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

Do you find it hard to keep up with developments in technology and getting client contracts just right? In this episode of #AskSwenk, I answer your questions and cover these topics for you: What KPI's your agency should be measuring, how to keep up with all the latest technology and what key info you need to include in client contracts. Agency KPI's, Technology, & Client Contracts This Week's Questions: {0:25} Susan asks: "What KPI's does a digital marketing agency need to measure?"   {2:10} Troy asks: "You are pretty much on every channel. I've listened to your podcast, seen you on Twitter, FB, Instagram and your blog, How do you keep up with it all?"   {4:28} Rory asks: "As I'm just starting out, and bringing on clients, are there any super critical "things" to include in contracts and should we worry about contracts?" Are You Ready to Improve Your Agency? After you have mastered these challenges, what's next on your list? If you want to take your agency to the next level, constantly finding ways to im

If you are looking for technology secrets for your agency to impress your clients, then today's episode is just for you. In this episode, we’ll cover: 3 technology secrets that will WOW your clients. A Facebook development that every business should be using. The hottest trend in live streaming video. The #1 easiest hack to boost your Google ranking. On this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, we’ll hear from Ryan Steinolfson with some advice that can boost your business and totally impress your clients when you bring these growth solutions to the table. Ryan’s agency, Accelerate Marketing, specializes in social proof and live streaming video for it’s clients. He says live streaming is a lot more complex than it appears and his agency helps their clients with it in three ways: Live streaming on the client’s behalf. Teaching client teams to live stream, or with their course Live Stream Blueprint. Developing “Advocacy Days”, which are live stream events among multiple strategic partners that are connec

What You Need to Know When Starting an Agency When starting an agency, it can be intimidating from building the best team to creating your portfolio of clients to make your business profit. But as the agency grows, you may find yourself outgrowing clients that you had when you initially started and needing to consider growing your team or outsourcing content for different projects. On this episode of #AskSwenk, we'll cover:  what to do when your agency has outgrown a client, all about starting an agency (like when and how), and whether you should outsource your content writing. (0:21) Jojo asked: "My question is, how far do we need to go for these clients before it is time to think about politely passing them off to a more suitable freelancer or smaller agency? I appreciate that they were part of our business growth up to this point, but some of these clients are "loss-making" for us and get in the way of other work." (2:46) Nancy asked: "What will I be ready to start an agency? Should I start one now and lea

Are you considering hiring freelancers but don't know the best way to successfully manage remote teams for your digital agency? In this episode, we’ll cover: Creative ways to find top talent. Freelancer onboarding… or not? Managing freelance and remote teams. Today’s guest is the co-founder of Hubstaff, a technology solution for managing a remote staff with everything from time tracking and progress monitoring to payables and financials. Dave Nevogt shares with us some great tips on sourcing, hiring and managing freelancers. Out-of-the-box talent searching ideas: Often times agency owners don’t know where to look for the right candidates. Most end up relying on referrals or freelance marketplaces. Very few agencies experiment with other sources, such as: Check out LinkedIn or AngelList. Create a LinkedIn search filtered by your criteria. You never know who’s looking, who might be employed but unhappy. Reach out in a personalized private message and include a link to the job description. If they’re interest

On this episode of #AskSwenk, we'll cover:  How to handle clients who think you have a conflict of interest because you're specialized in a niche. Also, ways to get your foot in the door with new clients, plus getting better business leads for your sales team. This Week's Questions: Tackling Conflict of Interest {0:29}  Giles asked: "We specialize in design and marketing for the bar and restaurant sector. We've recently had a couple of meetings with prospects who were concerned about a conflict of interest as we already do work for one of the largest players in this sector in the UK. How would you tackle their concerns?" Getting Your Foot in the Door {2:36} Bobby asked:  "What assessments would you use for getting a foot in the door with a client?" Finding Better Business Leads {5:16}  Phil asked:  "There's one thing I consistently hear from my sales team and that is 'it's just bad timing for the client right now.' Have you found a good way to overcome this objection? " Related:  http://jasonswenk.com/askswen

Top 5 Business Growth Tips on How to Scale Your Agency Are you struggling on scaling your agency and just can't find the best business growth tips that fit your business model? In this episode, we’ll cover: Top 5 business growth tips to grow and scale your digital agency. How to juggle and manage multiple businesses. If you’re looking for a 7 or 8 figure entrepreneur to model, this guy might be it… Syed Balkhi is the owner of several multi-million dollar online business and he's crushing it. Syed’s trifecta of online startups includes:  WPBeginner (the largest free Wordpress resource), OptinMonster (lead generation software, and List25 (entertainment site) -- all of which are hitting 7+ figures and combined, serve over 400 million visitors! He’s also a former agency owner and a stakeholder in several other businesses. In this episode, Syed shares his best advice for getting your business to the next level. He’s got a ton of great tips for growing and scaling. Top 5 ways to grow and scale #5 - Answer everybo

