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How to Develop a Compelling Value Proposition and Differentiate Your Agency from Others

A potential client asks you to describe your agency. How do you communicate your compelling value proposition to the client and differentiate your agency from others? Quick – what makes you stand out in the agency crowd? Do you find yourself using words like full service, strategic, creative? Or maybe you say, “We partner with our clients.” “We've been here for X number of years.” “We’re not a traditional agency.” “We don't do digital, we are digital.” Unfortunately, the truth is, whether you like it or not, you sound just like every other agency out there. Even if we think we're standing out in a crowd, we tend to sound very much the same. We all believe that we sound distinct but the truth is our words all blur with the same phrases that every other agency uses. So how do you truly develop a compelling value proposition and differentiate your shop when the competition is getting tougher and tougher and we sound and look more and more alike? By clearly defining your mission, vision and values. In this solocast, I help you flesh that out by exploring: How to communicate a compelling value proposition to your clients by telling your own story via content. How to put a stake in the ground and say this is what we do and how and why we do it. How to answer the following big questions: Why do you do this work? What is your why? What would happen to the world if your agency simply faded from existence? How to specifically define your mission, your vision, and your compelling values. Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. He has also owned and operated [...]

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What Are Business Processes with Brian Shea

What are business processes and systems? Most business owners flinch at these words but the truth is that your agency cannot grow/scale without both. Processes and systems actually increase the ability to be creative by freeing your team from re-inventing the wheel every time they’re trying to get something done. That’s exactly what my podcast guest, Brian Shea brings to the table.  Brian and his firm, Shea Consulting take process and systems to the next level by helping agencies customize them so they can grow and scale efficiently. Through the use of systems and processes, they minimize the stuff you don't want to do so you have more time and energy to do the stuff you want to do.    In this podcast, Brian covers: How implementing systems is vital to successfully scaling a business. How looking at a business’s current processes can help business owners structure the company in a way that allows them to focus on the creative and strategic work, and delegate more tasks to employees, thus developing the employee’s abilities. How to dig deep and get to the actual cause of why processes, systems and software fail. The consequences an agency may face if they do not implement processes and systems. Great, easy to implement ideas for helping agencies connect with their dream clients. About Brian Shea Brian Shea is the founder of Shea Consulting, where he helps companies become more proficient with their business development systems so they can enjoy consistent, sustainable success. To listen – you can visit the Build A Better Agency site (https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/brian-shea/) and grab either the iTunes or Stitcher files or just listen to it from the web. If you’d rather just read the conversation, the transcript [...]

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Managing Business Growth to Create a Sustainable Business with Trent Dyrsmid

There’s no topic that is not more top of mind for an agency owner than growing your agency so it is stronger, more profitable and more sustainable.  In a recent podcast with Trent Dyrsmid, we talked scaling your agency and managing business growth. Trent built, scaled and sold an agency and I wanted him to tell us how. In this podcast, Trent discusses innovative techniques to managing and growing your agency:  Among other things, he covers: picking a niche for your agency giving you power in pricing and increased traction becoming aware of your capacity as an agency - being busy doesn’t mean higher profits why you need social media for lead generation, no matter your agency’s niche finding the right balance in workload for your team how to implement new systems into the agency. Before Trent Dyrsmid started a digital agency called Groove, he founded Dyrand Systems, a managed IT service provider that was recognized twice as one of Canada’s PROFIT Magazine’s 100 fastest growing companies. In addition to overseeing Groove, Trent is also the host of the Bright Ideas podcast, where he regularly publishes interviews with some of today’s brightest entrepreneurs from around the globe. To listen – you can visit the Build A Better Agency site (https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/trent-dyrsmid/) and grab either the itunes or Stitcher files or just listen to it from the web.   If you’d rather just read the conversation, the transcript is below. If you're going to take the risk of running an agency, shouldn't you get the benefits too? Welcome to Build a Better Agency where we show you how to build an agency that can scale and grow with better clients, invested employees, and best of all, more [...]

