The Innovative Agency

Intro Today we're talking with Juliana Marulanda, founder of ScaleTime, about the challenges and strategies for scaling marketing agencies. She discusses the importance of avoiding burnout and finding a balance between growth and scaling. Juliana also shares her expertise in helping agencies navigate the journey of scaling and offers insights from her experience working with various agencies. What you will learn in this episode: Impacting a community through scaling. Common pitfalls to avoid when scaling an agency. The downsides of failing to create process documentation when scaling. How to effectively delegate tasks when scaling your agency. How to manage resources and capacity while scaling. The best ways to maximize client retention after onboarding. Bio With over 20 years of experience across Wall Street, the nonprofit sector, technology startups, and family-owned businesses, Juliana Marulanda, founder at ScaleTime, has served over 500 digital agencies. Featured by Forbes and Entrepreneur, Juliana helps uplevel businesses into lean, mean, profitable machines. On average, she and her team create ways to free up at least 30 hours per week for her clients so they can have successful agencies that run without them. Founders can find themselves saying "I do what I want, how I want, whenever I want" - Now that is freedom. Juliana is passionate about providing audiences with invaluable tools that they can use instantly to start improving their business. Her wealth of agency growth secrets and expertise in growth management will put agency owners and marketers on the path to scaling a business. Resources: Website: www.scaletime.co LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianamarulanda/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scaletime/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/scaletime/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julianamarula Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scaletime

Intro In this episode of The Innovative Agency, Mike Maynard of Napier discusses the challenges and opportunities of working with enterprise-sized clients. The discussion is about the unique concerns that arise when dealing with these clients and the time-consuming nature of negotiating contracts with them. Tune in to gain ideas for operating and growing your agency in the enterprise market. What you will learn in this episode: How to work with enterprise-sized agency clients. How to develop a larger portfolio of enterprise clients. The best way to develop new business through current clientele. How to deal with exclusivity requests. How to negotiate contracts with larger companies. The unique challenges that come with serving enterprise clients. Bio Mike Maynard is the Managing Director/CEO of the Napier Group, a $7M PR and marketing agency for B2B technology companies. He is a self-confessed geek who loves talking about technology. He believes that combining the measurement, accountability, and innovation that he learned as an engineer with a passion for communicating internationally means Napier can help clients achieve their marketing goals sooner. Resources: Website: https://www.napierb2b.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemaynard/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/napier-partnership-limited/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mike_Maynard Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NapierPR Marketing B2B Technology Podcast: https://marketingb2btech.napierb2b.com/

Intro In this episode of The Innovative Agency, Shaun Clark, co-founder and CEO of High Level, explores why his company decided to focus on building a community for their customers and the benefits it brings. Tune in to learn more about the power of community in the agency industry. What you will learn in this episode: The value of growing your community. How to plan for the future strategically. How to leverage your community's expertise to improve your agency. How to provide software solutions as an agency leader. The best ways to leverage tools to increase revenue in your business. Bio Shaun Clark is a co-founder and the CEO of HighLevel, the #1 white-label marketing platform for agencies. Prior to HighLevel, Shaun founded, operated, and sold InvoiceSherpa, a SaaS company that continues to help thousands of businesses around the world get paid faster. Resources: Website: https://www.gohighlevel.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunclarkhighlevel/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/highlevel/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gohighlevel/ October Summit: https://levelup.gohighlevel.com/

Intro In this episode of The Innovative Agency, we welcome Garrett Garcia, President of PPK, to discuss the challenges and strategies of attracting and retaining talent in the agency world. He explores the importance of having a team-focused philosophy and how it can drive success. What you will learn in this episode: How revolving doors in agencies affect talent retention and acquisition. The expectations for maintaining adequate work-life balance for employees. How to correct performance in real-time without being overbearing. The importance of offering continuing education opportunities to employees. How to scale your talent acquisition process to attract high-level talent. Bio Garrett Garcia was PPK's second employee to join the original founding members in 2005 as an Account Executive. Since then, the agency has grown tenfold and Garrett holds the role of President, leading agency operations and business strategy. His strategic guidance has helped lead PPK to some major wins in the Southeast, including the Florida Lottery, the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball and Pinch A Penny Pools. After almost 22 years in the creative and advertising industry, Garrett has borrowed from his larger agency experience to help shape the trajectory of PPK's steady growth. Garrett lives in Tampa, Florida and spends most of his free time outdoors when he's not chasing his two young kids and their 80-pound pitbull, Hercules. Resources: Website: https://www.uniteppk.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrett-garcia-ba867b4/ Linkedin Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uniteppk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnitePPK/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/uniteppk

Karl Sakas, a management consultant and founder of Sakas & Company, shares invaluable insights for agency owners. He discusses the unique challenges of agency ownership, emphasizing the importance of mindset and strategic thinking. Karl offers practical tips on how to work less and earn more, highlighting the critical need to delegate roles effectively. He explains how to transition account management and client strategy away from owners, ensuring smoother operations. Tune in for his advice on measuring growth beyond revenue and avoiding burnout!

