I read an interesting news piece today on Prolific North entitled: Is winning new business an art or a science? The news piece reports on research which challenges the way agencies think about new business undertaken by co-founder of The Art of New Business, Sarah Bradley.
Sharing feedback from some leading organisations, it’ll come as no surprise to hear that the majority of companies researched object to cold calling and one even responded that they feel so bombarded by calls from agencies that they no longer pick up their desk phones.
Bradley’s research shares five lessons taken from the research and which will hopefully give PR and marketing agencies advice on the best way to pitch their business to prospects.
It’s all pretty obvious stuff, but food for thought no less. The upshot of the research is that PR and marketing agencies need to stop wasting their time and unsolicited calls and direct mail and focus their efforts on pitching well-researched marketing materials that are specifically targeted to that business.
Agencies also need to practice what they preach, after all who wants to buy from an agency that demonstrates no creativity and uses generic, poorly thought out stuff as part of their marketing activity?
To find out more about the five lessons learned in Sarah’s report, click here. It’s definitely worth a read as Sarah quite rightly concludes: With over 17,000 agencies in the UK alone all vying for work, there is definite competitive advantage to be had by those willing to face up to a new world in not just the way they market their clients’ brands, but in the way they build and market their own.
