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

Agency Partner: How to Grow a Successful Agency with One Have you ever considered running your business with an agency partner? It’s not easy being agency stakeholders and close friends but in this episode, these two ladies have it all figured out. Renee Warren and Heather Carson, co-founders of Onboardly, a demand marketing agency servicing clients in PR, content marketing, and social media talk with me about their secrets... Secrets to successful partnerships, secrets to their agency growth, and the one secret every new startup owner needs to know.   What’s the Secret to a Great Partnership? I usually tell people, “You either know the bad partner or you are the bad partner.” Not true for Renee and Heather. They get along like besties and they tell me it’s because they have rules for keeping business and friendship separate. They are careful to keep the lines drawn and clear about when they’re wearing their “friend hat” or their “founder hat”. They say this distinction has really made a lot of hard conversat

4 Quick Tips To Save You Time and Energy Prospecting Clients If you’ve ever spent time spinning your wheels on a pitch only to find out you weren’t talking to the decision maker, they don’t have the budget, or they have unrealistic time frame then here are four things you need to do right away. Think of N.B.A.T. before engaging in any new project conversation... N - Need: Ask what the specific needs are and what specific end results they’re expecting. Ask how this project fits in with the overall company vision. If they need to pull in another person to answer that question, hold onto that nugget of information. B - Budget: Ask for the the budget. More often than not, you won’t get an actual number so act like a reverse auctioneer… Start with a ridiculously high number saying, “Is your budget $500,000, or $400,000, maybe $300,000…?” They either give you a more realistic range or the name of someone who knows. Hold onto that nugget of information, too! A - Authority: Were they able to answer the questions abou

How to Be So Successful You Can Accelerate Business and Turn Clients Away Ever wonder what it would feel like to accelerate business to such a level you can turn down work? That’s exactly what my client, Matthew Arndt, CEO of Turbo Medical Marketing is able to do with his business. In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, Matt shares exactly what he has done to get to his agency to that point.   3 Ways to Accelerate Business Right Now... 1. Be Super Specific:  It Will Draw In the Right Clients Turbo Medical Marketing is a digital agency specializing in medical aesthetics (ie. cash pay medicine such a: plastic surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, medical spas and their related industry partners who work with the same practitioners). Wow. Super specific, right? Matt says he’s seen huge benefit from really laser focusing on a very specific market. Because the medical field is so huge, he had to pinpoint a particular audience to gear all his marketing efforts. He understands the challenges and issues the

How to Grow Your Agency with a Target Audience of One Sounds a bit crazy but today’s guest, Chris Brogan, says not only should you find your niche but why you should really drill down and create a target audience of a particular person to exert your marketing efforts. Chris is CEO of Owner Media Group as well as a long-time blogger, professional speaker, author and consultant on using media and engagement to build a better marketplace. He’s worked with brands like Coke, Google, Comcast, and Pepsi but he’s also been consulting with smaller businesses as well.   Why Focus on an “Audience of One” Target Audience When There are So Many People to Reach? “We live in a world where even a toilet knows you’ve left and automatically flushes but a person in the same room as you can be so absorbed in their phone they hardly notice you,” says Chris. Be the toilet. Help people feel seen and heard. To do this, identify a very specific target audience (don’t worry about reaching everyone and don’t worry about scaring people

4 Simple Steps to Generating More Agency Leads Immediately Ever find yourself churning out content but never seem to bring in more leads? In this episode of Ask Swenk, I show you how you can generate more agency leads without the need for more content from your team. Leads - we need them and they need us! Take a look at Google Analytics and find out which are your best performing blog posts. What content are you putting out there that is getting the most hits? Now, knowing what information your leads are seeking via your blog posts, revise your call to action on them… No more “Contact Me Now” crap. That is not a call to action, that is a passive cop out. Come up with a worksheet or template people can use to solve the problem or combat the issue that made them read your blog post in the first place. This should be something useful that you send after they opt-in with their email address ~ A.K.A. your lead magnet. Use the lead magnet as your call to action. Also, take another look at the headlines you’re usin

In this podcast, you’ll get a peek into the habits, thoughts, and actions of a self-made millionaire as I talk with Jaime Tardy whose website, podcast and book all titled Eventual Millionaire have been guiding and inspiring entrepreneurs for years. She shares insights into what makes them tick and how you can position yourself into millionaire status.   What Are Some Common Habits of a Millionaire? After interviewing over 200 millionaires Jaime says there are three common habits among them. Surprisingly, none of them have anything to do with daily routine such as diet or exercise however, she does find that they rarely watch much TV or movies - although, I am definitely the exception to the rule :) Instead, she has found common themes in their approach to business (and life): No Excuses Approach - To be prosperous you can’t let your excuses stand in your way. We all have our reasons not to do something (no money, no time, etc.) but these are solvable. The millionaire gets it done despite their reasons or exc

