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Building Your Business for the Future with Jason Swenk

One of the goals of many agency owners is to build a business that has enough value that someone will want to buy it from them down the road. If you got a call with a cash offer for your agency tomorrow -- would you be ready? Would your agency be? That’s exactly what happened to my podcast guest, Jason Swenk and because he had a plan -- he was ready.   He calls himself the defender of truth, justice, and effective business practices and he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to agency value. In his opinion, the only difference between an eight-figure agency owner and someone who is struggling is their systems. It's not about how smart they are or their experience. It all comes down to having the right systems in place. This is just one area that Jason’s expertise can help you in building your business/agency with the future in mind. Learn more as Jason and I explore: How Jason prepared his agency for sale The importance of systems inside an agency What to do when the systems you put in place make you nonessential for day-to-day operations Lead generation: why this is the biggest pain point for agencies and what can be done about it How agencies can deliver exceptional value to clients willing to pay a premium price and how to get those clients in the first place How to recognize which clients to seek out and which to avoid Jason’s Agency Playbook Things agencies do to get in their own way Agencies and niche: why you need to start very, very small What can agencies do right now to take action on the ideas in this [...]

July 5th, 2016|

Jason Swenk

Jason Swenk shares how to scale and sell. If you got a call with an offer, would you be ready? It happened to Jason Swenk. But, he had a plan and shares the details in this episode of Build a Better Agency. Jason Swenk calls himself the defender of truth, justice, and effective business practices. 16-years ago, he founded a digital agency and they worked with clients like AFLAC, AT&T, Coca-Cola, and LegalZoom. He sold that agency and is now working with agencies, teaching them to use cutting-edge business strategies to defend themselves against the competition. His website, www.jasonswenk.com, has a plethora of information dedicated to educating agency owners including Agency Insights, his weekly newsletter.   What you’ll learn from Jason Swenk in this episode: How Jason prepared his agency for sale The importance of systems inside an agency What to do when the systems you put in place make you nonessential for day-to-day operations Lead generation: why Jason believes this is the biggest pain point for agencies and what can be done about it How agencies can deliver exceptional value to clients willing to pay a premium price and how to get those clients in the first place How to recognize which clients to seek out and which to avoid Jason’s “Agency Playbook” Things agencies do to get in their own way Agencies and niche: why you need to start very, very small What can agencies do right now to take action on the ideas in this episode   The Golden Nugget from Jason: […]

July 5th, 2016|

Developing A Content Marketing Strategy that Actually Works with Joe Pulizzi

Strategy. Consistency. Focus. These are the key elements of content marketing strategy success in today’s content marketing world, according to my podcast guest, Joe Pulizzi. Joe is the founder of Content Marketing Institute and it’s cornerstone event Content Marketing World so he’s been teaching and living content for a long time. Today’s agencies have to figure out the content game. You need to know when your client needs to create content, how to make it sticky and relevant and how to do it profitably. The winning content formula of strategy + consistency + focus is what it takes to build an audience and that is where the value lies - in getting, keeping and maintaining an audience. Content for content’s sake is just more noise.   Joe and I help you to put this content strategy puzzle together by showing you: What agencies and clients need to do to develop a content marketing strategy that actually succeeds Why you need to focus on your email list more than people you are connected with on social media How agencies can leverage their own content better Why you need to focus on content in specific platforms over trying to be everywhere What differentiates the agencies that do content marketing extremely well Old school deliverables that still work today Why you need a content marketing mission statement Why the editing process is a crucial part of content marketing The ways smart agencies get smart enough to create valuable content Things agencies can do right now to get the content marketing techniques discussed in this episode rolling Joe’s events Joe Pulizzi is the founder of Content Marketing Institute, the leading education and training organization for content marketing, which includes [...]

June 27th, 2016|

June 2016 | DOL Changes in Overtime

Here is the video replay of today's webinar.  Down below you'll find a link to the deck itself and the URLS that were in the deck. Apologies for the technical glitch on the front end with the slides. Clearly this is a topic we'll all be watching closely as we march towards December 1. [youtube]https://youtu.be/WHQImV6HF8o   Download the deck Links from the deck: WSJ – April 2016 CampaignUS – May 2016 Luxury Daily – May 2016 Bloomberg – May 2016

June 16th, 2016|

Using PR for Business Development, with Don Beehler.

[easy-social-share buttons=”facebook,twitter,google,linkedin,mail” counters=1 counter_pos=”topm” total_counter_pos=”leftbig” style=”icon_hover”] Don Beehler has worked with news media from local to international levels and has won numerous professional awards throughout his career. He also has co-authored or ghostwritten three books for clients and has a blog called The Art of Telling Your Story.   What you’ll learn about in this episode: The dramatic changes PR has seen over the years How agencies can use PR as a strategic tool to drive new business How to determine what stories to pitch Ways you can become discoverable so that reporters can find you The kind of news that is truly newsworthy for agencies Why you shouldn’t think about using PR with the expectation that people will write stories about your agency How agencies can get the right kind of attention Incorporating PR into your business plan How to correctly use PR in relation to speaking engagements How to use Google Alerts to capitalize on PR opportunity The steps to take right away to boost your PR   The Golden Nugget: […]

June 13th, 2016|

Agencies Should Solve Thorny Problems, with Gareth Kay.

