Session 4—The Agency GamePlan: How to Market Your Brand and Sell Your Services

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(Originally aired Feb. 22, 2012 )

The Blueprint Series presented by HubSpot is an interactive five-part webinar event built for agency leaders and freelance professionals who are looking to transform and thrive in the coming age of marketing services. Rated 4.2 out of 5 stars. Read 15 customer reviews.

Session 4 Highlights and Details

The marketing world is full of thinkers, talkers and self-proclaimed gurus, but after awhile they all start to sound the same. What we need are more doers — agencies and professionals that drive change by practicing what they preach.

Inbound marketing has given agencies the power to differentiate by doing. Model firms are using blogs, social networks, online video, email marketing, webinars, podcasts and ebooks to generate leads and build loyalty, while connecting with prospects and clients in more meaningful and effective ways.

At the same time, agencies are activating more sophisticated sales systems to manage new business development efforts. The key, for many firms, is a balanced and organic growth process. If you grow too quickly, without the proper infrastructure and personnel in place, you run the risk of failing to deliver on promises to clients, stretching account teams too thin and inflicting irreparable damage to your brand.

Meanwhile, if you struggle to maintain a strong pipeline of qualified leads, you may face difficult challenges that can lead to cash-flow crunches, cutbacks and talent turnover.

This session is built on the premise that you are always selling. You are selling an idea, vision, service, agency brand, personal brand, and belief that your firm is more capable and qualified than the next one. You’ll learn how to:

• Tell your agency’s unique brand story.
• Tap into the collective power of your employees’ personal brands.
• Use search, social, content and public relations to differentiate your agency while driving acquisition (leads) and retention (loyalty).
• Create a sales system that meets your current needs for lead generation and is scalable with your long-term growth goals.
• Assess and train effective sales people.
• Secure the essential sales-system tools.
• Establish sales processes to help define responsibilities, set performance expectations, and give professionals the knowledge and resources to excel.
• Understand the five stages of the buying cycle.
• Integrate the six core elements of an effective new business proposal.