RSW/US Agency New Business Tools 2014 Survey Report Webinar Slide Deck

New Business Tools:

2014 Webinar

[email protected] @rswus #agencynewbusiness

Lee McKnight Jr.-Director of Business Development at

RSW/US

BACKGROUND


350+ agency respondents nationwide from the RSW/US & Mirren Databases.

BACKGROUND


Thanks to

BACKGROUND


Download at:

http://www.rswus.com/white-paper/rswus-mirren-2014-new-business-tools-report

BACKGROUND

http://www.rswus.com/white-paper/rswus-mirren-2014-new-business-tools-report


BACKGROUND


BACKGROUND


WHAT YOU WANT FROM THE FUTURE


MORE ACCURATE PROSPECT DATA

“A database of marketers that can

guarantee more accuracy than 20% as

far as marketing leadership at

corporations; news and creative

product, also that accurately

represents current agency

relationships” –Agency Survey Participant



BETTER DATA ABOUT WHO’S VISITING THE AGENCY WEBSITE



MAKING CURRENT TOOLS MORE TAILORED TO AGENCY NEEDS (OR JUST EASIER TO USE)

“An easy-to-use tracking database for hosting all

pertinent client and prospect information - an

“Apple-like” version of Salesforce.”-Agency Survey

Participant



Most Prevalent theme= Integration/Aggregation Of

New Business Information/Process Within Agency

“Lead tracking, resource management, project tracking -

somewhere between Salesforce (too robust) and Excel

(too simplistic, not online)”-Agency Survey Participant



I. Break down each new business tool category, answering the following:

WEBINAR GOAL


1) What tools are your agency peers using and why?

WEBINAR GOAL


2) What changes have occurred in usage compared to last year's survey?

WEBINAR GOAL


3) What new tools are your peers using that may benefit your new business efforts?

WEBINAR GOAL


II. If resources are limited (and they usually are) what are the top 5 tools we recommend.

WEBINAR GOAL


I. Category Breakdowns


1. Social Media

2. CRM Software

3. Research Services

4. Prospect Contact/List Building Services

5. SEO Tools

6. Email/Auto-Responder Services

7. Social Media Monitoring Tools

8. Marketing Automation/Inbound Marketing Platforms

9. Project Management/Collaboration Tools

9 Categories in order of most-used new business tools by

agencies


TOOL #1: SOCIAL MEDIA


1) Social Media-The most

used agency new business

tools

2014: 89%

2013: 87%





2014 2013

20%

18%

17%

11%

8%


21%

21%

20%

14%

8%


Overall effectiveness = 40% this year-

only 18% in 2013

TOOL #1: SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS


“Driver of brand awareness but not lead generation.”Agency Survey Participant



“As long as we have directed our efforts accordingly for the right social media channel, we have seen great success in new biz leads through social media.”

Agency Survey Participant



“Getting continually more effective – a year ago I would have rated social media a ‘3’.“ Agency Survey Participant



Start small.



Make sure you’re

where your

prospects are!



Google+ basically

still a wasteland

and now

authorship rank is

gone (sort of).



Why aren’t you using:

In Q4 of 2013, the site averaged 60 million

unique visitors a month and 215 million page

views. SlideShare is among the top 120

most-visited Web sites in the world.

15 Mind-Blowing Stats About SlideShare


http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/3/10/mind_blowing_stats_slideshare.html


Why aren’t you using:



TOOL #2: CRM/CONTACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE PLATFORMS


2014: 56%

2013: 45%

CRM-#2 most used agency new business tool

TOOL #2: CRM


TOOL #2: CRM


TOOL #2: CRM


2014 2013

TOOL #2: CRM

40%

26%

11%

8%

8%

39%

6%

4%

2%

2%


As with new business generally-

it’s about time and ease of use

TOOL #2: CRM


68% of agencies using

a

CRM

believe

their system is

effective

TOOL #2: CRM


“I am a team of 1, so I find it difficult to make time to keep up with my lead management in Salesforce.”


TOOL #2: CRM


“… cumbersome and not built for our industry - I need something more intuitive to how an agency cultivates business and allows for collaboration.”


TOOL #2: CRM


CRMEXCEL

TOOL #2: CRM


Why not effective?

• Difficult to keep it updated• Only use it as a database• Too complex/too expensive

TOOL #2: CRM


• Difficult to keep it updated• Only use it as a database• Too complex/too expensive

TOOL #2: CRM


TOOL #3: RESEARCH SERVICES


2014: 58%

2013: 60%





2014 2013


13% 17%

12%

11%

10%

17%

12%

10%


2014=72%

2013=41%



A few reasons why Agency principals say research services are effective:

Clients/prospects love research.

"They support the development and rationale of our strategic thinking as well as elevate our insight and knowledge of that category, consumer and brands.”

“We use our research services to monitor trends, companies’ current campaigns and upcoming needs, and conduct research on prospective clients, their competitors and overall product categories to get smart in advance of a pitch or prospecting outreach effort.”



The flip side:

• Data isn't granular enough

• Limited information available

on regional prospects

“Often they aren’t fast or

specific enough, never

provides an aha moment to

win business. Either too late or

irrelevant to our domain

expertise.” Agency Survey Participant



TOOL #4: PROSPECT CONTACT/LIST BUILDING SERVICES


2014: 38%

2013: 43%

TOOL #4: LIST BUILDING


2014 2013

30% 49%

26%

11%

9%

20%

17%

1%



64% of agencies surveyed

found their service effective

in 2014 vs. 54% in 2013.



Why LinkedIn?





