Posts Tagged ‘conferences’

Written by Bonnie Buie on June 27, 2022. Posted in Blog

Agency Insights: Market Shifts and Navigating the New Economy

If there’s one word that describes 2022, it’s inflation. It’s affecting everything and everyone. It’s sucking the air out of the staggering growth that most brands and agencies have become accustomed to in the past 24 months. If you’re like most, 2022 started fairly strong but by the end of Q1 momentum started slowing.

This isn’t the Bear Market of March 2020

We all remember the circuit breaker days of the market falling off of a cliff in March of 2020. It was a panic-inducing few days that felt like years. It didn’t even qualify as a bear market and in hindsight was just a few really down days. It sparked the most rabid bull run that seemed to have no end.

By the end of 2020 agencies started reaping the benefits of that bull run. 2021 was marked by record-breaking growth for most. Outbound, inbound, referrals – new business was everywhere. The biggest problem was how to staff all the new business.

The bull run has indeed ended and there are no stimulus plans on the horizon. Until inflation is under control, the plan is to cool the economy not stimulate it. It takes time so the present market we are in is likely not going away in the near future.

A Well-Rounded Outbound and Inbound Strategy is More Important Than Ever

There have been fewer RFPs this year compared to last year. After Russia invaded Ukraine and supply chains were disrupted, there seemed to be an unspoken pause in the market. Everyone was waiting to see if the problem was temporary or if there was a downturn looming. Consumers were still spending like they were in 2021 and then April came around and reality set in that the downturn was real. The silver lining is now that the situation is clear, brands are starting to make decisions again. It’s not anything like 2021, but brands are putting strategies and dollars in place to address the market we find ourselves in. As an agency, a strategic outbound strategy has never been more important. It’s part of any good business strategy, but it acts as a hedge in downtimes. If your clients pull back on spending or fall off stating the economy, having a robust funnel of opportunities to backfill that revenue is crucial.

Brands Are Hungry For an Expert to Help Them Navigate This Environment

The one thing this market does have in common with March – October 2020 is volatility. Target is a perfect picture of that volatility. They missed their Q1 earnings for the first time since 2018….by a whopping 29%. They reported on May 18, 2022 and when asked by an analyst at Barclays why they didn’t give a pre-announcement that it was going to be this bad on analyst day just 2 months earlier on March 1st, Brian Cornell their CEO replied, “as we stand in front of you and others in March, we did not anticipate the rapid shifts we’ve seen over the last 60 days. We did not anticipate that transportation and freight costs would soar the way they have as fuel prices were then risen to all-time highs. While we were certainly anticipating the impact of overlapping stimulus and our consumer and guest returning to more normal activities, we did not expect to see the dramatic shift in many categories that we’ve talked about, the shift from categories like TVs to luggage, from small appliances to toys, and guests celebrating being out with friends. That certainly impacted our business in the first quarter, and we expect that to continue in Q2. And we certainly didn’t anticipate the impact that would have on our supply chain costs. So, things changed rapidly after we sit on stage in New York. We own that. It’s what we’re adjusting as we build our plans for the balance of the year.”

Brands are looking for agency experts to help them navigate the volatility. POV thought leadership pieces and problem/solution pieces go a long way in this market. Because of the volatile conditions, the needs are changing at a rapid speed. Your outbound messaging needs to change as the landscape changes. Focusing concise messaging to your Right to Win categories will land you new opportunities to thrive in a down market.

What’s Your Right to Win?

Right to Win is defined as the prospects/brands that best fit your prospective client profile of a perfect client. Whether it is focused on an industry, size company, regional location, etc. They are a brand that essentially should have been a client yesterday because there is no other firm more qualified or set up to work with them to achieve their marketing goals.

Here’s how using Right to Win can get your 2022 really booming in the 2nd half of the year:

1. Right to Win clients close faster

This is because they are brands you are familiar with, you understand their business at an intimate level, and the brand most likely recognizes that expertise because of your team’s language, pitch, and website focus. Faster deals mean more growth and profitability.

