What Will it Take Today to Succeed at An Advertising Agency?

digital ads

An interesting article recently highlighted what it takes to thrive in an ad agency environment in this day and age, questioning whether ego and creativity go together.

According to CP+B Chairman and Co-Founder Chuck Porter, speaking at an Advertising Week session in New York recently, along with the agency’s global CEO Lori Senecal and moderator Jim Cooper, editor of Adweek, this is no longer the case and in fact the opposite is true.

As the executives explain, being able to work well with others is one of the most important issues in the agency business because collaboration has become the name of the game. There are so many levels of collaboration needed in order to achieve goals not only within the company by externally as well.

Mr Porter explained:

“We try very hard to hire people that will bury their ego for the sake of an idea,”

Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/285799/thriving-at-an-ad-agency-today-bury-your-ego-cha.html

Internally, communication is a critical issue and “solving challenges together” is crucial to success. As Senecal explains, working together has been taken to another level.

The executives also explained that in the modern advertising agency, hierarchies of control within organisations and other complicated processes within the company, can be stifling to creativity.

They also touched on the topic of the use of data in advertising. Senecal explained,

“The big challenge for creatives is breaking through the cacophony of marketing noise that consumers are exposed to daily with messages or techniques that are impactful. “

Scale doesn’t create impact but impact often creates scale,” \

Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/285799/thriving-at-an-ad-agency-today-bury-your-ego-cha.html

Porter explained that to win, we need to make sure we’re telling the best stories, that’s as important today as it’s ever been.

Senecal also spoke about the diversity problem in the industry. She explained that its common sense for agencies to diversify but figuring out how to get the most out of this diversified workforce would be of importance.

To young people in the industry, Porter said,

“Take the crappy pieces out of your book.” He’d rather see two excellent pieces of work than a book full of mediocrity,

Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/285799/thriving-at-an-ad-agency-today-bury-your-ego-cha.html

Senecal responded with a similar sentiment saying,

“Go in the direction of your fear, that’s where the growth opportunities are.”

Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/285799/thriving-at-an-ad-agency-today-bury-your-ego-cha.html

The Social Media Battle for Tax and Accounting Agencies

social-mediaTax and accounting agencies often struggle with social media marketing mainly because successful strategies take time and resources. Regular posting and engagement are key to a successful social media marketing plan, like we see from Apsley Small Business Accountants NBC.

Why is Social Media Marketing Important for Accountants?

Social media marketing is important because clients’ research and buying is increasingly taking place online and on social media platforms in particular.

Buyers looking for tax agencies and accountants are likely to search for service providers on these platforms, which is why tax and accounting firms need a strong social media presence.

The top reasons to focus on social media marketing include:

  • To successfully retain clients, social media marketing is an important element, together with email.
  • 91 per cent of millenials use Facebook, while the 45-54 age group is the fastest growing user group on the platform.
  • According to research from Buffer, 47 per cent of people have made a purchase based on a positive Twitter recommendation.
  • A huge percentage of social-media driven visits to company websites are from LinkedIn.

Why Do Tax and Accounting Firms Find Successful Social Media Marketing A Challenge?

Many accountants struggle with this form of marketing because they are relying on the old way of doing things, marketing through traditional streams alone and relying heavily on networking. As a result firms are missing out on opportunities to create brand awareness and generate traffic for their website.

It is also an excellent way to generate leads and engage with existing clients to retain their business.

Another major reason tax and accounting firms battle with social media is that it requires regular, good quality content to be successful. Many firms don’t allocate the time and resources to consistently generate good content. The bottom-line is that whether its a video or well written article, regularly posted, quality content is crucial to a successful marketing strategy.

Another reason companies in the accounting sphere may be battling with social media marketing is that they focus on selling instead of providing useful content. Content should entertain and be helpful rather than just pitch the firm’s services. It should also have an emotional impact on the audience, the needs of the audience should be the primary focus.

To improve social media marketing, tax and accounting firms should do as Northern Business Consultants have done and incorporate the most popular social media platforms.

It’s important to not focus solely on words, visual elements increase engagement drastically. This is one of the strategies practiced by Northern Business Consultants, who incorporate inspiring infographics and motivational quotes with imagery onto their social media pages, together with reviews and client ratings and other useful advice.

The company also occasionally reposts useful and relevant articles from around the web, which is a good way of providing the audience with good, useful content even when time and resources are limited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advertising Agencies Struggle with Instagram Engagement

 instagram

Instagram is one of those social media platforms that remains a challenge for advertising agencies, remaining at the bottom of the industries on Instagram by average engagement with their audience, according to the second local analysis by Online Circle Digital.

The agency’s Instagram Performance Report examined more than 550 Australian brands and influencers by followers and engagement from January 1st to March 31st.

A few of the marketing agencies that increased their follower growth were Ogilvy, OMD, Isobar and Cummins & Partners but their average engagement rate still lags behind when compared with other industries and brands.

