Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

How to Get the Fortune 1000 Executives to Call You Here's what worked for me to get the Fortune 1000 executives to call me. Warning! This is only for businesses that are targeting the Fortune 1000 companies. This will not work for smaller companies. Ok, so lets jump to it… We all struggle with trying to find ways in the doors of the big companies. Everyone wants to work with them. We have tried email marketing, cold calls, partners, etc. You name it, people have tried it. But here's something that no one does and it can work for you. Interested? Of course you are! Here's what you need to do in order to get the BIG Companies calling you: Write a single page letter that describes an opportunity that they are missing and make sure you don't get too detailed. Do not tell them about your business. For example, I have something to show you that can increase Amazon's sales by 15% and all it takes is 15 minutes. Leave mystery so you can't get a no. Are you interested enough to hear more? [You may want to listen to the International Hotel Group episode] Then I want you to use their website to find out five or six people who might be in charge of making a decision about this opportunity. Use all their names in the "to" line" of the letter. When they get the letter, you want them to see all the people that are on the list. You then need to print the six letters and highlight one name on each. Put each letter into its own yellow interoffice envelope. Call the company and ask for mail room. When transferred ask the name of the person that answers the mail room phone and hangup. Then Fedex the letters to the mail room clerk, by name, with a sticky note on it that says "please distribute." They are then required to distribute the letters to the people you identified. What's happens is that everyone will contact one another about the letter to see who's responding to you. They don't want one person to say yes and then some to say no, or vice versa. Then they will assign one person to deal with you and respond. There you have it. This whole process would take me a total of 15 minutes per company, and this would work almost every time. You just need a compelling opportunity that gets their attention. I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below. Want More Advice? I have advice on many topics from the struggles you may face with failing economies to how speaking opportunities can generate new business and using Youtube to boost your marketing for your agency marketing strategy. You can learn more about me and check out all my tips, tricks and everything you need to know in my blogs. I have covered a wide variety of topics as well as answering your questions in more from my Ask Swenk series. If videos are videos more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! You can check out my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel for advice from myself and other agency experts.

Have you ever thought of developing your own product - or have already developed one - but have found that the client work is distracting you from finishing? In today's episode, I talk with Kyle Racki about how your agency can create a product without killing it before it even gets started and how to upgrade any established product development processes. Product Development for Your Agency Kyle is a designer, blogger, technologist, and entrepreneur from Canada who ran his own web design agency for five years. During that time, he had several failures. Four to be exact. He then sold the agency and is now CEO and co-founder of Proposify. Let's build a product! Being a service agency is tough. You have to deal with cash flow, invoicing, revenue, etc. All these make building a product even more attractive. But don't be fooled, Kyle warns, "building a product while servicing clients is hard." Hard, but not impossible. Ask before you build. Don't just start wire-framing the second you get an idea. Get out and start talking to people! You need to get product market validation and customer development before you start building. Start by talking to people you don't know. Lots of people. Hundreds, if you can. You want to make sure you're building a product that actually solves a problem and that people will actually pay for. Things to ask: What is your biggest challenge? What solutions have you found to the challenge? Are you willing to pay for a solution? I promise, it's way better to find out no one wants or needs your product before you start spending money and building it. Dedicate people to work on the product. If you can, resist the temptation to make building the product an add-on to someone's job. Think about it: your developer just spent four days coding for client projects and now has to switch over to working on your product. You're going to lose time on ramp up. Not to mention, paying clients will always come first. So without having a dedicated person to work on the product, you'll find yourself putting it on the back burner. Take it from me, if I had the chance to do it over again at my agency, I absolutely would have hired a dedicated person for product development. The investor route. Startups are expensive and not all agencies make enough profit on services to also fund building a new product. Kyle went with an investor to fund his product but there are lots of options, like incubators or crowdfunding. There are also VC's, but Kyle cautions that venture capitalist funding may be hard to get if you haven't made the full leap into being a product company. Some investors want to know you're fully committed to the product and not just moonlighting. Tinkering versus actually building. Make sure you do your homework! The grass isn't always greener on the product side, so learn the metrics of what you're getting into. And there's nothing wrong with tinkering. Use your service-based role to get to know your customers and to become really knowledgeable about your niche. Learn their pain points so you can make the kind of product that will actually make a difference. Proposify offer for listeners! Proposify is a cloud-based proposal management system and the product of Kyle "scratching his own itch." Putting out proposals, responding to RFPs, and keeping track of all of them is daunting. Proposify helps agencies simplify the entire process so you don't have to spend forever putting together proposals. Smart Agency Master Class listeners can sign up for the free 14-day trial of Proposify and get 3 months free with promo code "JASONSWENK". Simply upgrade at the end of the 14-day trial. Growing Your Agency Having the right product development processes established within your agency could be the helping hand you need in getting your product off the ground. Now the next question is, what other challenges are you facing? I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In today's episode, I discuss how agencies should handle multiple niches. This is a solo episode where I'm talking to myself! Actually, I'm talking to you, the listeners, and answering the questions that you are sending into me. Should you even have multiple niches? How many niches you have depends on how many authority figures or experts you have for those niches. Pick as many niches as you want, but remember that just means more work. You need to make sure you're equipped to handle all those niches. A lot of agencies are just starting outlook at the big players and try to model after them. If you're looking at bigger, more established agencies you will see that many of them do have a lot of niches. But don't be fooled - they probably didn't start out like that. Take a look at Facebook, for example. When Facebook started out, they only went after Ivy League college kids. It was only after they dominated that market that they branched out to other colleges. Everyone has to start out somewhere. Dominate your niche first, branch out second. I market myself as working with agencies, but I actually work with all types of companies. But I only started branching out into multiple niches once I had dominated the one I was in, and when I could bring on experts/practice directors to run those niches. This way you can make sure you're using your resources effectively. Should you be separating your niches on your blog/website? Take a look at how closely related your niches are. If there is a wide gap between your niches' audiences, then you should have them separated. If they are somewhat closely related, keep them connected but separate by category on your site. What's Next For Your Agency? Through my experience, I have advice on many topics from the struggles you may face with failing economies to how accepting a speaking opportunity can create business and the four phases of growth you may experience within your agency. Learn more about me and my experience or all my tips, tricks and everything you need to know in my blogs. I have covered a wide variety of topics as well as answering your questions in more from my Ask Swenk series. If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! Check out my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel for advice from myself and other agency experts.

