FIR Podcast Network

Many agencies struggle with how to flex their capacity up and down as clients and projects come and go. Capacity planning, effective employee utilization, and building flexibility into your business model are all topics covered in this episode.

Chip and Gini stress the importance of elasticity to be able to take on new clients and handle emergency projects. Leveraging contractors and freelancers in addition to in-house staff is one approach, but there also needs to be effective resource management of your employees to manage workload.

Finally, the co-hosts look at how to set expectations, both internally and externally to get the most out of your efforts to maximize capacity and profitability.

RESOURCES

* Project-based Capacity Planning Woes

* Guide to agency project budgeting (with free Excel template for staff utilization)

[read the transcript]

Using your voice to impact and inspire others. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Denise Benz (https://aha.pub/DeniseBenz), the former CEO of the Lisa Nichols Companies. She has been in the self-development industry for over 17 years now and is dubbed the “fixer,” for she has the ability to motivate staff to reach peak performance and realign teams so they commit to realizing their corporate mission.

As the founder of Authentic Speakers Agency, she is passionate about developing artists who are committed to using their talents to influence and impact others. Her clients vary from asset management companies to celebrities.

If you want to start using your voice and impact others with your platform, reach out to Denise Benz by visiting her websites, http://www.authenticspeakersbureau.com/ and http://www.thepersonalrelationshipfirm.com/.

Here are a couple of AHA messages from this episode:

* The pain point of experts is having a message that lives in them but not knowing how to package and share it with the world. Denise Benz can help you #VoiceItOut. http://www.authenticspeakersbureau.com/ @DeniseBenz

* A professional’s credibility isn’t only based on the people whom they have worked with but also on what they have done and how they have impacted others. This is where Denise Benz can be of help. http://www.authenticspeakersbureau.com/ @DeniseBenz

* Speakers, professionals, and entertainers just want to replicate someone else when they have their own story to tell and share. They should find a platform that represents their authenticity with the help of Denise Benz! http://www.authenticspeakersbureau.com/ @DeniseBenz

* The word of mouth generated by an artist management agency speaks volumes of its credibility. Choose one that is highly regarded by its previous clients, like Denise Benz! http://www.authenticspeakersbureau.com/ @DeniseBenz

* A management agency can help motivate staff to reach peak performance and realign a team to focus on its corporate mission. Have you found the right #AuthenticSpeakersAgency? You should! http://www.authenticspeakersbureau.com/ @DeniseBenz

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit: https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

Is your agency doing a good job of marketing itself? If you’re like most agencies, the chances are that you aren’t taking enough of the advice you give your own clients.

On this episode, Aaron Strout, CMO of W2O Group, shares his experience as an agency marketer. He talks about how you get more out of the whole team, and why marketing matters beyond new business — including recruiting, M&A, and more.

Topics covered include:

* The intersection of agencies and consulting firms, and how each is getting into the other’s arena

* The role of a CMO in an agency

* How the W2O marketing team functions

* The impact of thought leadership in the agency space

* Using events as an agency marketing tool

* The software and services that provide structure to W2O’s marketing

* Leveraging internal expertise effectively

* How W2O measures marketing success for itself

RESOURCES

* What2Know Podcast

* W2O Group

* Aaron on social: Twitter | LinkedIn

ABOUT AARON STROUT

Aaron has 25+ years of integrated marketing, social media, mobile, event marketing, advertising experience, CRM and thought leadership with a strong history of building high performance teams. Prior to joining W2O, Aaron spent time as the CMO of Powered Inc. (now part of Dachis Group), VP of Social Media at online community provider, Mzinga, and as Director of Digital Marketing at Fidelity Investments.

Aaron is the coauthor of Location Based Marketing for Dummies (Wiley) and writes a monthly mobile/location-based marketing column on Marketingland.com. He is the host of the award-winning What2Know podcast (iTunes) which features industry leaders talking about innovation and best practices.

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Outbound calling; social media outreach and scheduling; PPC; SEO; trade shows, email campaigns – kinda sounds like the beginnings of a job listing for every marketers responsibility, doesn’t it?

While that may be true, it’s also the foundation of understanding the relationship between these actions in generating demand for your product and building you brand. These channels all require strategy and optimization to work in harmony with one another. But when there are so many channels that can make or break your marketing efforts, where does one even start?

In this episode of AMP Up Your Digital Marketing, we meet Vivian Gomes, Head of Marketing and Inside Sales for CSS Corp, a technology services firm. His insight tackles why creativity is the genesis of marketing, and why it’s so important to start at the top to satisfy some kind of curiosity of the targeted end user.

Glenn: Welcome back to the show. Today we’re speaking to Vivian Gomes. Vivian, welcome to the show.

Vivian: Hey, Glenn. Thanks for having me here.

