Episode 474

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It’s no secret that new business for agencies was brutal in 2023. And for some in 2024, it’s been equally difficult. So, for 2025, we want to challenge you to get unstuck from those difficult sales cycles and lay the groundwork for some new energy as we come to the end of this year.

This week, Susan Baier joined me again to help us look at the agency sales cycle a little differently. Next year, it’s all going to be about using research studies to build your thought leadership portfolio, create cobblestone content, and attract right-fit clients with little to no prospecting on your end.

If you haven’t done research studies before, it’s time to start. Get some data, find your unique perspective, and share it openly and with authority. In 2025, it’s going to be all about teaching and educating your audience to build trust so that by the time they pick up the phone to call you, they’ve already bought into your expertise.

If you’re looking to get out of the funk of 2 slow sales years, you’ll want to stop what you’re doing right now so you can take some notes on this episode.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

 thought leadership

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • How does doing research make agency employees and the agency better?
  • Why agencies need to constantly be adapting and learning new things
  • Using new knowledge and research to make your team smarter
  • How agencies can use their research to innovate and be better
  • The surprising effects of new research and thought leadership on client budgets
  • Using research to shorten the sales cycle, build trust, and promote thought leadership
  • 3 big things that happen when agencies conduct their own research
  • Innovative and creative ways to present new research to clients and prospects
  • It’s not just about data — it’s about your unique perspective on the data
  • Building cobblestone content out of larger research studies

“It's dramatic to see what happens when an agency says, ‘'We’ve learned something new and are adapting our approach,’ can be incredibly powerful with prospects.” @susanbaier Share on X
“Clients are often open to increasing budgets—they’re just waiting for agencies to ask. Bringing in new data to support recommendations makes it an easy sell.” @susanbaier Share on X
“Research builds trust with prospects in a way that nothing else does.” @susanbaier Share on X
“The power of research-based thought leadership with your prospects is that it gives them proof before they've had to give you anything.” @susanbaier Share on X
“True thought leadership isn’t just sharing information; it’s reshaping how your audience thinks about advancing their business.” @susanbaier Share on X

Ways to contact Susan:

Resources:

Speaker 0 (0s): Hey, everybody. Drew here. You know, we are always looking for more ways to be helpful and meet you wherever you’re at to help you grow your agency. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve produced this podcast for so long, and I’m super grateful that you listen as often as you do. However, there are some topics that are better suited for quick hyper-focused answers in under 10 minutes. That’s where our YouTube channel really comes in. For quick doses of inspiration, best practices, tips and tricks, head over to youtube.com/the at sign Agency Management institute.

Again, that’s youtube.com/the at sign or symbol. And then Agency Management Institute, all one word. Subscribe and search the existing video database for all sorts of actionable topics that you can implement in your shop today. Alright, let’s get to the show.

Speaker 1 (53s): Running an agency can be a lonely proposition, but it doesn’t have to be. We can learn how to be better faster if we learn together. Welcome to Agency Management Institute’s Build, a Better Agency Podcast, presented by White Label IQ. Tune in every week for insights on how small to mid-size agencies are surviving and thriving in today’s market with 25 plus years of experience. As both an agency owner and agency consultant.

Please welcome your host, Drew McLellan.

Speaker 0 (1m 29s): Hey everybody. Drew McLellan here with another episode of Build a Better Agency. Super glad you’re here, and I think this is gonna be one you’re gonna wanna take a lot of notes on. So, I think that for many agencies, 2023 in terms of new business was Bimal. It was brutal for almost every agency. There were some noted exceptions, but for almost every agency it was tough. 2024 for some of you, has been equally difficult.

Not for everybody. Many of you came outta the 23 with sort of a new invigorated effort or plan to get some new business or things just opened up for you. Sales cycles got a little shorter, but for many of you, this has been a tough year too. And I will say this, number one, if you’re a generalist, been really, really hard, If, you cannot differentiate yourself from all the other local and regional agencies that you compete against. Been a really, really tough year. But even for those of you who have followed our advice, have read the book, sell with Authority, have niched down, have specialized, even for you, it’s been challenging.

And I think it’s challenging because you don’t know how to tell the world about your expertise in a way that they are receptive to, that they are hungry for, that they lean into. And so that’s what this episode is all about. If you’ve read the book, sell With Authority, you know that the premise of the book is that you need to be a subject matter expert and an authority in a niche, a specialty that serves clients, a certain set of clients. And that the way you build content around that is you have what we call a piece of cornerstone content.

Something big and meaty that you can kind of slice and dice throughout the year and dole out in little pieces, which we call cobblestones that kind of lead people back to the cornerstone. And it kind of ebbs and flows from the cornerstone out to the cobblestones and from the cobblestones back to the cornerstone. And you have this narrative of teaching all through the year. And one of the tools that many agencies use to create that cornerstone content is research. So I’ve asked our good friend Susan Byer, who if you’re a regular podcast listener, you know, owns a audience audit, and they do thought leadership research alongside agencies of all sizes all over the world.

And I’ve asked Susan to come and talk, not about doing research, but what agencies are doing with the data from their research. I wanna talk about how you can build something meaningful from that thought leadership around how, how does it make your agency better? How do you use it to serve your clients better? And then how do you use it in biz dev and thought leadership and all of that. So without any further ado, let’s let’s jump into that conversation. ’cause I know that Susan’s gonna have a lot of great ideas.

And I’m telling you, grab a notebook, grab a pen, sit in front of your computer if you’re on the treadmill or driving. Do not take notes now, but you’re gonna want to come back or go to the show notes and download them later. ’cause this episode I know is gonna be packed with good ideas that you’re gonna wanna, as you’re thinking about what you’re gonna do in 25, that’s different to really light a fire under your biz dev. I promise you we’re gonna have a lot of ideas of this episode. So let’s, let’s start the conversation. Susan, welcome back to the podcast. Good to have you back. Thanks,

Speaker 2 (4m 54s): Drew. It’s always great to be here.

Speaker 0 (4m 57s): So, as I said in the intro, what I wanna talk about today is a lot of agencies, you know, it’s interesting, we see the ebb and flow of agencies investing in research and more and more, I think the agencies are recognizing that one of the ways that they have to invest in themselves and in the growth of their agency and in the ways they serve clients is by getting smarter. And that there is power in having proprietary data that is just yours by doing your own research as opposed to hopping on perplexity or chat GPT and getting some stuff that anybody can get.

Sure. So I, I wanna talk a little bit about as you are working with agencies and doing research on their behalf, kind of how you’re seeing them use the data that the research serves up. So let’s start with, I, I think everybody thinks about how they, how they use it externally first, but I wanna start kind of from the inside out. Yeah. So in terms of how, how does doing research make me and my people better? Like how does an agency leverage the research they do to serve their own agency?

