The Innovative Agency

141. Injecting Fun Back Into the Advertising Process

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Do you remember when running an agency was fun? The emergence of digital tools has led to a focus on measurement and metrics, but it has come at the e...

140. Why Executive Reputation Management is Essential to Brand Strategy

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

All executives have an online presence, and that presence matters. It matters to the individual, but it also matters with respect to the reputation of...

139. Your Guide to Content Marketing in 2022 & Beyond

27 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Content marketing has been around since the original Michelin Guide was created by a tire company over a century ago to get more people to drive to re...

138. The Influential World of Micro Influencer Marketing

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Content is king. Accordingly, more and more brands are collaborating with micro influencers to create the sheer amount of content that is needed to ga...

137. What Exactly is Programmatic Advertising & How Does It Work?

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Programmatic advertising: Every agency has heard of it. You might have even included it in a recommendation set for clients. However, not many agencie...

136. AI & Machine Learning in Digital Marketing

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When two people are typing in the same keyword, how do you identify which one is statistically more likely to become a paying customer for your client...

135. Brand Impressions at the Pump

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a channel at the intersection of OOH, broadcast media, digital media, and mobile media, where you can garner the undivided attention of mill...

134. Values, Not Verticals: Growing & Positioning Your Agency

23 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Many agencies choose a vertical and use that to define who they are, what they believe in, and how they are positioned in the marketplace. But what if...

133. First-Party Data: The New Strategic Advantage

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a lot of fear surrounding data regulations right now. No marketing agency wants to get caught holding the bag when new regulations come dow...

132. Why Authenticity is Key to Marketing to College Students

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As far as marketing segments go, college students skew towards being more environmentally and socially conscious. As a group, they also tend to respo...

131. Getting Proactive with Outbound Business Development

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The RFP process — it’s a process many agency owners love to hate. What if I told you there was a more efficient way to win new business? In th...

130. The Biggest Changes in Ecommerce

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Online is the new brick and mortar — and competition is fierce. Even one extra second trying to find a button online will cause a client to shop so...

129. How Peer-to-Peer Accountability Drives Results for Clients

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to creating impactful marketing that moves the needle, an effective ad is more valuable than a beautiful one. In the end, results are w...

128. Business Development: Innovative Ways To Grow Existing Relationships

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Most agencies are occupied with the day-to-day responsibilities of client services — producing deliverables, meeting deadlines, and just keeping th...

127. What Agencies Need to Know About ADA Accessibility for Websites

22 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There are many misconceptions about website accessibility under the ADA. In many cases, agencies are confused about which actions are legally require...

126. How Clients Have Changed in a Post-Pandemic World

01 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The world is very different than it was 18 months ago. That means that our clients are thinking, feeling, and making decisions differently too. So wh...

125. Navigating the World of Product Placement & Influencer Deals

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Real world products pop up in movies and TV shows all the time. But have you ever wondered what occurs behind the scenes to make those deals happen a...

124. The Power of Branding in B2B & B2C

15 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Branding — it’s a much-discussed and often misunderstood topic within the marketing world. There are many clients out there who don’t invest in...

123. How a Shifting Data Landscape Impacts Agencies

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the last 10 years, there has been a 5,000% increase in the amount of data that exists. This data explosion presents a challenge for brands and ag...

122. Growing Profitability & Expertise in a Niche

01 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Some think that being everything to everybody drives success for a marketing agency. But the truth is that there are far more advantages to finding a...

121: The Challenges of Live Sports Marketing in a Pandemic

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Out of every crisis comes opportunity. When live sports came to a halt in March of last year, sports marketing agencies had to scramble to find new ...

120: Alcohol, Sports Gambling, & Cannabis: Marketing in Highly Regulated Industries

18 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When COVID hit, experiential marketing agencies specializing in in-person events were forced to adjust. In this episode, Rick Kiley and Jeff Boe...

