Guest Bernadette Boas

Guest Susan Fowler

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Most agency owners find value in talking with their peers and understanding the challenges that they share in running PR firms. The PRSA Counselors Academy is a special interest group within the Public Relations Society of America that brings together agency entrepreneurs through events and other programming. The Immediate Past Chair of Counselors Academy, Chuck Norman, joined Chip to talk about the group and how it brings benefits to agency owners. In addition to his volunteer role, Chuck is also the owner of S&A Communications.

As higher education faces increasing pressure to not just educate students but better prepare them for gainful employment after graduation, the student-run PR agency model provides some useful lessons. Boston University's PRLab is the longest-running such program in the United States, and co-director Amy Shanler joined Chip on this episode to talk about what it is and how it works. She explains how the students handle not just client service, but also the business and operations side of running an agency.

Learning how to spot -- and handle -- red flags can make a big difference in your agency business. Knowing what to look for, what not to ignore, and what action to take can mean the difference between getting saddled with a difficult client, bad hire, or otherwise challenging situation. Chip talks with Gini about an article she recently wrote for Spin Sucks that explored red flags in new business conversations. The co-hosts then looked at other situations that might generate red flags and offered some practical advice for agency leaders in addressing them.

You can certainly go it alone as an agency owner, but it can quickly get pretty lonely. On this week's episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast, Chip and Gini talk about how coaching can help agency owners get more from their businesses. Of course, Chip and Gini both provide coaching and advisory services for agency owners, but this episode covers a range of approaches that are available -- well beyond the border of just their two businesses. The co-hosts explore a range of benefits from coaching, including accountability, second opinions, useful insights, a shoulder to lean on, and more.

Fred Bateman has seen momentous changes in public relations during the 30+ years he's been in the business. As the founder of the Bateman Group embarks on a new stage in his career, he reflects on the evolving role of PR in a fragmented media landscape and the skills that it takes to thrive amid all that complexity.

Guest Richard McPartlin