Say it Online

There are pivotal moments in the life of your business. Those things that stick with you forever, that mark a change. 

Seeing your website go live, finalizing your first project, and quitting that back up job all come to mind. I would add hiring your first employee to that list. 

It's the official end of your solopreneurship — and the start of scaling up to being a bigger agency. 

We're back with another episode of D.A.R.T (Digital Agency Real Talk) to cover how to make that leap from a business of 1 to a team. 

In this episode, Celene and I dive into reasons why you might want to scale up, how to get over the fear of delegating and building trust with a team, and all the many reasons why building that team could be your greatest decision yet. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Identify exactly what type of role you want to have in your business when it scales
• Stop relying exclusively on referrals and start actively driving sales and leads
• Actually take that first step and hire your first employee

Why does design and great copy come second (just barely) for Tricia Littlefield of Ledgers Branding? Find out as I sit down with Tricia to talk about how to get every element of your client's website working together. 

Tricia Littlefield is the solopreneur behind Ledgers Branding and has been creating custom, conversion-focused websites for the past 20 years. Tricia specializes in getting overworked bookkeeping professionals, and Profit First Professionals, more time, more clients, and an easier sales process.

In this episode, Tricia and I talk about the magic that happens when all the elements of a website work together. What does it look like when the copy, design, and SEO (in particular organic SEO) sync up and get your client's website on page one of Google? It looks pretty good to us. 

Tune in to learn:

• The critical components Tricia includes in every single website she builds.
• Why building accessibility into your coding and web design should be a priority and not an afterthought.
• How to add elements into a website to move the reader further down your marketing funnel — and closer to working with you.

Connect with Tricia at LedgersBranding.com or on Facebook.

Dozens of people are going to try and sell you that one magical "ninja" hack that will skyrocket your business. 

Lee Goff is not that person. 

So, why does Lee Goff, creator of the Digital Marketing Agency Success Group, favor sales skills and data over design and creative skills? Find out as I sit down with Lee to talk about his life as the owner of an award-winning agency and why he chose to move from agency ownership to coaching other agency owners. 

Lee built a multi-million dollar agency out of his upstairs bedroom in 2003, and successfully exited it in 2016. After recovering from a heart attack, Lee dove headfirst into creating a comprehensive agency coaching program that focuses on the business side of agency ownership instead of technical skills. 

In this episode, Lee dives into why he believes that mastering sales, driving leads, KPIs, project management, critical business systems, and process trump technical and creative skills when it comes to growing your agency. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Clearly communicate to your clients, and team, exactly what you need from them at each phase of a project
• Build legal processes directly into your service framework
• Get the fine print right in your contracts 

Be sure to join Lee's Digital Marketing Agency Success Group on Facebook, or connect with Lee at www.marketingagencycoach.com and www.agencysuccessroadmap.com.

Aaaand it's here–part four of our Digital Agency Real Talk Growth Strategy series. 

In this episode, Celene and I are focusing on how to build, sell, and market a Growth Strategy framework to your clients. 

I know we aren't the only ones who spend a lot of time explaining to clients that their website doesn't actually drive traffic or sales. 

At the highest level, a Growth Strategy is a means to continuously improve your reach, engagement, conversion, and retention in an intentional and focused way. 

Tune in to learn:

• how to start offering this as a service for clients internally or through a white-label agency.
• why the responsibility of Growth Strategy always has to be with the agency and not the client.
• how to really communicate the value of a Growth Strategy to your clients. 

In case you missed it, here's what we talked about in our four-part series:

Growth Strategy Part 1: what a Growth Strategy is and WHY your clients need one. 

Growth Strategy Part 2: the basic components of a Growth Strategy.

Growth Strategy Part 3: how to implement a Growth Strategy with your clients.

Growth Strategy Part 4 (this episode!): we walked you through how to implement a Growth Strategy as a service in your agency and sell it to your clients.

Recap!

We've covered the what.

We've covered the why.

Today on the podcast we are covering the how of growth strategy. If you've listened to the first two episodes then you know a growth strategy can be the missing piece for your client to find that effective marketing magic.

But how do you actually get them there?

In this episode, Celene and I dive into how to make a growth strategy happen. What are the steps? How do you adjust? How do you get your client to weed through their lengthy list of goals? And how do you keep those goals within the time (and budget) that your clients have to commit to marketing?

Tune in to learn how to: get your clients to actually make a decision help your client choose, and focus on, just one driving goal lead your clients through the growth strategy, even if they haven't done a lot of marketing and are still learning the ropes

Next week is the final episode of our growth strategy series. We're walking you through how to build a growth strategy into what you are already offering as an agency.

Your clients have big goals. Many goals. Too many goals. 

We've worked with a lot of partners who get those vibrant, sometimes chaotic, clients who just need help to focus on one thing at a time. 

A HUGE part of building a growth strategy is helping your clients focus on the one, very specific, thing they should be doing now when it comes to their marketing. 

Last week we talked about anchor versus growth strategy. 

