The Innovative Agency

Intro The most valuable thing you have within your agency's inventory is the intellectual property you create. With the right strategy — your team could turn your IP into a standalone revenue stream(s). Agencies are creators — and because of that — agencies are IP generators every single day. In my opinion, agencies often overlook this because their business model tends to focus on monetizing the production — doing the stuff. But — I believe agencies can flip that script because the ideas and the way they get expressed in the strategies you develop for clients, the brands and campaigns you build — or whatever it might be — that's where the real money could be for the agency. If you're looking for new ways to think about profitable revenue streams for your agency in 2023 and beyond — then this is the episode you don't want to miss. I break down what I call the "IP Triangle" so you can take and apply all the steps to make going from IP to Income in 2023 possible. What you will learn in this episode: Why more than 50 percent of all agencies overlook the value and potential revenue streams their IP could represent How to use the "IP Triangle" to inventory the intellectual property that you most likely already have inside your agency How to harness all of the "gold dust" that's being scattered around every day within the walls of your agency and turn it into a highly profitable revenue stream How to protect your portfolio of trademarks, taglines, product and system names, etc How the value of your IP directly impacts the valuation of your agency Bio Sharon Toerek is Principal of Toerek Law, where she focuses her law practice on helping professionals in the advertising, marketing, and creative industries monetize their intellectual capital and manage the legal risks of their work. Sharon provides proactive, strategic counsel to marketing agencies on legal issues they continually face in their work, including agency-brand contracts, social media, content marketing legal compliance, and trademark and copyright protection. Sharon also created the Legal + Creative Agency Protection System, a subscription-based legal toolkit for marketing agencies. In 2018, Sharon launched The Innovative Agency, a podcast on innovation for marketing agency leaders. Resources: Website:https://www.legalandcreative.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharontoerek/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/SharonToerek

Intro This episode covers a few ways an agency can branch out, capitalizing on techniques they've perfected through conducting business, after the point at which they achieve self-sufficiency. David Riggs joins us to discuss how he led a web development and SEO agency to success and wrote his company's playbooks. He also speaks about how he now monetizes those core concepts to help other agencies reach the point of self-sufficiency, all while growing his own agency. What you will learn in this episode: How to document your agency's processes and operations. How to invest in newer companies and teach them how to succeed – and how to pick the right ones. The concept of trading playbooks – not money – for minority shares in a company. The 80/20 rule: finding the 20% that gets things moving for a new company; the other 80% will come with time. How problem-solving skills can be valuable for someone trying to break into this business model. Bio David Riggs, founder of Pneuma, a full-service web and SEO company, has been running businesses since he was seven years old. Where most kids dip their toes in lemonade sales, David did things a bit differently. He caught the "leadership bug" early on and never quit. He structured his first "venture debt deal" when he asked his grandmother to loan him ten dollars for ten percent of his earnings. A few years later, while living next to a golf course, David gathered all of the errant balls that landed in his backyard and sold them at a yard sale. He then started flipping sneakers (think Jordans and other in-demand brands) for profit. David graduated at the height of the pandemic in May 2020 and took a remote job that allowed him to continue working on Pneuma. David says, "I hired a co-founder to help run things while I closed deals on lunch breaks." Many mornings, he would appear on podcasts before starting his day job. He spent a lot of his time "focusing on how to get the momentum rolling." Eventually, he switched to Pneuma full-time and was joined by a CMO and CTO Resources: Website: https://www.pneumallc.co/ pneumallc.co/get-a-free-assessment LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwilliamriggs/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/pneumamedia/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwilliamriggs

Bio Simon Severino helps business owners in SaaS and Services run their company more effectively which results in sales that soar. Trusted by Google, Roche, Consilience Ventures, Amgen, and AbbVie, he created the Strategy Sprints™ Method that doubles revenue in 90 days by getting owners out of the weeds. Simon is a TEDx speaker, Contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, and member of the SVBS Silicon Valley Blockchain Society. Intro This episode explores why agencies get stuck and what they can do to breathe new life into their operations. Our guest, Simon Severino, offers a unique solution that hinges on paring service offerings down to the bare minimum. His consulting business has proven that once you've got your offering down to one service, it will be much easier to scale efficiently and effectively. What you will learn in this episode: The benefits of limiting your scope to a single service offering. How to standardize core processes. The value of showing clients that your offering actually works. How to avoid scope creep leaving your team unsatisfied with their work. A method to find out what the margin is on your current offering. Resources: Website:https://www.strategysprints.com/ LinkedIn: Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonseverino/ Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategysprints/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/strategysprints/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/strategysprints Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnSFgJd0CrsEdQdO21txR2A Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strategy-sprints/id1299008831 Book:https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Sprints-Accelerate-Growth-Business/dp/139860349X