Are you going wrong when it comes to creating proposals and the proposal percentage you give your clients? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Ruben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch, about what agencies are doing wrong on their proposals and you can do to win new business. Bidsketch is a web application that helps create professional looking client proposals in minutes. Common Proposal Mistakes Most Agencies Make The #1 mistake is talking about yourself in the proposal. If you're not talking about the client, the client's problems, and solutions you can offer, then you're proposal isn't doing you any favors. Clients want to know that you understand their problems and that you have actual solutions for them. Those are the kinds of proposals that have the most appeal. You also need to take the time to understand the buying process from the other side. Most companies go out and get a lot of proposals, meaning they talk to several agencies at the same time. It's not the ideal place for you to be but it's pretty easy to change that conversation. Tell the client that, in order to help them, you need to talk about their problems and get as much information as possible. This will help you better determine if this is the right kind of client for you, as well as what solutions you can offer. How to Increase Your Proposal Percentage in Closing Ruben puts the average closing proposal percentage somewhere between 30-40%. If you fall into this range (or below), here's a tip from Ruben for increasing your closings: Give pricing options. Don't just have one set price in your proposal. The only answer to one price is a yes or a no. By offering pricing options, you may be able to avoid getting a hard no. Plus, your conversion rate will go up if you have multiple options. However, steer clear of having too many options; Ruben advises somewhere between 2 and 4. My feeling on pricing options is different. If you're asking the right questions and communicating with the client throughout the process, you'll have already agreed on a price along the way. For me, you should pretty much have a "yes" by the time you get to submitting the proposal. My advice is to use B-A-N-T: Budget Authority Need Timing Using B-A-N-T to prequalify clients will save you so much time. Do you want the EXACT PROPOSAL TEMPLATE that won clients like AT&T, Legal Zoom and Hitachi? Writing a winning marketing proposal is key to winning new business. Over the past 12 years, I have created the ultimate web and marketing proposal template. This proposal is unlike other people's proposal templates for sale because this is the actual template that won big name clients for our web, technology and marketing engagements. If you want to be able to use a proven template for getting bigger projects, that are well over $10,000, check out this proposal. This proposal template will give you insights to winning even more proposals. Check out the Marketing Proposal Template now! Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Creating the Best Agency Creating a strong client proposal with the best proposal percentage for your agency is a step forward in creating the best best agency. Through my own career and professional life, I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you with what I have learned. From bad agency clients, developing agency products as well as how you can build authority for your agency. If you want to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run. As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I sit down with Tim Paige who is going to talk with us about how to increase website conversions and double your revenue. Tim is the Conversion Educator at LeadPages, where he has helped them grow their customer base to 16,000, and increase their list by another 10,000 leads. Building your list is one of your most valuable assets. For Tim and LeadPages, list building is what they've found to be the most valuable. Think of email addresses as a form of currency. People guard their email address like they guard their wallet. If someone is willing to give you their email address, that is a big deal. But if it's so valuable, why aren't agencies building their lists on their website? According to Tim, it has a lot to do with the sheer volume of misguided information out there. Right now, there's so much talk about social media that people are putting all of their focus there. Seriously, folks - don't make the same mistake I did. Start building your lists! Don't lose your website visitors at the thank you page. A lot of us just use a generic thank you page sent out by an auto-responder. "Thank you for signing up with our company. Please check your email inbox." That's such a dead end! Statistically, people are more likely to find a needle in a haystack than your website, so why are you sending them away from your page to check their email? People always check their email, but chances are they won't come back to your site once they leave. Don't miss this opportunity to keep the conversation going. What you need to do on your thank you page to increase your conversions. Try this on your thank you page: Thank them for signing up and offer them a chance to sign up for next week's webinar Thank them for signing up and make them an offer to buy something like a site audit or discovery session. Having an auto-responder helps build trust with your leads. Tim suggests using your auto-responder to get more information. For example: someone downloads a tool from your landing page and is then directed to the thank you page (which now includes more helpful information). Then, every three days or so, the auto-responder sends an email with even more helpful information. Remember - you have to give something before asking for something. It's all about building that relationship of trust. 3 Tips to increase website conversions right now. These are Tim's tips on how to increase website conversions: Make sure you have a powerful lead magnet. You can have the best looking landing page with the most awesome opt-in form, but it doesn't mean anything if you aren't providing something of value. Create a list of the five tools to help your audience solve a problem they have. Keep it simple! Helpful, one-page tools convert well. Make sure if you're using an image that it directs the eye toward the call to action. Use an arrow to point at the opt in box or have the person's eyes looking in the direction of the button. I also suggests checking out what LeadPages can do for you. They have a 30-day money back guarantee, so it's worth a look. It has increased my site conversions from 15% to over 40%. Become a Better Owner When you know how to increase website conversions, this opens your agency to more potential client opportunities. However, without laying the ground work this could cause more issues than benefits. Through making a point to focus on areas you haven't explored yet as well as struggles you need to focus on will help to improve your business. Check out how I have all you need to get through these obstacles. I can give you advice on how to increase conversions on your website, implementing Facebook marketing as well as ways to build authority to improve your agency. If growth is your focus, I've the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more of your digital agency services. Learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In today's session of The Smart Agency Master Class I chat directly with you. That's right - no guest! I wanted to talk with you about putting together the right legal documents before you run into a problem. I'll admit, this is something I should have done much sooner in my own agency. After all, the time to prepare is before there's an issue. So you'll get to learn from my mistake and pick up some valuable resources. Now, I am not a lawyer, so this isn't legal advice. These are tips for finding the right kind of legal documents for your business. Who should you have agreements with? Hopefully you already have some agreements in place. If you don't start thinking about all of the people you are doing work with and for - clients, partners, contractors, employees, etc. For these relationships you should have nondisclosure agreements, contractor agreements, and employment agreements. Sure, everything may seem all peaches and unicorns in the beginning, but it isn't guaranteed to stay that way. Don't be so caught up in trying to close the deal that you forget the agreement! Prepare before the legal battle. Before you get into some sort of legal situation, you need to get your ducks in a row. It wasn't until after I had to deal with some legal battles that I began preparing myself. Save yourself the trouble and get your agreements together. Go to my website, and download the proposal template. Included in the template is the agreement. What needs to be in an agreement? A description of services you'll provide and what you will be responsible for delivering. Pricing and payment. Be sure to also include what the client is responsible for with payment (check, credit card, mailing address, etc). A termination clause. If the client cancels early, is there a penalty? (There should be.) Disclaimers about how your software isn't magic and that you both agree not to share each others' stuff. Spell out ownership. The client owns any custom work that they've paid for and you own your tools (i.e. frameworks). Limitations of liability to clarify what you are not responsible for covering. For example, you shouldn't be responsible for anything over the proposal amount. (i.e. $10k proposal = $10k cap in responsibility.) Governing law. What county and what state is the agreement bound? This is important to keep you from having to trek back and forth across the country every time you have to go to court. Now I know this isn't the sexiest of topics. It's not going to win you more clients or grow your business, but it's going to help protect you. You've worked hard to get to where you are, so don't let unpreparedness cause you harm. More agreement resources. Check out LegalZoom for free and paid agreements. If you use a payroll company, you can also check with them about agreements they offer. A lot of them have good ones, especially for employment. Lastly, get the proposal agreement that I used at my agency. Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster.