“Building a large list to send mass,

unsolicited emails to, doesn’t seem to be

as effective as more targeted,

personalized outreach. This takes more

time and effort of course, but ultimately

seems to be more successful (and

doesn’t seem like an impersonal SPAM

attack).”

Agency Survey Participantthey’re just not using lists at all.



TOOL #5:

SEO


2014: 74%

2013: 67%

TOOL #5: SEO


2014 2013

TOOL #5: SEO

70%

15%

10%

3%

42%

24%

17%

3%


67% of agencies

surveys said their

SEO platform is

effective in 2014

vs. 54% in 2013.

TOOL #5: SEO


SEO isn't just about getting the technical details of search-engine

friendly web development correct. It’s also about marketing. This is perhaps the most important

concept to grasp about the functionality of search engines. You can build a perfect website, but its

content can remain invisible to search engines unless you promote

it.*

*Moz.combeginner’s

guide

TOOL #5: SEO


You’ll burn both new business

ends keeping up with all the

changes in Search.

TOOL #5: SEO


Authorship

rankings,

keyword,

organic,

AdWords, the

link between

social sharing

and search

rankings, etc.

TOOL #5: SEO


“We often are told by

prospects that they

found us by doing a

Google search.

We find that

updating and

keeping track of our

SEO performance is

one of the top ways

that we can generate

awareness of and

interest in our

agency.”


TOOL #5: SEO


“84% say knowing the ultimate

impact of pages and content in terms

of traffic, conversions, and revenue

is now more important.”

Marketing Profs: The State of SEO in 2014

TOOL #5: SEO

http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/24887/the-state-of-seo-in-2014#ixzz37TlRJJ4k


“Only 50% say

measuring the

business impact of

keywords is more

important in 2014,

again perhaps

reflecting keywords'

changing role in SEO.”

Marketing Profs: The State of SEO

in 2014

TOOL #5: SEO



“85% of respondents

say taking a

page/content-based

approach to SEO is

more important in 2014

than it was in 2013.”

Marketing Profs: The State of SEO in

2014

TOOL #5: SEO



“Mostly it is about the time it

takes to work on our business

versus our clients. Classic case

of Cobbler’s children.”


TOOL #5: SEO


TOOL #6: EMAIL/AUTO-RESPONDER SERVICES


2014: 63%

2013: 55%

TOOL #6: EMAIL/AUTO-RESPONDER


2014 2013


28%

26%

16%

10%

24%

22%

11%

3%


• They are easy to track

• They are customizable

• They are easy to use

use are very effective, primarily because:

72% of agency executives (vs. 55% in 2013)say the platforms they



Several takeaways for agencies here:

1) Agencies have obviously taken note of

the somewhat crowded playing field and

explored more options than in 2013.





2) As one agency

survey

respondent

pointed out,

“Depends mostly

on the content,

not the service

provider.”



One last point to consider:

“The tracking/reporting as to what devices

emails are opened on, which areas are

being clicked on, survey responses, etc., all

provide valuable data that optimizes

relevancy in iterative communications...”




7. SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS


2014: 46%

2013: 53%

TOOL #7:SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS




2014 2013


30%

17%

17%

13%

30%

17%

13%

5%


Oddly, with over

half of agencies

using these tools,

61% find them not

effective. (58% in

2013)

NEW BUSINESS TOOLS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE



“They really don’t offer a very comprehensive, insightful dashboard.”

“… again, due to level of activity on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), effectiveness is minimal...”



TOOL #8: MARKETING AUTOMATION/INBOUND MARKETING PLATFORMS


2014: 18%

2013: 22%

TOOL #8:INBOUND MARKETING PLATFORMS




2014 2013


62%

19%

14%

51%

15%

11%


The biggest surprise comes from

agency opinions of overall

effectiveness.

Last year only 43% of agencies

surveyed found their inbound

platforms effective, versus 85%

this year, a huge jump.



Agencies are still becoming acclimated to inbound

platforms and the best way to fully integrate them

into their agency new business structure.



“Most agencies are still trying to do this with

wordpress + hootsuite + seomoz + constant

contact + marketo + google analytics +

yesware.

Those are all great tools, but they don’t talk

to one another, they each have their own

learning curve, constant syncing of data

and lists, don’t provide instant insights into

what’s working and what’s not.”

-Peter Caputa, VP of Sales at HubSpot



TOOL #9: PROJECT MANAGEMENT/COLLABORATION


2014: 54%

2013: 59%





2014

56%

19%

8%

2013

50%

22%

1%


56%

19%

8%

50%

22%

1%




Comments were, as expected,

mixed.

“Clients like to know we use

something, anything. As long it

means keeping their projects

on track and on time.”




Similar to inbound CRM, agencies

continue to look for that “best”

platform.

“We are constantly in search of a

better solution.”




“Basecamp helps us stay organized with

workflow, individual assignments and deadlines

during an active pitch. Advantage

helps us to organize and manage our new

business jobs and track costs. We separate our

new business jobs into two categories (new vs.

organic growth), and within those four sub-

categories (pitch, prospecting, externalization and

newbiz operations).”Agency Survey Participant



II. If resources are limited (and

they usually are) what are the top 5

tools we recommend.


YOUR 5 KEY TOOLS AND WHY


1. A targeted list-20 a month

2. A targeted content strategy-1 blog post

a week

3. One social media channel-LinkedIn

4. A CRM to keep track

5. An automated email provider

YOUR 5 KEY TOOLS AND WHY


Reach me at [email protected]

Twitter: @RSWUS or @LeeMcKnightJr

mailto:[email protected]

Date post:	14-Sep-2014
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RSW/US Agency New Business Tools 2014 Survey Report Webinar Slide Deck

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