Build a Better Agency Podcast

Latest Episodes:

EP 433: An HR expert's perspective on hiring and managing talent with Vicky Brown Jan 22, 2024

Show notes

It's clear we can't keep hiring and managing talent as we used to. Back in the days of the pandemic, and then The Great Resignation right after that, we were afraid to set boundaries and ask for what we needed out of fear of losing great team members.

The way we work isn't the same, either. Many of us are now remote or hybrid, and a fully in-office team isn't as common as it used to be. So, we have to adapt and change how we hire, train, and problem-solve with our teams scattered all over the place.

It's a mess sometimes, and many of you probably wish we could go back to the simpler days of training new hires through simple observation and shadowing. But we can still make this work for the new era of work.

Vicky Brown is sharing some of her HR superpowers with us this week so we can learn about hiring, managing, and retaining great talent, regardless of the work environment. The simple answer is that we must roll up our sleeves and invest time in our people from the very first interview.

Join us to dive deeper into the world of HR to discover how to be a better leader while hiring and managing talent so you can make your agency more successful in return.

A big thank you to our podcast's presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They're an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

Leadership's perspective on remote, hybrid, and in-office workplace structures
Agency owner fears regarding hiring and managing talent
Getting agency teams engaged and feeling fulfilled with their work
How new hire training has changed in the new era of work
Hybrid work is the future
In-person creative brainstorming is still important in agencies
Finding enthusiastic hires who remain passionate and hungry at work
How to do behavior interviewing for potential new hires
Conducting mid-year HR checkups for taxes, payroll errors, benefits, etc.
How to talk to employees about coming back to the office

EP 432:Helping agencies become AI consulting powerhouses with Casey Meehan Jan 15, 2024

Show notes

This year, agencies are in for many industry changes — and fast. We've been scratching the surface a little with AI ever since ChatGPT first dropped, but even since then, everything has changed drastically. To start the year, we're shifting our focus to learning how agencies can use AI tools to become AI consulting powerhouses.

Many agency owners and employees have been learning how to integrate AI tools into their day-to-day over the past year or so, from writing, planning, research, and more. Now, it's time to take it to the next level (and to our clients).

This week, Casey Meehan shows us how agencies can become thought leaders and subject matter experts for their clients using AI tools. Over his time as an agency leader, he has shifted from traditional marketing and PR work to creating content repurposed for AI consulting to teach clients how to harness the power of AI and create personalized content for their audience.

Although there's something new in the AI market each day, it's an exciting time to take advantage and lead the movement toward becoming thought leaders and experts for our clients through AI consulting work.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

Making the shift from traditional marketing and PR to AI consulting work and content creation
The cornerstone and cobblestone approach to content creation
The new look of agency staffing with AI tools
Using AI to make the agency function better internally
Bringing personalized results into the sales process with "Just in Time Content"
The different modalities of AI chatbots and their unique skills
Publishing and promoting content through cited subject matter experts
Where agency leaders should be setting their sights on AI tools

EP 431: Your new content marketing strategy roadmap for 2024 with Robert Rose Jan 08, 2024

Show notes

EP 430: What agency employees said will make them stick around longer with Drew McLellan Jan 01, 2024

Show notes

There's no other way to spin it — agency owners had it rough in 2023. And while we spent all year going over the struggles of agency ownership, one universal positive kept coming up with everyone.

Your teams are better than ever, and you want to learn how to keep your agency employees happy, so they stick around.

So this week, we're turning to some of our Agency Edge research to dive into what agency employees said are the key factors that keep them happy and willing to stick around for the long haul.

While the assumption is that you're already fairly compensating them and creating a fair and inclusive workplace, there are some less obvious things that really matter to agency employees. They could even be the difference between a star player staying for 10 to 15 years instead of three or four.

This episode will teach you the dos and don'ts of increasing employee retention and really going above and beyond to help your teams feel valued and cared for. It's got a lot of valuable tips and tricks, so if you're curious about how to keep your agency employees satisfied, don't miss out on this episode.

For 30+ years, Drew McLellan has been in the advertising industry. He started his career at Y&R, worked in boutique-sized agencies, and then started his own (which he still owns and runs) agency in 1995. Additionally, Drew owns and leads the Agency Management Institute, which advises hundreds of small to mid-sized agencies on how to grow their agency and its profitability through agency owner peer groups, consulting, coaching, workshops and more.