Glenn: Vivian, could you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Vivian: Sure. Absolutely. So, I head the Global Marketing and Inside Sales for a company called CSS Corp. We’re a mid-sized IT and technology support services company headquartered out of Milpitas, California but with a presence across five continents. I’ve been here for about three years. Prior to CSS Corp, I have worked with other IT services companies, like Infosys, Genpact, NIIT, and a Bay Area based fintech startup as well. So, totally about 17 years in the IT industry, having played various roles in operations, sales and marketing.

Glenn: You know, it’s interesting because the IT industry has always been a very tough one for marketers to get a hold of. Sales people have tried to call them directly, that usually doesn’t work, so there’s a lot more that marketing has a role to play with, you know, just trying to figure out who they should be going after and what they’re going to say to them? How do you step back and think about the strategy around something like that, particularly in an industry that has so much competition?

Vivian: Oh, absolutely, that’s a great question. So, I think it’s important to understand that in the IT industry and especially the part that I am in, which is services, so we are B2B, and things here are extremely high-touch. So, in our industry there’s no such thing as an impulse purchase, which is pretty much core in the B2C world, right? You’ll serve up an ad, which has an offer, you click on it, you like it, you just buy it, it’s not a high-value purchase, you’re done, instant ROI, right? But that’s not how it works in our world. Things are a lot more complicated. Conversations typically run – sales cycles run from 6 to 12 months. And even within our IT industry, I would say there are two parts to it, you’ve got products and you’ve got services. On products, I would say, the world is a little more finite there in a way because you know what your product does, you know what it can solve. But in services, it’s a lot more complicated. I’ve, by the way, worked in both environments, but in services all that matters is each client is unique, their requirements are unique, the end is more important than the means. Everybody wants to get somewhere and you’ve got to come up with a customized solution for that client. So, it’s a pretty complex world that we are in. So, it’s very important to be able to clearly define your target market. And in our industry, typically organizations don’t have more than maybe 500 to 1,000 companies, that’s your target market,

Grow your business by improving engagement, relationships, and authority. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Andy Neary https://aha.pub/AndyNeary, the co-founder and business coach at Major League Mindset who helps individuals and companies shift their mindset and remove barriers that prevent them from reaching their goals.

He instills confidence, competence, and course of action into insurance agents through coaching and speaking, so they can be empowered to grow their career.

If you’re an insurance agent who needs to create a brand that people get attracted to, you’ll want to reach out to Andy Neary at https://aha.pub/AndyNeary.

Here are a couple of AHA messages from this episode:

* Insurance agents who are buried in the noise of the insurance industry and are having difficulty standing out should see the work being done by Andy Neary at https://aha.pub/AndyNeary. #PowerfulInsuranceBrand

* I turn insurance producers into brands. The best way for an insurance advisor to grow their business in today’s market is to create strong ERA: engagement, relationships, and authority. #PowerfulInsuranceBrand https://aha.pub/AndyNeary

* In baseball, I was judged by Earned Run Average. In insurance, you’re judged by engagement, the relationships you have with your prospects, and the authority you can create in your market. #PowerfulInsuranceBrand https://aha.pub/AndyNeary

* In the insurance industry with an overabundance of supply, you can stand out by understanding who your audience is and crafting a clear message for them. #PowerfulInsuranceBrand https://andyneary.com/ @ANearyinCO

* I built my own brand in the insurance industry. What I teach advisors today, I built for myself. I turned myself from an insurance producer into a brand. #PowerfulInsuranceBrand https://andyneary.com/ @ANearyinCO

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit: https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

Increase your visibility and credibility through strategic public relations campaigns. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert Jennifer McGinley http://aha.pub/JenniferMcGinley, CEO of JLM Strategic Communications, who is passionate about helping high-level professionals and orgs build their credibility.

She helps healthcare professionals and orgs amplify their brand and increase connections, visibility, and credibility through strategic public relations campaigns.

If your healthcare org is not being seen by the community the way you feel that it should be, you should reach out to Jennifer McGinley at http://aha.pub/JenniferMcGinley.

Here are a couple of AHA messages from this episode:

* Healthcare orgs that are essentially not being seen by their community should reach out to Jennifer McGinley at http://aha.pub/JenniferMcGinley. #CredibilityEnhancement

* Healthcare orgs that are not seen by their target audience need to build awareness. They need to increase their connections and their visibility. #StrategicPRCampaigns http://aha.pub/JenniferMcGinley

* What I do is to talk to my clients about the value of public relations. I help them with three things: media relations, increasing connections, and increasing their credibility level. #CredibilityEnhancement https://jlmstrategiccommunications.com/ @JenlMcginley16

* A few things that I do for clients is to try to get them a great TV placement or a wonderful news article that focuses on trends in healthcare or their org overall. #StrategicPRCampaigns https://jlmstrategiccommunications.com/ @JenlMcginley16

* I love to have a list of medical experts already sent months in advance to a news outlet so when a crisis occurs, they will call me to line up an expert quickly and efficiently. #StrategicPRCampaigns http://aha.pub/JenniferMcGinley

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, visit: https://thoughtleaderlife.com/.