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I sit down with Joe Grano who is going to talk to us about who to hire, getting that next level agency, and making the transition from a small, one person agency to bringing on full-time employees. Joe is the president and founder of Next-Mark, a full-service marketing, communications, public relations, and business strategy solutions company based in Sarasota, FL. When to hire full-time employees. Joe once said to me, "I never want to hire employees." He's since changed his tune and now has several full-time employees on his team. In fact, he prefers them to contractors. Here are the questions Joe considered when making the full-time leap: Can you really afford to do it? There's a level of financial stability needed. Are you willing to give anything up to ensure your employees get paid? If you're not, then you aren't ready yet. Do you know how to hire? Bringing on just anyone can be a disaster. Other considerations: You need to really think about how you want to grow your business because hiring full-time staff is a big mind shift. Understanding that contractors probably don't have your business's best interests in mind. Contractors just don't have the same kind of loyalty as full-time employees. You can do so much more for people who are fully invested in the business, and vice versa. Have full-time staff and only bring on contractors whose core competencies are things that you couldn't afford full-time. Who is the right first hire? Okay, you're making the move to bringing on full-time staff but who is the first hire? Joe and I both brought on people who had been long-time contractors for our businesses. You already know their work style and they're already familiar with your company. Joe's first hire was his Director of Communications; someone who had been with him for awhile as a contractor and who brought along a lot of agency experience. Mine was a designer, but I also definitely recommend hiring some kind of manager - office or project. You need someone to do the operational stuff while you're out growing the business. New employees are an investment. Time is money, and it's hard to commit to spending a lot of your time teaching a new employee. Joe's advice for shortening the learning curve is to hire up. Bring in people with good experience and skill sets, so they can come in and start performing quickly. But remember - like anything else just starting out, new employees need to be nurtured. It takes time to teach them and help them gain confidence in their competencies. Be patient because it will be worth it. How to put together a great team? You may think you want to hire people whose working style is just like yours. You're wrong. A team made up of a bunch of the same people won't be productive. Look for people who: Work well in teams. Joe recommends check out this TED Talk about hiring introverts. Have working styles that would compliment yours. Use this helpful quiz. Why are setting core values so important? If you don't have core values, you need to get some ASAP. If you have core values, you need to communicate them to your people ASAP. Make sure you are sharing them with your current and new employees, alike. Bonus: Want more info on core values? Check out this video from Zappo's CEO about core values and creating awesomeness. Important steps toward growth. Take a good, hard look at where you want your business to go to bring it up to a next level agency. Remember, new employees take time, so it's important you consider that in your growth plan. Also, think about their long-term fit within the company. If you can only see them around for a couple of projects or for a matter of months, it's not time for full-time staff. Finally, be really comfortable with being able to support someone full time. The last thing you want is to have to let them go after only a little while because you can't afford to pay them. Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies to create a next level agency today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Creating a Next Level Agency Are you holding yourself back from creating a next level agency by ignoring problems or issues you aren't even aware of that need your attention? Good, this is where I can come in and provide you support. In all my years, I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you from what I have learned. From what to do with your bad agency clients, how to develop agency products and how you can build authority for your agency. If you want to know how to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team of freelancers can be beneficial in the long run. As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of t

Creating Valuable Content for Your Agency In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Ahava Leibtag, and she is going to explain the six steps for creating valuable content to help you reach your target audience and increase your impact. Ahava is the president and owner of Aha Media Group, a content strategy and content consultancy in Washington, D.C. How can you generate leads for your agency? If you ask Ahava how to create great content, she will tell you step one is understanding your target audience. You need to know their business, understand their pain points, and know what solutions they are seeking. Know this before anything else because you can't start talking to people without knowing what they want to hear. You also need to spend time where your target audience is spending time. Don't feel like you need to be on all the social channels. If your target audience isn't on Twitter, why are you wasting your time and energy on Twitter? Once you've located your target audience make sure you master that technology. "Content and social marketing isn't all that simple," Ahava says, "it's a lot of stuff to balance, so make sure you know how to use the technology." Checklists are imperative in order to create valuable content that can generate new business for your agency. #1 - Findable. Make sure that you are utilizing appropriate keywords so your target audience finds you. Also think about how your content relates to other content. If someone is looking for a dresser, they may also be looking for a headboard. #2 - Readable. We've all seen it - bad web writing. Keep your content short and with the most important points at the top. People just don't read long-form content anymore, so don't have giant chunks of text. #3 - Understandable. It seems like a no-brainer, but you need to have your content easy to read, and not all about yourself. Make sure it is relevant to your audience. Show them that you understand their pain points. #4 - Actionable. Include clear calls to action in your content so the reader knows what to do next. Content exists for two reasons: because it supports business objectives and because it helps users accomplish their tasks. You want the person consuming your content to feel comfortable performing the action your requesting. #5 - Shareable. This does not mean going viral. Shareable content fills a need, is well executed, and simple to understand. It's the kind of content that can jump from the hands of the person that has it, right into the hands of the person who needs it. #6 - Mobile. It's clear mobile is huge in content and social marketing, but Ahava hasn't quite finalized its place. Since mobile can be standalone and fit within each of the other checklist items look for more to come in the future. Winning at content on the web. Be sure to pick up a copy of Ahava's book, The Digital Crown: Winning at Content on the Web. It's full of tips to simplify and refine your processes so you're putting out the best messaging possible as well as creating valuable content. Bonus: go to Aha Media Group's website and download the first chapter for free! Take Your Agency to the Next Level I hope you find my guide to creating valuable content helpful and you are able to implement it within your agency's strategy. There may be other business struggles you need to focus on. Don't worry, I have all you need to get through these obstacles. I have advice on topics such from getting your agency exposure in the news, the best way to get through a recession or even how to use a social media community to expand your brand awareness. If growth is your focus, I've discussed the four phases of growth within your agency and ways in easing through website issues holding your business back. I have all the information you need to help you. You can learn more about my life and my experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! You can check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Facebook Marketing - How You Can Generate New Business With It In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Kim Walsh-Phillips who is going to share with us how to get new business through Facebook marketing, which is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. Kim is the CEO of IO Creative Group and is a speaker, author, and a ROI enthusiast. Why your current Facebook engagement is so low. Because Facebook is free, you may have just jumped on all willy-nilly and started posting. According to Kim, that's not the way to go about it. After all, you wouldn't do that with a direct mail campaign, would you? No, of course not. You would put a lot of strategic thought into what you were going to say. Kim suggests thinking of each Facebook post the same way. Your posts have the potential to be seen around the world, so each should be part of a strategy for your Facebook marketing. The engagement formula to make Facebook work for your ad agency. Your Facebook marketing posts should be 85% PBS and 15% QVC. Meaning, you spend 85% of the time offering free, valuable content, and only 15% of the time doing self-promotion. It's a formula designed to gain trust and position you as an authority figure. Your page focus shouldn't be on lead generation. Kim points out that only 2% of people will return to your page after their initial visit. You're trying to impress the newbies, so put yourself in their shoes. Would you like to see valuable content or a bunch of self-promotional posts? In other words - brag sparingly. Ideally, you'd have one post per day, and only one of those per week would be promotional. It's not that you won't be promoting at all. Create ads that look like post which show up in the News Feed of your target audience. Here is the type of content should you be posting on Facebook. You want to create content that is liked, commented on, and shared. The more of that kind of engagement you get, the more your stuff will show up in Facebook's feed. Kim suggests the following types of posts: Offering original content - tips, information, and resources Celebration - highlight a fan of the week Communication - ask a question of your audience Don't feel overwhelmed with the amount of posting. Automation is your friend. Kim and her team schedule posts in batches, 30 days in advance. Her tool of choice is Hootsuite. Kim's Tips on how to get UNSTUCK and to the next level in your business. Read Dan Kenny's book, No B.S. Direct Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses. Once you're done reading that, become a member of GKIC. And stop being afraid of letting go of clients that aren't the right fit anymore. It's okay to out grow them, and it's okay to say goodbye. If a client doesn't help you reach your end goal, every hour you spend with them is one you'll have to make up elsewhere. Find the A+ players, get yourself involved with them, and make yourself known as a specialist. For more information on Kim Walsh-Phillips, check out IO Creative Group, or follow her on Twitter. More About Me We have talked about using Facebook marketing for your agency but it's also time to focus on the other hurdles and obstacles that are stopping your agency moving to the next level. I have all the advice you need. No matter what you need advice on, I have more than likely covered it. From topics such as how a poor website design can affect your leads to how your agency can cope while you work through a recession. Or maybe you want to know the four phases of growth within your agency and want extra help in easing through agency growing pains? I have all the information you need to help you through it. You can learn more about my life and business experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by check out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. And if videos are more your thing, i've got you covered! Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Are you struggling with generating new business and grow your digital agency? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Michael Gass who is going to share with us his steps for driving new agency business. Positioning is the foundation of generating ad agency new business. Historically, agencies have problems when it comes to generating new business. There's little differentiation; every agency sounds just like the next. It's like you're forgetting your marketing minds when it comes to promoting your agency. Think having great creative makes you different from the next guy? Michael doesn't. "Great creative isn't a point of differentiation, it's an expectation." If you really want to stand apart you need to narrow your focus - find that niche - and give the prospects a reason to want to work with you. Stop being your own worst client and making it harder than it should be! The paradigm shift. Let's face it - it just isn't how it used to be. Many agency founders, who were once great at working a room are finding themselves pretty inept nowadays. But Michael points out that we don't need to be mourning the days of chasing new business. He suggests using technology to entice new business to come to you. Don't worry if you have been slow to start using social media, you're not alone. Most agencies didn't start using it until 2010, and then they just did the same thing they were doing in the real world - talking about themselves. "Credentials, capabilities, and case studies - no one cares." Prospects are looking for resources, not portfolios. 7 steps to differentiation and driving new business to your agency. #1 - Identify a target audience. Remember, you want to work with people who fit in that sweet spot. Once you find the target audience, set a clear objective. #2 - Find your purpose. Think about what your content driven blog is providing. Make sure that you're keeping your focus narrow. If you try to be everything to everybody, you won't appeal to anyone. #3 - Develop content! Michael gives his clients a 30 post in 30 days challenge. Do that and you'll have a lot of content and a routine for future production. Also, make sure you're leading with the benefit statement (i.e. put the most important information at the top to hook your readers). #4 - Include a clear call to action. Give your readers a prompt to keep the conversation going. #5 - Implement best practices. Keep what works and dump what doesn't. #6 - Make use of your analytics to refine and improve your content. You can learn a lot by just looking at the data, so if you're not currently checking your analytics, you're missing out. #7 - Manage the process. Use automation or hire someone to be responsible for making sure posts happen. Even if you're busy with pitches or away at a conference, someone should be in charge of putting out content. What you can do right now to start generating new business for your agency? Michael is a huge fan of social media and is adamant that we get comfortable using it. Tweet a lot, post on Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn. Write blog posts. Share, share, share. Start building a community. Use social media to promote your blog and share your posts. You can also share posts by others that you think are relevant and interesting. For help building that community, try ManageFlitter. Sound daunting? Michael suggests using Basecamp, a project management tool. Michael calls it "the ultimate cat herding program." Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Grow Your Agency Profits With this insight, I hope this improves your strategy for generating new business. This can only be successful by focusing on the processes you within your agency to improve it as a whole but I can help you get through all of it. I can give you advice on what to do when you are presented with new client opportunities as well as the different ways of building agency authority. Growing your agency can be a major goal for many agency owners. I can show you the different phases of growth you will experience, how placing a process for performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your business and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more! You can also learn about my career and different experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Are you looking into business scaling for your agency but just can't seem to getting the wheels in motion? The Four Pillars of Business Scaling In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Kyle Porter, founder and CEO of SalesLoft, a software that searches through social profiles to help find prospects. Kyle is going to tell us the four things that contributed to the growth of his business, as well as some inbound and outbound marketing strategies and how to build culture. Kyle attributes SalesLoft's growth to these four areas: Focus on product market fit. The more you can understand your customer's pain, the better solutions you can offer. Creating an engine for client acquisition via inbound and outbound marketing, as well as a team of closers. Client delightment. It's about exceeding expectations and taking them beyond just being satisfied. Culture. Kyle says this is the area he focuses on most. By creating these systems, you will have a foundation for success for business scaling. Each area builds on another: empathy for your customer creates better solutions, which builds the content for marketing, which makes the sale that delights the client, which positively reinforces the culture. Culture, culture, culture. Culture is so important, it deserves its own section. "Life is too short to not love every minute you're in the office," says Kyle. He's worked hard at SalesLoft's core values: positive, supportive, and self-starting. [quote]Have fun. Get shit done. Grow the business.[/quote] Tips for getting those inbound leads. Kyle started nurturing those inbound leads by getting to know the thought leaders in his industry. It wasn't about asking them for something right away. No, he followed their social profiles, promoted them when they did something of value, and began building a relationship. He also does a lot in building a community for sales professionals. And let's not forget about content. Kyle makes sure that he's putting out content on a regular basis. Content Pro Tip - Have trouble finding the time to sit down and produce content? I record my blog on my iPhone, and then shoot the recording over to my virtual assistant. The blog and the show notes are then transcribed for me, and put on the website. I just have to review and schedule. SalesLoft and outbound strategy. Identify your ideal customer profile and use SalesLoft (or any tool, but I recommend it because I use it) to build an accurate and targeted list of those profiles. Once the list is compiled, use a cadence of emails, phone calls, and social drips until you get an appointment with the customer. Your initial email should be short and simple. Send them an email, follow-up with a phone call. Also, try monitoring them on social media. See what they're tweeting about so you can find something relevant to get them to open your email or take your call. There are even some free tools to help you weed through all the social media noise and find the details you want from the people you're interested in. Try Newsle and Nutshell Mail. The new school of sales. The old school way was to have an entire department dedicated to sales, but only the tiniest sliver of that department was focused on prospecting new business. New school sales is broken out into two divisions: the part that's going after the money and the part that's going after the appointments. The part that's going after the appointments is the sales development process. People target the audience with a specific objective. This allows for a shift in how the business thinks, empowers people to go after their mission, and enables specialization. Next Steps for Your Agency If the next steps for your agency are business scaling, I hope you found this helpful and you achieve the goals you have set for both yourself as an agency owner and the business itself. If this is only the first of a list of obstacles in your way, I have you covered. I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Gene Hammett about how to get unstuck so we can each reach that next level. Gene is a business coach who loves working with businesses to find new strategies including marketing strategies to move forward. He is also the host of Leaders in the Trenches, a podcast where he offers insights and tips from leaders and today's entrepreneurs. You should definitely check it out, especially episode 6, featuring me. Getting your business unstuck. You probably do a lot of marketing for your clients but hardly any for yourself. Sure, referrals come in because you're great at what you do, but it doesn't happen frequently enough to help move to the next level. And the clients coming in aren't always the right kind of clients. Being really intentional about the kind of agency you want to be gives you the freedom to create amazing solutions and land those high-profit projects. You want big names; the ones that really allow you to be creative. But you're not going to get there if you don't start marketing yourself. If your website isn't enticing to you, how is it going to attract anyone else? Stop making the time excuse. If the reason you haven't been marketing yourself is that you don't have the time, it's because you're doing too much. You need to be building your team out and delegating. If you're putting the right people and the right processes into place, you'll be able to get out there and grow your business. You simply can't do everything, everyday. You need to outsource! Find people with more expertise than you to do the things that they do best, so you can go out and do what you do best - sell your business. If you're not doing what you want to be doing because you're too bogged down in the details, then something is wrong. Try this exercise from episode 22 of Gene's podcast: write down everything you want to create and then write down what you're willing to give up in order to do it. It's all about finding your passion. It may seem counterintuitive, but taking on a broad spectrum of clients isn't going to make you money or help you grow. Niching gets you the kind of work you want and positions you for long-term growth. Foot in the door approach. Okay, so you've found your niche - now how do you get the clients? Gene offers these two points: Think of where you can create more opportunity with the people that already know and like you. Remember, people are 20 times more likely to do business with you if they are already a paying customer. Look at the people who have been in your pipeline for a long time and identify some small service that can get your foot in the door. It's not about making a profit at this point. It's about changing the relationship and turning a prospect into a client. The good news, according to Gene, is that digital agencies can do the second point really well. Use your niche to find businesses that are absolutely hungry for what you have. Figure out what you can give away to get their attention and then identify the service you can provide to convert them to a paying customer. After that you can introduce your core services. Get your foot in the door first, and the rest will follow. Marketing Strategies for your Own Agency Using the best marketing strategies not only for clients but having a clear focus on your own marketing strategies with get your agency in front of new potential clients. I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency. I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run. You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Joe Koufman who gives us insights into setting up technology to build leads over time, and tips for winning big pitches for your agency. Joe has been doing business development for digital agencies for over a decade. Most of us rely on referrals from clients to grow our business. In fact, we get excited when someone from an existing client changes jobs because it gives us a new referral opportunity. Now, I'm not knocking referrals but as Joe points out, it's not sustainable. Use technology. According to Joe, you need to implement best practices and repeatable marketing practices. Utilize CRMs and marketing