We tackled real world agency growth challenges and worked through them to give attendees suggestions to implement in their business. It was great to bring people together into a physical space again, something we have all missed hugely over the last 2 years!

Ending with a glass of wine and an opportunity to network with fellow attendees, the session was a massive success. We plan to keep this momentum going throughout the year with more physical workshops for agencies.

We are currently running an ongoing workshop called ‘Rapid Growth for Creative Agencies’. This is a free to attend digital workshop tailored to your business, providing you with practical tools to implement into your own agency.

Interested in finding out more? Get in contact with us, we’d love to hear from you…

#ANewWayForNewBusiness

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Some of the common questions I’m often about sales asked are: Where do I begin and what should I focus on? What should I prioritise and how do I have the right conversations with prospective clients?

A famous film director once said “the hardest part of making a movie is getting out of the car”. E.g. what to do when his car pulls up on set and 300 people are all standing there waiting for direction! There can usually be a tendency to adopt avoidant behaviours if you don’t know where to begin. But just like the film director you cannot simply drive away. The hardest part of all is just getting started. Once you’ve ‘got out of the car’ you’re already half way there and “once begun the job’s half done”.

As I have said in other posts ‘the only 5 ways to grow your agency’ having a clear plan is critical. You have to set a strategy and plan of what you’re trying to achieve with clearly defined outcomes.

Implementing sales campaigns within your business creates a unique energy and, sooner rather than later, momentum. Momentum is defined as ‘once you push it, it keeps going under its own force’. So, once you get started it begins to take on a life of its own.

You start to create an energy to what you do which becomes somewhat infectious. People (both internal teams and external clients) start to notice and it resonates. They start to recognise and understand what you’re doing – and more importantly they get on board! Whether that’s a new prospective client, a team member that was eager for a challenge or someone you hadn’t encountered before – people start to notice and buy into what you’re doing.

This is in turn, is incredibly motivating and gives you yet more energy as it validates your efforts, therefore becoming self-fulfilling. There is no better feeling in an agency environment than winning a competitive client pitch, from a client conversation that you have engineered yourself, and driven forward to get that project over the finishing line.

Thus the whole campaign beings to take on a life of its own and usually amazing things start to happen – I call this ‘the magic of momentum.’

The other big advantage is it’s much, much easier to keep up once you’ve begun – keeping the client rhythm going and the engine ticking over is a lot easier than building a sales machine from scratch. You just need to make sure you structure your time to give this the regular energy, effort and attention it needs.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get”

I’m not saying you have to work 18 hour days to get the momentum going, although you might start to notice there is a degree of truth here. Only that the more energy and attention you give something the more surprisingly positive things seem to pop up. Try it for a few weeks and see.

The magic of momentum can have a very powerful effect on your business. Having too many client pitches and being oversubscribed is one of the best problems a small business or creative agency can have. It gives you many things but the biggest luxury above them all – it gives you choice. When was the last time you truly had that in your business?

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You might not know it yet (or be willing to face the reality?) but there is only one thing that is going to keep your business moving forward and that is Growth. In simple terms change or die. Or rather, in today’s hyper competitive landscape, grow or die.

So, just how do you grow creative businesses in the most efficient way? How do you really move the needle? And, crucially, how do you do it in the most efficient way and over what time frame?

There are many different ways to answer these questions but in my view there are only 5 main ways to grow creative agencies. So let’s have a look at them and evaluate each in a bit more detail:

1) Organically: Short to medium term

Organic growth. Has there ever been a nicer way of saying we’re lazy and haven’t bothered to do much? “Organic growth” sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Yet, when I hear people talk about organic growth I think lack of a plan, and disinterest in a clear new business strategy. I’m usually right! Yes you may attract new clients and pick up pieces of business but it is not going to deliver you long term sustainable growth.

2) Business Development campaigns: long term thinking

A well planned and strategic new business campaign can transform your business. Agencies who run effective sales and new business strategies, aligned with a clear and unique proposition, are the ones that really thrive. Taking in marketing and product strategies they are able to clearly connect with their client base, have higher pitch wins and as a result grow quickly, outperforming the competition. Now it’s getting interesting!