Speaker 2 (6m 8s): Sure. Better. Sure. So I think, you know, the neat thing about doing research that’s designed for your thought leadership is you’re either surveying people like your prospects or their prospects, right? So either way, you’re learning something really helpful about the people that you are there to serve. And this can manifest in a bunch of different ways. For example, we have lots of agencies that come in and they have a model that they’ve been teaching that’s sort of their belief system around how to do something well, or what the, their client’s audiences look like or whatever, right?

And we will put that model in one form or another into the research to test it. And I’ve seen some really interesting things. I’ve seen, I’ve seen agencies come out of the research workshop going, that’s interesting. Our model was mostly right, but not exactly right. So we need to rethink how we are presenting our own perspective to encompass some of the stuff that we didn’t expect but learned through the research.

So they’re sort of updating the model that they’re, that they’ve got on their website, that they’re talking about with clients that they’re using in their work. Every once in a while, I have an agency that’s like, they don’t wanna do that. They don’t wanna change their model, which I understand if it’s something that’s part of your, you know, IP and you’ve been teaching for a long time, but it’s dramatic to see what happens when an agency says, you know what? We’ve been looking at this one way for a long time and we’ve learned something new and now we are adapting how we think about this because the situation has changed.

You know, whatever. And it’s incredible how powerful that is with their, their readers and their prospects and their clients to say, wow, my agency is actually flexing based on information they’re getting. So it’s building confidence in the agency that they’re keeping up with what’s happening in the marketplace that they’re serving, but it’s also building with their people that they’re doing that.

Speaker 0 (8m 19s): But it is, we’re not, we haven’t adopted a set it and forget it. We know that marketing and agency life, and even for businesses, nothing is the same as it was. You could say pre covid, post covid, pre ai, post ai, fill in the blank. Right? Right, right. But that, that the world that we all live in as agency folks and our clients live in is in constant evolution. And so I think you’re right. It’s interesting to be able to say, we’ve done it, we’ve done it this way for the last 10 years, but what we are noticing is this trend or this trend, therefore we’re tweaking some part of our process to allow for this new thing that didn’t exist when we created the model.

Speaker 2 (9m 2s): Right? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And then, you know, we have lots of agencies who come in and don’t have a model. You know, they haven’t sort of, sometimes they haven’t even really thought deeply about their point of view as an agency. And the research just sort of developing and conducting the research to figure out what we’re gonna ask about has given them some insight into what their point of view is. But the research can deliver an actual model. And so we have a variety of clients who have developed a model as a result of the research and put it into their books and their teaching and on their site, and created something that is really unique, that is built on data that differentiates, differentiates them from other folks.

So they’ve got something internally now that everybody knows and understands is their, is their point of view, is their view of the world in a way that they didn’t have that. So it not only reinforces within their team sort of what they believe and and how that lays out, but you know, obviously it gives ’em our opportunities to talk about that with some of the other audiences we’re gonna chat about today.

Speaker 0 (10m 9s): And then how do you see them use the research? Maybe it’s not around a methodology or a model or a point of view, but just obviously it makes them smarter, right? Right. I mean, you know, things you didn’t know before. So how are they merchandising that internally? Like how are they internally that new knowledge to make their people smarter?

Speaker 2 (10m 30s): Sure. So there’s all sorts of ways in an agency that this, that this will come into play. So If, you have a team of strategists, there’s lots of information in there about how the people that you are serving or thinking or the kinds of challenges they have that really elevates your strategy game. Yeah. If you’ve got folks, when you’ve got folks working on content development, social media strategy, all of that kind of stuff, you’ve got a lot of data to inform that effort internally.

It’s funny, we’ve done a number of workshops lately for clients who are doing, you know, B2B, B2B research with B2B respondents with business respondents. And Facebook is blowing up as a place where people are looking for help with their work. And it’s because the algorithm that’s now serving up stuff to you in Facebook that you don’t have to go follow people for. And inevitably they’re like, that can’t be true. There’s something wrong with the data. And I’m like, we’re seeing it across tons of different studies. So that’s new learning for people who are in your content development group and thinking about strategies for the agencies marketing, not just for clients about where people are going to get help.

So that’s just a couple of examples, but there’s stuff all through this that various teams within the agency can use to get smarter about the work they do for the agency as well as the work they’re doing for clients.

Speaker 0 (11m 57s): Well, and I would think a smart agency owner would involve some key people on the team in giving you the initial input of how to structure the survey. Yeah,

Speaker 2 (12m 8s): We do that. We do that with the whole, we do that with the whole Tite. Thank you. Traveling’s fun, isn’t it? It is. We do that with, so our, our kickoff workshops specifically involves that larger group, because it’s funny how often they’ll have a conversation around point of view or whatever, and somebody from a different part of the agency who normally isn’t maybe in these conversations, we’ll weigh in and say, well, I always thought it was this. And people go, oh, that’s interesting. Yeah. You know, so it’s a conversation that a lot of agencies don’t sit down and have on themselves with their whole, with their whole team.

So it’s the, the process gives them that opportunity, which is kind of nice.

Speaker 0 (12m 49s): And for an agency that is doing research kind of regularly, once a year, once 18 months, once every 24 months, how, how does that, how do they then stack that learning or sort of amplify the learning by, by having new data points coming in Right. Every year or two years.

Speaker 2 (13m 12s): Right. So we’ve seen that in our work together, drew, but we’ve done the Sure. The agency edge. I mean, we’ve been able to compare results from 10 years ago or five years ago Right. To what we’re seeing now. And I don’t know about you, but it’s really helping me think about the kinds of things that are gonna be helpful to the people we’re serving with, and the kinds of acumen that we need to have as an agency because that’s what they, that’s what they and their prospects need. So being able to have a comparison, you know, and it doesn’t mean that every study is exactly the same.

Same. But there are things, you know, you and I have been asking people how many agencies they work with for, I don’t know, 10 years. Yeah. And, and do they have an in, in-house, you know, marketing group? Do they have an in-house team, and how big is that? And we’ve seen real changes, no doubt of that across the years. So that’s very helpful to sort of understand what’s going on in the dynamic and per, per, again, give your team fresh insights about what’s actually happening in the marketplace that they’re serving.

Speaker 0 (14m 13s): Well, and, and not just fresh insights, but also like, where do you press in, like, oh, that’s really interesting that that shifted. I wonder why that shifted. I need to not, that’s a place I wanna have more conversation. Right?

