The Innovative Agency

Intro Wayne Mullins believes effectively leading an agency business requires developing a high-performance, self-accountable workplace culture. In this episode, he shares his perspective on the steps agency leaders must take to achieve full alignment between ground-level workers and leadership teams. What you will learn in this episode: Why agency owners seek guidance on how they can lead their businesses. How to create a high-performance, self-accountable workplace culture. The steps agency leaders can take to evolve their leadership styles. How to balance micromanagement and complete autonomy within your team. How to help your employees retain confidence in decision-making. Why day-by-day accountability efforts can be exhausting and ineffective. Bio Wayne Mullins is a passionate entrepreneur committed to creating remarkable experiences, and building a team at Ugly Mug Marketing that produces extraordinary results for their clients. Wayne is a husband, father of 4, entrepreneur, and the Founder of Ugly Mug Marketing, creator of the Freelance Accelerator, and author of Full Circle Marketing. He's an out of the box, against the grain, thinker and it has more than paid off for his company and clients. He leads from the heart and is passionate and unapologetic about doing so. As Founder of Ugly Mug Marketing, he's inspired clients from more than 100 industries and his work directly influences more than 250K entrepreneurs/year. He has been called "the guru's guru," as he is regularly called upon for advice from industry leading CEO's, New York Times Best Selling Authors, and Silicon Valley startups. He loves helping entrepreneurs challenge their assumptions, create value from places they've never looked, and reach goals they never believed possible. He has personally worked with clients in 91 different industries, from 34 states, and 11 countries. Resources: Website: https://www.uglymugmarketing.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fireyourself/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ugly-mug-marketing/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uglymugmarketing/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uglymugmarketing/

Intro If your agency doesn't maximize the utilization of people and their stories, you're losing out on additional value that could be offered to your clients. Our guest, Travis Brown, explains how agencies can leverage personal branding to improve brand storytelling and gain new customers. He also shares his perspective on diversity, equity, and inclusion, another critical metric impacting how consumers perceive your brand. What you will learn in this episode: The importance of your agency's story and its clients' stories. How to maximize people and their stories. Why you need to talk about who you are and the amazing things you've done. How to leverage your talent acquisition process as a component of your branding. Why DEI policies are a critical asset for all agencies. How to be intentional about diverse hiring. The need to create micro video content for your agency and its clients. Bio Travis Brown is one of the most highly sought-after Brand Marketing Builders and Speakers in America! As the CEO of Mojo Up Marketing & Media, (Black Owned + Minority Operated) he leads a full-service brand marketing agency made up of a talented team of marketing strategists, designers, videographers, web designers, and storytellers who work with small business owners to build and market their brands. As a Keynote Speaker, Travis has rocked over 2,500 + stages including Fortune 500 companies, associations, small businesses, real estate professionals, and NFL teams. Resources: Website: https://mojoup.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travisjaydenbrown/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mojoupmarketingmedia/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mojoup Twitter: https://twitter.com/MojoUp Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mojoup

Intro Today we're covering a topic that is close to the hearts — and wallets — of all agency owners. Money. Specifically, profitability in your agency. Charles Gaudet joins us to discuss how agency owners can maximize profitability by treating their businesses the same way they treat their clients. What you will learn in this episode: Why it makes sense to treat your own agency like a client. The pitfalls of improper management of human resources. The top 5 KPIs all agency owners need to track consistently. Key observations about decision-making in a more discerning consumer environment. What it takes to develop a healthy pipeline for your agency. The impacts of AI on agency profitability. Bio Charles Gaudet is the author of "The Predictable Profits Playbook: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Dominating Any Market and Staying on Top" (voted #1 Book on Sales & Marketing by Indie Excellence) and host of The Beyond 7-Figures Podcast. The International Business Times called him "The Go-To Business Coach for 7 and 8 Figure Businesses" and perhaps the "busiest sales coach in the US." GritDaily said Gaudet is: "regarded in entrepreneurial circles as one of the top coaches for helping entrepreneurs surpass the seven and eight-figure mark." And Yahoo Finance referred to him as: "The CEO Whisperer." He's been an entrepreneur since the age of 4, created his first multi-million dollar business at 24, and has helped others generate millions with his strategies. He's received numerous awards and recognition (including founding a company named as "One of the Best Seed Stage Companies" by Ernst & Young), received his Certificate of Leadership Development from The US Army War College and has his business advice featured around in the world – including Inc., Forbes, Salesforce, Success, Entrepreneur, and Fox Business – as well as on podcasts and radio. He was named one of American Geniuses' Top 50 Industry Influencers. He trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (two gold medal finishes) and is a 3-time wrestling state champion. He lives in New Hampshire with his beautiful wife, three adorable kid-preneurs and one dog. Resources: Website: https://predictableprofits.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesgaudet/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/predictable-profits/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PredictableProfits Twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesgaudet The Predictable Profits Playbook

Intro Today we are diving into some of the work that agency owners do, rather than the behind-the-scenes processes that keep their businesses operating. Email marketing is the topic of the day and we've invited Melanie Balke, CEO and Founder of The Email Marketers, to provide her insights on leveraging email marketing in your marketing agency. What you will learn in this episode: Why email marketing has remained consistently powerful over the past decade. The reason social media hasn't replaced email marketing Why email marketing still works The value of segmentation for email marketers The avoidable costs of not using email marketing Future expectations for AI integration across the field of email marketing Bio Melanie Balke is the CEO and Founder of The Email Marketers, your outsourced email marketing team for e-commerce brands and more. She started her career in Germany in traditional marketing consulting for brands in the automotive, healthcare, and telecommunication space. This allowed her to work with conglomerate brand names such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. Once she moved to the US, she joined one of the first made-to-order DTC furniture brands as the first marketing hire and helped scale the company to a successful acquisition. Her passion for email took full focus when she returned to the agency world as the Head of Email Marketing for one of LA's fastest-growing agencies. In 2019, she founded The Email Marketers - an outsourced team of e-commerce email experts that care - to help grow scaling e-commerce businesses' revenue and build lasting customer relationships through email marketing. Resources: Website: https://www.theemailmarketers.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniebalke/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-email-marketers/

Intro Video marketing initiatives are demanded across every marketing vertical. That's why Doug Dibert believes video must be a priority for agencies of all sizes. He's got some great ideas on how to leverage the video medium efficiently too! What you will learn in this episode: Why video marketing is in demand across all marketing verticals. The best tactics for video marketing. How and why you should create a video marketing plan. The importance of video testimonials for agency businesses. The ideal video length, quality, and posting schedules. How to use video marketing to boost searchability online. Bio Doug Dibert, Jr. has been in the world of video marketing since January 2005 when he founded his 1st video marketing agency. He has worked with 100's of businesses nationally and internationally helping them create video content and video marketing plans. Seeing the future growth of video and the need for any business to quickly create professional video content with no video editing needed, in 2017 he founded the SaaS video marketing platform Magnfi.com and a year later sold his video marketing agency to focus on Magnfi's growth. Doug is a highly welcomed speaker at many business strategy events, online or in-person, where he teaches practical how-to methods on how businesses can leverage video content quickly. Doug and his team at Magnfi partner with businesses and digital marketing agencies who want their own in-house scalable video service offering via the Magnfi white label program. Resources: Website: https://www.magnfi.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougdibertjr-white-label-video-marketing-software/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/magnfi/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Magnfi/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Magnfi_Video Free video marketing strategy community: www.videomarketingninjas.com

Intro Agency leaders commonly place the bulk of their focus on their bottom line. Yet, paying considerable attention to top line productivity is also imperative for those who wish to scale successfully. That's why Jennifer Smith is joining me today to discuss a necessity for any growth-oriented agency's top line operations — process documentation. What you will learn in this episode: How to eliminate suboptimal processes through process documentation. Where you should get started with process documentation in your agency. Which softwares can be most helpful for process documentation. How to get your team comfortable with documenting processes. Why it is important to ensure that your team understands how process documentation benefits them in the long run. The benefits of making your agency's information scalable. How to leverage process documentation during an acquisition. Bio Jennifer Smith is CEO and co-founder of Scribe, a software company that automatically creates process documentation for you. A Princeton and HBS alumni, she previously was a technology investor and advisor at McKinsey and VC firm Greylock Partners. Resources: Website: https://scribe.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferreneesmith/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scribehow/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScribeHow/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/scribeonline Free Guide Resource: https://scribehow.com/home

Intro Agency owners rarely see a year like 2023, where a new technology shakes the landscape and makes many of their legacy processes obsolete. Yet, that is exactly what we are encountering with the widespread adoption of modern AI-powered technologies. The future doesn't have to be bleak, though. That's why Steve Pockross is here to help agency leaders find out how they can keep their businesses afloat while contending with the massive shift toward AI-enhanced services. What you will learn in this episode: How to handle clients inquiring about the viability of AI. Why AI tools are so dominant. How you can integrate AI tools in your production processes. Why fast and cheap aren't the best benchmarks for determining the viability of using AI in your businesses. Where your focus should be during an upcoming market downturn. The difference between wartime management styles and peacetime management styles and why it matters. Bio Steve Pockross brings more than 20 years of startup, Fortune 500, and nonprofit experience to his role at Verblio. As CEO, he applies leading marketplace and SaaS principles to create an industry-leading content creation platform with 3,000 writers supporting the creation of high-quality content at scale in every niche. Steve was part of the early management team at marketplace services pioneer LiveOps, growing the company into the largest virtual contact center in the world. At LiveOps, Steve served as vice president of business development and strategy, and also spearheaded the creation of the award-winning LiveOps Foundation. He also served in marketing, strategy, and operational leadership roles at Tendril, Western Union, Marketing Technologies Group, and HSBC. Steve received his MBA from Kellogg School of Business and his MA in history from Wesleyan University. Outside the office, Steve is a Denver native and enjoys ultimate frisbee, telemark skiing, practicing his Portuguese, and spending time with his two boys. And while he's not bullish, he's still hoping for a second career as a Brazilian rockstar. Resources: Website: https://www.verblio.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spockross/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verblio/ Yes, and Marketing Podcast

Intro Sometimes the market takes a nosedive, but that doesn't mean your agency should be stopped in its tracks. Our guest, Gini Dietrich, offers her perspective on overcoming fear and negativity when your agency is faced with the unknown. She also provides insight into building authority in your niche as well as diversifying to survive future economic downturns. What you will learn in this episode: How fear and negative thinking can keep agency leaders from building an effective safety net. What it takes to pivot away from fear and stand up to negativity from yourself and others. How to recognize the early indicators of an economic downturn or recession. Why it is critical that agency leaders understand their precise production costs. The benefits of content development. How you can use the intellectual property in your brain to boost revenue and streamline production. How to produce and promote content for your personal brand. Bio Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at the PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, is co-author of Marketing In the Round, and is co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications and social media. Resources: Website: https://spinsucks.com/ LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginidietrich/ LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spinsucks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ginidietrich

Intro When you first started or joined your agency, becoming a 7-figure business may not have been the goal. Yet, as you've grown alongside the business, your sights could have shifted toward greater ambitions. In this latest episode, Corey Quinn, an experienced sales leader, will help you overcome past setbacks and get closer to achieving your agency's current financial objectives. What you will learn in this episode: The importance of niching rather than being a generalist agency. How to let your clients be the hero of the stories you portray. Unique methods of developing business using cold approaches. Why it helps to create an "assembly line" for your business development process. How to leverage customers throughout the process of choosing a niche. The value of productizing your agency's service offerings. Bio Corey Quinn has a 25-year track record of extraordinary success as an entrepreneur, sales leader, and CMO for a $150M+ company. Today, he helps B2B SaaS and Agencies grow from 7 figures to 8 by doing less, not more. Resources: Website: https://www.coreyquinn.com/ LinkedIn Personal: linkedin.com/in/coreyquinn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coreyquinn Twitter: https://twitter.com/coreyquinn Newsletter: https://www.coreyquinn.com/newsletter

Intro When a marketing agency is faced with a nearly dry pipeline, leadership's first instinct may be to panic. Today's guest, John Heenan, expresses the importance of reinforcing your business development efforts before this happens. Even if the things that have worked in the past are no longer working for your agency, his suggestions may offer you the information you need to course correct and generate new business. What you will learn in this episode: Why new agencies shouldn't focus solely on early success. The importance of reflecting on what is currently in high-demand within your niche. What it means to lack "freshness" in your pipeline and how to combat this issue. How to develop an effective prospecting program for your agency. Some ways to recalibrate your current prospecting strategy to suit marketplace demands. An honest comparison of virtual pitching and in-person pitching. Bio John Heenan started on the client side in marketing. During that time, he established an in-house agency, managed multi-million dollar marketing budgets, hired and fired agencies, and pushed brands to new heights. John then joined the dark side as an agency new business leader. He worked at various small and mid-size ad agencies, standing up and managing new business programs that have generated millions of dollars in new revenue. John left his last firm seven years ago to consult with agencies that need help finding and engaging with new clients. He applies his experience and practical know-how to agencies who want to start, restart or reimagine their business development efforts; agencies who want to win more and better clients. Resources: Website: https://www.jheenan.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jheenan/