Smart Agency Masterclass With Jason Swenk: Podcast For Digital Marketing Agencies

After deciding to leave the mean streets of LA, where he worked as a police officer for 13 years, Jason Smith started working at the leading Facebook and Instagram advertising agency Tier 11. He eventually moved to create his own company Spotlight Social Media Consulting in 2016. Today, he joins us to talk about the key factors that have helped him grow his team and making the decision to bring a VP of Operations. 3 Golden Nuggets Having a good foundation to grow your agency. For Jason, an integral part of growing an agency is having a great team that have your back and know what they’re doing and are team players. People you can trust with the tasks that you’re delegating and also, why not, people that you like. On hiring a VP of Operations. Many people are afraid of this step because of the cost it entails. But Jason has seen his agency really evolve since hiring his VP of Ops. Now his agency has SOPs, there are clear steps to bringing new employees and clients onboard, and a new project management system.

True to his gambler style when it comes to making business decisions, entrepreneur Eric Siu bought a failing marketing agency for $2 back in 2014. By refocusing the agency's vision from an SEO agency to a full-service digital marketing agency, Single Grain has grown into a full team of expert marketers who share Eric's vision and passion for constant growth. Now he joins us today to talk about how you can use a game mentality to grow your agency by constantly leveling up. 3 Golden Nuggets Lack of vision leads to making mistakes. Eric talks about the time when he almost lost everything. He says that, at the time, he had no notion of culture and no vision, and it almost cost him everything. Luckily, he was able to turn it around. The game of life. The philosophy he shares in his book and has implemented in his agency is to look at it as a game. You need to be constantly leveling up. There are always new challenges and, if you’re not where you wanted to be yet is because you haven’t beat the current level. It’s

With just a little over two years as the CEO and co-founder of The Influencer Marketing Factory, Alessandro Bogliari and his team have built an amazing global influencer marketing agency. They help brands and companies launch influencer marketing campaigns on TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube. Alessandro joins us today to talk about how to identify trends and what to do in order to really separate your agency from everybody else. 3 Golden Nuggets 1. Starting on a budget. Growing his company from just two workers to 20 in a short amount of time, Alessandro highlights the importance of being able to grow your agency on a budget. You can still get amazing results on a budget rather than spending money you don’t have. 2. Don’t just hop on a trend. Every time you create content for social media you should always take into account the specific medium, demographics, and type of user experience. Don’t just hop on the new hot thing before you understand it.    3. Be curious. Dedicate some time to research, listen, and re

When Ben Childs founded Digital Reach in 2011, his mission was to create an agency that operated with integrity, honesty, and skill. Over the years, he has grown to become a leader in the B2B digital marketing space throughout the country, leading a team of 38 people. Today he's here to talk about the things he wishes he knew in order to scale his agency faster. 3 Golden Nuggets Raising prices is terrifying, but necessary. Ben recalls a time when he thought that raising prices was a risky move. But when a new Director of Sales doubled the company's prices, he found that clients would take them more seriously and expected a higher value service. A little outside perspective makes all the difference. Having a network of other agency owners, like the mastermind, can help you get some perspective. Sometimes the answer you're looking for is right in front of you but you're too close to see it. Sometimes you did not do your due diligence and need to be held accountable.  Competition and differentiating yourself. B

Chris Dreyer is the founder and CEO of Rankings.io which is an agency specializing in SEO for personal injury law firms. Chris believes in being super niched in order to be successful for his clients. He says it takes extreme focus to deliver great SEO results and therefore his agency does not offer any other services or work with clients outside the legal industry. Chris is on the show to talk about how he's grown his agency beyond the first million and is now looking at an 8-figure revenue. 3 Golden Nuggets What got you to 7-figures won't get you to 8-figures. Referrals aren't scalable. Realizing this, Chris focuseds on marketing and has an employee dedicated to marketing for the agency, rather than just relying on referrals. Revenue doesn't mean anything if you're not profitable. As the agency revenue grew, so did expenses netting the same profit. Chris implemented the principles of Profit First and the agency's profitability has improved because of it. Get and keep the right people in the right seats. Wh