Speaker 2 (14m 25s): Sure, sure. And then you see something that’s just been happening for three or four years and you see it just growing and growing and growing and you’re like, this is not a lit, this is a long term Yeah. Shift that we need to pay attention to. So Yeah. And If, you’re lucky. You’ve got a group of people from your research that you can actually go back to and ask, is this a blip? Is this something weird? Is this a response to an election or an economic situation? Or is this something that’s a really long-term shift in, in what you’re seeing?

So, yeah. Well

Speaker 0 (14m 56s): That’s, that’s a good point. I mean, I, I know when we do research together, and when you’ve done research with others, you often end up with a subset of people who have been respondents to the initial survey who say, yeah, I’d answer more questions for you. Yeah. So being able to go back after you see the data and go, tell me more about this, or tell me why this or that gives you a chance to drill even deeper. So again, for the same investment, I’m getting even more knowledge because I’m tapping back into those same people.

That’s

Speaker 2 (15m 28s): Right. You’re effectively building your own agency panel. Yeah. And I have agencies that have built panels of their prospects Yeah. From their research, but also panels of their prospects, prospects from their research that they can tap into on a regular basis for, for questions the agency has about things. Yeah. As well as for bringing it to bear when you’ve got a prospect who, and, and you can say, you know what, that’s an interesting question. I’m happy to throw that in front of our agency panel. It won’t cost you anything, but we can get some initial feedback on that for you, If you want.

And then for clients sort of on an ongoing basis, it’s a huge asset for an agency to have something like that, because very few of your competitors will,

Speaker 0 (16m 9s): My guess is people don’t take as big of advantage. I, I’m, I’m thinking as we’re talking, I’m like, oh, Susan and I should do that more often. Yeah. Right. Right. It’s, it’s a challenge. It’s

Speaker 2 (16m 18s): A new muscle. Right.

Speaker 0 (16m 20s): Which makes me think, oh, I bet people aren’t taking advantage of that resource as often as they could or should. Is that true? Yeah,

Speaker 2 (16m 25s): Some, yes. Generally speaking, that’s true. But I think it’s, so maybe, you know, the good news is those volunteers are there and the initial step is just saying, Hey, thanks for participating in this and we’re really happy to have you on the team. And, you know, just sort of reinforce them a little bit. But as you get past the bulwark of having to create new content and think about research and it, you know, and, and stuff, as you get sort of past that initial hurdle Yeah. And start to get in that rhythm, then you can start to work up something like this. But the good news is, yeah, I mean, typical studies will have 40 to 70% of the people who took the survey volunteer for more research.

Yeah. Which they don’t have to do. Right. It’s amazing to me. Right. So it’s a, it’s a great thing to take advantage of and it, like you said, it can really help your agency learn in addition to sort of the benefits that you can use it for to provide to clients and prospects.

Speaker 0 (17m 14s): Yeah. So let’s talk a little bit about clients. So, wow, I I, I know oftentimes people do research ’cause, and we’ll get to this Yeah. Because they want to use it in their own thought leadership and to try and attract prospects and all of that. But how are you seeing agencies exclusively use their research data to benefit clients, right. Existing clients. Right. How are, how are they doing that?

Speaker 2 (17m 40s): So you’re one of those people, drew, when we do the agency edge every year, there are findings in the study that when we build it, we know we are only going to share with a MI members. Right. It’s an extra bonus that the public doesn’t see. They see a lot of the research, but they don’t see some of these deep dives into things that can really help. So that’s one way I see people doing it. I have one agency that when the research comes outta year, she vault an event, like a live event. She does a luncheon and invites her clients to participate either in person or virtually if they can’t do it, and goes through the research with all of those clients and talks to them about it and they see it before she’s sharing it with anybody else.

So that’s a great way to show clients what you can bring to bear on their behalf before their competitors get to see the information that you’re gonna be sharing. Right. Right. So you, you could share it first and you can share data that you don’t share with anybody else. And then I think the next obvious step is to make time with every single client to say, this is how we are adapting our ideas for you based on what we’ve found in this research.

Right. Right. Either, either,

Speaker 0 (18m 56s): Because let me walk you through some of the things we discovered right now. Let’s overlay it on the plan

Speaker 2 (19m 2s): For you on your plan. Right, right.

Speaker 0 (19m 4s): And here’s the adjustments.

Speaker 2 (19m 6s): That’s right. And that can work, even if it’s a peer study, you could say, look, we’re seeing success in agencies that are doing this. We wanna help you do more of that. Yeah. Or their prospect study, this is what we’re seeing about your prospects and this is how we’d like to shift things or add things in your marketing. And you know, what a great opportunity we saw last year and the agency edge when we, when we asked agency clients, you know, sort of how can we, how can your existing agencies get you to spend more with them? And it was so surprising to see that those folks have money.

They have access and flexibility to increase their budget. They’re waiting for their agencies to ask for it. And what a great opportunity to go in and say, we have no research that we think recommends some changes, some additions. And man, is that, I think that’s an easy sell. You got data that proves it.

Speaker 0 (19m 58s): Well, and even if they don’t buy today, you’re planting the seed for the next planting cycle or whatever. That’s

Speaker 2 (20m 4s): What what

Speaker 0 (20m 4s): They want to be able to say, Hey, remember, remember last September we talked about the research saying this as we’re thinking about 2025. I know you didn’t have the budget for it this year, but as we’re thinking about 2025, we should really weave this in because some of our clients did it Right. When we first discovered it, and here’s what we’re seeing.

Speaker 2 (20m 23s): Exactly.

Speaker 0 (20m 23s): And so here’s what we’d like, here’s what we project we would see for you. Let’s

Speaker 2 (20m 28s): Make sure. Exactly. And when you think about our data that shows clients want agencies to regularly be coming to them with new ideas, that’s one of the main things they look for us. Think about the power of a quarterly meeting with each of your clients in which you focus on a different insight from your research.

Speaker 0 (20m 46s): Right. Same piece of research.

Speaker 2 (20m 48s): So talk to them about same piece of research. Yeah. But this quarter we’re gonna talk about engaging with your prospects on social and let’s dig into the plan we have for you and the data we have. And, and do that to your point, even though if they don’t buy right away, there’s no way they’re gonna leave you for an agency that isn’t investing that kind of time and data gathering and regularly coming to them with new stuff. It’s super powerful. If, you spilled it into your process. I think.

Speaker 0 (21m 15s): Well, and a lot of times clients, I’ll hear agencies say, you tell me to get with my clients once a quarter to be strategic, but they don’t make time for it. They will make time for it. If you’re like, look, we have some new research. We wanna walk you through what all your prospects are saying and how it’s going to impact your marketing. Right. Your clients are gonna make time for that. And if every quarter they get used to look, we’ve got some new data out of the research that we wanna look at. So, you know, this quarter we’re gonna look at what, what do we, should we be doing differently with your current clients?

