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

Worried your agency will collapse if you're not constantly working? Wish you could lead your agency without working 24/7? Feel like you sacrifice too much of your family and free time for your agency? Stop being a prisoner to your agency! This pace isn't the best way to run your agency. And maybe your agency doesn't actually need you as much as you think it does.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• Why you need to get uncomfortable in order to grow.
• 2 ways to drop the hustle and grind.
• #1 most important delegation tip!

Today, I talked to Mike Michalowicz author of six business growth books, including Profit First Book and his latest, titled Clockwork. In this new book, Mike attempts to disrupt the hustle and grind mentality that has taken over modern small businesses, especially marketing agencies. Instead of working 24/7, Mike wants you to work less, get more done, and change your entire work mentality.

Why You Need to Get Uncomfortable

Hustling for the sake of hustle is not the way grow your business. If you've been hustling non-stop for several years and you haven't gotten anywhere, it's time to change your strategy. You've slumped. Too often, agency owners think if they just work hard enough it'll pay off. But this hustle hard mentality isn't going to cause burnout and a sense of defeat.

Mike says you have to get uncomfortable. Put yourself out there and make a change. Hire new employees, delegate more of your responsibilities onto others, try to position employees in ways that disrupt your day-to-day. Even something as simple as trying a new software may be the kick-in-the-butt you need to get out of that constant grind.

There are 5 roles of an agency owner. If you're doing anything outside of them, consider ways you can delegate, automate or eliminate it. Stop doing things you suck at or don't enjoy!

2 Ways to Drop the Hustle and Grind 1. Hire owners.

If you're having trouble getting your agency employees to act like owners and take on the responsibility necessary to help you run your agency, hire people who will. Mike suggested hiring people who had the ambitions of owning an agency one day. Even if it's just a side gig, having people who understand the mentality it takes to run an agency is critical.

2. You do you.

Stop reading those "10 Lifestyle Habits of Highly Successful People" articles and get in touch with who you are. Agency strategies (and especially lifestyle strategies) aren't just one size fits all. They have to meld with you and who you are. If you're not authentic, your agency is going to suffer. So when you hear Gary Vee tell you it's all about the hustle -- maybe it is, but maybe it is. You do you.

Don't lose yourself in your agency. Don't be a prisoner to it. Remember, you started the agency to support your life. Not the other way around.

#1 Most Important Delegation Tip

When it comes to delegating employees, Mike has a critical tip. You want to assign the outcome.

[clickToTweet tweet="Delegate the outcome rather than the specific task. You'll be amazed at how your team responds to this method, and how much freer you feel, too. " quote="Delegate the outcome rather than the specific task. You'll be amazed at how your team responds to this method, and how much freer you feel, too."]

Standard "delegation" usually works like this:

"Jamie, can you go and work on that proposal for me?" This style of delegation, or assigning specific tasks to each employee is worn-out and results in you being stuck answering tons of questions. You end feeling like it's just easier to do it yourself rather than entertain so many interruptions.

Instead, Mike recommends assigning an outcome instead of delegating a task.

So, instead of saying: "Jamie go work on that stack of proposals." You should say: "Jamie, can you make sure that those proposals really reflect the value we bring to our clients? You got this!"

You want to turn your employees into decision makers. Give them permission to do their best job and make decisions that benefit the agency. So, if Jamie has another question, tell her to go with her gut and choose the option that best reflects the vision and goals of the agency.

Delegate by the outcome rather than the specific task. You'll be amazed at how your team responds to this method, and how much freer you feel, too!

Cashflow or Bookkeeping Issues?

FreshBooks is the solution with their ridiculously easy­-to-­use cloud accounting software for agencies.

Freshbooks helps you work smarter and become more organized. Most importantly, it gets you paid quicker. Check out FreshBooks.com/SmartAgency and enter SMARTAGENCY in the "How Did You Hear About Us?" section for a FREE 30-day, unrestricted trial.

Is your agency having difficulty standing out? Want to get attention from strategic accounts or high profile clients? Looking for better ways to improve client retention? Getting prospects' trust, recognition, and loyalty doesn't have to be complicated. Giving the right gift to the right person at the right time is a gesture that goes noticed and rewarded.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• How to send gifts your clients want to receive.
• 4 things you should never gift.
• #1 group of people to give to (hint: it's not the prospect).
• Bonus: When not to send gifts.

Today, I talked to John Ruhlin, founder of RuhlinGroup, an expert gift-giving agency. He also, quite literally, wrote the book on giving gifts. This is my favorite books of all time (which is really saying a lot since I rarely read!) Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention is John's book, and he's on the show to share strategies in order to score big clients, build business, and gain trust with clients.

How to Send Gifts That Your Clients Want to Receive

What gift does that CEO of the company that your agency has been chasing really want? Great question! You should go figure that out.

John talked about the time he wanted to connect with Cameron Herold (yes, that Cameron Herold,) so John called Cameron's assistant and asked for his shirt size. What did he do next?

He went to Cameron's favorite store — Brooks Brothers — and purchased shirts, jackets, pants, and all kinds of Brook's Brothers swag.

Then, he literally outfitted Cameron's entire hotel room in Brook's Brothers stuff and made it look like a showroom. Cameron was so impressed at the thought and consideration behind the gift that he agreed to a meeting with John. It's not about the gift itself, but rather the meaningful gesture.

So, next time you're looking to impress a client with a gift, don't just purchase something expensive for them — purchase something that they love and add an element of surprise.

4 Things You Should Never Send to Clients

Sending gifts is a great way to win over clients, increase referrals, and build critical relationships, but some gifts may be doing more harm than good.

John talked about 4 things that you should never send to clients.

