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

What Do You Need to Do to Quit Losing Clients Have you ever lost a client even though you’ve done great work for them? Puzzled as to why your “bad client” is so bad? This episode is all about what clients really want, from the woman who literally wrote the book. Learn all about maintaining good client relationships, how to quit losing clients, plus managing and training an amazing account service team that helps grow agency business. In this episode, we’ll cover: Why great work isn’t enough to keep clients happy. What clients actually want from their agency. 3 ways to make agency clients’ lives easier. Hiring and managing a team that grows your agency. There’s no such thing as a bad agency client... only a bad prospect or a bad process. In this episode my guest, Chantell Glenville, goes in depth on the bad agency processes that are killing your business. Chantell spent a number of years working both the client side and agency side of the business. She’s the author of best-selling book “What Clients Really W

Legal Protection: Which Areas of Your Agency Need It? It’s not a matter of if but when a legal issue arises for your agency, are you prepared? My guest today is an Intellectual Property attorney who focuses on helping marketing agencies with their legal protection to ensure all aspects of their agency stays protected. In this episode, we’ll cover: What legal mistakes to avoid. Which areas of your agency need legal protection. 3 contract loopholes you need to watch for. Your agency’s biggest asset (other than your team, of course) is your intellectual property. This episode features Sharon Toerek, attorney at Toerek Law and founder of Legal+Creative. Sharon shares the processes to have in place in order to cover your ASS(ets). :) As an attorney specializing in marketing agency law, Sharon tells us exactly what mistakes to avoid and how to plan for potential sticky situations. 2 Big Mistakes to Avoid According to Sharon, one the biggest mistakes she sees from marketing agencies is not understanding, undervalu

Budget and time. In any digital agency or even business for that matter, these are a couple of aspects you need to always keep in the forefront of your priorities both internally and with clients. So here's a question for you. Does your team understand the budget and it's limitations that you set on a project?   Do you have a hard time getting your team to stick to the client's budget and timing? In this episode of Ask Swenk, I take you through a couple of key points of thing to do to get your team on board of maintaining budget limits that have been set. And most of all, ensure your agency can save time and make more money while doing so.   {0:21} Matthew asked:  "We have trouble with the creative people on our production team staying within budget on projects. Any ideas on how to keep them accountable for budgets and timelines? I have tried everything I can think of with no luck."   Pricing Correctly From the Very Beginning. This can doom the project from the beginning if done incorrectly and this can be i

Stop Doing Things You Suck At & Improve Your Team Leading Skills Want to improve your team leading skills? Just can't stop doing the things you're no good at? If you’re looking to break through the plateau of running a solo agency, this episode is for you. Today’s guest is Pia Larson is the Chief Imagination Officer of Fingerprint Marketing, the digital agency she founded ten years ago. Pia shares stories and lessons learned about successfully building and leading her team. In this episode, we’ll cover: Solutions to 3 challenges every agency owner faces. The difference between being a leader and being a boss. How to stop doing the things you suck at. 3 Challenges Every Agency Owner Faces + Their Solution Are you constantly chasing clients? The agency business is about relationships. And Pia says her company vision included long term clients. However she felt like she was always chasing the next client, which left her no time to build relationships with existing ones. When you can’t focus on current cli

Do you have a hard time marketing your marketing agency because you're too close to it? Do you question your own branding and creative, even though you do a killer job of it for your clients? You're not alone. Here's how you can step outside of your business, market to the right clients and really crush it in sales! {1:07) Rob asked: "I'm really struggling with marketing my own agency. We are crushing it with clients but when it comes to marketing my company we get smashed in the face by a huge wall. I've started the process again looking to re-design my website, create e-books and automate emails but then I get to a point where I've got a finished design and I start to doubt everything before finally hating it. I'm now considering outsourcing it to a close friend with their own agency in another town... Any thoughts on overcoming this?" Marketing Your Own Marketing Agency First and foremost, don't create e-books. It's hard to look at your agency outside the box of your marketing agency but one step that can