2. Pitch when you are the front runner

Pitching is far from an exact (or even fair) science. It is a costly and timely process that can pull your team’s focus to a project that, potentially, you never had a chance to win in the first place. Unfortunately, you do not know that until the end of the pitch, so let’s be sure we are only pitching those that we know are the front runners, or in the case of proactive outbound pitching, are the only ones pitching.

3. The right clients maximize all areas of your business

The inbound are low-hanging fruit and the revenue feels like it’s just right there, only we know from decades of experience that taking a client because they generate revenue, rather than them being our strategic best fit can have many unintended consequences on profitability, churn levels, and employee engagement. Right to Win clients are set up to maximize profit, reduce churn, and increase employee engagement…don’t settle for revenue, aim to maximize everywhere.

Brands Are Hungry For an Expert to Help Them Stand Out

While there is a lot of talk about recession, Auto is the vertical that has hit recession-level declines. Most verticals are still spending and will be planning and spending more than they did in the previous quarter. Now more than ever, brands want to hear from an expert that understands them and can help them stand out in a meaningful way. It’s time for your agency to focus on that expertise and drive those Right to Win clients right into your agency’s open arms.

Written by Matt Chollet on June 14, 2022. Posted in Blog

Recap of Strategies from the Mirren New Business Conference

We heard a lot of things this year at the Mirren New Business Conference. Aside from all of the excitement and thankful words about being at a conference in person, there were some very consistent (and important!) messages being sent from the myriad of expert speakers about new business strategies to grow your revenue this year.

Here were some of the key new business strategies we enjoyed this year:

Pacing outbound sales efforts

Outbound sales takes time. If you want to build a proactive pipeline of opportunities that you have the highest likelihood to win you’ll need to treat this like a marathon, not a sprint. If you are looking at new business in 3-month segments, you aren’t ready for a new business program. You should be viewing new business in 18-month plans. Agencies that have been really successful have built their process and plans around this 18-month timeframe. Remember, planting a garden on Monday doesn’t feed your family on Tuesday, so continue to tend your garden, expand it, and in time you will reap the rewards.

Recruiting top talent

New Business is key to retaining and recruiting talent. During the Great Resignation, what could be more important than finding great talent to work at your firm? Driving positive, exciting new business will not only help your revenue and bottom line, but it will help ensure that people actually want to build their careers with your team.

Diversifying your client base

Q1 and Q2 have been slower for many, and you are not alone in feeling like inbound pitches have slowed from what we all saw in 2021. While we have seen reports that brands continue to plan to spend more in the 2nd half of 2022, many have felt the crunch of stalled projects and reduced scopes. It’s time to further diversify your client base to protect against these forces.

Expanding work with your current client base

Organic growth can be proactive as well. You don’t have to wait until a client tells you they need more, you can help them find new solutions that expand on your scope of work. The agencies that really separate themselves from the pack are the ones that not only win a piece of business, but they consistently grow that piece of business throughout the years.

Staying in front of your prospects

“Brands are always looking, but you never know when they are actually looking”. A confusing sentence to be sure, but the point is, you always have to be there if you want a brand to find you. There are no days off when it comes to new business and keeping your agency in front of the brands that you most want to connect with.

Building your lead gen engine

There are a lot of channels for growth, outbound does not work alone. Inbound can define who you are because in order to have an effective inbound program you have to create specific, valuable, expert content that will attract the exact types of prospects that you want to work with.

Acing the discovery call

The objective of your new business call is not to sell your prospects, but simply to learn enough to get to the next meeting. People want to work with people they like, and what people like are people who listen to them and understand their problems. Two ears – one mouth…use that ratio when deciding whether you talk or listen at that first new business call.

