Podcasts about verblio

In this episode of Content Briefly, we've interviewed Ross Hudgens, Founder and CEO at Siege Media, and discussed how Siege Media has navigated its growing pains successfully, his insights on SaaS and the content world, and much more. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Verblio (https://www.verblio.com/) — contact megan@verblio.com.************************Timestamps:00:00 Intro.02:39 Who is Ross Hudgens?03:33 Ross background.06:18 Customer's take on SEO marketing and the future of AI.08:02 What the average customer engagement looks like at Siege Media.10:13 The growth journey at Siege Media.12:32 What the company culture looks like.13:54 Transitioning from remote-friendly to fully remote.15:42 Founder's role play in terms of now vs then at Siege Media.18:22 Getting more work and subcontracting as a freelancer.20:21 Red flags/green flags from client needs or expectations.23:07 How the AI trend has evolved over time.25:15 What's been going on at Siege Media recently?27:02 Learn more about Ross and Siege Media and get in touch.27:38 Outro************************Useful Links:Website: https://www.siegemedia.com/Ross on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosshudgens/************************Previous Episodes:► Zapier: Lane Scott Jones on proving a 454% content ROI (rerun) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJkwbW18-pY ► Juro: Tom Bangay on building customer personas and creating content for their target market https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B1b7RqWHas► ClickUp: Amrita Mathur on turning freemium users into paying customers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSe_QzJngvM************************Stay Tuned:► Website: https://www.superpath.co/► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@superpath► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/superpath/► Twitter: https://twitter.com/superpathco 

In this episode of Content Briefly, we've interviewed Ben Bradbury, GM of Audio/Video & Production at Workweek, and discussed Workweek's talent-first approach to B2B content, why empowering your writers and creators is so important, how to repurpose content for maximum impact, and more.This episode is brought to you by our friends at Verblio (https://www.verblio.com/) — contact megan@verblio.com.************************Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:40 Who is Ben Bradbury?03:01 Ben's background.05:43 How does Workweek work? 09:04 Talent-first approach of Workweek.11:59 Is it easier to launch a podcast or a newsletter?14:18 Does Workweek have a studio business?17:00 Building a community with creators.21:18 Getting a good understanding of SaaS by building audience-first content.22:32 Different types of content at Workweek.27:02 Direct and in-direct monetization at Workweek.28:05 Ben's thoughts on virtual events.32:59 Subject-matter expertise for content. 35:43 Different mediums require different skill sets.42:48 How to repurpose content for maximum impact.46:45 Time spent on content creation vs. content repurposing. 48:26 Knowledge sharing at Workweek.51:36 Building personalities and content differentiation.53:10 Learn more about Ben and Workweek and get in touch.55:23 Outro************************Useful Links:Website: https://workweek.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benbradbury/Subject Matter Podcast: https://workweek.com/show/subject-matter/************************Stay Tuned:► Website: https://www.superpath.co/► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@superpath► LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/superpath/► Twitter: https://twitter.com/superpathco************************Don't forget to leave us a five-star review and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

On this episode of Content Briefly, Jimmy welcomes Ryan Sargent, Director of Content Marketing at Verblio. Verblio is a content marketplace with over 3,000 freelance writers that create various types of content each month, including blogs, podcasts, webinars, and more. With a music professor and teacher background, Ryan entered the space with a different vision than some of his peers.  Jimmy and Ryan talk about what the Verblio team looks like, how they dedicate resources to prioritizing the right content, and their current strategy for the next six months.To learn more about Verblio, head to https://www.verblio.com/blog or find their podcast Content Bouncehouse (https://www.verblio.com/content-bounce-house) on all major podcast platforms. You can also connect with Ryan on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-sargent-5a455511a/ 

Not sure why you're stuck trying to scale your agency? Growth vs Scaling? What's the difference? There are four main reasons some agencies never scale. Today's guest has accumulated nearly 15 years of experience in the agency business and shares how he stays focused in order to scale. He also shares lessons that helped him get through difficult and why is usually the agency owners standing in their own way of scaling. Wayne Mullins is the founder of Ugly Mug Marketing, a boutique agency with 14 years of experience. The agency's design approach places a lot of emphasis on content and understanding the audience to convey an effective message. Their core value is that results should never be compromised for the sake of "good" design. In this interview, we'll discuss: Why your agency needs a north star to stay focused. The difference between scaling vs. growth. How agency owners sabotage their growth by not adapting. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Why You Need a North Star  Don't let the name fool you; Ugly Mug represents the agency's philosophy of prioritizing results. It originates from a quote by David Ogilvy, where he said “I rather you show me an ad that's ugly and effective over one that is beautiful but isn't." This quote became Wayne's north star, keeping him from getting sidetracked by awards and accolades. Instead, he believes that agency owners should focus on solving clients' problems and getting results. What's the Difference Between Scaling and Growth? Scaling a business and growing it is often confused, with the latter becoming a buzzword. According to Wayne, scaling involves having more free time and working only in the areas you choose. However, growth leads to time constraints and doing things you hate. To scale, you need to have the right mindset, systems, and processes in place. 4 Reasons Why Some Agencies Are Not Scaling The owner's mindset is the main reason why agencies fail to scale. In the beginning, Wayne's ego played a significant role, and he enjoyed being the hero who saved the day. However, he realized that he needed a clear vision of where he wanted the agency to go to communicate it to his team. That way, they could make better decisions, and he wouldn't become a hindrance to growth. Many agencies fall into the scale hustle trap when they hit certain levels of revenue or employee numbers, believing that they only need to work harder to get to the next level. However, the key to scaling is having the right systems and processes in place, documenting them, and trusting your team to have autonomy. To scale, you need to balance alignment and authority. Without autonomy, everything is controlled, and without alignment, there's chaos. Everyone must be aligned with the agency's vision, and team members must have autonomy to make decisions. Ideally, you want to stay around the complexity line, which indicates that you're growing. The faster you scale, the more chaos you feel, but if you pull back, you're sabotaging future growth. Feeling overwhelmed means that there's too much on your plate, and you need to adapt your processes to grow. Wayne's philosophy is that agencies should focus on delivering results and solving clients' problems rather than just winning awards. Scaling requires the right mindset, systems, and processes, as well as a team aligned with the agency's vision and autonomy to make decisions. Don't be afraid of complexity, adapt to it, and keep growing.   Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you have passion for your agency and clients? Have you identified your agency's purpose? Do you know your why and does your team buy into your vision?  One agency had a hard time with this and decided to begin a startup incubator to fill the void. The results have been amazing for the agency, the team, and their clients. She managed to create a very cool agency model that both creates opportunities for startups with a lot of potential and also provides investment opportunities for her staff, even in the early stages of their careers. Laura Hutfless is the Co-Founder at FlyteVu, an entertainment marketing agency that helps brands connect to consumers via pop culture and purpose. Their work varies depending on the client, but it includes music events, influencers, endorsement deals, and more recently gaming. In short, they help clients try to keep up with pop culture and stay at the forefront. In this interview, we'll discuss: Why agency projects need to have a purpose. The process for working with incubator clients. Advice for agency owners starting to invest. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.   Why Every Agency Project Should Have a Purpose Laura started her own agency, but her niche was something she stumbled upon accidentally. Before starting the agency, she worked in the talent agency CAA brokering deals between talent and corporate brands. As brands began to spend more on entertainment and influencers, Laura was asked to work for them. She saw the need to help companies navigate the new influencer culture to stay relevant to younger consumers, which led her to start her own agency. She wanted to take on as many clients as possible to help these companies make sense of this new landscape. However, she felt that she was only helping people who already had a lot of money just make even more money; and she began to lose her passion for the job. To combat this, she decided that every project at her agency would have an actual purpose. This means working on either a movement, a change in culture, or a gift bag. Laura also applied these principles to her incubator clients, investing only in startups she truly believed in and incorporating causes that were close to her heart. Laura wanted 20% of the agency's revenue to go to charity. So, she created the FlyteVu fund, which clients, teams, and vendors can access, and which can reach up to $1 million dollars each year. One of her agency's first clients was Bumble. Although they did not receive equity, it was a mutually beneficial partnership that allowed the agency to earn credibility and learn a lot about the process and what a brand like that needs. Laura wanted to set up a startup incubator for future opportunities and to help entrepreneurs with great ideas and no funds. Now the agency has enough staff and hours to dedicate to these kinds of projects without taking payment. The Process of Working with Startup Incubator Clients When choosing incubator clients, Laura looks for mission-driven brands that resonate with her and her team's values, ensuring that it is something they believe in. There is a dollar amount attached to the equity they will receive in the company. This determines the hours spent on that client, and they are capped on the number of hours. Laura also looks at the brand's growth plan, strategy, and where they are in their timeline to better understand what the agency's role is and how far they can get them. Laura's agency offers services for incubator clients for a year. After a year, they can either go off on their own or retain FlyteVu as their agency and pay their fee. Laura also pays for the equity of companies that are not yet at a point where they can benefit from their services. When it comes to having dedicated teams, Laura only sees the need to have a separate account team. She wants to offer her staff opportunities for investment and wealth-building, which she never had as a young executive. By setting up her own incubator, Laura is able to give back and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs while also benefiting her agency.   Advice for Agency Owners who Want to Start Investing If you're interested in setting up an incubator, Laura recommends you start small. It has taken her agency some time to figure out a process that was right for them and she is thankful she gave herself that time. “You don't have to dive in a big way,” she says. A lot of these startups need a phone call a month or some advice. These entrepreneurs don't have the connections you have and at the beginning that's a huge part of the agency's involvement. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you have an irresistible offer that generates leads? What if you had a pipeline full of qualified leads? Webinars can help you get the attention of your ideal prospects. They are a great tool to attract clients and offer value. However, there's a possibility you end up over-educating your audience unless it's done right. Today's guest built a career in webinar coaching and designing high-ticket offers to generate sales. It took him years to identify how he was failing to attract the qualified leads he needed to maximize his sales. But now he shares his script for creating a power offer that will get you tons of sales-qualified leads. Joel Erway is the founder of The Webinar Agency, which helps clients build high-converting sales presentations and webinars. They primarily work with thought leaders, coaches, and consultants, including Russell Brunson, Mike Dillard, and many more. He is also the author of High Ticket Courses and the host of two podcasts: Sold with Webinars and Experts Unleashed. Joel shares how he discovered his marketing was missing a potential pool of clients who had the right urgency and wanted to buy and how he used power offers and mini webinars to harness that potential to great success. In this interview, we'll discuss: Why your agency needs to add mini webinars. Marketing-qualified leads vs Sales-qualified leads. Creating an irresistible power offer to generate more leads.   Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Podcast Takeover!! Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason's podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he's helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and bringing a new perspective to the show. Why Your Agency Needs to Add Mini Webinars Joel, the webinar guy, had a bit of a revelation after struggling with getting paid traffic to work for his business. He realized that relying solely on giving out free value to eventually turn into sales wasn't working for him. He wanted to flip that model on its head and make some changes to his process. After doing some research and attending various events, Joel finally stumbled upon a book called How to Create an Irresistible Offer. This book helped him understand what he was doing wrong and how he could fix it. He realized that his long-form webinars of one or two hours were only generating marketing-qualified leads, which weren't enough to convert into sales. He needed to focus on sales-qualified leads to see a significant impact on his business. Differentiating Marketing Qualified Leads vs Sales Qualified Leads To differentiate between marketing-qualified leads and sales-qualified leads, Joel explained this. The former is interested in the topic but not necessarily ready to buy. The latter is in the market, likes the process, and recognizes the problem they need to solve. The challenge for Joel was how to accelerate the process and move more marketing-qualified leads to sales-qualified leads. He found that publishing offer-driven content was the key to getting a lower cost per acquisition. So, he decided to expand his offers to include mini webinars instead of only doing long-form ones. This change helped him generate more sales-qualified leads and ultimately increased his conversions. It was a game-changer for his business, and he became a thought leader in the webinar space.   Creating the Power Offer as a Way to Attract the Right Leads According to Joel, the key to getting more clients is by making power offers instead of constantly marketing yourself. A power offer is a short but compelling statement that offers a solution to a problem your audience is facing. It's all about getting your potential clients to think and engage with the idea you're presenting. If it's good enough, you might even get some hand raisers. Once you have your power offer, the next step is to create a three-step funnel. That will guide your leads from making a promise to closing the sale. The funnel includes a power offer ad, a landing page, and a mini webinar. Power offer ad. This is your sales-qualified offer containing the promise you make on how you can help potential clients get results while avoiding certain hurdles. Landing page. Clicking on that power offer ad will lead them to a landing page with sales-qualified lead messaging. The messaging here will be very similar to the first step, something like “We're looking for clients who need help with this. If you're interested, apply here”. Mini webinar. The mini webinar will contain more detailed information on how you're planning to fulfill the promise. Once they watch the mini webinar, they should be ready to fill out an application and book a call. Who is the Power Offer for? So who's the right candidate for a power offer? It's less about where they are in their business and more about their commitment to entrepreneurship. If they're fully committed and have a course they want to sell or an idea they want to pursue then they're the perfect fit for this offer. Now, it's important to keep in mind that not every power offer will work. Sometimes, you need to be open to pivoting your offer until you find one that resonates with your audience. And most importantly, don't give up! Even if you have to try 60 different versions of your power offer, keep at it until you find the one that works. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Do you have trusted referral partners? Every considered merging with an agency partner? A merger can be a good way to expand your service offering, but surviving a merger is a whole other thing. The right partner gives you access to highly skilled professionals, more creative ideas, and proven methods to maximize success. Today's guest found a great, longtime partnership. However, when it came time to merge their agencies, both opted to maintain ownership of their individual entities. He explains the thought process behind this decision and the road that led to his eventual acquisition. Gus Wagner is the president and owner of The Rocket Group, a full-service agency based in Missouri. In its long history, the agency has worked in all sorts of different sectors with businesses, organizations, and nonprofits; focusing on government communications and politics. Established as a virtual organization since its beginnings, the agency has always worked with independent contractors to help build and perform their client marketing tools and activities. For this episode, he recalls his agency journey and how he and his partner decided to set up a separate agency to work together and not lose control of their individual businesses. In this interview, we'll discuss: Protecting agency ownership when collaborating with a partner. Should you sell your agency to a competitor? When and how to announce an agency acquisition. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.   In 2001, Gus, a sales and marketing manager for different manufacturing companies, quit his job and decided to start his own agency. After 21 years of working with The Rocket Group, he had completed numerous opportunities and projects, specializing in tools to help his clients communicate online and in the real world with their customers and prospects. Gus is also a certified social media strategist and enjoys training interested parties in these ever-changing modern communication platforms. Over the years, he has made valuable strategic partnerships, with some colleagues working with his agency for more than 5 years. On a daily basis, his agency works with 19 state associations, 200 individual member public utilities, and one national organization. Protecting Agency Ownership While Collaborating with an Agency Partner However, there was a time when Gus decided to set up a separate agency to protect ownership of his original business. This happened when he officially formed an agency partnership to maximize his success. Instead of merging their agencies, they created a third entity owned by both of businesses. Whether because of different industry niches or partners who didn't want to get too involved in the entire agency's operation. Many agency owners are always networking and passing business back and forth but keep their businesses separate. In fact, clients are often aware of this. For Gus and his partner, it was a case of simplifying things for the clients. This way, they would have to deal with one entity instead of two. It seemed like the best way to go about these partnerships since Gus also didn't want to sell a piece of his agency. This is because many businesses don't want to give up ownership of their organization, especially to someone they don't trust. When it comes to selling your agency, there are many things to consider, such as your employees, clients, and the value of the agency itself. Should You Sell Your Agency to a Competitor? If you decide to sell, it's important to make sure that the buyer is someone you trust and that the process is done right. In Gus's case, he was approached by a competitor who wanted to acquire his organization. They accepted and closed the deal in March 2020. The buyer was a known competitor who had been working with the same pool of clients for some time. It was a smaller agency trying to win social and digital campaigns for public utilities. They were trying to do it differently and weren't being very successful with that client base. They were put in touch by a client who had worked with both and they got to compare strengths and weaknesses. The conversation grew from there. At that time, Gus's agency was growing more than he and his partner were comfortable with. Hence, it was attractive for them to form a larger structure to take over that growth. It took about six months from the initial conversation to signing the paperwork and making the announcement. How and When to Announce an Agency Acquisition Announcing an agency sale can be challenging as clients may assume the services will quickly lower in quality. However, if you wait until they have positive comments about the service to announce the sale, they'll see there was nothing to worry about. In Gus' case, the buyer was excited about the purchase and the new capabilities it brought for their agency, so they made the announcement right away. Gus has been in this industry for over 21 years with The Rocket Group and about 15 years before that. He advises keeping things simple, keeping your eyes on the prize, and keep moving forward and upward. He also emphasizes the importance of protecting ownership of your agency, which he did by setting up a separate agency and forming agency partnerships. This way, you can maximize your success without giving up control of your original business.   Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

