The Innovative Agency

You’ve owned your agency for 15 or 20 years now, but it’s never looked exactly like you imagined it. That’s because you’re letting your clients lead. In this episode, I interview Robert Patin, Managing Partner at Patin & Associates, about the most common missteps he sees as an agency coach. What we talked about: - Knowing & owning your value in negotiation - How to set your fees - Niching, exclusivity, and freelance workers - Trends for agencies in 2021 Resources we mentioned during the podcast: - I was recently a guest on Robert’s podcast, Agency Blueprint 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.

Revenue-producing opportunities most agencies haven’t thought of include fractional CMOs, becoming an AOR, technological agility, and… the ability to be fired. In this episode, I interview Alex Hultgren, Founder & CEO at Customers 1st Marketing, about opportunities for agencies to both pivot and niche down: What we talked about: - What fractional CMOs are and why they are a brilliant idea - All about the modern agency of record - Brand strategies for mid-size businesses, including securing a budget - Why the ability to be fired gives you standing with your clients Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: - Find fractional CMOs at Chameleon Collective - Also at Voyager You - Also at Authentic Brand 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.

Every agency is charged with growing its clients. But there’s a big difference between the growth traditional marketing offers and the supercharged results that growth marketing delivers. In this insightful episode, I sat down with Jim Huffman, CEO of GrowthHit, to deep dive into how growth marketing actually works. Some topics we covered: - How GrowthHit is able to achieve rapid growth quickly - How to approach customer intelligence - The difference between traditional marketing and growth marketing - The advantages of having difficult client conversations upfront - Turning intellectual capital into revenue streams Here are some resources we mentioned during the podcast: - Email Jim: Jim@growthhit.com - Follow him on Twitter - Check out The Growth Marketer’s Playbook 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.

Not everyone can be a thought leader. In fact, thought leadership isn’t about being smart at all. It’s about being genuine and caring. In this episode, I interview Tracey Fudge, Founder at The Thrive Agency, about cutting through the noise online. What we talked about: - Being picky about client selection - What thought leadership really is & strategy to grow it - Differentiating yourself from market competitors with niching - Tackling the longer sales cycle of B2B tech sales To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Customer lifetime value. You buy till you die. Seriously, though. We’ve all heard a lot about CLV, but most of us don’t know how to leverage it. Savvy agencies realize that lifetime value is the new metric that matters. Recently on The Innovative Agency, I chatted with Michael Greenberg, Founder & CEO at Retina.ai, about CLV, lifetime value, and accurate predictions. What we talked about: - The meaning of CTV & LTV, and how to measure them - Mediating between agency, customer, and brand - Developing meaningful lifetime value metrics - How to talk about LTV with CMOs - Creating models based on LTV To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Don’t allow your people to do agency work off the side of their desks. Instead, treat yourself as a client by giving your team actual hours to utilize. In this episode, I interview Jillian Bannister, CEO at Ext. Marketing Inc., about what your agency needs from you. In other words, self-care. What we talked about: - The rule of thirds for budgeting time - Employee recognition and confidence - Agency self-care and client responsibility To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

How do you stay in your respective swim lanes when you're running a business with somebody you're married to? In this episode, I interview Jean Freeman, Principal + CEO at Zambezi, LLC, about how she worked with her spouse to build the largest female-owned business in the advertising industry. What we talked about: - The key to thriving as an agency in a recession - How to evolve an inclusive culture and why publishing your diversity stats is critical - What entrepreneurial maturity really looks like - How to scale your business and live your life with the same partner To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Your conversation rates could be between 70 and 100 times better if you do this right. Lose the MQL metric and learn this: the brand creates the most demand. In this episode, I interview Chris Walker, CEO at Refine Labs, about why his agency says no to most clients and the differences between performance and brand. What we talked about: - All about metrics: what to measure and what not to measure - Finding and keeping talent and what agency talent does better than in-house - Why brand is a tangible business metric - Telling clients things they don’t want to hear for their own good Resources we mentioned: - Chris’s podcast is State of Demand Gen To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

What a tough year for everyone. (Tough does not describe it.) Some agencies have done well, though. Some of the lessons they’ve learned are translatable beyond 2020. My recent guest on The Innovative Agency, Anson Sowby, Cofounder and CEO at Battery, shared how to thrive in uncertain circumstances. What we talked about: - Growing and scaling an independent agency - How being a serial entrepreneur affects your 2nd agency - Takeaways from 2020 beyond the pandemic To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Just like a tree grows toward the best sunlight, your agency needs to be open to innovation in order to survive.   This is how it worked out for David Searns and his agency, Haley Marketing. Due to the evolving landscape of his market, David found himself in a very particular niche.   In this episode, David and I discussed:   - Looking for opportunities to pivot   - Adjusting to demands in your market   - Optimizing your assets   - Finding a narrow niche To hear this episode and many more like it, subscribe to The Innovative Agency Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.