What are the characteristics (structure, organization, services, etc.) of a successful advertising agency?

Question

I am looking for a succinct list of "must haves," "nice to haves," etc. I am a part of a business that has external clients and we want to think about how we would look if we approached our business more like an independent ad agency (how would we be structured? what services would we provide clients? etc.)

Answer 1

Associations may be a good avenue to explore. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* The Advertising Agency Business: The Complete Manual for Management & Operation by Eugene J. Hameroff
* The Advertising Business: Operations, Creativity, Media Planning, Integrated Communications by John Philip Jones
* How to Start and Run Your Own Advertising Agency by Allan Krieff

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 2

A successful ad agency has to be a creative powerhouse always and have a good business development team initially to establish itself in the market. You are basically an idea/ marketing solution generation firm and clients pay for your IPR and if that is no good then you will not last long or will have a VERY marginal presence.
Market research is a specialised function and is usually a separate arm of an agency to prevent bias and maintain objectivity. Media planning and buying is another function that can remain in-house or be hived off depending on the scale and volume of business. Event management for select/ big clients is a very profitable business and quite the essential service nowadays. Finally let us not forget the exploding digital or web angle of advertising (google, Yahoo, et-al) where a comapny can actually reach it's target customer 1-1 and measure results of the campaign exactly. As the web and your TV integrate as a "media centre" this is the place to be, in content.

Answer 3

RESEARCH.

I knew someone who once said "every company worth it's salt does market research."

That is the core of advertising. In order to maximize your potential response you have to far target your market. Any company that wants to launch can do so with a small professional marketing plan provided they do their research.

Here are some steps to take:
Find out what type of human would purchase yoru widget.
Then find out what they watch on TV.
Then, call an AV student at a local school and pay them a $1,000 stipend to make you a 30 second commercial in betamax edited output.
Pay another student a stipend of $1,000 to build a site. Doesn't have to be great, just functionable.
Get a toll free number.
Have sufficient access to widgets.
Make an arrangement with a shipping co such as Fedex or DHL, or the US POST OFFICE.
Find out when your potential customers watch the shows they watch.
Call the cable company and ask for a RATE CARD. You do not require a commercial production, that is what the tape is.
Make copies.
Send the tape to the local cable company, they do it by region, you do not have to broadcast to all the states, just the major populated areas, called DMA, demographic metropolatin area. These are where 80% of widgets are sold.
Run your commerical 5 times, should cost you less then $300. If it does not get you an sales, change the commercial or channels and jtry again until you get it. Once you get the one that gets sales, take it out to 24 DMA,s. The first 'hit' on the ad would probably finance a major roll out. With world wide web access widgets can be transferred through language and religious barriers, so all the humans can have access.