The Innovative Agency

What a tough year for everyone. (Tough does not describe it.) Some agencies have done well, though. Some of the lessons they've learned are translatable beyond 2020. My recent guest on The Innovative Agency, Anson Sowby, Cofounder and CEO at Battery, shared how to thrive in uncertain circumstances. What we talked about: - Growing and scaling an independent agency - How being a serial entrepreneur affects your 2nd agency - Takeaways from 2020 beyond the pandemic To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Just like a tree grows toward the best sunlight, your agency needs to be open to innovation in order to survive. This is how it worked out for David Searns and his agency, Haley Marketing. Due to the evolving landscape of his market, David found himself in a very particular niche. In this episode, David and I discussed: - Looking for opportunities to pivot - Adjusting to demands in your market - Optimizing your assets - Finding a narrow niche To hear this episode and many more like it, subscribe to The Innovative Agency Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Your proposal sucks. And by the way, your content is not nearly specific enough. And if you're going to sell to entrepreneurs, you need to throw B2B out the window and embrace B2E. In this episode, I interview Maggie Patterson, Owner & Editorial Director at Scoop Studios, about why she embraces specificity as a lead gen approach. What we talked about: - Be specific about your 3-5 core competencies (& get your clients to do the same) - How B2E is different than B2B - What it means to take ownership of the result To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

The design of a content marketing program seems simple - most agencies do it every day. But it creates challenging questions for agencies and clients: What metrics of success should be used? How are we going to collaborate? How does each piece of content fit into a client's broader marketing strategy? These are questions every agency has faced, and Xenia Muntean knew these issues far too well at her digital marketing agency. So, she founded Planable — a tech company designed to help approve and create content. On this episode of #BestofTIA, Xenia gives agencies 4 ways they can ensure a smooth content creation process with their clients. Xenia is the CEO & Co-Founder of Planable and a Forbes 30 Under 30. To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Mixed reality is how your customers want to interact with your brand. Why haven't you made it there yet? In this episode, I interview Taj Forer, Cofounder & CEO at Fabl, and Daina Middleton, advisor to Britelite, about what mixed reality means for agencies. What we talked about: - What mixed reality is & isn't - How the last 9 months have accelerated technology - The importance of putting customer experience first - How agencies should respond to mixed reality - Tons of examples of successful pivots into mixed reality To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

How do you stand out in a cluttered space? A couple of ways: education & diversification. In this episode, I interviewed Kurt Ouchida, Managing Partner at Braintrust Agency, about how he pivoted by positioning his agency as an educator for his clients. What we talked about: - Delving deeply into digital (with Braintrust's Director of Digital Marketing, Dustin Klein) - How the language of hospitality can communicate shared goals with other industries - What it's been like in Las Vegas with hospitality & gaming hit so hard - Fostering relationships by being available To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

What happens when you can no longer scale up? Or your core business just got commoditized and now everybody thinks they can DIY it on the cheap? Keith Scandone, creator of O3 World, a digital product agency, found his company in just that place about eight years ago. After building websites for traditional marketing agencies and their clients, O3 World suddenly faced unexpected competition from Wordpress. Who needed an agency to build a website anymore? Keith knew he'd have to innovate if O3 World was to stay open. But while everyone likes to talk about innovation, who knows what it means? Or how to do it? Keith tells us all about how to innovate in the face of technological change in this episode of the #BestofTIA series. To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

"Values-based" is a great SEO keyword, isn't it? It can be so much more than that, though. If values drive your agency to the point of shaping your entire business model, you might be ready for B Corp certification. In this episode, I interview Ben Herman, President and Co-Founder at Mad Fish Digital, about values-based businesses. What we talked about: - Becoming a B Corporation - The certification process & whether it affects your profits - How to keep a focus on culture - Where to start on promoting employee engagement and agency culture Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: - The B Corp certification website - Scaling Up by Verne Harnish - Officevibe To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Agency owners go straight to global when they think SEO, but their clients need them to think local. If you're a brick-and-mortar, having local SEO strategies in place is a must. In this episode, I interview Monica Garrett, Founder & CEO at Margaux Agency, about how the fitness and wellness niche has pivoted in the last 6 months. What we talked about: - Her amazing experience of moving her agency into the fitness niche - Branding in gyms means encouraging ambassador employees - Local SEO tips & insights To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

If you hear ROI, you're either groaning or super excited. These are the 3 letters that most agency owners talk about, regardless of whether their return on investment philosophy is a source of joy. In this episode of #BestofTIA, I interview Mike Krass, co-founder and CEO at MKG Marketing, about why he loves having the ROI conversation with clients, prospects, and teams. What we talked about: - Choosing measurable metrics & client verticals - Doing vetting and discovery with scorecards - Why agencies really get hired. To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.