How DigitalMarketer Increased Traffic by 1125% Do you think your content strategy is the obstacle in brining increased traffic to your agency's website? If your agency’s content marketing strategy is blogging - and just blogging - you’ve got to catch this episode. My guest is Russ Henneberry, Editorial Director at DigitalMarketer and he’s here to tell us how he has increased traffic on their front end by 1125%. That’s not a typo - you read it right - 1125%!!! In this episode, we’ll cover: How you can enjoy increased traffic with a content strategy. The 3 elements to a successful content marketing funnel. How to uncover your marketing agency’s black box. Russ is All-Pro at the content marketing game. Prior to working at DigitalMarketer, he was on the content team at Salesforce.com. He  also launched a blog for a well-known marketing SaaS where he grew visitors from 0 to 120,000/month in under a year. Content is where it’s at in digital marketing. The problem is too many people think content just means random

You aren't alone if you've considered transitioning into a SaaS company; or launching a separate company to sell SaaS. The challenge is educating your team, your clients and yourself on how to go about it. In this episode, we’ll cover: Reasons why you might want to develop a SaaS product. 4 steps to developing and launching a SaaS company. How to roll out your SaaS product and transition your agency. If you’re thinking about developing or selling a SaaS product, this is the episode for you. My guest is Ethan Denney, founder and CEO of ConvertFlow. Ethan took his company from a service-oriented digital agency to a product-focused SaaS company. He shares the story of his agency’s transition including the steps he took to get there. Why develop a SaaS product? As a digital agency, Ethan’s company was focused on driving site traffic and lead generation. However, they found many clients needed site redesigns and lot of other, deeper services were more involved. These issues often decreased profitability and incr

How to fire yourself from a key role in the business and transition from Agency Owner to Agency CEO. You built your business on skill and passion. You're the best at a certain aspect of it and giving that up can be really difficult. I can totally relate!  Here's how to  say 'yes' to the right things and 'no' to the wrong things so you can scale. Lisa asked: "In the Agency Playbook, I watched the video on leadership where you outline the roles of an agency owner. Creative direction was not on that list. Here's the thing -- and I'm not being arrogant -- but my company has grown because I'm best at being creative. I've experimented with backing off on smaller projects. But it's obvious the projects I work on are more creative and innovative than the ones I don't touch. My question is, how do I successfully back out of the Creative Director role and shift into the (boring but important) role of a CEO? Or should I stay in the Creative Director role since my agency relies on my talent for it's success?" I relate to

If you're struggling to build the agency or creating the agency vision that you want or having issues taking it to the next level, it could be a lack of clarity. In this episode, we’ll cover: #1 Struggle of building an agency team How to create and communicate your agency vision An on boarding process that sets expectations from day one. Today’s guest on the show is Danny Gonzalez, co-founder of Perception, the digital agency he and his partner built over the past fifteen years. Danny talks about how they communicate their vision in order to attract and keep top agency talent. You’ve probably seen some of Perception’s work if you’ve watched Iron Man 2 or Batman vs. Superman. They’re the team responsible for the fictitious technology your favorite superheroes use. They also develop real-world tech solutions (for us non-superhero types), such as UX and UI designs for automotive and technology companies. Pretty cool, right? #1 Struggle of Building a Team The most difficult thing about building a team is gettin

Today I'm answering some great questions about taking a one-man, or very small agency to the next level. Here's some great advice for building your business and agency scaling to a sustainable level and creating the role you want to be in. Agency Scaling: From One-Man to Next Level {0:22} Jeff asked: "I'm currently offering: site design, development and support, SEO, hosting/domain management, digital marketing, social media management, email marketing and some video production. First, I know that's a LOT to offer as a one man shop. Most of this has grown organically from WP website clients who asked for additional services. What advice do you have for me as one person who is building this business and doing all the work? Is partnering with white labels a good move? If so, how have you done that? Is outsourcing a better move? If so, how did you get started with outsourcing? Given that I'm on a tight budget, is there ONE software platform I should buy for marketing and running my own business? Something you j

