With the Internet and broadband capabilities becoming so easily available, creative teams no longer have to be working in the same building and sharing the same network. Large files are easily transported over the Internet. Do we still need an in-house creative team today?

Already, many marketing agencies today are no longer following the “good old” agency model of operations. And in reality, a huge part of creative work is being farmed out. The reason is simple enough, different people have different skills in different areas. When you want an excellent animation, it is likely that your Art Director who is an expert in traditional print media, might not be the right person to lead that.

Who today can afford to have all the various talents that you “might” need on staff?

The good news is, with the de-coupling of the ball-and-chain relationships, the creative people can now focus on what they love best and do best; while agencies can now hire virtual teams as the needs dictate. How good is that?

So, tell us, do you still have a Creative Team in-house?

One of the most common type of loans would be mortgages. Many agencies own their small office. Or some of the more daring owners would even mortgage their homes to get an agency off on a flying start. But one of the most neglected area of agency finance would be insurance.

Insurance is something that not many people talk about. You see, some feel that it is taboo to speak of things going wrong. Yet, to not have any insurance for your business is like going out to see with no life boats or even a life jacket. Sure, you might not end up in trouble, but when you do, they can save your life.

Small businesses are most susceptible to financial storms. Insurance can certainly help you weather storms, do not neglect getting them for your agency.

Imagine that you have to link up your client who is downtown, with the subsidiary office in Hongkong and the chief designer in the USA. Your conference call bill can kill most of your profits! Well, I believe that there are solutions for this. Take for example http://www.accuconference.com, they offer a web conferencing service that costs a fraction of standard voice conferencing calls. But more importantly, they are able to provide a host of professional conferencing services that should meet most of your conferencing needs.

I have used a few conferencing services before, and generally, they are all about the same. The key really is in the cost structure. AccuConference 2 looks like a comprehensive service. There is also a convenient comparison chart that can give you a fair idea of the offering vs industry leading alternatives.

Whether you are running a local agency or an international agency, there will come a time when you need conferencing services. If your clients are scattered across several countries, going to your local telephone company to set up a conference call is going to cost you plenty. Consider other alternatives. Web Conferencing is definitely something you have to explore and get yourself familiar with.

Technorati Tags: conference call, web conferencing, video conferencing

Many companies are not even aware that there is a distinction between online and offline marketing! Appointing some hot-shot ad agency which has won awards does not guarantee they have a sure-win formula for online businesses. You cannot just tell your executive, “Yes, Mary, let’s have a website with the campaign.”

If only it were so easy. Why don’t you go hire an online marketing agency and ask them to look into your offline marketing projects?

[tags]online marketing agency[tags]

We run an agency too, and we too, struggle to grow our business. For some, its about paying the bills. For others, it is about breaking out of a glass ceiling. I knew a guy who had an advertising agency which he was running for almost 15 years. What was unusual was not how long he ran the agency. The strange thing was, he could never break through his $2 million a year turnover! Seems like nothing he did, no new account he won could break through this glass ceiling!

So, with that in mind, I want to introduce something which I found recently. This is one of those online training course material which I would normally ignore. It is the 7 Day Business Turnaround Kit by Mark Joyner. So, if I would normally ignore such stuff, why recommend this?

About 2 months ago, I had the opportunity to hear Mark Joyner speak at the World Internet Mega Summit Singapore 2007. His presentation was unique among the many world class speakers. His ideas were quite extraordinary. His application of social engineering into the analysis of market trends was interesting, much more than interesting, it was an eye opener.

So, when Mark Joyner produces a package that tells you about how it can radically change your business, “… stopping the cash bleeding, getting the cash flowing freely, and positioning you for long term strategic improvement to your business.” I would sit up and pay attention.

Also, apparently, a free 7 day trial is available. That makes it risk free, and in my opinion, well worth the few hours it will take for you to take a look at the course material. While we focus on the marketing industry, we sometimes have to also take a look at how we can create breakthroughs in our business. After all, no matter how creative and professional you are, your agency is still a business.

Technorati Tags: business success, cash flow, turnaround