In what may be the longest single episode of a podcast ever, Neville and Shel present observations and prognostications from 17 of the smartest communication professionals in the business. (But when you consider that we covered 20 years in 2 hours and 20 minutes, it’s actually quite fast. And we might qualify for a Guinness world record!)

If you’ve been listening to FIR for a long time (the show started in January 2005), you’ll recognize some of these voices from the early days. This special episode is focused entirely on the impact of the last decade on communications and what communicators can expect in the Roaring 20’s.

Contributors include Christoper Barger, Gini Dietrich, Chip Griffin, Lee Hopkins, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Sharon McIntosh, Rachel Miller, Scott Monty, Christopher S. Penn, Jen Phillips, Eric Schwartzman, Bill Spaniel, David Spark, Mark Story, Andrea Vascellari, Brad Whitworth, and Dan York (not in alphabetical order).

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, February 17.

Links from This Week’s Episode

* Subject-Verb Agreement When Using Singular “They”

* Subject-Verb Agreement And The Singular They

* Christopher Barger’s complete essay

This week we take a moment to reflect on the past year’s major PR blunders. Thanks to the folks at Crain’s Chicago Business, we have five doozies to relive with you. They run the gamut from Hallmark’s lesbian bridal spot to Sallie Mae’s Hawaiian junket to the various missteps of Boeing’s now ex-CEO.  All have a few things in common:

* The companies were culturally tone-deaf, whether to gender, racial, or other sensitive topics. Being woke isn’t just a fixed state of mind but a commitment to keep up with the cultural norms and mores and memes in this diverse world.

* They failed to talk. The first hours after a crisis are critical and require a response — even if it is “We are working on a response and will get back to you.” Crickets will just inflame passions and create the impression that the business fails to understand its mistakes. “An organization is more likely to survive a crisis with its reputation intact if it immediately speaks for itself rather than allowing others to speculate about its motives and behavior,” Crain’s wrote.

* They reinforced stereotypes. The Peloton ad would have worked if it had showed the woman gifting her husband, not the other way around. Why not run these ideas by impartial third parties who can identify the land mines? Hire a couple of journalists to poke holes at your message.

* The companies waffled in response. Hallmark first pulled then reinstated its bridal TV spot. The ad was bold and progressive. Why not stand your ground instead of yielding to criticism that you know is coming?

* Don’t be Facebook. We have beaten up repeatedly on the social network over the past year (#117 on alternatives  and #102 on how to fix some of their most egregious flaws).  Crain’s gives Facebook a dishonorable mention for stating that it won’t vet political campaigns ads.

Land corporate contracts through strategic alliance training. This episode features #ThoughtLeader and #Expert, Randall Dobbins (http://aha.pub/RandallDobbins), a best selling author, speaker and founder of Business Partner Blueprint.

Randall helps small business owners create strategic business propositions that blueprint the advantages they offer to large corporations. He provides training on the strategic alliance process to disadvantaged business owners which allows them to develop alliances with other companies and ultimately with the Fortune 500. Randall is passionate about helping disadvantaged business enterprise owners (minority and women-owned businesses) to land massive corporate contracts.

To learn more about Randall, go to http://aha.pub/RandallDobbins. To get in touch with him, visit https://www.dobbinsinternational.com.

Here are a few AHA messages from this episode:

* The pain point of small business owners is not knowing how to land #CorporateContracts. https://www.dobbinsinternational.com @RandallDobbins

* Small business owners can land #CorporateContracts by understanding how to present viable solutions geared towards the value drivers of large companies. What solutions can you present to large companies? https://www.dobbinsinternational.com @RandallDobbins

* Many years of experience working for large companies can give one the credibility to provide strategic alliance training to small business owners. Consider learning from one who can help you win #CorporateContracts! http://aha.pub/RandallDobbins

* Successfully meeting and exceeding the contracting requirements of large companies can help small business owners land #CorporateContracts. What is your ability to meet and exceed contracting requirements? https://www.dobbinsinternational.com @RandallDobbins

* Small business owners can land #CorporateContracts by increasing the level of capabilities and value creation potential of their businesses. What capabilities and potential does your business have? https://www.dobbinsinternational.com @RandallDobbins

To learn more about Thought Leadership and how it can help you be successful, subscribe to the channel: http://youtube.com/user/thoughtleaderlife.

Agencies are fundamentally a people business, but managing people is always a challenge. How do you get the best performance and the right results for clients? And what do you do when an individual falls short?

That’s topic that Chip and Gini explore on this week’s episode. It all stemmed from a post on Reddit asking about “consequences” for agency employees. While the hosts don’t like that term, the concept is still an important one to explore.

RESOURCES

* Seeking advice on creating consequences (Reddit post)

* r/agency

[read the transcript]