1. Branded Swag: Sending clients that cool branded gear you have is doing way more harm than it is good. Sure, every marketing book ever tells you that you literally need to brand everything, but gifts are supposed to be about the recipient, not you.
2. Apple Products: Do you want to send that prospect an iPad? John wants you to know something before you do — everyone has an iPad! Don't send clients swag that they're just going to end up regifting.
3. Food: John has two reasons that you shouldn't give clients food:
   • (You only get one impression. If you send clients something like a paring knife, they're going to use it a bunch of time throughout their life. Each time they use it, they're going to think about you. Once they eat that food, you're irrelevant.
   • There are too many diets! Is your client Paleo? Gluten-free? Jewish? There are too many diets, allergies, and restrictions. Giving food as a gift is risky.
4. Gift Cards: Do you know what gift cards say? I'm too lazy to get to know you!

John teased that he actually had 10 gifts that he thinks are bad gift ideas. Get them all here.

#1 Group of People To Gift To

Let's say you want to nurture a relationship with a CEO with gifting. Should you send your gift to him? Not according to John. You should send a gift to his wife, kid(s), pet(s), or assistant(s) instead. You want to make everyone around him a sales advocate.

Think about it. That CEO gets tons of gifts all the time, but his wife or his assistant doesn't reap the same benefits. A $1 investment in his wife is like $200 investment in him.

Bonus: When Not to Send Gifts!

Don't let your gift sit next to 500 other gifts. There's a reason John never sends gifts on Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries. No matter how great your gift is, you don't want to be competing with 50 other people. Suddenly the gift you poured your heart into is now lame.

Also, don't send someone a gift after a referral. You just boiled your entire relationship down to a monetary value. Send them gifts when they aren't expecting them — not when they are - and add an element of surprise. Remember the scene in Christmas Vacation where Clark bring his boss a gift? Unimpressed and ungrateful, his boss tells him to add it to the stack with all the others.

Ask yourself what gift would provide unexpected thought and creativity... then execute. Don't be a Clark!

Movie image courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Related: How to Retain More Agency Clients & Increase Recurring Revenue

Looking for ways to improve your agency's long-term growth? Ever felt like throwing in the towel because the agency grind was just too much? It might be time for a gut check on whether you need to hustle harder or move on. So, check out these insights and actionable strategies from an agency owner that up-and-quit his $1 million agency with over 50% net profits, so he could chase a different dream.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• Should you quit or hustle harder?
• #1 most important long-term agency growth tool.
• 3 reasons why scaling isn't always a good idea.
• 4 benefits of podcasting to grow your agency.

Today I talked to Mark Asquith who is a founder over at PodcastWebsites.com. Mark moved onto podcasting from his agency that he dissolved (without selling) that was operating at over 50% net profit! Mark left the agency he created to start chasing his dreams creating SaaS for podcasts. We talk about why he left, how anyone could possibly leave such a successful agency, and why agency owners need to be podcasting.

Let's dive right in!

Should You Call it Quits or Hustle Harder?

Mark's former agency was operating at almost 60% net profit and filled with high ticket clients. How in the world can anyone leave that behind without selling it?

Mark left because, well, he got bored.

We all get bored at certain points with our agencies. Whether it's because the market is in a strange space that we're unfamiliar with, or it's because we have to deal with another sales pitch, running an agency has its ups and downs.

So, if you're tired of the grind, how do you know it's quitting time? When should you stop and when should you shift your position?

For Mark — who wanted to do SaaS for podcasts — what he wanted to do wasn't something that he could position his agency to do without disrupting its standard practice. He was tired of the sales pitch (who isn't?) so, instead of hiring a sales manager and delaying the inevitable, Mark decided to just jump ship and do what he was really passionate about, which didn't include running an agency

By not selling his agency, he got to keep all of those client relationships he had developed, and use them to consult on the side.

Did he make the right decision? Mark made the right decision for Mark! Only you can really know if quitting is the right thing to do. If you want to leave because your heart really isn't in it, you should consider it. However, if you know that you should be running an agency in your heart and you just aren't doing well at the moment, get scrappy and resourceful, and hustle harder!

#1 Most Important Long-Term Agency Growth Tool

What's more important your brand or your offer? Your offer may get you a quick sale, but your brand is the backbone of your entire agency.

Mark and I talked about ways to fight back against the commoditization of agencies in today's business world. I see lots of agencies just sticking the pedal-to-the-metal and trying to Walmart their way out (grab lots of clients to justify the low margins.)

But, let me ask you this. Why do most of us own Mac computers? I know, the Apple analogy has been done to death, but seriously, think about it. They are 3x more expensive, yet almost all agency owners and creatives have one. That's because Apple branded themselves so well that they made their product associated with creatives.

Trying to scale too fast to compensate for low margins will end up making you work 10x harder and possibly sink your whole agency. Branding, on the other hand, creates long-term success and shields you against market fluctuations.

Branding is the only way to set your agency up for long-term success. Successful branding will help you leverage yourself as more than a commodity. You want the price to be incidental.

As the old saying goes. Sell a good night's sleep — not the mattress.

3 Reasons Why Scaling isn't Always a Good Idea

To scale or not to scale, that is the question.

Mark's agency made the conscious choice not to scale. In fact, he did the opposite! He purposefully trimmed down his clients to the top 20%. This way, he got to work with high margin clients and develop deep meaningful relationships.

Here's why your agency may want to follow Mark's example and not scale.

1. It gives you time to market yourself. If you aren't busy 24/7 working with clients, you have a chance to content market yourself. You can start a podcast, write some articles on Medium, or make that blog you keep putting off.
2. You get better margins. If you focus on taking only the clients with the best margins, you set a precedent for future clients. You're an agency that's focused on delivering rich content, not being the cheapest.
3. You don't get burnt out! Getting burnt out can seriously impact your business. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

Mark took on a few quality clients, built a photography studio downstairs, did speeches around the world, and found time to run a successful podcasting company on the side. He wouldn't have been able to do any of that if he was focused on scaling non-stop.

