Havas Media Network’s Post

After a turbulent 2023, The Drum predicts more storms ahead in 2024. They asked global agency leaders if they'll go on the offence or defence to weather it. 🌊 Our Chief Marketing Officer, Hannah Baker, argues "I hate the phrase 'defensive strategy'." Believing "retention comes from constantly building client partnerships, not reacting when pitches come along." For 2024, Hannah shares that "our goal is to focus more on the big picture rather than getting blindsided by the inevitable peaks and troughs." 💪 Check out her full perspective in The Drum on why "retention done well means a constant focus on deepening and expanding our client partnerships." 🤝 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eameUYhZ

Last week, I had the pleasure of leading a roundtable discussion with a handful of independent agency CEOs. Here are three insights that emerged. Before I get to that, some context - the subject was 'How we Sell is Hampering Growth'. Can you guess what we talked about most? 🤔 Marketing plans? 🤔 Lead generation?  🤔 Qualification?  🤔 Pitching? 🤔 Pricing? Nope, guess again. Although we touched on some of these a little, the unspoken truth here - as per so many conversations I have - is that the biggest driver of sales is differentiation. It's not like this is a secret - it just often gets forgotten in the hustle and bustle of running an agency. 🚀 So, insight one - if you want to sell more (at higher margin) to both prospects and clients, be genuinely, deeply different. Another truth that came out - agencies LOVE tinkering with their positioning and how they express it. 🚀 So, insight two - remember that your proposition IS your business strategy. Tinkering with the wording is an act of empathy for your audience. But being is a state of flux for years - or decades - at a time is driving with your eyes shut. Which takes me to an important reframe. It's especially important because agencies are too quick to blame market conditions for their lack of growth. 🚀 So here's insight three - the agency market's not oversupplied, it's just under-differentiated. Once you know how to genuinely differentiate - and avoid the usual traps (like niches, cliches and category generics) - then you can quickly package your expertise in a way that your competitors can't match. In effect, you create your very own marketplace - what Co:definery calls a 'Market of One'. If that's not an urgent priority for you, then please let me know what's a more burning platform! Huge thanks to the participants for sharing candidly - and to Clive Mishon, Kirsty Honer and the team at the Alliance of Independent Agencies for making it happen. #MarketOfOne #AgencyGrowth #Optimism 

I got a call from the Head of M&A at an agency called Hawke Media in 2020, asking me if I was interested in selling my business. I was three months away from launching my book, “Be.” and my eyes were on the prize: launch a bestselling book. Truth was, I wasn’t at all interested in selling my business. I was interested in scaling my business, on my time, on my terms, and I knew my book was going to be the vehicle to do just that. But here’s the thing…. I really liked that M&A guy from Hawke. (And no, he’s not pictured here.) What’s more, I became intrigued by Hawke itself, and started to pay attention to their recent acquisitions. Hawke was growing the most comprehensive full suite of capabilities any agency out there was offering, and in doing so, dominating the marketing agency industry. Here’s another thing about that M&A guy from Hawke: apparently he liked me (and my business) too, because he never stopped calling me. For two straight years, as he witnessed SimplyBe. grow, I’d get an email every quarter or so, asking me where my head was at. (He gets major points for persistence.) In July of 2023, he emailed, and this time I was ready to have a (slightly) more open conversation. As our discussions got more serious, the math started to math, the integration of services made sense and the term sheet looked good…there was one thing missing for me. I needed to know the human being at the tip of the spear. As a CEO myself, I know that the culture and energy of a company starts at the top. I needed to meet the Founder & CEO Erik Huberman (the guy actually pictured here). So while on a business trip in LA over the summer, I met Erik over coffee. I knew within 30 seconds of sitting down that I was going to sell my business to him. Not because I’m impulsive (this was a two year journey after all), but because I am intuitive. Erik, like me, started Hawke on the power of his relationships, community, visibility and story….aka: his personal brand. Ten years later, as Hawke’s became the top performance growth marketing agency in the industry with 200+ employees, serving over 6000 clients and reaching a $150M valuation, the demand for personal branding is higher than it’s ever been. Erik and I both understand how critical it is, because we both have reaped its exponential benefits, and now together we get to serve the masses. But back to that coffee. What struck me the most about Erik, aside from his bold vision to dominate the world of marketing, was just how down-to-earth he was. You see, I grew SimplyBe. Agency | Personal Branding from $0 to an exit on the basis of sheer grit. I wasn’t especially lucky. I just worked really f*cking hard. That day, I could see his tenacity, drive, passion, focus – and most of all – his humanity and self actualization. It was a mirror. I’m so excited to be part of Erik’s epic team, fueling his vision and helping to serve executives and entrepreneurs with their personal brands at scale. 🦅🍍

