Techmap: Marketing Podcast

In the marketing and advertising worlds, we often hear about the importance of creativity. A great deal has been written about how creativity is a big driver of marketing effectiveness, and it's hard to argue with the data - see Paul Dyson's work evidencing how greta creative delivers a 12x profitability multiplier in advertising effectiveness, or WARC's Effectiness code. So, what does it take to be creatively excellent? How do you get from good to elite in marketing communications. That's where Neil Quick, my colleague at Oystercatchers and guest in this episode of the show, comes in. Neil has been in advertising for 35+ years, working on brands including, Guiness, Harley Davidson, Co-Op, a whole raft of household icons in the P&G House, and many more. In the show, Neil and I explore why brands should invest in creativity and what it takes to excel. If you work in the world of marketing, advertising and communications, you'll probably learn something new and it will give you a taster for working with us as we take our Creative Skills Bootcamp training around the world.

Building brand advocacy is at the top of a marketer's to-do list, but we rarely think of internal marketing to achieve it. Maybe we're missing a trick. What if you could use internal marketing to create a tribe of advocates to help grow our brand? In this latest episode of Through the Line, I'm joined by Kerry-Ann Stimpson, the CMO of Jamaican financial services firm JMMB Group and host of the Internal Marketing Podcast. In the show, Kerry-Ann introduces her passion for internal marketing and how it is critical in building her organisation's brand from the inside out.

60% of the World's population is now active on social media. It's probably time we learnt how to sell to them there then. In this latest episode of Through the Line, I'm joined by social selling expert Tim Hughes to explore the new world of sales. No doubt Tim is an expert in this space. Not only does he run an agency that trains and advises clients on how to sell better online, but he's also written THE book on the subject. In the show, Tim shares bucketloads of advice for how sales (and marketing) professionals need to shift their methodology forward to get better sales results. This show is 39 minutes and 34 seconds long. Surely you can invest that sort of time to find the secret sauce to greater sales.

A common challenge for B2B marketers is how to reach a C'Suite audience. After all, they're the decision-makers, right? So we really need to get some content in front of the CMO, CFO, CRO, C whatever O, but they are notoriously hard to reach, let alone influence. Thankfully, the team at copywriting agency RH&Co did a little research into the type of content CxOs want to read, which they pulled together into a handy report for B2B marketers. Rin Hamburgh, the agency head, joined me on this episode of Through the Line to take me through the research. One of their key findings was that marketers underestimate the CxO's desire for things to be simple. They want complexity of thinking presented in a way that is simple and engaging, and tied to the bigger picture. They don't want you to sell to them, nor do they have time for waffle. Click below and listen to the show if you want to find out more about engaging the C'Suite with your marketing.

Have you ever been asked to justify your marketing spending? How about whether your marketing is actually working? I will be amazed if you haven't. All marketers need to justify their existence at some point; otherwise, we get labelled with derogatory pap like ‘the colouring in department'. Thank goodness for experts like Gabe Hughes. According to Gabe, we should all be able to assign value to our marketing. To do this, there's a marketing measurement trifecta that includes digital attribution, econometrics, and incrementality or A/B testing. By using these models, marketers can get to grips with the marketing that works at a brand level and also sales performance, including which channels and campaigns are adding value. Gabe is a true expert on marketing measurement. In the show, we cover everything from data being the new oil to the value of different types of attribution models and the pros and cons of GA4. I promise you there is value in this show if you are new to marketing measurement or just want to enhance your understanding of the options available for measuring marketing performance.

Remember social media? Despite being out of the limelight, social media is no less important. In fact, as my guest on this show, Claire Hoang, suggests, it's even more important; many of our audiences are now social media natives. They have never known a world without social, so it's no time to lose our heads and focus on another shiny penny. In this episode of Through the Line, Claire takes me through how brands can utilise social media to engage their audiences and build brands. In a wide-ranging conversation, Claire and I look at everything from the importance of native content, supporting organic with paid social, the importance of attention, brand building rather than pushing product in an always-on world, brand safety and even touch on regulating social media. If you're in any way involved in social media strategy, you'll find some value in this episode.

In this episode of the Through the Line podcast, Kate and I explore how to use Artificial intelligence (AI)I to grow internationally. The obvious avenue is with translation, but there's so much more for marketers to think about; everything from market testing to CX, getting the right skills in your marketing team, and of course, asset creation. There's a lot to think about, and Kate explores them in practical, easy-to-understand terms. If you're wondering what to do with all the AI hype, you'll enjoy our conversation.

