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

If you’re looking for a unique, innovative and low-cost lead gen strategy check out this story. Live events can go far but one agency is using Meetup to find new prospects and turn them into leads while building the know-like-trust factor. Best part is, it’s totally FREE. In this episode, we’ll cover: What is Meetup and how does it work? 6 Steps to creating your own Meetups for lead gen. Using Meetup to capture the attention of big brands. Our guest today is Ali Salman, co-founder of Rapid Boost, a lead gen agency in western Canada. He’s here to share a unique lead generation strategy that generated over $165K in just a few months and continues to keep their pipeline full with new prospects. What is Meetup and Why Use It? Meetup is a social network that facilitates in-person group meetings in various locations worldwide. It’s primarily used to connect people with common interests so they can idea-share, network and help one another. Meetup groups get together in their specific geographic location for social

Top 5 Tips to Accelerate Agency Growth If you have your sights set on your agency breaking 8-figures this episode is a must. Do you want to know how you can accelerate agency growth? Today's guest is an agency owner who's gone from $0 to over 8-figures and he shares his top 5 tips so you can grow too. In this episode, we’ll cover: Why you must niche down to accelerate agency growth. How to reward key employees without giving them ownership. Ways to stop doing all the agency stuff you hate. Our guest today is Chris Spears, co-founder of Arke Systems the agency he started in 2006. Eleven years into the business he's seeing steady growth, has 80+ employees and loves his job! Chris and I go way back to my digital agency days when we were working as strategic partners. His agency has crushed the 8-figured ceiling and he’s on the show to share how you can do it too. 1- The More Niched, the Faster the Growth Chris attributes a lot of his agency’s growth to an early appreciation of niching down. If he could do it a

Facebook Live is one of the hottest ways to generate new agency business. You can spend tons of time and resources sending a hundred emails to your perfect prospects but you’ll earn more trust in just one live video than all those emails combined. Live streaming video is where it’s at... and your competition is not doing it yet, so you will stand out from all the “me too” agencies. So what are you waiting for? In this episode, we’ll cover: Why you need to be on Facebook Live. 6 Steps for starting live video. Tips to set you up for successful live videos. Today’s guest is THE expert on Facebook marketing, Amy Porterfield - an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and social media marketing trainer. Following an amazing career at Harley-Davidson and working with Tony Robbins, Amy decided to give it a try on her own. After overcoming tons of obstacles, she’s become one of the most well-respected Facebook marketers today. She’s on the show to tell us all about why Facebook Live is one of the hottest new ways to gen

We have all gotten them. The bad cold email that makes you feel better about yourself :) Here's a fun interview I did with a buddy of mine from Proposify about the WORST and the BEST email he has ever received when it comes to lead generation. In this episode, we’ll cover: Mistakes to avoid making in your cold sales emails. How to write an amazing cold email. 4 Tips to crafting an effective cold email. Today’s guest is Kyle Racki co-founder of Provposify, a SaaS product for helping agencies streamline proposal writing, get approvals faster and close deals quickly. He tells us how to improve the effectiveness of cold emails in order to keep the conversation alive. Mistakes to Avoid in Cold Sales Emails We’ve all been on the receiving end of some pretty terrible sales emails, right? Whether in your inbox, LinkedIn mail, or similar space they tend put us off. Here’s one from Julie, which Kyle shared as a typical bad sales example… This is one of the WORST cold emails because: It’s too vague. The email says th

Are you worried that defining a niche will limit your agency’s potential? Don’t be. Check out one agency’s story about how they grew past 7 figures in a very specific horizontal and vertical niche. Think: if you got paid on performance alone, what’s the ONE THING you do best to get you paid the most? In this episode, we’ll cover: Why your agency needs a vertical or horizontal niche, or both. When and how to expand your niche. How to get bigger clients and retainers.   Today’s guest is Chris Dreyer, founder of Rankings.io (formerly Attorney Rankings). He’s a client of mine who did a private, full day workshop with me. We were able to supercharge his agency business and since then he’s had amazing growth! Agency leads have increased to 50-60 per day and they broke the 7-figure mark! Chris shares some of the strategies that helped his agency grow easier and faster. Why Choose a Vertical and Horizontal Niche? Chris is a school teacher by trade and was doing some SEO on the side. After a couple years of side job