Unlock Success as a Social Media Manager in 2024 by mastering the Art of Winning Big Clients with these Proven Steps! 💼Understand the Client's Needs: Delve into their requirements to build a solid foundation for a successful partnership. 💼Craft a Compelling Introduction: Make that first impression count—capture attention and set the stage for a fruitful conversation. 💼Showcase Relevant Experience: Highlight your expertise to instill confidence and credibility. 💼Explain in Detail Your Social Media Skills: Dive deep into your social media prowess, emphasizing how it aligns with their goals. 💼Demonstrate Understanding of Trends: Stay ahead by showcasing your awareness of industry trends, proving your commitment to staying current. 💼Propose Tailored Strategies: Tailor your approach to their unique needs, showing that you've invested time in understanding their business. 💼Provide Testimonials or Case Studies: Offer social proof with testimonials or case studies to build trust. 💼Discuss Collaboration and Communication: Emphasize your commitment to collaboration and transparent communication. 💼Present Your Pricing Structure: Clearly outline your pricing, ensuring transparency and avoiding surprises. 💼End with a Call to Action: Encourage the next steps with a clear call to action, making it easy for them to move forward. 💼Follow Up: Solidify your efforts with a proactive follow-up, reinforcing your dedication to their success. Do not lose that opportunity this year, #marvmedia #socialmediaagency #socialmediastrtegy #socialmediagrowth #BusinessGrowth #ClientAcquisition #bigclient

In a battle with niching down or not? Have you been horizontal for years, taking on all business types if you could help them? Do you need to escape founder-led sales to focus on the company more? Here's a small step: get clear on a vertical market you would like to focus on. I'm not asking you to rebrand or reposition the company.  I'm asking you to play "as if." Imagine your agency three years down the road. You have simplified and scaled everything because you decided to niche down into one vertical market. What is that vertical market? Knowing this alone can open your eyes to how easy it is to transform your agency. --------------------------- I'm Corey Quinn 🎯 Click my name + follow + 🔔 I help agency owners specialize in a vertical market. #agencygrowth #deepspecialization #positioning

There was a 42% chance OutDo would have failed if we didn’t pivot earlier this year Here is why: Your business model when you start is often built upon a hypothesis of a need in the market together with a solution you’ve ideated Sometimes people force a solution into a market that doesn’t exist or a market that doesn’t need that solution OutDo had a solution for a market that more or less didn’t really need what we were offering… Services What our market needed was something different, they needed a productized solution You see, we thought if we gave founders the “services” they needed to grow (hours of a social media manager, designer, operations, etc) then they would just… grow… Turns out founders often don’t know how to grow - and they certainly don’t know how to manage a 3rd party team (even if you tell them all day long they’re “your team”) So we took that knowledge of what was working and not working across coaching and consulting businesses after tons of trial and error We found the predictable “solution” to implement into their business - no longer hours of services but an engine a team installs into the business After extensive trial and error, we identified the real, predictable solution. Rather than offering hours of services, we’ve developed an engine—a structured, repeatable funnel strategy that our team installs into the business. The founder or team members can easily execute predictable deliverables like webinars, content creation, closing, etc. in a way that fits perfectly into a funnel system. We aren’t perfect - we are still learning but Outdo now can tell clients objectively we don’t just offload the weight of managing your funnel, we directly impact growing your revenue It’s clients like Erik that make us better and that enable us to enjoy this type of work that is desperately needed in the market If you’re growing a small business and running in circles trying to building predictable growth, reach out - happy to help.

