Insights

34 Advertising Agency Search Consultants

Peter · March 28, 2023 · 6 Comments

Advertising Agency Search Consultants – The Personal Shopper Of The Ad World — Updated 24 March, 2023

I’ve updated my list of the advertising agency search consultants universe. After updating we’re at 42. But, I can not update the “34” URL – so, there. Let me know if I am missing any consultancies. Thanks.

Is Your Agency Findable?

Blows my mind that more (together) advertising agecies are not know within the agency search community. ya know… the people that are looking for your agency for your next client.

Before I get into the subject, I want to make an important point. Whether or not your agency has the chops and appropriate expertise to get the attention of a search consultant, please try to look and act different. Be unignorable.

Yes, you might be a great social media agency or media planning and buying group. But, I bet you have at least a dozen look-alike competitors.

Get It Right – First = Ask The Tough Questions Before You Contact Advertising Agency Search Consultants

Ask how you will stand out under the scrutiny of expert agency search consultants. Ask yourself, would you be interested in your agency? Ask me to help you.

The Big World of Advertising Agency Search Consultants

Advertising agency search consultants help clients locate the perfect agency out of hundreds, even thousands, of small and large agency options. It is estimated that about 10% to 15% of all searches use the services of a consultant (I am thinking about dollar volume, not total agency searches.) I suspect that the number of consultant-led pitches is well over 50% for clients that have large budgets, complicated accounts and now, highly specialized agency requirements.

Should Your Agency Contact An Advertising Agency Search Consultant? It Depends.

Should your agency contact the search consultants on this list? Well, yes and no.

The Six Best Books On Branding

Peter · March 26, 2023 · Leave a Comment

The Art Of Branding Delivered By The Six Best Books On Branding

Here is my list of the top six books on branding. But, first, some words from my soon-to-be-released new book on how to run a KICK-ASS advertising agency. One of the first subjects I tackle is the importance of branding, as in having a stand-out brand positioning that will make the agency unignorable.

It’s An Agency Positioning Jungle Out There

It’s an advertising, digital, design, branding, experiential, social, influencer, SEO, SEM, PR, e-commerce agency jungle out there. Imagine a client trying to find the right-fit agency resource to work with. I’ve been a client that bought agency services. It isn’t an easy decision.

There are a lot of options. When I do a Google search on “advertising agency,” I get 17.8 million results. When I search “digital agency,” I get 20.3 million. “Media agency” yields 11.6 million.

Want even more potentially head-spinning numbers? IBISWorld reported that there are 7,865 businesses in the digital advertising agency industry. Clutch’s database of advertising agencies lists 9,295 for New York, 2,552 for the UK, 272 for the United Arab Emirates, 1,095 in London, UK, and, get this, 105 in London, Ohio. Ohio!

Yikes.

Regardless of what number you find and how you search, there are a lot of marketing service options for a client to choose from.

The Path to Standing Out Is To Have A Kick-Ass Brand. Get Your Branding Right.

Branding ala brand positioning is a radically important element of marketing that involves creating a unique image and identity for a brand. This is how consumers/clients will think about you. In our highly competitive business universe, superior brand positioning can make all the difference between success and failure. Whether you are a marketer, entrepreneur, or business owner, understanding brand positioning is crucial for achieving long-term growth and profitability.

To help you master your brand positioning, I put together a list of the best books on the subject.

These books offer valuable insights and practical strategies for creating and maintaining a strong brand identity that resonates with your target audience. Each of these books will help to make your company, advertising agency, even you = unignorable.

“Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” by Al Ries and Jack Trout – This classic book is widely regarded as the definitive guide to brand positioning. It offers a comprehensive overview of the principles and strategies involved in creating a strong brand identity and differentiating your brand from competitors.

“Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. I tell all of my advertising agency clients that they have a choice in their business development program. Be unignorable or be ignored. Read Seth’s book… “The cult classic that revolutionized marketing by teaching businesses that you’re either remarkable or invisible.”

“Building a StoryBrand” by Donald Miller – This book provides a step-by-step guide for creating a compelling brand story that resonates with customers. It offers practical advice for developing a clear and concise message that communicates the unique value proposition of your brand.

“Brand Identity Breakthrough” by Gregory V. Diehl – This book offers a fresh perspective on brand positioning by focusing on the importance of authenticity and personal branding. It provides a framework for building a brand that reflects your core values and resonates with your target audience.

Marketing Solopreneur: #2 Ann Handley

Peter · March 8, 2023 · Leave a Comment

1) Insights from a serious thinker/doer = solopreneur that will help you grow your business.