[easy-social-share buttons=”facebook,twitter,google,linkedin,mail” counters=1 counter_pos=”topm” total_counter_pos=”leftbig” style=”icon_hover”] Gareth Kay is a strategist by trade. He’s co-founder of Chapter, a creative business partner dedicated to solving the wicked problems facing pioneering businesses. Prior to setting up Chapter, Gareth was Chief Strategy Officer and Partner at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners and the Head of Planning at Modernista! In his decade in the US, Gareth has led strategy on brands including Google, Cisco, TD Ameritrade, the NBA, General Motors, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. and (RED).   What you’ll learn about in this episode: Gareth’s decision to venture off and start Chapter What makes Chapter truly unique How to build a business model and hire employees when the work you do is very diverse Becoming a client’s partner through absolute transparency How to generate new business when you’re in the project based business Creating ideas and solutions vs creating “stuff” How Chapter develops and retains its staff The importance of transparency with your employees How Gareth’s perspective has changed since making the jump into ownership Things agencies can do to move away from widget sales to selling ideas and problem solving   The Golden Nugget: […]

May 30th, 2016|

Looking Ahead into the Future of Business for Agencies

As agency leaders, we’re as good as our last idea. So we’re always on the lookout for fresh thinking and emerging trends to take to our clients. But how do we do that in today’s overloaded information age where there is never enough time and so many other distractions? And how can we look into the future of business as it relates to the agency space? “Open your eyes, get out of your comfort zone, and learn about the world around you.” These are the words of wisdom from my podcast guest, Rohit Bhargava.   Rohit is a non-obvious trend curator and an expert in helping brands and leaders be more influential. He helps agencies re-think their role when it comes to what they're supposed to be doing for their customers. In his mind, it all comes down to understanding a customer's true business need, rather than what they think they’re asking for. It’s looking around, being curious and finding the non-obvious in the everyday.    Some highlights of our conversation include: Working as a solopreneur vs. working in an agency Rohit’s trend report that started as a blog post Habits for being a trend spotter Big trends for 2016 What lies ahead for the future of business for agencies VR: How Virtual Reality can become important to agencies Data overload: what will happen when all the data available to different parties eventually gets pooled together? Understanding your clients’ true needs and becoming their true partner Architecting an Innovation Day to open up your clients’ wallets How to teach trend-creating thinking to employees coming out of college Rohit Bhargava is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books on topics as wide ranging as [...]

May 23rd, 2016|

How to Become a Trend Curator, with Rohit Bhargava.

[easy-social-share buttons=”facebook,twitter,google,linkedin,mail” counters=1 counter_pos=”topm” total_counter_pos=”leftbig” style=”icon_hover”] Rohit Bhargava is a non-obvious trend curator and an expert in helping brands and leaders be more influential. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books on topics as wide ranging as the future of business, building a brand with personality, and why leaders never eat cauliflower. Rohit has advised hundreds of global brands as the Senior Vice President of Global Strategy & Planning at Ogilvy and with his own firm, Influential Marketing Group. He also teaches marketing at Georgetown University. A two-time TEDx speaker, Rohit has keynoted events in 31 countries and is regularly featured as a marketing expert by media such as The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and NPR.   What you’ll learn about in this episode: Working as a solopreneur vs. working in an agency Rohit’s trend report that started as a blog post Habits for being a trend spotter Big trends for 2016 VR: How Virtual Reality can become important to agencies Data overload: what will happen when all the data available to different parties eventually gets pooled together? Understand your clients’ true needs and becoming their true partner Architecting an Innovation Day to open up your clients’ wallets How to teach trend-creating thinking to employees coming out of college   The Golden Nugget: […]

May 23rd, 2016|

Painless Prospecting for New Business with Tom Martin

As times change, so must agencies. AMI does some research every summer and in talking to CMOs across the country, it's been very clear that clients are no longer interested in only working with just one agency anymore. In fact, our study showed that over 50% of them want to work with multiple agencies, allowing each other to do what they do best but not letting them run the show. In learning how to be a part of that blended family team, there is opportunity. That’s just one of the topics that I chatted about with my podcast guest, Tom Martin. He helps agencies take advantage of that opportunity. He gets them to the place where the client sees them as the ultimate partner, a consigliere, if you will, versus the guys that just execute ad strategies. He finds that the real money is in becoming a partner who can think, ideate and grow a client's business.   But how do you find those partner clients? He does all of this through his system of Painless Prospecting where you wake up, open your inbox, and there's a lead waiting for you instead of having to go create that lead. It’s investing in your agency to build not tomorrow’s lead, but the lead that’s six months or a year down the road. Tom and I dig into the nuts and bolts of this with: How prospecting for new business has changed over the years Why clients no longer believe in hiring just one agency How to define your value to your clients when delivering ideas instead of “stuff” Correctly positioning your agency in the days when your client first discovers you Painless Prospecting: how to get [...]

May 16th, 2016|

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