Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies

In today’s episode I discuss how agencies should handle multiple niches. This is a solo episode where I’m talking to myself! Actually, I’m talking to you, the listeners, and answering the questions that you are sending in to me.

Should you even have multiple niches?

How many niches you have depends on how many authority figures or experts you have for those niches. Pick as many niches as you want, but remember that just means more work. You need to make sure you’re equipped to handle all those niches.

A lot of agencies who are just starting out look at the big players and try to model after them. If you’re looking at bigger, more established agencies you will see that many of them do have a lot of niches. But don’t be fooled – they probably didn’t start out like that.

[ctt title=”Most successful agencies start out with a specialized niche.” tweet=”Most successful agencies start out with a specialized niche. http://ctt.ec/TDKh3+ via @jswenk #agencygrowth” coverup=”TDKh3″]

Take a look at Facebook, for example. When Facebook started out, they only went after Ivy League college kids. It was only after they dominated that market that they branched out to other colleges. Everyone has to start out somewhere.

Dominate your niche first, branch out second.

I market myself as working with agencies, but I actually work with all types of companies. But I only started branching out into multiple niches once I had dominated the one I was in, and when I could bring on experts/practice directors to run those niches. This way you can make sure you’re using your resources effectively.

Should you be separating your niches on your blog / website?

Take a look at how closely related your niches are. If there is a wide gap between your niches’ audiences, then you should have them separated. If they are somewhat closely related, keep them connected but separate by category on your site.

Have you ever thought of developing your own product – or have already developed one – but have found that the client work is distracting you from finishing?

In today’s episode I talk with Kyle Racki about how your agency can create a product without killing it before it even gets started.

 

Kyle is a designer, blogger, technologist, and entrepreneur from Canada who ran his own web design agency for five years. During that time, he had several failures. Four to be exact. He then sold the agency and is now CEO and co-founder of Proposify.

Let’s build a product!

Being a service agency is tough. You have to deal with cash flow, invoicing, revenue, etc. All these make building a product even more attractive. But don’t be fooled, Kyle warns, “building a product while servicing clients is hard.” Hard, but not impossible.

Ask before you build.

Don’t just start wire-framing the second you get an idea. Get out and start talking to people! You need to get product market validation and customer development before you start building. Start by talking to people you don’t know. Lots of people. Hundreds, if you can. You want to make sure you’re building a product that actually solves a problem and that people will actually pay for. Things to ask:

* What is your biggest challenge?

* What solutions have you found to the challenge?

* Are you willing to pay for a solution?

I promise, it’s way better to find out no one wants or needs your product before you start spending money and building it.

Dedicate people to work on the product.

If you can, resist the temptation to make building the product an add-on to someone’s job. Think about it: your developer just spent four days coding for client projects and now has to switch over to working on your product. You’re going to lose time on ramp up. Not to mention, paying clients will always come first. So without having a dedicated person to work on the product, you’ll find yourself putting it on the back burner. Take it from me, if I had the chance to do it over again at my agency, I absolutely would have hired a dedicated person.

The investor route.

Startups are expensive and not all agencies make enough profit on services to also fund building a new product. Kyle went with an investor to fund his product but there are lots of options, like incubators or crowdfunding. There are also VC’s, but Kyle cautions that venture capitalist funding may be hard to get if you haven’t made the full leap into being a product company. Some investors want to know you’re fully committed to the product and not just moonlighting.

Tinkering versus actually building.

Make sure you do your homework! The grass isn’t always greener on the product side, so learn the metrics of what you’re getting into. And there’s nothing wrong with tinkering. Use your service-based role to get to know your customers and to become really knowledgeable about your niche. Learn their pain points so you can make the kind of product that will actually make a difference.

Proposify offer for listeners!

Proposify is a cloud-based proposal management system and the product of Kyle “scratching his own itch.” Putting out proposals, responding to RFPs, and keeping track of all of them is daunting. Proposify helps agencies simplify the entire process so you don’t have to spend forever putting together proposals. Smart Agency Master Class listeners can sign up for the free 14-day trial of Proposify and get 3 months free with promo code “JASONSWENK”. Simply upgrade at the end of the 14-day trial.

