Word on the Street

This week we find out how you can create a thriving digital agency and why it’s important to stand out in the competitive market. The amazing agency coach, Gareth Healey, has more than 24 years’ experience in the agency world after owning his own thriving agency and has now written his debut novel, Stand Out or Die, a book for digital agency owners with a step-by-step framework on how to create the digital agency you’ve always dreamed of.

Gareth now works with ambitious owners of independent agencies, helping them to develop strategies to grow their businesses and achieve their personal objectives.

In this episode you will hear: 

• What advice would you give to new agency owners looking to grow? 
• What are the biggest mistakes agencies/ agency owners make? 
• What learnings do you have from buying and running an agency?
• How can agencies cut through the noise and become more visible to the brands they want to work with?

Links & references

Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Gareth Healey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garethhealey/ 

Our Sponsor:

Series 6 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

Key Moments: 

Who is Gareth and what does he do for the agencies - Gareth [4:57]

Why Gareth wanted a change from agency life - Gareth [8:05]

Gareths agency and its immense growth - Gareth [11:57]

How to navigate staff and set a vision after a buyout - Katie & Gareth [16:05]

The Agency hangover and how it can affect the work - Katie & Gareth [19:55]

Why agencies need to remember its not personal - Katie [23:32]

It’s important to push back on your clients to keep positive habits - Katie [26:08]

Why retaining business should be crucial to an agency as well as new business - Katie [31:27]

The biggest mistakes agency leaders make - Gareth [33:15]

Stand out or die! What Gareth’s book can teach us - Gareth [39:18]

Do you know your agency’s superpower? This week we take a look at what it means to have a unique offering and how your values help lead your services. We’re joined by Angel Gaskell, Managing Director and Founding Partner of HDY Agency, who not only built a thriving agency but is also an advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2021 alone, Angel won the ‘Digital Entrepreneur of the Year’ at Digital Women Awards, and made it onto the ‘40 over 40’ list published by leading marketing and advertising media titles Campaign Magazine and The Drum. Angel is truly inspiring!

In this episode you will hear: 

• Why is important to have a unique offering?
• What are some of the challenges you faced as a female founder?
• How important do you believe diversity and inclusivity when attracting new business? 
• What steps did you take to grow your agency in such a short space of time, whilst also in the middle of a pandemic?

Links & references

Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Angel Gaskell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelgibbons/ 

Our Sponsor: 

Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

Key Moments:

Who is angel and what has she learnt that has helped her to achieve – Angel [5:55]

What is HDY’s approach to their services? – Angel [14:34]

How to the HDY grow so rapidly – Angel [18:25]

The importance to build relationships by helping the community – Angel & Katie [22:25]

Being open to helping others can help you too – Katie [26:14]

Agencies that are doing really well tend to be those who understand sales – Katie [26:48]

What kinds of people does HDY have on their new business team – Angel [31:15]

How content has helped Street build an engaged community – Katie [34:26]

What tactics and content is HDY finding the most successful – Angel [38:10]

In this episode of Word on the Street, we’re changing it up a bit! In December we hosted our New World of New Biz webinar and was joined byTracy Barber, Global Head of Brand at The Brooklyn Brothers, Patrick Awty, Manager Director at The Smalls and Adam Street, Global Account Director at UserTesting. They reflected on how the pandemic has changed new business and what learnings we should be taking into this year to win amazing opportunities. 

In this episode you will hear: 

• How agencies found success in the Pandemic
• The importance of upselling 
• Where to get the most leads - Outbound vs. Inbound 
• 2022 industry trends

Links & references

Sign up to our next The New World of New Biz Webinar here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gnUczGS1SxKKQwVn5OIh6g 

Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Tracey Barber: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceybarber/
Patrick Awty: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-awty/
Adam Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-street/ 

Our Sponsor

Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

Key Moments:

Why The Brooklyn Brothers had a 300% increase during the pandemic – Tracey [6:54]

The pandemic gave the opportunity for agencies to help their clients navigate tough times – Patrick [10:50]

You have to segment your audience – Katie [13:00]

Inbound vs outbound – Adam [17:20]

What a deeper level of connection with your customers is important - Tracey [25:59]

Size doesn’t matter anymore – Tracey [27:21]

Building a community and the importance in creative diversity - Patrick [38:30]

The importance of finding your niche with Rob Da Costa, Business Mentor and Coach. 

In our first Word on the Street episode of 2022 we speak to Rob Da Costa, Business Mentor & Coach. Rob helps agency owners grow their agencies in a profitable way. Rob previously owned and sold his own agency, CIT PR, he has extensive knowledge of the agency world and the problems agency owners face. He joins Katie to discuss the importance of having a clear niche if you want to grow. 