What are you doing to keep your team happy? Do you have an amazing culture? Is your team passionate about the agency's vision? Do they understand their growth plan beyond their current role? Your employees are your most valuable asset. That's why one agency owner shares his strategy for maximizing employee happiness and how that's led to massive productivity for his e-commerce media agency. Samir Balwani is the founder and CEO of QRY, a media buying agency for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands. Their media methodology and testing framework called the QRY Paid Media Process has enabled e-commerce brands to reach new customers and accelerate growth. In this interview, we'll discuss: The importance of people management for team happiness and productivity. Favoring process-driven thinking and management layers. Thoughts on DTC moving to an in-store product line. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Podcast Takeover!! Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason's podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he's helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and bringing a new perspective to the show.   Importance of People Management for Employee Happiness and Productivity People management is a critical factor in keeping employees happy and productive, yet it's often overlooked by many businesses. Samir, the founder of an agency that specializes in working with direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands, understands the importance of prioritizing people management. He's implemented various strategies at his agency to ensure that his team is engaged and motivated, even as the company has grown. One of the keys to maintaining a sound work environment is to create a culture of feedback and communication. Samir has implemented 360 reviews, growth plans, and annual plans to help his team stay passionate and excited about their work. He also recognizes the importance of preventing burnout by ensuring that workers feel valued and appreciated. Allowing employees to voice their concerns and be heard is a crucial part of creating a space where they can thrive. Favoring Process-Driven Thinking and Management Layers at his Agency Another critical aspect of people management is fostering a process-driven approach that doesn't hinder innovation. Samir believes that layers and organizational structure are essential to allowing people to learn from those with more experience. His agency has a coordinator level, a manager and strategist level, and a director level, which has helped to empower employees while also providing them with the support they need to grow. Being a Data-First Business and Sharing Valuable Information As a data-driven business, Samir's agency collects a lot of valuable information about the e-commerce marketplace. They've created a benchmarks page to share high-level trends and KPIs with their clients. This helps to build trust and demonstrate their expertise. Should Direct-to-Consumer Brands Make the Move In-Store? Samir also believes that direct-to-consumer brands will need to reconsider their approach to brick-and-mortar stores in the coming years. These stores can provide valuable validation and brand awareness. However, they may not be the best fit for every brand. Working with wholesale partners like Target can be a more strategic way to build brand awareness. It also allows a brand to grow without cannibalizing a company's entire product portfolio. Improve employee happiness and productivity in your agency. Take a cue from Samir and prioritize people management. By creating a positive work environment that values communication, feedback, and innovation, you can set your team up for long-term success. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Nowadays, almost every aspect of our virtual experience is pivoting towards AI technology. In this episode, we explore this topic in terms of content creation. Host Chris Willis chats with Ryan Sargent to discuss AI-generated content in terms of how it's going and where it's going. Ryan is the Director of Content Marketing at Verblio, a multimedia content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies. The two talk about automation and machine learning and how they can help businesses create content. They also explore how every piece of content and every touchpoint is critical when considering the complexity of the customer journey. Ryan also emphasizes the importance of process and how leaders can implement it in their own teams. Tune in for more valuable takeaways and tips to elevate how you create content for your business.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review & share! https://www.acrolinx.com/wordbirds

Do you want your eventual exit to benefit many instead of a few? Want to motivate and empower the team by making them personally invested in the agency's success? Have you thought about employee shares or stock options? Learn what you should do and what to avoid in this situation from the CEO of an employee-owned agency. It was an unconventional exit strategy by its owner. However, it the new ownership structure offers many benefits for all involved and is a very interesting way to positively ensure that everyone at the agency has skin in the game. Leeann Leahy is the CEO of VIA, a full-service advertising and marketing agency based in Portland, Maine. They are an award-winning team and one of the largest independent agencies in the business. How did they do it? Many years after its creation, the last remaining original partner decided to build a very interesting ownership structure that would benefit all employees instead of a select executive team. Leeann discusses the process of putting such a structure together, the challenges, and the many benefits it creates for the business culture and overall employee commitment. In this interview, we'll discuss: How to set up an employee-owned agency and mistakes to avoid. Finding the right agency employee ownership option. Why successful ESOPs start with a foundation of good culture. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.   Create Something Larger than Yourself with an Employee-Owned Structure In a sense, Leeann grew up in the agency world. She was a child actor in several commercials, so she grew up around the business of advertising. At one point in her life, she swore off that world. However, she fell right back into it with account planning. Since then she has had a successful career working at both large and small agencies. Ten years ago she moved to Portland, Maine and became the CEO of a very interesting employee-run project. When the agency was created, its three owners had a vision of creating something larger than themselves. This is why they named it VIA (Vision, Instinct, and Action) instead of something tied to the founders. Over the years, two of the partners left and, as the last one prepared to step away from his active role, the agency got a lot of acquisition offers. With Fortune 500 clients and awards for best culture, the agency was a valuable asset for any buyer. Instead, the remaining partner had something very different planned for his exit strategy. He set up an agreement whereby he would give the agency to the employees. This was not a typical employee-ownership program. It was completely bespoke, with lawyers and accountants advising against it. However, they started a program measuring the agency's performance each year and if they reached certain metrics, the owner would gift a portion of his ownership in the form of options. The program, which they called VEEP (VIA's Employee Equity Program) was meant to last for ten years. Fortunately, they were actually able to do it all by year seven. Finding the Right Agency Employee Ownership Structure Seven years after starting VEEP, employees could convert their earned "options" into shares. This is when they realized the lawyers and accountants were right. The original agreement had the best intentions; however, it didn't take tax implications into consideration. The problem was that the conversion from options to shares was prohibitively expensive because of the agency's growth over the years. As a result, they were forced to reevaluate their situation. They looked at many different types of structures that didn't involve giving up their independence. In the end, they landed on an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program), a program overseen by the government. It has huge tax exceptions, so there are benefits for both the employer and employees. It is basically set up as a qualified retirement plan. Now everyone at the agency is given more shares every year at no cost to themselves. That grows over time and, by the time they leave the agency, they'll have something they can roll over into an IRA or cash out. This way, they're actually earning as the agency grows and everyone is invested in the agency's success. 3 ESOP Models Depending on the Owner's Future Role in the Agency Does the owner get paid out in an ESOP structure? The short answer is yes. Of course, they had to find a way to make it work both for him and the employees. In VIA's case, the owner was paid out in two segments with a down payment and the rest over time. Technically, it was all done through a trust. They set up a trust that "bought" the agency and allocated shares to the employees. This way, the Board of Directors would still govern operationally while a Trustee Committee oversees the Board. It was a complicated feat to pay out the owner and recognize the value he had gifted employees over the years. It involved a lot of legal math and the collaboration of many lawyers and accountants. Depending on how you structure it and what the owner wants their future role to be, they can still have residuals or be completely out. The owner payout in an ESOP can work in 1 of 3 ways: 1. The owner receives 100% of the buyout through a note with an interest rate or participation in the ESOP. 2. It could be through a down payment to the owner and a note for the remainder. 3. Funding can be sourced from an outside, third-party. Pros and Cons of an Agency ESOP To take a similar route with your agency and have successful results, the first key is having the desire for everyone to benefit, as opposed to just the founder and a small executive team. This doesn't mean they'll all benefit equally but rather in an equally fair manner based on their contribution and compensation. People get nervous around ESOPs because it generally involves taking on debt to buy out the founder. This debt gets paid first, even before the owner's note, so the government knows you're repaying it. Furthermore, you have to hold a certain amount of cash in reserves for when people redeem shares. At Leeann's agency, they set up the ESOP so only employees can hold shares, but this also means the agency needs to be ready to buy people out when they leave. There are some ties to it for the employees, like paying a penalty if you decide to take out the shares before reaching a certain age. Nonetheless, the big benefit for the business is the ability to operate as a tax-free organization. Investing in Good Culture and Commitment to the Agency's Success Being in a creative industry, it's important to provide a work environment where employees feel motivated and inspired. The key to achieving this is keeping them happy. This agency invests in its happiness factor by providing its team the opportunity to work for themselves. It's an interesting approach to the problem of employee engagement by offering benefits linking the overall agency's performance to the team's personal gain. Of course, this structure is not without risks. It's built in a way in which, if you maintain a good culture and an engaged employee base, they'll be invested in the agency's success. If people are not engaged and it's just a job to them, then it all falls apart. On the contrary, if they understand the agency's success is their success, then odds are it won't fall apart. To ensure they give a space where employees can voice their concerns, VIA introduced VN Voices. It's a new figure apart from the Board of Directors and the Trustee committee called the Associates' Panel. They're a group of seven volunteers who represent the employees. They raise issues affecting the team and bring them to the Board and Trustees. A Successful ESOP Starts with a Foundation of Good Culture  If you're interested in creating something similar to the model Leeann's agency came up with, she recommends having a well-established culture. “It's just not something you can create on top of it,” she says. VIA already had a culture of investing in happiness, people, and fun. They invest a ton in mental health and creating an equitable environment to introduce diversity. Investing in your culture is a good way to invest in your agency's future. “No matter where you land, you'll be passing on something more complete if you invest in the culture,” Leeann assures. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

What do you think about hustle culture? Do you have a healthy work-life balance with your agency? Does your team? As the owner, you set the tone for the agency's culture. And what is important to you by extension becomes important to the team. Today's guest owns a boutique agency she started after quitting her job in the tech space after feeling exhausted from 80-hour work weeks. She started fresh in Belize with a new mindset about the type of work-life balance she wanted and the culture she'd create for her agency. Jeanna Barrett is the founder and Chief Remote Officer of First Page Strategy, an award-winning remote growth marketing agency. She has 17 years of inbound marketing experience working with venture startups, digital agencies, and fortune 500 companies. Six years ago, Jeanna left the US and built a business in Belize. What started as freelancing grew into a full inbound marketing agency with 40+ experts across the globe. Beyond the success of her agency, she's most proud of the culture she was created with her remote team. Jeanna encourages different passions outside of work and promotes a healthy work-life balance. She shares her journey of creating an anti-hustle culture for her agency. In this episode, we'll discuss: Recovery from the hustle culture and burnout. Prioritizing boundaries to create healthy agency culture. Embracing your team's passions and hobbies. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Podcast Takeover!! Get to know your Smart Agency Guest Host: John Corcoran is the co-founder of Rise25, an agency that helps companies launch and run podcasts profitably. He followed Jason's podcast and eventually joined the mastermind and has been a guest on the podcast before. Today, he's helping Jason bring something new to the Smart Agency podcast audience by interviewing a special guest and bringing a new perspective to the show.   Recovering from the Hustle Culture and the Burnout it Causes In 2016, Jeanna was living in San Francisco and felt burned out by the non-stop work hustle and grind culture. She realized the “dream offices” popular in the tech world, with free lunch, snack bars, entertainment, and laundry service exist only to justify 80-hour work weeks. Jeanna was ready to leave the perks behind. She was eager to live a life where she didn't have to work all the time. She wanted time and freedom to focus on the things that make her happy. Building a business in Belize may not be what she originally intended, but it is exactly what she needed to have a work-life balance. It is an opportunity to create a work culture valuing and encouraging different passions and pursuits outside of work. Her agency focuses on employee performance based on tasks completed and not on the amount of time spent in front of a computer. A Lesson on the Benefits of Doing Content Marketing Right Fortunately, after 15+ years of working in marketing, Jeanna had a network she could tap into. She was looking to work as a freelancer and started by calling old clients and colleagues. Eventually, her freelance business evolved into an accidental agency. Getting her first big client was a lesson in content marketing. At one point, Jeanna wrote an article about how she left her career and moved to the Caribbean. It offered advice for people looking to do something similar and work remotely. In the article, she mentioned the company she used to establish her business as an LLC. Ironically the company had fired their SEO partner and contacted her to take over the role. She had not yet formed an agency but decided to give it a try. She started with a small entry-level contract, so she just hired two consultants to work on SEO content. After that, they scaled every year, based on the services and the needs they cover. By year two, she added another three people to work on that account, and year three added another three employees. At first, they worked exclusively on content creation but as the relationship developed they slowly added other services like email marketing and lead generation. Prioritizing Boundaries to Create a Healthy Agency Culture Since the beginning, Jeanna had a certain culture in mind for her agency. It was always one of the most important pieces of what she was trying to build. To avoid going back to old habits that ultimately burn people out, she focused on building a culture where the work would not leave employees feeling exhausted or stressed. No one is happy working under those conditions. Instead, she created a work environment that encourages a work-life balance. You are more efficient when you're not constantly replacing people and everyone is noticeably happier. It would've been easy to go back to old habits, which is why Jeanna is obsessive about boundaries. For instance, she follows certain routines like blocking her calendar to ensure she schedules time to exercise and have lunch at a certain time. It's more about making sure she takes care of her health. This is what works for her; however, it varies person to person. This is a conversation she has with all employees. It's important for them to know which boundaries will help keep them delivering great work while remaining healthy and happy. Boundaries with clients. If you're going to respect boundaries within the agency, they should be established with clients as well. As a boutique agency, they only take on the business they can handle. They talk about their boundaries as a team and are very strict about adhering to them - even with clients. Ultimately, it's about setting and managing expectations. Should Your Agency Invest More in PPC or SEO? One of the biggest objections to inbound and content creation is it takes too long to see results. Clients likely have to wait 6-8 months to see results. It is more of a long-term strategy when you're using PPC ads to pull people in. Clients tend to fall into the trap of overly investing in PPC and under-investing in SEO and inbound. PPC is an expensive but powerful engine. Some spend $50+ for one click, and even then, how many clicks does it take to convert a customer? It is very competitive out there and if your competition is using PPC then so should you. However, Jeanna feels clients could be investing more evenly in what they put into PPC and the long-term strategy. Investing in a long-term strategy will get their business to the first page and ultimately reduce their PPC spending. As an expert in SEO and inbound marketing, she says no brand has ever regretted investing in quality content marketing. Changing Your Mindset to Retain a Happy and Fulfilled Team You may really love your digital agency but there's probably a lot you're passionate about outside of work. This is true for every single team member and it's something Jeanna tries to find out during the interview process. She has discovered one employee has a cookbook, others are runners or had a band. It's a great way to realize the different types of people within the agency and presents the opportunity to highlight or celebrate these passions. It's important to encourage these outside hobbies because happy and fulfilled people are better workers. A change in culture requires a change of mindset. If you're under-investing in building your agency's culture, the first thing to change is your mindset. Putting a number on how much you should spend makes no difference if you don't believe in its importance. Important Investments in Your Agency's Growth Ultimately, the first significant change is hiring a leadership team. It's one of the most important steps in realizing you don't need to micromanage people so they produce good work. It's also a way to get yourself out of daily operations and focused on scaling your agency. Another important investment for growth is an amazing project management system. All your agency work goes through this system and it's worth the investment, especially if you have a remote team. With a remote agency, the PM software is the central system that sort of becomes your "office space" and should be prioritized as such. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