Have you ever thought of developing your own product - or have already developed one - but have found that the client work is distracting you from finishing?

In today's episode, I talk with Kyle Racki about how your agency can create a product without killing it before it even gets started and how to upgrade any established product development processes.

Product Development for Your Agency

Kyle is a designer, blogger, technologist, and entrepreneur from Canada who ran his own web design agency for five years. During that time, he had several failures. Four to be exact. He then sold the agency and is now CEO and co-founder of Proposify.

Let's build a product!

Being a service agency is tough. You have to deal with cash flow, invoicing, revenue, etc. All these make building a product even more attractive. But don't be fooled, Kyle warns, "building a product while servicing clients is hard." Hard, but not impossible.

Ask before you build.

Don't just start wire-framing the second you get an idea. Get out and start talking to people! You need to get product market validation and customer development before you start building. Start by talking to people you don't know. Lots of people. Hundreds, if you can. You want to make sure you're building a product that actually solves a problem and that people will actually pay for. Things to ask:

• What is your biggest challenge?
• What solutions have you found to the challenge?
• Are you willing to pay for a solution?

I promise, it's way better to find out no one wants or needs your product before you start spending money and building it.

Dedicate people to work on the product.

If you can, resist the temptation to make building the product an add-on to someone's job. Think about it: your developer just spent four days coding for client projects and now has to switch over to working on your product. You're going to lose time on ramp up. Not to mention, paying clients will always come first. So without having a dedicated person to work on the product, you'll find yourself putting it on the back burner. Take it from me, if I had the chance to do it over again at my agency, I absolutely would have hired a dedicated person for product development.

The investor route.

Startups are expensive and not all agencies make enough profit on services to also fund building a new product. Kyle went with an investor to fund his product but there are lots of options, like incubators or crowdfunding. There are also VC's, but Kyle cautions that venture capitalist funding may be hard to get if you haven't made the full leap into being a product company. Some investors want to know you're fully committed to the product and not just moonlighting.

Tinkering versus actually building.

Make sure you do your homework! The grass isn't always greener on the product side, so learn the metrics of what you're getting into. And there's nothing wrong with tinkering. Use your service-based role to get to know your customers and to become really knowledgeable about your niche. Learn their pain points so you can make the kind of product that will actually make a difference.

Proposify offer for listeners!

Proposify is a cloud-based proposal management system and the product of Kyle "scratching his own itch." Putting out proposals, responding to RFPs, and keeping track of all of them is daunting. Proposify helps agencies simplify the entire process so you don't have to spend forever putting together proposals. Smart Agency Master Class listeners can sign up for the free 14-day trial of Proposify and get 3 months free with promo code "JASONSWENK". Simply upgrade at the end of the 14-day trial.

Growing Your Agency

Having the right product development processes established within your agency could be the helping hand you need in getting your product off the ground.

Now the next question is, what other challenges are you facing?

I have probably experienced all the different struggles for an agency owner through my own experience and I can help you from what I learned. From what to do with your sales processes, ways to increase your profit margins or how you can build authority for your agency.

I can tell you the best ways to stop losing money on projects, why performance based pricing can be the best pricing strategy for your agency as well as why including remote working or freelancers in your team can be beneficial in the long run.

You can learn more about my career and different experiences as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

Find more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I sit down with Joe Grano who is going to talk to us about who to hire, getting to that next level, and making the transition from a small, one person agency to bringing on full-time employees.

Joe is the president and founder of Next-Mark, a full-service marketing, communications, public relations, and business strategy solutions company based in Sarasota, FL.

When to hire full-time employees.

Joe once said to me, “I never want to hire employees.” He’s since changed his tune and now has several full-time employees on his team. In fact, he prefers them to contractors.

Here are the questions Joe considered when making the full-time leap:

* Can you really afford to do it? There’s a level of financial stability needed.

* Are you willing to give anything up to ensure your employees get paid? If you’re not, then you aren’t ready yet.

* Do you know how to hire? Bringing on just anyone can be a disaster.

