A community-powered service that helps marketing

people get a job

1

WHAT I’M COVERING

• The problem: It’s hard to get a job at an

ad agency, and the churn rate is very high

• Solving the problem: Through a

community-focused job finding service for

marketing people

• Product development: Building &

launching an MVP, building a database of

user-generated content, then monetising

this database2

THE SIZE OF THE

OPPORTUNITY

• £17bn adspendin UK in 2013

• 550,000 employees in marketing

• 100,000 at ad agencies

3

Source: Institute for Practitioners in Advertising

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM*

*Based on face-to-face interviews with nine current & potential marketing industry job applicants & a 28-person survey

4

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

harder easier

“The model of the way we get jobs in this industry is fundamentally broken.”

- Ad agency employee

“If I had to sum up my job search in a single word it would be –despair."

- Digital agency employeeIs it harder or easier than the norm to get a job in marketing?

FINDING & RETAINING TALENT

• 28.1% annual churn rate in UK – market sizing:

28,100

5

“Churn rates at

agencies are

very high. This

is because of

salaries. You

need to move to

get a better

one.”

- Ex ad agency

workerSource: Digiday

MARKET SIZING

Individual Users

Marketing jobs in the UK: 550,000 (Source:

AA)

Ad agency jobs in the UK: 100,000 (Source:

IBIS)

Annual churn rate at ad agencies: 28.1%

Total: 28,100

(Sources: Advertising Association, IBIS, IPA)

Students in the UK: 1,682,145

Final year students in the UK (undergrad and

postgrad): 336,429

% of students studying business,

communications or creative arts:

Total: 46,427

(Source: HESA)

6

Corporate Users

Marketing agencies in the UK: 25,000

(Source: Marketing Quotes)

Companies in the market for agency services:

Number of companies in the UK: 1.9m

% of which with revs of £25m+ (& therefore large

enough to have a marketing budget): 1%

Total: 19,000

(Source: Office of National Statistics)

ADVERTISING PEOPLE: DIGITAL-

FIRST AND YOUNG

Advertising industry people’s participation in social media. Source: Heat/Fast

Company

7

Ages of workers among IPA member agencies, 2013. Source: IPA

USER PERSONAE

JACK (28, living in London)

BACKGROUND

• Has been in his present role at an ad

agency for 18 months

• Time-pressed and cash-strapped

VALUES

• Tech-savvy, avid social networker

• Work/life balance is important to him -

but is a work in progress

• Liberal, cosmopolitan

• Wants to be seen as quick to pick up on

new trends

“I need a time-saving tool for finding my next

job opportunity, so that I can boost my

salary.”

JILL (21, studying in Kent)

BACKGROUND

• Final year marketing student, looking for a

graduate opportunity

• Overwhelmed with exam pressures and

information sources

VALUES

• Idealistic about the future

• Avid social networker (online and offline)

• Wants to make a difference at a company

• Wants to move to London

“I need in-depth and useful information so that I

can plan my job search more effectively.”

8

What do they hear? What do they think & feel? What do they see? What do they say and do?

Pains Gains

• He has his headphones on,

streaming music to help him

concentrate

• The office is quiet as most of his

colleagues are doing the same

• Friends outside of work tell him

often that he is unhappy and

needs to move on

• His boss (the head of client

services) and some of his clients

offer a lot of negative feedback

about his ideas and general work

performance, knocking his

confidence.

• He feels undervalued - and

underpaid - at his workplace. He

has financial worries: he spends

over 50% of his salary on rent, and

a big chunk of the remainder on

essential costs

• He knows from his peers, fellow

marketing graduates, that one of

the best ways of getting a salary

boost is to switch jobs

• He has a couple of meetings with

recruiters and a second-round

interview scheduled for the

upcoming week

• But he’s so busy he doesn’t have

time to do proper research: while

at the office it seems impossible,

when at home he’s too tired to get

motivated

• While he must keep on top of a lot

of things in his job, he wants to

feel switched-on, savvy and ahead

of the game - whether that means

anticipating any complaints a client

may have, or keeping abreast of

new tech and media trends.