In this episode of Through the Line, I explore brand transformation with Dr Emmanual Probst, who has just published his book called Assemblage - the Art and Science of Brand Transformation. The book is a real treasure chest of ideas for brand managers looking to create better relationships with their customers. I recommend it to anyone looking for some fresh ideas and inspiration. In this episode, we explore a range of branding topics, from purpose to the creator / re-mix economy, the impact of climate change and the need for brands to be more sustainable and going direct to consumer. We barely scratch the surface of his book, but it will give you a flavour of what's to come.

Every man and his dog has seen the potential of building a personal brand, from leading CEOs to start-up founders, copywriters and agency bosses. But, not everyone has got it mastered. Not yet, anyway. Rajen Mistry from specialist consultancy Founder Story joins me on Through the Line to unearth what it takes to build a personal brand and why you should. Rajen shares generously, and there are lots of takeaways, tips and ideas about what to do and how to measure results. Enjoy the show.

How important is your website? I'm going to hazard a guess that the answer is very. Since the advent of the internet, websites have moved on at quite a pace. Where once we had simple brochure sites, we now have complex sites with lots of content and many opportunities for a browser to convert into a sales funnel. It could be starting a trial for a SaaS product, donating money to a charity or buying a new watch on a DTC-branded e-com site. They generally all have one thing in common: conversion. Want to find out about some fresh ideas for optimising your website using neuroscience? Listen in to the show.

In the 20+ years I have worked in marketing, there's been one constant: change. The marketing industry is pretty fast-paced, whichever discipline or side of the client-agency world you occupy. This is partly what makes it a great space to build a career. But it can also be a challenge. Not everyone is comfortable with change or able to manage it well. How, then, do you build a resilient marketing team? List to my conversation with Jo Twiselton of Twist Consultants as we explore everything from communication, leadership and the impact of the pandemic to emotional agility and whether or not office-based workers should go back to five days a week in the office.

How do you put a price on ideas or creativity? It's a perennial challenge faced by marketing, advertising and PR agency owners. You know you can make a massive difference to your client's brand challenges, yet you're often stuck simply selling time. But not any more. Not if you listen to Alastair Dryburgh, that is, anyway. Alastair is an advocate of agencies charging based on the value they create rather than the time it takes to deliver it. If you're currently selling time for money, you will enjoy Alastair's thinking.

Running an agency can be a mixed bag of emotions. One minute you're full of elation at winning an award for a successful campaign. The next, you're dealing with a crisis of confidence or trying every trick in the book to win some new business. But there is another way. It's called the self-running agency, and Rob Da Costa has calculated a formula that works for all types of agencies: vision + marketing plan + systems and process + succession planning = happy agency owner. Listen to the show to find out more.

Hiring agencies is a critical task in most marketing roles. In the modern world of marketing, there are so many expert disciplines that it's tough, if not impossible, to do everything in-house. That's where the agency world comes in. Need an expert to increase your web traffic? Think search marketing. Want someone to design an impactful brand campaign? Look for an ad agency. And so on and so on. But how do you find the right agency? What is the process for getting from a marketing challenge to an agency solution? That's where procurement maestro Tina Fegent comes in. Tina is a true expert in buying marketing agency services, with years of experience in client, agency and consultancy roles. What Tina doesn't know about procuring agency services simply isn't worth knowing. Good job she agreed to come on the podcast to share some of that expertise then isn't it? Enjoy the show.

In this podcast, I explore what neurodiversity and neurodivergent traits are with Nathan Whitbread, an expert who works with employers to help them build neuro-inclusive workplaces. We look at what neurodiversity is, why it seems to be more commonplace, and what brands can/should do to enable individuals to be themselves at work. The goal is to create opportunities for brands to find economic and innovative advantages by allowing people to play to their strengths, whatever they are.

One of the primary tasks of a marketer is to understand people and to put them at the centre of your thinking. More often than not, that's your customers or prospective customers. What do they genuinely care about? What makes them choose Coca-cola over Pepsi cola, or why do they shop at Waitrose and not Tesco? The problem is only some marketers do this; instead, we often have a more inward-looking orientation. We put the brand at the centre of our universe when that's rarely the case with our customers. As Mark Ritson might say, people don't give a shit about our brands. Human-centred marketing is different. It's our approach to understanding the human condition and connecting people to our brands through an iterative process of empathising, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing. At least, that's Richard Hewitt's approach, founded on anthropology and the research discipline of ethnography. In a world where marketers rely heavily on realms of data to make decisions, wouldn't it be nice actually to study human behaviour in person for a change?