Brent Weaver is the CEO and founder of uGurus. He leads the vision for the company and creates educational programs that help agency owners work on their business to drive additional revenues, increase profits, and create freedom in their life. Brent is here to share his insight on referrals and the importance of choosing a niche for your agency. 3 Golden Nuggets Niching helps you fish in the right pond. Figuring out a niche where you can be profitable and deliver the best results is "fishing in the right pond" according to Brent. The key is testing out different ponds in order to find the best fit for your agency. Pareto Principle: 80% of outcomes are from 20% of input. Is worthwhile and valuable to determine if you're spinning your wheels on small clients that aren't helping contribute to your revenue. Going through this exercise is key to being more profitable. There are 3 marketing engines agencies need. These are:  content, partnerships, and paid ads. Relying on referrals is not scalable. It's like sitt

Fran Biederman-Gross has grown her firm Advantages from a local printing business to a global end-to-end communications agency. As the CEO and founder an Inc. 500 company, she leads her clients on an invaluable journey of brand discovery that reveals their 3 keys: Purpose, Values, and Story. She joins the Smart Agency podcast to get really deep with understanding your purpose and communicating it in a way that gets your team and clients behind it. 3 Golden Nuggets The quickest way to become profitable to attach it to your why. There is an overarching commonality in everything that you do. Understanding it and harnessing it for your business is where profitability becomes possible. Company core values don't exist. Values are very individual. They can be shared within an organization or community but not dictated. You want to align yourself with a team that shares your values and can contribute in a way that supports them. Knowing your why will win more agency business. As Simon Sinek puts it, "people don't bu

Mark Sullivan is an agency owner who has also spent over 22 years in public safety. He has seen people in the best and worst of times. When he’s not working as a firefighter, he is the founder and creative director of the 7-figure agency he started in 2014. Mark is on the show to talk about the similarities between fighting fires and running an agency. He’s also sharing the #1 lesson he wishes he had known much sooner. 3 Golden Nuggets Running an agency can be like fighting fires. Your clients are trusting your agency with their livelihood, the same way firefighters rely on each other to get out of a fire. Everyone has to have trust in order to be successful. Trust your gut when a client doesn't feel right. One thing Mark wishes he had known sooner is that it's OK to walk away from a client that is a bad fit. You don't have to take on every prospect. It's better to take a chance at offending them than add stress to yourself and your team. Empower your team to make decisions. Stand behind your team on the dec

Steve Pockross has been the CEO of Verblio for nearly five years. As CEO, he applies leading marketplace and SaaS principles to create an industry-leading content creation platform with 3,000 U.S.-based writers supporting the creation of premium content at scale in every niche. Verblio has grown over 400% in the last four years. So, Steve is sharing his insight on why it's important to lead by putting people first and how that contributes to your agency's growth as a whole. 3 Golden Nuggets Exhibit your agency's values. Don't just say what your values are but actually exhibit them. Lead by example and personify the company culture you wish to set. The key to finding great talent is marketing to them. Treat your recruitment like you would a client. Write a unique job description that appeals to the right person and then market to them. Attract agency talent the way you would attract customers for your clients. Three keys to putting people first: (1) willingness to sacrifice other areas, (2) constantly seek fe

Laura Tolhoek is the owner of Essential HR, the business she started three years ago in order to provide HR relief to small businesses. Her company provides an ultra-flexible way of managing HR so businesses can focus on their core operation and growing their business. Laura shares the best practices and tips on how to hire and fire digital agency employees. She covers everything from creating your employer brand to the details of the offer letter and how to protect yourself when letting someone go. 3 Golden Nuggets Building an employer brand is as important as your agency brand. The employer brand is the reputation your agency has as a workplace. It defines the experience you're giving your employees before they even come on board. An interview guide helps guide your internal process. An effective interview guide maintains consistency throughout the interview process as well as helps narrow down who and what you're looking for in the position. A well-written offer letter is essential. The offer letter outli

