I predict the growth in Marketing 2.0 will dramatically impact how agencies promote themselves (I would've said, "in the future", but the future is now!). According to the CMO Council's Marketing Outlook 2008 study released in January, Marketing 2.0 will hit the mainstream.
Comparing Marketing 1.0 (traditional) and Marketing 2.0:
1 2 Impact
In Marketing 1.0, markets to prospects. Marketers attempt to control the message as well as the customer's buying cycle and agenda.
In Marketing 2.0, customers interact with each other, and marketers nurture passion and engagement from their best customers - marketing with prospects.
Marketing 1.0 was characterized by a severely limited ability to demonstrate ROI and marketing accountability, which led to the perception that marketing is a cost center.
Marketing 2.0 gives marketers the ability to measure the bottom-line impact of every marketing activity, to quantify the impact of changes to marketing budgets, and to demonstrate marketing's impact on revenue.
Today's CMO lives in a world where traditional marketing practices are no longer acceptable. Consumers:
Don't want to be interrupted
Have found ways to screen out, throw out and tune out unwanted marketing messages
Use online tools and techniques to seize control of their buying process
Seek out the information they want when they want it
"80% of decision makers say they found the vendor, not the other way around."
How does this impact ad agency new business? Agencies need to promote themselves using 2.0 marketing strategies. 80% of decision makers say they found the vendor, not the other way around. I predict that will be true of your prospective clients. The smart ad agencies of course will be the ones which make sure they can be found when and where the prospect is looking!