Why are we so in love with our quarterly planning processes here at Anansi Content? Find out in this episode of Digital Agency Real Talk where Celene and I chat strategic planning and why you should be doing it (and how).

We dive into our quarterly planning processes, the real (and super honest) reason why strategic planning became so crucial to our success, and how to analyse your progress so you can continue to move business forward.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Identify high-level strategic planning needs and implement measurement tools
• Develop your framework and stick to it (plus learn what we do and how we’ve found it successful)
• Craft realistic goals and communicate them to your team

Why doesn’t Fabienne Raphaël believe in cookie cutter strategies? Find out as I sit down with Fabienne to learn how she coaches her clients to face internal barriers so they can lead successful businesses. 

Fabienne Raphaël is a business building coach, speaker, and podcaster. With her one on one coaching and Mastermind Group, she helps aspiring and underpaid coaches become highly paid experts by building their coaching business and living their true purpose.

She has worked in television and broadcasting, hosting unique interviews on her top ranked Marketing to Crush your Competitors podcast — which has broadcasted 300 episodes. She has even hosted her own TV show.

Fabienne has also shared the stage with John Lee Dumas, Chris Brogan, and Sue Zimmerman. She spoke at the last New Media Europe conference in London, has been featured in Forbes, ABC, FOX, CBS, Inc., the Huffington Post, and has appeared on over 30 podcasts, such as  CopyChief Radio and Entrepreneur on Fire.

As a former elite athlete and physical therapist, Fabienne brings a high level of energy, radiance, and authenticity in order to lead her clients to a thriving business that allows them to meet their most ambitious goals.

Last but not least, Fabienne was an athletes' mentor with the Canadian delegation at the 2019 Pan-American Games in Lima, Peru.

In this episode, Fabienne dives into the need for resiliency when growing your empire, approaches to building relationships and trust (especially within a partnership), the journey of being a mom-preneur, and how to clarify what you want to accomplish.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Identify the practical steps you need to take when starting your business (aside from the fun stuff, like branding).
• Eliminate distractions so you can focus on your core business goals.
• Be coachable so that you can reach success.

Connect with Fabienne at fabienneraphael.com and enroll in her upcoming Mastermind Retreat by clicking here.

How do we manage our team of 8 (in 3 different countries!) here at Anansi Content? Find out in this episode of Digital Agency Real Talk where Celene and I chat processes to help you manage your remote team. 

We dive into why you need processes for communication, resources that help your team understand what’s happening behind the scenes, and how to identify “trip wires” that need to be examined for creating more efficiency in your agency. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Use weekly touch points to empower your team to take action
• Foster interconnection within your remote team
• Organize your processes around your people

Want more resources for managing and communicating effectively with your remote team?

Learn how to lead a meeting like a boss, master the art of delegation, and see our general meeting template by clicking here.

Connect with Say at [email protected] and Celene at [email protected]. 

Why does Jenn O'Brien, Account Manager here at Anansi Content swear by the power of video for building connection? Find out as I sit down with Jenn to dive into the challenges, and opportunities, when fostering relationships between colleagues, partners, and clients as a digital agency.

After spending over a decade building a successful real estate agency, and years as a full-time marketing expert and trainer for REMAX, Jenn was ready for a change.

Fuelled by Storybrand, Simon Sinek, and other leaders in authentic marketing, Jenn went looking for a new career. When she stumbled across Anansi’s gang of sassy and empathy-driven marketers, she knew she’d found her home.

In this episode, Jenn and I talk about the experience of meeting colleagues and partners in-person after months (or years!) of digital calls, the power of empathy for building connections, and the most memorable commercials and marketing campaigns of our time.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Foster vibrant culture within your digital team
• Approach marketing authentically 
• Master connection through various storytelling mediums, from videos to the written word

How does Harris III from STORY use illusion to build empathy, trust, and connection with his audiences? Find out as I sit down with Harris III to talk about how storytelling can paint the perfect picture for your clients.

While people around the globe know Harris “the Third” as an award-winning illusionist, the last few years has seen his career explode into becoming a sought-out keynote speaker, storyteller, and event curator. His endeavors expanded as an entrepreneur as he founded the Istoria Collective, an event and production company that creates and executes meaningful and transformative experiences for people and brands through both live events and a variety of other mediums.

His experience has taken him to thousands of stages in 49 states across America, and in almost 40 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the Middle East.

Harris is now entering the next decade of his career with a new enthusiasm for stories and art. In 2016, he began a new season by relaunching STORY conference. What began as a simple two-day annual conference has grown into a prolific movement of culture-shaping storytelling. 

STORY has had speakers from companies like Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar, Nike, YouTube, NatGeo, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories, and more. Harris is awakening child-like wonder, imagination, and curiosity in a way that only someone who believes in real magic can.