Other considerations:

* You need to really think about how you want to grow your business because hiring full-time staff is a big mind shift.

* Understanding that contractors probably don’t have your business’s best interests in mind. Contractors just don’t have the same kind of loyalty as full-time employees.

* You can do so much more for people who are fully invested in the business, and vice versa.

* Have full-time staff and only bring on contractors whose core competencies are things that you couldn’t afford full-time.

Who is the right first hire?

Okay, you’re making the move to bringing on full-time staff but who is the first hire? Joe and I both brought on people who had been long-time contractors for our businesses. You already know their work style and they’re already familiar with your company.

Joe’s first hire was his Director of Communications; someone who had been with him for awhile as a contractor and who brought along a lot of agency experience. Mine was a designer, but I also definitely recommend hiring some kind of manager – office or project. You need someone to do the operational stuff while you’re out growing the business.

New employees are an investment.

Time is money, and it’s hard to commit to spending a lot of your time teaching a new employee. Joe’s advice for shortening the learning curve is to hire up. Bring in people with good experience and skill sets, so they can come in and start performing quickly.

But remember – like anything else just starting out, new employees need to be nurtured. It takes time to teach them and help them gain confidence in their competencies. Be patient because it will be worth it.

How to put together a great team?

[ctt title=”You may think you want to hire people whose working style is just like yours. You’re wrong. ” tweet=”You may think you want to hire people who working just like you. You’re wrong. http://ctt.ec/_tG2f+ via @jswenk #hiring” coverup=”_tG2f”] A team made up of a bunch of the same people won’t be productive. Look for people who:

* Work well in teams. Joe recommends check out this TED Talk about hiring introverts.

* Have working styles that would compliment yours. Use this helpful quiz.

Why are setting core values so important?

If you don’t have core values, you need to get some ASAP. If you have core values, you need to communicate them to your people ASAP. Make sure you are sharing them with your current and new employees, alike.

Bonus: Want more info on core values? Check out this

In today's episode, I discuss how agencies should handle multiple niches. This is a solo episode where I'm talking to myself! Actually, I'm talking to you, the listeners, and answering the questions that you are sending into me.

Should you even have multiple niches?

How many niches you have depends on how many authority figures or experts you have for those niches. Pick as many niches as you want, but remember that just means more work. You need to make sure you're equipped to handle all those niches.

A lot of agencies are just starting outlook at the big players and try to model after them. If you're looking at bigger, more established agencies you will see that many of them do have a lot of niches. But don't be fooled - they probably didn't start out like that.

Take a look at Facebook, for example. When Facebook started out, they only went after Ivy League college kids. It was only after they dominated that market that they branched out to other colleges. Everyone has to start out somewhere.

Dominate your niche first, branch out second.

I market myself as working with agencies, but I actually work with all types of companies. But I only started branching out into multiple niches once I had dominated the one I was in, and when I could bring on experts/practice directors to run those niches. This way you can make sure you're using your resources effectively.

Should you be separating your niches on your blog/website?

Take a look at how closely related your niches are. If there is a wide gap between your niches' audiences, then you should have them separated. If they are somewhat closely related, keep them connected but separate by category on your site.

What's Next For Your Agency?

Through my experience, I have advice on many topics from the struggles you may face with failing economies to how accepting a speaking opportunity can create business and the four phases of growth you may experience within your agency.

Learn more about me and my experience or all my tips, tricks and everything you need to know in my blogs. I have covered a wide variety of topics as well as answering your questions in more from my Ask Swenk series.

If videos are more your thing, don't worry, i've got you covered! Check out my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel for advice from myself and other agency experts.

In today’s session of The Smart Agency Master Class I chat directly with you. That’s right – no guest! I wanted to talk with you about putting together the right legal documents before you run into a problem.

I’ll admit, this is something I should have done much sooner in my own agency. After all, the time to prepare is before there’s an issue. So you’ll get to learn from my mistake and pick up some valuable resources.

Now, I am not a lawyer, so this isn’t legal advice. These are tips for finding the right kind of legal documents for your business.

Who should you have agreements with?