In this episode you will hear:

• The four ways you can niche you agency 
• How Katie decided on her niche for Street
• The importance on making your niche clear within your mission 
• Why finding your niche can help you solve not sell and create amazing marketing content

Links & references

Katie Street: https://bit.ly/3y7WTMk
Rob Da Costa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robdacosta/  

Our Sponsor:

Series 6 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency.

Key Moments:

How many opportunities are you actually winning? - Rob [14:50]

How do you differentiate yourself from the crowd and the importance of niche - Rob [13:45]

How do Street Niche? - Katie [15:33]

Different ways to niche down your offering - Rob [16:43]

Wow, what a Podcast to finish the year! Welcome back to Will Sergeant, Chief for Business Development at AND Digital. They are in the top 20 fastest growth companies in Europe, this year they have employed 450 staff and have a turnover of around 100 million. Will is going to share and deep dive into how they are developing a collaborative culture which has enabled them to deliver the growth they have today.

Will accelerated the development of world-class digital capabilities of brands from British Airways and Conde Nast to The Telegraph, Gousto and more. He’s also previously worked for The North Highland Company UK, GSK, Sainsbury’s, and the East Coast Mainline Company. 

In this episode you will hear:  

• Can you explain what the 5 Cs are?  
• How can these be used to fuel growth? 
• Why is walking away from an opportunity/ pitch just as important as pursuing one?  
• How do you generate a really positive new business culture in your agency? 

Links & references
Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/ 
Will Sargeant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-sargeant-44584218/  

Our Sponsor  

Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.    

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency.  

Key Moments: 

“For us the growth is really about creating opportunity, for our people but for our clients as well” Will [9:49] 

“First of all, a lot of people saw BD as this sort of evil thing that was salesy and in it for yourself, the second thing was that it was this dark art that either you were born with it or not, and the third one was that it was someone else’s job.” Will [17:00] 

“You guys have got really clear goals that everyone can get their head round and work towards.” Katie [19:00] 

“We do that for every ANDY that joins us, does their own HBDI to understand how they see the world and how others see the world, as all of that is really intrinsic to us and it’s a language that we use.” Will [20:29]  

“You need to understand the person and able to act a little bit like a chameleon so that your able to empathise with that person and their going to understand you so you can talk to them in the right way.” Katie [21:23] 

“We really wanted a framework that helped break down the different component functions of fuelling growth and of business development and made it tangible for people to understand what behaviours we believe makes someone affective in this space” Will [26:45]  

“So the 5 C’s are; Content, Consistent, Collaborate, Context and Courage.” Will [28:16] 

In this episode we speak to Jonathan Leafe, the Managing Director of Leafe Consultancy. His extensive career has seen him working both in-house and in-agency before starting his own agencies, Leafe and Marr, and then Strawberry, a thriving e-commerce agency. Jonathan is now a consultant helping Digital Marketing and Creative agencies fulfil their potential.

In this episode you will hear: 

• What is the biggest mistakes agency owners make?
• How can agencies nurture talent more effectively?
• What’s the benefit of having employees grow with the business rather than just recruiting?
• Why do people have a fear of growing their agency past 13 people?

Links & references

Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Jonathan Leafe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanleafe/

Our Sponsor

Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

Key Moments:

“there’s only three things you need as an agency, you need fantastic clients, you need a fantastic team, and you need a fantastic leadership team.” Jonathan [9:14] 

“Most agencies have an open-door policy they’ll open the door and let anybody in but of course at the same time the back door is open, and their existing clients are walking out of it.” Jonathan [9:23]

“Never follow the invoice, follow the client, make sure that they’re successful cause if they are, you will be as well.” Jonathan [10:33]

“If you’re running an agency or a business and you’re not investing in your people and you’re not training them, sending them to events, then it’s going to be so hard for you to scale your business because you’re stunting your own growth.” Katie [14:18]

“have the confidence to think you’re in the room because you’re the right person to be in that room because you’ve done your diligence and worked out they are a perfect fit for you and therefore you are a perfect fit for them.” Jonathan [24:31]

“Being the right choice and being honest about it and being honest when you’re not which I think that’s another reason for qualifying out of the opportunity if it’s not right.” Katie [24:55]

“The amount of time I spend talking to clients to kind of get them to understand sometimes that actually, Niching is the best thing they can do, and we know this from experience.” Katie [29:23]

In this episode we speak to Rory McEntee, Brand & Marketing Director at Gymbox. He started his career in agencies, working on household brands such as McDonalds and Heineken. He then went onto in-house marketing roles at Everyman Cinema, Paddy Power, Pappa Johns, Cineworld, Pizza Express and Benugos. He tells us how his campaigns have been making massive waves in the industry and why you should be brave with your marketing.  

