We’re working for a lovely creative client, Global Culture, who design t shirts and gifts with a New Zealand “kiwi humor” twist.
Global Culture NZ World Star Wars Day t shirt designs
Their designer, Russell came up with some fun Star Wars designs and we suggested promoting them around the May 4th, World Star Wars Day event. [May the Fourth Be With You – in case you didn’t get the oblique reference.]
Here’s how we did it
Create landing page on our website
Amend Facebook to include a new page header; start liking and commenting on Star Wars associated sites
Run a competition using the Wildfire app to promote winning free t shirts
Tweet a competition to win free t shirts
Set up Google Alerts for Star Wars Day and using these leads, comment on other people’s blogs and news items back to our site
The stats go up to 2nd May – so there was more to come.
During the process we found a great blog post we found from UPrinting – Entrepreneurial lessons from Star Wars. Worthy of your time for a quick read.
No related posts.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2012-06-26 09:00:192020-01-24 01:44:25Online event PR - how to do it on a small budget
Find the best self-tuition books on how to pitch and win new business – we review four of our favourites.
Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning NewBusiness
Written by Jon Steel Published – October 2006 A professional “pitching coach” for one of the world’s largest marketing conglomerates, Jon Steel shares his secrets and explains how you can create presentations and pitches that win hearts, minds, and new business. He identifies the dos and don’ts and uses real-world examples to prove his points. If you make pitches for new business, this is the perfect book for you.
What people thought: “Perfect Pitch is a powerful call to arms to the lost art of presentation writing and, more importantly, making compelling arguments. It made me realize some bad habits I’ve fallen into which need correcting and the need to take back control from technology.” – Gareth Kay “Jon Steel is a rare breed of truly smart, creative thinkers. Though originally from an advertising background, The Perfect Pitch is by no means simply an “advertising book.” It is a book about ideas and how to sell them, regardless of your business.” – Amelia Torode
Written by Peter Coughter Published – January 2012 Occasionally, a great idea will sell itself. The other 99% of the time, you have to find a way to persuade others that it is, in fact, a great idea. Most executives spend the vast majority of their time creating their work, and almost no time on the presentation. Through an engaging and humorous narrative, Peter Coughter presents the tools he designed to help advertising and marketing professionals develop persuasive presentations that deliver business. Readers will learn how to hone their individual natural presentation style, how to organize a powerful presentation, how to harness the elegant power of simplicity, how to truly connect with an audience, how to rehearse effectively, and most importantly, how to win. What people thought: “What you’ll love about this work is the total freshness it brings to presentations. From the very first chapter, Coughter redefines the challenge, resets the approach and shares invaluable tales from the front lines that will make you ache for a chance to get back in the game.” – Dan Wieden, President, Wieden & Kennedy ‘Peter Coughter is not only a master of the pitch, he’s an outstanding teacher. Read what he writes, and then read it again. This book is a gem.’ – John Adams, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, The Martin Agency
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rob Lanehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRob Lane2012-05-30 09:00:052022-12-19 11:56:574 best books on pitching for new business? Let me pitch them to you!
Former client, Ctrl-Shift, is a strategy consultancy focusing on personal data and its use online.
They realised that the landscape of personal data availability online has changed hugely in a very short time and despite hysterical outcries about Facebook privacy settings, it is an important area that both brands and consumers should be knowledgable about.
Their concept of “personal data stores” is a really interesting concept that is being built out – imagine you, the consumer, setting the ‘terms and conditions’ for a brand to access your personal information?
It’s called Vendor Relationship Management read more here and here.
But see their great Personal Data infographic published in full with a brief snapshot below showing the 2012 situation…it describes the landscape for legislation, technology, entrepreneurs, corporates and consumers and looks forward in scenarios for each to 2017.
Ctrl-Shift the Personal Data Landscape future
No related posts.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2012-05-22 19:16:242022-12-19 11:56:57Infographics used for business development
Rob Lane my colleague recently wrote a first draft of a new proposal for a client brand and I was delighted that he chose to insert a new section header,
“Your responsibilities”.
Imagine an agency telling a prospective client – not one we’re working with already – that they had to actively participate in delivering to make the marketing programme effective?
I love it.
Now I’m recommending we put this into all new client proposals. It’s authentic and transparent and gives the brand clear boundaries and guidelines that will help us give them exactly what they hired us to do.
What do you do in order to improve your client briefing and agreements?
