As we’ve mentioned before, ad agencies can get a lot of mileage out of publishing a weblog. In this New York Times article, Nate Ives takes a look at the ad agency weblog landscape and queries insiders on the benefits agencies can gain from producing a weblog.
Most importantly, weblogs grant agencies a streaming voice to the advertising community providing prospects a better grasp on both the tangibles and the intangibles of an agency and its culture. While flashy and creative, current agency websites are woefully inept at providing any sense of insight for the prospect. Agencies are always blathering on about thought leadership and expert opinion yet are loathe to share that with the industry for fear of leaking their “proprietary process.” Deutsch COO offered perfect commentary on why, unfortunately, many agencies will never publish a weblog. “Blogs are in fashion, and it is easy to hop on the bandwagon and say that every company should have one. The questions any smart marketer should be asking are, ‘Does this provide a platform to connect with their most relevant audiences and how will this address business objectives?’ ” “That’s not to say we would never enter blogland,” she continued, “but there is a fine line between being timely, topical and keeping current while making sure that we are doing what’s best for our business long term.”
We’ll excuse her for using the term “blogland” and for sounding like a press release by suggesting Nike’s “Just Do It” tagline is a perfect response to that mouthful. Don’t sit back and pontificate and perpetuate analysis paralysis. Put your voice into the marketplace now and win new business by doing so. New business presentations are extremely costly and have a low ratio of success. An agency published weblog is analogous to gathering new business prospects in a room everyday to impart agency knowledge that will help that prospect gain trust, insight and confidence in an agency. While it’s unlikely an agency will ever win a piece of business directly from a blog post but it moves the client/prospect relationship to much firmer ground when the opportunity to stand in front of that prospect presents itself.
