On the cusp of the New Year, I’ve drawn together a to-do list. It provides a launch pad for your 2016 activity with one simple objective: growing your agency by winning more new business.

Review your agency proposition
What do you want to be known and remembered for? Will it resonate with your prospects, influencers, industry, and talent? Review it, is it working? Are you creating interest and securing meetings with prospects?

Perfect your elevator pitch
It’s a useful exercise for all the agency staff. Let’s not forget, they are your greatest advocates. I encourage those agencies I work with to articulate their agency proposition in less than 2 minutes. Often, that’s all the time you’ve got. It needs to be consistent. You’ll also find it helps build understanding and confidence, particularly with more junior staffers.

Got your new business and marketing plan in place?
In case you missed them, my previous New Business and Marketing blogs detailed the essential components for putting together your 2016 plan. With these in place, you have created a strategy to achieve your targets.

Get everyone involved and behind it, from the agency leadership down.

Create an inclusive new business culture
New business is everybody’s business, so everyone has a part to play in helping the agency grow. And if the agency grows there will be more investment, more stability, better client retention, and who knows, better pay rises. Take the agency through your new business and marketing plan, so they’re clear on your revenue targets and what it will take to hit them. Encourage them to mine their existing contacts for new business and to be vigilant in spotting new ones.

Review, refresh, and re-write your agency collateral
Does it communicate your proposition clearly? It should also be an expression of who you are. So I’m guessing that some of your agency personality will shine through otherwise a) you may sound much like your competition b) it can sound dreary and dull c) you are doing yourselves a dis-service, because agencies are smart, fun and creative.

Plan to update once a quarter, and include it in your marketing calendar.

Social media
These are valuable marketing assets and you should plan your activity to align with your marketing programme across the year. Repurpose your marketing materials and be sure to PR your PR. Once you’ve made a commitment to a network it’s that – a commitment. Don’t leave your audience hanging and if you can’t make it work – kill it. Here’s an earlier blog on tips for social media success.

Create ‘keep in contact plans’
You need to manage your pipeline and keep it moving on. The key here is continuation, nudging prospects with relevant initiatives that keep the agency alive in their thoughts. The same goes for intermediaries and other influencers – it can be as simple as a quarterly round up of the agency’s work, thinking and wins.

Network
Much of our lives are spent in the online, virtual world. But you can’t beat face-to-face interactions for forging more meaningful relationships and that means getting out there and meeting people, regularly.

The only left to say is JFDI.

Have a wonderful Christmas break and wishing you all a happy and successful 2016.

From all of us at JFDI