In This Episode:

Recognizing that not every agency employee will want to stick around forever, and it's not personal
The one thing you should not do to earn employee loyalty
Why offering equity or partnership in the company is almost always a bad idea
What agency employees actually want from agency owners
Setting quarterly growth goals for employees
Creating space to truly get to know your people beyond work
Rewarding employees for their effort fairly, but not equally
Getting agency employees involved in deciding their own perks for excellent work
Simply ask your employees what will make them stay
Get personal and thoughtful with your praise

EP 429:Core principles to help agency owners own their day with intentionality with Doug Fleener Dec 25, 2023

Show notes

It's easy to get caught up in the chaos of day-to-day agency life. We all have a million things on our to-do lists, and they just keep growing. But part of being a successful agency owner is being present and open to what's right in front of you.

Doug Fleener knows all about what it means to run a business intentionally. With history as a business owner and a rock bottom moment that led him into recovery, he's had to learn some truths about life the hard way. But from that, he has developed some core principles to help business and agency owners live more intentionally.

His six core principles can help anyone start their day on the right foot to make incremental but powerful life changes. All it takes is one day to wake up and decide to make positive changes, and if you take anything away from this episode, it's that intentional actions create intentional results.

This episode is packed with action items that are not only simple concepts but also easy to implement. I have no doubt that Doug will leave you feeling inspired and ready to start 2024 with a fresh set of eyes and a renewed inspiration to take intentional action toward making your year great.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

Learning to live in the day and making each day a little better
Taking responsibility of yourself to make positive change
Intentional actions create intentional results
Practicing relentless simplicity in life and business
Thinking of 3 things you can improve each day
Micro habits that feed greater improvements
Helping others to help yourself
Mastering the ability to be present
Having more intentionality throughout your day
Implementing the 6 core principles and applying them to your business

EP 428: How to create a productive hybrid work environment with Felice Ekelman and Julie Kantor Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

Remote and hybrid work environments are here to stay. While some agencies have successfully returned to the office full-time, and some may have never even left, many agencies are still struggling to crack the code on hybrid work without upsetting their employees.

It's a difficult balance, but it has become ever-important as these demands begin cementing into our work culture. And if you're working with creatives, the conversation around a hybrid workplace has probably been even louder.

So this week, we're joined by Felice Ekelman and Julie Kantor, authors of Thrive With a Hybrid Workplace: Step-by-step Guidance From the Experts, to teach us how to approach these conversations and transitions from a legal and psychological point-of-view.

We all know that as agency owners, there's nothing more expensive or as valuable as our employees, and we just want them to be happy working with us. So tune in to learn how to have these conversations and set expectations around hybrid work environments so we can all have a better agency together.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

The making of the Thrive With a Hybrid Workplace book
The shifts and trends of hybrid and remote work post-covid
Creating a balance in a hybrid work environment
The challenges for agency leaders in creating a collaborative hybrid work environment and maintaining communication
What type of training agency leaders need to build a thriving hybrid work culture
How to develop productivity benchmarks without the ability to observe in person
Getting agency leaders out of the fear mindset and setting appropriate boundaries with agency employees

EP 427: Building an innovation strategy to co-create ideas with your clients with Atif Rafiq Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

Agencies are under more pressure than ever to be innovative. While it used to be easier to solve your clients' problems and wow them with a great solution, these days, it's much harder to do that with the bar constantly moving. This is why it's essential to develop an innovation strategy.

Wouldn't it be nice to bring a lofty, innovative idea to a client and have them be over the moon and excited to be a part of the process? With the right innovation strategy, that dream can be a reality.

An innovation strategy can help your team jumpstart the creative and problem-solving process while leaving room for co-creation and collaboration with your clients. This streamlines the creative process and takes the pressure off you and your team to have all the answers while you search for the solutions to their problems.