Taking on project work

Be willing to earn the right to the retainer…many agencies want to jump right into the marriage, they want the Agency of Record (AOR) and retainer relationships, but there are many brands that just don’t have those needs immediately. Allow yourself to be open to projects that can organically grow into those retainers in the future.

These are just some of the highlights from Mirren Live in Kansas City this year. While Catapult has always been at the forefront of proactive new business strategies, it was exciting to hear agency experts of all sizes continue to reinforce the value that proactive sales can offer to agencies. Want to continue learning more about proactive new business development? Join Catapult’s email subscription Insights with Catapult to receive monthly content like this one.

Written by Anna Holliday on January 5, 2021. Posted in Blog

6 Conferences Your Agency Should Attend in 2021

By now, our “new normal” feels a little less weird and a lot less chaotic than it did in March 2020. But there are still so many unknowns for the foreseeable future. One thing we know for sure is that the agency conferences and events we look forward to every year will be virtual or with limited attendance and COVID safe guidelines. And now, more than ever, it is important for us to attend. The world is still writing a playbook on how to deal with a pandemic, so connecting with your peers, even if it feels different, in the agency world is crucial for learning from each other and growing our businesses as we all continue to pivot and adapt.

Here are 6 conferences your agency should attend in 2021:

1. 4A’s Decisions 2021 – January 25th – 26th

Details: In this all-virtual program, 4A’s Decisions 2021 will explore what’s new and unprecedented today, and what’s coming tomorrow. Discuss, debate, and collaborate on real solutions. Trade innovative, transformational ideas you can use immediately. Now more than ever, planning for a thriving future depends on all of us. Join us online for Decisions 2021 so we can unleash our power to change our organizations, our industry, and our world.

2. AdvertisingWeek Power Up Festival – January 26th

Details: After the year that was 2020, we could all do with pressing the reset button. Power Up is a one-day festival bringing you the skills, ideas, and inspiration you need to energize yourself for 2021 and perform at your best.

Across our three themed channels, we’ll bring you a day-long program of inspiring presentations and practical workshops to help you perform productively, be well in body and mind, and create a renewed sense of wellbeing and purpose for 2021.

3. Digiday Media Buying Summit – March 10th-12th

Details: It’s been a tough run for media agencies, between the novel coronavirus forcing employees to flee offices and ongoing social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter, the last year has been tumultuous. Not to mention, they’ve been transformed by transparency concerns even as brands have begun to examine contracts more closely, and brand safety has been front and center as the online and platform environment gets murkier by the minute. New types of companies are transforming how brands are launched and marketed on various platforms, and the rise of new players in retail media has meant more complications. There’s also increased competition — across platforms, within agencies and with the rise of new in-house media buying teams.

At the Digiday Media Buying Summit LIVE, we’ll explore how agencies are changing the way they operate as remote working has become the new norm, as social platforms tumble and as regulations and client requests get stronger. From the ins and outs of brand safety to new technologies to working across platforms, join us for a look at the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2021.

4. SXSW Online – March 16th-20th

Details: Due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, we expect that the City of Austin will continue its restrictions on large gatherings through March 2021, so it will not be possible for SXSW to stage a large, in-person event within our usual footprint.

The focus now is on SXSW Online 2021, and we look forward to bringing you the many aspects of our event that make it unique while connecting with our attendees in new and meaningful ways.

Register today to take advantage of the unique opportunities this event has to offer, including keynotes, Conference sessions, Music Festival showcases, Film Festival screenings, world-class networking, and the unexpected discoveries that are always a part of SXSW, all in a digital setting.

5. Mirren Live – May 19th-20th

Details: Mirren Live is an event entirely focused on rebuilding for growth, and it’s back in May to address agency revenue growth with a focus on new revenue streams, innovation, new business, and organic growth.

6. ANA Masters of Marketing Conference – Oct 5-8, 2021

Details: ANA Masters of Marketing Conference will focus on promotion marketing, relationship marketing, retailer marketing, experiential marketing, content marketing, and influencer marketing.