Hopefully you already have some agreements in place. If you don’t start thinking about all of the people you are doing work with and for – clients, partners, contractors, employees, etc.

For these relationships you should have nondisclosure agreements, contractor agreements, and employment agreements. Sure, everything may seem all peaches and unicorns in the beginning, but it isn’t guaranteed to stay that way.

Don’t be so caught up in trying to close the deal that you forget the agreement!

Prepare before the legal battle.

Before you get into some sort of legal situation, you need to get your ducks in a row. It wasn’t until after I had to deal with some legal battles that I began preparing myself. Save yourself the trouble and get your agreements together.

Go to my website, and download the proposal template. Included in the template is the agreement.

What needs to be in an agreement?

* A description of services you’ll provide and what you will be responsible for delivering.

* Pricing and payment. Be sure to also include what the client is responsible for with payment (check, credit card, mailing address, etc).

* A termination clause. If the client cancels early, is there a penalty? (There should be.)

* Disclaimers about how your software isn’t magic and that you both agree not to share each others’ stuff.

* Spell out ownership. The client owns any custom work that they’ve paid for and you own your tools (i.e. frameworks).

* Limitations of liability to clarify what you are not responsible for covering. For example, you shouldn’t be responsible for anything over the proposal amount. (i.e. $10k proposal = $10k cap in responsibility.)

* Governing law. What county and what state is the agreement bound? This is important to keep you from having to trek back and forth across the country every time you have to go to court.

Now I know this isn’t the sexiest of topics. It’s not going to win you more clients or grow your business, but it’s going to help protect you. You’ve worked hard to get to where you are, so don’t let unpreparedness cause you harm.

More agreement resources.

Check out LegalZoom for free and paid agreements. If you use a payroll company, you can also check with them about agreements they offer. A lot of them have good ones, especially for employment. Lastly,  get the proposal agreement that I used at my agency.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I sit down with Tim Paige who is going to talk with us about how to double website conversions and double your revenue. Tim is the Conversion Educator at LeadPages, where he has helped them grow their customer base to 16,000, and increase their list by another 10,000 leads.

Building your list is one of your most valuable assets.

For Tim and LeadPages, list building is what they’ve found to be the most valuable. Think of email addresses as a form of currency. People guard their email address like they guard their wallet. If someone is willing to give you their email address, that is a big deal.

But if it’s so valuable, why aren’t agencies building their lists on their website? According to Tim, it has a lot to do with the sheer volume of misguided information out there. Right now, there’s so much talk about social media that people are putting all of their focus there.

Seriously, folks – don’t make the same mistake I did. Start building your lists!

Don’t lose your website visitors at the thank you page.

A lot of us just use a generic thank you page sent out by an auto-responder. “Thank you for signing up with our company. Please check your email inbox.”

That’s such a dead end! Statistically, people are more likely to find a needle in a haystack than your website, so why are you sending them away from your page to check their email? People always check their email, but chances are they won’t come back to your site once they leave. Don’t miss this opportunity to keep the conversation going.

What you need to do on your thank you page to increase your conversions.

Try this on your thank you page:

* Thank them for signing up and offer them a chance to sign up for next week’s webinar

* Thank them for signing up and make them an offer to buy something like a site audit or discovery session.

Having an auto-responder helps build trust with your leads.

Tim suggests using your auto-responder to get more information. For example: someone downloads a tool from your landing page and is then directed to the thank you page (which now includes more helpful information). Then, every three days or so, the auto-responder sends an email with even more helpful information. Remember – you have to give something before asking for something. It’s all about building that relationship of trust.

3 Tips to increase your conversions right now.

These are Tim’s tips for increasing your conversions:

* Make sure you have a powerful lead magnet. You can have the best looking landing page with the most awesome opt-in form, but it doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t providing something of value.

* Create a list of the five tools to help your audience solve a problem they have. Keep it simple! Helpful, one-page tools convert well.

* Make sure if you’re using an image that it directs the eye toward the call to action. Use an arrow to point at the opt in box or have the person’s eyes looking in the direction of the button.

I also suggests checking out what LeadPages can do for you. They have a 30-day money back guarantee, so it’s worth a look. It has increased my site conversions from 15% to over 40%.

