So began the talk last night by Seattle's own Larry Asher (Workerbees, School of Visual Concepts, and a supporter of OCA) about "20 things you need to know to get a job in advertising".
My abbreviated take:
The traditional model of the advertising fast on the way out so it's important of immerse oneself in understanding and participating in the change that is occurring. What's coming? Digital, mobile, social. And who knows what else. What do you need to succeed? Ideas, strategies, and the soft and hard skills necessary to present and implement them. And to get a job? Figure out your value (everyone has value). Get know people. And be prepared to be useful.
Here's the deck:
Showing posts with label Larry Asher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Larry Asher. Show all posts
Building a marketing oriented marketing firm
I'm a firm believer in the power of the shared idea. They don't help another person as much as they help us explore our own thinking. I'm adding a monthly feature to this blog. A few ideas plucked from around the net that may end up playing a role in how you run or promote your creative services business. Please tell me which ideas you found most useful. Or which you thought sucked.
Over at Larry Asher's School of Visual Concepts OLD blog this little gem can be found from Feb 2006: RFP faux pas: How to take your design or ad firm out of the running. How does your firm respond to RFPs? Does your firm participate in RFPs?
Perhaps if you don't, you've been reading "Win without pitching".
Over at Blair Enns' "Win without pitching" there are four articles I'd like to share with you: First, an article about aligning compensation to goals in order to actually achieve the results you were trying for: Business Development Compensation.
Second the Business Development Scorecard. Is your firm doing what it wants to be doing? Successful new positioning shows up in business development before it shows up anywhere else.
Third Ten Tests of Your Positioning Ten questions to ask yourself to see if you are indeed the organization you think (or at least say) you are.
And Finally, but perhaps most importantly: A Call to Arms: Twelve Proclamations of a Win Without Pitching Agency The 2007 manifesto that has apparently not seen by very many. For this blog I've been looking at a lot of sites and from many of the firms I've reviewed (and many of the ones that haven't appeared yet) I've seen: Fuzzy points of difference, Presentations of work instead of conversations of value, Product parity, Brand speak™ instead of human speak, and hired hands rather than hired heads.
Until next month
DF
Over at Larry Asher's School of Visual Concepts OLD blog this little gem can be found from Feb 2006: RFP faux pas: How to take your design or ad firm out of the running. How does your firm respond to RFPs? Does your firm participate in RFPs?
Perhaps if you don't, you've been reading "Win without pitching".
Over at Blair Enns' "Win without pitching" there are four articles I'd like to share with you: First, an article about aligning compensation to goals in order to actually achieve the results you were trying for: Business Development Compensation.
Second the Business Development Scorecard. Is your firm doing what it wants to be doing? Successful new positioning shows up in business development before it shows up anywhere else.
Third Ten Tests of Your Positioning Ten questions to ask yourself to see if you are indeed the organization you think (or at least say) you are.
And Finally, but perhaps most importantly: A Call to Arms: Twelve Proclamations of a Win Without Pitching Agency The 2007 manifesto that has apparently not seen by very many. For this blog I've been looking at a lot of sites and from many of the firms I've reviewed (and many of the ones that haven't appeared yet) I've seen: Fuzzy points of difference, Presentations of work instead of conversations of value, Product parity, Brand speak™ instead of human speak, and hired hands rather than hired heads.
Until next month
DF
Worker Bees (Seattle)
[Google search for all things Worker Bees... Yea, including insects]
From the website:
Who are we?
"We're a bunch of people who aren't too keen on the idea of trekking to a traditional office and then hoping the next client can take advantage of what we know. Rather, we work the other way around. When a client signs on, we assemble a team of experts who already know something about the client's industry. How do we do this? There's an amazing array of freelancers and independent contractors out there, and thanks to technology, it's easier than ever to collaborate, even if you aren't all under one roof."
My Take:
Website Strengths:
Great writing in a friendly personable voice. Solid work. Uniquely, the site is very explicit about industry experience. I especially liked the paragraph about experience with bureaucracies. Bio is provided by Seattle Show legacy award (hard to get a better bio than that.)
Selling point: Experience and personality combined with solid work.
Weaknesses:
Not as much work as I'd like. The selling message is there, it's just buried within the copy. The site is more about "what we've done" than "how we do it". Actual process and methods aren't discussed. Also, there's more on the site about "who we are" than "how we think". Finally, what's to separate Worker Bees from a freelancer with a fat Rolodex?
(Disclosure: I've known Larry for years and think he's great. He also provided the inspiration for this blog.)
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