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Essential Business Building Strategies You Need to Grow Your Agency with Jason Falls

As an agency owner, you know that if you're not ready to evolve your agency with business building strategies, you'd better get ready to retire. The agency business is undergoing an incredible metamorphosis and most agency owners are running at full speed to keep up. That's where my conversation with Jason Falls, Senior Vice-President, Digital Strategy at Elasticity and author of several books on social media and email marketing, started. (listen to the podcast here) From there we move to agency hierarchy and structure, the impact of millennials on current day politics and the importance of building strategic alliances. It's a whirlwind hour of debate, stories and a few good laughs.  I think you'll not only enjoy it, but you'll also get some business building strategies you can put into play right away. To listen – you can visit the Build A Better Agency site (https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/jason-falls/) and grab either the iTunes or Stitcher files or just listen to it from the web. If you’d rather just read the conversation, the transcript is below. If you're going to take the risk of running an agency, shouldn't you get the benefits too? Welcome to Build a Better Agency, where we show you how to build an agency that can scale and grow with better clients, invest in employees, and best of all, more money to the bottom line. Bringing his 25 plus years of expertise as both an agency owner and agency consultant to you, please welcome your host, Drew McLellan. Drew: Hey everybody, this is Drew McLellan, and I am really excited to be with you today. As an agency owner, I know all too well the risks we take every day. This podcast is about making sure if we're going to take [...]

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Hey agency owner – want a no fail agency new business tactic?

One of the biggest issues that agency owners and other key staff that are charged with agency new business face is getting on the radar screen of their prospects. This is where a small business marketing technique could come in handy. Read on for more. Even when you have the experience, knowledge and chops to help a prospect move their sales needle or accomplish whatever they're trying to get done – it’s tough to get their attention long enough to be noticed. That’s even more of a challenge for agencies that don’t have a big marketing budget or exist in a crowded, competitive landscape.  Which by the way, is all of you. That’s where some psychology can be incredibly helpful. One thing that is almost universally true about us humans is that we are incredibly flattered when someone thinks we have something of value to offer in the way of experience, knowledge, expertise or hard-earned wisdom. And that, I believe, is the door we need to open if we want a prospect’s time. For this small business marketing technique to work, I think the following needs to be true about your agency: You/your agency has a niche/specialty in which you have a great depth of expertise You have some outlet (website, blog, podcast, newsletter) in which you share that expertise without a sales pitch or being self-serving You have a genuine interest in the people you serve and a passion for helping them in your unique way with whatever you do/sell You are willing to commit to working on agency new business on a consistent basis If that’s you, read on. Make a list of your ideal prospects and their influencers. Who would you most like to serve and are the people/companies that you [...]

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2015 Salary survey results tell an interesting story

Business trends including changes in salaries and benefits can make or break an agency’s profitability from one year to the next. That’s why we conduct a comprehensive annual salary and benefits survey and we’ve just wrapped up our 2015 edition (you can buy the 40-page final report here). The results are quite insightful.   First a few facts about the respondents: 1,537 respondents Agency size ranged from 1 employee to over 150 employees All regions of the US and Canada were represented although there were not enough Canadian responses for statistical validity Salary Observations: Most salaries either held steady or rose in the 2015 results. One area that that saw its salary range decline or at best, hold steady was the CEOs salary. As agency salaries increase and the ability to increase billable rates or project pricing has not – it appears as though some CEOs are robbing from themselves to increase the pay of their key employees. The media department also took a hit in some cases. This may suggest that as agencies buy less traditional media (it seems like agencies are either specializing in this or hiring it out more and more) they are trimming some of their more expensive employees and keeping those middle-income team members. Copywriters and content writers also saw a healthy increase in salaries, ranging from 5-10%. Interestingly art directors and graphic designers did not see that same kind of increase; in fact in most categories they stayed steady with their 2014 salaries. The most significant increases came in the digital departments, with programmers leading the way. The average increase in this department was 10+% over the 2014 salaries. Benefits Observations: Clearly, agencies value their employees and try very [...]

