In the world of smaller agencies, the battle for talent is as intense as it is in many large corporations. However, the stakes can feel even higher when your team ...

Claiming an area of focus has long been an advertising agency business strategy. For many agencies, areas of focus evolved naturally, with successful work for one industry client leading to ...

Succession planning is a crucial aspect of managing a business, and for smaller advertising agency owners, the challenge is often compounded by the unique dynamics of the industry. One increasingly ...

With the third quarter already a month gone, we hope we’re in time to share a few reminders about closing out your year with a strong new business push ...

One of the best things we’ve seen at smaller agencies in recent years is the advent of stakeholder programs. These programs engage key agency employees who are not currently ...

It’s a good question: most agencies have an account mix that is far from ideal. Frequently, a single account controls the life of any given agency—a “gorilla,” if ...

For a small to midsize agency, one of this business' most dangerous situations is having a large account. We define a large account—a “gorilla”—as one that controls more ...

You’ve nurtured, fed, hovered over, and perhaps spent every waking minute working on and worrying about your agency. Meanwhile, your agency people, who helped you to grow the business ...

Many agency principals have the notion that when they wish to retire, they can sell their agencies to a larger agency, collect their money and start playing golf. While this ...

This is a stressful business. We love it (or, one presumes, we wouldn’t be doing it), but it is definitely stressful. We frequently speak with agency principals who are ...

Recession. Many Second Wind members vividly remember “The Great Recession” from late 2007 until mid-2009. It is such a painful memory that the mere mention of the word “recession” is ...

I had an interesting, and inspiring, discussion while dining with friends. The first part of the discussion covered why it is important to have New Year’s resolutions (as opposed ...

Another year has come and gone: now it’s time to take stock and get an agency plan of action together for the coming year. What follows is a short ...

We should all have such a problem, right? Yet it is not unusual for Second Wind to hear from ad agencies struggling to manage the demands of a booming business ...

Do you ever pause for a moment in your busy day, and ask yourself, “Is our ad agency strong enough to be the agency that prospects and current clients will ...

Winning a really big account can either float a smaller ad agency’s boat, feeding new growth for the agency and employees… or sink it under the weight of client ...

For most smaller advertising agencies and marketing firms, hiring is something you do as you a) need more people due to account wins or in-demand skills, or b) you have ...

Letting go of your baby is part of the succession planning process. Ideally, you already have a person or people in place to move into the role of ad agency ...

Many an ad agency owner flies solo all through his or her career. This may be due to a number of factors, sheer passion for the work and the business ...

I remember well how, as each year waned, my agency would be immersed in a rush of activity: annual reports to assemble, catalogs to update, print ads to run for ...