Growing your agency means hiring great people to help you get there. And hiring top talent shouldn’t be limited by geographic boundaries. On today's show, one agency owner tells us why his agency's increased productivity and sales are the result of having a remote team. In this episode, we’ll cover: Is it time to get an office for your agency? How to be productive with a remote team. Must-have technology for a remote team. Balancing a remote team business model. How to hire remote employees. Tim Cameron-Kitchen is the founder and Head Ninja at Exposure Ninja, the UK-based digital agency he started four years ago. In addition to growing an amazing business in a very short time, Tim has also written four bestselling books on digital marketing. Today, Tim’s here to tell us why his agency’s office space has been vacant for three years and how that has increased productivity and helped him scale his agency. Is It Time to Get Office Space? Starting as a freelancer and occasionally farming out work to other freela

A Full Pipeline Isn’t All You Need to Grow Your Agency Scaling and growth is not just about filling your pipeline. New business won’t mean a thing if you don’t have the right systems in place to support it. Check out the advice from a white label agency that literally exists to help other agencies scale. In this episode, we’ll cover: Why you need more than a full pipeline to grow. 2 crucial systems necessary for scaling. One mistake agencies make trying to scale. How to make decisions for agency longevity. My guest today is here to share with us a few big secrets about scaling. Ryan Meo founded his agency, Scale Squad, nine years ago. His agency white labels in order to help digital agencies scale. So that pretty much makes him the authority on scaling. He tells us what processes and systems are absolutely crucial for growing and how they are more than just having a full pipeline when looking to scale your agency. 2 Crucial Systems Necessary for Agency Scaling If Ryan could travel back in time, he says the

8 Figures in 8 Years: Achieve Agency Growth from 0 to 8 Figures Wonder what it takes to get to your agency to 7- or 8- figures? Today’s guest tells us all about how his agency has grown to 8 figures in 8 years, plus the challenges he’s faced and how he got over them in order to succeed and grow. In this episode, we’ll cover: The challenges/solutions of growing to 7- and 8 figures. Healthy agency profit margin ranges. Challenges of  managing at the 20+ employee level. How to stay relevant as your agency grows. My guest on the show this time is Matt Bertulli, owner of Demac Media, in Canada. Over the last eight years his agency has grown to 95 full-time employees and just crested the 8 figures mark. In Matt’s interview, he was very candid about the struggles and challenges they faced getting to various milestones of growth and how he pushed past them in order to success. What Does Healthy Growth Look Like? Right off the bat, Matt knew in order to cut through the noise his agency needed to specialize. He took

If you’re not using video in your own agency marketing, or if you aren’t getting any traction from your videos check out this episode. Today’s guest tells us why video is one of the best lead generators out there - and how to set yourself up for successful video marketing campaigns. In this episode, we’ll cover: 4 benefits of using video in your agency marketing. #1 mistake agencies make in video marketing. The equipment and pre-planning you need for making great videos. My guest today is Dee Dee deKenessey, Agency Partner Program Manager at Wistia. If you don’t already know about Wistia - it’s time to get out from under that rock. Wistia provides professional video hosting with amazing viewer analytics to help you achieve your video marketing goals. Dee Dee tells us how you can set yourself up for success by weaving video into your marketing. In just one year, Wistia’s Agency Partner Program has grown to 700 agencies with varying levels of experience, from beginner to seasoned veteran. Dee Dee also manages

Are you finding you agency growth moving to fast that you are worried of it burning out or do you think it's moving too slow? In an ever-changing agency environment, does sustainable growth really exist? One of the main questions should be if should agencies concentrate on growing as much and as fast as possible, dealing with the fallout as it occurs? In this episode of Ask Swenk, I take a closer look into what you need to do to achieve and maintain sustainable agency growth and cover all your questions to give you a peace of mind and more... Christian asked: "Do you think there is such a thing as sustainable growth, or should you just aim for as much/fast growth as possible and deal with the new business/onboarding of staff?​"​ ​ Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. What Do You Need to Know to Maintain a Sustainable Business? I hope you found this installment of Ask Swenk beneficial and it helps you

