Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you merge the power of pure creativity with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a dose of adventure, all to make it work to your advantage. The New York Times has called him "a public relations all-star who knows everything about new media and then some," while Investor's Business Daily has labeled him "crazy, but effective."

He founded Help A Reporter Out (HARO) in 2010 from his apartment before selling it to Vocus. Peter is the also founder of ShankMinds: Business Masterminds, a series of small business entrepreneurial-style masterminds in over 25 cities worldwide. Additionally, Peter is also the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique Social Media, Marketing and PR Strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide.

What you'll learn about in this episode:

• Innovation through exploration
• Why you need to hold your ground with clients and force them to trust your expertise
• How to get your customers to tell your story for you
• Peter's book "Zombie Loyalists"
• Peter's company The Geek Factory
• How agencies can make customer service attractive for their clients
• Why rewarding someone for being your 10,000th follower is an insult to the rest of your followers
• Why everything you create has to have value for someone
• How to create invested customers with the way you respond through email
• How Peter carves out time in his schedule for everything
• Peter's preferred methods for professional development
• What Peter's agency of the future would look like
• How Peter helped his employees with professional development
• The things that get in the way of corporations hearing their customers
• Things agencies can do right now to implement the ideas from this episode

Ways to Contact Peter Shankman:

• Book: "Zombie Loyalists"
• Twitter: @petershankman

We're proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!