4 Benefits of Podcasting to Grow Your Agency

It's very simple. If you want to grow your agency and provide value, you should have a podcast. Here's why.

1. You can position yourself as an expert. You're the head honcho of your podcast so you can position content however you want. People are listening to you, so you're already set up to be an expert — all you have to do is follow that up with decent content.
2. You can get hyperlocal. Forget the "geotargeted hyperlocal social media-driven ads" for a moment. With podcasts, you can get local and locally relevant. Do you run a digital agency in St. Louis that specializes in landscaping companies? Sweet! Start a podcast that talks about the current landscaping ongoings in St. Louis or how St. Louis landscapers can market themselves better. You can't get much more local than that.
3. It lets you market yourself as an agency owner. Mark talked a bit about this on our podcast. The #1 tip he has for agency owners is to market themselves. You want to be putting out content that ads value to your customers. It will build you and your agency.
4. You can target your ideal customer. Your podcast can target the exact audience you want. For example, who's my ideal client? Agency owners. What is my podcast about? Growing your agency.

If you haven't started a podcast yet, start one. It's so much easier than you think, and it's the perfect resource for building up an audience of quality leads while also bolstering yourself and your brand!

Cashflow or Bookkeeping Issues?

FreshBooks is the solution with their ridiculously easy­-to-­use cloud accounting software for agencies.

Freshbooks helps you work smarter and become more organized. Most importantly, it gets you paid quicker. Check out FreshBooks.com/SmartAgency and enter SMARTAGENCY in the "How Did You Hear About Us?" section for a FREE 30-day, unrestricted trial.

Is billing a headache for your marketing agency? Do you wish you could quit hour-based pricing and actually get paid what you're worth? Good news! You can. By removing the time barrier, you will see increased profitability and improve client relationships for your agency.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• 3 reasons to bill by value instead of time.
• What does it mean to break the time barrier?

Today, I talked with Mike McDerment, co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks — invoicing and accounting software with over 24 million users. Mike talked about his recent free eBook called Breaking the Time Barrier and why agencies need to drop time-based billing and start to use a more value-centric model.

3 Reasons To Bill by Value Instead of Time

Most agencies bill by-the-hour or by-the-project, but, time-based pricing may be doing your agency more harm than good. Mike explains 3 reasons value-based pricing is a better approach.

1. It removes incentive-based agency-client friction. You're incentivized to take longer on a project, while your client is focused on getting it done as fast as possible. This difference of incentives can lead to some friction between you and your clients that can ultimately fracture your relationship with them.
2. Value is a better creative metric. Mike brings up a great point here. When you do creative work, every hour isn't the same. Sometimes we have a 20-hour burst of activity where our brain is firing all the right signals and we produce some insanely good content. But, sometimes we also work for 3 straight hours, and nothing seems to be moving forward. Do you get the same quality of work done every single hour? Of course not.
3. You understand your client's goals better. If you bill by value, you have to really understand what value you're bringing to your clients. This means that you will have to fully understand why they want that new website. Are they trying to increase conversions? Are they looking to take advantage of a newer and faster CMS? Why do they want what they want? Understanding why a client wants something lets you nurture a more fulfilling goal-based relationship.

Value-based billing allows you to develop deeper relationships with your clients. Not only that, it gives you the ability to bill clients based on your deliverables, which benefits your agency since productivity isn't always consistent. And actually, with hour-based pricing, the smarter you get the more profit you lose.

What Does it Mean to Remove the Time Barrier?

Let me ask you a question. If you charge based on hours, are you selling a service with value or are you just selling hours?

For example, if your agency designs websites, what are you really doing? It depends on the client. Some clients want a new site so they can increase their conversions, right? Wouldn't it make more sense to sell them a website that increases conversions? The difference between billing by the hour and billing by the value of your service can seem like they're the same thing - but they are not!

Let's say it takes you 5 hours to design that website and it starts increasing the client's conversions immediately. Great! But, if you billed them at $60 an hour, you've only made $300. Is that really enough for improving a clients conversion rate by 4%? At the same time, if it took you 300 hours, your price may seem too high for the client.

Instead, sit the client down and figure out what they need. Once you understand their needs, you can bill them based on what you are delivering, not how many hours you worked.

There's no confusion at the end of the project, no combatting over hours, and you and the client will feel better about the end product. No one feels like they got the better of the other party. That's what removing the time barrier is all about.

Related: Increasing Agency Profit with Value-Based Pricing

How can your agency create compelling YouTube ads? How can you get the most ROI from YouTube ads? YouTube ads are a strange beast, and the creative landscape of YouTube is continually shifting. But, if you stick to your buyer's persona and chase your ideal customer, YouTube ads can help grow your agency fast.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• Why you may need 2 YouTube channels.
• The difference between YouTube and Facebook ads.
• 3 steps for making better YouTube ads.
• Why 5 seconds could make-or-break your ad.
• #1 most important tip for the future of YouTube ads.

Today, I talked with Tom Breeze (A.K.A the king of YouTube ads) who runs Viewability — the highest spending performance campaign agency on YouTube! Tom has been on the podcast before, and he dropped some great insight into performance-based models. I urge you to check out that episode if you haven't already; it's one of my favorites.

Tom went over some of the most critical YouTube ad strategies, and how he and his agency position YouTube ads that engage and convert.

Let's dive right in!

Why You May Need 2 YouTube Channels

Tom talked about splitting your organic YouTube channel and your Ad-based YouTube channel. That may seem strange at first, but, since both require different things for success, splitting them up actually makes a bunch of sense.