In marketing, you have two big career choices: work for a brand or work at an agency. The two sides of the marketing coin work closely together as partners. Well, that's what you'd believe if you read almost any agency website. The truth is often rather different. Client-side and agency-side marketers look at the world through very different lenses, and it's useful for both to understand the others' perspectives. Welcome, Dan Ince. Dan was a big brand buy, including spells as a brand custodian at Heinz, Jordan's, Cadbury, Mr Kipling, Ambrosia...the list goes on. He's a smart guy. But a few years ago, Dan turned his back on corporate life and jumped over to the agency side via a few consultancy gigs, setting up his own shop, Brand Works Social. So I asked Dan to explore the differences between the two sides on the podcast. This show explores the topic of agency briefs, proposals and pitching, personal branding, and networking, amongst other topics.

Great client service and successful agencies go hand in hand. In my opinion (and I'm a client service guy), you can't run a successful agency without knowing how to handle clients. It's that simple. The problem is not every agency leader understands this and even fewer invest in training their account teams. So I invited Jenny Plant from Account Management Skills to join me and explore what it takes to be great at account management. Or, in a nutshell, how do you retain and grow client accounts? Jenny explores how the role of account management has evolved over the last decade. We unpack the key ingredients of good client handling, how account management and project management are becoming separate roles, what it takes to build tight client relationships and what to look out for in the people you hire to fill this critical role in agency life. If you're looking for some insight into the world of first-class account management, then you're in the right place.

What does the agency of the future look like? That's what I wanted to know from John Bottom, an experienced agency pro and a very nice chap to boot. Shortly after the credit crunch in 2008, I had the idea of launching a marketing agency built on a network model. Like many agency professionals, I had worked for a large holding group agency and saw an opportunity to strike out on my own. But I didn't want all of the overhead attached to growing a brick-and-mortar "full-service agency". So I banded together all of the other ex-big agency marketers I knew, liked and trusted to create a networked agency. It worked well for a time, with my core team of marketing managers pulling in expertise for client challenges as and when required. Fast forward a decade, and I no longer run an agency this way. But there's still an appetite for it, as John Bottom argues, in how to run an agency fit for the 21st century. There's space at the table for agile, transparent agency teams structured around where the talent is and not where the agency wants them to be. If you are planning your agency's strategy for growth, you'll enjoy listening to John's perspective. Maybe you could be more flexible, open and honest with your clients about how you will deliver great marketing.

Last summer, I met up with a talented and intelligent agency owner – let's call her Susie. I have known and respected Susie for quite a few years, and she runs a mid-size agency in the B2B space. We were catching up on the state of her business, what was working, and what wasn't; the usual stuff I love to talk about with agency owners. It turns out an area causing Susie some issues is imposter syndrome. That feeling of not being confident or the self-doubt that creeps in now and then. After a couple of years in lockdown, it turns out that getting out and about, networking, and meeting prospects was not that simple. Much less comfortable than it used to be. Agency owners aren't known for lacking in confidence. In fact, quite the opposite. To learn more about imposter syndrome and how to handle it, I invited Thor A Rain, founder of the Helpful Clinic, to come on the show and explore it in more detail. What could Susie do to overcome her challenges and get back out there, plying her trade? What could other agency or small business owners like Susie learn to help them overcome that nagging feeling of ‘am I good enough?', ‘or should I be here?'.

A common goal for many agency founders is to grow their business to a size big enough to sell. Very few understand what this takes, let alone realise that vision. It's a tricky path, fraught with pitfalls and many terminologies to bamboozle the unwary. Fortunately, experts are on hand who know this space inside and out. People like Tom Lewis, who has spent a good chunk of his career buying agencies for holding companies and now for private equity. Thankfully Tom agreed to join me on the podcast to chat about his experiences and lay out some advice for agencies going on the journey to exit or even growing through acquisition. If you are interested in selling or buying, Tom's words of wisdom will be a great help.