• Crowded office

• Laptop filled with notifications,

upcoming meetings, new – and

still unanswered – emails: he

has three (very demanding)

clients

• He’s also checking his

smartphone on his desk

periodically for updates from

his friends – and always

somehow finds time to text

back/like or comment on posts.

He’s accustomed to

multitasking

• The brief is in an open Word

document – he is trying to

concentrate on it but keeps

getting distracted by incoming

emails

• He’s generally silent until

spoken to in the office…

• …unless he is in a client

meeting, where he needs to be

extrovert and proactive. He

aims to be solicitous with his

clients and represent the

agency to them

• He does not share his

concerns with any of the

bosses at work - only with

friends on the outside.

Time pressure, negative and stressful atmosphere at

work, money worries

Quick answers, hope for the future, a competitive edge in

his hunt for a better job.

JACK’S EMPATHY MAP

9

HOW MARKETERS FIND A

JOB

10

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Direct LinkedIn Monster GuardianJobs

Reed I washeadhunted

“We Googled the company, emailed them – and they didn’t get back to us. Then we found they were happy for us to come in for a chat, but we rarely anything back from them afterwards.”

- Job applicantSource: TechCrunch

Most popular research tools Most popular ways of applying

Partners Key Resources

Key Activities

Value Proposition Customer Relationships

Channels

Customer Segments

RevenueMain costs

• Providers of comparative

ad industry company

data

• Providers of server

space

• Industry trade

bodies/clients/agencies

• Social media platforms

(social media feeds will

be integrated into my

platform + commenting

will be via LinkedIn login)

+ third party social feed

integration technology

1. Easy access to

hard-to-find and

exclusive info

2. A place to bring

jobseekers &

agencies

together

3. A place to talk

and share – a

community

• People looking for a job

at a marketing services

company – whether they

already work for one or

are looking to get into the

industry

• Companies looking for a

new marketing services

provider

• Agencies looking to

manage reputations &

benchmark their

performance

• Email updates

• In-app notifications

• Social media profiles

• Face-to-face meetings

with corporate partners,

including trade bodies,

universities and data

providers

• Creating & designing

homepage, company

pages

• Getting user participation

in uploading comments &

data about agencies

• Getting participation from

the agencies themselves

• Database of company

information, aggregated

information from other

sources, UGC

• Website and app(s) –

presentation of this

information

• Engineers/UX designers

• Search ads

• Paying community managers to moderate comment & social sections of

service

• Paying freelance content creators for scraping & reusing information on

company pages

• Paying data providers for access to their datasets & republication fees.

• Ad revenue from app/site banners; sponsorships/media partnerships

• Revenue from pro accounts

• Revenue from agencies/corporate clients via data-sharing

• Revenue from activating database via reports (eg, annual rankings of “top

agencies”

• Revenue from job listings

AGENCY FINDER: BUSINESS

MODEL

• Owned: Website &

app(s)

• Earned: PR, social

media conversation

about the service

• Paid: Search

ads/keywords

• Live: Pitches &

presentations at industry

events

11

12

NEEDS

Finding a job in the industry is hard – and there is a real information gap when it comes to

finding out about potential employers.

FEATURES

• An online platform that offers insights & updates on marketing services providers in order to help

users in their job search.

• Searchable company pages with useful information, from its status in the industry, to key contacts,

a client list and information on what it’s like to work there.

• Pages are populated either manually, dynamically (via embedded social media streams) or with

UGC.

BENEFITS

• It makes companies comparable.

• It assists the jobseeker during the research process and gives them a cutting edge over their

rivals.

• It offers a community platform for sharing information.

NEEDS, FEATURES,

BENEFITS

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLEDEVELOPMENT -

• Initial market research with different types of users for the

product: marketing students, people already at agencies

looking for their next move, clients looking to find the right

agency.