When you're releasing videos on your organic channel, you want to have a ton of views and engagement (subscribers, comments, shares, etc.) to help boost your channels ranking on the YouTube algorithm.

When you're running ads, you want views, but you aren't going to have a lot of engagement (and you probably don't want a lot of engagement.) That's where a second channel comes in useful.

Splitting them up gives you the freedom to chase different metrics on each account without risking tanking your YouTube rankings on either of them.

The Difference Between YouTube and Facebook Ads

Tom laid out the main difference between YouTube and other ad types. On YouTube, you already have your viewers attention. They're already there to view and buy. Facebook, TV, Instagram, and other creative outlets all require you to be entertaining and engaging enough to grab the viewers attention.

On YouTube, you don't want ads that are too entertaining. When you do pre-roll ads (those ads that you can skip after watching 5 seconds before the video you actually wanted to watch), you only pay if the viewer watches 30 seconds of the ad. You don't want anyone except potential buyers to watch the entire ad because you'll waste ad spend.

You'll end up paying for people who aren't your ideal clients and don't fit into your buyer's persona.

3 Steps for Making Better YouTube Ads

YouTube ads can be annoying. There, I said it. So, when it comes to creating ads that are going to nurture customers down your funnel, you have to use a little finesse. Tom shared some of his agency's biggest tips on how to chase those critical customers without wasting money and people's time.

1. You want to disqualify people in the first 30 seconds of your ad. You have to pay for pre-roll ads once it hits the 30-second mark. Make sure only your ideal customers get to that point in the ad.
2. Create different ads for each pain point your audience experiences. For example, let's say you run a social media marketing company. You will want to create an ad that targets companies looking for help running their Instagram accounts. At the same time, you'll want to run ads targeting companies looking for help with social media metrics on Facebook. If you create ads for each service, you'll be hyper-targeting people who need your service, so you'll only be paying for prime leads.
3. Don't be too engaging! I know, everyone ever has told you that all your ads need to be engaging all-of-the-time, but, when it comes to YouTube, engaging ads are going to waste your money and people's time. Don't let people get all the way through the ad because you blew your budget to make a hilarious creative. Be engaging in a way that appeals to your ideal customer, not to everyone. Remember, you already have their attention — you don't need to fight for it.

Why 5 Seconds Could Make-or-Break Your Ad

Here's a prime tip for all of you. Adding an extra 5 seconds to the end of your ad can make-or-break your CTA. Tom recalls watching a Monday.com ad on YouTube that was engaging and appealed to him, but the ad ended before he could click the CTA.

Tom's company has been having major success testing a countdown timer at the end of the ad. This way, customers have time to click that CTA and it adds a sense of urgency. You have to remember that video ads aren't like landing pages. People only have a certain amount of time to click the CTA — give them an adequate amount of time to click it.

#1 Most Important Tip for the Future of YouTube Ads

The future of YouTube ads lies in AI metrics. You want to keep an eye on your conversion pixel. Gather as much information as possible on each ad you're running. You want to give the Google AI monster as much food as possible.

The more Google knows about your ad and the people consuming it, the better it's going to get at targeting your ad to the right customers. Data has become the king of marketing — we all know that.

The future of YouTube ad targeting (and ad targeting in general) is going to be reliant on AIs consuming as much data as possible.

For those of you that want to get ahold of some more great YouTube insights from Tom, he's written a book called Viewability where he breaks down some of his agencies time-tested strategies and tips — like how to find selling moments and capitalize on different customer types.

Ready to Grow Your Agency, but Not Ready to Hire?

Hiring freelancers can be frustrating. You post your job, wade through hundreds of proposals, and hire a few before you find the right fit. You want to scale your agency by outsourcing, but wonder if this dreadful process is worth it. That's where Freeeup is different. Instead of wading through freelancers yourself, FreeeUp does all that for you.

They have a network of the top 1% of freelancers, so everyone you hire is top notch. Depending on what you need, FreeeUp connects you with a freelancer who can make it happen. And just for Smart Agency Master Class listeners, create a Freeeup account and enter code "JSwenk50" for $50 off.

Is your marketing agency taking advantage of every possible tax break? Did you know you could get up to $250K in tax credits? A lot of agencies are actually leaving money on the table in the form of an R&D tax credit. So, let's dive in, and break down some actionable steps that any agency can take to cash in.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• Tax credits vs. tax write-offs.
• #1 tax credit agencies can take advantage of.
• 4 steps to claim the R&D tax credit.
• When to claim the credit and when not to.

Today, I talked with Jim Morrow from AATDM where he does tax consulting and CFO reporting for digital media companies. I actually met Jim after a conference; he gave me a ride to the airport. After figuring out he was an accountant, we talked shop for the entire trip and I just knew I had to get him on the podcast. Tax credits are one of those things that too many agencies just aren't taking advantage of, which is just like throwing money away. Jim is here to tell us how you can take full advantage of tax credits that you're due.

Today, we're going to get hyper-actionable, and show you how you can save your agency some money!

Tax Credits vs. Tax Write-Offs

Agencies need to be paying more attention to available credits. Credits have some significant benefits over write-offs. Here's the difference.

Tax credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions off your tax. Which means credits are basically free cash! If you have a $10k credit, you get $10k off of your paid taxes.

Write-offs — or deductions — lower your taxable income. So, let's say you made $150K, but you had a $50K expense. That $50K will lower your taxable income, but not lower your actual taxes.

Make sure that you look for those tax credits!

#1 Tax Credit Agencies Can Take Advantage Of

Jim talked about a tax credit nearly every marketing agency can take advantage of — the R&D tax credit. The R&D tax credit — officially known as the Credit for Increasing Research Activities — can refund your agency as much as $250,000 a year! That's money-in-the-bank!

