WHAT INSPIRED THIS EPISODE?

When you take a look under the hood of most marketing agencies, you might be tempted to only focus on the output of what they can provide for clients – from the quality of their design work and content, to the quantifiable results they are able to drive through the execution of their inbound activities. Those are all extremely important, but what kind of processes should an agency have as their engine, driving everything that they do?

In this episode, Liz and I tackle this complex topic, from our two very different perspectives. Me, with my project-driven website design process, and Liz with her multitude of recurring content creation processes. An interesting discussion not only for agencies, but also the companies that want to hire them.

SO, WHAT DID WE TALK ABOUT?

• Celebrating 10 years (for the second time!) of Quintain Marketing.
• Why creating processes is painful, but also vital.
• The true story of how I developed my comprehensive website redesign process.
• The difference between Liz's recurring processes and my project-based processes.
• How processes helped us solve problems we were avoiding – or didn’t know where there.
• How to leverage context to determine the format of your processes.
• The biggest lesson we’ve learned since we started at Quintain Marketing.

HERE’S WHAT WE HAD TO SAY: JESSIE-LEE

“In terms of writing a process that truly works for you, you almost have to be ready to meet failure at the gate.”

“People can tell you do things in your personal life. But until you decide you need it done, it’s not going to happen.”

“I think the reason why I look [at processes] in terms of ‘rules to break,’ and the reason why you’re so structured, is that I have the liberty of time, and you don’t.”  

“You have knowledge in your head, and you know what has to happen intuitively. But to put it down on paper is a whole other level.”

“[Write processes] sooner rather than later. And don’t do it by yourself. Process with a buddy.”

LIZ

“If you’re not willing to adapt [your processes], grow them, change them, have them evolve along with you – what’s the point of having them?”

“Even if you have to go back to your processes later with a hammer and smash them, you have to start with something.”

“Never trust an agency that doesn’t have processes. Not only that, they should have multiple processes.”

“People don’t say it out loud, but they don’t want to write processes, because they don’t want to make life more difficult.”

“Every person under an agency roof is a relationship manager of some kind.”

HERE ARE THE RESOURCES WE TALKED ABOUT:

• How to Improve Your Agency Processes from GatherContent
• How to Spot An Agency That Fails at Content Creation
• The case study questionnaire we use with our clients
• Rewind to our first Creator's Block episode

GET IN TOUCH AND SPREAD THE CREATOR’S BLOCK LOVE

What did you think of this episode? Is there another topic or question you want us to take on? Or do you just want to say hi? Reach out to us on Twitter at @CreatorsBlockHQ or using the hashtag #creatorsblockparty. You can also say hi to me at @liztypes or Jessie-Lee at @jhyphenl.

And don’t forget - whether you love us or hate us - we would really appreciate you reviewing our podcast on iTunes! 

…until next week!