Getting Into Large Corporations
March 22, 2008
Q: I’m a small advertising agency with tons of talent. You guys are consultants, and I’m assuming that you face the same challenge that I do. How do you go about getting into large corporations that are used to working only with large agencies and consulting firms?
A: We hear you! It is a challenge to get the attention of, say, the Marketing VP at AT&T when you have no relationship, and they are already doing business with many large firms.
One thing that has been successful for us is to approach these large corporations with a full-blown solution. In other words, let’s say they are working with Saatchi & Saatchi. This firm is most likely handling all of their advertising and direct marketing needs. So, they give their clients access to everything that both your firm and our firm offers — or at least they manage it all for them.
We think that if you attack this the same way, you have a better chance of getting heard. We’ve found that when we partner with other quality firms that offer complimentary services to ours, we can approach large firms with the full solution. Better yet, one of us may already have a relationship with someone in the firm that can get your collective foot in the door. So, partnering has definitely helped us reach decision makers in Fortune 100 companies.
Another thing to focus on is your overall reputation. Big agencies spend lots of dollars to advertise their work and success stories. With online marketing, the playing field here has been leveled. Start a blog, update your web site, insure that you include all of your testimonials and success stories. Give yourself as much good press as possible. This way, when those large companies begin to research you (when you get them interested — and you will!), they will easily be able to see all of the great projects that you’ve worked on — your online presence sells your story for you and you don’t have to.
We hope that these ideas give you some of your own to get you in the door! Thanks for the excellent question!
Entry Filed under: Direct Marketing for Business Owners. .
3 Comments Add your own
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1.
Casey Hibbard | March 24, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Thanks for the inspiring email about getting in with bigger companies.
To that end, it’s also effective to briefly mention results/success stories verbally on the voice mail of prospects you’re targeting–remembering to keep it brief. Each time you call or email, leave a brief tidbit. An example:
“Hi Bob, Casey calling again. I’d like to talk with you about how to increase your response rates. One of our recent clients was able to increase its response rates by X percent within weeks of launching a campaign.”
Tailor the message to whatever your deliverable is, and change up the success story tidbit you mention each time.
2.
Nancy Arter | March 24, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Hi Casey, That’s brilliant! Thanks for your insight and this is great counsel. I think that keeping it brief, relevant and changing it up each time are great ideas.
Thanks for your excellent contribution!
3. advertising agency, adver&hellip | March 31, 2008 at 5:41 am
advertising agency, advertising, marketing
The best advertising agency intelligence may take a small bit of time to come upon.