automation to create content and nurture your leads over time. It's something that very few agencies do, but it's an invaluable practice. In addition to using tech to help you create content, it will also help you determine whether a lead is really dead or not. Don't just assume! You won't know if you aren't keeping track of your leads and interactions with them. Make sure you have the infrastructure. You need to put the right infrastructure in place to be able to handle new business. Build a team devoted to building new business. If you don't have a team, dedicate someone to serving that function for your business. You need to have someone responsible to responding to RFP's, prepping the company for pitches, and identifying new business opportunities. You, or someone on your team, needs to be getting out there and networking to find new business. And don't just go to the same old events every other agency does. Joe suggests trying to go to industry-specific trade shows and conferences to talk to potential prospects. Here's where you can get a sense of what this specific industry needs and find new opportunities for business. Winning Big Pitches - What does an agency big pitch look like? Ever wonder what it's like to do a $1.5-$2 million pitch? Joe shares his experiences and offers some advice as to how smaller agencies can do better and move on to winning big pitches. Joe's big pitches involved teams of people. People focused on making sure the pitch goes well, people creating content, and so on. Joe's team usually consisted of 6-8 people in the actual pitch with him keeping everything running smoothly. Joe's big pitch tip for smaller agencies: make sure you're doing something to show the client that you understand them. Not necessarily something that's solving a specific problem of theirs, but showing you care and aren't just giving a canned pitch. Make them feel special. Getting to the next level in your agency. Joe's biggest tip for getting your agency to the next level is to make sure you nurture leads over time so when the client is ready, you're there to work with them. Joe uses social media to maintain a more personal relationships with prospects and clients. He uses their shared interest to help build better, longer relationships over time. BONUS TIP - Joe suggests you check out the book, The Challenger Sale. It talks about the best way to approach a prospect with insights, teaching and offering solutions. Take Your Agency to Next Level So once you have established a strategy for winning big pitches with clients, what's next on your list of improvements? By taking a step back, you can look at the bigger picture of your agency and focus on areas you haven't explored yet as well as struggles you need to focus on to improve your business and then check out how I have all you need to get through these obstacles. I have advice to share with you from how to implement Facebook in your marketing strategy, ways of building authority to improve your agency or the best way to pitch to big brand clients. If growth is your focus, I've discussed the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell your services to more customers. You can learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, did you know I have a Youtube channel? Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Masterclass, I chat with Don Beehler who tells us about how to get more press, what free tools are available to get agency promotion in the press and some of the biggest mistakes agencies make. "Use PR to gain credibility and level the playing field." ~ Don Beehler It's all about helping your agency or business tell its story to the audience you want. Unfortunately, a lot of smaller companies just don't recognize the power of PR and how it can help them gain credibility through agency promotion. Or, if they do understand PR's power, they're too busy. With good PR, you don't need teams of people and tons of money to get yourself noticed. Third parties - like news and influential bloggers - can essentially endorse you as an expert in your niche. After all, they wouldn't be talking about you if you didn't know what you were talking about, right? Don't just sporadically spout on social media. Okay, you don't exactly know what you're doing, so you just post here and there about what your company does. Don agrees that some social media activity is better than none, but he has tips for taking it to the next level. Become knowledgeable about the news media, how it works, and what they're looking for. Find the right person, at the right outlet, at the right time (hint: you can find all this by being knowledgeable!) Be consistent and strategic. You may even want to develop a press persona. By knowing what reporters and bloggers want, you can make it easy for them to use you as a resource. Develop relationships with them! Follow their social media profiles, read their blogs, and make comments! Tools to create opportunities. There are lots of tools out there which can aid you in helping reports or bloggers, and this is a great opportunity to create conversations. Publicity services like Help A Reporter Out are a great way to link yourself up with a reporter looking for a source. You can also use Blogger LinkUp, which gives you the chance to catch the attention of influential bloggers in your field. But don't just offer yourself as a resource without being able to back up your knowledge. Blog about your niche, offer insights on social media. Remember - it's easier to get in front of the media if you're a specialist rather than a generalist. Once the article is out there, don't be afraid to promote yourself! Post it on your own blog, retweet it, and link to it on your website. Tell everyone! Also, Don says don't just limit yourself to articles or blog posts. A lot of times, we have great stories right under our noses and don't even recognize them. Talk about sponsorships, volunteer work, and awards you've received. It may not be the most earth shattering PR stuff, but it is still opportunity. The two things you can do right now to get agency promotion in the news. Develop a written PR plan. It will help you target your coverage, stay focused, and remain consistent. Become a source for your niche in the news media. Being well-spoken, responsive, and friendly go a long way in helping you build relationships with the right people. Building a Better Agency Now that you know how to achieve the agency promotion you need to take it to the next level, there may be other business struggles you need to focus on. Don't worry, I have all you need to get through these obstacles. No matter what you need advice on, I have more than likely covered it. From topics such as handling a recession to ways of using your social media community to expand your brand awareness. Or maybe you want to know the four phases of growth within your agency and want extra help in easing through agency growing pains? I have all the information you need to help you through it. You can learn more about my life and my experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! You can check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Alex Harris, of Alex Designs, a company specializing in conversion rate optimization, landing page optimization, and e-commerce web design. Alex talks to us about value propositions and what your agency website is doing wrong right now. I've said it before, and Alex will say it again - it's all about your niche. You need to define your unique role within your own space. You have to understand who your target audience is so that you can gain a clear understanding of their needs. Once you've identified these two things, you will be able to create your unique value proposition and target to your audience. This value proposition will help show the target audience you are a credible authority within your niche. Alex was doing conversion rate optimization before anyone else. This was (and is) his value proposition, and he positioned himself as the leader. He remained number one in the industry for years and did so by clearly defining his goals and understanding his target audience. Failure and moving forward. [quote]Failure doesn't mean you'll never succeed.[/quote] You need to learn from your mistakes and move forward. When asked how to get passed a particular barrier, Alex gives these tips: Decide your mindset. Are you a dabbler? A stressor? Or are you a master? Learn from your failure. Find other people who have overcome similar barriers and seek advice. Don't forget to keep seeking clarity. Failure can be a hard blow, one that clouds your vision. Keep your eye on the prize, though. Once you know where you're going, you can create the necessary steps to get yourself there. How to set micro-goals. You have to continuously push yourself to accomplish and succeed, but you can't focus on everything. Alex uses micro-goals: small, manageable goals to be reached within 90-day time periods. "It's not about 5-10 year goals anymore. Things now move so quickly that shorter timeframes are better." What are you doing wrong on your agency website right now? According to Alex, you need to be doing better on clarity and consistency. Make sure that no matter where on your agency website the user is, they clearly understand what you do. Your value proposition needs to be prominent on each page. Use good message matching to ensure that no matter what page of your website a user lands on, it's consistent with their search. You also need to be giving away something in return for getting their email addresses. How about a free PDF download of some of your best tips or helpful infographics? You want to get the user to like you and to trust you, so that you're able to nurture and convert. What's Alex's #1 tip? Set up a feedback loop. Find out what your best customers like and keep doing it. Find out what people don't like and stop doing it. Alex's choice for helping with this is Qualaroo, to help identify and capitalize on web visitor revenue opportunities. What's Next for Your Agency? When you know how to improve your agency website by knowing what to avoid, this opens your agency to more potential client opportunities. However, without laying the ground work this could cause more issues than benefits. Check out how I can help you get through these obstacles. I can give you advice on how to increase conversions on your website, how to snap up client opportunities as well as ways to build authority to improve your agency. If growth is your focus, I've the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more of your digital agency services. Learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Inbound Marketing as a Tool for Agency Business In this session of The Smart Agency Masterclass, I chat with Max Traylor, director of client services for Innovative Marketing Resources, an inbound marketing agency. Max tells us how he got started in inbound marketing and explains how it can be an amazingly profitable tool for your business. Max's ah-ha moment. The concept of growing your business by providing valuable information has been around a long time. "I remember my father and grandfather doing it as part of their businesses," Max recalls. Inbound marketing is based on the same concept, just with different technology. Take a look at the money you're spending on marketing. Is it generating business for you? If not, you need to look into inbound marketing. But why would I give it away for free? It does seem counterintuitive. Why would you just give away your knowledge? It really does work; all you need is that first little win. Max remembers his ah-ha moment as being life-changing. [quote]Someone calling you saying, 'The reason I'm calling you is because of the white paper you posted' is an amazing feeling.