In this episode, Celene and I dive into what a growth strategy is made of. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Set effective goals with your clients and how to clearly define those goals
• Use data to track your goals
• Adjust as you go if something isn't working

So you know what a growth strategy is, and what it's made of, but where do you start?

Next week Celene and I are breaking down the steps you need to take to get your clients growth strategy rolling.

You know that one thing (project, process, service, or product) you've always wanted to create but it wasn't a priority, or you needed to figure out creating a stable business first?

That one creation that sat in the back of your mind for years, filed away under "nice to have one day." For me, that's the Anansi Growth Strategy. 

In this episode, Celene and I dive into what the heck a growth strategy is while we help you figure out if your client needs one (spoiler alert...they probably do). 

Creating website content is only step one. It gives your clients a good base of operations, but it's not going to convert leads and drive sales — even if your clients really really believe it will. 

A growth strategy sets up a clear flow of business from initial visibility through to recurring referral, raving fan, whatever that last step is for you, and troubleshoots any blockages in that flow from beginning to end and treats them. 

So how does it work?

Tune in to learn how to:

• Identify your (or your clients) growth goals and how you should be measuring them
• Decide when you should be doing a foundational strategy and when you should be doing a growth strategy
• Figure out exactly what you marketing goals are 

This is only part one in our month long Growth Strategy Real Talk series. 

Here's what to expect from the four part series:

• Part two: we'll break down the basic components of our growth strategy
• Part three: we go over how to implement a growth strategy
• Part four: we walk you through how to implement a growth strategy as a service in your agency and sell it

How does Lois Koffi fit an entire year's worth of work into just nine months — without completely collapsing from exhaustion? Find out as I sit down with Lois so she can walk me through how she went from bankrupt at 30 to making multiple six-figures and still finding time to travel with her family of five. 

Lois Koffi is a professional speaker, trainer, coach, and Ironman triathlete who has helped thousands of people to create more in less time so they can experience the abundant playground this world provides. 

She believes that working in sales can truly stretch and grow people in a way that no other profession can. She is a 12 Week Year Certified trainer and has become a highly sought after expert in recruiting, selling, and developing sales leaders for many companies.

She is a two time published author and is publishing an ebook this month dedicated to all her friends who died far too soon.

In this episode, Lois dives into how getting your health on track will help you make more conscious decisions, why consistency is everything when it comes to building your sales, and how meditation can be the key to setting (and actually hitting) your goals. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Get people around you to respect your boundaries as much as you do
• Utilize Lois' 8 by 8 touch system to maximize sales and build relationships
• Find your starting point, even when you're completely overwhelmed 

Connect with Lois at LoisKoffi.com and TeamWinningLifeStyle.com. To check out Lois' helpful recommendations, jump over to thebrightpath.com for guided meditation, Jenny Harkleroad at Balanced You for success coaching, and be sure to read The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran.

Hiring can be beyond stressful. So, how do you know when you're ready to take the plunge and hire? 

For Left Right Labs, growing their team has meant that they get to focus on the parts of their business that they could spend all day immersed in. Today on the show I sit down with Gretchen and Trina as they talk about how you can stop wearing so many hats as an agency owner and hire the right people to wear them for you. 

Gretchen and Trina are the founders of Left Right Labs, a branding agency that helps Wellness Influencers build bigger, better, and more beloved brands. With 13+ years of marketing experience and over 100 websites launched, they have supported celebrities, coaches, best-selling authors, thought-leaders, and more, in creating genuine brand identities online. Their clients have included industry leaders like Laila Ali, Optimum EFX, Ben Booker, Briana Michel, and The New York Ad Council.

In this episode, Gretchen and Trina dive into what "right-size" hiring means to them and how bringing on new employees with diverse skills has shifted their agency and helped them grow. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Delegate up, down, and laterally 
• Figure out the parts of your business that really light your fire
• Built a diverse and effective team based on the order you hire 

Connect with Gretchen and Trina at leftrightlabs.com or on Facebook and Instagram.

Be sure to check out Gretchen's book recommendation Built To Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow.

How does Carrie Mayo of MAYO Designs wake up and love her business more and more each day? Find out as I sit down with Carrie to talk about how building a more mission driven business was the catalyst for her to use marketing to create good in the world. 

Carrie Mayo is the Founder and Creative Director of MAYO Designs. She leads their web and marketing team while overseeing the management, planning, and execution of each project. Dedicated to making an impact beyond a business' profitability, Carrie and her team recently chose to realign the business and their target market. MAYO Designs now works with like-minded companies who care about positively impacting our world through their products or services.

In this episode, Carrie dives into how to shift the focus of your brand to fit your values, how to bring existing clients along for that ride, and why niching down helps you build stronger client bonds and communities. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Connect your values to your ideal audience
• Go deeper not wider can create better clients and communities
• Build your business for yourself 

Connect with Carrie at mayowebdesign.com and follow her adventures in living her mission and vision at becausetheresnoplanetb.com.