The R&D tax credit is federal (though some states let you "double dip") so it's folded into your federal tax return.

To qualify for the R&D credit, your agency has to be "experimenting" with technology with a qualified purpose. Basically, anytime your agency is devoting man hours to either:

1. Building your own technologies (CRM, databases, marketing automation, etc.)
2. Customizing out-of-the-box technologies to capture unique analytics.

So, all of that hard work your agency has put into customizing your Infusionsoft or HubSpot software would count towards the credit.

The credit is also great for those of you in tech-heavy niches — like VR or AI. But, let's be honest. Almost every agency is going to devote some man hours to, at the very least, customizing out-of-the-box software.

Here's how it works.

Let's say you spent 7,500 combined manhours customizing your CRM (not unheard of,) you would get 10% of that 7,500 hours back as a credit. So, if your employees get paid $35/hr, you would be looking at around $262,000 total. That means your credit would be $26,200. Not bad! That's a pretty significant tax credit which you could be missing out on.

4 Steps to Claim This Tax Credit

Since the R&D tax credit will reimburse you 10% of your R&D cost, and the majority (if not all) of those costs are going to be attributable to manpower, the main two documentations that you need will be timesheets and payroll.

Here are some steps Jim provided which will help you take advantage of the R&D credit.

1. Find an accountant who understands R&D tax credits. Sure, you could use your regular CPA, but why wouldn't you want someone that specializes in tax credits to handle it for you? Same reason niches work in marketing — if someone specializes in a few things, you know they do those few things well.
2. Figure out your associated costs. Your accountant will probably do this for you. Most of the time, these costs are going to be manpower-related.
3. Have your tax specialist fill out Form 6765.
4. Claim previous years. This tax is retroactive so you can claim the last 3 years at the same time if you haven't done it before.

Most of the steps will be handled by your tax specialist (if you hire one) so you shouldn't have to put much legwork in. The only problem you could run into is payroll and timesheet related. If you don't keep timesheets or super-accurate payrolls, it may not be worth it to apply for this tax credit.

It's a large tax credit, so the IRS will probably be looking into it. If there isn't something concrete to back up your claim, you'll probably get denied and throw up a red flag. (Here's more on how to avoid an audit!)

When to Claim the Credit and When Not To

Let's go over the caveats. When should you try to claim the R&D tax credit and when should you not? Jim went over some of the "magic" numbers with us.

You should try to claim the tax credit if all of the following are true.

1. You have around $200,000 in R&D related expenses, or you spend money on R&D every year.
2. You have timesheets or expense reports that show definitive spending.

You probably shouldn't try to claim the tax credit if any of the following are true.

• Your total R&D expenses are under $100,000 (unless you have 2 or 3 years to proactively claim).
• You don't have hyper-accurate timesheets or payroll.

Since you're going to have to pay your accountant, gather some timesheets, and spend a little time on the credit, you'll probably just break even if you're trying to go after anything under $15k. That is, of course, unless you're proactively claiming it for a few years or you are planning on having R&D expenses each year.

Related: What is a Healthy Profit Margin for a Digital Agency?

Ready to Grow Your Agency, but Not Ready to Hire?

Hiring freelancers can be frustrating. You post your job, wade through hundreds of proposals, and hire a few before you find the right fit. You want to scale your agency by outsourcing, but wonder if this dreadful process is worth it. That's where Freeeup is different. Instead of wading through freelancers yourself, FreeeUp does all that for you.

They have a network of the top 1% of freelancers, so everyone you hire is top notch. Depending on what you need, FreeeUp connects you with a freelancer who can make it happen. And just for Smart Agency Master Class listeners, create a Freeeup account and enter code "JSwenk50" for $50 off.

Does your agency struggle with an outbound sales strategy? Do you even have an outbound strategy? You can build a scalable outbound strategy using LinkedIn by making connections and delivering those prospects critical content. If your LinkedIn profile isn't getting you the results that you need, or if you're looking for a way to boost your sales, check this out. You don't need a big budget to grow your agency using outbound marketing. With a solid plan, an ideal client in mind, and a little finesse, you can use LinkedIn to dominate outbound!

In today's episode, we'll cover:

• Does your agency really need a LinkedIn outbound strategy?
• #1 biggest mistake you're making on LinkedIn.
• How to create a LinkedIn job story.
• Why getting rid of connections will land more new business.
• Bonus: Joey's super-secret growth hack!

Today I chatted with Joey Gilkey founder of Tribe Prospecting; his agency which provides done-for-you prospecting and marketing solutions. Joey comes with a solid sales background that eventually turned into a love for marketing. He leveraged that into a position as a growth hacker and growth strategist with a HubSpot agency. Today, he's crushing it over at Tribe Prospecting, and he's here to share some tips on how to dominate outbound using LinkedIn.

It's always refreshing to hear from someone who loves outbound marketing because I think that too many people gloss over it when it comes to generating leads.

Let's dive right in... and make sure you follow us to the end for a great LinkedIn hack from Joey that will help your agency immediately start reaching out to clients in an impactful way without breaking the bank.

Does Your Agency Really Need a LinkedIn Outbound Strategy?

There are way too many agencies that have absolutely no outbound sales strategy. We all like to pour over the inbound marketing blogs then run out there and smash ads on whatever is this year's biggest trending inbound strategy is (I think you're supposed to be throwing money at micro-influencers this year?), but when it comes to having a dependable outbound strategy, most of us fall short.

The problem with outbound marketing is lead generation. You spend tons of money trying to get customers to your landing page so that they can start slowly worming their way down your funnel.

Now, imagine that there was a platform that was saturated with potential clients, lots of those potential clients were decision makers for their company, and those clients were already sharing content and looking for solutions. Ok great! Now, imagine it's totally free!