• Building the MVP/bare bones version of the product:

– MVP 1: Single company page, shared with key

potential users/influencers to decide what

information goes where on the page, viability of log-

ons & sharing information as a community

– MVP 2: Basic home/search page and functionality,

to determine which are the most searched-for

agencies

INTRODUCTION -

• Press release and launch of social media campaign

• Launch of multiple company pages, homepage, log-in

functionality

• Establish relationships with agencies tracked by the

product to build word of mouth further & offer data-sharing

GROWTH –

• Features added: follow companies, receive email

updates, get lifetime login when info is shared

• Seek out sponsorship opportunities with other companies,

such as academic institutions that run marketing courses

• Launch paid-for premium version for power

users/companies with more in-depth rankings and other

exclusive content13

MATURITY -

• Content push with annual “top agencies” report &

associated collateral (trophies, events, print & online

versions)

• Add job listings functionality

• Launch international version of product

• Branch out into other industries such as PR & tech

DECLINE -

• Signals of decline: falling MAUs, subscriptions, job listings

posted

• Ways of preventing decline: adding additional rankings,

making paywall more permeable, activating content in

new ways

14

FULL PRODUCT ROADMAP

MVP: Sample

company

page

Creation of

additional

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVPHomepage:

Searchable

by

company

Email

reminders

Login/sign-

up

functionality

In-page

requests for

UGC Annual

“best

agency”

lists

Job listings

Refining and

expanding

the rankings

based on

UGC

Pro accounts,

launch of

paywall

TIME

TA

SK

S

Initial MVP &

iteration

Building &

leveraging

database

Monetisation

15

PRODUCT ROADMAP

Redesign of

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVP

Data-sharing

with

corporate

partners

MVP: Sample

company

page

Creation of

additional

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVPHomepage:

Searchable

by

company

Email

reminders

Login/sign-

up

functionality

In-page

requests for

UGC Annual

“best

agency”

lists

Job listings

Refining and

expanding

the rankings

based on

UGC

Pro accounts,

launch of

paywall

TIME

TA

SK

S

Initial MVP &

iteration

Building &

leveraging

database

Monetisation

16

PRODUCT ROADMAP

Redesign of

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVP

Data-sharing

with

corporate

partners

SITE NAVIGATION

17

• Site nav is deliberately simple & flat, aimed at driving towards two user

actions: Exploring the company pages or logging in

• Once in a company page, they are encouraged to perform three further

actions

1. Search for another company page

2. Follow company

3. Add information

MVPRelease a single prototype “company page” that includes different types of information about an agency.

Include a basic employee information form & comment function.

Share with contacts at the agency, track usage via Google Analytics.

18

HOW THE MVP WORKS

19

Hypothesis:

We believe that people will be

willing to contribute sensitive

market information

anonymously - issues that

could include salary and job

satisfaction.

Success criteria:

• Heatmapping via Google

Analytics to see which

cartridges get the most

engagement

• # of user logins & # of users

leaving comments/adding

informationFeatures prioritised:

• Agency information pages

• Add info/comment option

ALTERNATIVE/ ADDITIONAL

MVP

A homepage with basic search

functionality

Success criteria:

• Review which are the top search terms to

inform which additional company pages

should be created first

• Retention: # of searches performed per

user

20

Hypotheses:

1) We believe that users are interested in

a broad variety of companies over the

course of the job search/research

process

2) We believe that users will want to

return to the site multiple times over

the course of the job search/research

process

USER JOURNEY

21

Rest of page

features:

• expanded product

“mission

statement”

• introductory

video,

• social media

buttons

• Email/phone

contacts.

22

MVP: Sample

company

page

Creation of

additional

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVPHomepage:

Searchable

by

company

Email

reminders

Login/sign-

up

functionality

In-page

requests for

UGC Annual

“best

agency”

lists

Job listings

Refining and

expanding

the rankings

based on

UGC

Pro accounts,

launch of

paywall

TIME

TA

SK

S

Initial MVP &

iteration

Building &

leveraging

database

Monetisation

23

PRODUCT ROADMAP

Redesign of

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVP

Data-sharing

with

corporate

partners

“People are obsessed with giving their opinion. It’s not a shy industry. Most people in agencies are high-energy. And you work on accounts together in small groups for 10 hours, 11 hours a day.”

- Ad agency worker

WHY COMMUNITY?

