Small Spark Theory: a marginal gains approach to new business and marketing

There is no doubt these are troubling times. As the economic storm clouds gather, we are all bracing ourselves for some pain in the months ahead as marketing spends come under pressure.

But what concerns me most is the timing. For most of this year, I've witnessed agencies juggling an influx of projects, finally unlocked after the stranglehold of the pandemic, with the twin challenges of resourcing and post-Covid working practices.

Inevitably, when all hands are to the pump to deliver and bill client work, even the best laid new business and marketing plans fall by the wayside. And now, more than ever, this cannot happen.

So before we head into the most important window in the new business and marketing calendar, in this episode I share the best advice I can give to any agency, struggling with resource, knowing they are neglecting the pipeline and worried about the forecast six months from now.

Of course if you want to talk in confidence about any of the issues raised in this episode, please get in touch at [email protected]

Referenced in this episode:

Rory Spence at Wow Company

Blair Enns on pricing

Kelly Molson on marketing

IPA Bellwether

Over recent episodes we’ve been taking a deep dive into some very specific elements of agency marketing and prospecting.  We revisited agency positioning with Roland Gurney at Treacle, really got to grips with thought leadership with Mark Wellings at Grist and in the last episode on relationships, Trenton Moss talked about the prospect communities he […]

Over recent episodes we've been taking a deep dive into some very specific elements of agency marketing and prospecting.

We revisited agency positioning with Roland Gurney at Treacle, really got to grips with thought leadership with Mark Wellings at Grist and in the last episode on relationships, Trenton Moss talked about the prospect communities he created and how they translated into billing clients.

So for this episode I wanted to showcase an agency founder who has brought all of these elements together to really demonstrate how ANY agency can implement these ideas.

Kelly Molson is co-founder of Rubber Cheese a web development agency focussed on supporting the visitor attractions sector. We talk about the road to specialisation and positioning, and how immersing yourself in the challenges of your audience builds community, grows relationship, and in turn, your new business pipeline.

For anyone who has found the strategies we discuss on this podcast interesting but perhaps inaccessible - maybe due to a perceived lack of time, resource or confidence, I urge you to listen to this episode and take inspiration from Kelly's experience.

Kelly's recommended read is the evergreen How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. We will of course be giving away a copy - listen in to find out how to win.

For any visitor attraction owners or marketers listening, you can access the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey here.

Want to see how you can refine your new business strategy? Contact Lucy.

After a tough couple of years, I've been spotting some really positive signs in agencies over the past six months; clients seem to be spending, delayed projects are being given the green light and new business pipelines are flourishing.

But there is no escaping the wider economic picture and we should rightly be bracing ourselves for impact on future marketing spend. And whilst there is much we can't predict, or control, strengthening our relationships and communication with our clients is only going to stand us in good stead for the future.

In this episode I chat to the brilliant Trenton Moss from Team Sterka. We discuss the rollercoaster of agency ownership, what happens when inbound new business referrals dry up, the power of growing prospect communities and how to become a relationship master.

We are giving away a copy of Trenton's book: Human Powered. Simply listen in to find out how to win.

Take the quiz to find out your communication style here!

For details of Gunpowder's client development workshops, get in touch.

Whether your agency has a fast track growth plan or a more modest desire to maintain the status quo, there are innumerable challenges that can derail even the best laid plans. Client insecurity or overexposure, floundering new business pipelines or skills shortages not to mention the wider economic backdrop, can all create pinch-points for agency […]

Whether your agency has a fast track growth plan or a more modest desire to maintain the status quo, there are innumerable challenges that can derail even the best laid plans.

Client insecurity or overexposure, floundering new business pipelines or skills shortages not to mention the wider economic backdrop, can all create pinch-points for agency leaders. At each of these moments critical decisions must be made. Those agencies of real scale, with a sizeable exec board have some safety in discussion and consensus, but for the small to mid-size agency owner these can be lonely times. How do you find the right sounding board?