Here's why you should be hyper-involved with LinkedIn outbound marketing.

• It doesn't have cruise control. You control the speed of your outbound marketing campaign. Unlike referrals or ads, you are completely in control of the growth and scalability of cold emails, calls, etc.
• It's predictable and dependable. Sure, there are definitely nuances that come with outbound marketing, but, as a whole, outbound is much more predictable than inbound. Want to connect with only dental assistants and deliver content directly to them? Great! LinkedIn lets you do that. Do you need to meet an aggressive sales quota? Great! Outbounding marketing enables you to be as aggressive or passive as you need to be.
• It's free! Seriously, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for growth-stage companies on a budget. You don't have to pour money into the ad or lead machine to get results.

#1 Biggest Mistake You're Probably Making on LinkedIn

Stop using LinkedIn as a bragging platform!

Utilize LinkedIn as a lead generation tool or a landing page. Don't just talk about how amazing you or your agency is --- talk about the customer's needs. Give them a reason to want to stay and learn more.

Joey tells us to use a specific framework when you build out your profile:

1. Use your headline to call your customers out. Don't just talk about how you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, talk about what you can offer your customers. Don't say "I'm the world's greatest inbound marketer, and I own a multi-million dollar marketing agency." say "I help CMO's around the world generate leads effortlessly using omnichannel marketing dominance!" Who are they? CMOs. What do I do to help them? Using omnichannel marketing dominance. What will they get? Leads.
2. Your summary should have empathy and authority. When it comes to your summary, use empathy and authority to drive the point home. Empathize with their issue and tell them how you will solve it. Now, I always say to keep the authority light. Writing with authority is like using salt in food. Too much of it makes the whole thing taste horrible, but a little adds some depth of flavor.
3. Lead up to a failure or fear of not working with you. After your CTA in your summary, lead the customer to a failure. "I help you create a growth-driven marketing strategy that literally shoves leads into your funnel and forces them down, so you don't go out of business!" No one wants to lose their job.
4. Don't be afraid to add a prospect qualifier. If you are only looking for certain budgets or firm sizes, add a qualifying statement. Let them know that your agency is not going to waste your time with low-budget firms looking for growth-hacks if you're an inbound marketing agency working with multi-million dollar companies.

How to Create a LinkedIn Job Story

We all know that you have to identify and understand your ideal client - those are the ones right in your agency's sweet spot. But, Joey talked about his pro-tip for helping you really focus in and get super specific. This trick will help your agency zero in on their pain points and motivations.

A job story is one sentence about your ideal customer that breaks down into 3 parts.

The formula is: When ____ + I Want _____ + So I Can _____

• When: Why your customer would be looking for your product/service. ("When I am deciding on which sales software will help my startup the most...")
• I Want: Why your customer would buy your product/service. ("I want a sales software that connects my sales team to potential customers the second that they fill out that landing page contact info.")
• So I Can: What your customer's expected outcome of using your product/service is. ("So I can crush my sales quota this year!")

The full example of this job story would be:

When I am deciding on which sales software will help my startup most, I want a one that connects my sales team to potential customers the second they opt-in so I can crush my sales quota this year!

Why Getting Rid of Connections Will Land More Business

LinkedIn connections are a vanity metric. If you have 5 thousand connections but only 10% of them fit snugly into your ideal client's persona, start deleting. LinkedIn's algorithm likes to push your content out to a small sampling of your connections and see if it engages them. If half of your connections are doctors, but you want to target veterinarians, your white paper on neutering probably isn't going to generate a bunch of clicks. (Remember to use that job story!)

You want to make sure that you have a hyper-targeted connection list — one that you can push those sweet eBooks that you wrote onto. If you find connections that aren't relevant after you've pivoted your ideal client's persona, be merciless.

If you have quality connections, connecting to them is much easier. You can send them a message, share their content, give them content without bothering them for their email address because you already know that they are a perfect fit for you.

Having quality connections makes nurturing those connections a breeze.

Pro Tip: Joey's Super Secret Growth Hack!

Being the super cool guy that he is, Joey shared a little trick his agency uses to generate leads. This method takes advantage of LinkedIn, Facebook, and cold emails do you can triple down on outbound efforts.

Here's the rundown.

1. Go to LinkedIn and click settings. You should be able to download all of your LinkedIn data. You will get the email addresses of all of your first-level contacts.
2. Create a spreadsheet using that data with your contacts emails.
3. Find someone (or do it yourself) to go through the list and pull out all of your ideal customers. This will be easy if you have quality connections.
4. Go out and find a personal detail about everyone on that list. Do they love golfing? Do they know your cousin? Great! Use it.
5. Drop those emails into a sales email automation platform (whichever one you like,) and then create a magic field (custom field) so you can put a sentence or two in each one that's super relevant and personal to that particular individual.
6. Send out the emails.
7. Here's where it gets juicy. Drop those same emails addresses into Facebook and spend a few bucks a day targeting ads to those people.
8. BOOM! You're connected to them on LinkedIn, you've sent them some personal cold emails, and you're in their face when they're on Facebook.

Want more on LinkedIn lead gen strategies? Check out these posts/podcasts:

3 Steps for Using LinkedIn to Turn Connections Into Clients

5 Steps to Generating New Agency Business On LinkedIn

Ready to Grow Your Agency, but Not Ready to Hire?

Hiring freelancers can be frustrating. You post your job, wade through hundreds of proposals, and hire a few before you find the right fit. You want to scale your agency by outsourcing, but wonder if this dreadful process is worth it. That's where Freeeup is different. Instead of wading through freelancers yourself, FreeeUp does all that for you.

They have a network of the top 1% of freelancers, so everyone you hire is top notch. Depending on what you need, FreeeUp connects you with a freelancer who can make it happen. And just for Smart Agency Master Class listeners, create a Freeeup account and enter code "JSwenk50" for $50 off.

