Contributors Welcome!
Do you know someone with expert knowledge on a topic that agency owners would love to hear about? Drop me a note, and let’s get them on!
Agency Bytes is a podcast for owners of creative, marketing, and advertising agencies that packs a ton of important agency information on one topic, from one expert into a 25-minute brief. Why 25 minutes? Because who has the attention span for much more these days, and you can squeeze in a listen between meetings with time for a bathroom break or coffee refill before your next meeting. Agency Bytes is brought to you by Steve Guberman from Agency Outsight. Steve is a 20-year agency veteran who works as a business coach for agencies around the country. He coaches owners of branding, marketing, design, and PR agencies to conquer their goals and overcome their challenges. Learn more about Agency Outsight at www.agencyoutsight.com
Episodes
Friday Apr 28, 2023
Friday Apr 28, 2023
Featuring: Monica Dema, MDinc
In this episode, Monica and I spoke about what it’s like running a global team of content creators and project managers, and how they manage culture with intention as a remote team for more than 12 years. Her agency has scaled in a healthy way over the years, and as a leader, she talks about how important it has been to work smarter, not harder, and how they lean heavily on processes. Monica gave some insight as to how her team and clients prioritize human-made content for humans over leveraging robots for the sake of profit.
Monica manages global content for MDINC, a content creation company. Her goal is to help make small companies grow, and large companies painlessly maintain their digital presence.
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Thursday Apr 13, 2023
Featuring: Nick Deck, Agency Sidekicks
In this episode, Nick and I speak about his evolution from launching an agency to it exploding without the proper systems and people in place, and how he was able to turn that growth into both a sustainable and healthy agency and a booming side business of offshore talent. That side business eventually became his main focus as he helps agencies match with amazing offshore talent to help them scale their agencies.
Fellow marketing industry veteran, agency owner, and offshore delegation enthusiast, Nick Deck has a deep understanding of the intricacies of building a highly profitable, low-stress digital agency.
Nick says the secret largely comes down to who you have working for you, which is why he launched Agency Sidekicks a few years ago to support his peers in the achievement of their business AND personal goals (he's all about balance after having experienced some serious burnout in his own agency).
Agency Sidekicks helps you source, train, onboard and manage true offshore marketing rockstars (not just your average VA's) so you can delegate 80% of your operations to dedicated or fractional team members that cost up to 70% less than comparable local talent.
They also provide A TON of other hands-on support and bonuses for their agency clients.
Originally from San Diego, California, Nick now lives in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico with his family while helping business owners get time back into their calendars with the support of smooth delegation processes and offshore help!
Friday Mar 31, 2023
Friday Mar 31, 2023
Featuring: Patrice Embry, Project Menagerie
In this episode, Patrice and I talk about the winding path that she took to get into the world of digital project management, how being fired (twice) set her on her way to mastering her destiny, why college may or may not be for everyone and some of the things agencies do (and don’t do) that are mind-boggling.
Patrice started managing digital projects 20 years ago, starting with a pioneering e-commerce music company during the .com boom in the 90s. Since then, she’s managed projects big and small for companies, agencies, and now as a freelance project manager - projects ranging from mobile apps to large-scale CMS-driven websites, and even print projects on occasion. An active member and writer for the larger Digital Project Management community, she’s always willing to talk about the operations aspect of project management and how agencies can better use PM to strengthen client relationships.
Connect with Patrice on her website.
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Featuring: Mark Miller, Historic Agency
Having recently published a book, Culture Built My Brand, Mark and I spoke all about the driving force behind the book and how it helped define the success story of an agency previously in trouble. We spoke about how he and his agency took action to create intentional culture, drive out the negativity from the team, and build processes to deliver work for clients that were previously unheard of. Mark shares his and his team's bravery in how they faced tough times and as a result of an actual culture, are stronger than ever.
Mark is the author of Culture Built My Brand: How to win more customers with company culture, and the founder of Historic Agency, a branding and design thinking agency for nonprofits.