🤗 We’re incredibly grateful for the testimonials from our clients who have experienced the transformative power of The SocialDM’s social media marketing and brand awareness strategies within the multifamily sector. Our dynamic approach, which goes beyond static pictures, has catapulted our clients ahead of their competitors. ✨The unwavering commitment of The SocialDM to providing multifamily marketing solutions has consistently yielded results beyond what we ever imagined. Their tireless efforts have generated an influx of leads that our marketing department previously thought unattainable. ✨Their multifamily marketing solutions are not just remarkable, they’re exceptional. The strategies employed by The SocialDM work relentlessly, mirroring the dedication of our team, and have resulted in lead generation that exceeded even our most optimistic forecasts. ✨Because of The SocialDM, we’ve witnessed a level of success that was once considered unreachable by our marketing department. Their expertise has indeed been a game-changer. ✨So, here’s to The SocialDM, for their tireless efforts and unrivaled results. We look forward to continuing our partnership and reaching new heights together. 🤝In closing, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone involved. Your efforts have brought about remarkable results and we are excited to see what the future holds. Thank you once again from all of us at The SocialDM. #TheSocialDM #TransformativeMarketing #MultifamilySector #BeyondStaticPictures #AheadOfCompetitors #multifamilymarketing #multifamily #UnwaveringCommitment #RemarkableSolutions #ExceptionalStrategies #LeadGeneration #ExceedingForecasts #UnreachableSuccess #GameChanger #TirelessEfforts #newheightstogether

What delivers today may fail tomorrow, and that's why every brand needs a channel diversification strategy—to keep up with the always-changing media landscape. 👇 Tyler Elliston, Right Side Up Founder and CEO, joins Norwest Venture Partners' Lisa (Ramirez) Ames for a conversation on diversifying your channel mix. In their conversation, Tyler and Lisa discuss: 📈 Optimizing performance with quality over quantity 💰 Investing enough resources to test a channel's effectiveness 🔎 What different channels deliver uniquely for B2C and B2B brands Check out Norwest Venture Partners' blog article for all the details. #GrowthMarketing #PerformanceMarketing #DigitalMarketing

Ah, this was a good one during my time leading business development at SYZYGY, a WPP digital agency. It always feels good to win new business, but to win as the underdog, or in Kristina Smith's words, as the wildcard, it felt amazing. Client engagement is always a team effort. We truly enjoyed the opportunity of dissecting a complex brief (two brands in one) and leveraging Dr Paul Marsden's #DesignThinking approach, which enabled us to stand out amongst the other agencies. The brief called for full management of paid direct response media and all social activity to be better integrated with email campaigns and overall reporting of marketing performance. We started by showing how understanding their consumers, both online and at brick-and-mortar retailers, would unlock incremental revenue streams. We then analyzed why consumers were or were not making their decision to purchase, as well as their knowledge of the products. We did not rely on Kantar or other market research tools, we personally went to retailers in various markets and spoke to consumers directly to discover their WHY. We used these insights as the inspiration for our media strategy and were ultimately awarded the business. Shoutout to Megan Harris, Katie Fiore, Chris De Souza, Jimmy Kwiat, and Sabina Tayabali for making this a memorable pitch experience and most importantly, to Kristina Smith for seeing that we were going to have her back as a partner, and for having confidence that we would advocate for growth opportunities beyond our day to day remit. If you're looking to generate new business, perhaps look at candidates who have deep relationships. I am connected with many people on LinkedIn, and about 98% of them I can call and/or text to set up a call or meeting. They're not strangers – and I've stayed in touch with them. Just ask Kristina. Read Kristina's full recommendation here: https://bit.ly/LIRecos #AgencyPitch #RFP #NewBusiness #BusinessDevelopment #ClientEngagement #BusinessLead #BusinessLeadership #PaidMedia #DirectResponse #SocialMedia #CommunityManagement #MarketResearch #CustomerCentric #Storytelling #RelationshipBuilding #eCommerce #Retail #Media #RelationshipsMatter

Patience is a must-have in any game, but it's especially necessary in the agency game. 🎯 I'm generally very patient—though, to be fair, in the past that patience was more of a veil for complacency. I’ve changed since then. Now, I practice true patience: patience with intention, with purpose, and with a clear goal in mind. 💡 True patience doesn’t mean waiting around or being passive. It means understanding the value of timing, recognising when to act and when to wait. It’s about trusting the process, knowing that results—whether in life or in business—take time to cultivate. ⏳ In the agency world, it’s this type of patience that leads to long-term success, solid client relationships, and the ability to pivot when needed. 🔄 The agency landscape is fast-paced, full of shifting priorities and constant challenges. But with patience, you learn to embrace the uncertainty, to strategise rather than react, and to lead with calm rather than chaos. 🧘♂️ You build trust, both with your clients and your team, because they know you’re in it for the long haul, not just the quick wins. How do you balance patience with urgency in your role? How do you navigate the pressures of fast-paced industries while still playing the long game? #Leadership #Patience #AgencyLife #GrowthMindset #LongTermSuccess