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Avoiding the Long Cold Winter

By Mark Sneider
Reardon Smith Whittaker (RSW) US/GP

It’s that time of year again when the grass starts to appear greener in the eyes of clients who may look toward some fresh perspective or firepower from a new agency. Affectionately known to agency and client executives as “Silly Season,” there’s really nothing “silly” about it. According to recent RSW research, clients don’t mind changing firms one bit, so what are you doing to maintain and grow your client base?

Depending on your agency, Silly Season is either a bad thing or a very positive time of year that you’ve been planning for since January. Without question, now is the best time to do the work that will position your agency for a successful fourth quarter. Sales and marketing of an agency is work that should go on year round. But, now more than ever, how an agency positions itself during this time is literally the difference between a very happy new year and a long cold winter.

Right now, we are hearing gloom and doom from all sides. Spending is down in this sector and that sector. Inflation and unemployment are both increasing and business in general is looking to tighten its proverbial belt rather than take steps to drive top line revenue. Oh glorious day for the agency executive on the right side of Silly Season! It is this very news that enables the proactive agency to be on the lookout for better alternatives for its clients and stretch those marketing dollars without sacrificing quality and service. But ideas and good intentions are no replacement for reaching out to clients on a continuous basis, and if you have not done any kind of proactive outreach program all year, you should be terrified.

Fortunately, fear can be a great motivator to action. Certainly it’s best to begin a proactive sales and marketing process while cash flow remains solid, rather than waiting until it becomes a trickle and market spend is weighed against payroll as a choice. As you would tell your clients, marketing is not an event. It is a long term process with a pipeline of good, prospective clients as well as interaction with and leveraging of current clients and influencers. Developing a pipeline can take months, if not years, requiring constant cultivation and ongoing outreach designed to hit the right person, at the right time, with the right message and getting them to take some desired action – meeting with your firm.

If you’ve not done anything up to this point to market your organization, admittedly you have put yourself in a vulnerable situation. Many agency executives do many of the necessary things to grow and gain market share, such as running aggressive and proactive publicity programs, having a robust and optimized Web site that generates leads and provides information, sponsoring or hosting events, and perhaps there are even some advertising agencies out there that advertise. But, the missing component from even the most well intentioned firms is dedicated sales and new business outreach.

Assuming that you’ve done some basic work to reach out to and attract new business, doing all or part of the following will help make Silly Season something you look forward to each year.

1. Dedicate Someone to the Business Development Function

The agency track record of internal hiring for new business development is not good. While I don’t want to shamelessly plug RSW, consider hiring someone or some entity to proactively handle your agency’s lead generation and business development services. Will it cost you? Yes, it’s an investment in the future of the firm, but when done properly it should begin to pay off within a few months. It takes time to make a still rock roll, but having someone dedicated to the task of business development can ensure that prospects are being reached out to consistently and on a proactive basis.

2.  Update Your Portfolio

If your Web site and presentation kit portfolio are still touting harvest yellow appliances and a cobranding promotion you did with the Bee Gees, now might just be the time to freshen that up. The mistake most firms make is showing everything they have ever done. Instead, try sharing some of your most recent pieces from current clients, with a simple case study on the effectiveness of the piece. Clients want results, not pretty pictures. Share how your agency can actually make a difference to your client’s bottom line.

3. Clean Up Your List

Do you even have a prospect list? How long has it been since you’ve cleaned it up or sent something to the list? Even if it’s an inexpensive mailer, send something out to clean up that list. You should be proactively seeking ways to add to the list, such as a downloadable white paper, accessed survey or even something more advanced like a downloadable video or podcast. Remember, Web sites are supposed to sell and generate leads, not be a static piece of online brochureware.

4. Proactively Increase Your Visibility

Remember all those great tools you tell your clients to use? Well now is the time to make sure your agency is using them. While the adage of the cobbler’s children having no shoes is true of nearly every business, it seems rampant in the advertising and public relations industries. Get some articles out there, drive leads through a properly promoted trade show appearance, distribute a press release, get a mailer or e-mail blast ready, sponsor an event, run some ads – do something. If you feel you can’t find the time or objectivity or focus, seek out a firm that specializes in public relations and advertising for public relations and advertising firms. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend your competitor, but if you’re a firm in Dallas, there’s nothing wrong with calling a PR firm in Cincinnati to help you out.

There are some simple (and free) things you can do: networking events, blogging and social media, and – one of my favorites – ask your current clients for a referral.

5.  Do Your Research

RSW has some of the most detailed information and data that peers into the minds of agency clientele. This data shares information as to why agencies typically lose clients, in what areas clients wish agencies had more expertise and how agencies can best improve. Additionally, there are dozens if not hundreds of data collection resources agencies can use to develop a more specific pitch and share some best practice advice without investing huge amounts of time and money to create something compelling for a prospect. Knowledge is indeed power.

The poor track record of agency internal sales has been well documented, but it still seems as though many agencies are comfortable continuing to hope that “this time, it will be different,” or worse, doing much of nothing – clearly not a good business development approach. The reality is that business development must be an ongoing priority. Work to secure new clients needs to have already started or begin as soon as clients are ready to review the efficacy of 2008 and slate budgets for 2009.

The bottom line is that you owe it to your organization to proactively take the proper steps to attract new business, especially as the landscape continues to become more competitive and clients ever more discerning with their marketing investments. What are you doing to stand out? Do you have a proactive sales and marketing program? Is what you’re doing now satisfactory, or could it be better?

So ask yourself, “Is Silly Season something you embrace, or fear?”

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Mark Sneider is the Managing Director of RSW/US. Mark opened RSW’s U.S. office in 2005. Prior to RSW, Mark spent ten years working for two top tier packaged goods companies, and ten years on the marketing services side of the business. He started his career at DDB Needham in Chicago. Mark is a graduate of Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business with a major in Marketing and Economics. He can be reached at mark@rswus.com.