On this episode of #AskSwenk, we'll cover: What awards you should be looking at nabbing to attract big brand clients, whether you should be putting your published pricing on your website, and how to protect the concepts you've pitched. This Week's Questions: 0:22 - Jerry asked: "What industry awards should I go after for my agency that can attract the bigger clients?" 1:53 - John asks: "What are your thoughts about posting your prices on your website or not posting them? I see many other agencies who do post and then many who do not." 3:39 - Elizabeth asks: "My agency is pitching concepts a lot more now. Concepts which we are proposing to make the content for. How can we protect our ideas from clients taking our ideas to other agencies?" Let Me Help In this episode of Ask Swenk, we've discussed a range of topics like published pricing for your agency and spec work but did this cover what you need to improve your agency? Do you need more advice? Don’t worry, I have all you need to get through these obstacle

Do you know how to ensure you are guaranteeing leads for your business? If you are struggling with this as well as growing your team or how to prevent time lost to bad clients, this episode of Ask Swenk is the one you need. In this video, I’ll cover: What to do when a prospect wants you to guarantee leads. My #1 struggle in growing my agency team and 3 ways we overcame it. How to fire a terrible client so you can quit wasting time. Guaranteeing Leads in a Proposal (0:23) Lawrence asks:  "A prospect is asking for us to guarantee the number of sales leads our digital marketing will create -- which is impossible and could change over time. How would you go about putting this into the proposal?" Don’t shy away from guaranteeing performance! Take pride and back your work. I have NO issue with guaranteeing leads... DO IT! But, you cannot guarantee sales. Lead generation in your control, converting leads and the sales process is not. 3 steps to guaranteeing leads: Determine a very specific criteria for qualified

Do you really need to have a big agency experience to truly be successful as an agency owner? In this episode, we’ll cover: What it’s like working at a big agency. Why a CCO would leave a large, publicly traded agency. Does size matter?  How you can determine your purpose and use it to build your brand. For anyone who has questions or doubts in their own abilities to startup a digital agency and run better than the big dogs, you’ll have to check out this interview. My guest, Kerri Konik, has worked at some pretty huge agencies, and left her latest as Chief Creative Officer in order to start her own agency. She tells us what it’s like at the big agencies and why she left to do her own thing. The grass isn’t any greener at the big agencies… it’s greener on the side that you water:) What it’s like at a big agency (...and why leave)? After years of working at big agencies Kerri started her agency, Brandscape Atelier, five years ago because she felt like she wasn’t making much of an impact on her clients’ busine

Do you know how to ensure you are guaranteeing leads for your business? If you are struggling with this as well as growing your team or how to prevent time lost to bad clients, this episode of Ask Swenk is the one you need. In this video, I’ll cover: What to do when a prospect wants you to guarantee leads. My #1 struggle in growing my agency team and 3 ways we overcame it. How to fire a terrible client so you can quit wasting time.   Guaranteeing Leads in a Proposal (0:23) Lawrence asks:  "A prospect is asking for us to guarantee the number of sales leads our digital marketing will create -- which is impossible and could change over time. How would you go about putting this into the proposal?" Don’t shy away from guaranteeing performance! Take pride and back your work. I have NO issue with guaranteeing leads... DO IT! But, you cannot guarantee sales. Lead generation in your control, converting leads and the sales process is not. 3 steps to guaranteeing leads: Determine a very specific criteria for qualifie

When building an agency, having big brand clients can elevate your agency to a whole other level. This is where the challenge comes in of how do you grab the attention of those big brands? In this episode, we’ll cover: Grabbing the attention of big brands. 5 Steps to creating a winning environment. The hierarchy of an agency with big brand clients. Don’t be a “me too” agency Mike says the agency’s Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Zak Mroueh, has always made it their mission to capture the attention of big brands and get to the next level. He says agencies are always telling their clients to stand out, be different, and do things that are uncomfortable. However, they don’t “walk the walk” and follow their own advice. For example, ever notice how agency websites all look the same? That’s why Zulu’s website is one of the most entertaining agency site you’ll see. It pokes fun at the agency industry’s cliches and stereotypes. It’s edgy, it’s funny, and it’s one example of Zulu walking the walk. (I’m telling y

What pricing model are you using in your agency? If you didn't know the benefits of using a performance-based pricing model within your agency, I can show you how to implement it and why it will be worth it in the long run. In today’s episode, we’ll cover: The benefits of performance-based pricing. Maximizing agency revenue using performance-based pricing. Tips for turning your videos into low cost, high quality lead generators.   Today’s episode is by far one of my very favorite -- and no, I don’t say that about every interview:) Tom Breeze not only trains people on getting more leads for their business using video, but he’s also so confident in his agency’s skill to do the same, that Viewability operates on performance-based pricing. With undergraduate and master’s degrees in psychology, Tom launched his agency only after learning to successful market his private anxiety counseling practice using video on his website. This was back when video for web was pretty new. (We’re talking pre-smartphone era... To