If you've been paying attention, then you know this is the year for AI content creation like ChatGPT. (Even Ryan Reynolds and Mint Mobile know it  :) Should your agency be using it too? Are you worried about turning off clients over this technology? Or could you make more money using it?  There are drawbacks, which is why agency owners need to know the best way to leverage AI for content. Today's guests are experts in content creation as they talk about pros, cons, and how agencies can use AI like ChatGPT to be more efficient and grow their business. Ryan Sargent is the Director of Content Marketing at Verblio, the world's friendliest content creation platform. Verblio builds content marketing for other marketers at scale by pairing specialized, niche writers with marketing agencies and marketing professionals. Verblio is a preferred partner of the show and Ryan is a repeat guest who brings amazing insight. This time, he is joined by Megan Skalbeck, the content marketing manager at Verblio handling strategic initiatives. The team at Verblio are experts at content creation and have done a ton of research on how agencies can leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence and AI tools.  You can check out their survey results at verblio.com/ai. With those results in mind, they shared some of their conclusions on the best ways to use AI for content creation while keeping high quality standards. In this interview, we'll discuss: How agencies can make more money by integrating AI tools. Weaknesses of AI and a hybrid plan for using them effectively. Why aren't more agencies using AI? 3 tips for making AI more effective for your agency content. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Links to other episodes featuring Ryan Sargent: https://jasonswenk.com/creating-content-for-clients/ https://jasonswenk.com/content-creation-team/ How Agencies Can Make More Money by Integrating AI Tools Where do content creation experts stand on whether or not to use AI? Basically, if your agency isn't planning on using AI at all in 2023, you are making a mistake. On the other hand, if you think AI is going to replace freelancers, fool Google, and you'll never need a writer again, that's also a mistake. The reality is, agencies need to be using AI as soon as the next few months. We should all learn to use AI not as a catch-all, but as an actual tool. To this end, work with people who really understand AI. Find the balance. As it stands right now, AI tools can produce a lot of words. However, there are a lot of weaknesses: Factual accuracy. There's actually no guarantee the content produced by an AI is correct. Sentence structure. A blog post created by AI does not necessarily have a logical structure or make sense at all. Weakened SEO. Google knows AI-generated created content apart from what is human-written. It is tempting for agencies to look at AI as a way to produce content at a much lower cost. However, with these weaknesses, the best alternative is a hybrid approach. Take content created by AI and improve it with human editing. We shouldn't view AI as a service or a finished product. It can do great work in saving writers from a blank page. With the right prompt, AI is great at generating ideas and continuing thoughts. As long as the writer is there to review and (probably) make significant edits, it can be really effective. First Steps to Integrate AI as Part of Your Strategy in 2023 Curious about AI? Try a free version of any of the existing tools. This way, you can get a sense of their potential and learn how it works. If you're not interested in exploring these tools in your own time, work with someone who is doing this. The important thing is to have a vision of how to integrate these tools into agency work. Don't try to just jump into technology because it's new without a vision for how it serves your agency. You don't want to be the agency getting content that ranks but doesn't convert and never makes money for the client. AI is an incredibly powerful tool. However, it will add costs, both financially and in terms of time and effort. Instead of hiring an entire team of in-house writers or relying on the free version of the AI tool, find a partner who can provide AI expertise. Why Aren't More Agencies Using AI for Content? Can agencies use AI to make money? Yes, absolutely. But are they doing it yet? Verblio's recent marketers survey reveals NO, agencies are actually lagging behind in the use of AI tools. Verblio found agencies have been slow to adapt because they're afraid of losing clients. They fear it could break trust or threaten the agency's position with the client. But, how true is this? Clients look at agencies as the experts to tell them if they should be using AI or not. The key is transparency. No one should be using AI to save money and hide it from the client. The use of AI also depends on the type of agency. A branding agency won't get as much use of AI as an SEO agency trying to produce content as rapidly as possible. There is also an advantage to having the surge of AI now as opposed to 10 years ago. The Google algorithm is much better now at rewarding quality results. The algorithm doesn't care how the content was created - it only cares about answering the searcher's query. All AI content is not created equal.  How you plan to use it determines how efficient it proves to be for your agency and the results it achieves for your clients. For instance, if you're creating content around cutting-edge technology, it will not give the best results. AI is great for local SEO on more general topics because it's been trained with existing online content. 3 Tips to Make AI Effective for Your Agency's Content Creation Be transparent about AI use. Don't underestimate the importance of being transparent with clients regarding your use of AI. Some of them may be concerned you're not using it enough, or on the contrary that you're overdoing it. An honest conversation about this allowing them to voice their concerns goes a long way. Human intervention makes it work. Figuring out the best way to use AI is really important to get the best results possible. Take whatever the tool creates and give it a quick edit. To really get the most out of AI, have a human involved in the process providing structure and input throughout. Find a partner. The current economy makes the use of AI very valuable. It's not a time when many people are able or willing to hire an entire writing team for content creation. You can instead find a partner and leverage AI to create a lot more with less. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (Attract, Convert, Scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Looking to improve agency margins and profitability? Which key metrics are important to track? Are you paying yourself a salary? How much cash should you have in reserve? If you're hoping to sell soon, you shouldn't underestimate the importance of starting to pay yourself a salary. Potential buyers will pay attention to this and many other details you could start to work on right now. Today's guest owns a CPA firm focused on helping agency owners scale by getting their finances in order and avoiding the biggest mistakes in agency finances. Chris Hervochon runs Better Way CPA, a CPA firm that specializes in virtual CFO services for agencies. Over the past eight years, his company has provided services to marketing agencies and nonprofits all over the US. He provides some insight into the key metrics you should be measuring, why you should pay attention to your gross margin, and more. In this interview, we'll discuss: Avoid the biggest mistake in agency finances. How to increase your margins. Why you should pay yourself a salary. Key metrics to manage agency cash flow. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. The Biggest Mistake in Agency Finances The biggest and most common mistake Chris sees agency owners make with their finances has to do with cash management. Usually, they fail to understand how cash moves in and out of the agency. Also, how it'll move into and out of the agency in the future. This is critical because it's how you can really understand how to grow in the future. As an owner, you must understand the way cash moves within the agency impacts clients, the work you do for them, and how you collect payments. This impact the people you pay to work for the agency. All of this helps you get a clearer vision of how you're going to scale and bring in the next client. Pay Attention to These Key Metrics Profitability. When it comes to profitability, you need to be over 15% or 20% to be good. 15% or less is when the alarm starts ringing and you need to pull some levers to figure out what's going on. Net income. If you're using some sort of accounting software and looking at P&L, net income is your bottom line. Gross margin. This varies wildly across agencies because every agency operates so differently. In this particular case, measure yourself against yourself and track that over time. Make sure you're maintaining or increasing margins over time. Cash reserves. Every business should set aside cash reserves to fund growth. They help pay for unexpected costs that occur throughout the year, and they're often kept in your business account. Pipeline. Make sure to have a process to measure your pipeline. This bleeds into your forecast and indicates what roles you need to hire, when, as well as who you need to fire and when. Why You Need to Pay Attention to Gross Margin Gross margin is your revenue minus variable expenses (cost of sales). This is the percentage of revenue you can keep in order to pay fixed expenses and then pay yourself. In short, the costs you're going to incur every time you generate a dollar. If your margins are very low, it's hard to pay for fixed expenses needed to operate the agency and deliver your services. If you don't have enough money to pay your team, for example, you might start making bad decisions, like cutting staff, expenses, and software. At that point, you don't even have enough to pay yourself as agency owner, which is definitely a problem. This is why you need to pay attention to margins and make sure you have enough money every time you generate a dollar of revenue to pay those expenses. In the end, having revenue is good, of course; however, there's really no point to it if it won't allow you to pay for your fixed expenses. What Works for Agencies When it Comes to Increasing Margins? According to Chris, pricing and how you price will always be the biggest lever you can pull to increase profits. This may be difficult in our current economic times. However, that's your biggest opportunity to move the needle. How can you increase prices? Build up value so you don't face pushback from clients when it's time to raise prices. Have value conversations with your clients. Ensure your sales and pricing functions are split. Be open to flipping some internal capacity to external capacity and bringing in contractors. This can be beneficial and prove to be more cost-efficient than having a full-time employee. Cut unnecessary software costs. Take a look at who's using what software and get rid of what's not needed. It's Important to Pay Yourself a Salary as an Agency Owner Many agency owners don't realize the importance of paying themselves a salary. They skip the salary to increase profitability. Paying yourself little to no salary just to be at 30% profitability is not an option if you want to sell one day. A prospective buyer will look at agency finances and see margins are good because you're not paying yourself. How much should you pay yourself? To determine the average salary of an agency owner in a given area, Chris' team does a regional compensation study. They take the owner's functions in the agency and determine how proficient they are at these tasks. Next, they assign an hourly rate based on the bureau of labor's existing data. Then add that up and have what the agency owner should pay themselves from payroll. The resulting salary is just low enough to save in taxes while also satisfying the IRS. The rest of the agency owner's compensation is taken out as a draw or distribution. The amount of that draw depends on how much cash you can take out of the agency Make sure you have an adequate cash reserve to get you through difficult times and invest in the agency. It's a balancing act between what the agency owner should be making and planning for taxes. Average salary for agency owners: For agencies around $1 million, most agency owners Chris has worked with have salaries ranging from $175,000 to $225,000 for an agency operating profitably. For agencies closer to $3 million, the agency owner's salary doesn't necessarily increase much. It is roughly the same for tax purposes. The draw is where there's an increase and takes total compensation to around $500,000. How to Project Your Agency's Future Investments Usually, investments in your agency's future are in capacity. This means “people costs” such as equipment, bigger space, etc. The best way to calculate this is by putting together a capacity model and figuring out which roles you need to fill, the amount of work they'll take on, and how much they'll cost. Forecast that into the future and see what it does to your cash flow. From a cash flow standpoint, look ahead to six months. Maybe the results of that tell you that in seven months-time you won't be able to make payroll. However, knowing now gives you enough time to do course corrections. How much should you have in cash reserve? Typically, Chris wants his clients to have between 2-6 months of fixed expenses in cash reserve. Chris conducts a brief study of the clients' plans to spend and invest in order to assess and make a recommendation. Most agency owners land between 3 ½ to 4 ½ months cash reserves needed. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360.  Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.

