Creative Agency Secrets

I received a quesiton from a Business development Director of a well-known identity and branding agency who works with social enterprise and government organisations.

We don’t use outside consultants, but the ‘Enterprise 2.0’ is an area of interest. Most agencies seem to be setting up blogs as a way of presenting the agency culture and having open dialogue. What are your thoughts?
Ben

And so I wrote him this reply.  What do you think?

Without writing “screeds” my view is that a blog is a good way to start if you want to present the ‘personality’ of the agency to the outside world.  However, deciding to do it and doing it well and consistently are two different things.  You need to be the type of organisation who has the desire to show off in public a bit in order to keep the momentum of a blog going – and you also have to be able to write interesting stuff.  Many firms struggle to do both of these.

There are other simple social media tools that can be quicker than blogging and easier to maintain – but the same two rules I mention above apply.

Having said that, it is very hard to stand out in a crowded marketplace especially when the market for your services is changing.  But the opportunities for working with ‘social conscience’ organisations are rising.  Which should be good for you.

I note the Google page rank on your site is pretty low 3/10 for your home page.  Adding a blog which is not built in flash, may help improve your SEO as well as enable you to promote appropriate search terms to capitalise on your strong brand heritage.  Think of it as amplification for your corporate “voice” online.

So that’s my free advice for you.  Sad you don’t work with outside consultants – but call me if you want to talk further.
 

I just found an interesting website which may be helpful for those times when you think you've done a fabulous piece of work and would like others to appreciate it as well.

It is called Dynamo London and it is a site promoted (and presumably funded) by the lovely NMK, London Development Agency and a couple of notable quangos and private businesses. 

it has three major areas: Projects , Discussions and Events .  Self-explanatory and handily colour co-ordinated for the hard of hearing. It claims to be "your online interactive media showcase".

Here's what Malcolm Garrett the Creative Director says in his welcome email

This is a site for its members, and for sharing knowledge, so I sincerely hope you'll participate and offer your comments and opinions. We'd like to hear about anything that you see on the site, that you like, or don't like, or have an opinion about.

It's very easy to upload more projects, or to post your own discussion topics. Project texts remain editable so this can be done quickly, and you can come back and add more detail at any time. You can also add extra information to other projects that are already uploaded.
 

in fact it prompted me to sign up for the Beers and Innovation party on 27 May… maybe see you there? 

Afterthought… if you want to get in touch with a particular agency or individual, the list of members is a pretty powerful grouping with people from Foster + Partners, Burston Marstellar, AIG

I was invited by the lovely folk at Designer Breakfasts to do a workshop on how to do business development for your agency or for yourself.

The group was fantastic and worked really hard on the problems and tools I set them tow ork on.  Here are the photos.

The handout is here. Designer Breakfasts handout