Build a Better Agency Podcast

Don Beehler has worked with news media from local to international levels and has won numerous professional awards throughout his career. He also has co-authored or ghostwritten three books for clients and has a blog called The Art of Telling Your Story. What you’ll learn about in this episode: The dramatic changes PR has seen over the years How agencies can use PR as a strategic tool to drive new business How to determine what stories to pitch Ways you can become discoverable so that reporters can find you The kind of news that is truly newsworthy for agencies Why you shouldn’t think about using PR with the expectation that people will write stories about your agency How agencies can get the right kind of attention Incorporating PR into your business plan How to correctly use PR in relation to speaking engagements How to use Google Alerts to capitalize on PR opportunity The steps to take right away to boost your PR Ways to Contact Don Beehler: Email: don@abcdcommunications.com Website: www.donbeehler.com   We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. He has also owned and operated his own agency over the last 20-years. And all through the year, he straddles the fence of working in his agency and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies in a variety of ways. AMI works with agency owners by: Leading agency owner peer groups Offering workshops for owners and their leadership teams Offering AE bootcamps Conducting individual agency owner coaching Doing on-site consulting Offering online courses in agency new business and account service Because he works with a lot of agencies every year — he has the unique opportunity to see the patterns and the habits (both good and bad) that happen over and over again. He has also written two books and been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.” What you’ll learn about in this episode: The employee shortage: why it’s happening right now What agency employees want most (and how to use this to attract and retain them) Things that will cause employees to leave The best benefits you can offer to attract and retain employees How you can compete with the corporate world for employees Why you need to be actively looking for employees, even if you don’t need them right now Ways to contact Drew McLellan: Email: drew@agencymanagementinstitute.com We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Gareth Kay is a strategist by trade. He’s co-founder of Chapter, a creative business partner dedicated to solving the wicked problems facing pioneering businesses. Prior to setting up Chapter, Gareth was Chief Strategy Officer and Partner at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners and the Head of Planning at Modernista! In his decade in the US, Gareth has led strategy on brands including Google, Cisco, TD Ameritrade, the NBA, General Motors, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. and (RED). What you’ll learn about in this episode: Gareth’s decision to venture off and start Chapter What makes Chapter truly unique How to build a business model and hire employees when the work you do is very diverse Becoming a client’s partner through absolute transparency How to generate new business when you’re in the project based business Creating ideas and solutions vs creating “stuff” How Chapter develops and retains its staff The importance of transparency with your employees How Gareth’s perspective has changed since making the jump into ownership Things agencies can do to move away from widget sales to selling ideas and problem solving Ways to Contact Gareth Kay: Twitter: @garethk Company Twitter: @chaptersf Email: gareth@chaptersf.com We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support