In this episode you will hear:

●  How to make successful campaigns

●  Can you utilise disruptive content to secure PR coverage?

●  What does Gymbox look for in an agency?

●  How Gymbox works with agencies

 Links & references

Katie Street: https://bit.ly/3y7WTMk

Rory McEntee: https://bit.ly/3DCwxD7

 Our Sponsor

 Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.  

 The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency.

 Key Moments

 “I think for anybody it’s important for your own personal brand and your personal experience of what you want to do and having a vision around how you want to be perceived. Rory [7:20]

  “you want to do things, or at least I certainly do want to do things that are pushing my boundaries and doing things that are slightly different” Katie [8:29]

“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I don’t see work as work, its clique ‘Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’ but it is actually true. Rory [8:46]

“If I’m at the cinema and I enjoy myself personally, but I always think how can I take some of these ideas and take it into my world? Rory [9:10]

“for anyone out there listening, don’t be afraid to just try something, if it doesn’t work no one is really going to see it.” Rory [12:57]

“I think we’re seeing more now, like gym shark, Younger and more vibrant start-ups that have that bravery in them!” Katie  [13:36]

“I think that’s a recipe for success, when you’re thinking about your marketing campaigns, you want to do things that are going to give you stand out.” Katie [13:51]

“By creating a brand that people see as an entertainment brand or personal care brand it means agencies in London wanting to work with us and giving us ideas.” Rory [14:51]

“The ideas may be similar but actually I buy into the people and I buy into that person so if it’s a neck and neck creatively I go ‘well I want to work with them’ so it’s important and people forget that.” Rory [26:18]

In this episode we speak to Ryan Hall, Founder and Chief Growth Officer at The Zeitgeist. With over 20 years experience in Business positioning, strategy and revenue growth for leading global brands in their field Ryan and his team help businesses and brands that need the right positioning and purpose to achieve growth - they assist by creating the right market offer and positioning, because without this businesses, brand and products can't accelerate their customer acquisition and achieve the outcomes laid out by their business plans. As Ryan shares in this show, by architecting the right proposition, based on value, and a modern thinking for your go-to-marketing strategy, you can accelerate your growth and beat the competition.

As well as his work at The Zeitgeist Ryan has also founded his own niche-luxury perfume retail and subscription brand HOOHAA, his is an in-demand board member and recently became an author with this new book ‘Architect, Acquire & Accelerate’ available to pre-order now. 

In this episode you will hear: 

• Common pitching mistakes
• How to make a compelling pitch
• Weird pitch tactics
• How to streamline the pitch process

Links & references

Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/

Ryan Hall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanghall/

- - -
Get Ryan’s upcoming book via The Zeitgeist Book
Discount code: WOTS25 (25% off purchase)
Link: https://bit.ly/3cRsojS

Check out Ryan’s Subscription fragrance brand Hoohaa
Discount code: WOTS25 (25% off first month’s subscription)
Link: https://bit.ly/3nRDL1h

- - - 

Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

KEY MOMENTS: 

“When I was growing up, I ended up going to work really early” - Ryan Hall [5:30]

“Firstly, don't sell” - Ryan Hall [16:04]

“Sometimes it is an education piece” - Katie Street [27:51]

“But think of the potential missed opportunities” - Ryan Hall [30:13]

“That story to have in your arsenal or in your portfolio, not only says a lot about the way you can work, but also a lot about the mindset and the culture of your business” - Ryan Hall [33:20]

“I think the structure you’ve given us as a business, has really free’d us up” - Katie Street [35:33]

“Human beings with the right attitude, want to learn new skills and develop themselves and progress and grow” - [37:56]

“I was almost scared to spend money I guess” - Katie Street [39:30]

“I do take risks with our budgets” - Katie Street [43:17]

“What other things do we need in order to pull them along the pipeline?” - Katie Street [49:43]

“Rather than having to go off and write a proposal, the idea of a gateway product is just to have a little battle card” - Ryan Hall [52:05]

“It’s so important, thinking about that sales ladder and that journey that you want and need to go on is, I guess, rule 1!” - Katie Street [55:50]

In this week’s episode we’re joined by Annabel Hartle, Senior Client Solutions Manager at LinkedIn. With over a decade of varied experience in digital marketing, Annabel has a huge amount of online content engagement tactics that she shares in this show and, of course, we deep dive into LinkedIn itself, looking at best practise for organic and paid content on the behemoth business platform. As well as looking at what is working right now Annabel also shares what she sees at the next big developments within the platform and there might be an exclusive share or two that is super-valuable for agencies to be aware of!