Intro In this episode of The Innovative Agency, we explore the often-overlooked topic of profitability in marketing agencies. Our guest is Ilia Markov, marketing director of Toggle. He discusses ways to uncover blind spots and maximize profitability in agency operations. Tune in to learn how to squeeze more juice from your agency's performance and increase your bottom line. What you will learn in this episode: How to use time tracking as a tool to boost productivity and profitability. The importance of contextualizing data in your efforts to increase profits. How to identify new opportunities for profit increases. The difference between open book agencies and more cautious agencies. The benefits of having a high level of openness regarding profitability in your agency. Bio Ilia Markov has diverse work experience in digital marketing and content strategy. Ilia's journey in tech marketing started in 2013 after he graduated with an MBA from the University of Michigan. Since then, he has had the chance to work with some of the most exciting brands in SaaS. Today he leads the marketing team at Toggl to help individuals and organizations of all sizes to be more productive, profitable, and happier. Resources: Website: https://www.markovunchained.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iliamarkov/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/toggl/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nochainmarkov Receive 20% Off Any Annual Plan For New Clients With Code INNOVATE: https://toggl.com/plan/

Intro Our latest guest, Abby Wood, is the Founder of The Content Lab. Abby shares insights on how AI may make content creation easier but poses challenges in distinguishing human-created content from AI-generated content. Tune in to this episode to gain valuable insights on the future of content creation in the age of AI. What you will learn in this episode: The impact of AI on content creation workflows. The difference between serving other agencies and serving end-clients. How AI can be leveraged in digital marketing agencies. The importance of ensuring client satisfaction by delivering what clients want. How AI is currently being used in advertising. How white labeling can be beneficial to marketing agencies. Bio Abby Wood is the Founder of The Content Lab, a white-label copywriting and content marketing agency that helps digital agency owners get their time back, keep their customers happy, and increase their profits. She serves over 80 agencies around the world with their copywriting needs, has an amazing team of talented writers, and is also a mentor for UGURUS (a business training program for digital agency owners). Resources: Website: https://www.thecontentlab.ie/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-woodtcl/ Linkedin Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-content-lab-ire/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecontentlabireland Copywriting & Blogging Templates from The Content Lab: https://www.contentgoodies.com/

Intro In this episode of The Innovative Agency, we discuss the ongoing challenge of finding, keeping, and training the right people in the agency world. Joined by Megan Keuthen, a guru in people management and recruitment, we share insights on talent development and growth strategies for agencies. What you will learn in this episode: The importance of developing strong talent within your agency. How to use talent development as the cornerstone for agency growth. How to avoid talent issues in agencies. The downfall of poor leadership in talent acquisition and retention. How to assess candidates to determine whether they are a good fit. The value of documenting your hiring processes. The impact company culture has on hiring and retention. Bio Megan Kuethen is the co-founder and Growth Strategist at Busy Cure, an operations consultancy devoted to teaching businesses how to have full-time impact with part-time hours. With more than 2000 hires to her name, she is best known for being a team expert, helping founders become great leaders and businesses develop strong and healthy culture. In her free time, Megan reads over a hundred books a year, travels the world, and bakes delicious sweets for her loved ones. Megan lives in Nashville, where she's an active member of the entrepreneur community and her church. Resources: Website: https://thebusycure.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megankuethen/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/busy-cure/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/megankuethen

Pamela Slim, founder of K’é Main Street Learning Lab, discusses monetizing agency knowledge, developing new revenue streams, scaling agency services, and the value of protected intellectual property. She emphasizes the importance of refining expertise, determining market value and pricing strategies, and maximizing potential upside and return on investment. The podcast concludes with a focus on monetizing expertise and maximizing value for agency owners.

Intro In this episode of The Innovative Agency, Chris Dreyer, founder of rankings.io, discusses the ever-changing world of search engine optimization (SEO). We'll delve into the technical aspects of SEO and how it is influenced by market factors and artificial intelligence. Agency leaders can also expect to learn what shape SEO marketing may take. What you will learn in this episode: How to avoid churn in SEO agencies. How to manage communication in digital agency relationships. The proper length for SEO content. The importance of developing a strong brand and consistent company culture. Why niching down ultimately proves to be beneficial for most SEO agencies. What the future of SEO marketing looks like. Bio Chris Dreyer is the CEO and Founder of Rankings.io, an SEO agency that helps elite personal injury law firms land serious injury and auto accident cases through Google's organic search results. His company has the distinction of making the Inc. 5000 list five years in a row. In addition to owning and operating Rankings, Chris is the *Wall Street Journal* and *USA Today* best-selling author of "Niching Up: The Narrower the Market, the Bigger the Prize", a real estate investor, and podcast host, as well as a member of the Forbes Agency Council, the Rolling Stone Culture Council, Business Journals Leadership Trust, Fast Company Executive Board, and Newsweek Expert Forum. Chris's journey in legal marketing has been a saga, to say the least. A world-ranked collectible card game player in his youth, Chris began his "grown up" career with a History Education degree and landed a job out of college as a detention room supervisor. The surplus of free time in that job allowed him to develop a side hustle in affiliate marketing, where (at his apex) he managed over 100 affiliate sites simultaneously, allowing him to turn his side gig into a full-time one. When his time in affiliate marketing came to an end, he segued into SEO for attorneys, while also having time to become a top-ranked online poker player. Resources: Website: https://rankings.io/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdreyerco/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rankingsio/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrisdreyerco Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisdreyerco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisdreyerco/