The Innovative Agency

Most agencies are occupied with the day-to-day responsibilities of client services — producing deliverables, meeting deadlines, and just keeping the ship afloat. But too often, that preoccupation comes at the expense of making time for incubating truly innovative ideas. In this episode, I speak with Kate Jeffers, Partner & President at Venables Bell and Partners, about how her agency built a culture around innovation and how your agency can too. We discuss: - Talking about innovation with clients - Risk assessments on innovative ideas - Building a culture that supports innovation - How COVID sparked an appetite for innovation To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

There are many misconceptions about website accessibility under the ADA. In many cases, agencies are confused about which actions are legally required and which are simply guidelines. To complicate matters, there is no federal standard, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation in the eyes of the law. Fortunately, there are resources and expert partners that can provide guidance on ADA accessibility for websites. To do a deep dive on the topic, I invited three experts: - Jenna Reardon - Co-Founder of ilumino - FM Byers - CMO of SM Digital - Erica Canas - Senior Attorney at Legal + Creative | Toerek Law We discuss: - How client expectations have changed around accessibility - What the actual legal requirements are for accessibility - Educational resources and technical tools available - How agencies should approach the accessibility conversation with clients To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

The world is very different than it was 18 months ago. That means that our clients are thinking, feeling, and making decisions differently too. So what has changed? To get the scoop, I welcome back Susan Baier, CEO of Audience Audit Inc., to talk about how we can better understand our clients through research into why they do things, rather than what they do or which demographic groups they belong to. We discuss: The importance of knowing the why behind what clients do Gaining insight from research, whether or not your assumptions are correct 3 things agencies should consider around research To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

Real world products pop up in movies and TV shows all the time. But have you ever wondered what occurs behind the scenes to make those deals happen and to ensure that both the brand and the production are happy with the final product? Stacy Jones, CEO and Founder at Hollywood Branded, talks with me about the world of product placement and influencer campaigns. In this episode, we discuss: - How product placement deals work - The industry knowledge transfer required to scale a marketing agency - How COVID amplified the impact of product placement - New trends in influencer campaigns and partnerships Listen to Stacy's podcast Marketing Mistakes (+ How to Avoid Them). To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

Branding — it's a much-discussed and often misunderstood topic within the marketing world. There are many clients out there who don't invest in it because they don't believe it provides ROI. But the truth is, given time, it can deliver tremendous impact to the bottom line. Todd Irwin, Chief Creative Officer and Founder at brand x, chats with me about the power of branding and how it builds trust. We discuss: - How B2B companies perceive the brands of the people that sell to them - How branding agencies can work more effectively with other agencies - Why brand should start internally - What to do when rebrands go wrong To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

In the last 10 years, there has been a 5,000% increase in the amount of data that exists. This data explosion presents a challenge for brands and agencies alike — if you don't understand what to prioritize, you could be spending a lot of time and money using data incorrectly. Our latest guest, Brandon Starkoff, CEO at Transparent, has the experience and insights to help you avoid such costly mistakes. He joins the show to explain today's shifting data landscape and how you can make the most of it. In this episode, we discuss: - Why focusing on your core business will ensure you prioritize the right data - Why brand is important, but secondary to customers - The future of first-party data To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

Some think that being everything to everybody drives success for a marketing agency. But the truth is that there are far more advantages to finding a niche and growing your expertise. Alex Membrillo, CEO of Cardinal Digital Marketing, joins me to share why you should niche down and how to go about doing it. Topics covered: - Choosing to focus on the healthcare industry - Creating opportunities for authority building and thought leadership - Developing a proprietary data analytics tool To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

Out of every crisis comes opportunity. When live sports came to a halt in March of last year, sports marketing agencies had to scramble to find new opportunities to bring value to their clients all while supporting a heavily impacted industry. In today's episode, Michael Neuman — Founder, EVP, & Managing Partner of Scout Sports and Entertainment — talks with me about driving innovation in chaotic times. Topics we cover: - Tracking lost client value and understanding changing fan behavior - Pivoting to new opportunities - The challenges of an agency leader in a vulnerable industry - Changes that will remain moving forward To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

When COVID hit, experiential marketing agencies specializing in in-person events were forced to adjust. In this episode, Rick Kiley and Jeff Boedges, Partner and Managing Partner, respectively, at SoHo Experiential, share how they were able to leverage the networks they had in place to pivot their business. What we talked about: - How COVID accelerated changes to their business - Educating clients on delivering high-quality, virtual experiences - Finding a new revenue stream with marketing sports book gambling -Opportunities in cannabis marketing To learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, email Rick (rick@sohoexp.com) or Jeff (jeff@sohoexp.com) or listen to their podcast, The Green Repeal. To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.

A lot has changed in content marketing over the last year. So much, in fact, that it brought the man who wrote the book on content marketing out of retirement to update his seminal work. On today's episode, Joe Pulizzi, Founder of The Tilt and author of Content Inc, joins me to talk about what content marketing looks like today. Topics we covered: - Why it was time to update his book - Asking hard questions before diving into content marketing - Focusing on one main content type on one channel - The genesis of The Tilt Pre-order Content Inc at content-inc.com and sign up for The Tilt at TheTilt.com. To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for The Innovative Agency in your favorite podcast player.