Very many agency owners have a view of growing their business to a point where they can sell or hand it over to a management team. But, often, agencies reach around 15-20 people and hit a glass ceiling. They struggle to get beyond this milestone. In this conversation, Dan de la Cruz from Polymensa joins me to chat through the biggest changes agencies need to make to keep growing. Things like having a leadership team in place, a core of senior marketers to take the load of the founders, establishing a vision, and much more. If you are interested in growing your agency from small to medium and beyond, Dan shares some great ideas and advice to help you along the way.

When you run an agency, creative shop, or any service-based business, you will come up against a client that doesn't want to pay their invoice. It's not if but when. Sometimes you can see it coming, most times you can't. So what do you do about it when your invoices sit unpaid? What's the process for recovering your fees? Join Sophy Francis from Element Global and me as we explore our experiences of chasing non-paying clients. We've both been through the mixer with non-paying clients and ended up winning through the County Court system. If you are currently chasing payment, you can learn a thing or two from our experiences about what to do next. If you're in the fortunate position of not yet having ti fight to get paid, have a listen. It will help you prepare for the inevitable. And it is inevitable (if you provide any credit to your clients).

What is agency culture? What does it mean to say there's a great culture in a business? Is it a table tennis table and free beer on Fridays, a fancy coffee machine, or the fact your team can make toast at your expense 24/7? Maybe it's flexible working or the open-door policy with the exec team. Listen to this episode of Through the Line as Andy Bargery talks with Christine MacKay of animation studio, Salamandra. Christine explains some of the elements of culture at her agency business that have enabled it to grow to 16 people in three locations in the last 8 years.

There isn't much more important in agency life than the relationships you build with your clients. And yet, building client relationships is something I have never received any formal training in. It's just something you learn on the job. What if I tell you there's an equation for what forms great client relationships. Better still, what if I invited an agency pro and expert on client relationships to explain it? Look no further. In the latest episode of Through the Line, Paul Phillips joins me to explore the ‘Trust Equation', developed by David Maister in his famous text, The Trusted Advisor and what this means for improving agency and client relationships.

The pandemic has had a dramatic impact on how we build teams. In agency land, we are challenged with a workforce that no longer expects to be tied to an office eight hours a day, five days a week. That's quite a shift. In this episode of Through the Line, I explore how to build remote teams with Kathryn Strachan from Copyhouse - an agency she has grown to 26 remote employees during the pandemic.

Nobody goes into running agencies because they love financial management. Whatever flavour of agency you run, your first love is likely to be design or banding, and not bookkeeping, cash flow and balance sheets. But, if you're going to be successful, you will need an intimate understanding of how to manage, understand, interpret, and make decisions based on your finances. That's where people like Rayhaan come in. They help agency entrepreneurs use their financial data to make critical decisions. You know, things like whether you can afford to hire new staff, how much to keep in reserve for the tax man, or even how to manage your affairs, so you pay less (the right amount) of tax. Listen to the latest episode of Through the Line as Rayhaan explains his processes for sound financial management, planning for tax, valuing your business, getting ready for exit and a whole lot more. Finance may not always be the most exciting part of running an agency, but it's bloody important.

Understanding agency finance may not be what gets you out of bed in the morning. I'd bet my kids' college fund that accounting is at the bottom of the list of what gets you excited about running your agency. But, frankly, it could hardly be more critical if you want to survive, thrive and eventually exit your agency. The great news about accountancy is that there are loads of great and affordable software packages that can help you keep compliant. On top of that, there are people like Stacey Borrow from Profit By Design. Stacey is a management accountant, which means she helps you look forward with your numbers and use that knowledge to make informed decisions. Stacey joins me on the podcast to explore the five areas of finance that agency owners should focus on to save costs, make more money and free up time. I hope you enjoy the show.

Lead generation is one of those issues we like to talk about in agency land. We're on a constant cycle of business development because, frankly, it's how the agency world operates. Not only do we have to focus on keeping our clients happy, but for survival and ultimately growth, we also must bring new clients and projects on board all the time. The problem is, many of us are bad at lead generation. Like the proverbial plumber whose toilet doesn't flush or cobbler with holes in her shoes, we fail to get a marketing process in place for consistently and predictably winning new business. That's where Christian Banach comes in with his PROPEL system; a way of building a reliable, trustworthy and predictable lead generation engine for agencies. One based on value add, being "professionally persistent", and starting with your prospects' problem in mind, not just pitching around a generic creds deck. Listen in to find out more.

