The Innovative Agency

Is your story woven into every touchpoint of your customer interactions? On this episode of the The Innovative Agency, Olivier Roth, shows us how to take your brand’s story from origin, into every visual expression of the brand.  Olivier is the Founder & CEO of Timelapse, a digital marketing and design studio. He came on the show to walk us through the issue of metabranding, and how we can create a visual identity that translates who we our through our brand, our website, directmail, and any other customer touchpoint.

Well-executed experiential marketing can be a seamless, simple transition from reality, to brand engagement.  But marketers know the truth: Creating that transition was anything but simple. (And pulling it off was probably anything but “seamless.”) Basically, it was a magic trick. (This makes sense — my last podcast guest, Justin Lefkovitch, is a magician.) But Justin also owns a marketing agency that specializes in experiential marketing, and he said two big rules of magic still apply: Illusion & details. On this episode, Justin gives us 4 big ideas to consider at your next experiential marketing event. He also gives us tips on working with influencers, micro-influencers, celebrities, and musicians at experiential marketing events.

These days it can be very difficult to attract talent — and keep them engaged. People want to see evidence of engagement and purpose where they work.  One agency found an innovative way to demonstrate that meaning and purpose for employees. Their solution sparked a lot of attention, so while it’s primarily a lesson in employee engagement, it’s also a case study on handling communications, leadership, and client relations during a crisis.  Adam Kleinberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Traction, came on a recent episode of The Innovative Agency to tell us all about their Days of Action policy and how they handled the controversy that resulted.

Sometimes, the most innovative thing an agency can do is really take a hard look at its business model. Even though taking a look at the business model is one of the most beneficial things an agency can do, it’s also one of the most avoided. Agency owners agree that it would be a good idea, but in the hustle and bustle of serving clients, it gets brushed aside.  But is there a way for agency owners to make room for looking at the business model? Well, according to Gray MacKenzie, Co-Founder of ZenPilot, there is. In addition to coaching agency owners on how to do this, Gray's also been in the trenches as an agency owner himself. He gets it.  He came on the latest episode of The Innovative Agency to talk about the problem most agencies face in their business model, what a better model would look like, and how you can make room to address these issues.

A lot of you probably already use video in a variety of ways to help your clients reach their goals. But there's a lot of ways that you can use video within your agency to expand your own results, too.  There’s probably no better person to discuss why and how you should use video than Ethan Beute. He’s the VP of Marketing at BombBomb, a platform that focuses on using simple, personal videos in emails, text messages, and social messages to increase conversion.  Ethan came on this episode of The Innovative Agency to talk about why and how you can use video within your agency to build relationships and deliver results.

Long-term growth is a key concern of every agency owner (and, really, any entrepreneur). Often times, it can be difficult to switch from hammering out the day-to-day work to focusing on the tasks that help sustainable, exciting growth. Joe Apfelbaum was in the same position as an agency owner not too long ago. But he broke free and is now experiencing tremendous growth. He’s also loving the work he and his employees are doing at his agency, Ajax Union. On this episode, he gave us 5 shifts he had to make to break free from the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle of his agency

The 1 question every agency is constantly chasing: How can we land new business? We can help with that. We interviewed Doug Austin, CEO at Austin Amplifies, where he helps agencies and brands zero in on their best-fit prospects, and land new deals. Doug’s whole concept can be summarized with his catchphrase: Pitch to win. On this episode, we discuss issues like: How to land new business How to avoid spinning your wheels on business you aren’t likely to win 4 questions you should ask yourself before any pitch When to sink your teeth in

You’ve heard of Gary Vee. And you’re probably familiar with his newest venture, The Sasha Group. Well,  on our most recent episode of The Innovative Agency, James Orsini, President of The Sasha Group, came on the show to tell us all about it. Here’s what he had to say.

Our most recent guest on The Innovative Agency podcast was Stephanie Olson. She’s the Founder of We are Rosie, the advertising marketplace of the future. Stephanie and her team are disrupting how work happens as they focus on connecting brands and agencies with exceptional talent wanting, or needing, to work in flexible ways. Oh, and they have a 100% client retention rate. So, these are her thoughts on the future of work and how you can integrate remote teams into your business model and company culture.

It's no surprise to anyone listening that, in addition to all the other pressures agencies are under, trust in marketing continues to be challenged. There’s a lot of theories out there for why that is, and I’m sure there are also a lot of suggestions on how to rebuild trust. But Aaron Templer, the latest guest on The Innovative Agency podcast, has taken a unique approach to building trust with clients in his own agency. Instead of trying to make sales or drive revenue, he says that marketers can think of themselves as community builders, applying principles of leadership to build that trust. Aaron came on the show to share four leadership principles that you can begin implementing today to start building trust with your clients.