Smart Agency Masterclass With Jason Swenk: Podcast For Digital Marketing Agencies

4 Simple Steps to Generating More Agency Leads Immediately Ever find yourself churning out content but never seem to bring in more leads? In this episode of Ask Swenk, I show you how you can generate more agency leads without the need for more content from your team. Leads - we need them and they need us! Take a look at Google Analytics and find out which are your best performing blog posts. What content are you putting out there that is getting the most hits? Now, knowing what information your leads are seeking via your blog posts, revise your call to action on them… No more “Contact Me Now” crap. That is not a call to action, that is a passive cop out. Come up with a worksheet or template people can use to solve the problem or combat the issue that made them read your blog post in the first place. This should be something useful that you send after they opt-in with their email address ~ A.K.A. your lead magnet. Use the lead magnet as your call to action. Also, take another look at the headlines you’re usin

In this podcast, you’ll get a peek into the habits, thoughts, and actions of a self-made millionaire as I talk with Jaime Tardy whose website, podcast and book all titled Eventual Millionaire have been guiding and inspiring entrepreneurs for years. She shares insights into what makes them tick and how you can position yourself into millionaire status.   What Are Some Common Habits of a Millionaire? After interviewing over 200 millionaires Jaime says there are three common habits among them. Surprisingly, none of them have anything to do with daily routine such as diet or exercise however, she does find that they rarely watch much TV or movies - although, I am definitely the exception to the rule :) Instead, she has found common themes in their approach to business (and life): No Excuses Approach - To be prosperous you can’t let your excuses stand in your way. We all have our reasons not to do something (no money, no time, etc.) but these are solvable. The millionaire gets it done despite their reasons or exc

What's the Best Website Homepage for Converting Leads? Well, today you're in luck because we are going to talk about the best lead generation agency website ever. Their home page converts 60%! The optimum guy in funnel optimization, Zach Johnson - founder of GameChanger Profits, talks with me about his unique approach to converting leads. This is a must-listen episode.   Would you like to have your home page convert 30% or better yet... 60%? We’ve all seen those agency websites that brag on their own capabilities and show off an impressive client list. Not GameChangerProfits.com. Their visitors land on a webinar registration page. It’s all about giving value and converting a visitor into a lead by attending a webinar. That’s it. No bragging, no bells, no whistles. The coolest thing about this home page... It is a templated webinar registration page from Leadpages. It took them zero design hours, so they could focus on closing all those leads :) Why A Webinar? According to Zach, the cost of converting a prosp

In this episode, learn how to get over burn out by being intentional with your activities outside of work. Reset and recharge your brain so that you can be more focused. Also, how can you hire the right people that believe in your vision and help your agency grow.

Do You Struggle With DOING? Find Out What is Missing and Get UNSTUCK  If you are having issues getting things done so you can grow your agency it's not about hustling harder.... it's identifying what's missing.  In this AskSwenk episode, learn how you can gain clarity in order to get unstuck and stop being stalled out on just doing so you can start growing.

How to Overcome the NO MONEY or NO BUDGET Objection | AskSwenk | Ep #52 I get asked this all the time... many clients or prospects say they want to invest in their marketing but there isn't any money. But think of it this way -- if you needed emergency surgery you wouldn't say "I don't have the money." Instead, you would have the surgery and find the money for it later... because there is a sense of urgency. You need to create a sense of urgency for those clients. When you identify the problem and a sense of urgency, they'll find the money.

How Do I Get Off the Hamster Wheel and GROW MY AGENCY? | AskSwenk | Ep #51 If you're constantly stuck going around and around the hamster wheel waiting for things to change, you're going about it all wrong. Things aren't going to change but YOUR MINDSET is what needs to change. Instead of a hamster wheel, you need to think about it like a mountain. Climb the mountain but going into it knowing there are switchbacks and setbacks along the way.  How can you power your agency in order to climb the mountain easier and faster? Who do you need to help you get to the top? Do you know your vision? What does the summit look like?    

