There’s a not often talked about aspect of agencies that’s massively important: technology.

Mobile technology, mobile strategy, and the interplay between mobile and marketing campaigns all have a huge impact on your clients’ successes.

In this episode, I interview Todd Wooten, Founder and President of VRTCAL, about his mobile first strategy.

What we talked about:

- 5 reasons why mobile first is your best (only) option

- Mobile first builds trust and confidence

- The fascinating shift from PII to DII

- The ultimatum: Innovate or die

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

The spring of 2020 has been an interesting time to do business, to say the least.

One of the most valuable things we could dwell on in the industry right now is how to navigate the turn around the corner as we are beginning to hear some hopeful pandemic-related news — while still feeling ourselves in the midst of an unprecedented challenge. 

Recently on The Innovative Agency, I chatted with Scott Baradell, Founder and CEO of Idea Grove, about adapting communications and marketing during a crisis.

What we talked about:

- Ways to adapt your marketing to show leadership

- Scott’s raw story about loss and digging deep

- Focusing on helping and caring instead of selling

Check out this resource we mentioned during the podcast:

Scott’s blog post, “The Importance of Getting It Together In Times Of Crisis”

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

There's already a lot of great content out there about how agencies can and should adapt their businesses because of COVID-19.

One aspect of these changes that isn’t as widely discussed is how agencies can help their clients be effective in a time of crisis — ethically.

In this episode, I interview Bryn Tindall, CEO and Owner of Rebel Interactive Group, about ethical considerations brought about by the current crisis.

What we talked about:

- Elements that affect marketing during a crisis

- Creative communications & 3 messages to send

- Trends stemming from COVID-19 that could stick when it’s over

Check out this resource we mentioned during the podcast:

- I appreciated the Rebel Interactive blog post about COVID-19 facts & opinions

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Creativity has many facets.

It means different things depending upon the clients that your agency might serve and how you might attack creativity depending upon their goals. 

In this episode, I interview Gal Borenstein, Founder of the Borenstein Group, about aspects of creativity for a B2B marketing agency.

What we talked about:

- The 4 pillars of creating trust

- Do psychological research on your client’s customers’ decision makers

- Understand the misalignment between messaging and belief

- Trust is something you have to earn, not assume

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Given the amount of time that most agencies spend on building a new business pipeline, hiring talent, and the amount of time and money that goes into trying to acquire those clients.

There's a big opportunity to be lost once you advance in those conversations.

That moment when you realize your client isn’t ready for what you offer.

Recently on the Innovative Agency Podcast, I talked with Cat Bradley, Founder and CEO of SewEthico, about creating successful relationships between your agency and the clients that you serve.

What we talked about:

- The question agencies aren’t asking

- When it’s fine to frustrate your clients

- 3 reasons to send a client back to the foundational profit models

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Gone are the days of the teenager in the basement with the Xbox.

The Fortnight World Cup was recently won by a 16 year old who earned a prize of $3 million.

That’s $1M more than Tiger Woods took home for the U.S. Masters.

In this episode of The Innovative Agency, I interview Larry Jaeger, Founder and CEO at Sponsor Burst, about marketing in the world of esports.

What we talked about:

- Creating a niche market

- How to reach Gen Z

- Research techniques for esports and other niche industries

- The importance of credibility in your marketplace

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Authority drives agency choice 62% of the time.

Establishing your agency as an authority, then, should be one of the main goals of an agency.

In this episode, I interview Drew McLellan, owner of Agency Management Institute and McLellan Marketing Group, and Stephen Woessner, owner of Predictive ROI:

What we talked about:

- 3 essentials to becoming an authority

- Using cornerstones & cobblestones to go multichannel

- Deciding whether to speak or write

- Developing authority is a long-term play (but you can accelerate it)

Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:

- Drew is the host of the Build a Better Agency podcast

- Stephen is the host of the Onward Nation podcast

- Stephen also wrote Profitable Podcasting

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website

90% of consultants and agencies in the US are between $300,000 and $3 million in revenue.

If you’re in that bucket and you’re listening to this, what would you do $1 million of free flowing cash flow each year?

If you don’t think that’s possible, you’re probably stuck in a traditional agency revenue model.

In this episode of The Innovative Agency, I interviewed Jeff Pedowitz, President and CEO at the Pedowitz Group, about innovation around agency pricing models.

What we talked about:

- What’s broken about the traditional revenue model

- How value-based pricing works

- 3 myths that keep agencies from unlocking passive revenue

- Salons and tiered subscriptions

Check out this resource we mentioned during the podcast:

- Pedowitz Group’s Revenue Marketing University

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Connecting with others through compassion and empathy...

Nobody thinks you’re a jerk when you’re trying to do this.

In fact, people will deeply appreciate your human-focused leadership if you practice this mindset during good times and bad.

In this episode, I had a timely interview with Darren Magarro, Founder and President of DSM, about leadership during a crisis.

What we talked about:

- Where to invest (people)

- Knowing your goals

- You won’t be judged on how you’re knocked down but how you get back up

- The mindset of a leader

Check out this resource we mentioned during the podcast.

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

The advent of 5G has enhanced what was already a trend in marketing: Video consumption. Video traffic is anticipated to account for 82% of all IP traffic by 2022 — which puts us up from 75% in 2017.

Agencies need to be having the conversation right now about developing a 5G brand strategy. (Because if we aren’t, someone else is.)

In this episode of The Innovative Agency, I discuss all things 5G with Katie Patterson, Founder and CEO of Happy Medium, a full service digital marketing agency headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, the 20th city in the U.S. to have 5G.

What we talked about:

- The ramifications of 5G on the consumer experience

- The end of single-use ads

- The explosion of data and the Internet of Things

- Top tips for developing a 5G brand strategy

To hear more from Innovative Agency owners, listen to The Innovative Agency podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.