In this episode, we dive into different mediums to engage your audience through story, the concept of “wonder”, and the power of storytelling to influence decisions. 

But remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Engage your audience on diverse storytelling platforms — from social media to your blog content.
• Utilize the power of story for good and empower others to make informed decisions.
• Build connection, trust, and empathy with your audience.

Connect with Harris III at Harrisiii.com and STORY.

Why are we such process nerds here at Anansi Content? Well, because they work. We also get a lot of praise on how our processes make completing projects and tasks super smooth.

Introducing the first episode of a series between Celene, our Chief of Operations, and I: Digital Agency Real Talk. 

In this series, Celene and I go behind the scenes of leading a digital agency. 

This week, we’re talking processes.

You don’t have to constantly be striving for perfect. 

Honestly, we’re all about done is the new perfect. 

We continually create and enhance our processes to work as efficiently as possible, and review our processes on a quarterly basis to ensure we’re working towards perfection. 

It’s a big task on its own, as processes are only as efficient as the people who are following them. However, after years of building, implementing, and analysing processes, we think we’re getting pretty good at them.

This episode is for any digital agency owner who is craving more efficiency in their team’s workdays (and who are looking to simplify their life). 

In this episode, we dive into how to build high-level processes, what tools will help you build your processes, who should be creating them, and when is the right time to make them. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Effectively delegate tasks to our team 
• Continually enhance processes so your team is always problem solving
• Establish outcomes for your processes

Need a handy tool to get started on building and implementing processes?

After listening, download our Process Guide and Template and start putting process making into practice.

How did Christine Bahu turn a need for a second revenue stream into a successful digital marketing agency? I sit down with Christine to learn how she leveraged marketing, and her experience in the dental field, to lead her niche marketing agency, SmileMore Marketing.

Christine Bahu has helped 100+ dentists bring new patients into their offices through traditional and digital marketing strategies. Her creation of the SmileMore Dental Savings Plan has enabled independent dentists to provide quality care for 1000’s of uninsured patients throughout the country.

In this episode, Christine dives into why she loves to be surrounded by people she can learn from, and how she created a cohesive customer journey to bring structure to her organization and provide maximum value to clients.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Access and analyze the right data for creating valuable new strategies
• Leverage contractors to maximize value and minimize financial strain
• Identify and stick to your key services 

Connect with Christine at smilemore.marketing.

Why did Jake Jorgovan once have a job description taken down because of the use of the word “moist”? Find out as I sit down with Jake to learn about the importance of building a strong agency culture and collaborating with your team.

Jake Jorgovan is a writer, entrepreneur and creator. He is the founder of Lead Cookie, a done-for-you Linkedin Lead Generation service, as well as Content Allies, an agency that turns consultants into thought leaders through content marketing. 

In this episode, Jake dives into how to sustainably invest in your business long-term and the need for your hiring process to reflect your agency’s culture.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Create a hiring process based on your agency’s values and culture
• Identify trends among your team members to help you hire the right people for your agency
• Build yourself up as a thought leader in your field of expertise

Connect with Jake by subscribing to Jake-Jorgovan.com for weekly blog posts and articles.

Why has our team started creating profiles for our ideal candidates the way we build our customer avatars for clients? Find out in this episode as I sit down with Celene, our Chief of Operations to discuss the challenges of hiring for a digital team.

Honestly, we’ve had a lot of challenges in hiring—specifically with our Admin role. We had to take a step back and ask ourselves “are we hiring for the right role?” 

Over the last couple of years, hiring a Virtual Assistant has been a revolving door while our strategists have been with us since day one. We decided to dig in and share some of the biggest barriers we’ve faced in hiring for our remote team, and how we overcame them by truly understanding the role we were hiring for so we could hire the right person.

Find out why we decided to go with a long job description (over 1500 words!), the importance of culture on hiring choices, and how we put proper screening processes in place to ensure we found the right, long-term person for our Admin role.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Build job responsibilities based on problem solving and efficiency. 
• Shift the language of your job posting to ensure you’re engaging the right candidates.
• Engage your team in building a job description that will attract the right candidates.

Curious to how we ended up hiring the best Admin Manager EVER? 

See the job description we used to find Kevin by clicking here!

Why does Joshua Maddux from 95Visual think developing a website is like training a new employee? Find out as I sit down with Joshua to learn about the elements of his process and why each step is so crucial to success, even if it’s just a project wrap-up call. 

95Visual is a Los Angeles based web design, web development and branding firm. In this episode, Joshua dives into how to get clients to take action on deliverables (especially during discovery), and the need for ADA compliance with websites in the USA.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Leverage resources and tools to keep clients on the ball
• Shift your language to keep clients engaged in every step of the project
• Ensure your website is ADA compliant

Connect with Joshua at 95visual.com.