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Build a Better Agency Podcast

Scale and grow your agency with better clients, invested employees, and a stronger bottom line, with Drew McLellan of Agency Management Institute.
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Build a Better Agency Podcast
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Now displaying: December, 2021
Dec 27, 2021

In response to the changes brought about by the pandemic, many agency owners have turned to fear-based decision-making. Employee turnover and demands coupled with an erratic market and global uncertainty can make things feel out of control. Trying to steer an agency with a vision requires decision-making that might put you at odds with your team so it might feel wise to placate rather than push. But it’s not.

In this solocast, we’re going to take a hard look at the fear-based leadership that has come to plague many of us during the challenges of the last few years. I’m going to explain why the fear won’t change the outcome, a couple of universal truths about what it means to run an agency without this fear, the level of decision-making that needs to return to the forefront, and why it’s so important to embrace once again the joys of being an agency owner.

There’s no doubt that we live in uncertain, confusing, and scary times but we cannot let these challenges define us as leaders. It’s my hope that this conversation will inspire you to march into 2022 with a renewed sense of peace and purpose.
A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

Fear-based Leadership

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • Why many agencies are currently run based on fear
  • Why fear-based decision making won’t change the outcome
  • The universal truths of not running an agency based on fear
  • Three levels of decision making
  • The need to embrace again the joy of owning an agency
Dec 20, 2021

Diversity and inclusion have never been more front and center and the workplace is being called upon to better reflect the world around us, especially by our younger employees and potential employees. Agencies are trying to do their part, but many are feeling lost because they simply don’t know what they don’t know. If we want to continue to attract young talent, we have to crack this code.

Over a year ago, brand consultant and marketing specialist Michael Barber published a post about spending time in a high school class talking about careers in our industry and diversity in the workplace. I’ve known Michael for years and knew that conversation was one I’d have loved to eavesdrop on if I could. I decided to bring him on the show so we could all listen in!

In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Michael and I have a wide-ranging conversation about what he learned from his discussion with these students. We talk about what they are looking for in potential employers, what Michael believes is a missing piece in modern education, and the tactics for building and creating a more diverse and welcoming environment. It’s hard work but important work and I hope you find the discussion as inspiring as I did.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.
The Young Adult Perspective

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • What young people are looking for in a workplace
  • The missing piece in modern education
  • The vast choices available to professional young people
  • Young people’s thoughts on the responsibilities of diversity and inclusion
  • The changes coming to our audiences
  • Tactics for creating a workplace that attracts diversity
Dec 13, 2021

When things are going well in our agencies and our personal lives, it’s easy to relax into the comfort of that success. One of the risks of that comfort is missing the signs that trouble is brewing below the surface. There’s a difference between living in fear and anticipating challenges. No one is suggesting we live a life of paranoia where we’re constantly waiting for things to fall apart, but a vigilant approach to life and business can help us steer clear of troubled waters before we’re knee-deep in them.

Author Len Herstein started as a consultant in consumer-packaged goods marketing before life took an expected turn that led to him becoming a police officer at age 45. Though these worlds seem vastly different on the surface the through-line he discovered was one about the risks and dangers of complacency.
In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Len and I take a deep dive into complacency: how it’s defined, the damage it can do, and why agency owners are among the most susceptible to its dangers. We discuss tangible tactics for creating awareness in your agency, the importance of transparency, and how to successfully self-assess your own complacency. It’s a big conversation about an important topic meant to inspire you to be vigilant.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • Where complacency comes from and why it is so dangerous.
  • Why agency owners are among the most susceptible to complacency.
  • Why you need to “articulate your why”
  • The opposite of complacency
  • The dangers of having a lack of engagement
  • What it means to get off the “X”
  • The need to be transparent
  • How to brief and debrief successfully
  • 3 questions to self-assess complacency
Dec 6, 2021

Understanding how clients view the agency relationship is key to making the most of that partnership. Every year since 2014, AMI and Audience Audit have brought you The Agency Edge Research Series to hopefully give helpful insights into what clients and prospects are looking for when working with agencies. The 2020 research correctly indicated that 2021 was going to be very robust for agency business. This year’s study was built to better understand the thinking behind this growth on the client side, in particular how this explosion in engagement affected how they thought about their agency relationships.

The Agency Edge Research Series is a collaboration between AMI, Audience Audit, and Dynata. Where other studies focus on industries or the size of client companies, we were interested in how these clients were feeling about a handful of topics. Audience Audit’s Susan Baier is here to give an overview of the 2021 findings.
In this episode of Build a Better Agency, Susan and I explain the methodologies used in creating the Agency Edge Research Series. We give an overview of the three client segments that revealed themselves, explain how an agency can diagnose clients and prospects in order to best serve what they are looking for. In the show notes below you will find a link to the 17-page executive summary and we hope this information will help you make the most of your client relationships.

A big thank you to our podcast’s presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They’re an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

  • The methodologies used in the Agency Edge Research Series
  • The insight that revealed itself for the first time this year
  • The focus of this year’s study
  • How the three segments of this study are defined: Committed, Concerned, and Close
  • How agencies can diagnose clients and prospects to know what segment they are in
  • Ways to work best with each segment
  • How agencies can manipulate the data for their own needs
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