Would you like to increase agency lead generation and have so many prospects you get to pick and choose who you want to work with? Finding the right lead gen strategy is an important part of your agency's growth. Today's guest has found a simple framework that worked for him as well as many of his clients. By just fine-tuning 3 aspects of most lead generation strategies, you could be quadrupling leads in just one month. Dave Valentine is the owner and founder of Avadel Agency, an outsourced sales & development rep agency that helps clients fill their sales pipelines and book meetings. He owns eight businesses and tested the success of his lead generation framework in several different industries. Today he shares how going back to the basics can help you quadruple your leads and unlock a new level of growth. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why a quality case study should be kept short and to the point. How an outrageous offer can help you get your agency to seven figures. Inventive ways to use old tools that are regarded as outdated. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease of their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.     Dave is an entrepreneur who started his first agency at the age of 25. Looking back, he has made some common mistakes, like making his agency a catch-all and trying to be everything for everyone. In spite of this, he built the agency over 7-figures. However, relied too heavily on him and clients expected Dave to be involved in everything. In the end, this led him to sell his former agency and start Avadel. Now, growth comes not from relying on one person but from how they generate leads. 3 Things To Increase Agency Lead Generation in 30 Days According to Dave, increasing your agency's lead generation in record time will require just three key elements: Quality case studies. Most people think a quality case study needs to fill two pages or more to get client's attention.  Dave believes all you need is a sentence that follows this formula: We work with X company and got Y results in Z time. Additionally, if "Z time" is 90 days or less, it is incredibly compelling. When you put that in an email or an advertisement piece, it will get people's attention. Outrageous offers. Dave credits this element with helping him get six of his businesses to seven figures. An outrageous offer is something that sounds too good to be true. Actually, it is a way to increase your profits and book more meetings. More meetings give you an opportunity to assess clients so you can pick and choose the ones you want to work with. It's really about understanding what your deliverables are and how good your team is. Cold emails with creative follow-up. 86% of the meeting booking they do at Dave's agency come through cold emails. This statistic surprises most people because we all tend to shut down this kind of outreach. We get hundreds of emails every day from people trying to sell us something, so how do you cut through the noise? Dave recommends those emails be short and to the point. “Two to three sentences is the sweet spot,” he says. Also, look to create human connections. Let it come across that they're dealing with a person, not a bot. Lastly, he uses creative direct mail follow-up, like a piñata with a QR code that sends them to a calendar to book a call. Dave has found a lot of success in taking these strategies seen as old and outdated and leveraging them to generate new business. Why You Need an Outrageous Offer to Attract Leads The "outrageous offer" is a bold move that can bring great results for your agency. It's always a great way to stand out and put pressure on the competition. Of course, you have to be careful in how you word it. Don't promise something you can't deliver. A good way to ensure you're not over-promising is putting conditions around the offer. For example, if you're a web design agency, you can guarantee you'll have a client's website ready to launch in 12 weeks. The condition is they get you all the information required within the indicated timeline. It's a way to hold clients accountable for their outcomes. This doesn't work for every type of agency and sometimes you have to take some risks. When creating an outrageous offer for a flight school, Dave and his team offered a test flight at $49.99. Most flight schools make a similar offer at a much higher price point of $300, because it covers gas and the pilot's time. Their outrageous offer meant losing some money. They trusted the process and as a result, saw a 4x increase in lead generation with the same ad spend. And, their close rate stayed about the same! In the end, they soaked up all the leads their competitors were getting. Over the years, Avadel has successfully repeated this strategy for different industries. Gaining the Client's Trust so They'll go All in on the Bold Strategy Increasing lead generation isn't just about the agency. It's also about creating opportunities for clients to engage with you. Right off the bat, Avadel does this by acknowledging when a client books a meeting. When a meeting is booked, the prospect receives a video from Dave talking about the challenges that probably led them to his agency and thanking them for taking that step. It's a simple thing that clients find really helpful. In every sales conversation, they try to anticipate the client's objections and proactively address them. They acknowledge some of the most common concerns and offer a money-back guarantee. This way, the client can move forward and go all in on Dave's strategy with ease. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

Is your digital agency too reliant on you? Are you always putting out fires and answering questions? Is your team empowered to succeed without you? It's all about being intentional with how you spend your time and creating the processes to support your role as agency CEO. In this episode, a time and profit expert shares ways you can stop being the superhero at your agency and instead be the super visionary. Mike Michalowitz is an author and entrepreneur who focuses mostly on researching ways to make businesses run more efficiently. In this research, he noticed most businesses starve for profitability and very few achieve it. He's been on the podcast twice before chatting about his books: Profit First and Clockwork. His book and framework, Profit First, has changed the way many small businesses approaches profitability. One of his other best sellers is Clockwork, where he disrupts the "hustle harder" mindset. He's sharing how agency owners can reinvent their role in the agency to work less and still do the things they love. In this episode, we'll cover: Why you should strive to be the super visionary instead of the superhero. How a four-week vacation can help you ultimately exit operations. How to start empowering your team. Do you know the most important function at your agency? Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Why Your Superhero Syndrome Is Your Agency's Bottleneck Agency owners are commonly the bottleneck at their agency. The processes make it so everything has to go through them. It's not efficient at all, causes a clog in project completion, and exhaustion for the agency owner. Michael calls this the Superhero Syndrome. Many agency owners believe they are the best at everything and can fix everything. They are the agency's superheroes. However, having a superhero fix everything ultimately weakens the police department. This is what happens to agency teams. They can become too dependent on the owner always solving issues. According to Michael, instead of being the superhero, agency owners should strive to be super visionary. What the agency really needs is for the owner to have a clear vision of where the agency is going and then drive the team to get there. How to Set Yourself Up as the Super Visionary Part of having the clarity to become a super visionary is empowering your team to follow your vision, as opposed to you making the decisions. Michael believes the easiest way to position yourself as the visionary starts with one word: shareholder. The term entrepreneur has become overused. It used to me "someone who had an idea then took the risk of organizing a team and resources to pursue it." Now, it's become “someone who works like an animal.” On the other hand, a shareholder is someone who receives earnings and never says “I need to go to the company to solve something.” As an agency owner, you've taken on an extraordinary risk the only shareholder. Only about 15% of the population ever takes this risk and 3% manage to do it successfully. Sure, in the beginning, you're the only resource and work a ton. However, you should exit operations as soon as possible. As a shareholder, you should create jobs. By doing the work yourself you're stealing the job from people who want and need it. Michael believes viewing yourself as a shareholder, you'll have a better understanding of your role as someone who takes care of strategic planning, vision, and creating jobs. It's important to remember you have the right to reinsert yourself into work in a way that gives you joy. If you love sales, then find a way to assist in sales without it being fully dependent upon you. That's perfectly valid; just make sure the agency can run without you. Creating an Agency that Runs Without You  How can you prepare your team for your ultimate exit from operations? Michael recommends the “four-week vacation” in which you spend four consecutive weeks away from the agency with no physical or online connection. Why four weeks? He looked at how much time goes by before a business starts repeating cycles. Across all industries, it is monthly. Therefore if an owner is able to be away for 4 weeks, then they can be absent forever. The challenge for any agency owner who wants to exit operations is to book a four-week vacation at least two years from now. If that gives you too much anxiety, it's probably an indicator that you have a problem. In the end, this test is more about the agency having a vacation from you than you getting a vacation from it. People tend to think working on the business instead of in it is something that happens after you work hard enough. It's actually the result of a lot of intentional planning and preparation. That day may never come if you don't plan for it. Extending the Four-Week Vacation on All Levels After his four-week vacation and making sure everything ran well without him. Michael's team approached him to talk about a new problem. The agency worked well in his absence, which was great. However, his tasks had fallen on other people and now the rest of the team was too dependent on those in charge. The answer Michael came up with was repeating the formula. Everyone would take a four-week vacation. Not at the same time, of course, and planned a year in advance as he had done. This way, everyone has to prepare processes and backups to cover while they are on vacation. As a result there's always a backup -- not only for vacations but also when someone leaves. Life happens and this method means the agency doesn't suffer as a result. He looks at it as an intentional fire drill to ensure a smooth transition in case something does happen. 2 Steps to Empower Your Team  Move to a delegating leadership style. The deciding style is when you're in control of all the decision-making. For instance, you explain a task to an employee and answer their questions when they come back with doubts. On the contrary, a delegating style is all about the outcome and empowering employees to determine how to get the end result. Capturing processes. SOPs are relevant but are usually stale and hard to execute because it's a lot of information. As soon as an employee is assigned a new task, they should record training of the work. If they can teach it, they've mastered it. Furthermore, each new person can record new things added to the process. Should anyone leave, the new person assigned to that task can go back to previous recordings and learn. What's the Most Important Function at Your Agency? The QBR or Queen Bee Role concept is about looking at what nature does and translating that to business. In a beehive, the most important function is the production of eggs. Everything else is secondary because the survival of the hive depends on it. In any business, there is one single most important activity. However, some agency owners may not know what it is. Michael teaches clients how to identify principal activity so it is prioritized and protected at all times. Most small businesses tend to think everything is important and never see exceptional progress. It's especially important your agency team understand that important activity and their role in elevating it. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

Are you trapped working 24/7 in your agency? Do you know who to hire and how to empower them to make the right decisions? How do you build the culture for a growing team? Discover how one agency owner built and scaled a successful agency with multifaceted hires who wear many hats. She is currently working on her building her second agency and shares some of the lessons she's bringing to round two. Gina Michnowicz is the CEO and CCO of The Craftsman Agency, an agency specializing in experiences and creating magical moments. They work with clients that want to do something innovative across the digital space and also in-person events. They started their journey working with big clients like Disney and Cisco, although they also work with some small and medium brands as well. In this interview, we'll discuss: Finding your first employees who can wear many hats. Creating the right culture and empowering your team. How to avoid burnout as an agency owner. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.   Starting an Agency with Big Clients Right Off the Bat For Gina, ending up as an agency owner was the moment her career came full circle. Right out of college she interviewed at an advertising agency. However, they didn't have any open positions at that moment so she ended up working in HR. She then worked at a management consulting company running part of the digital practice. The idea of starting her own agency came from others who enjoyed working with her and offered to be her first clients. This is how Gina's agency started with two big clients, Cisco and VMWare --  a big break for a young agency! While most agencies work for many years to earn big clients it can also be quite challenging considering they can be very complex and political. Big brands tend to be siloed, which can make things difficult. Luckily, Gina is very good at picking the right clients and was able to handle it as a new agency. Hiring Multifaceted Talent to Get Your Agency Off the Ground Gina started working by herself but reached the breaking point very quickly, during the first quarter. She was lucky to have someone from her old job who wanted to work with her. It turns out this was a very multifaceted person who could wear many hats. Finding this type of talent is super helpful when you're starting out and don't have a lot of resources. More recently, she continues to rely on more traditional ways to look for new talent for her agency. She is very active on LinkedIn, where she built a large network she can rely on when it comes to looking for new talent. She also uses ads, although they tend to bring in more unqualified candidates. Gina's agency is in the process of creating an intern program to receive candidates from some great schools. She finds this is a great place to start recruiting because today, young adults graduate with fantastic instincts and insight. Creating Culture By Getting to Know Your Team  Your team members need to feel empowered to make decisions. Admittedly, it's hard to let go of control. Gina sometimes catches herself wanting to intervene and take control of a situation. In these cases, she reminds herself the leadership team can handle it.  It's not only okay to step back, it's important to do so. It's also important to make sure the leadership team is very connected. If you are disconnected at the top, this feeds into the rest of the team. As leaders, we have to show up as our best selves. If we're not, permeates the rest of the organization. It also comes down to relationships. Are you working on building relationships with your team? Do you know them as people beyond their agency role? Get to know the person, not just project manager. Talk to your team about what they are passionate about, and what they like doing. It's important to create opportunities and spaces where these conversations happen naturally by encouraging team activities. How to Avoid the Burnout Point Having trusted key employees who became her right and left hand helped Gina avoid the trap of overworking. She delegates important tasks to them and keeps a healthy work balance. Unfortunately, one of those key employees had an unexpected leave during the pandemic. In order to stay profitable, Gina and her other trusted employee took on those tasks and worked non-stop during the pandemic. As a result, the agency had a phenomenal 2021 but they were both burned out by the end. To reclaim her time, she made herself a new routine that includes time to meditate and walk each morning and small workouts throughout the day. Blocking time to rest has also worked. Now, she now tries not to pack her entire day with meetings if she can avoid it. You have to create rules for yourself and be strict about following them to have the time to focus on yourself. Finally, it's all about knowing when to take time off, which she now does and encourages in her employees. Why Engagement is the Key to a Successful Remote Model If you're managing a fully remote agency, Gina advises you to be really engaged and ensure your employees are also engaged. Engagement is a big factor in seeing whether or not someone is happy and passionate in their current role. Lack of engagement stems from a variety of factors. As a leader, it's your job to try to understand what can be done to help someone be comfortable with their role in the agency. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

Are you looking for the right formula to take your agency into the multi-millions? Getting to the million-dollar mark can happen easily, but getting to the multi-million level takes strategy. It's all about building processes, hiring a team, and choosing a niche so you continue to grow. Today's guests found themselves in a situation where they needed guidance to take their agency to the next level. They share the #1 most instrumental decision that changed their agency, key steps to their successful growth, and more. Chase Williams and Ryan Klein are the co-founders of Market My Market, a digital agency that uses marketing and systems processes to help law firms and franchises grow. They do organic in the digital space, such as SEO, content marketing, web design, lead gen, and more. Over the years, they have set their agency apart by not taking a "package approach." Instead, they are look for gaps and put together plans for their clients based on newly identified opportunities in their digital marketing. This approach has helped them build long-term relationships and take their agency to the multi-million dollar level. In this interview, we'll discuss: #1 most important decision to spark real change in your agency. Searching for the right salespeople. 4 key decisions to get over the multi-million dollar mark. What to look for in an ops manager. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.   #1 Most Instrumental Decision Sparking Change in Your Agency Ryan and Chase were working 9 to 5 jobs at a law firm and an agency. They kept getting approached by friends to build websites, which they didn't actually know how to do. However, since it meant extra money, they were willing to learn. Soon they were working 60+ hours a week, so they decided to quit their jobs and focus on their new venture. They went on to bootstrap the agency from Chase's basement in Brooklyn. Years later, they now have 37 employees in two offices. Chase recalls, the most instrumental decision they made to spark true change for their agency was working with Jason for guidance. With his support, they started focusing on niching down. First with a specific core service of SEO and next a vertical niche in law firms, which accounted for 60% of their clients. At the time, they were taking any type of job pitched to them, whether logos, websites, or graphics. Once they started to focus on helping law firms and building processes around that, they saw a real change. This was really important to building a proven system they used in order to adapt and scale. Finding the Right Salespeople with an Aggressive Commission Structure At first, Ryan and Chase didn't realize how difficult it is to find a good salespeople. They started by hiring a very charismatic person who didn't have a lot of experience. After about six months of educating and working on his skills, they felt he could do it on his own. However not long after he left the agency to work for another company. After all the time and resources spent mentoring him, this left them feeling deflated. This so common - agency owners are their own best sales person. Looking back, they were trying to learn what works and what doesn't. Furthermore, they understood no one is going to pitch the agency's offering better than you. Their best find came once they were willing to poach talent and pay them really well. The alternative is taking the time to train younger, inexperiences sales people who take their new skills elsewhere, or more seasoned sales people incentivized to stay. In short, they pay a decent base and offer bonuses that are basically a piece of what the person sold. It's tough to find good salespeople and even tougher holding onto them for a long time, but this approach has really worked for them. What to Look for in a Agency Operations Manager When it came time to look for someone to handle operations, Chase and Ryan went for the office manager route. This led them to a couple of administrative people who were highly organized. Ultimately, it came down to high-level organization and an awareness of the need for processes and systems. The person they found had worked for several startups and local governments but never actually at an agency. This can be a major plus. Finding someone who has experience building systems and can bring their particular experience to the agency world can lead to a great fit. 4 Key Moves To Will Help You Get Beyond Million Dollar Mark Focus on the proposal. The proposal is the driving tool documenting everything you're going to do for the client. This is where you reassure them they made the right decision. It is a contract, but it is also a narrative walking the client through the plan. Coupled with sales, the proposal drives home why you're the right partner for this client. When you take the time to create a well-constructed proposal, you'll stand out against other agencies. Rather than just pointing out numbers, tell a story and explain where they're at right now and where they can get with your help. Hire an in-house content team. It is a lot of work putting together an in-house team. However, it allows you more control and it's a great benefit for clients. Your agency is more of a partner, rather than a commodity when you have an in-house team of writers who specialized in creating the content your client needs. It's an added benefit that you should also add to your proposal. Implement EOS. Implementing Entrepreneurial Operating System can provide you with a ton of insight. Of course, it does entail a lot of change and shifting mindset. It's also not something you can do half-way or it won't provide the expected results. But when you go all-in with EOS you really see the results for your agency. To ensure success, consider hiring an EOS implementer. You'll see better results than if you try doing it yourself. Time tracking. Make sure everyone on your team is time-tracking. It may sound too like you're micromanaging them and most employees will not like it. However, the data it provides is very useful. It leads to important discussions like if a client is over capacity, is it time to upsell them? Will you need a new SEO person soon based on the amount of work? It also helps you decide when it was time to raise prices. Without this data, you're just shooting in the dark and hoping something sticks. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

