The Agency Growth Podcast

We sit down with Drew Johnson with Everflow to talk about how agencies can offer affiliate and influencer services to their clients.

We press Drew on the viability of the influencer channel for small businesses and how agencies can effectively white-label affiliate marketing services through Everflow.

This is a whole new world to us.

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Drew is passionate about driving growth for B2B and D2C brands through performance marketing and works hand-in-hand with agencies to help deliver influencer marketing to their clients. 

With more than a decade in the industry, Drew unpacks the intricacies and practical considerations of pricing and providing the service as a white-label offering for clients.

Questions for Drew? Reach out to him at [email protected] or connect with him on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewjohnson89/

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

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Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

Newsletters are hard. Everyone wants to start one or have a way to subscribe to one but you never really know what to put in it or have it get good tracion. Once it does, how do you make it make you money?

We talk about Stacked Marketer quite a bit. It's where we get pretty much all of our marketing information on individual platforms. It's where we get the most condensed version of what the experts put out there in regards to updates for the things we care about in SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, and more.

Up until now, we've never really talked about email marketing or growing a newsletter. What better way to talk about it then having the founder and owner of the only marketing newsletter we subscribe to?

Jake reached out to Manu Cinca of Stacked Marketer on X to bring him on the podcast to tell us exactly why he started Stacked and how he grew it to the size he did. But more importantly... how is he monetizing it and how does he get people to care about the content in it?

If you aren't subscribed to Stacked Marketer and you're in the marketing space... what are you doing?

Do it now.

https://ref.stackedmarketer.com/9731be28/E

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

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Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

Revenue share models never work. At least that's what we always say. Thomas Rudy from DataShopper comes onto the podcast to tell us how he built his 7-figure agency on a revenue share model earning multiple 6-figure annual contracts.

Thomas is the Co-Founder of DataShopper, a data-hygiene software that lets you retarget anonymous website visitors through digital media and even print mail.

This software could be a game-changer for agencies looking to white-label a print media option for clients with digital targeting and precision for in-market customers.

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

**Cold Open (Valentine's Day Stuff)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 10:49**

We dive into the not-so-riveting conversation about what defines an agency. It's not a topic we thought we'd have to cover but it seems like people (including us) are having some confusion over.

Is a videographer an agency? What about a HighLevel sAaSpReNeUr?

Why does any of this matter? Well, because it defines what you do and what your longterm business goals actually are.

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

**Cold Open (How many bananas is too many?)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 7:05**

The productized service model is popular amongst agencies in the industry now. It used to be the Mad Men-type creative agencies that dominated the land but the productized models have been sweeping the globe.

However, agencies still struggle with productization. They don't admit it, but they do.

Having a package service isn't productization if your SOPs aren't clearly defined and rigid. That also means you need to be able to say no to clients who want to creep out of that scope. That's' the hardest thing for agencies to do.

We've found the hardest thing with productization is balancing hiring team members to do the work outlined in the documentation while building them up to be strategists. After all, is a strategist needed if your service is an assembly line of production?

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

**Cold Open (Cody is a God at Subway Surfers // r/agency Subreddit news // Google Gemini)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 21:00**

Everyone talks about qualifying prospects for their agency but no one every talks about what qualifiers they're using for themselves.

Our agency has lower-cost services than most agencies yet we still have client qualifiers. Some of these are based on how much revenue prospective clients are earning while others are contingent upon what CMS or tech stack they're using.

Cody also chimes in regarding qualifiers for service upsells. Not every client is a good fit for other services we offer and qualifiers shouldn't just be with clients you take on but with services you offer as well.

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

Mordy Oberstein from Unify Brand Marketing joins us on the podcast this episode to talk about how most companies fail at marketing their brand and defining their brand identity.

Mordy has been a recognizable face in the SEO industry for nearly a decade as the CMO of Rank Ranger, Head of Communications at SEMrush, and finally the Head of SEO Brand at Wix before starting his own branding agency, Unify.

We ask Mordy to walk us through his history in SEO and why the seemingly sudden pivot to obsessive brand marketing.

Given this unique perspective, we also ask Mordy what small and established agencies can do to find their identity and speak to their target audience while also tracking brand performance metrics.

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

We open this special, yearly episode with the announcement of Jake and the Agency Growth Podcast's acquisition of the r/agency subreddit. Head over to r/agency and start engaging with the agency community!

This year we spend some time recapping our 2024 year with our agency. We talk about what our goals were and where we actually ended up. Jake also took some time and calculated month-over-month and year-over-year churn and growth rates uncovering some surprising details about when and how our agency grows extremely predictably.

Previous Financial Recap episodes (#34 and #88)

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

**Cold Open (Jake is an idiot)**

**Skip the Cold Open at 10:07**

Our clients have told us that when agencies say they can help them scale their business to (insert number), that is somewhat of a red flag. It tells the business owner that the agency doesn't really know a lot about business operations and that leads and marketing are only a small portion of being able to grow a business.

Business owners deal with other things that stifle their ability to grow such as operational issues, processes and procedures, hiring and labor restrictions, and a plethora of other things that agencies are not responsible for.

When clients do ask us how much we can help them grow, we have to level their expectations with what a marketing agency is and what a full-on consultant firm is.

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

----------------------------------

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: r/agency & u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u

Anik Singal was sued by the FTC for $15m all because of four simple words in his call script. We brought Anik on the podcast to talk about compliant marketing and how marketers, agencies, and coaches all over the world are violating FTC rules and are in danger of being sued.

In preparation for this interview, Jake read Anik's book that he co-authored with his partner and compliance lawyer, Greg Christiansen, "Don't Say That!". Jake references parts in the book that blew his mind and has Anik elaborate on them extending those examples to the agency and coaching spaces.

Some of the crazy things we learned:

1. You can't use results-based testimonials in marketing without substantiating them.
2. Videos with fancy cars and money guns create negative net impressions and can be violating FTC rules.
3. If you say something is of a certain value, you have to prove it... with past sales.

We learned a ton more and now are taking a hard second look at our marketing.

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Anik Singal is the founder of Lurn, an online education platform. Following the lawsuit and FTC investigation covered in the podcast, he co-created Complily, an AI-powered compliance tool that helps marketers ensure their materials meet FTC standards.

Anik also co-authored the book "Don't Say That!", which serves as a guide for marketers to keep them out of trouble with the FTC regarding rules they probably didn't know existed! His experiences have made him a vocal advocate for compliant marketing practices.

Check out Anik's AI-powered marketing compliance software, Complily:

complily.com

Also, take a look at the resources and book on Anik and Greg's site dontsaythat.com

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Our recommended agency tools:

everbrospodcast.com/recommended-tools/

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As always, if you enjoyed this episode or this podcast in general and want to leave us a review or rating, head over to Apple and let us know what you like! It helps us get found and motivates us to keep producing this free content.

----------------------------------

Want to connect with us? Reach out to us on the everbrospodcast.com website, subscribe to us on YouTube, or connect with us on socials:

YouTube: @agencyu

Twitter/X: @theagency_u

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/agencyu

Facebook: facebook.com/theagencyu

Instagram: @theagencyu

Reddit: u/JakeHundley

TikTok: @agency.u