Rohit Bhargava is a non-obvious trend curator and an expert in helping brands and leaders be more influential. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books on topics as wide ranging as the future of business, building a brand with personality, and why leaders never eat cauliflower. Rohit has advised hundreds of global brands as the Senior Vice President of Global Strategy & Planning at Ogilvy and with his own firm, Influential Marketing Group. He also teaches marketing at Georgetown University. A two-time TEDx speaker, Rohit has keynoted events in 31 countries and is regularly featured as a marketing expert by media such as The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and NPR. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Working as a solopreneur vs. working in an agency Rohit’s trend report that started as a blog post Habits for being a trend spotter Big trends for 2016 VR: How Virtual Reality can become important to agencies Data overload: what will happen when all the data available to different parties eventually gets pooled together? Understand your clients’ true needs and becoming their true partner Architecting an Innovation Day to open up your clients’ wallets How to teach trend-creating thinking to employees coming out of college Ways to Contact Rohit Bhargava: Website: www.rohitbhargava.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rohitbhargava Twitter: @rohitbhargava “Non Obvious” Book Website: nonobviousbook.com More Books: www.rohitbhargava.com/books-publications   We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Tom Martin, author of “Invisible Sale,” has been in the agency life for many years. He has spent 20 years driving new business for agencies. In 2010, he created Converse Digital, an agency that focuses on doing business differently. What you’ll learn about in this episode: How new business has changed over the years Why clients no longer believe in hiring just one agency How to define your value to your clients when delivering ideas instead of “stuff” Correctly positioning your agency in the days when your client first discovers you Painless Prospecting: how to get great leads to find you Can Painless Prospecting work for generalists? The risks of delegating the Painless Prospecting process What your content has to do for your Painless Prospecting process to work Why giving away your secret sauce is never going to implode your business Tom’s propinquity theory on marketing today What you can do right now to get started on the business development path discussed in this episode Ways to Contact Tom Martin: Website: www.conversedigital.com Twitter: @TomMartin Book: "Invisible Sale" We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Ron Baker is the founder of VeraSage Institute, a leading think tank dedicated to educating professionals internationally, and a radio talk-show host called The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy. Ron is the author of seven best-selling books, including “The Firm of the Future,” “Pricing on Purpose,” and “The Soul of Enterprise: Dialogues on Business in the Knowledge Economy,” co-authored with Ed Kless. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why Ron believes that the billable hour and the timesheet need to go Value pricing: the differences between different pricing plans Ways to add in additional value that isn’t more “stuff” How to start a value conversation The typical agency objections of value pricing and why they’re false How to succeed at the transition to value pricing Other kinds of mistakes agencies make when shifting towards value pricing The major benefits for focusing on value and the customer Action steps that agencies can take when deciding whether or not to utilize value pricing Ways to Contact Ron Baker: Website: www.verasage.com Email: ron@verasage.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ronbaker1 Twitter: @ronaldbaker Radio Talk Show: www.thesoulofenterprise.com Ron's Books: "The Firm of the Future" "Pricing on Purpose" "The Soul of Enterprise: Dialogues on Business in the Knowledge Economy" We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Drew McLellan is the Top Dog at Agency Management Institute. He has also owned and operated his own agency over the last 20-years. And all through the year, he straddles the fence of working in his agency and working with 250+ small- to mid-size agencies in a variety of ways. AMI works with agency owners by: Leading agency owner peer groups Offering workshops for owners and their leadership teams Offering AE bootcamps Conducting individual agency owner coaching Doing on-site consulting Offering online courses in agency new business and account service Because he works with a lot of agencies every year — he has the unique opportunity to see the patterns and the habits (both good and bad) that happen over and over again. He has also written two books and been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Fortune Small Business. The Wall Street Journal called his blog “One of 10 blogs every entrepreneur should read.” What you’ll learn about in this episode: Common ways internal fraud is committed and ways to prevent it from happening How agencies are targeted with email scams The ways Drew has seen agency employees embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from agencies The systems you need to put in place to prevent fraud Ways to contact Drew McLellan: Email: drew@agencymanagementinstitute.com We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

When Google wants to explain innovation and marketing to the top brands in the world, they bring Mitch Joel to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and called him, "one of North America's leading digital visionaries." Mitch Joel is President of Mirum – a global digital marketing agency operating in 20 countries with over 2500 employees (although he prefers the title, Media Hacker). He has been named one of the top 100 online marketers in the world and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Mirum’s unique structure Generalists vs specialists: the philosophical and financial reasons agencies should specialize instead of generalizing How to figure out if a client is a good fit for your agency Mad Men vs Math Men: how to blend creative and data Why it’s more important than ever to stay hungry and keep learning everything you can Do your homework: how to balance learning time with time spent on client work “Algorhythm”: Mitch’s upcoming book Tools Mitch uses for consistent learning Ways to Contact Mitch Joel: Website: mitchjoel.com Agency website: www.mirumagency.com We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Jody Sutter started her career in sales and ended up working in agencies leading the new business teams. Today she runs The Sutter Company, a business development consultancy. She spends a lot of time working with agencies to take a more proactive approach to growing their business with a special emphasis on how they communicate and tell their unique story. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why strong writing is more important than ever in our digital age The major mistakes that agencies make when presenting themselves in writing How to avoid making the big mistakes agencies make when responding to RFPs Why editing is so important for improving your team’s writing, how to get good at it, and what you should keep in mind if you are outsourcing the editing How agencies can differentiate themselves through storytelling The Pixar pitch The “5 things that you can do to make your writing better right away” checklist What you need to do to assess whether or not your writing needs improvement Ways to Contact Jody Sutter: Website: www.thesuttercompany.com Email: jody@thesuttercompany.com Twitter: @jodysutter Resources: Points of Contact Matrix Pixar Pitch/Writer’s Checklist We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Nick Westergaard is a strategist, speaker, author, and educator. He is the chief brand strategist at Brand Driven Digital, where he helps organizations build better brands online. He teaches at the University of Iowa in the Tippie College of Business, is a regular columnist on The Cedar Rapids Gazette, and is also the host of the popular podcast, “On Brand.” What you’ll learn about in this episode: How Nick took his traditional agency and transitioned it to becoming a digital powerhouse The differences and similarities between traditional and digital marketing and why they really aren’t all that different Social Brand Forum: Brand Driven Digital’s yearly live event The business strategy behind having a live event Why you should get out and attend events The importance of prioritizing your agency as a client Why experimentation is so important for your agency’s success Ways to Contact Nick Westergaard: Website: www.branddrivendigital.com Twitter: @NickWestergaard We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!