Intro In this episode of the show, we discuss the ways agencies can better serve their clients' needs through outsourcing and white labeling their production work. And in the process, how they can add revenue streams by monetizing their agency's intellectual property. Brian Gerstner, president of White Label IQ, tells us how his agency did it, and also discusses its business model and its philosophies when it comes to identifying a niche and capitalizing on it to provide value to a specific group of customers – and how to determine what that group is. What you will learn in this episode: How to value your intellectual property as an agency. How to learn how your agency can provide value to a niche. Agencies who know what they're good at – what their wheelhouse is – are the ones who succeed in white labeling. Success tips for agencies working with white label partners. Why agency-to-agency collaboration and teamwork are so important in white labeling. Bio Brian Gerstner is the President of White Label IQ. He has over two decades of client-facing and agency-to-agency experience creating, directing, and leading teams to develop digital and software solutions to empower sales, communication, and digital operations. In his role with White Label IQ, he works with over 50 agencies providing white-labeled specialized skill sets for design, development, and paid media services. Resources: Website: https://www.whitelabeliq.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/white-label-iq/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhiteLabelIQ/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitelabel_iq?lang=en

Intro Consumers increasingly want to align with businesses that clearly align their marketing with their corporate purpose. Lyn Wineman, president and chief strategist at KidGlov, specializes in helping agencies define and effectively market via their purpose. She believes that your employees are your number one audience for launching your purpose statement; and once you do, they'll be the ones to help you live that purpose. What you will learn in this episode: How to define your purpose as an agency. Why businesses across the board are wanting to do something different, and how they live their purpose. How to use your purpose to stand out and set yourself apart. Why it's hard to recover as a business once you've lost your customers' trust. How purpose-driven marketing allows smaller entrepreneurial companies to compete with larger enterprises. How to leverage your B Corp certification into a marketing tool to further live your business' purpose. Bio Lyn Wineman is President and Chief Strategist at KidGlov. She is a marketing veteran with over 30 years of experience. She now leads a diverse team of passionate and talented professionals to drive growth through strategic branding and marketing communications. In addition to founding KidGlov, Lyn has played key leadership roles including: president, Pickering Creative Group; senior vice president, Swanson Russell Associates; and marketing director, Tabitha. Lyn has extensive brand advancement experience. She has been instrumental in marketing and branding efforts for regional and national organizations such as Immanuel, Lincoln Community Foundation, HopeSpoke, St. Monica's, Regency Shopping Center, MembersOwn Credit Union, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Union Bank and Bryan Health. Resources: Website:https://kidglov.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/kidglov/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/KidGlov Twitter:https://twitter.com/kidglov Agency for Change Podcast:https://kidglov.com/podcasts/ Blog:https://kidglov.com/blog/when-should-your-company-speak-out-on-social-issues-3-questions-every-purpose-driven-business-should-ask-itself/

Intro This episode focuses on the goals that an agency should outline to create a roadmap for their growth. Jon Morris joins the podcast today to discuss his innovative framework around how agencies should look at goal-setting. Having owned agencies, he brings a lot of experience to the discussion, particularly how he was able to grow his agency to two hundred and fifty employees before selling it. His formula highlights four different types of goals for growing an agency's revenue. What you will learn in this episode: How you can triage what's most important for your company, so you can outline concrete goals. How to define dollar amounts for each of the four agency goals: revenue, profit, cash, and infrastructure. What kinds of investments your agency should be making in training & recruiting, to maximize growth. How to organize your agency's accounts to create a clear-cut safety net and understand your company's outlook. The best way to institutionalize your agency's goals, so your team can understand them and ultimately help you achieve them. Bio Jon Morris is the founder & CEO of Ramsay Innovations and a serial entrepreneur. Prior to Ramsay, he established Rise Interactive in 2004 with prize money from his second-place finish in the University of Chicago's prestigious New venture Challenge. Over the next 16 years, he grew Rise from a one-person shop to one of the largest independent marketing agencies in the world. After selling Rise, Jon pondered his next move and realized that he was most energized when connecting and helping fellow entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Ramsay Innovations is the product of this inspiration. Like at Rise, Jon developed a proprietary, tech-enabled approach for surfacing hidden financial insights that drive critical business decisions. Ramsay Innovations' mission is to transform marketing agencies by providing them with world-class, agency-specific financial management and strategic planning at a fraction of the cost. In his spare time, Jon enjoys spending time with his wife, three daughters, and two dogs. He loves soccer, having played on his alma mater's team, Kenyon College, and he now coaches his daughter's two soccer teams. Resources: Website:https://ramsayinnovations.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmorrisramsayinnovations/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/RamsayInnovations Twitter:https://twitter.com/JonBMorris

