{"id":431,"date":"2014-09-04T10:09:48","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T09:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/?p=431"},"modified":"2014-09-04T10:11:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T09:11:08","slug":"how-to-start-and-sell-a-media-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/how-to-start-and-sell-a-media-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start (and Sell) a Media Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a much-reposted piece<\/a> out there on how to start a creative agency. Clearly the world needs a companion piece on media; and equally clearly it\u2019s up to The Cog Blog to deliver such a thing. So, in the unlikely event that there are still people whose life-long ambition is to start a media agency, The Cog Blog offers this cut out and keep (we suggest you print it first) guide to attaining your dream.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Find a partner. It\u2019s a lonely occupation doing this stuff so you need someone equally barmy to talk to. It helps if one of you is a trader, and one a thinker. Traders rarely think; and thinkers definitely don\u2019t do trades.<\/li>\n
  2. Find an accountant. There are herds of unemployed freelancers wandering around. Pick one. You know you don\u2019t want to do all the money and admin stuff and sadly someone has to.<\/li>\n
  3. Think of an unlikely name. Your best bet is to look at the name of the pub you\u2019ll no doubt be sitting in (didn\u2019t do The7Stars any harm).<\/li>\n
  4. If you\u2019re in The Crazy Cow, move to a different pub.<\/li>\n
  5. Find somewhere to sit. Try your mates; many have trodden this path before you and will have acres of empty space filled with desks made from driftwood and the ghosts of unfulfilled dreams. They might accommodate you.<\/li>\n
  6. Buy a computer. In fact buy loads and fill them with links and apps. Doesn\u2019t really matter what they are, as long as there are a lot, with little itsy-bitsy logos.<\/li>\n
  7. Make a short list of any clients you know who might be crazy enough to entrust his or her budget to you. Odds are you\u2019ll have worked with him or her before and not messed up, so start there.<\/li>\n
  8. Approach these prospects. Offer them any commercial terms, however crazy in return for a project. Try to keep the desperation out of your voice.<\/li>\n
  9. Work out how much you\u2019ll have to spend on media research. A media agency without numbers is like a creative agency without a table football machine \u2013 simply unbelievable.<\/li>\n
  10. Review the research numbers; then cry. When you\u2019ve stopped crying make a list of everyone you know who a) has money and b) might be prepared to back you. Approach same, ideally over lunch.<\/li>\n
  11. Buy a copy of \u2018Bluff Your Way in Digital Marketing\u2019.<\/li>\n
  12. Approach media owners. Share your dreams. Look hurt when they laugh. Ask for credit.<\/li>\n
  13. Work out a positioning that differentiates you from every other media agency. This is best done by selecting words at random from old \u2018Campaign\u2019 or \u2018AdAge\u2019 articles. However, as with all creative tasks there are some \u2018must haves\u2019. These include the words \u2018storytelling\u2019, \u2018big data\u2019, \u2018programmatic\u2019, \u2018native\u2019, \u2018transparent\u2019 and \u2018channel neutral\u2019. It doesn\u2019t matter what order, or how you work them in as no-one knows what they mean anyway.<\/li>\n
  14. Call the trade press. Explain your unique positioning. Grovel.<\/li>\n
  15. Call the trade press back. Announce your first client.<\/li>\n
  16. Do work. Enter every award. Have lunch with past and likely future award judges (this is a small pond, so knock yourself out). Network. Attend every party, accept every invite. Use every social media site out there to make gnomic statements. Become known for same.<\/li>\n
  17. Have lunch with an old friend from GroupM. Be sure to be photographed (no, not a selfie).<\/li>\n
  18. Call the trade press to tell them you\u2019ll never ever sell to Martin Sorrell (never did Chris Ingram any harm).<\/li>\n
  19. Sell to Martin Sorrell (never did Chris Ingram any harm).<\/li>\n
  20. Buy the pub where this \u2018crazy journey\u2019 started and retire to run it. An alternative is to buy your local football club (as long as it\u2019s not Manchester United).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Good luck. You\u2019ll need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There\u2019s a much-reposted piece out there on how to start a creative agency. Clearly the world needs a companion piece on media; and equally clearly it\u2019s up to The Cog Blog to deliver such a thing. So, in the unlikely event that there are still people whose life-long ambition is to start a media agency, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bjanda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}