If you have ever looked at the size and the complexity of the Chinese market, you will know it's both massive, exciting and terrifying, all at the same time. Yet, the opportunity is enormous, especially for us Brits. It seems Brand Britain is a big deal for Chinese consumers. But, making it in China takes experience, money and contacts. That's where specialist agency Dawn Rider comes in. Set up by family team Sabrina and Terence, the duo uses their know-how and connections in China to help Western brands enter the market. They've been doing it for a couple of decades and know about how to succeed. Listen and get up to speed on marketing in China, the massive opportunity of social e-commerce, and the experience of setting up a new agency on the other side of the planet.

If you run a small agency, I am prepared to bet good money you have heard someone say 'you need to work on the business and not in the business'. Am I right? I am equally confident your next question is, how? With the competing interests of clients, employees and your cash flow, it's not always that easy. But fear not. I've got your back. It is time you looked at the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS for short. EOS is a framework developed to help business owners structure their organisation and management systems to facilitate growth. In this episode of Through the Line, I talk with Tim Watson, a UK based EOS Implementor. Tim is an expert at helping business owners to understand and use the EOS framework, a skill he has learned from applying the principles for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Listen in as Tim introduces the core elements of EOS, such as the Vision Traction Framework and Rocks. If you run a business, this is well worth an hour of your time.

Does your agency look like every other agency? Are you part of the custard soup of marketing and creative services companies? Does your messaging focus on you being award-winning, or full-service agency, or that you work with your clients as partners for the long term? If so you have a problem and it's one of the reasons why brand side marketers find it so difficult to tell agencies apart. From the outside, you mostly look the same. Roland is a bit different. He runs an agency that helps other agencies to market themselves. How? Through clear strategy, differentiated positioning and great communications all built on top of some brave, strategic decision making. Think your agency strategy, positioning and messaging could do with a shot in the arm. Start here and pick up some great advice to get you thinking clearly.

Growing businesses is a journey full of learnings. Whether you are developing a publishing business, a travel brand or a marketing agency, I promise there will be plenty of lessons along the way. Just ask entrepreneur, Martyn Sibley. In this episode of Through the Line, Martyn joins me to explore his journey. We unpack some of his key lessons for success, such as finding partners with complementary skills, and the importance of mentors. We also talk about Martyn's passion for disability inclusion as we explore the spending power of the purple pound. Did you know in the UK that disabled consumers have a spending power of £250bn per annum, with this figure rising to $8tn (yes that is trillion and not billion) globally? That's one hell of a big market place, largely ignored by marketers. Just 0.06% of advertising features people with a disability. When you consider 22% of the UK population has a disability that is hardly inclusive. But, it is also a massive opportunity for the right brand and savvy marketers like Martyn Sibley.

In the dynamic world of marketing, change is pretty much a constant. Over the last two decades, everything has changed, except perhaps for how most of us approach the delivery of marketing programmes or projects. Enter stage left the world of agile marketing. A world in which we use data to test, learn, iterate and refine in an ongoing, process of working towards marketing perfection. A methodology built on software development that suits the digital marketing landscape we now play in. You would be forgiven for thinking agile marketing sounds a bit like yet another buzzword. But give it a chance. It includes some fundamentally different approaches to management, whether you are in a consultancy/ agency environment, or in-house. You might find a few ideas in Zoe's approach that will help your marketing go from good, to great.

There's a common belief among marketing agency entrepreneurs that when the time comes, and they have made enough money or spent enough energy on the business, they will be able to sell it. They may be thinking the likes of Omnicom, WPP, or another big agency group will snap them up, and they can live off the proceeds. The reality is very different. Agency owners that successfully exit this way are few and far between. That said, it's not impossible, and many achieve their exit and go on to other things. In this podcast, Andy talks with Dan Rhodes, a branding consultant who successfully sold his agency to another in 2007. Dan shares some of his key learnings from the process; getting value from your advisors, negotiation strategies, valuation and earn-out and crucially, what can you do in advance to get your agency in the best possible shape to sell. As Dan describes, getting match fit. If you are thinking of selling your agency business, you're going to get a great deal from this episode of Through the Line.