Corey Eastman is the new business director at top user experiencer agency, Teehan + Lax. He approached us saying “your blog is on my daily RSS feed along with other agency sales blogs. I try to stay up to date.” And we were so flattered, we asked if he’d like to be interviewed.
Corey Eastman, Biz Dev Director
Creative – what does it mean to you?
The Agency of the Future to me is all about balancing the client agency relationship. In the past it’s favored the client and the agency has been reactive. Blair Enns I’ve met a few times and I’m very influenced by his philosophy. I look back to what he talks about – agencies being specialized and focused using conversations rather than presentations and being selective about who you work with.
I found the Teehan+Lax philosophy on the company page of their site.
John Lax and Jeff Teehan are two super smart guys. When we started out, we chose not to rely on the legacy of working models passed down from old agency world as the basis for our new company. Instead, we challenged the conventional formula and created a new approach and process. Even as we’ve grown in size and scale, we still are committed to:
partners on every piece of business, from the first pitch through to the final deliverables;
small, agile teams to make the most effective use of your budget;
direct access to the people actually doing the work, so no more “broken telephone” or account managers promising things that can’t be delivered.
How did you get into new business development?
My background is competitive athletics – I played professional hockey which almost made competitive sales a natural transition for me. I’m very driven and I have a strong passion for success.
What training would you recommend for anyone wanting a career in biz dev?
I think it’s all about communication and sharing stories and ideas. Reading, writing, speaking, listening and body language / personality. I did toastmasters and they are very good at honing speaking skills; get formal sales training and invest in a company that will invest in you – I did the IBM program; take ownership and read blogs; read books (Spin Selling is my favourite).
What has changed in new business techniques in the past few years?
Marketing and sales are converging – the reason I think is the internet. It’s put the consumer in control. The buy/sell process – which has become more digital. We are moving from conducting business offline towards being mainly online. John Lax always says “we have to create more value than you capture” quote from Tim O’Reilly. Read more
No related posts.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2012-05-15 09:00:542020-01-24 01:44:23Shout! Interview with Corey Eastman of Teehan + Lax
Paul Roetzer is a striking, energetic man. We met after I’d read his first book, the Marketing Agency Blueprint which explains how he has founded a PR agency in a 21st century mould.
You worked in a traditional agency – how did they view biz dev?
They didn’t really have it – they were reliant on the traditional networks of the founders. The growth was dependent on that and referrals. Some limited efforts to do DM pieces and promotions.
Is that normal?
Yes I think in a lot of cases – agencies are built that way. We did research in 2010 into PR agencies only a small % were blogging. They were trying to provide social media services but weren’t doing it wll for themselves.
Agencies tend to come last and that’s why they haven’t done good biz dev work. Take care of your own needs after everything else. I find that messaging and websites are often outdated and they rely on reputation and networks and RFPs for new business.
In the book you liken your business plan to a football field – Why?
I tend to see everything in a sports metaphor. Whether we are bringing in entry level talent (the draft) versus free agency. When I was trying to figure out how to explain to clients how the [online] market was evolving and how these strategies were integrated and they rely on each other, I tried a Venn diagram and in my mind I started thinking about watching
Drive Charts – showing progression down the field 10-20 yard line. This was an analogy – we have to do each of the phases systematically to eventually get to the end zone or the goal. I also wanted to represent different things at once – audiences (stadium) the brand (a place). See Paul’s diagram here.
Inbound Marketing Gameplan
How do you manage the agency website internally?
One of the senior consultants is also the agency’s marketing manager and is also the blog editor. In most cases her role is to keep the editorial calendar up to date and the team of the writers – we try to do 1-2 per week. We also have a premium content strategy – the book started as a 2010 e book; we did “The marketers guide to web design”. We also have plans to do premium content which isn’t paid for but is just high quality. Gated content = lead form to access.
How does she report and on what?
Same as clients – traffic, organic, lead generation, blog subscriber base, social media and how engaged – followers and likes we have. We do a monthly scorecard – pull the data out of GA and Hubspot and create a spreadsheet thta shows core numbers, assess it and 3 takeaweays – highlights, learning snad what we’ll do next month.
Tomorrow, read Part 2 of the interview with Paul.
In the meantime, why not buy the book [affiliate link] it’s in hardback or Kindle editions.
No related posts.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2012-03-06 09:08:432020-01-24 01:44:23Shout! The Marketing Agency Blueprint: Paul Roetzer interview
The local business incubator here in Auckland is called The Icehouse. It’s an impressive place buzzing with activity.