Connect with Mark on his agency website, on LinkedIn, and grab his book here.
Friday Mar 03, 2023
Friday Mar 03, 2023
Featuring: Jenny De Witt, Rebranded Media
In this episode, Jenny and I talk about how an agency owner can benefit from being a digital nomad and what that means for their perspective on business and life. Jenny joined me from Argentina and talked about how her agency is going through a metamorphosis from focusing on web 2.0 technology and marketing and moving into web 3 solutions for their clients and how you can bring web 3 solutions to your clients.
Jennifer De Witt is a communication design pioneer who got her start on the web by building physical computer networks at the University of Georgia. Since that time she has made it her mission to be at the forefront of new media and emerging technology such as website design, social media, and live video.
She holds a Master's in Instructional Design and combines her experience as an educator, strategist, designer, and internet marketer to build exceptional customer experience (CX) environments.
She is currently in Buenos Aires and heads up a fully remote collective of professionals dedicated to building the future of the web.
Connect with Jenny at rebrandedmedia.com.
Friday Feb 17, 2023
Friday Feb 17, 2023
Featuring: Mike Graham, Second Melody
In this episode, I chat with Mike about the evolution his agency, Second Melody, has taken in the 17 years it’s existed. We cover things like when to let an employee go, fighting the niche, saying no to clients, elevating employees as a leader, and the competitive nature of an agency owner.
Mike Graham is the founder and CEO of Second Melody, a branding studio working with organizations to uncover the accurate, ownable, and inclusive narratives that help tell their stories and drive growth.
Connect with Mike and listen to his mix tape at www.secondmelody.com.
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Featuring: Ken Jacobs, Jacobs Consulting & Executive Coaching
In this episode, Ken and I got to talk about the difference between being an owner and a true leader, how to lead and inspire in times of uncertainty, how transparent leads can or should be, and the differences between consulting, training, and coaching. We also tried really hard to remember the name of the book Ken was reading at the time of the recording. The book is "Give and Take. Why Helping Others Drives Our Success." by Adam Grant.
Ken Jacobs is the principal of Jacobs Consulting & Executive Coaching, which helps empower PR and communications leaders and executives to become more effective leaders. It does so via executive coaching.
His company also helps agencies grow business, manage for profitability, improve client service, and enhance team performance, communications and leadership skills, via training and consulting.
Prior to launching his companies, Jacobs spent 25 years in management and leadership positions with a number of PR agencies, including Ogilvy & Mather PR, Marina Maher (pronounced “Mar” like “Star!”) communications, Maloney & Fox, and Lippe Taylor.
Jacobs discusses leadership with some of the PR and communications industry’s most respected leaders via “Taking the Lead,” his quarterly leadership column in PRSA’s Strategies & Tactics, and the similarly named video podcast on his website and YouTube channel.
He's a regular presenter at PRSA Counselors Academy and various PRSA chapters. He loves living “Down The Shore” in Asbury Park, New Jersey. No Bruce sightings yet.
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
Featuring: Lee McKnight Jr, RSW/US
In this episode, Lee and I talked a lot about how business development for agencies has evolved, what agencies can be doing to deepen their relationships and pipeline, some of the systems they could be using, and ways to differentiate themselves from other agencies. We also talked about the economics and logistics of keeping business development efforts in-house vs. outsourcing.
Lee McKnight Jr. is the Vice President of Sales for RSW/US in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are a new business development firm that works solely with agencies, PR, and marketing services firms. Lee earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky and JD from Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. After graduating from law school, he worked for an internet healthcare start-up in Nashville until the bubble burst in 2000.
Fast forward through some interesting marketing and sales positions to RSW/US where Lee has worked with agencies of all types to help drive their new business efforts. Married with two children, he’s a big fan of history, comics and horror novels, and plays in a few bands in Louisville and Cincinnati when time permits.
Connect with Lee at www.rswus.com or via email.