Do you want to know what it takes to build a thriving advertising agency? How can you assemble the right team and maintain a stellar reputation in the industry?
David Ogilvy, one of advertising’s most influential figures, shares his wisdom on how to start a marketing business and lead it to success. His insights, drawn from years of experience, focus on three key areas: hiring creative talent, establishing clear expectations, and protecting your agency’s reputation.
Read on to discover time-tested strategies that can help you build and grow your own marketing empire.
How to Start a Marketing Business
In his book Confessions of an Advertising Man, Ogilvy discusses the management side of the advertising business. Here are three of Ogilvy’s tips on how to start a marketing business and run it successfully.
Tip #1: When Hiring, Scout for Creative Talent Above All Else
According to Ogilvy, the number one reason his agency succeeded was because he was gifted at identifying and hiring the most creative marketers. He argues that truly creative people possess unique qualities that others lack—qualities that are necessary for an agency’s success.
Creative people are more in touch with their subconscious mind and imagination, which helps them come up with more winning ideas. Additionally, creative people are skilled at seeing any situation from multiple perspectives, which allows them to discover and share insights that most people would never think of. For instance, if a creative person is designing an ad for mousetraps, they might wonder what cats (who also catch mice) think of them. This could inspire them to design an ad where a housecat files for unemployment, complaining that the client’s high-quality mousetraps put them out of a job.
On the other hand, Ogilvy admits that creative people tend to be more rebellious and contrarian than the average person. Although this can make them difficult to work with, he recommends doing whatever you can to keep them around anyway. The creative results they produce are almost always worth the hassle.
| Creative People May Be Highly Sensitive In The Highly Sensitive Person, Elaine Aron describes a type of person she calls “highly sensitive” that overlaps with Ogilvy’s concept of a uniquely creative person. Aron describes highly sensitive people (HSPs) as having stronger than normal emotions and the ability to process information on a deeper, subtler level. She also notes that HSPs have unusually strong feelings of empathy—in other words, they naturally adopt the perspectives of others, just like Ogilvy’s creatives. Further, Aron notes that HSPs excel at using past experiences to inform present decisions, which gives them a strong sense of intuition. This may be the mechanism by which Ogilvy’s creatives more readily access their imaginative subconscious mind—they intuitively recall ideas they’ve encountered in the past (but aren’t consciously remembering) that relate to their current situation. Aron suggests that HSPs, like Ogilvy’s creatives, can sometimes be difficult to work with due to their unconventional minds. HSPs aren’t necessarily rebellious like Ogilvy’s creatives, but their tendency to process everything at a deep, complex level can make them seem like unusually slow learners. However, like Ogilvy, Aron asserts that the talents of these unique individuals make accommodating their quirks worthwhile. Although not all HSPs are creatives, Aron states that they’re generally more creative than the general population. Thus, scouting and nurturing individuals with HSP traits could help you build highly creative marketing teams. |
Tip #2: Clearly Communicate Your Expectations to Employees
Ogilvy explains that once you’ve recruited a highly creative team, your job as a manager is to build a creative-friendly culture that allows them to do great work. To do this, communicate to your employees a clear set of guidelines for how to act at work. Because you’re their boss, your employees will naturally seek your approval. Thus, they’re likely to act the way you encourage them to.
Ogilvy, for instance, tells his employees that he wants them to respect one another, honestly and openly resolve their disagreements, and enjoy working hard. He believes that if employees live up to these expectations, it’ll create the positive and productive atmosphere necessary for creative work.
| Criteria for Effective Culture-Setting Guidelines In What You Do Is Who You Are, Ben Horowitz offers some tips for designing guidelines for your employees that effectively establish the culture you want. He argues that the rules you set should satisfy three criteria: • They’re easy to remember. • Employees can apply them in their work every day. • They prompt employees to consider the deeper reasoning behind them. Arguably, Ogilvy’s rules are too vague and abstract to remember and apply daily, making them less likely to shift an organization’s culture. Instead of simply telling employees to embody certain values, you could revise Ogilvy’s advice by posing simpler rules that prompt them to consider these deeper values. For example, instead of telling employees to “respect each other,” you could tell them to consult at least one other person whenever they make any strategic decision, which leads to mutual respect. Instead of telling them to “resolve disagreements honestly,” you could tell them to air all their grievances in a 10-minute meeting every morning. Instead of telling them to “enjoy working hard,” you could assign points to their work and tell them to score higher than other departments. Furthermore, Horowitz argues that outlining effective rules isn’t enough. Contrary to what Ogilvy says, employees won’t dutifully follow your guidelines just to please you. Rather, leaders must strictly follow their own guidelines. Otherwise, employees will follow the example you set rather than the rules you say. |
Tip #3: Protect Your Agency’s Reputation
Finally, Ogilvy notes that it’s important to protect your advertising agency’s reputation. Every ad you create shows the world how skilled your agency is. Without a reputation for consistently making ads that sell, you won’t be able to secure major clients or attract high-quality employees.
(Shortform note: Although it’s important to maintain a strong reputation, it would be unreasonable—and harmful—to think that every ad your agency produces needs to be perfect. Often, managers with perfectionist tendencies pass their high personal standards on to their employees. Consequently, those employees become overwhelmed with stress and reluctant to take the risk of suggesting new ideas.)
To protect your reputation, don’t tailor your ads to clients’ requests if their ideas will genuinely ruin the ad. It’s better to lose a client than to let them pressure you into putting out bad work.
(Shortform note: Ideally, you’ll be able to explain to clients why their ideas won’t accomplish their goals like they think they will. This way, you can preserve the relationship without degrading your work. If you don’t have an objective reason to shoot down a client’s idea, tell them you need time to consider it, and use that time to think through your argument.)
Ogilvy also cautions against partnering with clients who sell flawed products or are otherwise destined for failure. If your client’s business fails, some people will inevitably blame your advertising, unjustly staining your reputation. To avoid falling into this trap, only accept a client if you’re confident you can run a successful campaign for them.
| Potential Client Red Flags How do you know if a client is destined for failure? Here are some warning signs: • Employees are frequently quitting, which indicates that they don’t see a future for the company. • Workers are constantly overwhelmed, fixing emergencies yet continually failing to address the root issues. • Employee morale is low and no one seems excited at work. • Upper management fails to openly communicate with the rest of the organization about problems the company faces. |