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Hey agency owner — remember monkey see, monkey do

One of the first lessons that I learned as a Dad is that while my words mattered, my actions trumped those words every time. My daughter watched every choice, every action and inaction, every moment – and whether I liked it or not, mimicked me. The realization that I was a constant learning lab actually trained me to make some different choices, like wearing a seat belt which I’d never done consistently, simply because I wanted to model that behavior (and because she was a nag about it!) This same truth holds true in your agency and in creating an “Agency Management System” within your shop. Your employees, the ones who are the carriers of your brand’s spirit to your clients, vendors and prospects, observe you every day. We think of our brand as a logo or tagline but our agency brand comes alive in our words and actions, both internally and with our clients. Are you consciously modeling the behavior that you’d like to see your team adopt? Whether you like it or not – your actions will be reflected in every interaction your employees have. Is that good news or not so much? How do you talk about your customers? Even your agency's best clients can be frustrating sometimes. Maybe they’re being unusually indecisive or making a million little changes that are going to push you off budget. Or, they might be under a lot of pressure from their boss and you’re bearing the brunt of that situation. When that happens – how do you sound? Do you grumble about them or do you help your employees remember that this is the person who helps all of you pay your mortgages? How do [...]

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The Agency Owner’s Job Description

Here’s the ad agency structure kernel of truth you’ve been denying for too long. You can’t own/run a successful, scaleable agency and still be in the weeds of client work. You just can’t do it. I work with 200+ agencies a year and whether they’re small (1-15 people) or large independently owned agencies (100+ people) — if the owner is still servicing clients, they’re not servicing the agency. If you were hit by a bus or abducted by aliens, ideally your agency would carry on.  If your absence would dramatically change your agency’s monthly AGI, then congratulations — you just created company so you could be a day laborer. You simply traded one job/boss for another job/boss. And I’m betting your current boss makes you work worse hours for worse pay. What a jerk, right? Actually you're right. You shouldn’t tolerate that life anymore. Not only is it a lousy job for lousy pay but you can’t grow your business because you’re the bottleneck. The sticking point. The black hole where ideas and innovation go to die because you don’t have the time to think them through or execute them. If you are working in the business, you aren’t working on the business. Which means your agency will not scale/grow and no one will want to buy it because you’re too integrally involved. And if all of that's true -- why in the world would you take the risk, the pressure, the heartburn, and the worry? Just go get a job. So what should you be doing with your time? Here’s how a strong agency owner should be spending his/her time (roughly) every week. This is your agency owner's job description. Granted this is ideal [...]

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Hey agency owner — 3 Keys to Working On the Agency, Not in It!

Drew’s Note:  I’m pleased to bring you this guest post.  Meet another  thought leader who shares his insights via the blogosphere. So without further ado…Chris Wilson.  Enjoy! Implementing the proper business growth strategies is tough when you are spending a large portion of your time still working in the day-to-day operations of your agency. If you want it to grow the way it should, you need to take a step back and work on long-term strategies. You’re good at what you do, right? Well, if you’re like the majority of agency owners that we at Function Point interact with, then you’re very passionate about your firm. You started the business because you had a competency for creating great creative work, and your entrepreneurial spirit drove you to make a living out of it. Your friends have probably suggested at one point or another that you’re a little bit of the best kind of crazy — always dreaming bigger and reaching higher! That’s all great, but here’s the crux: For a creative agency to be successful, the owner has to move past all the details of the day-to-day operations. This isn’t easy!  You have to figure out the art of working on the agency, not in it. At the end of the day, though, you need to be dreaming of what you want for the company, setting the big goals and business growth strategies for the future and building up the people around you. In my 18+ years of working with agency owners, I’ve found that those who focus on client profitability, team member contribution, strategy and culture are the ones who have succeeded at getting their business scaled up. Directing your attention to these 4 areas will help [...]

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Hey agency owners — are you struggling with your millennial employees?

One of the most common struggles I hear from agency owners is that they're struggling with managing their millennial employees.  For a bit of levity, I often share this video.[youtube]https://youtu.be/Sz0o9clVQu8And in case you're a millennial reading this -- here's the response about working with "older" employers.[youtube]https://youtu.be/C1a6M3dBNwc

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