In this show you will hear: 

• Understanding LinkedIn reach
• How to be utilise LinkedIn engagement
• Maximising the power of hybrid events
• Upcoming LinkedIn services that will add huge value to brands and agencies 
• ROI vs KPI

Links & References

Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Annabel Hartle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabelhartle/

Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

“I’m a massive LinkedIn geek, but the platforms always changing” - Katie Street [05:28]

“Your LinkedIn company page is your brand presence on the platform” - Annabel Hartle [07:04]

“You can absolutely leverage single image ads, you can have carousel, you can video, you can have document ads” - Annabel Hartle [08:20]

“One area actually that we are looking at from a page solution is actually something called document ads” - Annabel Hartle [12:36]

“There’s something called business manager that is going to be coming through as well it’s like a new dashboard for agencies” - Annabel Hartle [15:32]

“I think one of the biggest pitfalls maybe from all of us is assumptions” - Annabel Hartle [17:39]

“Definitely for us, LinkedIn and email are the 2 most successful routes into our customers or our potential customers” - Katie Street [18:36]

“I think LinkedIn Live is a great opportunity to attract new followers to your company page” - Annabel Hartle [30:30]

“One thing I am super conscious of and certainly within our industry is, what’s a realistic budget?” - Katie Street [33:34]

“We can actually take a look and understand the behaviour of your audience” - Annabel Hartle [35:45]

“Also what I would say is do make sure you’re spending enough and not spreading yourself too thinly with campaign budgets” - Annabel Hartle [38:03]

“If you are able to have an ‘always on’ campaign, that is best practise, because typically that’s going to feed more data into the machine than a burst strategy - Annabel Hartle [41:00]

“You’ve got to have done your research on your market, you’ve got to understand the needs of your audience, you’ve got to have good helpful content” - Katie Street [45:56]

“Whenever I speak to a CMO, a head of marketing, a head of digital, whoever it might be, they love LinkedIn for that, they follow people who they know are going to give them good content” - Katie Street [47:39]

On this episode of Word On The Street we have the pleasure of discussing the extensive experiences of c-suite level, PR, communications and marketing expert Sarah Shilling. Sarah started her career working with global PR agency Ketchum and then went on to apply the skills acquired to provide brand marketing and communications counsel for organisations including the likes of Sainsbury’s. During her time at Pernod Ricard as Head of Communications, Sarah helped define the role of the corporate brand as well as a global strategy for the portfolio of luxury brands including Perrier Jouet and Chivas. Remaining in-house, Sarah joined FTSE 100 and global hotel giant IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) as their Global Communications Director to help further define the premium IHG brand, strengthen global brand communications and support across investor relations. 

So as you can tell from the above, Sarah has over 20 years in powerful roles and she definitely has a huge level of experience that can be of value to listeners of this show whether they are in-house or agency based. 

In this episode you will hear::

• Why you need to understand your value proposition
• Closing the ‘say do’ gap
• Living in the ‘audience era’
• Stress testing a value proposition 
• Launch a new proposition 
• Defending your value proposition 

Links & References
Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Sarah Shilling https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-shilling-93127811/

Series 5 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business 'engine'. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.   

The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency. 

“They recognise the need to inject a bit of energy and difference into their proposition” - Sarah Shilling [06:49]

“Ultimately as agencies, we have to behave like brands” - Sarah Shilling [08:48]

“When you’re an agency you don’t really understand the complexity and the pressures that clients are under” - Sarah Shilling [15:41]

“I’m always talking about overcoming problems and this is not necessarily the businesses problem, but it’s the individual’s problem” - Katie Street [18:34]

“We have a really in depth process that we go through to help other agencies find their value proposition” - Katie Street [19:58]

“It feels as though we’ve got this new action economy and our research revealed that 75% of people are now looking for an action orientated goal coming out of lockdown” - Sarah Shilling [22:47]

“I have struggled with this, much more when I was employed and trying to drive an early proposition forward” - Katie Street [26:05]

“You’ve got to be persistent, you’ve got to be consistent, you’ve got to show you care” - Sarah Shilling [28:51]

“Wherever you hang your hat or pick a lane, just be consistent in that lane” - Sarah Shilling [35:35]

“It’s all about scene setting at the highest point of the business” - Sarah Shilling [42:23]

“If you’ve done that research and you’ve asked the right questions in that research, it really helps you so much with the next stage, which is the go to market strategy” - Katie Street [55:28]