What's the Best Website Homepage for Converting Leads? Well, today you're in luck because we are going to talk about the best lead generation agency website ever. Their home page converts 60%! The optimum guy in funnel optimization, Zach Johnson - founder of GameChanger Profits, talks with me about his unique approach to converting leads. This is a must-listen episode.   Would you like to have your home page convert 30% or better yet... 60%? We’ve all seen those agency websites that brag on their own capabilities and show off an impressive client list. Not GameChangerProfits.com. Their visitors land on a webinar registration page. It’s all about giving value and converting a visitor into a lead by attending a webinar. That’s it. No bragging, no bells, no whistles. The coolest thing about this home page... It is a templated webinar registration page from Leadpages. It took them zero design hours, so they could focus on closing all those leads :) Why A Webinar? According to Zach, the cost of converting a prosp

In this episode, learn how to get over burn out by being intentional with your activities outside of work. Reset and recharge your brain so that you can be more focused. Also, how can you hire the right people that believe in your vision and help your agency grow.

Do You Struggle With DOING? Find Out What is Missing and Get UNSTUCK  If you are having issues getting things done so you can grow your agency it's not about hustling harder.... it's identifying what's missing.  In this AskSwenk episode, learn how you can gain clarity in order to get unstuck and stop being stalled out on just doing so you can start growing.

How to Overcome the NO MONEY or NO BUDGET Objection | AskSwenk | Ep #52 I get asked this all the time... many clients or prospects say they want to invest in their marketing but there isn't any money. But think of it this way -- if you needed emergency surgery you wouldn't say "I don't have the money." Instead, you would have the surgery and find the money for it later... because there is a sense of urgency. You need to create a sense of urgency for those clients. When you identify the problem and a sense of urgency, they'll find the money.

How Do I Get Off the Hamster Wheel and GROW MY AGENCY? | AskSwenk | Ep #51 If you're constantly stuck going around and around the hamster wheel waiting for things to change, you're going about it all wrong. Things aren't going to change but YOUR MINDSET is what needs to change. Instead of a hamster wheel, you need to think about it like a mountain. Climb the mountain but going into it knowing there are switchbacks and setbacks along the way.  How can you power your agency in order to climb the mountain easier and faster? Who do you need to help you get to the top? Do you know your vision? What does the summit look like?    

In this segment of The Agency Master Class, I’ve got Spencer Gallagher as my guest. He’s talking today about why and how you should select a niche for your agency to find your ideal clients. In 1999, Spencer created one of the UK's top digital agencies leading it to a successful acquisition in 2008.   Afraid To Specialize and Turn Off Potential Clients? You aren’t alone. Most agency owners feel the need to market their services across the board and accept any work thrown at them. They fear the implications of turning down work and worry that having a specialization will result in less consideration by potential clients. They try to model the big guys who seem to be able to do everything. Truth is, you can’t do it all and your ideal clients will respect you for it.   In Spencer’s case, he was spending his limited marketing budget casting a wide net. He was pitching many different types of jobs in many different disciplines. (Sound familiar?) Taking a step back, he decided to try a more targeted marketing appro

Do You Want a $3 Million Dollar Agency? Are you often dreaming of being the proud owner of a $3 million dollar agency? Today’s Agency Master Class guest is Julian Stubbs, Co-Founder and CEO of Up There, Everywhere. He and his partner are the innovators that dreamt up the concept of a global, cloud-based agency and made it a reality.   Wait, There Aren’t Any Employees? That’s right. Instead of employees, Up There, Everywhere has 160 MEMBERS in 20 countries. Members are freelance contractors who go through a series of interviews and if accepted, sign a confidentiality agreement. They are compensated by project value and have the benefit of flexibility to help balance work and life. The screening process is important because this work style is not for everyone. Members work remotely and all work is backed up in the cloud. There are no offices, but recently Up There, Everywhere has opened creative space in both New York and Stockholm with a third opening later this year in Amsterdam. This space is available for m