 

Are you going wrong when it comes to creating proposals and the proposal percentage you give your clients? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Ruben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch, about what agencies are doing wrong on their proposals and you can do to win new business. Bidsketch is a web application that helps create professional looking client proposals in minutes.

Common Proposal Mistakes Most Agencies Make

The #1 mistake is talking about yourself in the proposal.

If you're not talking about the client, the client's problems, and solutions you can offer, then you're proposal isn't doing you any favors. Clients want to know that you understand their problems and that you have actual solutions for them. Those are the kinds of proposals that have the most appeal.

You also need to take the time to understand the buying process from the other side. Most companies go out and get a lot of proposals, meaning they talk to several agencies at the same time. It's not the ideal place for you to be but it's pretty easy to change that conversation.

Tell the client that, in order to help them, you need to talk about their problems and get as much information as possible. This will help you better determine if this is the right kind of client for you, as well as what solutions you can offer.

How to Increase Your Proposal Percentage in Closing

Ruben puts the average closing proposal percentage somewhere between 30-40%. If you fall into this range (or below), here's a tip from Ruben for increasing your closings:

Give pricing options. Don't just have one set price in your proposal. The only answer to one price is a yes or a no. By offering pricing options, you may be able to avoid getting a hard no.

Plus, your conversion rate will go up if you have multiple options. However, steer clear of having too many options; Ruben advises somewhere between 2 and 4.

My feeling on pricing options is different. If you're asking the right questions and communicating with the client throughout the process, you'll have already agreed on a price along the way. For me, you should pretty much have a "yes" by the time you get to submitting the proposal.

My advice is to use B-A-N-T:

• Budget
• Authority
• Need
• Timing

Using B-A-N-T to prequalify clients will save you so much time.

Do you want the EXACT PROPOSAL TEMPLATE that won clients like AT&T, Legal Zoom and Hitachi?

Writing a winning marketing proposal is key to winning new business. Over the past 12 years, I have created the ultimate web and marketing proposal template. This proposal is unlike other people's proposal templates for sale because this is the actual template that won big name clients for our web, technology and marketing engagements. If you want to be able to use a proven template for getting bigger projects, that are well over $10,000, check out this proposal. This proposal template will give you insights to winning even more proposals. Check out the Marketing Proposal Template now!

Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster.

Creating the Best Agency

Creating a strong client proposal with the best proposal percentage for your agency is a step forward in creating the best best agency.

Through my own career and professional life, I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you with what I have learned. From bad agency clients, developing agency products as well as how you can build authority for your agency.

If you want to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run.

As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class I talk with Ahava Leibtag, and she is going to explain the six steps for creating valuable content to help you reach your target audience and increase your impact. Ahava is the president and owner of Aha Media Group, a content strategy and content consultancy in Washington, D.C.

How can you generate leads for your agency?

If you ask Ahava how to create great content, she will tell you step one is understanding your target audience. You need to know their business, understand their pain points, and know what solutions they are seeking. Know this before anything else because you can’t start talking to people without knowing what they want to hear.

You also need to spend time where your target audience is spending time. Don’t feel like you need to be on all the social channels. If your target audience isn’t on Twitter, why are you wasting your time and energy on Twitter?

[ctt title=”You need to go where your target audience is most likely to find your content.” tweet=”You need to go where your target audience is most likely to find your content. http://ctt.ec/8K3v7+ via @jswenk #agencygrowth” coverup=”8K3v7″]

Once you’ve located your target audience make sure you master that technology. “Content and social marketing isn’t all that simple,” Ahava says, “it’s a lot of stuff to balance, so make sure you know how to use the technology.”

Checklists are imperative in order to create valuable content that can generate new business for your agency.

#1 – Findable. Make sure that you are utilizing appropriate keywords so your target audience finds you. Also think about how your content relates to other content. If someone is looking for a dresser, they may also be looking for a headboard.

#2 – Readable. We’ve all seen it – bad web writing. Keep your content short and with the most important points at the top. People just don’t read long-form content anymore, so don’t have giant chunks of text.