In this segment of The Agency Master Class, I’ve got Spencer Gallagher as my guest. He’s talking today about why and how you should select a niche for your agency to find your ideal clients. In 1999, Spencer created one of the UK's top digital agencies leading it to a successful acquisition in 2008.   Afraid To Specialize and Turn Off Potential Clients? You aren’t alone. Most agency owners feel the need to market their services across the board and accept any work thrown at them. They fear the implications of turning down work and worry that having a specialization will result in less consideration by potential clients. They try to model the big guys who seem to be able to do everything. Truth is, you can’t do it all and your ideal clients will respect you for it.   In Spencer’s case, he was spending his limited marketing budget casting a wide net. He was pitching many different types of jobs in many different disciplines. (Sound familiar?) Taking a step back, he decided to try a more targeted marketing appro

Do You Want a $3 Million Dollar Agency? Are you often dreaming of being the proud owner of a $3 million dollar agency? Today’s Agency Master Class guest is Julian Stubbs, Co-Founder and CEO of Up There, Everywhere. He and his partner are the innovators that dreamt up the concept of a global, cloud-based agency and made it a reality.   Wait, There Aren’t Any Employees? That’s right. Instead of employees, Up There, Everywhere has 160 MEMBERS in 20 countries. Members are freelance contractors who go through a series of interviews and if accepted, sign a confidentiality agreement. They are compensated by project value and have the benefit of flexibility to help balance work and life. The screening process is important because this work style is not for everyone. Members work remotely and all work is backed up in the cloud. There are no offices, but recently Up There, Everywhere has opened creative space in both New York and Stockholm with a third opening later this year in Amsterdam. This space is available for m

Productivity Funnel: How I Find Time to Focus On Running My Agency? Do you have a hard time with your productivity within your agency? No matter what level you are on, it is easy to get distracted from the tasks you should be focusing on. This is why a productivity funnel can be really beneficial to your agency.   Q: How Do I Find Time to Focus On Running My Business vs. Being In The Business? Finding time to focus on running your business while getting bogged down by the business can be rough. And distractions are so easily found especially when you feel under pressure. We are typically so busy being reactive that we get derailed by smaller tasks and lose sight of our goals. What does that mean? If you’re spending time on low impact, low priority tasks you are unable to focus on your biggest and best opportunities for growth. So here’s what you should be doing... Decide what gets you closer to your goals then backfill with the lower impact activities. Let Me Help If you have more questions about how you can 

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I talk with Jack Mize, host of Influencers Radio and cofounder of Authority Alchemy. Jack is the authority on how to build authority, and we’re going to show you how to build yours so people are banging down the door to work with you.   The first page of Google is not important... It may sound like blasphemy, but it’s true. Most people think “I need more traffic,” but when you really look at the numbers it’s probably not that you don’t have enough traffic. It’s that the traffic doesn’t have a compelling reason to pick you. Spending money on pay-per-click and SEO is okay, but you need to start focusing more on building your authority and less on getting to Google’s front page. Stop calling yourself an expert. You do not need to try and convince people you are an expert. Because, all that convincing makes the conversation about you when it should be about the client. So, stop thinking of yourself as needing to be an expert and start thinking of yourself as an edu

Word of Mouth Isn’t a Scalable Way to Generate Leads In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class I chat with Clay Collins, cofounder of LeadPages, a lead generation platform. Clay is going to help explain why relying on word of mouth isn’t a scalable way to generate leads, as well describing some other ways you should be generating leads.   How should you be generating leads? In as many ways as possible! Clay says LeadPages put lead generation opportunities at every turn, and that’s what you should be doing too. And the very first thing you need to do is get your damn opt-in box up. Too many agencies get hung up on what kind of stuff they should be giving away for the opt-in, or what the content of the emails and newsletters will be. In fact, they get so hemmed up on these details they don’t even start with the first basic step to generate leads - the opt-in box! You need to stop putting the cart before the horse and put opt-in opportunities on your site, on your blog, in your podcast, everywhere! Put it

Hiring People Better Than You To Take Your Agency to the Next Level In today’s session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I talk with Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media, a web design and marketing company.  This episode is all about how to manage your team. You need to be hiring people better than you, and we’re going to help you find those people, as well as get over being afraid of their skills. Plus, you’ll hear about how to avoid some common mistakes.   When should you hire someone else? The right time is different for everyone. For Rich, he was prompted to hire someone by a client. They wanted to give him more business but felt he wouldn’t have been able to handle it on his own. For most of us, the right time is when we realize we can’t handle it on our own. But maybe you’re feeling like you can handle most of it on your own. In that case, think about bringing someone in on a part-time basis. Rich started with a part-time person and has since grown to a staff of seven; five of which are full-time.