24

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Companyculture

Salary Location Ranked againstpeers

Headcount Employeeopinions

Financialposition

Corporatestructure

Perks

What are you looking for in an employer?

25

BUILDING THE RANKINGS

26

• Simple multiple-choice

questions; optional text

comment at end

• Filling in the form gets

you free & full access to

datasets

• UGC generated via this

form is anonymised,

aggregated posted as:

• comments on

company pages

• aggregated into

agency rankings

UGC > user verified > database > indexing tool > dynamically-generated rankings

OTHER DATA SOURCES FOR

RANKINGS

27

All of the above are publicly-available rankings of ad agencies, data from which could be used to supplement the UGC-derived ranking data. Click on an image to see more information on each ranking product.

EMAIL ENGAGEMENT

28

• Users sent regular email updates by hitting the “follow” button on company

pages. They have the option to sign up for only certain types of agency

information & frequency of contacts

• All emails feature clear CTA (link back to company page) to encourage return

visits.

MVP: Sample

company

page

Creation of

additional

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVPHomepage:

Searchable

by

company

Email

reminders

Login/sign-

up

functionality

In-page

requests for

UGC Annual

“best

agency”

lists

Job listings

Refining and

expanding

the rankings

based on

UGC

Pro accounts,

launch of

paywall

TIME

TA

SK

S

Initial MVP &

iteration

Building &

leveraging

database

Monetisation

29

PRODUCT ROADMAP

Redesign of

company pages,

informed by

reaction to MVP

Data-sharing

with

corporate

partners

1) PRO ACCOUNTS

• Full access to datasets = more granular

information (eg, salary ranges by job role,

rather than total average)

• Individual users: subscription fee of

£300/yr

• Corporate users: consultancy services to

agencies and recruiters (dynamic pricing

depending on company size)

30

2) CONTENT

• Annual ‘agency of the year’ rankings

report

• Aim to achieve PR coverage, increasing

the fame of the service

• Activate such reports online, in print and

experientially

• £50 for online version, £200 for print

31

32

3) JOB LISTINGS

• Great revenue potential (going rate

£200/ad)

• Natural extension of service – users come

as jobseekers, so would want to apply on

the site

• Would require user engagement & trust,

back end infrastructure, so appropriate to

leave to a later phase

33

KPIs & METRICS

ACQUISITION

KPI

Market reach of

website

Metrics:

Number of MAUs

for website

(everyone who

visited at least

once)

Bounce rate over

time (growing?

Declining?)

ACTIVATION

KPI

Conversion rate of

users to registered

users

Metrics:

Ratio: # of

registrations/logge

d in users vs # of

MAUs (registration

= LinkedIn login or

filling in online form

to create an

account & receive

update emails)

RETENTION

KPI

Rate of customer

engagement over

time

Metrics:

Ratio of repeat

visitors vs MAUs

Proportion of

logged-in users

who engage further

(add information

via online form)

Open rate/CTRs on

emails

Performance in

user surveys &

NPS

REFERRAL

KPI

Rate of earned

media support per

user

Metrics:

% of referral

sources from social

channels, rather

than via google or

direct

Performance of

paid search traffic

vs organic search

traffic

REVENUE

KPI

Average revenue

per acquisition

Metrics:

Ad CPMs

# of job listings on

site (x avg. price) –

expected main

source of revenue

# of Pro Accounts

(x avg. price)

Overall value of

media partnerships

Overall value of

data partnerships

…divided by

MAUs!34

SCALING THE BUSINESS

• International expansion

• Mobile app versions of the service

• Idea of a community-focused job

information services scalable to other

suitable industries: PR, design, tech…

35

WHAT I LEARNED

1. The problem is real &

needs fixing

2. Big assumptions about

UGC – MVP crucial

3. Major & diverse

revenue opportunities

36

WHAT’S NEXT?

Selling it in

to my

company.

Wish me

luck!