Yeah. And your current

Speaker 2 (21m 46s): Customers. Right. Especially, I think, especially I think If, you can come in and say, look at, we’ve already got some ideas. We’ve already took a look at what we’re doing for you and what you’re doing for yourself compared to what we see in the data. And we’ve already got some thoughts. We wanna, we wanna run by you. That’s powerful. They, they will show up for that. Well, what client isn’t gonna want more to do better Right. With the help with their agency.

Speaker 0 (22m 9s): And you know, the smart agency is gonna be like, you know, yes, we have some new ideas. We can upsell you some things, but also, you know what well, we think is we could take the dollars we’re spending over here. Right. And you could get more bang for your buck over on this side based on what we now know. So let’s pivot some dollars. So, right. Not on, not, you know, one of the things we hear from clients all the time is, you know, I don’t want, I don’t wanna feel like I’m being sold to all the time. Right. I want them to bring me new ideas and whatever.

So I will, I, as the agency can make that feeling go away. Like, I’m not just selling you things, I’m adjusting how we spend your money. Sometimes. Sometimes we’re asking for more, but sometimes we’re just saying, look, we need to stop spending on, you know, Instagram and instead we need to shift to this or whatever it is.

Speaker 2 (23m 1s): Right. Well, and often our clients are also doing their own marketing stuff. They may be posting, they may be doing posts or whatever. And if you’ve got insight that can help their team do better without costing them another set. Right. Man. Hallelujah. Right. Frosting on the cupcake. Yeah.

Speaker 0 (23m 20s): For sure. For sure. Yeah. Okay. I wanna take a quick break and then we’ll come back and we’ll talk about how you are seeing agencies use their research data as thought leadership, as biz dev, as a biz dev tool to attract more RightFit clients into, into the fold. So let’s take a quick break and then we’ll come back and talk about that. Hey everybody, thanks for listening today. Before I go back to the interview, I just wanna remind you that we are always offering some really amazing workshops.

And you can see the whole [email protected] on the navigation head to how we help scroll down. And you’ll see workshops, and you can see the whole list there with descriptions of each workshop. They are all in Denver, and we’ve got them throughout the year for agency owners, account execs, agency leaders, CFOs. We have a little something for everybody no matter what it is that you’re struggling with, people, new business, money, all of those things we’ve got covered. So check ’em out and come join us.

All right. Let’s get back to the show. All right. We are back with Susan Byer and we are talking about how the assumption is the agency has done some research. Yeah. They’ve partnered with Susan’s firm audience audit or someone else. They’ve got a piece of, they’ve got a piece of research that is proprietary to them, that they’ve had a hand in construction constructing what they were trying to learn, the questions, all of that. They’ve got the data. Now what do they do with it? So earlier in the show, If, you were listening, which I’m assuming you were, ’cause you probably wouldn’t just fast forward to halfway through a podcast, you know, that we’ve already talked about.

How do they make, how did they use that to make their agency smarter? And then how do they use that for on their client’s behalf? So now let’s turn the telescope If you will, and say, all right, odds are, most of these people did the study with the intention of it being a big piece of thought leadership. So kind of in, in the vernacular of the Stevens and my books sell with Authority. This is gonna be their cornerstone content that they’re gonna slice and dice and get a ton of content out of that’s gonna cover them for a year. So what are some of the innovative ways you are seeing agencies use their, the insights and data that are coming out of the research to elevate their position in the marketplace, to position themselves as a subject matter expert, to catch the attention of prospects that they want to catch the attention to, and then to earn the trust and confidence of those prospects to shorten the sales cycle to get those right fit clients in the door?

Speaker 2 (26m 1s): Yeah. So this is such a great question and a really fundamental one because I think most of us, when we think about research, we think about a big hole we’re pouring money into. You know what I mean? It’s a cost and, and, and, you know, it can be not insignificant as an investment. Right? Right. So what a I think a lot of people don’t realize is the extent to which research can actually build profit for, for your, for your agency for sure. Right. And a big part of that, in, in my perspective, and I know in yours, is in building trust research, build trust with prospects in a way that nothing else does.

And, you know, the new, the 2024 Edelman barometer, the trust barometer. Yep. 50, 59% of people in the US worry that a businesses are purposely trying to mislead them by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations, government leaders only got a 70%. So we’re like only 11 points behind the politicians. That’s not good. It’s, it’s, it’s really not good. So building trust is a huge component of this. And research is one of the things that can build trust.

You know, in our own research about what builds trust, we see five things that really make the difference between somebody trusting us and somebody not, whether they are relatable, like I like them. They seem like somebody like me, whether they’re invested in my needs, my challenges, my category, whether they’re original, they have something new to say that I haven’t heard before, whether they’re helpful. Right. Is it something I can practically use in my business? And are they generous in, in, in, in helping without asking for something in return?

Those are the five things. So research covers invested and original in a way that other stuff doesn’t because not everybody has it. Everybody knows it takes resources and time to do it. And by definition it’s original. You’ve got new data and if you’re building it wrike, you’ve got data about stuff nobody has any data about. Right. Right. So it takes care of those two, sharing it in a in thought leadership gives you the other three. Relatable, helpful, and generous. So all of all of a sudden you’re hitting on all If.

you, if If you share it in the right If, you do way. Right. Yeah. Right. If, you do it. Right. That’s exactly right. And, and that’s, you know, that’s what people want. And the power of research-based thought leadership in when with your prospects is that it gives them proof before they’ve had to give you anything. Right. It it shows them who you are before you have to, you have to give them anything. So I see two things happening. Three things, let’s say that are pretty remarkable.

Number one, we have clients regularly getting speaking opportunities, engagements locked in before the research is even done, just based on the fact that they’re doing it. Because that in itself is so differentiating for con for, for conference organizers and event organizers. Yeah. Right. They are, they are just desperate for database presentations because then those aren’t gonna be just sales pitches. Right. Exactly. Right. They are getting referrals from people who they’ve never worked with because now most of us get referrals.

That’s great. But I would, I would argue that most of us are getting referrals from people that we’ve worked with before, which is great. Yeah. That know us. Sure. Right. Right. But think about the opportunity. If you’re getting referrals from people who know you and your reputation and trust you and haven’t worked with you, that is incredibly powerful. That expands that word of mouth engine good doubt, you know, really, really dramatically. And then it’s, it’s, it’s really about being the one that is consistently providing helpful information in a way that nobody else is.

