The Innovative Agency

Balancing the financial needs of your agency with the practical expectations of your clients can be a tricky tightrope to walk. The best perspectives on these sorts of balancing issues often come from someone who's been on both sides of the equation. Andrew Stanten fits that description perfectly; he's worked both on the brand side with agencies, and also as the president of Altitude Marketing (one of Inc's 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies). He came on this episode to discuss: His 3-step process for agency pricing Why you should start with strategy Using data as evidence to make suggestions (& calculate pricing) How data jumpstarts your work after you land a contract How to upsell & pivot ad spend Data and process transparency This is an interview with Andrew Stanten from Altitude Marketing. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Innovative Agency Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Chris wanted to reduce the time it takes to find top talent at his agency. He found it took an average of 36 days to onboard and find talent for projects. Chris wanted to reduce that to 36 hours. And he did it. On this episode, we interview Chris Kneeland, Co-founder & CEO of Cult Collective LP. What we talked about: How size ≠ success at agencies Why talent may not be as important as you think How talent shifts from asset to liability in Why your core competency should be proprietary and in-house Positioning Hiring freelancers Checkout these resources we mentioned during the podcast: Chris's LinkedIn Communo app — marketplace for connecting freelance talent with agencies This is an interview with Chris Kneeland from Communo. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Innovative Agency Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Joe Gagliese has been doing influencer marketing since the very beginning. So, he's an expert. That's why I'm so excited he was able to come on this episode of The Innovative Agency to share some of his expertise with us. Joe is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Viral Nation, an influencer talent agency and marketing firm. Here's what we talked about: Why influencer marketing can't just be an afterthought How to increase the effectiveness of your micro influencer campaigns How his team is leveraging their intellectual capital to generate competitive advantages

You probably know that I'm really passionate about agencies drawing upon their ideas and resources to create new opportunities — new revenue streams, new businesses, or whatever it might be. So, I'm really excited to talk to today's guest, Daniel Herndon, because his agency, MilesHerndon, did just that. We talked about: Daniel's unique background Why he decided to turn the lobby of his office space into a coffee shop and cocktail bar How that decision has created some great opportunities Bonus — how Daniel handles client confusion when it comes to defining industry terms This blogpost is based on an interview with Daniel Herndon from MilesHerndon. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Innovative Agency Podcast. If you don't use iTunes, you can listen to every episode here.

Working on a Hollywood set seems like one of the most glamorous gigs out there. But, have you ever considered the logistics it takes to coordinate all of those names mentioned in the closing credits? Anson Sowby isn't a Hollywood producer. He is, however, the CEO and co-founder of, a Battery three-time Ad Age Small Agency of the Year recipient. On this episode, we discuss: On-demand staffing structure Aligning with a larger partner How Hollywood's staffing & selling has influenced Battery A few resources we mentioned during the podcast: Anson Sowby's LinkedIn Battery's home page Ad Age Awards To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Innovative Agency Podcast on Apple Podcasts or or you can find every episode on our homepage.

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.