37

APPENDIX: FINANCIAL

MODEL

38

Assumptions Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Average monthly visitors 50000 100000 200000

Total # accounts 25000 50000 100000

Total # pro accounts 150 300

Revenue

Ad revenue

Display ad revenue CPM for online display = £2; 50k PVs Y1, 100K Y2 5200 10400 20800

User revenue

Subscription Subscribers paying £500 a year 75000 150000

Content revenue (reports) Y2, 150 online copies & 50 print copies sold, sales rising in line with PVs 17500 35000

Content revenue (job listings) Each job posted: £200. 10 jobs posted per week on average 104000

Partner revenue (sponsorship) 2 sponsorship deals in Y2 25000

Partner revenue (data sharing) Sharing datasets w/corporate clients 60000 120000 240000

Total revenue 65200 222900 574800

Costs

Technology

Use of cloud-based server (AWS or similar) price = Rackspace, based on average page weight

x monthly PVs, site works on Wordpress; social media stream tool (Tint) analytics (Chartbeat),

a/b testing (Optimizely) 1458 18116 23116

Marketing/salesUsing external PR for launch, hiring full-time marketer in year 2, assuming annual cost of

marketing collateral = £7500 3750 7500 37500

Staff

Full-time participation of 1x developer (on staff), 1x design/ux (freelance), 1x founder/content

manager (on staff), 1x sales/new biz (on staff), 1x community manager (freelance, post-launch),

freelance content creators (post-launch) 105000 220000 250000

Content production (reports) Print costs £10,000; online costs £5,000 15000 15000

General & AdministrativeWorking in shared office space (WBY, 300/month/desk), plus costs of taxes & HR, staff

equipment 10800 21600 36000

Total costs 121008 282216 361616

EPITDA -55808 -59316 213184

APPENDIX: USER STORIES

(1)Search function

• As a jobseeker, I need to be able to search for agencies via the homepage, so that I can navigate the

site easily

– create a homepage with a usable search box

– search box features auto-prompts of agencies as they type

Login

As a user who wants to share information and share with the community, I want to be able to log in to the

site so that I can…

• log in via LinkedIn (prioritise vs something else)

– log in via email address

– manage & change my password

• As an admin, I need to ensure that the login is safe and secure

– Tests to ensure password strength

Responsive site

• As a user who wants to use the service across screens, I want the pages to be easily readable on

smartphones as well as my desktop, so that I can have a better browsing experience

– Need to use HTML5 & CSS3

39

APPENDIX: USER STORIES

(2)

40

Apps

• As a mobile user, I want to be able to access the service on my smartphone while on the move, so that I can make last-

minute checks

– working iOS (first) and Android (second) app version of the service

– App offers full search functionality but a cut-down/redesigned version of agency/company pages, prioritising info

sources that get the most engagement on the desktop version

• As a mobile device user, I want to be notified of changes and updates to agencies I’m interested in in a timely manner

– Push notifications to appear on users’ ldevices

Email updates

• As a busy user, I want to be able to get email updates and notifications on companies that I want to “follow”

– “follow company” buttons integrated on company pages

– individual logged-in users linked to “followed” companies on database

– this database then used for notification emails separate from general marketing emails

– emails must feature links back to the site

– in their preferences on the site, they are allowed customisability, e.g. how often they want to receive the emails

– unsubscribe capability

Social network integration

• As a busy user, I want to keep updated with companies’ latest work in a convenient way, so that I don’t have to track them

across various social media platforms.

– social media streams from companies integrated on company pages of desktop version of the site

– Position of streams to be determined by initial wireframes

APPENDIX: USER STORIES

(3)Job listings

• As a jobseeker, I want to be able to apply for jobs directly on the site, so that I don’t have to waste time by going to

another site!

– online form available to companies who submit job listings

– payments system for companies

• As a company posting a job, I want to be able to have access to a good pool of applicants – so I don’t have to deal

with time wasters!

– Only verified/logged-in users should have access to job applications

UGC

• As someone who wants to “pay if forward” and share information, I want to be able to easily give information about

companies I’ve worked for so that I can let others know what it’s like to work for these companies

– online form available to users who wish to submit this information

– assurances that all information will be anonymised and aggregated

– auto-login to pro account enabled for these users

• As the operator of the Agency Finder service, I want to ensure that people adding UGC are who they say they are,

so the information displayed on the page is credible.