Today’s episode is packed with tips and advice on solving some of the most common obstacles in agency new business sales. My guest, Tim Sanders, covers everything from getting in front of the right prospects to establishing authority, speeding up your sales cycle and getting the contract signed. In this episode, we’ll cover: How to improve agency sales. How to increase your close rate by 300%. The 4 stages to every agency new business sale. With over two decades in the marketing arena today’s guest, Tim Sanders, is here to share of TON of information about agency new business sales. Tim is considered a technology-pioneer, as well as a speaker, author and the founder of Deeper Media. Tim draws on his extensive experience - working with Mark Cuban in internet TV, working as a top Yahoo executive, and as an agency owner himself - to bring some great insight on agency new business sales. How to Improve Agency Sales Tim says Sales is a lot like Creative Design. That’s why agencies are (or should be) absolutely c

If your agency’s workload is constantly in flux you may have considered agency outsourcing... but, giving up control on a piece of a project can be a little scary. Today’s podcast guest is here to explain some of the best practices for managing partnerships and ensuring success for everyone. In this episode, we’ll cover: 4 tips to successful agency outsourcing. Managing difficult agency partner relationships. When to call it quits with an agency partner. My guest today is Tim Barsness, founder and President of Fjorge Digital. Tim got his start as freelancer and from there turned his business into an outsourcing agency with a giant network of partners. He on the show to share outsourcing best practices to ensure solid and profitable relationships. Tim’s agency has handled development for dozens of creative agencies. Over the years, he’s learned what works (and what doesn’t work) in successful agency partnerships. 4 Tips to Successful Outsourcing Communicate early and often. It’s important to treat an outsou

Do You Have a Bad Agency Prospect? Have you ever ignored that little voice telling you to turn away a bad agency prospect? It's hard to walk away, even when you know they're going to be a really bad client. Do you struggle with knowing when or how to say 'no'? All that and more is covered in this episode... Phil asked: "Today I took on a client I know will be a bad one. I have struggled with knowing when to say: I don't think we're a good fit for you. When a client is motivated and wanting to do business with you, but you know they aren't your ideal client - how, when and what do you say to get out of it without sounding like a schmuck? I'll take this guy on, but I've got to get a grip on how to get out of a bad deal." Advice For Your Agency I hope this episode of Ask Swenk was helpful and brings you clarity to any potential bad agency prospects your agency is currently dealing with. If you want to know how to improve your digital agency, you may come across challenges and knowing how to adapt will make you a

Tired of relying on referrals? Teaming with right strategic partners is an effective way to scale your agency. The trick is knowing how to find, leverage and maintain the right strategic partnerships. In this episode, we’ll cover: How agency owners can get out of their own way of agency growth. Finding, approaching and maintaining beneficial strategic partnerships. As a serial entrepreneur, Vincent D’Eletto has learned all about rapidly scaling startup businesses. He owns multiple revenue-generating websites, as well as WordAgents.com, a content and ghostwriting agency. Vincent shares the best ways to find, leverage and maintain highly beneficial strategic partners. And, I know what you’re thinking but I’m not talking about just having other businesses refer you out. Real strategic partners are much more than just referrals. When strategic partnerships are done right, both partners can generate some serious revenue! Systems & Processes Win (Again) Hands down, the fastest way to grow and scale is having

Frustrated by Agency Prospects? Are you sick and tired of agency prospects blowing you off after presenting a proposal? Frustrated when they string you along or send mixed signals? Wondering what you could do differently? You are not alone and this is a hurdle that many digital agency owners face when it comes to new clients and potential agency prospects. I have put together a video with advice on how to deal with getting proposals blown off by agency prospects, excuses clients can make and how to make it stop happening. Here's exactly how to handle it next time... Shannon asked: “I need help finding a better way to close a deal! ...I had a great first call with a prospect who said he was ready to go. I put together the proposal and set up another call to present it. After I went through the entire proposal, the prospect said he wouldn't be ready to do anything for another 3 weeks. So I scheduled the next call for 3 weeks out and again he says he's not ready to pull the trigger. This is the third time in a r