What big agency failures have you had? How did you overcome them? Most people don't like to talk about failure but we all know it's part of being an entrepreneur. The road to growing your agency is filled with them and it's good to reflect on how we deal with failure. It's also important to look back on things that seemed like the worst-case scenario can turn out to be blessings that lead us to new and exciting paths. Today's guest has turned his past failures into an opportunity to share the lessons that can come from failures. Justin Skinner is a self-proclaimed professional failure. He's also an entrepreneur, author, and podcast host. When Justin's dream of becoming a professional baseball player didn't take off, he focused on graphic design and photography. He ended up working at a couple of digital agencies and eventually became a real estate entrepreneur. Neither of these careers was what he thought but he found great success and happiness in this unexpected path. Most recently, Justin has been spreading the word about the benefits of failure with his book and podcast, The Professional Failure. In this episode, we'll discuss: Trying to minimize the risks when growing his agency. Learning from his failures as a leader. The big failure that changed his career path. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. The Road to Growing an Agency is Filled with Failures In the agency business, the road to growth and success is normally filled with a list of failures. People normally want to hide those failures and not talk about them. The truth is even big names like Frank Kern has experienced some failures in their incredible career. It's an inevitable part of learning and growing. Agency owners may get to the point where they want to give up and see no way out other than selling. Jason sees this type of exhaustion all the time when advising agency owners. However, he believes discussing failures can help you realize you're not alone and find solutions faster. There are many different ways to go about building an agency. For Justin, it made more sense to grow with contract workers. According to him, this allowed more flexibility and freedom from project to project. The agency did end up having one key employee who did a great job. However, they end up never adding other employees. The benefit of course is that they didn't have to worry about employees in slow months. It definitely depends on how you want to manage your agency and the vision you have for its future. In Justin's case it was the best decision because it provided clarity on their bottom line and allowed them to forecast net earnings for the year. Biggest Failure Turned into a Huge Success Justin has had several failures in his career. One that turned out to be a big success down the road was his dream to play professional baseball. He played in high school and college and had several friends who got drafted so he assumed he would too. This dream never came true. Although he was crushed, he now realizes his life wouldn't have led to him growing a successful business and becoming an author if he had continued to pursue a career in sports. Losing this dream led to many opportunities he couldn't have imagined at the time. It's all part of learning to identify yourself with who you are rather than what you do. Justin realized he wanted to be a resource for others, whether he was an agency, owner, baseball player, or realtor. This has really helped him find joy in whatever he's doing. Pivoting is part of life and sometimes you'll find you no longer enjoy what you're doing, so it's good to know you can pivot to something else. Lessons in Agency Leadership One of his biggest failures was when he hired the agency's one and only employee. Since he was used to working exclusively with contractors, it was hard for him to manage someone else's time. He didn't know how to train an employee and wasn't clear on the tasks required for the job. Without clear direction, the employee had nothing to do sometimes, which led to frustration for both. Justin had to learn how to become a better leader who is clear about his expectations. When you hire someone you shouldn't assume they'll know what to do. Keep in mind why you are hiring this person. You're probably trying to save time. However, if you can't figure out how to communicate their tasks properly, you'll find yourself giving instructions over and over. The result of this poor communication actually adds more work, instead of saving you time. Jason has struggled with this in the past and he realized he needed someone to manage and guide these new employees. He recognizes he doesn't have the patience to do it himself but he still makes sure new employees receive proper training. On the flip side, Justin thought he was empowering his employee by giving them the freedom to choose how to organize their day. In reality, the lack of clarity and direction left ambiguity as to priorities. This "failure" turned into 2 huge lessons: Be more organized, and Give clearer instructions and realize we're all different and everyone has different ideas about which are the boring or interesting tasks Next time you feel like you've experiences a failure, consider what lesson it's actually teaching you. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

Creating content and having a content marketing strategy have become the bread and butter of marketing agencies, and we have the research to prove it. In fact, many agencies are now saying that 75% of their revenue is coming from content. This week, I'm talking with Steve Pockross and Ryan Sargent of Verblio to go over some interesting research they did about content creation, content ROI, what types of content they create, and more. This episode is packed with information that will hopefully give you some valuable insights into why having a good content marketing strategy is so important these days.   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: Steve and Ryan's key takeaways from Verblio's research on content marketing strategy Why it's okay to outsource content creation The shocking ROI of content marketing How to sell clients on the value of content The challenges of creating good content The importance of finding subject matter experts What types of content are the best to reach an audience Why clients are more willing to pay more for high-quality content

Does your agency develop content for clients? Do you have an in-house content team or outsource? What issues have you run into building your content team? The key to amazing content is building an amazing team. However, a common struggle for agency owners is not knowing the right structure or managing style. Today's guest will share some insight on what to look for when putting together your content team and the right questions to ask to ensure you're getting the best talent. Ryan Sargent is the Director of Content Marketing at Verblio, the world's friendliest content creation platform. Verblio builds content marketing for other marketers at scale by pairing specialized, niche writers with advertising agencies and marketing professionals. Ryan has been on the podcast before talking about Verblio's agencies are using content marketing. As content director, he knows his share of building and managing a content creation team. Recently, and thanks to Verblio's new podcast, he has had the opportunity to talk to other team managers from different agencies and learn that they all pretty much share the same issues, which he will explore in this interview. In this episode, we'll discuss: Where to start when building your content creation team. Asking the right questions to ensure you're hiring the right person. The best way to manage your content creation team. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.   Where to Start Building Your Content Creation Team When it comes to building your team, structure is very important and the order you make your hires will set the stage for future success. For starters, you want someone who really owns the manager/editor role. This will be a linchpin of the team structure. Usually, someone on the director level will have to work a lot on strategy. This is particularly true for in-house teams. The team manager must know the type of content the team is creating and why they're creating that content. Management may not be the most attractive part of the job, but ultimately someone has to make sure that everyone's on schedule and the lights stay on. If you can fill that seat with someone who specializes in project management, you're off to a great start. A lot of times, people bring in a CMO person that will focus on strategy but are not willing to roll up their sleeves. What you need is a managing editor that can write content, develop a process, and then manage people under them. Why Your Should Develop a Process Early Something that Ryan kept hearing is that having a process is critical to ensuring that, whatever strategy you're pursuing, you'll find success. The process will allow you to generate content from a lot of different sources. If done right, you'll set up a process that will be repeatable and will generate efficiency all on its own. Creating the Content In-House or Outsourcing? Ryan was surprised to learn that when it comes to content, everyone's doing it a bit different. When it comes to where agencies are getting their content, the hybrid model is apparently very common. For every agency that is producing its content in-house, there are multiple that outsource at least part of it. The same is true for in-house teams. This is a place where agencies and in-house marketing teams are operating in exactly the same way. Everyone's mixing and matching, often depending on the type of content and industry. Should the Content Manager Read Every Piece of Content? Not all agency owners are equipped for managing teams. Some prefer to make the right hires from the start, give them the direction, and let them manage. People management is hard and can be tough to juggle with all the responsibilities that come with being an agency owner. Because of this, some of the same issues kept coming up and no definitive answer is yet available. For instance, as a content manager should you be reading every single article produced by your team? Furthermore, once they're producing dozens of articles a week, does your answer change? For Ryan, if you're running a content team then yes, you should be reading everything. However, he does agree that a content manager should only be reading pieces that are mostly finished. This is because: He wants to show his team that he trusts them, and He loves the creativity that comes out when he's not constantly reminding his team of the content strategy. Asking the Right Questions to Find the Right Talent When you're hiring people for your in-house content team it's all about asking the right questions. Ryan likes to open the interview asking about the best piece of content they've ever written, followed by how did they know it was their best piece of content. Both answers are important. This way, he hopes to hear about something that isn't a standard piece of content. Also, they would ideally talk about ways of measuring content success that are more conversion-centered than Google analytics. For freelancers, his go-to question is “how did you become an expert in this topic?” The hardest part of outsourcing content is getting a writer that really knows the industry. For agencies, that problem is magnified because every client is in a different world and you need to find writers that can manage all those different verticals. The ability to vet a freelancer often comes down to that and the brief; a good follow-up question would be “what are the most important things you need in a brief?” If they talk about industry knowledge, sources to get started, content strategy, and most importantly, the purpose of this article, then you have a great candidate. If you get questions more directed at a style guide and less about coming up with the knowledge required to come up with the article, it's probably not a right fit.   Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital

Do you spend too much time in endless meetings? Do you have the right systems in order to be efficient with your time? Are you ready to reclaim your time and focus on working on the business? Today's guest helps his clients use technology to implement automations and SOPs to build an ideal future for them. In this interview, he shares his personal experience learning to reclaim his time to strategize, plus ways he makes more time to work on the business and how you can do it too. Marquis Murray is the CEO and founder of Ditto, a systems improvement consultancy helping customers get the most out of technology by improving how they work, aligning their teams, and helping them understand the current state of their business. They help clients work toward a future where they can set aside time to focus on their goals. In this episode, we'll discuss: First steps to implementing the systems to reclaim your time. Benefits of communication with clients and employees. Setting aside blocks of time to work on the business. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. How to Stop Wearing All the Hats as an Agency Owner Marquis started his career as a digital marketing manager for another agency. He left this job because he wanted to start his own business, be the boss, and make his own hours. Unfortunately, as agency owners know, that's not always how it plays out. However, he is thankful he had some of those lessons early on. As he started gaining clients and growing his team, he quickly found he was no longer able to wear all the hats. He was spending a lot of time in HR and onboarding. He didn't have any systems in place so his team kept coming to him with the same questions. Out of frustration, Marquis started building systems and visually documenting how he did things to send to his team when they had a question. In time, this evolved into the standard operating procedures and work templates his agency has today. He sees this a lot with clients building a business and realizes there's much more involved in actually scaling the business. One of the places where business owners are commonly not spending enough time is in internal team onboarding and communications. Now, when someone joins Ditto's team they receive what he feels is a well-thought-out overview of their responsibilities and available resources. Without those systems in place, he finds confusion and frustration. Setting up expectations from day one minimizes those feelings and everyone is more productive. Start by Documenting Your Own Tasks Normally, when we talk about SOPs, people can get overwhelmed and don't know where to start. A great place to begin is your own role. Whether you're writing it down on paper or using a screen share tool like Loom, document what you do and get it out of your head. You can set apart a day or part of your day where you don't use your phone or computer, just a pad and a pen, and write down everything. Start by answering “What am I responsible for?” You may be responsible for sales, so document what that looks like. What does it look like when you close a sale? Record sales calls -- good and bad -- for training purposes. What do you do next? Where does the invoice get sent? How do you set up a project brief for a new client coming in? Whatever your current responsibilities, start there. First, take a review of your days and identify what you are doing right now that you could delegate. Which meetings can you eliminate or delegate? That will free up some of your time so you can document tasks your team should be doing and get more efficient. Set reasonable expectations for yourself and know you won't be able to do it all at once.  Start small so you don't get overwhelmed and you'll eventually find the freedom you deserve. 4 Ways to Categorize Your Responsibilities  Marquis suggests sorting your tasks and responsibilities into these categories: Do - urgent and can't be done by anyone else Defer - can be completed later, when time allows Delegate - something that is able to be completed by others Delete - unimportant or won't drive the business forward There's no silver bullet for everyone, the idea is to get started and implement what works for you. Benefits of Constant Communication with Agency Team and Clients The worst mistake you can make with your team or clients is to assume communication has happened. We tend to believe just because we communicated something once everyone has received the message and understands it. In reality, you can never communicate enough. If you've only shared it once, you should probably repeat it at least three more times. When it comes to internal communications, you can try different communication methods like documenting something in video and writing it down different learning styles can retain that information. Frequency is another big point in communication. Doing it once is not enough. For instance, as part of their sales process, Marquis' agency details what a customer can expect signing on with them from onboarding to the first few weeks. This is reiterated in the proposal and also in the kickoff meeting. It is repeated over and over again. That information will always be available for them in their Slack channels and in an email sent by the agency. This was all implemented because they got feedback that clients felt in the dark about many things. There's so much you can improve if you for feedback and are willing to listen to your clients. As the leader, it is your responsibility to ensure it is taken seriously and implement steps to make sure that future clients don't run into the same issues. Set Non-Negotiable Blocks to Reclaim Your Time Marquis is a big fan of time blocking and getting time in the business to focus on what you need to do and what the business needs you to do to continue to grow effectively. He has non-negotiable blocks in his calendar to work on sales calls and set expectations for the next day. It is very important you respect the time you block off. You set that time apart to grow your business and work on things that you otherwise wouldn't. As an agency owner, you can find sometimes you've scheduled back-to-back meetings all day. That is the time you're giving away for free to everyone else. This is how you get burned out, overwhelmed, and frustrated. You wake up one day and find you hate the job you've created for yourself. This is why your priority should be setting up systems to work on yourself and your goals with the agency. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

