Question of the Week - Why Don’t Ad Agencies Advertise?

With a few exceptions most advertising agencies don’t advertise in mass market media because, unless they have an Ogilvy behemoth-like presence, the probability of reaching their desired client is low. 

Ridiculously so.

It means paying far too much for reaching far too few target market potentials. And that's just bad marketing (i.e. a piss poor return on investment).  

But even if ad agencies don’t take the mass marketing route they advise for many of their clients, it’s not really fair to say they don’t advertise themselves. 

Ad Agencies DO Advertise

Yep. It’s just that ad agencies need to target a very narrow market. And they do this a number of ways:

• Direct Mail - done via the internet or snail

• Inbound Marketing - which has, in essence, killed its more annoying cousin, cold-calling

• Public Relations - who doesn’t have a soft spot for press releases?

• Social Media - LinkedIn in particular (or Instagram if you’re under 28)

• Trade Shows - show up for some good times in the industry you target

• Extensive Content - like lots of blog posts and articles and such

• Award Shows - a big old spring board for agencies with a creative focus and wide shelves to hold all of their awards 

In fact, the ad industry award shows once had so much clout that agencies not winning the awards felt that the winners were getting soft in the area of marketing savvy, since they were only getting chosen on the merit of their work. Truth? Sour grapes? Probably some of both. 

But here’s the thing.

One of the Most Effective Forms of Advertising for Agencies is the Success of Their Products

And word of mouth. 

That’s just the nature of the beast.

For example, when a commercial or a print ad goes viral and starts bumping sales, inquiring minds want to know who made it. And that drives business to the agency that created it.

So yeah. You won’t see an ad for an agency during the Super Bowl. Or even the Puppy Bowl. But the ads you see during them might stick with you and the millions of other people viewing them. (Or in the case of the Puppy Bowl, the hundreds of others.)

And soon everyone is talking. 

As they say, loose lips sink ships and get work for ad agencies. Or they should be saying that.