Our Beyond the Creds Deck episodes are interviews with agency founders. People who took the crazy and challenging road to fame and fortune by opening up their own marketing shop. In this edition, I talk with Kelly Molson, Co-Founder and MD of digital agency Rubber Cheese. Kelly describes her experience of securing her first clients, getting a business partner, finding a niche and growing her client base over a 17-year journey. Kelly also opens up about her challenges with infertility and IVF. We talk about how this has affected her personally and her agency too; imagine having to look after your clients while undergoing a course of IVF, or making horrendously difficult life decisions. Thank you, Kelly, for being so open and honest about something so deeply challenging. It was a privilege talking with you.

Ever wondered why some leaders are always in your social news feed, while others are invisible? For every Richard Branson, there are hundreds without a voice, which is a huge missed opportunity - particularly when you consider leaders are outperforming brands when it comes to social media impact. Look in your Linkedin news feed. My guess is you follow more people than you do brand pages. How then do you go about harnessing the power of social media for your brand, or for developing your leadership's positioning? That's where Phil Szomszor from start-up agency Brightside comes in. Phil and his partner Jo have created their unique methodology to help communicators build their leaders' profiles on social media, tell stories and communicate with multiple stakeholders. Want to get a better return from social media, listen in. You might learn a trick or two from a highly experiences comms pro. To connect with Phil: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philszomszor/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/philszomszor Resource Phil mentions in the show: Communicate in a Crisis: Understand, Engage and Influence Consumer Behaviour to Maximize Brand Trust https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0749486503/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_HM26EbN43YQGS Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel: https://www.sixpixels.com/ Freakanomics: https://freakonomics.com/archive/

Running a marketing agency is easy, right? Raising a family is a walk in the park too. Well, actually that's a no on both counts. They are challenging in their own right but put them together, and you have a recipe for long hours, difficult decisions and compromise. You would have to be crazy. Say hello to the fab Sophy Duarte. Sophy left her last agency role a couple of years ago, to join forces with a business partner and run B2B agency Element Global. Sophy has never looked back. Listen in for a look under the hood of what it takes to run an agency, raise a family and stay sane. Thanks for sharing your world with me, Sophy. You can reach Sophy here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophyd Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophyduarte/ Website: www.element-global.co.uk

The hackneyed expression that people fear public speaking more than death is probably not far from the truth. But, being able to stand up and deliver a compelling presentation is one of the significant enablers of success. It might be selling a product, pitching an idea, reporting to the board, or trying to convince a team to follow you. All of these require you to communicate confidently. That's where Jon Torrens comes in. A former stand up comedian, Jon now spends his time teaching introverts how to communicate. The good news is, I asked Jon to come on the podcast, and the rest is history. Listen in if you would like some top tips for how to smash your next presentation out of the park.

During the Coronavirus lockdown in April 2020, I decided to host an online Q&A for agencies that need ideas, advice and inspiration for how to guide their agency shops through the lockdown. I invited Lena Robinson, an agency veteran from business consultancy FTSQ, to come along and add some expert advice. This is a recording of the event in which Lena and I answer questions ranging from leadership to business development, marketing and how challenger agencies can tackle established big players in the market. I hope it is valuable for those running or managing an agency business.

A common challenge for agencies is finding new clients. We seem to be in a continuous new business drive - prospecting, networking, cold calling, starting conversations and pitching. At the same time, clientside marketers are struggling to find their ideal agency partner from the vast number of agencies at their fingertips. In the UK alone there are over 20,000 agencies - or so I'm told. In this episode, I chat with Dan Ince, a freelance marketing gun for hire, about how he finds and recruits agency talent for his clients. We explore some of the best practices for agencies around pitching that will help them to look at this process through the lens of a client-side marketer. If you're looking for ideas for how best to approach clients and differentiate yourself in a sea of bland, vanilla looking, agencies, you should enjoy this episode.

We've never been more aware of our mental health. We're talking about it more than ever and HR are looking at it with increasing intent. After all, the marketing and advertising sector is plagued with mental health challenges. It's bound to be if you consider the ever-changing and stressful nature of our work and the colourful characters attracted to the sector. But, just because we're more open about our challenges and employers are talking about it more, doesn't mean anything is changing. Step in Aaron Harvey and his Made of Millions Foundation. Aaron is on a mission; to put mental health higher up the agenda at work. In his mindset, there is simply no excuse for not making the changes needed to address the growing mental health challenge in the workplace.