Increase Business: How One Digital Agency Doubled Business in 4 Months If you're trying to grow an agency, you know you're going to need a foot in a door strategy to increase business and get you to the next level of success. The trouble is, you're selling the wrong service first. In this episode, we’ll cover: #1 strategy to increase business with new clients for your agency. Why you need a Foot in the Door offer. What makes a great Foot in the Door offer? My guest on the show today is represents every reason why I love my work. Todd Earwood is the founder and CEO of MoneyPath Marketing. We first met when Todd attended one of my two-day workshops. A few months later he called me to share the success story on how his business doubled in just 4 months. Todd shares with us the #1 reason his agency was able to increase business so drastically and how he’s on track to do 3X business within 6 months of the workshop! MoneyPath Marketing targets SaaS companies and like many agencies they have a hard time getting th

What to Consider in Your Hiring Practices What do you do when during a phase when you are hiring new team members, you discover they hope to eventually own their own agency? In this week's episode, I cover some important questions about hiring practices. Should you hire someone who tells you in the interview that they hope to someday run their own agency? If they're otherwise qualified, should that be a deal breaker? Also, if you find a great new hire but they don't live close, should you pay for relocation? {0:30} Jack asked:  "Say you're interviewing candidates for a sales position at your agency. When asked what they want to be doing in five years, the candidate says they want to run their own agency some day. Is this a deal breaker? We both know how hard running an agency is! Chances are, they won't be. But even if they did -- should that be an issue? I'm thinking it's kind of inevitable in our industry and I'm leaning towards being OK with it but I'm curious about your perspective." {3:13} Aaron asked: "

Looking to land those bigger retainer clients for your agency but don't know how to get there? I've got you covered in this week's episode. In this episode, we’ll cover: Why you might need to work for free. 5 steps to landing bigger retainer clients. How to implement the foot in the door strategy. How to stack the deck to gain more new agency clients. My guest today is Justin Brooke, founder of IMScalable and also known as “The Traffic Guy.” He’s got an awesome story about how he went from not being profitable, to working for free, to landing a couple huge retainer clients. In this episode, Justin shares his strategy for how to land the big clients you want and leveraging them to land more big retainer clients. Why You Need to Work for Free If you don’t have a success story or case study to use in your sales pitches, you might want to consider this strategy just get you one... Justin says he spent a couple years being unprofitable. However what he realized was that he needed one really great success story t

Do you need a sexy web design for your agency website in order to land 6-figure deals? In this episode of Ask Swenk, we hear about what big clients really want from their agency. We also cover the question of can you build your digital agency around your personal brand? Want the answer? Yes, you can! Here's how. How a Sexy Web Design Can Land New Deals {1:13} Jarrett asked: “My team comes from a design heavy background. We typically build beautiful websites and admire companies like Huge & Firstborn. We came from rsq.com and our website is mightyadvertising.com. But I've noticed a lot of digital shops like Solar Velocity who have less sexy websites are able to sell six-figure deals. Is there an advantage/disadvantage to building a sexy digital website versus on not-so-sexy website? Are those prospects not concerned with that level of design?” The biggest issue that can occur with a sexy website design can create the wrong positioning on your website and lead you and your agency into the weeds. You need to

Are you using value-based pricing within your digital agency? Did you know that through value-based pricing, it can support you in increasing the profit of your agency? In this episode, we’ll cover: Why value-based pricing will keep you from losing profit. How to setup a value-based pricing model. How to understand your client’s perception of value. This week on the Smart Agency Master Class, we’ll hear from Dan Mall founder of SuperFriendly, a design collaborative. Dan has spent his entire 18-year career in design and in that time he’s grown to understand a ton about pricing. He’s going to share how to develop value-based pricing so you can stop losing profit. Why a Value-Based Pricing Model? You are providing a service based on your unique skill set, knowledge and experience. Value-based pricing takes all those elements into consideration and quantifies. Value-based pricing is the intersection between: what it’s worth to the client and the amount of compensation you’re willing to take. And if that isn’t e