Tune in to learn how your agency can become problem-solving and innovation experts by asking the right questions, enacting decisive decision-making, and building out a creative workflow.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

The hardest part of innovation
Collaboration is key for driving innovation
Boiling down the "how" of problem-solving and innovation
Creating an upstream methodology — the question-asking stage
Getting a client to buy into an innovative idea
The importance of collaboration and outside input for an innovation strategy
The landmines to be aware of in the upstream production stages
Workshopping ideas to produce quicker outcomes

EP 426: Dialing in your biz dev strategy for 2024 with Lee McKnight Jr. Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

It's no secret that 2023 has been a rough year for most agency owners. Between the elongated sales cycles, shrinking prospect budgets, and the need to re-evaluate some of our own expenses that have been piling up, many of you are feeling burnt out.

But it's not all bad news. There's still time to take a fresh look at how you want to run your agency in 2024 and pull yourself out of the trenches if 2023 has gotten the better of you. This episode will focus on what we can be doing differently in 2024 in our biz dev strategy, which will make next year a little less stressful for us.

We're taking a look at the data that Lee McKnight Jr. and his agency have compiled from many agency owners about their experiences throughout 2023. And while many of you were plagued with lower-budget prospects, dried-up client referrals, and slowed client growth, this leaves a glimmer of hope that the pendulum will swing the other way for us next year.

So don't miss this episode to learn how to dial in your biz dev strategy and prepare for what we hope is an exciting new year full of new prospects, bigger returns, and, of course, happier agency owners.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

The strain on obtaining new business in 2023 and its effects on agencies
How agency owners have been coping with elongated sales cycles
The importance of staying vigilant in business development even when work is abundant
Shrinking prospect budgets and diminishing returns on new business
Keeping up with client outreach, especially in an elongated sales cycle
The biz dev strategies that still work to obtain new business
What to expect from a new business manager
The four prongs of biz dev that will still get you out of a rut
What outbound efforts are still working on clients
The biz dev strategies that are working and what to avoid in the new year

EP 425: The agency owner's game plan for 2024 with Drew McLellan Nov 27, 2023

Show notes

2023 is quickly coming to a close, so it's time for agency owners to start thinking about the year ahead to come up with their 2024 game plan. With holiday hibernation quickly approaching for most agency owners, this is the perfect time to reflect on 2023 and start thinking about what we want to improve for 2024.

Many of us are coming out of a less-than-ideal year that threw us a lot of curveballs. So, if this year wasn't your year, what game plan can you develop to make 2024 even better?

This episode is packed with a ton of action items that will set you on the path to getting your agency on the right track as soon as you're back from the holidays. Whether you're looking to tighten up your budget, grow your existing clients, reevaluate your team, or even find more time to do something memorable this year, this episode has everything you need to do to make your game plan and stick to it.

In This Episode:

Making a game plan aligned with the legacy you want to leave
Creating a budget and aligning your expenses to it
Connecting better with your team to help them grow
Have a career path for every position
Improving your leadership team, including the agency owner
Identifying A, B, C, and D players
Having a growth plan for existing clients
Finding your niche and owning it
How will you show your clients and team you appreciate them?
What is one thing that would make 2024 unbelievable for you?

EP 424:The key to winning over right-fit clients in any economy with Jason Swenk Nov 20, 2023

Show notes

Finding right-fit clients, especially in a slow economy, is always a frustrating task. For the past year or so, agency owners have been expressing more and more frustrations over finding and keeping good clients at the right price point.

In this episode, Jason Swenk shares some tips and tricks about what he sees agencies doing right when it comes to client acquisition that keeps them profitable even in the toughest economies. He shares the 3 main channels where agencies can find right-fit clients — hint: it's got nothing to do with referrals — that position your agency as a must-have problem solver for prospects.

If you're ready to find the perfect clients, get paid what you're worth (or more), and make them feel like they can't live without your services, this is your episode. You'll learn some tangible tips for impressing clients and staying ahead of the curve to keep them interested.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

What the agencies who are getting new clients are doing right
Getting clear on the types of clients you want to go after
Why you shouldn't rely on referrals as your main client go-getter
Figuring out how to solve your clients' problems innovatively
The 3 main channels you should be resourcing to find right-fit clients
Why podcasting is one of the greatest inbound sales channels
Creating an attractive offer ladder without using retainers
What does the agency of the future look like?
2 of the biggest challenges agencies need to anticipate for the future

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