Do you want to find a niche that you can carve out? Do you want to dominate a specific gap in the marketplace? This week we talked to one agency that picked a niche and is dominating their market. They have hyper-specific goals, achievements, and clients, and that exclusivity is propelling them forward as aggressors in their market space.

Today, we'll cover:

• 4 benefits of operating within a niche.
• Overcoming the obstacles of niching down.
• How to dominate your competition.
• The #1 pain-point of operating within a niche.

Today I chatted with Adam Draper CEO/Owner of Gladiator Law Marketing. Adam's digital agency operates deep within the law firm niche, and, recently, he's been crushing it. His agency is rapidly growing, focused on small to medium sized law firms. He's here to share some of his keys to success, specifically how his niche is propelling his agency forward.

4 Benefits of Operating Within a Niche

Why would an agency want to specialize? Doesn't working in a niche limit you from reaching clients outside of your niche? Doesn't specifying a niche mean losing out on potential clients outside the niche?

First, it's crucial that we all understand that finding a niche isn't only beneficial, it's critical in the current agency atmosphere. Being able to dominate a specific industry is more feasible than dominating the entire agency atmosphere; it just is.

Let's go over four critical benefits of operating in a space where you can specialize your services.

1. You have a roadmap. If you start providing a service that's specialized to service everyone, you can lose track of what you're doing and where you're going. You have to find a way to position your service to clients without giving them a good example of why your service is more beneficial than your competitors. Finding a niche allows you to target specific pain-points and polish your service.
2. You can predict outside influences. Being in a niche allows you to predict and adapt to outside impacts. You can position yourself more clearly because you're a master-of-one, not a master-of-none.
3. You have killer growth potential. Because you can create a more actionable to-do list and you understand the exact nature of your services, operating in a niche can help you grow your businesses faster with higher ROI.
4. You know your competition. When you wedge yourself into a specific gap in the market, you can really start to study your competition. You can understand precisely what services your competitors offer, and convince clients why your service are unique and have a higher value.

Overcoming the Obstacles of Niching Down

Adam and I talked a bit about overcoming those initial obstacles. I see far too many people get caught up in that one bad client. It's sad, and one ruthless client shouldn't ever defeat your self-worth. Here are some tips for overcoming those initial obstacles that are holding you and your overall growth back.

1. Make sure that your client is a good fit. If you're too focused on the financial aspect of your business, you might be taking on all comers. Don't do that. If you feel like your client won't benefit from your services, don't take them on. It will end up biting you in the end (confidence, churn rate, etc.)
2. Find out where your bad prospects are coming from. Pinpoint the avenues that are drawing in bad clients, and try to reduce negative experiences (even if that means an initial profit hit.)
3. Learn your industry inside and out. Adam talks a bit about the obstacles that are generated due to him being so focused on one specific area of business. He says that you need to really learn the business you're in and plan accordingly. If there are any potential threats to your business (even if they seem far-fetched) create a contingency plan.
4. Be on the lookout for new technologies. Keep your eye out, there could be upcoming technologies that will impact your area of expertise. Learn them before your competitors do.

How to Dominate Your Competition

When you're starting out in a niche, competition is heavy. Here are some tips on how to dominate your competition.

1. Stay focused on your clients. You know that iconic photo of South African swimmer Chad le Clos watching his Olympic competitor, Michael Phelps? During the whole race, his eyes were so focused on Phelps that he was looking at him even while swimming. Of course, Phelps won. That's because Phelps was more focused on the prize than on his competitors.
2. Think 2 years ahead. Since you can heavily focus on one specific area when you operate in a niche, start to think years ahead. Don't get caught up in the now and forget to plan dominance in the future.
3. Turn down work. Remember, make sure your client is a good fit. Let your competitors get greedy and take on the bad clients. Not all clients are good clients. And when you spin your wheels working with the wrong ones, you're turning down some of the right ones.

The #1 Pain Point of Operating in a Niche

The main pain-point of working within a niche is that you're at the mercy of your niche. Whatever industry it is, is now completely in control of you and your business. If laws change, it impacts you. If the industry slows down, it impacts you. Make the niche your victim - not fall victim to it.

Related:

3 Big Benefits of Declaring Your Agency's Niche Market

Why Your Agency Needs to Start With One Niche at a Time

Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency?

Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits and great service to take care of your team.

For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

The creative landscape is changing. Is your agency keeping up? Are your creative people struggling to stay fresh? It's easy to become overwhelmed with change and uncertainty. Learning new trends and technologies can be challenging. However, there are massive opportunities available in our day and age. It's good to be a creative right now, and there's no excuse not to create!

In this episode, we'll cover:

• Why it's never been a better time to be a creative.
• Why you're out of excuses not to create.

Today I chatted with Sean Womack, founder, and CEO of Smack, a media agency, and author of the novel, The Six Sides of the Black Box. That's right, Sean wrote a fiction novel (not a business book!) which provides a glimpse into agency life and illustrates 6 lessons learned. Sean's interesting and extensive background a creative in the agency space speaks for itself. On today's show, Sean shares his interesting backstory and the excitement of being an agency creative in today's landscape. He also touches on the evolution of being a post-40-year-old creative person as well as give us some fresh insight on being creative in our crowded agency world.

With the ever-changing technology and fast-paced nature of our industry, it's refreshing to hear from someone who has navigated successfully and reminds us why it's an exciting time, no matter your age.

It's Never Been a Better Time to Be A Creative

Are you a Gen-X-er?

If so, then you remember the "Don Draper way" of pitching creative ideas to the client. As a Creative Director, you show up to a meeting and tell a compelling story to get a client to buy the idea. Not so much anymore...