Do you have issues with employee retention? Are wondering what you can do to make your agency a more attractive place to work so you stop losing employees to the competition? Today's guest has made retention a huge focus in the development of his agency. So much so that he's only lost two employees to the competition in the past three years. He now shares how he realized it's all about focusing on the right things. He's sharing some of the most important areas you should be working to improve employee retention. Rob Gaedtke is the president and CEO of KPS3, a digital agency that builds brands and creates technology that moves people to action. They are now about 64 full-time employees with roughly $9 million in revenue and continually work on ways to take care of their most valuable resource, their employees. In this conversation, Rob shares some of the important questions you should be asking to reduce yourself in order to employee turnover. In this episode, we'll discuss: 4 steps to help you stop losing employees. Keeping track of employee progress and being open to change. How to empower employees and encourage their growth. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Learning to Value Your Most Valuable Asset As an agency, your employees are your most valuable resource. After all, we are in the service industry and people are our bread and butter. So much so that keeping that talent could be even more important than keeping clients. If you manage to keep the right employees, they'll keep the clients. Likewise, if your employees are happy, your clients will also be happy. Rob and his team have been focusing on this as the agency grows. What they found is that if you're focusing on the right things you have a better chance of retaining your staff. For instance, are you losing employees to other agencies or to different passions? Are you filling the ranks with your own team or are you having to look outside the agency? These are important questions that could lead to why you keep losing talent. 4 Steps to Help You Stop Losing Employees to Other Agencies Making big statements like "employees are our most valuable asset" sound like an empty platitude unless you're making the right moves to show this appreciation. At Rob's agency, they took these 4 steps to stop losing employees: Be in it for the right reason. Your goal really has to be the development of the employee as a person, even if it comes to losing them. Have financial transparency. Everybody can see the agency's full financial statement. They know how what it costs to run the agency and how much profit goes back to the owners and employees. Have an open door policy. There's this idea that it's bad when someone leaves you to go do something. Rob believes we need to break that connotation. When an employee leaves, they're not doing it to hurt you. They're doing it because it's what's best for them. It's easy to take it personally, but if you step back it opens the door to part on good terms and to have them even returning at some point if it makes sense. Encourage personal growth. A lot of employees may leave a job because they want a promotion. But growth opportunities should be available for them within your agency. Rob also believes if somebody wants to grow in an area where your agency doesn't have business in, you could give them the opportunity to develop those skills. Even if it's half-price or at a loss. If you put it in the education bucket, it's benefitting an employee. The same goes for a different industry that the agency doesn't normally work in. Keeping Track of Employee Progress and Being Open to Change Rob's agency has strategic growth initiatives to get employees off on the right foot. They have mandatory reviews that occur after someone's first 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days. After that, the review meetings happen at the six-month mark and eventually become annual. The idea is to get a fruitful discussion going beginning the first month and then get more in-depth as time passes and more goals are met. On top of that, everybody is encouraged to have weekly one-on-one discussions. A lot of the discussions are focused on what each employee needs and what the agency can do to support their goals. Also, the agency is open-minded to employees changing departments if they are not enjoying the work. A department change is very important and something you can only ever address if your manager is tracking your progress. Encouraging and Empowering Agency Leaders When an agency is growing, you have to make sure the leaders grow with it. Every worker needs to feel challenged, respected and empowered. You can have a fun agency where everyone is having a great time -- but smart people also want to be pushed and challenged. If you're micromanaging and they don't feel empowered, you'll lose them. At Rob's agency, they give people the opportunity to grow and manage people. If someone expresses an interest in growing support that by including them in their management and leadership training. Rob also encourages people to talk about their goals and where they want to be. You need to promote it on one side and on the other make sure it's actually available and allow people the opportunity to grow. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

Are you struggling with client acquisition? Do you offer a ton of services but still can't scale? Wonder what else you could be doing to get the attention of the right clients? In today's episode, we'll learn how an agency went from getting most of its business from cold emails to evolving its acquisition model. Our guest also shares the mistakes he made in his first two agencies which led to massive success the third time around and a merger deal which led to more growth. Chase Dimond is a partner at Structured Agency, a highly-collaborative eCommerce marketing agency. With three agencies under his belt, Chase now reflects on past mistakes and shares how he grew this agency to a team of 100 people working from 6 countries working with brands doing 7-9 figures online. In this interview, we'll discuss: Mistakes and learning what not to do with your agency. 3 challenges of an agency merger. 3 ways to acquire new agency business. Tips for growing a following on Twitter. Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM   Learning Hard Lessons on What Not to Do to Grow a Digital Agency Chase formed his first agency as a side gig hustle from his full-time job out of college. As a kid who, he admits, thought he knew more than he actually did. He didn't have case studies but he was lucky to purchase a dating website for Bernie Sanders supporters that ended up going viral. It was the best way to attract clients and he learned a lot from the experience. They quickly scaled that agency to $30K per month on the side of their full-time jobs, but offering 8 different services as a side gig wasn't sustainable. The partners disbanded the agency and focused on their full-time jobs. A couple of years later, he gave it another try at creating an agency with some friends. Admittedly the lessons learned the first time didn't stick. This time, they got it to about $80K/month but went their separate ways after a falling out. From that experience, he knew he wanted to start an agency with a singular focus. Email had been at the core of everything since Chase's first business, so in 2018 he started an email marketing agency for eCommerce brands. They later merged with a paid social agency in 2020 servicing similar clients so now they can offer both customer retention and acquisition to their clients. Looking back, he can see that in the first two agencies he made the mistake of trying to offer too many services right away. It was impossible to staff and predict demand for each offering. This time around he's been successful because they focused on doing one service well and then merged with another agency offering a tangential service. 3 Challenges with a Digital Agency Merger Recently, his agency merged with another agency that had been a close referral partner for many years. They actually helped his agency early on with getting their first clients. They were already familiar with each other and offer complimentary services which naturally went together. They realized with more agencies specializing, brands have 8-12 agencies. They decided it would be best to bring together two core services under one roof and one P&L to keep servicing the same clients. There are still a few things lingering even though it's been 2 years since the merger: Establishing a united brand. They haven't figured out how to unite under one name. Clients know and refer to them by their separate names, making it difficult to establish a united identity. However, they might not have to. In Jason's experience, he prefers keeping the agency's name and identity so clients don't get confused. Cross-selling services is harder than expected. They used to sell people on an email campaign, which is a very simple service to explain. But now they have to sell clients on paid ads as well, which is more complex and has a lot of moving parts. Figuring out how to cross-sell and educate clients is really important. Without it, the agency loses opportunities because your clients don't know or understand the services. Realizing shared costs and infrastructure. They still have operations on each side and haven't really crossed the chasm of understanding the other person's business model, how to offer their services, and how they differ. 3 Strategies to Acquiring New Agency Business  1. Building the Founders' Personal Brand In 2018, a lot of their business came from cold emails. Now they have evolved into content marketing, strategic partners, and developing the founders' personal brands. In this way they are focused on podcasts interviews, speaking at events, and creating out content to attract clients. 2. White Labeling One of the things they did early on is become a white-label partner for big agencies. Big agencies not specialized in email marketing would bring them in as a partner agency. Many are not willing to be a white-label partner for other businesses, but it has been a really great way to build case studies. 3. Strategic Partnerships Another big source of business are partnerships, which came in three shapes: tech partners, influencers, and other agencies. Tech partners, like Klaviyo, work best when partnering with a fast-growing tech brand. Another way to gain authority is by partnering with other personal brands or influencers within your client niche. Lastly, is other agencies. The easiest way to build your agency in the very beginning is to get in bed with other agencies and have them white label you. The key is finding the right partner who accepts your agency and its processes without . Tips for Growing Your Following on Twitter Chase now focuses on developing his brand on Twitter, LinkedIn, and short-form video. He has between 70K-80K followers on Twitter and is getting about 3 million impressions every single month on his content. For him, growing on Twitter is all about: Consistency: tweeting about four times a day. Threads: they take a lot of time to plan and you really have to know how to make them hook audiences and keep people interested. But they work wonderfully once you do. Distribution: getting the right people to comment, like, and retweet your content. Once he had that in place, Chase also started to run ads targeted at his followers with relevant content he wanted them to see, like his threads. So he'll use ads to retarget his own content to people. He's also started to build a network of specific pages. For example, he has “email of the day” thread, where he shares screenshots of emails he likes. Because Twitter is his biggest platform, any content that works there gets repurposed for other platforms. For example, if one of his tweets is a hit, it will go on his IG and LI. For the most shared tweets, he'll do a video later on. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

I did not write anything below the subhead in this blog post. The author is Jason Joseph, who writes for a service you can outsource writing to called Verblio. If you’re wondering whether or not Verblio is legit, this podcast and the post below are a live test of their service. If you’re looking for… The post Outsourcing Content Marketing with Laura Smous (Verblio Review) appeared first on Eric Schwartzman.

Are you searching for ways to stand out from your competition? Niching down is one way to do it, but that alone might not necessarily cut it when it comes to getting noticed. One school of thought drilling down even more in a technology or service vertical. And don't underestimate how far genuine honesty and asking the right questions will take you when it comes to earning authority and trust. Adam Pearce and Peter Gardner are the CVO and CEO of Blend Commerce, an e-commerce customer experience agency for Shopify businesses. Adam and Peter believe that Customer Experience (CX) is the cornerstone of both customer acquisition and long-term customer retention. They focus obsessively on improving clients' CX pre-, during-, and post-purchase. They've been through some rocky years as they grew their agency but the real change began once they learned to see each others' strengths and built a community of agency owners willing to help each other. In this interview, we'll discuss: Figuring out your agency's direction and niche. Developing strategic partners and allies instead of competing. 4 tips to build client trust and stand out from the competition. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Tough Lessons About Working with an Agency Business Partner Neither Adam nor Peter were working in e-commerce when they first met through their wives. They both had the idea of starting their own businesses and found the right vehicle when they learned about something called Shopify. Adam was a bit skeptical at first, but he joined Peter and they started their agency journey with Peter in charge of development while Adam handled marketing. Seven years later, they have grown from a team of three to 20 people. They've seen some rocky times in their agency, of course. One thing they wish they would've learned sooner was understanding each other better. Failing to do so sooner was the root of most of their problems. They'd always been clear about what they wanted to achieve with the agency but they both had very different ideas about how to get there. Adam is a very structured thinker and planner while Peter is more of an idea man. They were pretty much opposites in that sense, which is why they clashed. The light bulb moment came once they realized rather than getting upset at each other for doing things differently, they could just work on different parts of the business while aiming for the same goal. Is Choosing a Niche Enough to Help You Stand Out? The answer is: not necessarily. Picking a niche is an important part of your digital agency growth. Many agencies start doing a little bit of everything and eventually specialize in something they're great at. Picking a vertical like WordPress or Shopify usually depends on getting an early start. For instance, just picking Shopify as a niche won't cut it nowadays because the market is saturated. When Adam and Peter first started they were one of maybe two agencies in that niche. Now there are many and as a result, they've had to niche down further. They niched down in the service offering by moving more into the retention side. Now they see themselves as a customer experience agency and focus more on the long-term value of a customer for their clients. They were smart in realizing the necessity to be laser focused, not just in the Shopify space but in picking a service vertical as well. They think they have missed out on work due to a lack of experience in a particular service vertical. However on the other hand, they also win a lot of projects because there are not many agencies that specialize in lifetime value before, during, and after the sale. Why Other Agencies Are Potential Allies Instead of Just Competitors If you feel you have to destroy your competition, you may be missing out on valuable strategic alliances. Adam and Peter have always treated other agencies like friends and partners. It's something we promote and encourage with our Digital Agency Elite Mastermind members as well. Early on and not knowing how to get more clients, they decided to approach bigger more established agencies. They presented themselves as a trustworthy referral partner and asked them to send any leads they didn't want their way. Before long, they actually did start receiving referrals from these bigger agencies. Of course, they also found agencies that were less than willing to engage with them. They even got some competitors trying to stop their progress. Luckily, they had already built good relationships with many agencies so these attempts not only didn't work, but backfired. It's a mentality they still practice now that they are a bigger agency as they try to help smaller start-up agencies. Ultimately, there is enough business for everyone and they don't see a need for a "destroy the competition" mentality. Furthermore, you can learn from other agency owners. If we were all more willing to have honest conversations with other agency owners, we would realize we've all had many of the problems and even offer useful tips to each other. 4 Tips To Build Trust and Makes You Stand Out From the Competition Be honest even when it's hard: Honesty set you apart from the competition. If the client has unreasonable goals or expectations, just be honest and tell them. Maybe they'll decide you're not the right agency for them, but maybe they'll hear you out and listen to your ideas. Don't try to sell everything at once: You probably want to sell a client X, Y, and Z but you know what they really need at the moment is just X. Sell them X, do a great job and build trust. Then, once they trust you, upsell Y and Z. Moreover, not everyone can afford everything at one time. Doing it progressively is the best way to consider the client while still increasing your sales. Ask the right questions: Many clients come in with an idea of what they need, like a redesign of their website store. However, once you start asking the right questions and get them to think about the problems they're experiencing you realize that's not the solution at all. Being willing to challenge them on the real problem will help you establish trust. Be willing to educate them. Saying “just trust me” doesn't cut it. Really explain where they're at and the plan on how to get where they want to be. Explain it almost to the point where they could just do it themselves. They won't, that's why they're looking for someone to do it for them. Plus if they really understand, then you successfully showed them they can trust you instead of just asking them to trust. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