Lacie Edgeman is a Partner and VP of Finance at PrograMetrix. She has extensive experience in finance within the marketing and creative industry. Lacie prides herself in helping hold her agency to high standards while keeping their projects on budget without sacrificing vision or quality. She is on the show to share the importance of niching down in order to scale. She also explains the difference between growing and scaling and why both are important. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM 3 Golden Nuggets  Grow your profit margins with a niche. Lacie says without a niche, you're looking at 10% margins, but with a niche, it's 25%. With a specialization, revenue increases becoming more efficient, yielding a net profit increase. There is a difference between growing and scaling your agency. It's important to know the difference and know when it's time for each. Growing requires the investment of time and resources. Scaling means bringing in more revenue without additional expenses. Use

Jacque Spitzer is the CEO of Raindrop, the direct-to-consumer marketing agency he founded in 2014. He's committed to bringing fresh, new creative to his agency and their clients. Jacque's been involved in some of the most creative and entertaining videos on the internet. And he's sharing some of the lessons learned and insider secrets on making great videos for your agency brand. Generate more leads when your video ads don't suck! 3 Golden Nuggets Test your video creative to figure out what messaging resonates. These are solution statements that typically come from the sales or customer service team. Don't assume the target audience already knows something. Instead, test out four or five statements to see which ones stick. Make sure you have the right creative talent. We all think we're funny. But if you're trying to go for humor in videos, copywriters need a comedian's help. There's comedic timing and delivery to consider. Be authentic, be yourself. Don't worry too much about appearing goofy. In order for y

Building Your Agency Brand Is Easier Than You Think Juju Hook was a corporate brand strategist for over 30 years, both on the client-side, as well as agency-side. She built a successful boutique agency from scratch in 2000. Her agency developed a reputation for smart, creative work with solid results working with big brands in the banking and auto industries. Today Juju shares lessons on the dangers of letting clients negotiate prices and how you can stop it. She also shares how to be more strategic and get paid for strategy rather than allowing clients to treat your agency like a commodity, and why branding your agency based on your values will help land the best clients. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM 3 Golden Nuggets Be invaluable to clients and stop being an order-taker. When you understand the client's financials and goals you move from offering project management to being paid for strategy. Sharing your personal brand helps you align with the right clients. The best bran

Manuel Suarez is the Founder and CEO of AGM. Founded in 2015, AGM is a full-service, social media marketing agency that focuses on helping brands acquire the most valuable commodity today: attention. Manuel is sharing how he rapidly grew his agency over $3 Million in the first five years. He attributes a lot of his success to being the face of his agency and exporting his knowledge both to build authority and to train his client. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM 3 Golden Nuggets Provide value aggressively. Earn trust and build authority by providing through social media, podcasting, speaking publicly. Successful agency owners are the face of the agency. That means you do not service accounts or work on deliverables. You are vision and strategy. You are the "what" but not the "how." Think Gary Vaynerchuk, who is CEO and the face of VaynerMedia but is not working with clients. Your #1 job is to continually learning and training. Stay on top of your game and export all your knowled

Nick Norris is a former United States Navy SEAL, now the CEO and co-founder of Protekt Products. He is a graduate of both the United States Naval Academy and Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL (BUD/S) Class 247. Upon completion of SEAL training in 2004, Nick assumed progressively higher positions of leadership within Naval Special Warfare. Nick is sharing how his leadership training in the SEALs can help entrepreneurs excel in business. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM 3 Golden Nuggets We are only limited by our minds. Most of what stands in our way is head trash and it just takes a shift in mindset in order to push yourself and succeed. Have humility and be humble enough to know you're not the expert in all things. This gives you the insight necessary to put the right people in the right seats and trust them to do their job effectively in order to grow your business. Preparedness is the key to conquering stress. Training scenarios and mission planning are at the core of what