2) An alternative career path roadmap. No mas working for the “man”. Even if that man/woman/person is you, as in someone that runs a marketing agency.

#1 guru was Dan Koe.

Today’s #2 solopreneur is @Ann Handley

I’ve been reading Ann’s work, books, blog posts, and newsletter for years. Her blog, in particular, is a great example of delivering high-value, actionable thinking and an example of how to write for the SEO universe. Look at her titles. Sign up for her newsletter.

Ann’s power followers: 459K on LinkedIn and 27K on Instagram. Way more than most socially active advertising agencies.

Her books, Everybody Writes (from Ann’s Amazon page – A hands-on field guide to consistently creating page-turning content that your audience loves. And that delivers real results.), and Content Rules nail their promise.

Need more? Her company, MarketinProfs, is a marketing training and education company with more than 600,000 subscribers.

From Ann’s solopreneur website:

“Ann Handley is a writer, digital marketing pioneer, and Wall Street Journal best-selling author who inspires and empowers you to create marketing that your customers will love, igniting real results for your business.

Ann Handley writes and speaks about how businesses can escape marketing mediocrity to achieve tangible results.

And she will inspire you to do work you’re proud of.”

Four Things For You To Do – Now

Watch for future newsletters to scope out even more inspiring solopreneurs.
Pass this blog and newsletter on to your friends. Especially marketing agency people looking for their next move.
Tell Ann that you dig her work – https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhandley
Go here to read my series of 850+ blog posts.

A Series On The Marketing Solopreneur: #1 Dan Koe

Peter · March 6, 2023 · Leave a Comment

I am doing a series on the world of the solopreneur that offers two things.

1) Insights from a serious thinker/doer that will help you grow your business. I am talking solopreneur.

2) An alternative career path roadmap. No working for the “man”. Even if that man/woman/person is you, as in someone that runs a marketing agency.

Definition…According to Merriam-Webster, a solopreneur is “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise without the help of a partner.”

#1 solopreneur is the design guru Dan Koe. He delivers courses +

Dan offers courses on writing, productization, and a Modern Mastery system. These range from $150 to $999. He makes a lot of money. I am considering the book course even though I am now completing my fourth book and am outlining my fifth. Never too late to tap into someone else’s experience. Factoid… Dan has 75K followers on LinkedIn. 295K Twitter followers. 223K YouTube subs. 1.2 million Instagram peeps. Yikes!

From Dan’s website – a very cool website by the way:

Hey, I’m Dan.

I’m a brand advisor for 6-7 figure creators and influencers.

I’m the guy they come to when they want to go from starving artist to a highly-paid and authentic creator. No fancy sales funnels and pushy marketing in this household.

I help them systemize their workflow, marketing, and content so they can work for 2 hours a day, charge more, and sell their products & services without manual effort.

As a freelancer turned consultant turned creator, I’ve developed effective systems with time, skin in the game, and experience with 4000+ students and clients.

Four Things For You To Do

Sign up for future newsletters to scope out even more interesting and way active solopreneur thinker/doers.
Pass this newsletter on to your friends.
Tell Dan you love him. -> LinkedIn
Go here to read my series of 850+ blog posts.

What Do You Call Your Advertising Or Digital Agency?

Peter · February 18, 2023 · Leave a Comment

Are You Advertising Agency? Branding? Digital? What?

Here’s a list of what today’s advertising agencies call themselves—and things can get confusing, especially given service synergies:

· Advertising agency

· Full-service agency

· Integrated agency

· Marketing agency

· Branding agency

· Digital agency

· Influencer agency

· Storytelling agency

· Media planning and buying agency

· Creative agency

· Branding agency

· Social media agency

· Web design agency

· SEM agency

· SEO agency

· MarTech agency

· TikTok agency

· Direct marketing agency

· eCommerce agency

· Recruitment agency

· CRO agency

· B2B agency

· Challenger brand agency

· Promotion agency

· Out-of-home agency

· Design agency

· Experiential agency

· Strategic consultancy agency

· Performance marketing agency

· AR/VR agency

· Public relations agency

· Strategic consultancy

· AI agency

· In-house agency

To help me position and title of my soon-to-be new book, I turned to Google Trends to see what marketing agency-identifying terms people search for. I’ll admit I was surprised to see that “marketing agency” was the clear search-term winner, followed by “digital agency,” “advertising agency,” and then “ad agency.”

“Marketing agency.” Really? In fact, I was hard-pressed to find even a handful of agencies that called themselves a marketing agency.

More about this coming soon.