best place to start is to make sure you’ve struck the right balance between authenticity and aspiration. An agency positioning that’s too authentic is too backward-looking, too focused on where the business was instead of where the business is going. On the other hand, a positioning strategy that’s too aspirational...

Guide: Top 10 Imperatives for Agency Success in 2012 and Beyond

January 26, 2012 | Author: Ignition

Business is at the nexus of the Great Recession and the Great Transformation of Marketing. The tried-and-true marketing approaches, born of an advertising industry that is more than 100 years old, are losing their effectiveness.

Propulsion Blog: Be a market maker, not a follower

January 16, 2012 | Author: Tim Williams

As a professional services firm, the ultimate business strategy is to not just be a category leader, but to create a new category; to be a category of one. The most powerful positionings create a new market, in which you are the leading – and only – provider. Of course this isn’t easy. (Nothing worth doing is.) Writing recently in...

Propulsion Blog: A New Year’s resolution for agencies: Start billing for what you really sell

January 4, 2012 | Author: Tim Williams

In groups of agency professionals around the world I have often asked the question, “What do clients really buy from your agency?” Their answers usually include things like “Solutions to marketing problems,” “Insights and innovation,” “Expertise,” and “Successful marketplace outcomes.” Not a single person has ever said “Time.” Because deep down inside we all understand that clients don’t really buy...

Checklist: Marketing the agency brand

January 4, 2012 | Author: Ignition

Instead of the standard business development and prospecting techniques, are you employing more effective ways of marketing your agency brand? Here’s a list of the things your firm should be doing.

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Browse by topic:

Your purpose
- Discovering and cultivating your purpose
Does your firm have a sense of purpose that transcends making money?
Your principles
- Developing and defending your principles
Does your firm have a set of beliefs that guide its daily business decisions?
Your positioning
Has your firm identified and leveraged its points of relevant differentiation?
All Topics »
Your product
Is your firm delivering excellence and offering the right services for today’s marketplace?
Your people
Does your firm have the right talent to deliver consistently high levels of performance?
Your prospecting
- Marketing the agency brand
- New business development
Does your firm market its own brand and proactively manage the reputation of its own brand?
Your process
How well does your firm manage its processes and workflow?
Your place of business
Does your firm have a work environment that allows your people do their best work?
Your pricing
- Principles and practices of value pricing
- Value pricing guides and tools
Is your firm compensated for the value it creates rather than the hours it works?

"Over the course of his career Tim Williams has effectively positioned himself as one of the leading thinkers on marketing, branding and the art of differentiation. With his new book “Positioning For Professionals” he has cemented his considerable reputation. This book is loaded with insight and practical perspectives..."

Tom Simons, CEO, Partners+Simons

"Agency 2.5 is the best time I’ve spent for work in a while. Tremendously helpful, encouraging, reassuring, and inspiring"

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"I attended your seminar a few months ago and just wanted to let you know how inspiring I found it to be. And I mean literally inspiring. Listening to you inspired an idea that, after months of blood, sweat and integrated teamwork, became a reality and has gotten a huge response. So, thanks again."

Chris Corley, Group Creative Director, Bernstein-Rein

"Tim’s presentation was the most highly rated session at our workshop at the AAAA Management Conference. He wowed an audience of agency CEOs who often feel they’ve heard it all before."

Tom Phelan, Vice President, American Association of Advertising Agencies

"I have attended a lot of seminars, and this was by far the best. Forward thinking, current, and very relevant."

Kelly Konz, Performance Marketing

"Finally an advertising workshop with completely current and relevant information that really dives into the application of the ideas."

Sylvia Prentice, McKinnon Calderwood Advertising

"I’ve been to my fair share of seminars. Yours, I’d have to say, was one of the best I’ve been to. I found myself relating to many of the scenarios you presented, and perhaps more importantly, aspiring to put into place many of the implications you outlined. It was a truly fascinating seminar..."

Nancy Bistritz, Director of Marketing, Nurun

"A couple of weeks ago, I made the decision to attend an all day conference…hearing about the best practices of agencies in the U.S., including operational, creative, account and business growth related issues. Phenomenal…"

G. Robert Bishop, writing in The Marketing Recruiter

"Tim Williams really provided a turning point for our agency. His insight on our business plus the ability to grasp our niches in the advertising world really provided motivation and an urge to action for all of our people."

Steve Barr, Partner, Osborn & Barr

Ignition Consulting Group™