Do you have trouble making big agency decisions for your business? Do you hesitate to commit because you're afraid to fail? This episode is all about getting out of your own way so you can find the courage to take action that impacts your agency. Many of my clients tell me they have a hard time making decisions. Whether it's a decision that requires a big commitment or taking action on something that can dramatically impact their business. Some people have trouble pulling the trigger. As a result they stand in their own way of reaching success. Make Agency Decisions Like Seth Godin or Gary Vaynerchuck I get a lot of my inspiration from guys like Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. I was listening to Seth's podcast recently and he talked about making your big life decisions the way you make decisions in the game Monopoly. In the game, you have to decide quickly if you're going to buy property or not. Sometimes you land on Boardwalk and lose a bunch of money. Sometimes you make all the right decisions and WIN. Stil

Stuck finding ways to generate new business for your agency? Then the real question to ask yourself is have you ever considered adding video marketing to your online marketing strategy. If not, this is the episode for you. In this episode, we’ll cover: The benefits of rich media in your agency marketing. Top 3 mistakes to avoid in video marketing. How to repurpose your video content and give it legs. In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, Brian Town, schools us on video marketing. After a 17-year career as a high school TV and video production teacher, Brian switched gears and founded Michigan Creative. Over the past 5 years the agency has grown to a team of 10 which serves clients in web development, video branding and social media. Brian shares some great tips on starting or improving your video content to it becomes a major lead generator. Why video marketing? The real question is, why not video? It’s never been easier or cheaper to produce and edit video. Video content lives forever on multi

How to Create the Best Growth Strategy for Your Business It can be tough to feel you are doing everything you can to bring your agency to the next level but for not to see that growth you were hoping for. Should you be trying something different with the growth strategy for your business? Did you ever consider taking a closer look at the growth strategy that Donald Trump used to gain his popularity? In this video we identify Donald Trump's #1 growth strategy that has gained him a record number of supporters and cover how it applies to your digital agency. It's US Election Day 2016.  Maybe you're an American citizen with the privilege to vote? Or, maybe you're one of my global followers with the good fortune of observing this election from afar? Either way, you'll want to watch this brief video. I am neither a Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump supporter. However, observing their growth strategies got me thinking. This one single tactic can be a real game changer in your business. Are you ready to "Make Your Agen

Do you want to learn how you can use Facebook Ads to create lead generation for not only you but for your clients too? Then you need to keep reading. In this episode, we’ll cover: Why you should be using Facebook ads and how to get started. 5 Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook marketing for your agency. How to know if your Facebook ads are working and key metrics to monitor. Whether you’ve never tried Facebook marketing or you’re just looking to improve at it, you’ve got to hear from my guest Art Malkov. Art is the co-founder of NeedGrowth.com, a digital agency specializing in using Facebook to supercharge lead generation for themselves and their clients. Art shares some great tips on starting and maintaining Facebook marketing as well as some major mistakes to avoid. Does Facebook really work? Heck yeah, it does. Agency owners often tell me their audience is not on Facebook. Art says he hears it from clients, too. There are 1.5 billion users on Facebook. (That’s 3X more users than Twitter and Instagram combined.)

Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid To Ask Do you have questions about me and my agency experience that you've been wondering but were afraid to ask everything? In this episode of Ask Swenk, I take your questions that many you have asked about my journey as an agency owner. Here's everything you've been wanting to know about why I sold my agency, what I'd do differently, what I regret and why I do what I'm doing now. I've been getting some great questions about my past experience as an agency owner and thought it would be a great #AskSwenk episode to show you I'm totally transparent when it comes to my successes, failures, lessons learned and regrets. Check it out: {0:30} If you were so successful, why did you sell your agency? {2:00} If you could do it all again, what would you do differently as an agency owner? {4:52} What do you regret about the acquisition process? {7:37 } Why do you do what you're doing now? What More Do You Want to Know? I hope you found this instalment of Ask Swenk beneficial