Iris Shoor is the founder and CEO of Oribi, a web analytics tool. After two successful startups, she is growing her third startup. Oribi, an AI-based web analytics tool dedicated to making analytics easy for everyone, without the help from analysts and developers. (And, no code needed!) Iris is passionate about simple products, creative marketing, great UX, building a unique culture, and most of all—people. She's on the show talking about how she helps her team aspire to reach their goals with personal development. She also shares how your digital agency can show clients success on their funnels and campaigns by using a new analytics tool.   Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM 3 Golden Nuggets The best way to inspire your team is by understanding their personal needs for professional development. Understand their career goals and meet them there to encourage growth. Perks like free food and amenities are nice, ultimately not what retains really great team members.  Clients don't be

Want to work with big brands? Curious how other agencies get massive opportunities? Wonder how you can find top talent to take your agency to the next level? Amazing opportunities might be right in front of you and you don’t even know it. In this episode, we’ll cover: How to get opportunities to work with big brands. 3 Strategies to help you win more agency business. 2 Tips for hiring agency team members to help scale.   In this episode, I had the opportunity to chat with Colin Moffat, co-founder of Artemis Ward the branding agency he started with a former colleague. The two met while working for a big agency. However, six years ago, they decided to start their own agency after seeing a lot of cool work going to agencies smaller than theirs. Colin is on the show to talk about strategies that have gotten Artemis Ward opportunities to work with big brands How to Get Opportunities With Big Brands Colin says great business development effort comes down to relationships. Strong relationships are the key to succe

Have you ever struggled with upselling? Would you like to expand revenue from your current accounts? Want to get your team more involved in upselling? All it takes is some strategy and a change of mindset to reap the benefits of upsell opportunities. In this episode, we’ll cover: #1 worst agency sales mistake. What works for digital agency upselling? 2 ways to make upselling less salesy. Are you selling your agency short? How to train your agency team to upsell. Today I chatted with Daniel Hodge, Head of the Wix Partners. Danny and his team build relationships with digital marketing agencies. Over the years, he has seen and heard it all from digital agencies. Everything from what is work to what doesn’t plus all the good and bad strategies for growing digital agency business. He’s sharing some great ways you can improve your upsell strategies right away. #1 Worst Agency Sales Mistake There’s a ton of experts out there sharing best practices, but Danny said he’s actually seen a lot of “worst practices.” The

Are you still not convinced your agency needs a niche? Are you tired of spending your time on free consultations that don't convert? Converting a lead into revenue for your agency requires careful planning. If you want to convert and retain more clients, beware of these common mistakes. In this episode, we'll cover: 5 most common lead generation mistakes. Overcoming lead generation mistakes for digital agencies. I talked with Bob Sparkins, Sales and Marketing Manager for Leadpages. Known as "Bob the Teacher," he provides instruction to agency sales teams through podcasts and webinars. Bob has a ton to share about the biggest mistakes he sees agencies make when it comes to lead generation. 1. Failing to Specialize If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Find a niche for your agency. Bob says many new agencies make the mistake of believing they can do all things for all people. However, Bob says beyond the benefit of doing work you are passionate about, specializing in one industry or servi

The Agency Visionary and Integrator Are you a visionary or an integrator? How do you know, and how do you use it to grow your agency? Check yourself on these:  Got big goals for your agency but no idea how to get there? Spending too much time on the day-to-day operations when you would rather be leading? The world is filled with visionaries and integrators. With effort and understanding, you can harness the strength of both to grow your marketing agency. In this episode, we'll cover: What is the difference between a visionary and an integrator? 5 rules between an agency visionary and an integrator. Finding the missing piece to your agency puzzle. I talked to Mark Winters, co-author of the book, Rocket Fuel. Mark is an entrepreneur who has been directly involved in fourteen different businesses of varying sizes and industries throughout his life. He has started, sold, and even acquired businesses. During that time, Mark has learned the importance of having a visionary and an integrator in your agency leaders