In this session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Peter Caputa, VP of Sales for Hubspot, the king of inbound marketing. We chat about how you should stop relying solely on referrals, and how you can use strategic partners get your business to the next level.   Strategic partners are awesome. You can get a lot out of having a strategic partner. Here are just a few benefits: Steady stream of referrals Marketing opportunities They can help you grow from small agency to large agency There will be many chances to learn from partners How you can you become one of the top strategic partners for a company like Hubspot? Unlike some, a strategic partnership with Hubspot cannot be bought. Peter says being a Hubspot strategic partner is earned, not purchased. In order to become one of Hubspot’s top strategic partners, you need to: Have the ability to make your clients successful on Hubspot. Be able to sell and acquire new clients. Communicate your goals and successes with the strategic partner. Do somethin

In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class I have my first ever three way:)  For the first time ever, I have two guests - Jim Hohl and Lucas Gavin of Visify. Jim and Lucas are going to share with us how you can use events to build your authority and grow your business by creating leads.   Where do you start with creating leads for your agency? Jim and Lucas knew that they didn’t just want to do business as usual. Chasing after projects and pitching all the time is exhausting. The duo decided to begin speaking at events and hosting webinars, which allowed them the chance to get their message out to a lot of people at once. Bonus: you automatically earn some street cred by being an event speaker. It’s instant authority! No events in your area? Make one! It’ll be a great opportunity for you to get your feet wet. It’s fairly simple to throw together a 2-3 hour weeknight event. For something larger, consider hiring an event planner. Jim and Lucas hired an event company, allowing them to focus on work and let

In this week’s session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I sit down with Tom Fishburne to talk about how you can spice up those boring newsletters you’re sending out, and how you can invest in your audience to get better email open rates.     Tom is Founder and CEO of Marketoon Studios, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons. He started cartooning at Harvard Business School, and was putting out a weekly cartoon about marketing for several years before finally building it into a business model. For Tom, it was all about connecting his passion with his business. Cartooning is a great tool to increase engagement. Cartoons have been described as the best involvement tool out there. Plus, you can fit a lot of information in a small space. Best of all, you don’t even have to be a good cartoonist to draw one. In fact, one of the most successful web comics out there is XKCD, which is done entirely in stick figures, but has over a million unique visitors to the site every

Going from Agency Owners to Agency CEOs In today’s session of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Hannah Paramore, president of Paramore Digital. Hannah is going to talk about the five jobs of an agency owner, how to handle those roles and transition from agency owners into an agency CEOs.   The 5 Roles of an Agency Owner. As the agency owner, it is your job to: Grow and mentor the leadership team. To be the face of the company. To set vision and direction. Manage the financials. Be available for key relationships. Whatever you’re doing, make sure they are part of these five roles. If it’s something outside of these, you need to assess whether or not you are the one that should be doing it. Being comfortable as the agency CEO. No doubt you started out as the smartest person in the room. You were consumed with passion and drive. You were the best at everything, from account management to writing to sales. But as you started to grow from a one-person agency, you probably realized you need to hire peopl

Do you have an agency podcast? In this episode I chat with the master of podcasting, founder and host of Entrepreneur on Fire, John Lee Dumas about why your business needs an agency podcast.   Podcasting is seriously great for agencies. Here are just some reasons why you need to have an agency podcast: It’s on demand. You don’t have to say no to something else to listen to a podcast. You can’t watch a video and drive a car, just like you can’t run and read a blog. But you can do all of those things (and more!) while listening to a podcast. Podcasts are targeted. There are thousands of podcasts out there, specifically tailored to your interests. All you have to do is find one. They’re full of free, valuable content. And really, what’s better than free and valuable.  People listen to podcasts an average of 27 minutes. Compare that to the 45-second average for video and the three-minute average for blogs, and you can easily see how podcasts have the advantage. To be in someone’s ear for 20+ minutes is a big wa

The Power of Visual Storytelling Do you want to learn the power of visual storytelling and how it can improve your branding marketing on social media as well as your relationship with clients?     In this episode I chat with Ekaterina Walter who is a marketer who has worked with numerous Fortune 500 brands to help them with social business. She’s also an expert at visual storytelling and is going to show us the power of using video on social media to market your brand. Why visual storytelling is the future. Just go ahead and accept it. We are so inundated with various amounts of information that we have a hard time figuring out how to sort it correctly. So we’re just kind of making up our own filters as we go along. What’s so great about visual storytelling is that it’s a filter that comes to us naturally. Humans process visuals faster than they process text. Considering our attention spans are about 3.9 secs long, presenting information as a visual makes sense. How to make your content snackable. You don’t