The leading Australian brands on Instagram are surfwear brands like Quiksilver, Billabong, Volcom Stone and Rip Curl Australia. 
Read more at http://www.adnews.com.au/news/ad-agencies-struggle-with-engagement-on-instagram#lspKZACHX1MEwOPu.99

Why Aren’t we Better at Advertising Ourselves?

BILLAn interesting article on Adnews.co.au raised the question, why aren’t we in the advertising industry better at advertising ourselves?

The state of the advertising industry has led to long time leaders in the industry leaving because so many agencies are circling for a small amount of business.

We need to promote respect for Intellectual Property again so that it can once again be valued, but this is easier said than done.

Tight margins, competitiveness and more stringent performance metrics is the prevailing environment in business today.

An article on Adnews.com.au recently highlighted that the industry has lost its way when it comes to valuing IP and it needs to “take its own medicine”.

The writer says the way agencies are setting up client contracts is a problem.

Giving away free work in an effort to undercut our competitors is prevalent instead of treating the product as the thing that ultimately sets us apart.

Read more at http://www.adnews.com.au/news/creative-focus-why-isn-t-the-ad-industry-better-at-selling-itself#3l3kXU7Ir4RzU9s7.99

 

Global Online Giants Reinforcing the Death of Newspapers

newsWith news that online advertising is worth three times more than print, it seems Australian newspapers cannot escape the death of print.

There are a number of factors driving the death but this has led to newspaper advertising falling 40 per cent in 5 years to $2.4 billion.

Data shows that online advertising is worth $6billion and is growing at 25 per cent annually.

Over the past 2 years, redundancies at Fairfax has cost the company $70million.

These trends aren’t restricted to Australia alone, they’re global, newspapers are battling against the reign and dominion of online advertising worldwide.

Read more at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-19/newspaper-death-spiral-gathers-pace/7427960

Digital Advertising in Europe Led by Mobile

digital adsA recent report indicates that mobile is the fastest growing digital advertising channel across Europe, as it is in many parts of the world including in Australia.

Spending on digital advertising is big in Europe, bigger than TV spending in fact and the UK is the continent’s biggest digital advertising market. Around Euro 11.8 billion was spent online in 2015.

Why is this important? Well this is significant because it indicates that mature markets such as The UK are still growing.

Mobile display ad spend is up a massive 60 per cent on the previous year, outperforming desktop in all but two of the 27 markets reviewed.  Read more at https://www.tnooz.com/article/mobile-leads-digital-advertising-growth-Europe/

 

Renewed Confidence in Television Advertising

tvIn an interesting article on AdNews.com.au the renewed confidence in television advertising has come to the fore, with many advertisers becoming frustrating with online advertising and the difficulty in measuring it’s effectiveness.

An overriding concern has become how to measure digital media especially for the US advertising industry as the big online platforms like Google and Facebook face a growing crisis about traffic fraud, ad viewability and “rubbery” audience statistics.

In the US and The UK television advertising is becoming more powerful because everyone accepts that it still works and the article highlights that in Australia the problem is that people are more obsessed with the new rather than the effective methods.

Find out more http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/advertising-spend-flows-back-to-tv-over-false-views/news-story/4f6d8660f6e831f21ff58036832aa2ec

Google Biggest Media Company by 166 Per Cent

Screen-Shot-2016-05-26-at-4.43.43-PM

Photo Source: Zenith

Google is officially the biggest media company in the world, followed by The Walt Disney Company, no surprise there. But what is surprising is the margin by which Google took the lead – 166 per cent.

The Chinese search giant Baidu is the second fastest growing media company falling just behind Facebook, according to a report by media agency Zenith.

Baidu’s media revenue grew by 52% over the last year and Facebook’s by 65 per cent for the year.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company copany is 166per cent bigger than Walt Disney is second in terms of media revenue. Walt Disney grew 17 per cent year on year and is worth $60bn.

Read more at https://mumbrella.com.au/google-166-bigger-worlds-second-largest-media-company-claims-report-369728

Learn How to Deliver Future-Focused Digital Advertising

digital marketing adsA post on Marketingland.com recently highlighted 3 ways that you can ensure you deliver future-focused digital advertising. Digital advertising can survive and thrive, despite some predicting its subsequent death.

Its important that marketers resolve to create better experiences consumers won’t want to opt out of by executing more intelligently using processes and tools at our disposal.

  1. Make the most of mobile with native advertising
  2. Turn connected devices into powerful video canvas
  3. Use data targeting to extend lifetime value

Read more about it at http://marketingland.com/three-ways-deliver-future-focused-digital-advertising-172574

 

Google’s Global Ban on Payday Loans

googleGoogle recently announced its plan to ban all payday loan ads from its site following criticism that they exploit the most vulnerable of the population. These loans typically exploit the poor by offering immediate cash with sky high interest rates.

The ban is the first time the search giant announced a global ban on ads for a wide category of financial products. In the past Google has only prohibited illicit activity advertisements such as selling drugs, explosives, guns or advertisements that are explicit in nature.

Facebook is another tech company that doesn’t display advertisements for payday loans. Source: http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/google-to-ban-payday-loan-advertisements-20160512-got8ac.html