Many listeners of this show will know Daniel de la Cruz. Having experienced exactly these challenges running his own agency, and grown The Agency Collective alongside The Wow Company, Daniel has created Polymensa to provide the 'non-ego' board for independent agencies.

In this episode we get together to discuss the challenges of scaling, avoiding the echo chamber and why differing perspectives matter.

Daniel's recommended reads are: What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz and Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire, and How to Want What You Need by Luke Burgis. Also mentioned in this episode is The First Minute by Chris Fenning. We'll be giving away a copy of What You Do Is Who You Are, simply listen in to find out how to win.

Read Daniel's thoughts on the shortcomings of the traditional non-exec director.

Within the ecosystem of agency new business, marketing, client development and the wider sphere of agency growth, there are certain topics which we will undoubtedly revist again and again. So, not for the first time, and certainly not the last, I wanted to talk about agency positioning. And not for the first time, and I hope not the last, I wanted to talk to Roland Gurney.

Roland joined us on the podcast in January 2020 to help us unpick some agency messaging pitfalls. So many people loved that episode and got in touch with Treacle for help, that it seemed only fitting get together again and take stock of where we are now.

How has the landscape changed in the last two years? Should we be thinking differently about difference? Is niching still the answer?

Listen in as we discuss all this and more. Roland's recommended read is The Advertising Concept Book: Think Now, Design Later by Pete Barry.

Thought leadership – in its various forms, is a topic we have covered in a number of episodes over the years. Done well, it can be a game-changer for agency marketing, sparking and re-igniting meaningful prospect and client conversations. However, there are a number common hurdles I tend to encounter when speaking with agency founders […]

Thought leadership – in its various forms, is a topic we have covered in a number of episodes over the years. Done well, it can be a game-changer for agency marketing, sparking and re-igniting meaningful prospect and client conversations. However, there are a number common hurdles I tend to encounter when speaking with agency founders which means that great content either never gets made, or worse, is created but not optimised.

To really get to grips with how to master thought leadership I got together with Mark Wellings, co-founder and client services director at specialist thought leadership agency Grist. Mark and his team work with leading B2B brands like PwC, PA Consulting and DLA Piper delivering insight-led programmes designed to fuel sales pipelines.

In this episode, Mark shares his 6 Golden Rules of Thought Leadership – so grab a pen and paper, there are marginal gains a-plenty!

Mark's recommended read is the ever-popular Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns, listen in and find out how to win a copy.

As I know so many of you are keen cyclists, you may also be interested in Mark's own book RIDE! RIDE! RIDE! The Story of British Track Cycling.

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Leadership Book by Mark Anderson

You can read more of Grist's insights here.

I have a constant fascination with the power of agency marketing. I'm sure it's my age - having cut my new business teeth in a pre-digital era, but my enthusiasm for the growing array of channels available for anyone to share their message with an audience shows no sign of abating.

So forgive me for revisiting the subject of profile building once again. Last year I dedicated three episodes to content resourcing, personal branding and LinkedIn profile building and back in episode 25 I chatted to Brandhook's Pip Stocks who shared her story of successfully building out a thought leadership campaign.

For this episode, I wanted to showcase another small agency, but with a slightly different challenge - how do you balance the profile of the founder with the profile of the agency?

Dr Kat Arney is a multi award-winning science writer and broadcaster, and founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media. Having started the agency in 2018 after over a decade at Cancer Research UK, Kat continues to publish books, produce numerous podcasts and, given the opportunity, take to the stage to speak about science and society. Join us as we talk about the trials of the accidental agency owner, juggling personal profile projects with billable time and much more.

Kat's recommended read is Story Dash: Find, Develop, and Activate Your Most Valuable Business Stories . . . In Just a Few Hours - listen in to find out how to win a copy.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Rebel Cell - buy signed copies https://www.rebelcellbook.com/ or find it wherever books are sold

Genetics Unzipped podcast https://geneticsunzipped.com/

Ingenious https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h0fy/episodes/player