Today's philosophy is to create as many ideas as possible. Then those ideas go into a system to be analyzed and tested in the marketplace and see which one(s) will fly.

That change has been radical and it's impacted the entire industry. Change can be difficult and scary but we have to remember all the positives that today's technology brings.

If you are (or if your agency has) an awesome creative who love creating stuff but feel guilty about not really knowing which idea will work...then this is the best time ever to be a creative! Not only do we get to generate as many ideas as possible, but we also get to put them into a system to be tested. That system is able to tell us which idea worked and with whom.

It's pretty ideal - the system always needs new creation in order to test and improve. So keep creating!

Why You're Out of Excuses Not to Create

1. There's plenty of material.

Today, creatives get to work directly with a ton of different people, from engineers and business people to artists and storytellers. Everyone comes together and mixes it all up to create an interesting and rich creative environment.

2. There's plenty of resources.

Let's not forget all the different mediums and platforms right at our fingertips. In recent times, a creative's job has expanded. You might be thinking of writing a book and you know that actually writing the book is just step #1 of like 20. But the amount of tools at our fingertips makes our expanding jobs easier... that's to technology and social media we can reach the masses at lightning speed.

No excuses... Now is an exciting time to be a creative!

Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency?

Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.

For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.

Are you self-sabotaging your agency's sales? Do you lack trust or confidence in your team to deliver results? Worried they aren't going to live up to expectations and make you look bad? You probably have felt this way at one time or another. You might even be causing the problem and not realize it! Your agency is a reflection of you and it's natural to have these concerns. Once you're super honest and self-aware you can get out of your own way to grow your agency.

In today's episode, we'll cover:

• How niching down builds trust.
• Avoiding 2 major pitfalls of growing an agency team.
• 2 questions the guest has for Jason when she puts Swenk on the Spot

Today I chatted with Cat Howell, founder, and CEO of Eight Loop Social, a successful Facebook ads agency. Cat faced some serious lows in the beginning and shares with us what she learned and how she overcame them to become a six-figure per month agency. Growing an agency can be hard, but you can make it even harder if you are self-sabotaging your agency sales... and you might not even realize you are doing it. As agency owners, we are all guilty of wanting or feeling that we need to "do it all". Cat tells us how to overcome that "do it all" mentality so you can learn to trust your team and grow your agency.

How Niching Down Builds Trust

When you are an agency that is trying to serve all types of clients, you aren't serving any type of client well. (The jack-of-all-trades is the master of none.) Trying to do everything means your agency team is constantly on a learning curve to a specific industry or service.

That constant learning curve can cost your agency:

• Money
• Resources
• Accounts
• Greatness

When you hone in on your agency's strengths it allows your team the ability to FOCUS. Pinpointing a niche - whether vertical, horizontal or both - provides the opportunity to save time, money, resources as well as gain clients and become great at one thing.

Once you pinpoint a niche, create SOP's around that particular funnel and get systemized so your agency team can be more efficient and effective. When you see your team running like a well-oiled machine, you'll gain trust and they'll feel empowered to do work that will grow the agency.

Avoiding 2 Major Pitfalls Of Growing an Agency Team #1. DON'T borrow money to build your team.

It can be a vicious cycle... You're trying to win new business, but you don't have the money to hire staff. But then clients don't want to commit without you having enough staff in place. You might want to (or already have) taken out a large loan to build your team.

Here's how you can avoid this pitfall:

• Have lead generation processes in place and be able to onboard new clients effectively.
• Understand how to win clients and bring clients in under the right pricing.
• Have a system for onboarding and training your team.
  • Minimize the amount of training that requires your time, personally.
  • While you're personally training, you're neglecting other important agency growth tasks.
  • This can lead to resentment and stunt agency's growth.

Don't expect new team members to just figure it out - that's a recipe for disaster.

#2. DON'T neglect your team during agency growth.

In times of fast growth, we tend to shift focus to onboarding clients quickly and lose sight of internal processes and systems such as properly training the agency team. This is a sure way to set them (and you) up for failure. Talk about self-sabotaging! Instead, here's what you can do:

• Have a non-negotiable structure which includes proper training and processes in place so you can trust your team.
• If you find yourself in a situation of too much, too fast and things are slipping through the cracks take a step back. Look at what's standing in the team's way of success.
  • Then STOP. Stop the funnel. No more calls. Focus on your team and train them.
  • Reset everyone on the right path in order to rebuild trust and confidence in your team.

Your team is your greatest asset. You need to trust your team and put them first. New agency business and growth can only follow when there is confidence in your team to deliver results on the services you're promising. When you lose confidence in your agency team it is natural to start pulling back and that is self-sabotaging agency sales while negatively impacting growth.

Swenk On The Spot

Today I tried something new on the podcast and let my guest, Cat, ask me two questions. It could be anything she wants, within appropriate reason (ha!) and I answered them on the spot.

1- Do you run background checks on contractors and full-time staff?

I run background checks, dig into social accounts, and check references on employees but not on contractors. I'm totally transparent about this policy with job candidates and I've found it filters out the shady ones.

2- What do you do if a client asks you for a grace period on your invoice?

No. Don't do it. You have to start by setting up expectations from the beginning of the client relationship. Clients start to get nervous if they don't see results as big or fast as they want to, and they want to put on the brakes. If this happens, remind them they hired you to achieve specific results and you will do it when allowed the proper time. In the meantime, they're still responsible for paying you on time.

Looking for a Payroll and HR Solution for your Agency?

Payroll and benefits are hard. Especially when you're a small business. Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. You no longer have to be a big company to get great technology, great benefits, and great service to take care of your team.

For a limited time, Gusto is offering a deal to Smart Agency Master Class listeners. Check out Gusto.com/agency for 3-months FREE once you run your first payroll with them.