[/quote] The blog post that started it all. The first thing Max gave away was in the form of a blog post about inbound marketing and its process. He gave the post to a client he was doing some web design for, and the client immediately saw value in his words. Max was hired on the spot for inbound marketing. (This was before he even had an inbound marketing business!) Shift priorities and make time. We're all busy. At times it even feels like we're too busy to do anything else. To Max, this lack of time to focus on things is actually confusion about your goals. He says as soon as you get specific about what you're targeting, everything will open up. "Start with a goal to shift your priorities and suddenly you'll find you have the time to make it happen." Pro Tip: Have a bunch of ideas hit you when you're out and about? Use the recording function on your phone to make sure you don't lose them. Now that your priorities have shifted, you can start to get a better vision of where you're going. With that better vision, you can become laser-focused on a specific audience. "Everyone wants to feel special. People want to feel like a particular piece of content was made just for them." How do you give them that special feeling? You have to discover what's motivating them. Why are they coming to your website? Are they just browsing for helpful information or are they looking for something immediately? Learning about your audience is what helps you provide the right information. You don't want to give them too much information though. "If they don't need the information to make a purchasing decision, then you don't need to provide that information." The three emails. Max does email nurturing in three parts. First there's the email that builds trust. You're helping them understand their problem. Next, you email them some solutions. Then you provide them with information to make a decision. Email nurturing is all about helping the client get unstuck. You're giving the information to get them to the next step. Become a Better Agency Owner When you have improved your inbound marketing strategy and process, it's time to look at what other improvements you need to become a better agency owner. By taking a step back, you can look at the bigger picture of your agency and focus on areas you haven't explored yet as well as struggles you need to focus on to improve your business and then check out how I have all you need to get through these obstacles. I have advice to share with you from how to increase conversions on your website, ways to implement Facebook in your marketing strategy, why building authority to improve your agency is important and the best way to pitch to big brand clients. If growth is your focus, I've discussed the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell your services to more customers. You can learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, did you know I have a Youtube channel? Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this session of The Smart Agency Masterclass, I chat with Raj Choudhury, co-founder of Spunlogic — which became one of the largest privately held digital agencies in the Southeast, before it was acquired by Halyard Capital in 2008 to form Engauge. We discuss the journey Raj had in growing his business and his advice for owners out there looking to take their agency to the next level. In the beginning. Raj started out doing what he loved. In their early 20's he and his business partner, Jeff Hilimire, were building basic websites mostly for the tourism industry. Raj traveled the globe, building websites for ski resorts and backpacking groups in exchange for passes. "We didn't really realize what we were doing. We didn't even know what an agency was." According to Raj, "There were no real barriers. We just did something we were passionate about." In fact, it wasn't until they landed a gig for $65,000 that they realized they really had a business on their hands. The realization that they could sell. Like most agencies, Raj's experienced growth in stages - having one to five people, to 10-18, 20-25, and so on. Sometimes companies stall out at a certain stage for various reasons. Maybe they're comfortable being a mid-sized agency. Or perhaps they just don't know what to do next. "We grew because we were very aggressive in nature," Raj says. But it wasn't making money motivating them. They were just passionate about what they did. "It went from being a hobby to being a business." For agencies looking to make it over the next level of 10 employees, Raj says to be smart about your sales pipeline, "Don't underprice yourself because cash flow is a problem." He's right. [clickToTweet tweet="Be disciplined about how you handle your cash flow or else you'll find yourself in a constant struggle." quote="Be disciplined about how you handle your cash flow or else you'll find yourself in a constant struggle."] Early on, Raj brought salespeople onto his team believing it would help secure business. What he ended up learning is that salespeople are great at finding and cultivating relationships, but it's the founders who are usually best at closing the deal. Building a culture and team you can trust. Raj attributes the company culture to their being so young when the business started. It was about having fun, sharing experiences, and being edgy. They were a family with everyone passionate about making the business a success. Though he does share a word of warning, "As you grow, be sure to take a look at your staff. People who do well at small agencies may not do well at a mid to large agency." As far as building a team you can trust, Raj says to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if you're ready to let go. If you're not, you may not have the right people around you, or you simply may not be ready for the growth. If you want to get to the next level, you'll need to learn to delegate responsibilities. "You can't be effective if you micromanage," he says, "You've got to share the load and trust your team." Part of delegating and team trust comes from you taking the time to help your business thrive. Don't just be a reactionary leader. If you're constantly taking meetings and putting out fires, you're not helping your business. The low points. It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine for Raj. "We made so many mistakes," he admits. Instead of looking at the mistakes as failures, Raj says they took them down new paths. He doesn't regret the experience learned from making mistakes, including the knowledge of when to pull the plug. Admitting there is a problem and knowing when to just stop, is a big - often hard - lesson learned. When you're just starting out, landing that $50,000 project feels amazing. It feels less than amazing though when you realize that project actually ended up costing you $100,000. It's that kind of mistake Raj says led them to start using discovery scoping. A discovery phase can really help you get a better understanding of the client and the unknowns. Next Level Agency: Building long-term client relationships. It's not just about landing the client. You want to build long-term relationships with them. Raj did this by making sure the client looks amazing all the time. This way they'll remember you down the road. He also advises allowing your team to build relationships with their counterparts in the client's company. It helps to build trust, as well as identify new opportunities. Another thing Raj did was host lots and lots of round tables, including topics from email to emerging tech, and so on. They invited clients and let them network amongst themselves. "It wasn't a sales meeting," he says, "but it still helped promote our brand." By creating a community for their customers, Raj's company was able to build trust and drive business. Want to read more about how you can improve your agency and yourself as an agency owner? You can read our blogs that cover a wide variety of topics or if videos are more

Are you ready to make your agency the niche authority in your industry? In his second appearance on my show, Simms discusses the big impact writing a book had on growing his business, in both expected and unexpected ways including giving his agency niche authority. If you have ever wondered how to become a leader in your market and a niche authority, you've got to listen to this episode. Simms Jenkins is the CEO of Brightwave Marketing, which is a full service email marketing agency with big clients like The Weather Channel, Cox, and Lowes. Don't be afraid to be special. Sometimes we find ourselves thinking doing more is better, and doing a lot is great. Simms doesn't want us to be afraid of being specialists. He points out that a lot of agencies are good at the things they're doing, but they aren't actually great at any of them. We decided early on that we were going to be great at what we did. Brightwave's goal was to be the best in email, so they chose to focus on it entirely. It was this singular commitment to their niche that made the company a leader in email marketing. There were times they branched out into other areas, but quickly realized they were making a mistake. "It's easier to be a thought leader if your focusing on one area. You'll have a hard time separating yourself from the pack if you do a lot of different things." Motivation to write a book. Writing a book was always something in the back of his mind, but Simms admits that the first book probably wouldn't have happened when it did if the publisher had not approached him. Hoping to fill a void in the market, the publisher asked Simms to write some good, fresh information on email marketing. The result was his first book, The Truth About Email Marketing. Years later, Simms wrote a second book, The New Inbox, which addressed the changes social and mobile had on email. I ask Simms what it was like trying to write that first book and if he has any advice for people thinking about writing one of their own. According to Simms there aren't a lot of reasons not to just go ahead and write. In the past, publishers were needed to give you credibility and get your book on the shelves, but now with self-publishing, "all you need is content and drive," says Simms. His advice is to start writing publicly, if you're not already doing so. It helps build your confidence, as well as awareness about your message. Start a blog, keep a journal, write articles, speak at events, and talk to people. Find out what's going on in your industry and write content around that. But don't think you need to write a book just for the sake of having written a book. Think about who your potential readers will be, and what they would like to read. "Book or not, make sure you're putting out content," he says. Keep from feeling overwhelmed. Instead of thinking you need to write a whole book in one sitting, Simms recommends breaking it up into smaller, more manageable chunks. He suggests creating an outline to "take that big scary goal down to little doable goals." You'll have to do the marketing. Unless you're one of the breakout sensations, you'll likely have to do a lot (no, probably all) of your book's marketing. Even if you have a publisher, you shouldn't rely on them to help. Figure out who would benefit from your book and start marketing to them. Simms also used his speaking engagements to help promote the books. If he was delivering a keynote at a conference, he would provide the attendees with a copy of the book. He says he also experimented with social media, as well as Amazon and Kindle. "We would give away free copies or discounted copies. It seems counterintuitive, but it's about getting the book in the hands of people that would benefit most from it and raising awareness." So did the book help Simms get more business? He says it's hard to tell, since his company doesn't spend money on marketing, but it did help separate them from the pack. "It's nice to talk to a prospect and have them tell you they have a copy of both your books on their bookshelf." Certainly that does give Simms a leg up over all the other agencies who don't have books on prospects' shelves. After Niche Authority, What's Next? When you have established niche authority for your business, this may only be one of the goals or challenges you have within your agency to take it to the next level. I have covered topics from facing failing economies and recessions or how a speaking opportunity can create business for your agency. Or maybe you want to know the four phases of growth within your agency and want extra help in taking your agency to the next level and sell your agency for a larger profit? I have all the information you need to help you through it. You can learn more about my life and my experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading our blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! You can check out more from m