– Verification needed through checking information submitted by a specific user is verified via their LinkedIn

profile

– If the user has logged on via LinkedIn, this needs to be manually (or, ideally, dynamically) checked against

their LinkedIn profile

– If the user has verified via email address only, their submitted name needs to be checked against LinkedIn to

ensure they really have worked at the agency, as they claim.

– Only information submitted by verified users should be included in the database from which the rankings are

derived 41

Engineers

• What they are getting from me?• Strategic direction

• Timings for completion of different features/parts of the product (via the roadmap)

• The voice of the consumer –market information

• What are they giving me?• Building/developing product

features

• Bug fixes

• How often do I communicate with them?• Daily at least

• What formats do I use?• Email, face-to-face meetings

(standups), shared PM software, eg Trello, Slack for backlog support.

• The roadmap

Sales & Marketing

APPENDIX: STAKEHOLDERS

• What they are getting from me?• The product vision & timeline

• Sales targets

• Product performance vs KPIs

• Material to sell with, eg pitch decks, information to use during cold calls, etc

• What are they giving me?• In their customer-facing roles,

reaction and feedback from potential and existing customers

• Revenues via recruiting new customers

• Revenue forecasts

• How often do I communicate with them?• Daily, whether virtually or face to

face

• What formats do I use?• Email, Trello, Slack

• Conference calls, face to face meetings

APPENDIX: STAKEHOLDERS

Investors Customers

• What they are getting from me?• The chance to invest in a

scalable and (ultimately) profitable product

• Initially, a pitch. Post-investment, progress updates (feature releases, performance against KPIs).

• Updates on milestones and achievements

• What are they giving me?• Money

• Expertise/consultancy – direction

• Networking and connections

• How often do I communicate with them?• Via scheduled updates (check-in

meetings); I am also available with answers to whatever questions they have

• Address (annual?) board meetings

• What formats do I use?• Email, face-to-face meetings

• The product roadmap

• What they are getting from me?• Market intelligence, increasing their

chances of landing a job (for individual users)

• Benchmarking against rivals & information about how they are viewed (for corporate customers)

• Exposure to the company’s services via job listings & application

• The opportunity to express their opinion & share their experiences

• What are they giving me?• UGC, in the form of filling in company

information about previous agency employers & comments

• Ad impressions

• Adding to my database

• Feedback on features & bugs

• We create value together by building a database with a UGC element

• How often do I communicate with them?• If interactions with the site are not

counted (and only direct approaches are counted) then weekly at maximum

• Vis social media (official Agency Finder Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn accounts)

• What formats do I use?• Email

• Website (requests for filling in survey/adding information)

• Surveys

LIST OF SOURCES &

RESOURCESMarket analysis:

• UK Advertising Expenditure Report (AA/Warc)

• Advertising Pays 1 (Advertising Association)

• The Graduate Market in 2014 (High Fliers)

• Agency cartoon

• Planner Survey 2012/13

• GOV.UK: Advertising market analysis

• IPA Agency Census 2013

• Agencies’ talent problem (Digiday)

• Number of ad agencies in UK (Marketing Quotes)

• Number of ad agency workers in the UK (IBIS)

• Glassdoor’s business model (CFO)

• LinkedIn’s quarterly earnings

• 4A’s statistics on churn rate in US

• Churn rates between industries (US data)

44

Third party tech used:

• LinkedIn logins

• Embedded Twitter timelines

• Tint: Social feed embedding

• Mailchimp: email infrastructure

• Wordpress: site & CMS

• Rackspace: servers

• Google Analytics: site metrics

Public Agency Rankings sources:

• Fintellect (overall financial performance)

• AAR (agencies’ new business performance)

• Campaign School Reports (annual grading of UK agencies)

• The Gunn Report (ranking of creative awards)

• Warc 100 (ranking strategy/effectiveness awards)

• The Drum Adverati (ranking people working at agencies)

• Ad Age Best Places To Work (ranking US company culture)