New business agency blog

The article in Metro last week (and no doubt countless other news sources) concerning “Britain being taken to court for flouting European rules on internet privacy” got me thinking about the dilemma companies face when it comes to behavioural targeting. 

On the one hand, I’m sure most people wouldn’t be that keen on knowing that their browsing habits were being monitored by unseen snoops at faceless agencies, intent on silently infiltrating our every thought in cyberspace through our keystrokes. Surely this is just a few steps away from plugging us all into “The Matrix”. 

On the other hand, what’s the point of brands paying money to advertise to a wide ranging audience, when they know for a fact that a significant percentage of that audience is just not the right fit for their product? Now that the technology is available wouldn’t the common sense approach be to tighten up on the accuracy, leading to a better ROI for the brand and wasting less time for the consumer?

 I’m stuck somewhere in the middle here. A lot of free websites rely on the income they generate by selling ad space to brands so that they can remain free to the end user. Personally, if I’m being forced to look at an advert, I would rather it be more significant to me than not. However, that doesn’t mean I’d be totally happy with companies capturing too much data about everywhere else I look on the web – I mean, what’s to stop them going one step further and monitoring my online banking habits or other highly sensitive information that could potentially fall into the wrong hands?

 Maybe the solution would be somewhere in the middle – with some sort of government regulatory body having control of what can and can’t be captured and how this information could be stored and used – like an updated version of the Information Commissioner’s Office for digital marketers.

 Has anyone got any thoughts about how advertisers can make use of this technology whilst keeping civil liberties intact?

If you’re a regular reader of my blogs, you will know that I meet hundreds of agency owners every year as I am responsible for winning new clients for Alchemis (along with a multitude of other responsibilities that are attached to running a business, albeit with 3 business partners)

In my experience, the five most commonly asked questions are (in no particular order):

1. What’s the best time to start a new business campaign? (see my blog on business development seasonality)

2. How do you manage conflict and confidentiality?

3. How can you guarantee me results?

4. Can I pass over leads and contacts for you to follow up on my behalf?

5. How will you get to understand not only my agency’s offer but the personality of my agency?

I’ll be writing blogs about questions 2-5 over the forthcoming weeks; in the meantime, do read my response to question number 1.

Do you have any other questions you’d like to ask me……?

I’m always being asked these questions by the hundreds of agency owners I meet every year -

Is there a best time of year for doing new business activity?

Is there a best time of year to start a business development campaign?

My answers tend to be the ‘slightly frustrating to hear but nonetheless true’ yes and no and are based on our 23 years experience in this market and our ability to analyse the enormous amount of data we are constantly capturing when calling on behalf of our clients.

Yes, there are definite times during the year when more pitches and agency reviews are up for grabs; these tend to be during Spring and Autumn.

And no, there are no ‘best’ times to start a new business campaign; the most effective campaigns are those that run all year and indeed, for years, ensuring we are following up warm prospects that we’ve been cultivating either pre or post meeting.

To further confuse, there are some real anomalies in the equation; for example, although July/August and November/December are generally viewed to be ‘dead’ months, they are anything but for us. These are the months that we set a lot of meetings for our clients to attend in September and January, which are both excellent months for potentially starting relationships with the right prospect in the right company with the right budgets.

We will, however, continue to track and monitor our clients’ successes and look for patterns in business development so we can benefit all of you, but in the meantime, if you have discovered any trends in seasonality, do respond to this blog…….