Business development is a constant challenge for marketing agencies. Most are on a constant hunt for new business and spend their time pitching to marketing directors, managers, heads of, CMOs etc. But in good old B2B marketing, we're forgetting about the other players in the decision-making unit. And the biggest players of all often sit in procurement. Particularly if you're selling to large brands. It's worthwhile spending a bit of time learning what makes procurement managers tick then, right? To find out how they negotiate, how should you engage them, what personality types you might find in procurement teams...and so on. I thought so and invited ex-procurement lead and now agency advisor MIke Lander, to join me on the show. My word does he share some value. If you want to learn how to better manage the challenges of selling to procurement pros, you're in the right place.

Patterns of consumer behaviour are changing; how we look for and engage with brands is changing too. Where we once used to look for features and benefits, we now look more for meaning. Where we used to want more blades in our razors, now we want razors made in a sustainable, ethical manner. We care more about the experience than the functional attributes of our products and services. But not every brand or marketer is adapting in time and we're seeing high profile casualties in all sorts of sectors. In this podcast, market researcher, academic and brand expert Dr. Emmanual Probst joins me to explore how brands can engage in a quest for meaning to stay in touch with our changing times. In the podcast, we explore some of the core topics from Dr. Probst's fantastic book, Brank Hacks - How to Build Brands by Fulfilling the Human Quest for Meaning.

A critical part of working in agency land is business development. For whatever reason, most agencies are always on the hunt for new business; it's like being on a treadmill that never stops. But just like the plumber who's toilet doesn't flush, most marketing agencies are lousy at marketing themselves. It's not that we don't know how...or is it? In this episode of the podcast, I interview the formidable Katy Howell from leading social media agency, Immediate Future. Katy's a true professional, and it was great fun talking with her as we explored business cycles, the impact of Brexit and uncertainty in the market, JVs/partnerships and so much more. If you want to learn about best practice when it comes to agency business development, how to build client relationships and what it takes to grow an agency from someone with 30 years agency experience under her belt, well then you're in the right place.

An essential ingredient of impactful marketing and communications is understanding your customer. After all, we're taught marketing is about putting the customer at the heart of your business. So how do you do that? That's where the 'insights' department comes in. These are the guys and gals that look at consumer behaviour and try to uncover some hidden gem marketers can latch onto — something to build products, services and communications around. For Anthony 'Tas' Tasgal - an ad agency planner, trainer, lecturer, speaker and author - insight is the art of combining psychology and biology, blending it up with a bit of creative inspiration, driven by light bulb moments from here there and everywhere, and there you have it - insight. Well, not quite. There's a lot more to it than that. Such as making sure you don't rely too much on data, considering the context of your research, and getting the balance right between data and creativity. Not to mention the need for someone to challenge your assumptions. If you are interested in market research, insights and creating high impact marketing communications, this episode should be right up your street. Resources Tas Mentions: The Inspiratorium and The Storytelling Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anthony-Tasgal/e/B00QUG86MM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1564496235&sr=8-1 Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everybody-Lies-York-Times-Bestseller-ebook/dp/B0711Y3BVG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=everybody+lies&qid=1564496340&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 How to Contact Tas: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tastasgal/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/taswellhill

You've probably heard about as much about 'millennials' as you can take, right? You've heard for years how the world is changing because of millennials, how they think and act differently, and what this means to you as a marketing professional. TV no longer works, radio's old fashioned and outdoor, well, forget about it. Millennials don't look at adverts. Well, yes and no. Millennials are interested in adverts, just not the feature led product promos we're all churning out these days. If you want to connect with millennials, you need to understand them and to do that you need to listen to Somi Arian. Somi and her Smart Cookie Media team have been exploring and understanding this world and what it means to marketers for years. Millennials have grown up as digital natives, and the next generation will be AI natives. This access to digital means they've had more choice, available more quickly, with more information than ever before. It's time to evolve or die, as traditional marketing approaches will soon go the way of Blockbuster, or Topshop, or HMV, or any brand that hasn't changed quickly enough to advances in digital. Resources mentioned in the podcast: The Millenial Mindset Documentary https://smartcookiemedia.com/the-millennial-mindset/ The 10 Factors that Drive Millennials' Consumer Behaviour https://smartcookiemedia.com/the-millennial-mindset/ Ray Dalio's Principles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9XGUpQZY38 To contact Somi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/somiarian/ https://smartcookiemedia.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9k0Dn01-ZQ3xaHA8b1l6oQ