And the reason that is so powerful is because that’s submits trust. It’s not just a one-off. They haven’t seen you do this once. Yeah. They’ve seen you do it all the time, both with consistent research, but also with your consistent contact content. And what happens is that by the time they finally reach out to you that they already trust you, they already see you as an expert and they are ready to buy. I mean, I don’t know about you, I I know this, you’ve said this, that you will get people who call you up and just say, we’re ready to join.

When could we get into a peer group? Like, boom, you don’t need, it’s, you know, and I get the same thing. I get people who say, we, we are ready. When can we start a research study with you? And that’s the best kind of sales conversation to have. ’cause you didn’t have to do anything. But they’ll also, they also expect to pay you what you’re worth because they see you as an expert. So you don’t have sort of some of those difficult conversations. So there’s, there’s also of ways that agencies are getting the stuff in front of people in a helpful way that is generating some really unique opportunities for them that they would not have otherwise.

Speaker 0 (31m 5s): So I wanna dig into those in a second, but I just wanna say, one of the things that we know is when you sell from a position of authority, so again, right outta the book, when you have alre, when you’re already perceived as a generous and helpful teacher with a depth of expertise in your field, that you are a specialist in your field and that you share that specialty knowledge generously and regularly, what it does is it, it truncates the sales cycle to literally, I’m gonna, I’m gonna walk up in front of you and hold my open wallet and go take some money please.

Because I’ve already made the buying decision. We know, and, and all of you’re telling your clients gotta have a good website. 75% of the buying decision is made before you, the prospect makes themselves aware. Right. Or makes themselves, makes you aware that they’re there. Like, you know, that. And in B2B sales, which is where we all live, is absolutely the case. People are sniffing around and checking us out and asking people, following people on social, spending time on your website, doing all listening to your podcast, whatever they’re doing, they’re consuming you to get a sense of you and when they consume you, and it’s not about the fact that you had a papa shot party at the agency or you know, something else, but it’s that you sharing your expertise and they’re able to apply that expertise to their work.

So it’s not just that you’re sharing your expertise, but you’re taking something they can use. Yep. Whether they hire you or not. Right. You are making them better. I think the line that is most frequently in Stevens in my book is ask yourself, will this piece of content help my prospect be better at their job today? If the answer is no, then you don’t publish it. But when you have data like research, you can do that on a regular basis so that you are constantly being helpful in a meaningful way.

Speaker 2 (33m 6s): Right.

Speaker 0 (33m 6s): That, that is beneficial to the audience, but also shines sort of a, radiates a light to you that you know your stuff and that you’re a good teacher and that you’re generous with your knowledge. That they get to the point where they’re like, I have to work with this person. Right. Or this agency.

Speaker 2 (33m 27s): Right. Well, and I think it’s worth clarifying that research-based thought leadership content isn’t just the research. Nobody, I mean, unless you’re follow, unless you’re following maybe Pew Research or something and you’re a research nerd, most people are not following those helpful experts for the data alone. I tell my clients great research, thought leadership content is one part. The research, the data that you’re talking about, one part, your perspective on that is the expert who’s been working in this field for a long time.

And one part the advice that you’re giving your clients about what to do given this data point,

Speaker 0 (34m 5s): Ask yourself three questions. Right. Go look at this piece of data. Right? Yeah. Right. So

Speaker 2 (34m 9s): It’s really only one part. The data, the rest of it is you. And that is why when they come to you, that trust is so strong because they not only know you had the data and you’ve invested in getting it, you understand it Right. And you’re sharing it, but they have seen you reflect on it and provide advice for them based on it. So they don’t question how working with you is gonna be, they already know how it’s gonna be. Right.

Speaker 0 (34m 35s): They felt it.

Speaker 2 (34m 35s): Right. They felt it, they see it every day. It’s helpful, it’s generous, it’s based in real information and it, it gets them your expertise, which is what they’re hiring us for. Right. It’s that expertise. So it, it just does something that, that other content can’t do in the same way with the same results. There’s a credibility component with having research that just you just can’t beat. And then when you layer this thoughtful, helpful, generous sharing component on top of it, it hits every one of those five things that they want from the helpful experts that they follow.

Yeah. And you know, the sales cycle’s faster, you’ve got more people in your pipeline, they come to you instead of you having to go find them. So it really speeds up your ability a, to keep work in the pipeline consistently because you have people waiting to work for you. You know, and then you could say, well, I’ve got an opening, you know, but also to get paid what you’re worth because you don’t have people comparing you to your competitors who are charging the bottom of the barrel prices because there’s no, there’s truly no comparison between what they’re seeing.

And if there is, if there’s a client like that, that’s not, that’s not your ideal prospect.

Speaker 0 (35m 51s): Well, and again, so it, it is also about getting the right fit client, right. Somebody who totally values that data, who wants to act on that data. And what you said earlier is recognizes that you are an expert and therefore is going to pay you what you’re worth.

Speaker 2 (36m 5s): But Fred, they don’t expect you to be bottom of the barrel. Right. Because they’re, because they’re hearing you on podcasts, talk about this. They’re seeing you at conferences, people are sharing your research. They, they, they don’t expect to pay bottom of the barrel rates for you.

Speaker 0 (36m 19s): Right. Alright, so let’s talk about some of the creative ways you are seeing agencies package and share research out into the world with the intent of educating prospects, helping them be better at their job every day, and then attracting some subset of those prospects into the agency’s fold because they would be good clients.

Speaker 2 (36m 44s): Sure. So we have obviously agencies, they’ve got reports, they’ve got infographics, they’re doing video series or LinkedIn newsletters, posts and stuff like that. I had one client that is out there talking to their prospects live on video and asking them their perspective on a, on a data point from their research.

Speaker 0 (37m 7s): So tell me, tell me, describe for me what that looks, what that looks like.

Speaker 2 (37m 11s): So they’ve got basically an interview series, video interview series where they’re going, they’re talking to their prospects Okay. And their clients and saying, Hey, our new research says people like you, companies like yours are experiencing this or doing this. What do you think? Does that, does that, does that align with your experience? What are you, and we’re seeing folks like you having a lot of luck overcoming that challenge by doing this.

Is that something you have tried? Have you thought about that? And just having that conversation with people ing interesting. So make so making the results of the research real and present with, with

Speaker 0 (37m 53s): Real people and a discussion point.