Intro What could you do to position your agency for higher profitability and greater overall success? Rather than following the age-old trend of attempting to shave pennies off of costs to achieve higher profitability, Alyson Caffrey recommends focusing on optimizing backend operations like fulfillment and delivery instead. In this episode, she expounds on what agencies can do to increase efficacy by improving systems that function behind the scenes. What you will learn in this episode: How to identify the symptoms of a struggling agency. Why you should move away from billable rates to value-based pricing. How to start charging prospects for discovery, rather than doing it for free. What agency owners can do to secure the backend of their business. Why you should establish one "king" metric during the sales process. The benefits of productizing your intellectual property to increase profitability. Bio Alyson Caffrey is the founder of Operations Agency and co-creator of the Operations Simplified™ Framework. She's commonly referred to as 'The Wolf' among her clients because she just gets stuff done. Alyson is best known for helping streamline the back-end ops for a multitude of brands, but mostly digital and creative agencies. As a fractional COO for many high-growth businesses, Alyson fell in love with the results that clear ops bring to a service business. She and the team at Operations Agency are determined to help businesses thrive profitably, serve more clients and create high-performing teams. Alyson is a mom to two sons and enjoys spending her time at home with her growing family. Resources: Website: https://operationsagency.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyson-caffrey-26723990/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/operationsagency

Intro Agencies and clients have done a lot of online training in the past two years. During this time of agencies operating from behind their screens, Joel Erway has been helping agencies deploy webinars for their clients, regularly boosting their revenue to six figures and beyond. In this episode, Joel speaks about his expertise in the space, and why he thinks webinars are so effective in the age of online businesses. What you will learn in this episode: How to determine when a webinar is the right fit for your clients. There are two types of webinars: those for marketing-qualified leads, and those for sales-qualified leads. Learn when to deploy one versus the other. What questions an agency needs to be asking its clients to figure out which type of webinar is right for them. How interviews and "infocasts" can be an effective form of webinar, to help your audience stay engaged. Where webinars are headed over the next 1-2 years, and how you should expect them to evolve. Bio Joel is a master at helping Experts break 7-Figures without being expert marketers. People call Joel Erway "The Webinar Guy" but that's a tiny slice of his expertise. Joel's a master at crafting high-converting offers and helping Experts scale their business with High Ticket Courses. He authored the book, "High Ticket Courses" to help show Experts how to create leveraged offers to scale their business with programs valued at $2,000 or more. Between his own personal sales and his clients, he's helped generate $100+ million over the past few years. He's also a long-time podcaster and the host of Sold With Webinars and Experts Unleashed. Resources: Website: https://www.joelerway.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelerway/

Intro This episode is all about email marketing. Our guests, Alex Melone and Andrei Marin of CodeCrew, believe that utilizing email for customer acquisition and retention is an often underlooked opportunity for agencies to grow. They outline the tactics and techniques through which they've seen immense success for their clients. What you will learn in this episode: How to have a conversation with your client about implementing a plan for email marketing How to use email for customer acquisition – and more importantly, retention The importance of developing a testing framework to generate customer data How to analyze your data to determine how many emails you should be sending – "The sweet spot" How the pandemic has influenced the way email marketing performs Where email marketing as a tool for agencies is headed over the next 12-18 months Bio Alex Melone & Andrei Marin are 2 of the 3 co-founders at CodeCrew. With over 2 decades of combined experience in email marketing amongst the founding team and a team of 40 email experts, they've seen it all, done it all, and improved countless programs' email marketing ROI. Resources: Website: https://codecrew.us/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/codecrewinc/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/codecrew.us/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CodeCrewUS

Intro As an agency owner, you certainly collect data — but are you leveraging that data to fully empower your agency? Even if your agency has doubled in size recently, if you are not making money, something is missing. In this episode of The Innovative Agency, Marcel Pettipas explains how agency owners can start using their data to gain more insights into their business and get ahead of the curve. What you will learn in this episode: How to empower your agency using key data points The best ways to leverage financial reporting data in an agency How to share financial data with team members in an effective way The difference between "revenue" and "agency gross income (AGI)" and why it's important How time tracking can be leveraged to collect more information about your business How to bill customers based on perceived risk and value Bio Marcel Pettipas is the CEO & Co-Founder of Parakeeto, a company dedicated to helping agencies measure and improve their profitability by streamlining their operations and reporting systems, a problem he discovered while running his own agency back in his early 20's. He's also the fractional COO at Gold Front, an award-winning creative agency in San Francisco working with brands like Uber, Slack, Keap, and more. As well as the head strategic coach at SaaS Academy by Dan Martell, the #1 coaching program for B2B SaaS businesses in the world. In his work as a speaker, podcast host, and consultant, specializing in Agency Profitability Optimization, he's helped hundreds of agencies around the world improve profitability and cash flow in their business. Resources: Website: www.parakeeto.com Agency Profitability Toolkit www.marcelpetitpas.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-petitpas-20059588/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agencyprofitability Twitter: https://twitter.com/Parakeeto