How to Transition to From a Small to Big Agency Growth Rich Wilson is the CEO of Big Scary Cranium who recently transitioned from a one man shop to achieve big agency growth transforming into a million dollar agency. (With a bunch of full time employees!) I talk with Rich about some of his biggest challenges, what he's learned, and mistakes he's made along the way. Failure is forensic. If you're an entrepreneur chances are you expect success, and probably put a lot of pressure on yourself to succeed. And like most entrepreneurs, you're terrified of failing. Rich recommends looking at failure in a different way. "Look at what went well. Look at what went wrong." For Rich, being able to moderate and handle failure is an important skill for entrepreneurs. Expect there to be disappointments. Learn from them and move on. Don't neglect your relationships. Rich works hard at maintaining his relationships, even when he's busy. While he admits that following up isn't always the easiest thing to do, he strives to do it. You never know when you'll need to call on that relationship down the road. Problem solving for happy clients. Rich believes in focusing on the client and making them the superstar. Part of that focus comes from having a total commitment to solving client problems. By understanding what your ideal customer looks like, you can develop a strategy for dealing with them. He warns against becoming a people pleaser, though. W-2 vs. contractor. When it comes to full-time hires and contractors, Rich says it's all about what kind of business you are and what kind of expectations you have. You need to set up goals - whether it's grow and bring on full time or flex in size with contractors - so that you know how to get from Point A to Point B. "As an entrepreneur, you probably specialize in one area, but you need five things to run a business." As far as who to hire, Rich warns against bring on a bunch of mini-you's. Of course you are really great, but it's having a good diversity that makes for great teams. This way you get the right people to help you figure out where you're weak. He also recommends using assessment tools to learn about potential hires and determine where they might fit in with the team. He uses Introspective Advantage to help him find people for his team. Rich on getting to the next level. "It's all about the relationship with the client." Rich calls it "land and expand," also known in the web world as incremental engagement. Build relationships with clients where you can add value, not just grind out work. He also warns against staying too comfortable in your niche. "You're good at one thing if you're small, but don't be afraid to open the scope of what you do. Otherwise someone else will swoop in." Want to Grow Your Agency and Become a Better Agency Owner? If you want to take your agency to the next level and bring in more clients to achieve the big agency growth Rick talked about, I've the best agency advice for you! You can find these tips, tricks and insights by checking out our blogs covering all your need to know topics or if videos are more your thing, visit my Youtube channel!

How to Land Big Name Clients For Your Agency Want to know how out how a Digital Agency (TwentySix2 Marketing) agency went on to land big name clients ranging from Coke, AutoTrader, Microsoft, and Verizon Wireless. TwentySix2 Marketing has been a leader in the online marketing industry for over a decade, providing services in search engine optimization, paid search, social media marketing, and content marketing. This Internet thing is going to be huge. John remembers starting out at a cheap wooden desk, making cold calls and contemplating the enormity of this new thing called the Internet. He and his company have come a long way since then and have been able to land big name clients but he shares some of the biggest challenges he had starting out. He talks about how creating momentum was a problem, "There was a time when I wanted to quit everyday." Thankfully he didn't quit and attributes a lot to the people around him who encouraged him to keep going. He also points out that networking can be a challenge, but the struggle is worth it. "You get a lot of results from your relationships," John says. He encourages people starting out to join boards and network with peers. These peers can end up as partners, and later help you land bigger clients. John's biggest tip for all business relationships - "Make a deposit before you make a withdrawal." In other words, do something for someone before asking them for something. They're more likely to remember you down the road. Passionate People. Good people are key to getting through obstacles. But John admits that - at times - finding the right people was a problem. Occasionally, the people that started with him weren't the right fit once his company grew. Over the years he says he's found his best people have a passion, as well as the right balance of salesmanship and technical expertise. [quote] There's always something in business. There's always a challenge [/quote] Because technology and tools on the Internet change so quickly, John looks for people who strive to keep learning. Staying well informed by reading blogs and following industry thought leaders is key. John also points out the importance of finding people that compliment your style. Are you the salesperson? Then find an operations person to balance you. Or, if you're great at closing the deal, find someone great at creating opportunities and building the relationships that score meetings. You can then finalize the deals together. It's a partnership, not a competition. "Getting the right people in place is how you can be assured the business can operate without you. " If you want a day off once in awhile, you need to establish processes so that the team knows what to do when you're not there. Then go revel in your newfound free time! Keeping the Big Clients. Let's face it - there are a lot of people knocking on the doors of these big name companies. Once you've landed a big one, it's not the time to rest on your laurels! John talks about how staff turnover within the client's company can be a real issue. New guy comes in and decides to go with an agency he knows. He suggests making sure you're continuously talking to your client about the results you're getting for them. If you're proving your ROI, they're less likely to seek someone else. Little fish need love too. John's company has big clients as well as small clients, and that it's this diversification that has helped make them successful. After all, it's not just the big clients that get attention. John points out that every client, every person is different. "You have to ask a lot of questions and listen a lot," he says. "Then ask more questions and listen some more." Work on your business, not just in it. Stop running just your business! John recommends focusing at least an hour a day on your business. Work on improving aspects of your processes little by little so growth and infrastructure keep getting better. How to Improve So I have shared from other experts how you can land big name clients but don't just stop there. To improve your agency, you should take a step back and really look struggles you need to focus on to improve your business. I have all you need to get through these obstacles. I have advice on topics from gaining agency exposure in the news, how to build authority for your agency or even ways to use facebook marketing strategies to expand your brand awareness. If growth is your focus, I've discussed the four phases of growth within your agency and how website issues could be holding your business back from reach your potential. You can learn more about my life and my experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! You can check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

Land Big Clients Want to know how you can land big clients and take your agency to the next level? In this episode I'm happy to welcome Del Ross. He was the Vice President of Sales & Marketing of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Del gives his perspective on the do's and don'ts to land big clients and tells us the #1 thing an agency needs to do to land the big accounts. We talk in length about what he looked for in picking an agency to work with and how to land a big account like IHG. More specifically, during our chat you'll find out... As a big brand, what did you look for when choosing an agency? Expertise and specialization in certain type of media or types of engagements. Del says he wanted agencies that could define what they were best at versus agencies that claimed they could do everything. He was never in the market for everything - he needed certain things at certain times. How can you get your foot in the door of a major brand? Pitch the new and disruptive stuff that a brand might be thinking of, but hasn't tackled yet. INSIDER SCOOP - IHG would invest $5,000 - $50,000 to see if it would work. What should you not do? Don't say "I can do it better than the agency already in place because you have to be relatively unhappy." The agency of record doesn't matter anymore. Focus on being the go to partner. Yow want to be in the strategy and planning meetings. You need to be in the "oh-no, what do we do now?" meetings. Best process or pitch: Be an advisor rather than an order taker. Have a point of view or belief based on some data and proven results, that a certain activity X, leads to result Y. Then be able to engineer it for them. State, "Here is the way you need to do this, and if you do it this way, these are the results you will get." Help determine what a customer is worth. Help calculate the customer's lifetime value. What do agencies do wrong? They focus more on how to spend the budget, rather than on the desired results. A lot of agencies make the conversation about how great they are instead of listening to the prospect. They sell what they want the client to want, not what the client needs. Most agencies fear metrics. Agencies typically just focus on the ROI but should also calculate the Customer Lifetime Value. They push their way in with, "Can we spend 20 minutes to see how we can help?" How to position yourself for big brands to call you. Speak at a conference that provides value and a solution to possibly solving a problem they are having right now. Demonstrate your expertise and establish yourself as an authority. And finally, #1 thing that an agency needs to do to get to the next level. Have a point of view and back it up with data, research and tell your client what they need to do instead asking them what they want to do. Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Take Your Agency to the Next Level So we have just covered how you can land big clients for your agency but what are the other business struggles you need to focus on for your agency? I have all you need to get through these obstacles. No matter what you need advice on, I have more than likely covered it. From topics such as how a poor website design can affect your leads to how your agency can cope while you work through a recession. Or maybe you want to know the four phases of growth within your agency and want extra help in easing through agency growing pains? I have all the information you need to help you through it. You can learn more about my life and business experience as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by check out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. And if videos are more your thing, i've got you covered! Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this episode, I chat with Richard Warner. Richard is the founder and CEO of What's Up Interactive, a business he started 24 years ago and took from "high tech" fax company to successful digital agency. He is also a nationally syndicated broadcaster, entrepreneur, and business expert. If you want to know how to build long lasting agency business in a competitive industry, this is the advice you need. First who, then what. The "first who, then what" principle from the James Collins book Good to Great, spoke volumes (no pun intended) to Richard. This principle is all about getting the right people on board. Who is going to fit in best with your culture and who is right for the company at the time? Then figure out where they fit within the company. "As we maneuvered, it turned out they weren't the right people. But some people who couldn't find success here, almost always found it somewhere else." He also warns against hiring for growth, a trap many fall into, especially in their early days of business. You need a board. Richard wants you to have a Board of Directors. More specifically, he says "Go, go, go! No matter who you are, you need a board." A board is key to avoiding certain mistakes and an opportunity to solicit the opinions of people who are more accomplished. How do you go about convincing people to be part of your board? Reach out, take them to lunch, explain the level of commitment, payment, and full-on woo them. He also recommends you find yourself a mentor, regardless of where you are at in your career. Why? "No matter what, you need someone to push you and help you learn from their mistakes so you can hopefully avoid making the same ones." Building a great business means, removing yourself from working in the business. It is hard when that day comes and your people do not need you in the day-to-day operations. There is an emotional low but you need to realize that your role needs to change to setting the vision and direction of the company. Only then can you have scale and extreme growth. Rates to cash flow. When asked about assessing his pricing structure, Richard recalls that when they mixed up what they were selling and looked at their pipeline, they realized it was time for rate changes. Take a look at your competitors, and set your rate off of the result, the value, and not off of how long it will take you to complete the project. Otherwise, you run the risk of mucking up your cash flow. But cash flow problems are a real issue for many of us. How can that be avoided? Richard attributes good cash flow maintenance to discipline and healthy margins. He also advises having a good money person either on your board or on your team. Why am I here? "Part of what makes you who you are is the fact that you've blazed your own path." You've had the vision of how to make your company a success, and now you're there. Except, you're suddenly feeling confused; maybe even angry. As the CEO, Richard remembers realizing that his team was so good they didn't need him in every meeting or making every decision. He felt lost and somewhat resentful. His advice for those finding themselves in the same state of confusion, "Once you grow beyond 'I have to do everything and be in control,' that's when you grow." You Know How to Build Long-Lasting Agency Business - Now What? We have covered all you need to build long-lasting agency practices but what else do you need? When it comes to your agency, what better advice is there than from a range of experts who have been in your shoes? Whether you need advice on increasing website traffic , what you need to do as an agency owner or learn how to plan who you hire for your agency, I can help. I hope you found this helpful and can adapt your existing agency and build long-lasting agency business as well as relationships with clients. Please find all my tips, tricks, and insights in my blog section that covers a wide variety of topics. Videos more your thing? You can check out the videos on my Youtube channel for agency advice from myself and many other agency experts.

Whether you are starting an agency or you have an established digital agency, growing your business is usually always a goal. In this article, I share all the tips you need to know to achieve business growth from your agency from an agency owner who grew his agency to one of the best in the country. In this episode we cover: The steps needed to grow and/or sell your business - from hiring the right people to forming a board of directors to defining a niche in your market. How Jeff Hilimire grew his digital agency to one of the best agencies in the country with top clients such as Chick-fil-a, Coke and CISCO. How he sold the agency twice, and what he recommends for take your agency to the next level. What Jeff considers his biggest mistake and his the secrets to successfully growing a digital agency. And finally, learn about the sale process when Jeff sold both Spunlogic (2008) and Engauge (2013). Setting a clear goal for the business. In Jeff's case, the end goal was to be acquired and to make sure decisions were based on this goal. He knew they needed to be one of the biggest agencies in the southeast with a fast growth rate and big name clients. This meant taking on clients and projects that sometimes lost money in order to get the big brand clients. He believed that once they get one big name, they could leverage that name to get even more. How to win big clients. Jeff picked a niche he could own - user experience. In doing that, he was able to start targeting big clients and focused on doing whatever it took to get the first one. He advises: Leveraging your past success once you get one big brand in order to attract more. Should you setup an advisory board? Yes, and you should set it up from the very beginning. Jeff wanted unsolicited advice and wanted to have different skill sets on the board. He picked one person from each discipline: Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Agency. What are some keys to keeping your business growing? You need to have at least one leader focused on growth. Invest back into the business and keep your own salary low. Learning to delegate is key to growing. Give power to your team. Build a culture where people want to have fun. Start a company trip to bring everyone together. Commit 100% to growing. What are two pieces of advice when selling your business? Don't get distracted when you go through the selling process. When you get to the talks about buying, treat it like it won't happen. Building and selling an agency, or any business, is a long, multifaceted process. Learning from those who have gone before you can ease and simplify the process if you are willing to learn. Ready to Achieve Business Growth? I hope you found this information helpful and inspiring for you to achieve those bigger clients and business growth you aspire to. If you are looking for advice on what you need to do as an agency owner or learn how to fast track growth for your agency, I can help. I have a bank of tips, tricks and insights that you can find checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. Or if videos are more your thing, you can check out the videos on my Youtube channel!

Are you experiencing with growing business goals for your digital agency? In this episode we cover: What steps he took to propel his agency into one of the leading email-focused digital agencies in North America. Simms will share with us his experiences with what happens when your company begins to transition into that next level. Cover everything from hiring and growth management to letting go of what your role once was so you can embrace what it must become. Getting Into Email Marketing Sure, email marketing is popular now but how in the world did Simms get into it over a decade ago? He certainly found himself one heck of a niche. "We knew email would be important, but there wasn't any help with content. Pressing send is the easy part." One of the keys to success was building thought leadership through creating great content. Changing Phases For BrightWave (well, every company really), it's all about hiring the right people at the right time. Once you've found your business niche, you need to have passionate individuals with you in the beginning to help you get started. But where do you find them? Many of the people who started with Simms at BrightWave came from his personal or professional networks. Some even approached him, asking to be involved because they heard about what he was doing through conferences he where he had spoken, articles he had written, and other thought leadership forums. Simms calls this "blood, sweat, and tears" equity. Clearly, if you build it they will come. [clickToTweet tweet="By hiring the right people with the right vision the company starts building itself from within." quote="By hiring the right people with the right vision the company starts building itself from within."] And while no successful company could be where it was without those who were there in the beginning, making the transition from small, single entrepreneur or startup to bonafide digital agency can be tough. As his company began to grow, Simms realized he needed to look for people who understood growth and had agency experience. He admits growing business mistakes were made – occasionally people where hired too quickly to fill a business need and not because they were the right person for the job. What does Simms think about how growth impacted the way they do business? "You don't want to be caught looking in the rearview mirror," he says, and be sure you are "laser-focusing on what you want to be." About that laser focus… Simms says to resist the temptation to get away from what you do best. "We're here to do something special. We don't want to be just another digital agency. We want to do one thing and be world class at it." He wants his team's first thought to be: 'what will make our clients successful?' It's this mentality that has given his company the reputation that it has today. How can you build the same reputation? Simms recommends putting out valuable content and establishing yourself as a market leader, "Blogs and social media have changed things so much. It's easier than ever to get yourself out there." Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Overcoming Challenges When Growing Business There will always be times that you may face growing business struggles but what's important is knowing how to handle them when they appear in the best way possible. Is this something you would need help with? I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you with what I have learned. From bad agency clients, developing agency products as well as how you can build authority for your agency. If you want to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run. As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.