Have you ever considered live streaming as part of your marketing strategy for your business? Not sure how to get started? In this episode, we’ll cover: Why live streaming video is so HOT right now. How you can use live streaming video for generating new agency business. One new technology that will keep you ahead of current trends. Former agency owner Kim Garst is totally on top of the social media game. She’s been named on a couple pretty prestigious lists, including Forbes’ Top 50 Social Media Influencers and Top 20 Women Influencers. She’s a serial entrepreneur who has spent the last two decades forging her way with online startups - including a digital agency. Kim’s business, Boom Social began as an agency which has now morphed into a social media training resource for entrepreneurs. She’s finding more success and satisfaction in helping entrepreneurs find and develop their social media voice. Here’s what she shared about this year’s hottest trend: live streaming video. What’s the big deal with live st

Are you reaping the benefits of monetizing agency content? If not, in my 6 step guide, I will show you how and elevate your business through monetizing agency content moving forward. In this episode we discuss: How to build a CONTENT EMPIRE that converts and retain clients. Two tips you need for successful content marketing. What you need to do with your content right now.   How you can begin monetizing your agency content by following this simple, proven strategy. My guest on this episode is Joe Pulizzi. He has spent his entire career in the content world… He got his start in publishing in 2000 where he spent 7 years, until founding and growing Content Marketing Institute in 2007. Since establishing CMI he’s been educating marketers on the use of content to build an audience that knows, likes and trusts their brand and how to turn that audience into customers. Here’s the one thing you need to make sure you’re doing with your content marketing. Take a look at your content and determine how it’s different th

The Future Agency Outlook We have compiled a FREE AGENCY RESOURCE on the FUTURE AGENCY OUTLOOK of DIGITAL AGENCIES in 2016 and would like to share these great insights with you. This is data that we compiled from over 10,000 agencies, and we are going to share with you so you can navigate this new landscape and plan your new year with clarity and direction. Here's what you are going to discover: Why Brands Pick Agencies and What Brands Expect from Them How to Increase Opportunities for Agency Growth How to Increase Agency Margins and Better Scoping How to Increase Client Retention for Agencies If Agencies Should Develop a New Product and Why What Technologies Agencies Are Using Heading into 2016 What is an Agency's Lifetime Value of a Client and Why It's Important

Want some tax-saving tips for your agency that will help you save money and avoid an audit being carried out on your digital agency? In this episode, we discuss: How to protect your business, financially and legally. Ways to lower your taxes and other tax-saving tips. The IRS’s big secret on audits. This is HUGE!   Super-fun CPA and friend to U.S. agencies, Jason Blumer of Blumer CPA’s chatted with me about several tax-saving tips along with a few words of caution, and one big IRS secret on this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class. Blumer founded and runs a virtual CPA firm with a team of 8 around the country who are specifically geared toward accounting for design, web and marketing agencies. (See? He’s niching his firm and you should be, too. But that’s another topic for another day :)) Keep in mind the advice here is just general. Your specific situation and questions about your agency should be discussed in detail with your own CPA. What type of business classification is best for your agency? Best

What is the Secret to Rapid Agency Scaling? If a goal for your business is to achieve rapid agency scaling, in this episode I talk with Paul Higgins and discuss what you can do to achieve rapid agency scaling as well as what not to do to make sure you don't fall into any agency scaling pitfalls. In this episode we discuss: 5 levels you’ll reach when scaling your agency How to know what level your agency is at and where it’s going next 3 ways to avoid growth and scaling pitfalls As a business growth expert, Paul Higgins knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship and scaling businesses. After all, he spent nearly two decades on the client side, climbing up the executive ladder with Coca-Cola before founding an agency that serves as a partnership resource to small businesses. He’s also a Director and Empire Builder at Bollo Empire, which helps agencies scale. In this interview we talk about best practices for rapidly scaling your agency. There are 5 steps to climb on the stairway to success. Which step are yo

Are you looking for advice on improving your agency's growth strategy? Are the systems you have in place just not working for you and feeling like you've hit a plateau in your business growth?   Why Buying or Selling A Digital Agency is EASIER Than You Think. In this episode we cover: Why buying an agency isn’t as expensive or as hard as you’d think. How rolling-in another agency can be a killer agency growth strategy. 5 ways to improve your digital agency’s valuation to be acquired. What to look at if you’re looking to acquire another agency. Today’s guest, Eric Keiles was doing inbound before inbound was even a thing. Eric and his partner founded Square 2 Marketing in 2003 with the intention of helping brands revamp their old-school marketing to the way people are buying in the new millennium. In 2009, they partnered with Hubspot and took their business to a new level. I met Eric at Hubspot’s 2015 Inbound Conference and quickly learned he is pretty serious about making a plan and sticking to it. He has on

Are you growing your digital agency the best way or are you facing hurdles you need to overcome and don't know the best techniques to overcome them? In this episode we cover: The most common challenge a new digital agency faces, and what to do about it. 4 traits you might have that are standing in your own way of growing your digital agency. How to find the clarity you need to grow and scale your marketing agency.   Today’s guest, Gray MacKenzie, and his partner started their Inbound Agency out of their college dorm room five years ago. As Seniors on the Grove City College Lacrosse team, they created a website and social campaign for the team. Their marketing efforts off the field coincided with on-field success and they realized the skills they had used for on something “just for fun” had the potential for much more. And thus, GuavaBox was born. In their first year, Gray says they weren’t really all in and had a shot gun approach to the business. One big challenge they ran into as young entrepreneurs, fres