What story are you telling prospective clients about your agency? With audiences getting savvier about skipping over or blocking traditional marketing, it's important to tell a story that engages your audience. Today's guest specializes in creating such narratives for his clients and offers some tips for agency owners who want to leverage this strategy. Zachary Slingsby is the founder of Human Factor Media, an award-winning branded content team that makes short films for brands. Their creations drive higher brand recall, awareness, and affinity than any other form of modern marketing. In this interview, Zachary explains how his love for stories led to a career creating content that resonates and why your agency's branding should not be an afterthought. In this episode, we'll discuss: How to be better at storytelling. Change the narrative and stand out. Why your branding should not be an afterthought. Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Agencies Must Be Intentional About Marketing Their Brands Zack's love for stories began with his love of film and literature. However, for him the traditional artistic path was filled with a number of frustrations so he decided to change course. Marketing provided the perfect niche to use this skill set in a time when brands are now acting as stages for their audiences. Engaging and entertaining storytelling is now a must for modern companies and a major focus for anyone developing their brand. It's common for agency owners to forget to market their own agency. Many expect to have time to develop their branding later but find that is not really the case. Many agency owners work around the clock and don't have the systems in place to create the freedom or lifestyle they've wanted since the beginning. You'll find that, unless you're very intentional about treating your agency like a client, it won't happen. Most never put the effort they should into their own marketing. Why Storytelling is an Important Marketing Tool Storytelling may be a bit of an overused term by now, but to Zack, it's the best invitation to let your audience know “this is who I am”. Good storytelling is an effective and, in some ways, very simple way to get people to join your culture. In essence, commerce is all about lowering the uncertainty about one another so that we can exchange value. This is where true narrative value becomes an asset. It's a superpower that small companies can really tap into. A commerce giant like Amazon can never hope to feel like a local presence in the user's life. By contrast, agency owners can use storytelling to create fans that later become clients. Let your audience know who you are outside of work so they can feel they know the real you. Instead of looking to compete with big brands or big-name agencies, offer something they can't. Why You Must Create a Narrative That Wins Your Audience's Attention Every brand and agency has similar marketing options thrown at them. Because of this, their value propositions look strikingly similar, especially if it's a niche with a lot of competition. Those companies will often end up competing in the same space, using the same marketing, and the same messages. So, why not try to use narrative value to distinguish yourself? With so much competition, the way you speak to people becomes the only value you have. The way brands like Lexus, Patagonia, and Northface are committing to storytelling tells us they've identified something about where the market is. Users want brands to get past the age of commercials. We expect brands to compete for our attention in the same way that our favorite media company does. Jason likes to use the example of Apple -- they don't sell products in their ads. They create a vision and tell a story. The launch of the iPod wasn't just another MP3 player, it was "1,000 songs you can store in your pocket." You Don't Have to be Big on Every Platform So how can you use narrative to your advantage? You know that including a healthy dose of video in your marketing will make a great difference, but it doesn't mean you know how to use it. There are incredible success stories like Gary Vaynerchuk, who built his agency empire on video content. Everything changed once someone on his team started following him around to film his day and make daily vlogs. Of course, this won't necessarily work for everyone; we don't all have adventure-filled days. You can also find successful examples of agencies that have created a presence on YouTube by making their team and office part of their content. In any case, Zack's advice is to choose one platform and focus on growing your audience there. It doesn't have to be all of them. This way, you can commit your resources to a particular endeavor. If you manage to grow one channel to thousands of subscribers, you're ahead of the competition. But it's not all about vanity metrics, so don't get too caught up in the numbers. Just remember that it can't be an afterthought, there has to be a process and a well-conceived plan as well as someone dedicated to making and posting this content. Spend some time thinking about what bringing your values into a story looks like. If you don't think you'll have a lot of time to create content, Zack has clients who just film for one week a year and create enough content to post twice a month. Finally, keep in mind this is a long-term strategy. Consistency really is the ultimate virtue. You just need enough success to keep them coming back. Your Agency's Branding Should Not be an Afterthought It's easy to think creativity is separate from your business goals. You may even delay some of the most experimental projects for your agency. You think you'll get to it once you have more time, more budget, more freedom. However, working on your branding should not be dismissed as an afterthought. With the emergence of so many new voices and people spending money to skip ads, the creative factor can be the key element you need to get their attention. Stop thinking of it as the luxury of a few big players and start seeing it as what it is, an indispensable part of your agency's strategy. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

Are you tired of waiting for clients to provide content? Is your agency thinking of offering content creation as a service? The demand for content is on the rise and research shows content creation is profitable for agencies. However, many agencies are not using content creation to its full potential because they don't understand the value of content marketing in 2022. Ryan Sargent is the Director of Content Marketing at Verblio, the world's friendliest content creation platform. Verblio builds content marketing for other marketers at scale by pairing specialized, niche writers with advertising agencies and marketing professionals. The team at Verblio are the experts at content creation and he's sharing secrets on ways agencies can make better use offering content creation and strategy for their clients. In this episode, we'll discuss: 5 ways agencies use content marketing in 2022 The disconnect between agency and in-house client content strategy. Why is it harder for your content to rank? Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Verblio: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Verblio. Check out Verblio.com/smartagency and get 50% off your first month of content creation. Our team loves using Verblio because of the ease in their process and their large pool of crowd-sourced writers.   5 Ways Agencies Use Content Marketing in 2022 To continually keep the pulse on how audiences consume content, Verblio does an annual 'State of Digital Content' survey gathering information from the market. In its third edition, received data from 450+ marketers with a focus on digital agencies. The results were segmented based on the size of the agency. They got some fascinating takeaways from it, including: Content creation is profitable: At least 75% of participants expressed that content is very profitable at their agencies. This presents a really clear sign that content is something people pay attention to and that agencies will continue to offer. Creating content for your clients not only increases productivity (you're not waiting for them to provide it), it also increases profitability. Win-win! It's all or nothing: Agencies are either "all in" on content or not; and the numbers show it. According to the results, bigger agencies recognize the power of content. They report that 75% of their revenue comes from content creation. By contrast, smaller agencies reported < 50% of their revenue comes from content. Ryan believes this indicates some smaller agencies are discounting content while bigger ones recognize it as a money maker and a core part of their service. Content creation is on the rise: Increasing from the past, more agencies are producing 10 or more pieces of content per client. In past surveys, most agencies reported producing 5 pieces of content per client. The demand is there -- is your agency helping service the demand? Core content is still king: Agencies are still focused on the bread and butter of core content, like blog posts and landing pages. Most are not diversifying in other forms like podcasts, for instance, which are far more time-consuming. Content marketing is vast, but core content is still king (even in a changing economy). In-house content creation: Most agencies surveyed produce content in-house. When they outsource content creation, they usually do so through freelancers. Disconnects Between Agency Content vs Client Content One thing Ryan finds particularly interesting is that in-house marketers look at conversion stats as a measure of success. Meanwhile, agencies are more likely to look at engagement stats. If agencies look more at conversion stats they would find this resonates more with clients because that's what the in-house teams are focusing on. Also, in-house teams are far less likely to find content refreshes compelling. Agencies see the value of refreshing existing content and consider it low-hanging fruit. In-house client teams don't see value in refreshes and therefore don't prioritize it. The roles reverse when it comes to ebooks and white papers, which in-house marketing teams see as powerful tools, but agencies don't focus as much on. Is it Getting Harder to Create Successful Content? A generalized feeling is that it's getting harder to create successful content. So if you feel like it's harder to rank or get social engagement, you're right! Demand for content is growing. However, the increase in demand is also the reason it's getting harder to see those conversions. Readers are getting pickier and there's a lot of mediocre content out there. We've entered an age of content in which the audience knows to ignore the banner ad. Because of this, your content must accurately show intent and provide value. A Happy Medium Between Education and Entertainment Content What is the right balance between content that informs and educates versus content that entertains? Getting it right depends on how well you know your audience and understand the purpose of the content. For example, if you're a B2B company very focused on education and all of the sudden decide to create an entertaining ad, you shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work. People are not coming to you for that type of content. So you either need to work on showing them you do both, or you need to bake entertainment into your brand. If they expect entertainment aspects in your voice and tone, then there's a logical way to incorporate that into your content. It comes down to knowing your audience and managing expectations. Related: Building a successful agency by putting people first. Want the Support of Amazing Digital Agency Owners? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to the Digital Agency Elite to learn all about our exclusive mastermind.

2022 In Review So Far features Chuki Obiyo, Brenda Pontiff, Tobi Millrood, Sarah Tetlow, Roy Sexton, Steve Pockross, Russ Cersosimo, Juyoun Han, and Frans Johansson. More About Our Guests: Chuki Obiyo is a Senior Business Development Manager at Vedder Price. Obiyo serves the firm's rainmakers and aspiring rainmakers in Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington DC with exclusive business development insights and coaching. Vedder Price is a business-focused law firm with a global reach and a proud tradition of maintaining long-term client relationships.Featured Episode: 142Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-142-chuki-obiyo-sustaining-long-term-client-relationships-with-a-sustainable-business-development-model/Discussed: - Finding the Right Mentee for You- Sustainable Business Development vs. Traditional Business DevelopmentBrenda Pontiff is the Managing Principal at Partner Track Academy. Brenda stays busy helping firms find or retain clients along with coaching young associates to senior partners. Partner Track Academy helps law firms figure out new innovative ways to go to market and service clients.Featured Episode: 144Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-144-brenda-pontiff-finding-the-right-chief-marketing-officer-for-your-firm/Discussed:- Hiring A Chief Marketing Officer for Your Law Firm- A New-Hire CMO's Timeline & ResponsibilitiesTobi Millrood is a Partner at Kline & Specter. Millrood has been practicing law for 26 years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He specializes in the area of Mass Torts including bad drugs and devices, and defective drugs and devices. Millrood is also the past president of the world's largest trial bar, the American Association for Justice (AAJ), where he completed his term in July 2021 and currently serves as Immediate Past President.Featured Episode: 160Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-160-tobi-millrood-establishing-credible-trustworthy-referrals/Discussed:- Best Ways to Find Referral Partners & Determining Legitimacy- Building a Trust Relationship with Potential Referral PartnershipsSarah Tetlow is the founder and CEO of Firm Focus. Sarah consults, coaches, and trains law firms on project, attention, time, task, and email management. Firm Focus' mission is to help law firms and legal departments of all sizes increase their productivity, reach their mission-critical objectives, develop a strong workplace culture, and develop a plan for continuous growth and focus.Featured Episode: 148Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-148-sarah-tetlow-applying-the-artt-method-to-organize-your-emails/Discussed: - Creating & Connecting Habits to Develop a Good System of Organizing Emails- Dedicating Time & Structure to Your EmailsRoy Sexton is the Marketing Director at Clark Hill and the President-Elect of the Legal Marketing Association. Roy has held the Marketing Director position since 2019 at Clark Hill and has begun his journey on LMA's board as Treasurer before being chosen as the 2022 President-Elect. Clark Hill is an international team of legal advisors focused on delivering exceptional growth for your business. LMA supports the legal marketing community through thought leadership, professional advocacy, and personal enrichment. Featured Episode: 143Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-143-roy-sexton-the-importance-of-connecting-with-others/Discussed: What is the Legal Marketing Association?Benefits of Joining an AssociationSteve Pockross is the CEO of Verblio and has more than 20 years of startup, nonprofit, and Fortune 500 experience. He was part of the early management team at crowdsourcing pioneer LiveOps and previously led five SaaS and marketing businesses. Verblio is a content creation platform based in Denver, Colorado with a thousand highly curated writers and creates 90,000 pieces of unique content per year. Verbilo is based on a marketplace with a similar dynamic to deliver high-quality content and a SaaS platform that holds all content creation in one place. Featured Episode: 140Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-140-steve-pockross-bringing-your-firms-website-to-life-with-content-creation/Discussed: - Strategizing the Proper Content Creation Channels for Your Firm- Artificial Intelligence in the Content Creation MarketplaceRuss Cersosimo is the Founder and CMO at Hemp Synergistics, author, keynote speaker, and patented inventor. Cersosimo founded Hemp Synergistics in 2019 and has since grown this biotech company specializing in intelligent hemp ingredients and consumer products. Hemp Synergistics incorporates THC-free, CBD-containing products by partnering with brands and healthcare professionals to offer top-of-the-line products.Featured Episode: 157Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-158-russ-cersosimo-discovering-ways-to-manage-stress-with-plant-based-supplements/Discussed: - Ways to Manage Stress with Plant-Based Supplements- Learning the Abilities of CBDJuyoun Han is a Partner at Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, a private boutique law firm based in New York City. Han is also a fellow at NYU Law Engleberg Center. She has built a practice on civil rights litigation that focuses on technology which broadly encompasses algorithmic bias and discrimination, data privacy, and NFT intellectual property issues. Featured Episode: 154Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-153-juyoun-han-how-young-attorneys-can-establish-themselves-in-their-career/Discussed:- How Young Attorneys Can Establish Themselves Early on in Their Career- Insights in the Technology FieldFrans Johansson is the CEO of The Medici Group, Public Speaker, and Author of the Medici Effect and The Click Moment. Johansson has had a lasting impact on industries, leaders, and many more.Featured Episode: 150Episode Link: https://legalmastermindpodcast.com/ep-150-frans-johannson-generating-diversity-innovation-into-your-firm-by-using-the-medici-effect/Discussed:- How Innovation is Interpreted with the Medici Effect- Artificial Intelligence's Impact on the Legal System

Steve Pockross has been in the startup scene for over 25 years before he started as the CEO of Verblio, a content creation platform. Verblio has been an Inc 5000 winner 2x, a Mercury growth winner 5x, and was named a Colorado Company to watch in 2020. Verblio has over 3,000 writers creating premium content at scale, in over 65 vertices, publishing over 120,000 unique content articles this year alone. In Steve's experience, what drives business forward is having a team of talented people. Putting together a great team should not be based solely on people's experience. Rather it's their unique talents that make them a top choice. Today he shares his One Big Tip on why hiring for talent is a better choice than hiring for the experience. Steve Pockross began his career in the nonprofit sector, where his focus was on community development. Steve found himself in Brazil, working for the Community Development Bank of Brazil, where he focused on their micro-lending programs. After that, Steve worked for non-profits in San Francisco until he jumped ship and began his career at  HSBC. Looking for something more fulfilling, Steve started working at LiveOps. At LiveOps, he worked with silicone valley innovators and began to piece together a new business model. The concept was to create an innovative model using unique freelance talent combined with a technology platform to help scale businesses into the next stratosphere. That is how Steve ended up as the VP of Business Development Strategy at a startup company. Having found success, Steve worked his way through several other startups until he settled as CEO of Verblio.com. Verblio, a content creation platform hires unique talent that can deliver content in over 65 vertices. To build a great company, you need to focus on the people you're hiring. To attract the right talent, you need to create a hiring funnel, so the people who best fit your company's culture come to you, not the other way around. At Verblio, they focus on the individual, not on the educational background and resume. Frequently, it's the ability to understand both sides of the equation that makes an individual a quality candidate. You ensure that the company brand remains on target when you hire for culture. Specific energy runs through the employees that keeps everyone happy and productive. The growth potential is profound when you hold the hiring process open to the right people who can jive with your business culture. When you find the right people, they bring on other people through referral, which is how you grow your business. Culture and productivity become your brand. These things provide you with a competitive advantage, although they are hard to measure in terms of ROI. The best part of hiring for talent is that the talent gives the company the energy required to grow and expand. The best part of his job, according to Steve, is talking to the newly acquired talent after their first three months and discussing the hiring process. Their feedback is typically the same. They love the culture of the workplace and the creative energy. These two things work together synergistically to provide momentum and productivity. This is why Steve chooses his team members based on the talents they bring to the table and not the degrees or experience they have listed on their resumes. Join us for today's episode of the One Big Tip to learn why growing your business will be easy when hiring people based on their talent and personality and not on their past work experience. In this episode[2:24] Steve talks about his varied work experienceWhere you start your journey is not always where you end upHow to take the best part of what you're doing in one position and apply it to another so you can transition professionally.[5:24] Combining curated freelance talent and technoSupport the show