Speaker 2 (37m 54s): That’s right. That’s right. And just one data point, you know. Yeah. So they’ve gotta, they can do that for every week for three years with what they, what they’ve got. Right. Right. And it gives, and it gives their audience an opportunity to actually hear the live, it’s sort of like an open-ended question, but it’s live. Right. So people can actually, people can actually reflect, watch that and reflect on their own perspective on that and hear some of that. You know, and, and the other great thing, I’m a huge fan of video when it comes to thought leadership because of that trust component and that relatable component, they can see you, they see what you’re like and how you talk to people and you’re funny or you’re, you’re, you’re vulnerable, you’re

Speaker 0 (38m 36s): Warm, or you’re Yeah. You’re

Speaker 2 (38m 37s): Authentic, you know? Yeah. And that’s really, really, it’s really, really great, you know? Yeah. When I see somebody saying, you know, research says we should all be doing this, I will tell you we’re not doing that. You and I on the panel development thing, we’re like, whoops. That’s, that’s to me that build trust with people, you know, with our friends, but also with the people that we’re trying, that we wanna work with. So I’ve got people doing regular events, which is something that I think agencies need to do more of for the same reason, right.

Is to give people a sense of what it’s like to work with them. So predictive ROI is great at this. They do events on a regular basis and they’re highlighting their research.

Speaker 0 (39m 17s): They’re FYI for the listeners, if you’re not familiar with them, these are virtual events, not in-person events.

Speaker 2 (39m 22s): Right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They’re doing Q and As, they’re doing, you know, big two day intensives and they’re, they’re always featuring a piece of their research to kick off that conversation and have that, and a lot of those events are open, you know, you don’t have to be working with them. You don’t have to receive an invitation or whatever. So they’re, again, having conversations in real life around this data and sharing their advice and perspectives in real life around the data, which I think is valuable.

I will tell you, I’m getting ready to do a research, a website refresh, and we have a lot of information about what builds trust with people when they come to your country, your website. So I’m actually gonna do a call out to my community to look at my website and grade it on those things that I know are important for a website to accomplish, to build trust. To me, that’s interesting. Yeah. And tell me, am I, are we doing it right?

Is there information missing? Is this helpful? Is this, is it over? Is

Speaker 0 (40m 27s): It overwhelming? Is it, yeah.

Speaker 2 (40m 29s): Right. Is it too much? Is it, am I using language that’s con confusing for people or whatever? And that’s not only gonna have people look at my website, but it’s also gonna show them that I am working with the data that I’m learning to try to improve as a provider. And I think some of those opportunities for vulnerability are great.

Speaker 0 (40m 49s): Well, and I think too, and I’m sure you’re gonna do this, but I think being able to say, Hey, I want you to go to the website and I want you to answer these questions, and I will circle back and tell you the changes I made to my website based on the input on the stuff

Speaker 2 (41m 3s): That

Speaker 0 (41m 3s): We got. Again, I’m asking you to do me a favor, but I’m going to use it to educate you on the backend so you can apply it to your website too, right?

Speaker 2 (41m 12s): Yeah. I’ll tell you where I got this idea. I’m interviewing a woman today from a fun with research video series. She runs a handle company called Malicious Women that has, sells a lot of stuff with like dirty sayings on it and stuff like that. She has a huge

Speaker 0 (41m 25s): Comedian, did you say candle or candle? Candle.

Speaker 2 (41m 28s): Like,

Speaker 0 (41m 28s): I like the candle,

Speaker 2 (41m 29s): Like candles and stuff like that. Okay, got it. It’s very sort of irreverent and foul mouth. Yeah. That she had a great community. So she, they just put out a new website and she put out a call to everybody on her list and said, Hey, will you take a look at my website and let us know, If, you see any weird, anything weird, anything funky. She got over 300 responses in four days from people who went through her whole website and reported issues that they saw with how they typos, typos, ty, all that kind of stuff. And then she sent out an email afterwards saying, we have a list of 75 things because there were duplicates.

Right? Sure. 75 things that we’re fixing on the website, thanks to you. And I thought, I have to talk to this woman, woman that is absolutely brilliant engagement with her audience. And they did it because they like her, they trust her, they wanna help her. So I think there’s some really innovative ways to get your ideas and your data in front of people that aren’t just like Charlie Brown’s teacher. Wha what wha Right. You know what I mean? I think Right. You can, you can make it a lot more interesting than that. So creativity is the bomb.

That’s what agencies are good at.

Speaker 0 (42m 37s): Right. But I, but I think you’re right. I think we’re, I I I also think by the time the research data is done and you had the executive summary, you, you sort of have research fatigue, right? You’re like, oh yeah, my God, we’ve been working on this for three months. Yep. Just get the damn, get the damn report out and be done with it. Yep. As opposed to really thinking about how could we, and this is, this is what I see on my end. A lot of times they send out the report and then they’re done with it and it’s like, wait, that’s, wait,

Speaker 2 (43m 4s): That’s not, that’s,

Speaker 0 (43m 5s): That’s, that’s a whole year’s worth of content. What are you doing with it? Right. Right, right. Exactly. Exactly. And they really don’t do anything with it.

Speaker 2 (43m 14s): And it seems overwhelming. I had a, a client call me the other day and saying, look, can, can we, can we talk going on the zoom? And they were so overwhelmed with all of the information they had coming out of the research that they just didn’t know where to start with their content. Right. And I told them, you know, when we start this process, we ask our clients, what are the three or four things you really wanna be teaching your audience over the course of the Next year? You know, and we can sort of distill that together.

Right. So, because that helps us build the research around stuff that’s gonna, that’s gonna support those conversations. Well, when you get your research data, you need to do the exact same thing. You need to think, what do we wanna be teaching? And what in the data is gives us the opportunity to have that conversation, whether it validates our opinion or not. What, what can we use to have that conversation? And then we’re actually on the tail end after we building that big report for them and doing the visualization, everything, we’re actually guiding them on, alright, how are you gonna make, how can you develop a manageable content plan over the course of a year?

Right. Based on those three or four things you wanna be talking about, how can you structure and organize that to use your data in that? Because you are still the thought leader and data is not the thought leader you are. Right. It’s your perspective that matters. So that’s a, that’s a real challenge for people, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming if again, you have a, you know, what your point of view is and you know the three or four things that you really want your audience to learn over the course of the Next year, whether they ever work with you or not, then the data becomes a really helpful place to get an insight to spur a conversation in a LinkedIn post or in your video or in your blog or whatever, wherever that is.

So it doesn’t, it, I agree with you. It, you know, it can feel like, I feel like that would be the research we do for ourselves. It’s a fire hose of information and it’s a lot. But If,

Speaker 0 (45m 16s): You sit well, and, and, and in fairness to us, we’re also trying to do it so it’s fresh out of the field right before the summit every year. Right. We go right from finishing the research to be like, what is it? It’s a three day event, right?