3) New Products & New Services: innovation

Launching a new product to steal a slice of the market is a brilliant way to grow. If you’ve spotted something that no one else has, congrats! But how fast can you move? How quickly can you get it out there to maintain first mover advantage? (hint, see number 2 for an effective plan!)

4) Major Investment: team & resources

With major investment comes the luxury of resource. The luxury to be able to spend your way to growth, should you so desire. But how best to spend such privileges? Use your riches wisely – do you have a plan and moreover can you implement it? Buyer beware!

5) Acquisitions & Strategic partnerships: fast track growth

Spending your way to growth can be a fast track way to add turnover (and hopefully profit), client base and capacity in a relatively short space of time. If you can find the right company at the right price (and have the required means) then this can be a very effective way to grow your agency. Acquisitions of course come with their own challenges but that’s down to your skill as an entrepreneur to effectively integrate and align the newly joined businesses. Partnerships and alliances can also work well but are rarely the golden ticket they’re often made out to be.

So, in conclusion you can try and shortcut your way to growth. You may have some been told about some new biz “hacks” that promise to deliver the client dollars. Perhaps you believe the ‘win without pitching’ hype which is, largely, something of a fallacy. Or maybe you’re just happy to wait for the phone to ring?

In reality new business has to be at the very core of your agency, the life blood from which it feeds. There needs to be a holistic approach to client engagement that understands how you succeed, add value through your work and grow alongside your clients. If there is not then you have a major problem.

Too many creatives make the mistake of only focussing on their product and creative output. The truly great agencies understand that clients (aka new business) and creative output go hand in hand. These are the ones that really thrive and excel. They focus on prioritising both things equally and don’t just focus on delivering great creative work.

This is the key to long term agency success and sustainable growth of your business.

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I attended the event this week which brought together entrepreneurs, intraprenuers, technology experts and creative leaders to discuss and share their vision in the Createtech space. But first things first, what is Createtech?

Createtech is the umbrella term used to cover the emerging genre of activities in which technology enables creativity to produce new value-added products, services or experiences – and vice versa. Developing Createch fields include augmented reality, VR, programmatic branding, creative robotics, AI, immersive technologies and the application to performance and experiential markets. Createch is a wide-ranging term that describes an eclectic array of projects combining technology and creativity. Musicians and artists using blockchain to protect and exploit their IP. Brands creating blending virtual reality and live experience to launch new products. Craftspeople teaching new techniques to surgeons and scientists.

The UK is already leading the way and one conference speaker Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates, who acclaimed London “the Createtech capital of the world.” A combination of the world’s leading creative industry and a tech sector which is growing exponentially have already cemented the UK’s authority as the leading global Createch economy. There were numerous themes on the blurring of technology into every part of our lives presents to global companies and gain insights into how the sector can help shape our collective future.

There were examples throughout the day of how technology was being used in the creative sector to solve business challenges, specifically sales challenges. I was particularly interested in TRX a new platform aimed at the international TV distribution market. Founder and CEO Matthew Frank described the challenges of slow and inefficient deals which can often take more than 9months for a single rights acquisition deal. The TRX platform is a digital marketplace – a kind of stock market for the TV industry – that aims to bring streamlined deal making and far more efficiency to an area ripe for disruption. They have secured investment and VC from Channel 4 and Sky TV.

The potential for change is huge and the UK is leading the way. How can creative agencies and technologists innovate to drive growth and revenues? The answer according to Iain Tait, Executive Creative Director at Wieden & Kennedy, is to “invite everyone in”. Many big clients are “programmed to protect” and inherently stick to traditional methods of campaign management and delivery. The ones that thrive are the clients who are not afraid to embrace such rapid change, for everyone, across the board. Easier said than done for global behemoths! Invite everyone in – embrace change. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

http://www.createch2018.com – http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk

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