Today we're going to discuss effective ways to scale MarTech businesses. Joining us is Steve Pockross, the CEO of Verblio, which is a multimedia content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies. In part 2 we discuss the steps after buying a MarTech company. Show NotesConnect With: Steve Pockross: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // Newsletter // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to discuss effective ways to scale MarTech businesses. Joining us is Steve Pockross, the CEO of Verblio, which is a multimedia content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies. In part 2 we discuss the steps after buying a MarTech company. Show NotesConnect With: Steve Pockross: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // Newsletter // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to discuss effective ways to scale MarTech businesses. Joining us is Steve Pockross, the CEO of Verblio, which is a multimedia content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies. In part 1 of our conversation, we discuss leveraging freelancers to ride the content creation wave. Show NotesConnect With:Steve Pockross: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // Newsletter // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to discuss effective ways to scale MarTech businesses. Joining us is Steve Pockross, the CEO of Verblio, which is a multimedia content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies. In part 1 of our conversation, we discuss leveraging freelancers to ride the content creation wave. Show NotesConnect With:Steve Pockross: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // Newsletter // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SEO can be a tedious topic to discuss. It's one of the bloodiest parts of the marketing industry that many are still trying to figure out.To help us get a better grip of SEO, CEO and Founder of Verblio, Steve Pockross reveals his INSIDER DISCOVERIES on SEO as he worked with different agencies on his journey. What You'll Learn:The BIG 4 Content Trends You Need to Do NOW!How To Win the SEO GameThe Right Mindset in SEOHow to Make Ends Meet: SEO and CONTENT QUALITYManaging 17,000 Content Pieces in JUST 3 MONTHS (How they did it)Bonus: Tips that Grew a Two-Million Dollar Company to Twelve-Million.Connect with Steve:Connect with Steve Pockross:Get Quality Written Blogs At ScaleListen to Steve's PodcastsResources:Connect with IanSupercharge your marketing and grow your business with video case stories today!Book a Discovery Call Today with Our ExpertsSubscribe to the YouTube Channel See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Steve Pockross brings more than 20 years of stratup, Fortune 500, and nonprofit experience to his role at Verblio. As CEO, he applies leading marketplace and SaaS principles to create an industry-leading content creatino platform.Steve was part of the early management team at LiveOps, growing the company into the largest virtual contact center in the world and filling roles across marketing, strategy, operations, and partnerships.Steve received his MBA from Kellogg School of Business and his MA in history from Wesleyan University. Outside the office, Steve is a Devner native and enjoys ultimate frisbee and playing guitar.

THE MULTIPLIER EFFECT | Steve Pockross, CEO of Verblio, joins host Gregg Garrett to discuss how the multiplier effect has allowed him to scale marketplace businesses. Steve also highlights the intersection between the future of marketing and the future of work. Of course, Steve speaks about his Top 3, including his executive coaches, Mark and Jodi, who help him multiply his efforts, his suite colleagues, Greg and Paul, who model honesty, and his wife, Jen, who helps him through the last 5%. And you have to hear how he hires on traits versus skills. About Steve Pockross Steve Pockross is the CEO of Verblio, a content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies. He brings more than 25 years of startup, Fortune 5000, and nonprofit experience to his role at Verblio. He has a passion for bringing humans and technology together. Steve was part of the early management team at crowdsourcing pioneer, LiveOps, and previously led five SaaS and marketing businesses. Based in Colorado, Steve enjoys ultimate frisbee, telemark skiing, hosting jazz concerts, and spending time with his two boys. Steve hosts Verblio's own podcast, Yes, and Marketing. Show Highlights During this episode: The Multiplier Effect [1:10] Steve's Introduction [4:43] The “Top Three” His executive coach, Mark [7:08] His executive coach, Jodi [15:30] His suite partners, Greg and Paul [19:00] His wife, Jen [26:30] You have to hear this… The Future of Marketing and the Future of Work [31:15] The Verblio Way [44:05] Hire based on Energy [49:48] Additional Information Contact Steve: Steve's LinkedIn Steve's Twitter (hasn't posted since 2019) Steve's Podcast on Apple Podcasts   Contact Gregg Garrett: Gregg's LinkedIn Gregg's Twitter Gregg's Bio   Contact CGS Advisors: Website LinkedIn Twitter  

This episode sees Ryan talking to Steve Pockross, CEO of Verblio, a multimedia content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies. Verblio was awarded two Inc 5000 growth company awards, six consecutive Mercury100 Awards for Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Boulder Valley, and also won a Colorado Companies to Watch award. Verblio acquired the video company Automagical in 2019 to expand its content offering and further engage audiences for its clients.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Over the last decade, content marketing as a channel has developed more as a channel than any other marketing channel. The only thing you can guarantee about digital marketing is its unpredictability. The best practice is using many different channels without spreading yourself thin. Defining exactly what traits you want from your team members means you can nurture talent of your own rather than hiring in a more expensive candidate because of their experience.  As a CEO, you have spent time creating the perfect team and building the company. In order to keep the company aligned to your original mission, you need to spend as much time engaged with your team members and keep it personal.   BEST MOMENTS ‘What could I do and what results could I see from them?'  ‘On our people's side we made a really big decision to hire young talent in, to hire for traits over experience.' ‘We hired her as an intern, she was a clear talent and she'd never managed one other person and we put her in charge of basically the main people business of the company.' ‘Always prioritize and cultural fit over skill set every step of the way because your magnet for talent as a bootstrapped company is making people want to be there with you.' ‘We're a content company. We want you to want to read our stuff.'   VALUABLE RESOURCES The Scale Up Show - https://omny.fm/shows/the-scale-up-show   Apply for a Revenue Growth Consulting Session With Ryan Staley - https://www.scalerevenue.io/4-schedule-page1611678914248    Steve Pockross - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spockross    ABOUT THE SHOW How do you grow like a VC backed company without taking on investors? Do you want to create a lifestyle business, a performance business or an empire? How do you scale to an exit without losing your freedom? Join the host Ryan Staley every Monday and Wednesday for conversations with the brightest and best Founders, CEO's and Entrepreneurs to crack the code on repeatable revenue growth, leadership, lifestyle freedom and mindset. This show has featured Startup and Billion Dollar Founders, Best Selling Authors, and the World's Top Sales and Marketing Experts like Terry Jones (Founder of Travelocity and Chairman of Kayak), Andrew Gazdecki (Founder of Micro Acquire), Harpaul Sambhi (Founder of Magical with a previous exit to Linkedin) and many more. This is where Scaling and Sales are made simple in 25 minutes or less.   ABOUT THE HOST Ryan is a Founder, Podcast Host, Speaker, Loving Father, Husband and Dog Dad. He is a 18x award winner and grew a business unit from 0-$30M in Annual Recurring Revenue while adding $30M in capital revenue in less than 6 years.  He did this all with only 4 salespeople and without demand generation.   Whether you are a new Founder,  VP or CEO who is already generating  6, 7 or even multiple 8 figures annually, you are going to gain knowledge about sales you didn't know existed.   CONTACT METHOD Ryan Staley - https://ryanstaley.io/podcast/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-staley/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ryanstaleysales Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-staley/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Learn about how to make marketing fun, the current state of customer experience, and avoiding the buzzwords that people love to hate. Bite-Sized Delight From the Episode: • Fun Interactions Creates a Fun Workplace - The more colorful and playful your brand, the more you will attract that type of customer and employee. • Happy Employees Equal Happy Customers - Based on research by GetFeedback, the relationship between employee experience and customer experience should be an infinity symbol - when employees are happy, they better serve customers, thereby making those customers happy.  • Beware Buzzwords - Using meaningless buzzwords leaves employees and customers confused, irritated, and wanting to run away from you and your offerings! Are You Looking for Things We Referenced? • Verblio - a fun place to work with fun marketing • State of CX Report - by GetFeedback • Conversation Corner with Help Scout • 31 Buzzwords That Employees Truly Hate - by Geoffrey James on Inc.com • 9 Business Buzzwords People Hate So Much They Won't Want to Work With You - by Minda Zetlin on Inc.com • Rate and Review The Experience This! Show Learn more about the Experience This Show and the hosts:  Joey Coleman Dan Gingiss

Steve Pockross brings more than 25 years of startup, Fortune 500, and nonprofit experience to his role as CEO of Verblio. We talk about maximizing the lifetime value of your career, how to pick the right company for you, and what it takes to create standout content in a saturated market.======================= 0:00 Intro 1:47 Growing up in Denver in the 80's 3:42 Receiving a liberal arts education 6:19 Living in a place where you don't know the language 9:31 The world can be a dark place11:32 Why are religious people happier than most other people?14:12 Growth always ends in higher lifetime value 17:36 Being a cross-country tour guide as a 22-year-old 22:07 Vulnerability gives you the right to lead with authority 23:16 What changes when you have a child?25:45 What are the two things that kids pick up from their parents? 30:10 Steve's experience at LiveOps 38:50 Investing in technology services over people services40:41 Figuring out the right amount of people for your company42:03 What to look for when you are picking a company to work for46:34 Hiring for traits instead of experience48:59 Why your Marketing Team should be writing your company's job descriptions 50:20 Differentiating your content with humor  54:40 Taking chances56:22 “One Final Question”=======================LinkTree to support us and leave an Apple Podcast review (thank you!)Let's get in touch!Join the discussion in the episode comments on our YouTube channel or social media pages...InstagramTwitter

Steve explains what a people-first strategy really means and what it looks like in practice at Verblio. He also shares lessons from the national Ultimate Frisbee championships and his band's first gig.

Your host, Carol Schultz, talks with Steve Pockross of Verblio, a blog and content creation company for SEO and marketing. Login to the Verblio platform and work with their writers' products and talent. To learn more, visit https://www.verblio.com/ (https://www.verblio.com/) You can find more information and all episodes at https://verticalelevation.com/podcast/ (verticalelevation.com/podcast) and you can find Carol on Twitter https://twitter.com/CarolBSchultz (@carolbschultz).

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spockross/ https://www.verblio.com/

In this episode, your host, Jeff Ford talks to Verblio's Steve Pockross about content creation, value, SEO, and more.

Steve Pockross Company Name: Verblio verblio.com Company Linkedin Profile URL https://www.linkedin.com/company/verblio What does your company do in 5 words or less? Creating high-powered content that drives SEO. Bio Steve Pockross brings more than 25 years of startup, Fortune 500, and nonprofit experience to his role at Verblio. As CEO, he applies leading gig economy and SaaS principles to provide a high-quality, fast and flexible content creation platform. Steve is also host of The Verblio Show podcast.

We celebrate one year of The Verblio Show with a look at some of the lessons our guests brought to marketing and leadership from unexpected places, including Newtonian theory, psychology, mythology, improv, and more.

Steve Pockross is the CEO of Verblio, a multimedia content creation platform that powers modern content marketers and SEO agencies, built on a curated network of 1,000 U.S.-based writers. Some things we covered: How to make content production into a reliable profit center. Thoughts on the value of subject matter expertise. Ferrari vs. Toyota content. […]

#023: This week's episode of The Verblio Show features Chris Rudolph, digital agency coach and founder of Freedom Business Family. A true lifelong coach, Chris began his career with the Chicago Bulls. Since trading ballplayers for business owners, however, his focus has been on helping clients find success in both their business and their work-life balance.In our conversation, we chat about his approach as a coach and the lessons he's learned as a business owner himself, with a host of broad-ranging insights to dig into along the way:One bold step to get yourself out of the weeds as an agency owner (Hint: It will require you to actually have an OOO message)How agencies can lead with a strong ROI and quick win to set themselves apartThe importance of both goals and systems, and why you need two types of people on your teamWhy “how” isn't always the right question – and what to ask insteadChris also has a special offer for our Verblio listeners: Check out their video at https://www.verblio.com/show for a link to schedule a free 1-on-1 Agency Growth coaching session with the man himself. https://www.verblio.com/The Verblio Show is your weekly cocktail of content marketing fun and fruitful conversation. Hear the full interview with Verblio's CEO Steve Pockross and talk with more marketers, digital agencies, and an assortment of thought leaders anywhere you get your podcasts!

#022: John Harris is leading something radically different and hugely ambitious: a "reverse holding company" for digital agencies. In this episode he shares how his Worldwide Partner‘s network creates super-powered teams through 70 agencies in 40 countries, why big brands seek out the advantages created by a network, and how his thinking can help your agency stand out among the 100,000+ agencies that exist in the U.S. alone.Note: Want your pitch to sound less like “we're a digital agency, based on technology, with great people, who focuses on results”? Or hear more about what mistakes agencies make when pitching bigger clients, and how to avoid those mistakes? John's seen it all, from big agencies to startup and enterprise brands and this is a particularly useful conversation to tune into.https://www.verblio.com/The Verblio Show is your weekly cocktail of content marketing fun and fruitful conversation. Hear the full interview with Verblio's CEO Steve Pockross and talk with more marketers, digital agencies, and an assortment of thought leaders anywhere you get your podcasts!

#021:  "Advertising is ____, content marketing is ____." If you can't fill in those two blanks (and make it catchy), you should definitely listen to this week's episode of The Verblio Show with Andy Crestodina. Andy is co-founder of Orbit Media, a 19-year-old web design agency. He quite literally wrote the book on content marketing, which Jay Baer has called “The most practical book ever written about digital marketing." In our interview, Andy shares a literal wealth of knowledge about content marketing, productivity, learning, and much, much more: The one tweak you can make to turn content marketing from a years-long slog into a ‘results before you hit publish' investment - The exact formula for thought leadership and the data to back it up - The opinions / observations / data hierarchy - What you should and should not do with best practices - Escapades in China, exercise in 2 minutes/day, wake time & productivity correlation https://www.verblio.com/The Verblio Show is your weekly cocktail of content marketing fun and fruitful conversation. Hear the full interview with Verblio's CEO Steve Pockross and talk with more marketers, digital agencies, and an assortment of thought leaders anywhere you get your podcasts!

#020:  This episode features leading agency coach Karl Sakas, who spoke with Steve early in the COVID crisis to share his insight into how he's guiding his agency clients. Some quick nuggets for those who tune in: What to expect for agency revenue forecasts in 2020: Take your worst scenario and now make that your stretch scenario. Assume a 10-30% drop in revenue. · How you should respond: Over-communicate with every stakeholder. Not just your clients, but your employees and freelancers too. · What Karl is doing with his new isolated free time: Finally watching his first reality tv series. https://www.verblio.com/ The Verblio Show is your weekly cocktail of content marketing fun and fruitful conversation. Hear the full interview with Verblio's CEO Steve Pockross and talk with more marketers, digital agencies, and an assortment of thought leaders anywhere you get your podcasts!