Speaker 2 (45m 29s): Yeah. That’s exactly right. Yeah. But I think If, you If you take a moment and get back up to that 30,000 foot level about what you, what your point of view is and what you really wanna teach, then it becomes a lot more manageable. A lot of agencies though, don’t have an actual strategic plan for their content. Right. They’re still sort of sitting around every week going, what are we gonna write about This week? And, and, and the opportunity to have a strategy around the content that you wanna be sharing based on what you wanna teach and having data to support it is a game changer.

Because first of all, you can bank a lot of that content ahead of time. Right. You know what you’re gonna be talking about in March. Right. You know what I mean? So it can make it, it can make it manageable in a way that may be hard for agencies to believe, but I’ll tell you, if I can do it If, you can do it. Anybody could do it. You know, so,

Speaker 0 (46m 21s): Well it’s not, it’s not only manageable, but it has a sensibility about it. Right. I mean, it’s like it has a flow, it tells a story, it has an arc to it. Yep. That when you plan it all out at once, you gonna say, okay, we’re gonna talk about how prospects find agencies for a month and we’re gonna talk about how prospects evaluate the agencies that they find for a month. And then we’re gonna talk about the early initial conversations they have with the agencies that make the shortlist for a month.

Like Right. You can tell a story

Speaker 2 (46m 55s): That’s exactly

Speaker 0 (46m 56s): Right when you plan it all out, but when you don’t plan it out, then it is hodgepodge. Right. Right. Exactly. And your audience, audience is like, yes, this is useful, but I can’t knit it all together in a way. Yes. That is, that gives me guidance.

Speaker 2 (47m 12s): Right. And knitting it all together is so awesome. So we’re teaching our clients now, again, three or four ideas that you, things that you wanna be teaching, assign each one a quarter. Yep. And then each month, within that quarter, you’re talking about a different aspect of that quarter topic. And then each week in your social posts, your videos, you’re talking about an aspect of that monthly thing. So it all rolls up and then at the end of the quarter, you’re doing a q and a, a live q and a about that topic Right. About simple seek and then wrap it up Right. And wrap it up.

And then you move on to the next quarter, you know, and you could structure this within a week after getting your research results. Well,

Speaker 0 (47m 49s): And, and, and If, you record the q and a and transcribe it, turn it into an ebook, and then,

Speaker 2 (47m 55s): And then, and then it’s a resource on your pillar page that has to be thought leadership on it that says, Hey, here’s the q and a, you know, here’s what we did with respect to when we’re talking about this. Yeah. And so it becomes manageable for you. It becomes digestible for your audience. And to your point, it’s taking them somewhere. Yeah. It’s not just dropping into their lap with something that they’re gonna forget tomorrow. You are actually teaching over the course of the year. Yeah. Which is what all of us should be trying to do. Yeah.

Speaker 0 (48m 23s): It’s almost like a teacher does a lesson plan. Right, right.

Speaker 2 (48m 26s): Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Right. And we don’t jump from ancient American history to physics within, you know, the same day. We’re like, we’re actually fo helping people sort of build on what they’re learning as they go along. Well,

Speaker 0 (48m 40s): And I think sometimes agencies think to keep things interesting, I gotta mix it up. Right. I, I should go from ancient history to, you know, physics to philosophy to mathematics to like, as opposed to in this container of a week or a month or a quarter, I want an arc of teaching with like a final at the end. Like right o only I’m taking the final, my, my audience isn’t taking the final, I’m wrapping it up with a final Q and a and I’m answering the questions.

Right. Right. So it’s like, study, study, study, study, teach, teach, teach, teach, boom, final. And then, okay, next topic for the quarter.

Speaker 2 (49m 20s): Yes. Yeah. And it speak and it speaks to what your goal really is with your content. If your goal is just to have something to put out every week Yeah. Just

Speaker 0 (49m 28s): Stick on social you

Speaker 2 (49m 29s): Social, you’re gonna bounce all over the place. Yeah. But I think about Ston Webster’s books, so the Red Thread and her new one, which is absolutely amazing. And say what they, it brilliant isn’t on Can’t here. Brilliant. Brilliant. And you know, I build my keynotes off of her teaching because she’s teaching us how to ha how to have a conversation that gets people where you want them to be without them realizing that they’re actually changing their perspective along the way. Yeah. Right. Based on the beliefs they already have. So what Tanon would tell you is that If, you wanna teach somebody something over the course of a quarter.

You have to follow this path of saying, look, this is what we all understand to be true. Right? And that also applies this, but what if this, and then this is the outcome. And If, you can do that over a quarter with your content, right? You’re not just giving your audience information, you’re actually changing their view of how to move forward with their business in the way that you believe that they should. And that is true thought leadership right there. That is not just showing off with your numbers, that’s really using it to create change in the minds of your, your prospects and your clients.

And it’s super powerful, If, you can do it, take some intention, but If, you, you know, I, again, If, you can look at us strategically at the front end. It’s not gonna take any more time than you’re, look, what are we gonna post about This week? In fact, it’ll probably take less and it’ll have a greater impact and people will be able to follow the thread of what you’re, of what you’re teaching them. So it can be really powerful.

Speaker 0 (51m 1s): And kind of to wrap this up with a bow, this is where research is so awesome as a piece of cornerstone content because you don’t have to sit around and think about what to talk about. You have the data. Right. And so it’s, it’s, it’s like I can make a cake from scratch. Yep. Bake it and then cut it up into pieces. I can use a box, make a cake, cut it up into pieces, or I can just buy the frigging cake and then just cut it up. And, and what research is, is it’s the it, you already have bought the beautiful cake and, and it’s unique to you.

It’s, no one else has the cake. You’re the only human being on the planner, the only agency on the planet that has this particular cake and has been baked for you. All you have to do is slice it up and serve it. And to your point,

Speaker 2 (51m 51s): And its the only cake. It’s the only cake that’s good for you.

Speaker 0 (51m 54s): Right. And, and, and, and when you serve it with intention and think about the audience you’re serving it to, and oh, they’re gonna want milk with that or coffee with that. And I need to make it small enough that they can, you know, eat it without making a mess, whatever it is to stick with my analogy. Now you’ve got a year’s worth of content that is really nourishing for your prospects that they really want. They’re hungry for it. Yes. And you are serving it in a way they can consume it and then apply it and use it to serve themselves.

And the best thing is you look like a frigging genius for doing it. Yep. A

Speaker 2 (52m 35s): Helpful genius. Yeah.

Speaker 0 (52m 36s): Helpful. Absolutely generous, genius for doing it that way. And it’s nowhere near the heavy lift that it looks like to the audience. Yeah. Because you’re starting with something so dense in terms of its value and it’s, and it’s really just about how you serve it.