Creative Agency Secrets was asked to prove its salt by giving some free consulting to a new organisation, DirtyMan.co.nz Perversely, it is all about keeping men clean!
Avoiding costly product launches
The team is a start-up and was looking to gain profile without too much hard cost. Our suggestions included:
Painting up an old caravan to take to events
Asking supermarkets about promotions based not in-store ($$$) but in the car park
Setting up google alerts for three phrases aligned to the 3 personae of their ‘ideal customer’ profiles
Set up a press or media page on the website to host high resolution pack images, past coverage and background information
Print A5 leaflets on light card single sided and then use the back for several different purposes: a Postcard; letterbox maildrops; product information – just overprint in black when you need them
Prioritising your time and money
We time showing DirtyMan how to prioritise their decisions with regard to which promotions to spend money on and how to pick the ones that would give the best return. They were considering a radio show sponsorship, leaflet drops to households and joint promotions with other non-competing brands.
For a startup, we think the best promotions are those that
Bring a customer face to face with the brand
Drive awareness to a new audience based on someone else’s data list
We recommended assessing any joint promotion based on the size and quality of the database of the other company. And so a sports team sponsorship that has a supporting newsletter (especially an electronic one) and a Facebook fan group is probably worth more than a radio show with no mailing list.
What were the outcomes?
Here’s what Tracey Orange, the owner had to say after the briefing with Creative Agency Secrets:
Yes I did find my meeting with Rebecca useful, we have been busy talking to lots of people over the last week or so and I guess I am taking bits from everyone I speak to, and then formulating our plan from here.
After meeting Rebecca we are going to use some of her suggestions, one was to get out and meet our customers face to face and we now are looking for a cheap promo vehicle brand up and use for onsite promos and events, (if you know of any old land rovers for sale please let Mike know), she also gave me some good things to be talking to organisations we want to align with and not to be just giving stuff away but to leverage product for contacts database names and she also suggested getting hooked up with a clothing brand or similar and then the next day we spoke to someone who is going to see about hooking us up with a menswear clothing brand so fingers crossed.
Would you like access to our ideas? Think about how to apply these to your own brand.
Get in touch and ask for a FREE 20 minute chat on the phone or Skype.
No related posts.
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpg00Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2012-03-02 09:00:002022-12-19 11:56:56How to Launch a skincare brand on a small budget
Online event PR – how to do it on a small budget
/0 Comments/in B2C, Case Studies, Conferences / Exhibitions, Marketing, Marketing ideas /by Rebecca CaroeWe’re working for a lovely creative client, Global Culture, who design t shirts and gifts with a New Zealand “kiwi humor” twist.
Global Culture NZ World Star Wars Day t shirt designs
Their designer, Russell came up with some fun Star Wars designs and we suggested promoting them around the May 4th, World Star Wars Day event. [May the Fourth Be With You – in case you didn’t get the oblique reference.]
Here’s how we did it
The stats go up to 2nd May – so there was more to come.
During the process we found a great blog post we found from UPrinting – Entrepreneurial lessons from Star Wars. Worthy of your time for a quick read.
No related posts.
Another great Website Holding Page design
/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca CaroeIf you are redesigning your website or just taking it offline for a while, a bit of humour can help with your readers’ patience:
Enjoy this one
404 error page or holding page design
No related posts.
4 best books on pitching for new business? Let me pitch them to you!
/0 Comments/in Pitching /by Rob LaneFind the best self-tuition books on how to pitch and win new business – we review four of our favourites.-
-
-
-
Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning NewBusiness
Written by Jon Steel Published – October 2006 A professional “pitching coach” for one of the world’s largest marketing conglomerates, Jon Steel shares his secrets and explains how you can create presentations and pitches that win hearts, minds, and new business. He identifies the dos and don’ts and uses real-world examples to prove his points. If you make pitches for new business, this is the perfect book for you.