If you’re looking for new ideas to generate new agency business and attract new clients, you might want to hear what today’s guest tells us about branded web TV and influencer marketing. In this episode, we’ll cover: How to use branded web TV for agency new business. 4 Steps to positioning your agency or client as an influencer. Mark Fidelman founder and CEO of Fanatics Media is here to tell us -- branded web TV is the next big thing. According to Mark, video content is heading away from one-offs in favor of series or episodes. As an agency you can use this influencer marketing strategy for building new agency business, and as an innovative idea for your clients. Why Branded Web TV? At Mark’s agency they’re seeing an upswing in the popularity of branded web TV series. You might be familiar with Celebrities in Cars Getting Coffee or YouTube’s First We Feast. These are examples of branded series’ where viewers get a small dose of entertaining content while also being marketed to… and that’s where Fanatics Med

If you're struggling to transition one-off project clients into repeat business or retainer clients, this episode is for you. Learn how you can scale your agency by getting clients to stop viewing you as a commodity. {0:33} Geoff asked:  “How do you ensure that your clients come back for repeat business?..." "In my content management business, we start new clients off on a trial project, followed by one month's content. If they like all of that (and they do in 90+% of cases), we set up an arrangement whereby they order content from us every month. We've experimented with a lot of different writing services: blogs, landing pages, sales emails, product descriptions, direct response copy - even translation services this week. The service that people come back for month after month is blog posts. There is a constant need for content, and this is a market we get a lot of repeat business from. The problem I'm having right now is that clients are very sluggish when it comes to reordering content at the beginning of

If you want to grow your agency like some of the big guys but you’re not sure how to get there, you’ll want to check out this episode. Our guest has grown four (almost five!) 8-figure businesses. He shares ways to increase your profitability so you can grow and scale too with the best growth model for your agency. In this episode, we’ll cover: 2 tips to building an 8-figure agency. The right way to create a growth model after the big agencies. 2 ways to increase profitability and eliminate scope creep. Today’s guest is on in the process of building his 5th eight-figure business. Vinnie Fisher is the authority on profitability and growth. He’s an attorney by trade but left his law career to fulfill his dreams as an entrepreneur. Currently, he is the founder and CEO of Fully Accountable, a back office accounting and HR solution for service-based businesses. Vinnie shares the two big secrets he attributes to his 8-figure success with the right growth model, plus how an agency can become more profitable. 2 Tips

Profiling Ideal Clients to Attract New Agency Business If you are pulling generic data and basing your entire client persona off of it, you’ve got to catch this interview. To attract and qualify new agency business you need to be profiling ideal clients. This episode is all about how you can really zero in on how to start profiling ideal clients and your client’s clients. In this episode, we’ll cover: What “attitudinal segmentation” is and why you need to be doing it. 2 problems with the way agencies are strategizing now. 3 ways of profiling ideal clients and getting better data on your prospects. Our guest today is Susan Baier, founder of AudienceAudit.com has spent 30 years in the marketing space. She’s worked both agency-side and client-side as a strategist until eight years ago when she founded her agency specializing in attitudinal segmentation and research. Susan tells us all about using custom research and data to avoid being a “me too” agency. Profiling Ideal Clients: The Key Factors WTF is "Attitud

Solutions for Staffing Issues Are you trying to grow your agency while keep a tight lid on staffing? Busy chasing freelancers, all the while worrying they might go rogue or MIA? Over and understaffing can cause a ton of stress, but so can relying too heavily on freelancers. Today’s podcast guest has a solution for those staffing issues and more. In this episode, we’ll cover: Solutions to common agency owner struggles and staffing issues. #1 staffing mistake agency owners make. One service that makes agency owners’ lives easier. Today’s guest is Ryan Crozier, founder of Agency Boon - an agency that provides creative agency talent to U.S. agencies. In other words, it's the agency that helps agencies. Like many agency owners Ryan stumbled into the agency business. However, Ryan’s story has a different twist. He was a U.S. missionary in Romania where he started a nonprofit. He discovered his team’s creative talents and started farming out those talents to make ends meet for the nonprofit. They began assisting U