Speaker 2 (52m 56s): And let me ask you a question, drew, how often has someone come up to you, an agency owner, and said, you know what? I still remember that research that you did that said X. And we are, we acted on it then and we’re still acting on it. And we get sometimes three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, people that are still remembering something. We taught them because point of the research we have point, it sticks in a way that other stuff, you know, doesn’t I have people do that all the time. And it’s really gratifying to know that you’re doing something that’s actually having an impact on their, on their business.

That’s what, that’s what I believe we’re all here to do is help.

Speaker 0 (53m 35s): Well, well, and I, I think that’s part of it too, right? It, it feels good to give them something nourishing, something real that is gonna serve them as opposed to just writing another blog post about pan the new Pantone color of the year. Right. It just, it’s, it’s, it’s dense with value. And that’s, at the end of the day, that’s what thought leaders do is they make sure that what they serve up is dense with value. And, and research is a great, it’s not the only way, but it is a great way to do that.

Speaker 2 (54m 6s): For sure. Yeah. And let me be clear, there are lots of ways to get research into your thought leadership. Even If, you don’t have any budget at all. Yeah. So, you know, there’s no excuse for not being able to get some kind of data that allows you to be helpful to your, to your audience. You can interview clients and prospects, you can put an assessment on your website. There’s all kinds of stuff you can do to gather information that you can use to be helpful to your audience. So our option is not the only one, but there’s, but you should be looking for ways to get helpful data and your perspective and advice on it into your thought leadership.

It’ll make a difference,

Speaker 0 (54m 44s): For sure. Alright, we have to stop talking so people are like, I gotta get to work. You people just shush.

Speaker 2 (54m 52s): My husband says, I, my problem is, I’m talking, it’s stopping.

Speaker 0 (54m 57s): I’m, I’m not gonna argue with him.

Speaker 2 (54m 58s): I know. No, I can see from your face that you agree with him.

Speaker 0 (55m 3s): This has been great. Thank you for giving us so many good ideas. And what I love about how we talked about it was, I mean, it’s layers of value in doing this work. And, and you serve yourself as an agency leader. You serve your team, you can serve your clients when, when we are in service and you can serve your prospects. But when we are in service of these people in a genuine, meaningful way, it creates those five things you were talking about, right? It, it creates that connection, that trust, that reliance on that faith in which is so important.

I mean, what we sell is either wear, right? I mean, we don’t, we don’t hand clients widgets. We hand them ideas, we hand them executions. And so when you think about it, they have to trust us. I mean, we’re not asking for a dollar 50, we’re asking for big dollars and we’re asking them for confidence. We’re asking them to risk their job by hiring us over somebody else. And so the more we can make them feel comfortable and confident that they can trust us, that we know what we’re talking about, that we’re leaning in to be valuable and generous and helpful to them.

All of that is what shortens the sales cycle. Retains a client longer, creates a deeper relationship with a client, and ultimately translates to the bottom line for your eight. That’s it. Yep.

Speaker 2 (56m 25s): That’s it. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 0 (56m 26s): Alright, Susan, if people wanna learn more about audience audit and the work you do and, and wanna proof your new website, where should they go?

Speaker 2 (56m 36s): Audience audit.com is a website. It’s not up yet, but hold please. And you can always reach me at [email protected].

Speaker 0 (56m 43s): Well, you do have a website.

Speaker 2 (56m 45s): I do, I do have a website. It’s just not the new one

Speaker 0 (56m 47s): Yet. New one’s not new. Yeah. Yeah, the new one’s not. I just want clarity. It’s that, it’s not that If, you go there, there is nothing. You

Speaker 2 (56m 52s): Know what? I’m gonna let you know when it’s ready for testing and you can tell everyone, you know, okay. To come and take a look. I’m, I’m not proud.

Speaker 0 (56m 59s): I’m, I’m open to feedback. I like it. Thanks for being on the show. It’s always great to have you on the show and, and I, I love these conversations and, and how helpful that we can be to agency folks. So I’m, I’m grateful that you made the time, so thank you. Well,

Speaker 2 (57m 13s): I’m grateful to be here and I’ll set up a time for you and I to talk about how to improve what we’re doing off the back end.

Speaker 0 (57m 19s): We have some room, we have some room for growth. I like it.

Speaker 2 (57m 21s): Everybody does continuous improvement over here.

Speaker 0 (57m 24s): Yep. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (57m 25s): Okay. Thanks Drew.

Speaker 0 (57m 26s): Yep. All right guys, this wraps up another episode. Lots, lots and lots and lots of, to-dos should come out of this episode for you, whether you have research or not. Maybe the first to do is get some. So, so again, like Susan said, you can do it on your own. You can do it with a partner like audience audit, but Get some data and then bake your, your content plan around using that data to teach and inform and educate and guide your clients and prospects to doing better, smarter things to serve their business well.

So lots of to-dos on how to do that both for you, for your agency, for your clients, and for your prospects. So do not walk away from this episode going and that was a great list. Now I’m gonna go play golf. I want you to put some things on a to-do list and get on it, right? This is a, this is an action packed episode that you should take full advantage of. There is not an agency on the planet that does not have to have a thought leadership platform and does not have to be saying something out into the world. ’cause guess what? If they can’t find you and they can’t learn about you and they can’t learn from you, they are not going to hire you bottom line.

So figure it out. And this is a great sort of blueprint of how to do some of that. So that, that’s your, that’s your homework for today. Before I let you go, a couple things. Number one, huge shout out and thank you to our friends at White. Label IQ, as you know, they’re the presenting sponsor of the podcast. They’ve been with us for years. We are super grateful to them. They serve many, many agencies all across the globe. They are their outsourced or their white label design dev and PPC shop. So whether you have those folks in house and you just need an extra set of hands, or maybe you don’t wanna have it in-house, you wanna have a trusted partner, head over to White Label IQ dot com slash AAMI because they have a special offer for our podcast listeners.

And last but not least, I gotta tell you, as I always try to, I am super grateful that you hang out with me every week. I, I, I love these conversations. I love that I get to have them. I love that they’re helpful for you. I love hearing which ones you loved and which ones you’ve put into play. But mostly I like hanging out with you. I am grateful that we are on the subway together or walking your dog, or I know I put on makeup with some of you. So what, whatever, whatever you are doing when you’re listening, I am super grateful that you make room for me in your day.

And so I’m gonna be back next week and I hope you will too. So thanks for listening. All right. See you next week.

Speaker 1 (59m 57s): That’s all for this episode of Amiss Build. a Better Agency Podcast. Be sure to visit agency management institute.com to learn more about our workshops, online courses, and other ways we serve small to mid-size agencies. Don’t forget to subscribe today so you don’t miss an episode.