What people thought: “Perfect Pitch is a powerful call to arms to the lost art of presentation writing and, more importantly, making compelling arguments. It made me realize some bad habits I’ve fallen into which need correcting and the need to take back control from technology.” – Gareth Kay “Jon Steel is a rare breed of truly smart, creative thinkers. Though originally from an advertising background, The Perfect Pitch is by no means simply an “advertising book.” It is a book about ideas and how to sell them, regardless of your business.” – Amelia Torode
The Art of the Pitch: Persuasion and Presentation Skills that Win Business
Written by Peter Coughter Published – January 2012 Occasionally, a great idea will sell itself. The other 99% of the time, you have to find a way to persuade others that it is, in fact, a great idea. Most executives spend the vast majority of their time creating their work, and almost no time on the presentation. Through an engaging and humorous narrative, Peter Coughter presents the tools he designed to help advertising and marketing professionals develop persuasive presentations that deliver business. Readers will learn how to hone their individual natural presentation style, how to organize a powerful presentation, how to harness the elegant power of simplicity, how to truly connect with an audience, how to rehearse effectively, and most importantly, how to win. What people thought: “What you’ll love about this work is the total freshness it brings to presentations. From the very first chapter, Coughter redefines the challenge, resets the approach and shares invaluable tales from the front lines that will make you ache for a chance to get back in the game.” – Dan Wieden, President, Wieden & Kennedy ‘Peter Coughter is not only a master of the pitch, he’s an outstanding teacher. Read what he writes, and then read it again. This book is a gem.’ – John Adams, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, The Martin Agency
Read more
No related posts.
Pay-with-a-tweet: helpful content marketing tool
/1 Comment/in B2B, Blogging, Content Marketing, Digital media, Marketing ideas /by Rebecca CaroeAre you a business that gives away your content free (as we do)?
Pay With a Tweet
Want to get some reciprocal publicity from your work?
Take a look at Pay with a Tweet from the creative folks at Innovative Thunder
We got a free download e book from Naked Marketing Manifesto
They got promoted using our twitter account
Symbiosis and ‘payback’ all in one!
No related posts.
Infographics used for business development
/2 Comments/in B2B, Marketing ideas /by Rebecca CaroeFormer client, Ctrl-Shift, is a strategy consultancy focusing on personal data and its use online.
They realised that the landscape of personal data availability online has changed hugely in a very short time and despite hysterical outcries about Facebook privacy settings, it is an important area that both brands and consumers should be knowledgable about.
Their concept of “personal data stores” is a really interesting concept that is being built out – imagine you, the consumer, setting the ‘terms and conditions’ for a brand to access your personal information?
It’s called Vendor Relationship Management read more here and here.
But see their great Personal Data infographic published in full with a brief snapshot below showing the 2012 situation…it describes the landscape for legislation, technology, entrepreneurs, corporates and consumers and looks forward in scenarios for each to 2017.
Ctrl-Shift the Personal Data Landscape future
No related posts.
Brand campaign brief template improvement
/4 Comments/in Branding, Pitching /by Rebecca CaroeRob Lane my colleague recently wrote a first draft of a new proposal for a client brand and I was delighted that he chose to insert a new section header,
“Your responsibilities”.
Imagine an agency telling a prospective client – not one we’re working with already – that they had to actively participate in delivering to make the marketing programme effective?
I love it.
Now I’m recommending we put this into all new client proposals. It’s authentic and transparent and gives the brand clear boundaries and guidelines that will help us give them exactly what they hired us to do.
What do you do in order to improve your client briefing and agreements?
Read our archive
No related posts.
Shout! Interview with Corey Eastman of Teehan + Lax
/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca CaroeCorey Eastman is the new business director at top user experiencer agency, Teehan + Lax. He approached us saying “your blog is on my daily RSS feed along with other agency sales blogs. I try to stay up to date.” And we were so flattered, we asked if he’d like to be interviewed.
Corey Eastman, Biz Dev Director
Creative – what does it mean to you?
The Agency of the Future to me is all about balancing the client agency relationship. In the past it’s favored the client and the agency has been reactive. Blair Enns I’ve met a few times and I’m very influenced by his philosophy. I look back to what he talks about – agencies being specialized and focused using conversations rather than presentations and being selective about who you work with.
I found the Teehan+Lax philosophy on the company page of their site.
John Lax and Jeff Teehan are two super smart guys. When we started out, we chose not to rely on the legacy of working models passed down from old agency world as the basis for our new company. Instead, we challenged the conventional formula and created a new approach and process. Even as we’ve grown in size and scale, we still are committed to:
How did you get into new business development?
My background is competitive athletics – I played professional hockey which almost made competitive sales a natural transition for me. I’m very driven and I have a strong passion for success.
What training would you recommend for anyone wanting a career in biz dev?
I think it’s all about communication and sharing stories and ideas. Reading, writing, speaking, listening and body language / personality. I did toastmasters and they are very good at honing speaking skills; get formal sales training and invest in a company that will invest in you – I did the IBM program; take ownership and read blogs; read books (Spin Selling is my favourite).
What has changed in new business techniques in the past few years?