Productivity Funnel: How I Find Time to Focus On Running My Agency? Do you have a hard time with your productivity within your agency? No matter what level you are on, it is easy to get distracted from the tasks you should be focusing on. This is why a productivity funnel can be really beneficial to your agency.   Q: How Do I Find Time to Focus On Running My Business vs. Being In The Business? Finding time to focus on running your business while getting bogged down by the business can be rough. And distractions are so easily found especially when you feel under pressure. We are typically so busy being reactive that we get derailed by smaller tasks and lose sight of our goals. What does that mean? If you’re spending time on low impact, low priority tasks you are unable to focus on your biggest and best opportunities for growth. So here’s what you should be doing... Decide what gets you closer to your goals then backfill with the lower impact activities. Let Me Help If you have more questions about how you can 

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I talk with Jack Mize, host of Influencers Radio and cofounder of Authority Alchemy. Jack is the authority on how to build authority, and we’re going to show you how to build yours so people are banging down the door to work with you.   The first page of Google is not important... It may sound like blasphemy, but it’s true. Most people think “I need more traffic,” but when you really look at the numbers it’s probably not that you don’t have enough traffic. It’s that the traffic doesn’t have a compelling reason to pick you. Spending money on pay-per-click and SEO is okay, but you need to start focusing more on building your authority and less on getting to Google’s front page. Stop calling yourself an expert. You do not need to try and convince people you are an expert. Because, all that convincing makes the conversation about you when it should be about the client. So, stop thinking of yourself as needing to be an expert and start thinking of yourself as an edu

Word of Mouth Isn’t a Scalable Way to Generate Leads In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I chat with Clay Collins, cofounder of LeadPages, a lead generation platform. Clay is going to help explain why relying on word of mouth isn’t a scalable way to generate leads, as well describing some other ways you should be generating leads.   How should you be generating leads? In as many ways as possible! Clay says LeadPages put lead generation opportunities at every turn, and that’s what you should be doing too. And the very first thing you need to do is get your damn opt-in box up. Too many agencies get hung up on what kind of stuff they should be giving away for the opt-in, or what the content of the emails and newsletters will be. In fact, they get so hemmed up on these details they don’t even start with the first basic step to generate leads - the opt-in box! You need to stop putting the cart before the horse and put opt-in opportunities on your site, on your blog, in your podcast, everywhere! Put it

Hiring People Better Than You To Take Your Agency to the Next Level In today’s session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media, a web design and marketing company.  This episode is all about how to manage your team. You need to be hiring people better than you, and we’re going to help you find those people, as well as get over being afraid of their skills. Plus, you’ll hear about how to avoid some common mistakes.   When should you hire someone else? The right time is different for everyone. For Rich, he was prompted to hire someone by a client. They wanted to give him more business but felt he wouldn’t have been able to handle it on his own. For most of us, the right time is when we realize we can’t handle it on our own. But maybe you’re feeling like you can handle most of it on your own. In that case, think about bringing someone in on a part-time basis. Rich started with a part-time person and has since grown to a staff of seven; five of which are full-time.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Peter Caputa, VP of Sales for Hubspot, the king of inbound marketing. We chat about how you should stop relying solely on referrals, and how you can use strategic partners get your business to the next level.   Strategic partners are awesome. You can get a lot out of having a strategic partner. Here are just a few benefits: Steady stream of referrals Marketing opportunities They can help you grow from small agency to large agency There will be many chances to learn from partners How you can you become one of the top strategic partners for a company like Hubspot? Unlike some, a strategic partnership with Hubspot cannot be bought. Peter says being a Hubspot strategic partner is earned, not purchased. In order to become one of Hubspot’s top strategic partners, you need to: Have the ability to make your clients successful on Hubspot. Be able to sell and acquire new clients. Communicate your goals and successes with the strategic partner. Do somethin

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class I have my first ever three way:)  For the first time ever, I have two guests - Jim Hohl and Lucas Gavin of Visify. Jim and Lucas are going to share with us how you can use events to build your authority and grow your business by creating leads.   Where do you start with creating leads for your agency? Jim and Lucas knew that they didn’t just want to do business as usual. Chasing after projects and pitching all the time is exhausting. The duo decided to begin speaking at events and hosting webinars, which allowed them the chance to get their message out to a lot of people at once. Bonus: you automatically earn some street cred by being an event speaker. It’s instant authority! No events in your area? Make one! It’ll be a great opportunity for you to get your feet wet. It’s fairly simple to throw together a 2-3 hour weeknight event. For something larger, consider hiring an event planner. Jim and Lucas hired an event company, allowing them to focus on work and let