Marketing folks are creative by nature, but not universally comfortable with prospecting for new business by reaching out to strangers …

Battling a challenging economy and an ever-changing media landscape, advertising agencies and public relations firms still face an uphill battle for new business in 2013.

But that’s no reason to despair.

Looking back, there have always been two distinct philosophies and approaches to agency and PR firm business
development; pro-active outreach (chase) and inbound marketing (be found).

In pro-active outreach, someone at the agency or an outside contractor has to initiate contact with a prospect by
mail, e-mail or phone – often called cold calling.  Meyst remarks “With tongue-in-cheek, some suggest that,
without permission, this is tantamount to stalking and thats against the law!” 

The opposite approach (i.e. inbound marketing), requires inquiries triggered by social media, speaking
engagements, referrals, website traffic and industry “finder” services.

Meyst summarizes: “Agencies use more new business programs than you can count, but the successful ones
follow some fundamental rules that make them effective:

1. Make someone responsible. New business is NOT everybody’s business at the agency. Hire someone or pick
someone and make their employment dependent on some form of measurable success. In most cases, that
will be meaningful, face-to-face meetings with pre-qualified prospects. But not “landed” business – too
many others at the agency can affect that, one way or other.

2. New business is NOT a natural talent.  See to it that your new business pro gets professional sales training
from professionals. A webinar here or there does not qualify. Like CLE credits, new business training should
continue.

3. Relax your spam filters! Any IT Director can keep e-mails out. The whole idea is to let prospects (including
Certified Search Consultants) find you and make their inquiry.

4. Let your website tell your story.  Prospects want to know what you’ve done (show them category experience),
services you offer, where located, who and how many work there and who runs the place (pics and bios).
Until they “friend you” they won’t care much about your blog. And please – don’t make that your home page!

5. Chase or Be Found. For those who chase, consider the universe. In categories where they advertise, youll
find more than 11 million companies. But screen for annual sales over $1M and that count drops to 700,000.
If these are your prospects, you need to know what kind of clients and type of business you handle best.
Know where you can find them and how your approach will resonate.

As important as selection criterion is for any business youre chasing, its even more important for those
clients who are actively seeking a new advertising agency or PR firm to define what they seek.

Hoover’s database identifies 48,500 marketing service agencies (SIC 7311 & SIC 8743) in the USA today. Break
it down to those firms with 6 or more employees and the count drops to 8,600. At 25 employees, the count
drops to 2000!  A surprisingly small and suspect universe. 

The AgencyFinder finder Process

For those that shudder at the thought of making hundreds of phone calls, there’s the “finder” model (i.e. –
AgencyFinder.com) where experience confirms searching CMO’s are looking to find and hire new or additional
marketing partners now, not sometime down the road!  In that example, the precision of the finder process
quickly narrows the search to a bucketful of qualified candidates. The AgencyFinder staff even does the
heavy lifting sending invitations and a Request for Dialogue to the client-selected agencies. To wrap
it up, their staff also fields questions and provides guidance to both client and contending agencies.

If your marketing firm doesn’t have a relationship with a “finder” service, it’s time to explore one!

About AgencyFinder

Founded in 1997, AgencyFinder’s agency search and match-making service is offered at no cost to
advertisers and their marketing staff. The service is funded through subscription fees paid by
voluntarily registered agencies seeking to be found and hired.