Marketing and sales are converging – the reason I think is the internet. It’s put the consumer in control. The buy/sell process – which has become more digital. We are moving from conducting business offline towards being mainly online. John Lax always says “we have to create more value than you capture” quote from Tim O’Reilly. Read more
No related posts.
Shout! The Marketing Agency Blueprint: Paul Roetzer interview
/0 Comments/in Pitching, Sales /by Rebecca CaroePaul Roetzer is a striking, energetic man. We met after I’d read his first book, the Marketing Agency Blueprint which explains how he has founded a PR agency in a 21st century mould.
You worked in a traditional agency – how did they view biz dev?
They didn’t really have it – they were reliant on the traditional networks of the founders. The growth was dependent on that and referrals. Some limited efforts to do DM pieces and promotions.
Is that normal?
Yes I think in a lot of cases – agencies are built that way. We did research in 2010 into PR agencies only a small % were blogging. They were trying to provide social media services but weren’t doing it wll for themselves.
Agencies tend to come last and that’s why they haven’t done good biz dev work. Take care of your own needs after everything else. I find that messaging and websites are often outdated and they rely on reputation and networks and RFPs for new business.
In the book you liken your business plan to a football field – Why?
I tend to see everything in a sports metaphor. Whether we are bringing in entry level talent (the draft) versus free agency. When I was trying to figure out how to explain to clients how the [online] market was evolving and how these strategies were integrated and they rely on each other, I tried a Venn diagram and in my mind I started thinking about watching
Drive Charts – showing progression down the field 10-20 yard line. This was an analogy – we have to do each of the phases systematically to eventually get to the end zone or the goal. I also wanted to represent different things at once – audiences (stadium) the brand (a place). See Paul’s diagram here.
Inbound Marketing Gameplan
How do you manage the agency website internally?
One of the senior consultants is also the agency’s marketing manager and is also the blog editor. In most cases her role is to keep the editorial calendar up to date and the team of the writers – we try to do 1-2 per week. We also have a premium content strategy – the book started as a 2010 e book; we did “The marketers guide to web design”. We also have plans to do premium content which isn’t paid for but is just high quality. Gated content = lead form to access.
How does she report and on what?
Same as clients – traffic, organic, lead generation, blog subscriber base, social media and how engaged – followers and likes we have. We do a monthly scorecard – pull the data out of GA and Hubspot and create a spreadsheet thta shows core numbers, assess it and 3 takeaweays – highlights, learning snad what we’ll do next month.
Tomorrow, read Part 2 of the interview with Paul.
In the meantime, why not buy the book [affiliate link] it’s in hardback or Kindle editions.
No related posts.
How to Launch a skincare brand on a small budget
/0 Comments/in B2C, Branding, Case Studies /by Rebecca CaroeThe local business incubator here in Auckland is called The Icehouse. It’s an impressive place buzzing with activity.
Creative Agency Secrets was asked to prove its salt by giving some free consulting to a new organisation, DirtyMan.co.nz Perversely, it is all about keeping men clean!
Avoiding costly product launches
The team is a start-up and was looking to gain profile without too much hard cost. Our suggestions included:
Prioritising your time and money
We time showing DirtyMan how to prioritise their decisions with regard to which promotions to spend money on and how to pick the ones that would give the best return. They were considering a radio show sponsorship, leaflet drops to households and joint promotions with other non-competing brands.
For a startup, we think the best promotions are those that
We recommended assessing any joint promotion based on the size and quality of the database of the other company. And so a sports team sponsorship that has a supporting newsletter (especially an electronic one) and a Facebook fan group is probably worth more than a radio show with no mailing list.
What were the outcomes?
Here’s what Tracey Orange, the owner had to say after the briefing with Creative Agency Secrets:
Yes I did find my meeting with Rebecca useful, we have been busy talking to lots of people over the last week or so and I guess I am taking bits from everyone I speak to, and then formulating our plan from here.
After meeting Rebecca we are going to use some of her suggestions, one was to get out and meet our customers face to face and we now are looking for a cheap promo vehicle brand up and use for onsite promos and events, (if you know of any old land rovers for sale please let Mike know), she also gave me some good things to be talking to organisations we want to align with and not to be just giving stuff away but to leverage product for contacts database names and she also suggested getting hooked up with a clothing brand or similar and then the next day we spoke to someone who is going to see about hooking us up with a menswear clothing brand so fingers crossed.
Would you like access to our ideas? Think about how to apply these to your own brand.
Get in touch and ask for a FREE 20 minute chat on the phone or Skype.
No related posts.