#3 – Understandable. It seems like a no-brainer, but you need to have your content easy to read, and not all about yourself. Make sure it is relevant to your audience. Show them that you understand their pain points.

#4 – Actionable. Include clear calls to action in your content so the reader knows what to do next. Content exists for two reasons: because it supports business objectives and because it helps users accomplish their tasks. You want the person consuming your content to feel comfortable performing the action your requesting.

#5 – Shareable. This does not mean going viral. Shareable content fills a need, is well executed, and simple to understand. It’s the kind of content that can jump from the hands of the person that has it, right into the hands of the person who needs it.

#6 – Mobile. It’s clear mobile is huge in content and social marketing, but Ahava hasn’t quite finalized its place. Since mobile can be standalone and fit within each of the other checklist items look for more to come in the future.

Winning at content on the web.

Be sure to pick up a copy of Ahava’s book, The Digital Crown: Winning at Content on the Web. It’s full of tips to simplify and refine your processes so you’re putting out the best messaging possible.

Bonus: go to Aha Media Group’s website and download the first chapter for free!

 

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I sit down with Tim Paige who is going to talk with us about how to increase website conversions and double your revenue. Tim is the Conversion Educator at LeadPages, where he has helped them grow their customer base to 16,000, and increase their list by another 10,000 leads.

Building your list is one of your most valuable assets.

For Tim and LeadPages, list building is what they've found to be the most valuable. Think of email addresses as a form of currency. People guard their email address like they guard their wallet. If someone is willing to give you their email address, that is a big deal.

But if it's so valuable, why aren't agencies building their lists on their website? According to Tim, it has a lot to do with the sheer volume of misguided information out there. Right now, there's so much talk about social media that people are putting all of their focus there.

Seriously, folks - don't make the same mistake I did. Start building your lists!

Don't lose your website visitors at the thank you page.

A lot of us just use a generic thank you page sent out by an auto-responder. "Thank you for signing up with our company. Please check your email inbox."

That's such a dead end! Statistically, people are more likely to find a needle in a haystack than your website, so why are you sending them away from your page to check their email? People always check their email, but chances are they won't come back to your site once they leave. Don't miss this opportunity to keep the conversation going.

What you need to do on your thank you page to increase your conversions.

Try this on your thank you page:

• Thank them for signing up and offer them a chance to sign up for next week's webinar
• Thank them for signing up and make them an offer to buy something like a site audit or discovery session.

Having an auto-responder helps build trust with your leads.

Tim suggests using your auto-responder to get more information. For example: someone downloads a tool from your landing page and is then directed to the thank you page (which now includes more helpful information). Then, every three days or so, the auto-responder sends an email with even more helpful information. Remember - you have to give something before asking for something. It's all about building that relationship of trust.

3 Tips to increase website conversions right now.

These are Tim's tips on how to increase website conversions:

1. Make sure you have a powerful lead magnet. You can have the best looking landing page with the most awesome opt-in form, but it doesn't mean anything if you aren't providing something of value.
2. Create a list of the five tools to help your audience solve a problem they have. Keep it simple! Helpful, one-page tools convert well.
3. Make sure if you're using an image that it directs the eye toward the call to action. Use an arrow to point at the opt in box or have the person's eyes looking in the direction of the button.

I also suggests checking out what LeadPages can do for you. They have a 30-day money back guarantee, so it's worth a look. It has increased my site conversions from 15% to over 40%.

Become a Better Owner

When you know how to increase website conversions, this opens your agency to more potential client opportunities. However, without laying the ground work this could cause more issues than benefits. Through making a point to focus on areas you haven't explored yet as well as struggles you need to focus on will help to improve your business. Check out how I have all you need to get through these obstacles.

I can give you advice on how to increase conversions on your website, implementing Facebook marketing as well as ways to build authority to improve your agency.

If growth is your focus, I've the different phases of growth within your agency and the three questions you need to ask yourself to sell more of your digital agency services.

Learn more about my career and experiences as well as lots of tips, tricks and insights by reading my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics.

Check out more from my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel. There you will find advice from myself and other agency experts.