How to write proposals that win
Your agency is terrific, but your proposals aren’t. You have a talented team. Your work is smart. Clients love you. You get asked to write proposals. Despite all that talent and success, your proposals simply aren’t winning enough new business. Maybe you aren’t winning enough, or winning the big ones, or winning the ones you […]
Are the Indies Really Growing?
There is a comfortable story making the rounds: independent agencies are having a moment, the holding companies are in decline, and the future belongs to nimble, founder-led shops. You’ll read about it in the advertising trade press. Countless consultants selling services to independent agencies proclaim it loudly on LinkedIn, at agency conferences and on their […]
21 Tips for running a better agency review
You need a new agency. It could be an agency to lead creative, media, PR, social, influencer, shopper marketing or any other marketing strategy. You’ve initiated a review that you are overseeing personally and it’s proving to be considerably more challenging and time intensive than you initially anticipated. Heck, you already had a full-time job […]
The Pitch Readiness Checklist for Agencies
After several relatively quiet years, many believe we are on the cusp of an avalanche of agency pitch opportunities. Media will once again lead the way, but we also expect a strong market for creative, social and PR opportunities. Is your agency ready? Doing great work and delighting your clients is essential. Great work creates […]
AI, Agencies, and a Warning
AI is everywhere, and a very popular discussion when it comes to marketers and their agencies. Like any new technology, there will be good and bad players. In the world of marketers and their agencies, most agencies will leverage AI to deliver even better support and outcomes for their clients. And some won’t. And unfortunately, […]
Sizzle reels don’t sizzle
As long as I can remember, a staple marketing technique of creative agencies has been the “sizzle” reel. You’ve undoubtedly seen many. A video mashup of quick cuts generally pulled from an agency’s best video work. Sometimes set to a soundtrack. The intent is to impress a prospect with the amazing creativity of the agency. […]
5 Things we’ve learned from 11 current agency reviews
It’s been a very busy start of the year for agency reviews. We’re currently managing or wrapping up 11 different agency reviews, covering a wide range of needs and agency types. With so much activity, some clear themes are emerging that may help agencies and clients. What are we seeing and hearing? 1. Agencies (still) […]
Write winning agency proposals
Would you like your agency to win more new business? I know – that’s a silly question. The better question is: how can an agency win more new business? One way is to master the art & science of writing agency proposals that win. Good agencies everywhere win less of their proposals than they’d like. […]
How agencies often waste the pitch Q&A
The pitch Q&A session is one of the most important interactions that agencies have with a prospect during a formal review. The client gets to see how the agency team handles themselves and has a chance to hear the quality of the questions asked by the agency. The agency has an opportunity to gather critical […]
A simple way to improve marketer & agency productivity
The productivity expectations that executives face have never been tougher. We are always on and daily technological advances seem to make our workday harder and longer rather than easier. This avalanche of expectations has led to a self-defeating problem: there is an epidemic of wishful thinking in industry today. Objectives are too lofty, priority lists […]