According to the PRCA's recent census, 89% of communications professionals in the UK are white, and 67% are female. In an industry tasked with creating impactful communications to reach an increasingly fragmented audience, that's not a particulary diverse pool of professionals to draw on. There are lots of commentators suggesting that building a diverse team is essential for injecting some much needed fresh thinking, which in turn delivers performance. In this episode, I talk with Rax Lakhani - a long time PR man and also Co-Chair of the PRCA's Diversity Network. We chat about why agencies need to think about diversity and the practical next steps for how to make a change. We cover starting at the top with the business plan to steps like blind reviews of CVs to identify new talent. It's clear there are significant commercial drivers for communications teams to think about diversity, which go way beyond box ticking exercises. Resources mentioned in the podcast: PRCA Census 2019: https://www.prca.org.uk/sites/default/files/PRCA_PR_Census_2019_v9-8-pdf%20%285%29.pdf Mckinsey's Gender Diversity Study: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business%20Functions/Organization/Our%20Insights/Gender%20diversity%20a%20corporate%20performance%20driver/Gender%20diversity%20a%20corporate%20performance%20driver.ashx To contact Rax: rax.lakhani at gmail.com https://twitter.com/raxlakhani https://www.linkedin.com/in/raxlakhani/

Podcasting has been enjoying a renaissance in the last few years. There's been an explosion in the number of new shows - some good and some bad. It's easy for marketers to think podcasting is a low-cost media, but in reality, a good podcast takes time, effort, skill and budget too. It might be better for some marketers to treat podcasts as an advertising medium rather than try and become a radio on demand production machine. In this show, I talk with Howard Kosky, CEO and Founder of 4DC, a strategic podcasting consultancy based in London. Howard and I explore what makes a good podcast from a production point of view, but also how brands should approach this medium. It's not as easy as putting six shows together and expecting to get listeners - if you build it, they might not come and probably won't unless you spend enough resource on the project. Listen and enjoy. Howard shares a ton of great thinking and ideas for podcasters and marketers. Whether you're producing a show or are a brand wanting to explore this channel, there's something in here for you. Howard is a real expert in this space. To contact Howard: Howard 'at' 4dc.co.uk https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-kosky/

Running a marketing agency of any flavour requires grit, determination, some serious smarts and of course, persistence. Without these ingredients, you will do well to survive, let alone thrive. But what if your ambitions are loftier than simply survival or running a lifestyle business? What if you want to grow your agency and achieve some scale so that you can exit with a decent earn out? Well, that's a challenge that a lot of agency owners tackle and with varying degrees of success. But if you're on that road, you'll enjoy this podcast episode with Kristin Luck, the founder of a growth consultancy called Scale House. Kristin is a serial entrepreneur having sold multiple market research businesses before setting up her consultancy. In this show, Kristin and I talk about the key ingredients of growing and scaling an agency business, from getting the founder out of the way, to systems, processes, culture and more. If you're interested in growing your agency business, there should be some good ideas in here for you to enjoy. Here are the resources mentioned in the show: Masters of Scale Podcast https://mastersofscale.com/ How I built This with Guy Raz https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this Growth IQ by Tiffani Bova https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525534407/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_E5x3CbXA8AY9C Sell with a Story by Paul Smith https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GW9XH84/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_n6x3CbDASEVWS To contact Kristin: https://www.scalehouse.consulting/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinluck/

It's very likely at some point in your marketing career you will come across a freelancer. Maybe you've hired one to work on a graphic design or copywriting project. Maybe your agency has a pool of freelancers you use regularly, or maybe you are a freelancer. There is an army of freelancers working in the marketing/comms/advertising worlds, but how do you get the best from this talent pool? In this episode, I talk with Ed Goodman, who is the founder of Freelance Heroes - a Facebook group and event for UK based freelancers. We talk about how freelancers and their clients should best work together to deliver successful engagements, including those common pet hates among freelancers. You know, not being paid on time (or at all), being micromanaged and not having their skill sets respected. Listen in if you want to know how to get the most from a freelancer client relationship. Here are the resources mentioned in the show: Freelance Heroes Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/freelanceheroes/ Freelance Heroes - https://freelance-heroes.com/ Freelance Heroes Day - https://freelance-heroes.com/freelanceheroesday/ To contact Ed: http://www.edagoodman.com/ https://twitter.com/edagoodman