119: New Opportunities in Content Marketing

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A lot has changed in content marketing over the last year. So much, in fact, that it brought the man who wrote the book on content marketing out of r...

118: Making Video the Cornerstone of Influencer Campaigns

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There’s no denying we’re in a video content boom — even shorter-form videos can have outsized impact. And when you add the brand equity, audien...

117: Boosting Lead Gen Efforts w/ Cold Sales

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Inbound referrals can only provide a limited amount of a marketing agency’s new business. At some point, you need to diversify your lead generation...

116: Protecting Your Agency from Legal Issues

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Recently, I was invited on The Climb hosted by Jon Tsourakis, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Oyova, to talk about the legal counsel I pro...

115: New Business: How to Keep the Engine Running

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For small and mid-sized agencies, client work comes first — but often at the expense of new business development. So how do you go about refocusing...

114: Tall Orders: Why & How to Market a Startup

06 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Working with startups isn’t for everyone. In fact, many agencies avoid them completely. But for an agency with the right skills and fortitude, the ...

113: Growing Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to build brand demand over time and stop having to rely on advertising to get clients, you need to get serious about building your person...

112: How to Take Your Agency Back from Your Clients

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You’ve owned your agency for 15 or 20 years now, but it’s never looked exactly like you imagined it. That’s because you’re letting your clien...

111: Revenue-Producing Opportunities That Most Agencies Miss

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Revenue-producing opportunities most agencies haven’t thought of include fractional CMOs, becoming an AOR, technological agility, and… the abilit...

110: Growth Marketing: How To Do It Right

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Every agency is charged with growing its clients. But there’s a big difference between the growth traditional marketing offers and the supercharged...

109: Building Your Thought Leadership Profile

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Not everyone can be a thought leader. In fact, thought leadership isn’t about being smart at all. It’s about being genuine and caring. In this e...

108: Customer Lifetime Value: Why It Matters

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Customer lifetime value. You buy till you die. Seriously, though. We’ve all heard a lot about CLV, but most of us don’t know how to leverage it....

107: Self Care – What Your Agency Needs from You

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Don’t allow your people to do agency work off the side of their desks. Instead, treat yourself as a client by giving your team actual hours to util...

106: Scale Your Agency: Blending Your Life With Your Business

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you stay in your respective swim lanes when you're running a business with somebody you're married to? In this episode, I interview Jean Fre...

105: The Talent Search: Marketing for Your Own Agency

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Your conversation rates could be between 70 and 100 times better if you do this right. Lose the MQL metric and learn this: the brand creates the most...

104: How to Be a Serial Entrepreneur

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What a tough year for everyone. (Tough does not describe it.) Some agencies have done well, though. Some of the lessons they’ve learned are transl...

#BestofTIA: Why Niches Are Your Agency’s Path to Innovation w/ David Searns

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Just like a tree grows toward the best sunlight, your agency needs to be open to innovation in order to survive.   This is how it worked out for Davi...

103: Lead Your Content w/ Your 3 Core Competencies

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Your proposal sucks. And by the way, your content is not nearly specific enough.   And if you’re going to sell to entrepreneurs, you need to throw ...

#BestofTIA: Content Paralysis: What It Is & How to Avoid It w/ Xenia Muntean

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The design of a content marketing program seems simple - most agencies do it every day. But it creates challenging questions for agencies and clients:...

102: What Mixed Reality Really Means for Your Brand

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Mixed reality is how your customers want to interact with your brand. Why haven’t you made it there yet?   In this episode, I interview Taj Forer, ...

101: 2 Strategies for Change Management

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How do you stand out in a cluttered space? A couple of ways: education & diversification.   In this episode, I interviewed Kurt Ouchida, Managing Par...

#BestofTIA: Lessons in Innovation from a Late Blooming Entrepreneur w/ Keith Scandone

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you can no longer scale up? Or your core business just got commoditized and now everybody thinks they can DIY it on the cheap?   Ke...

#BestofTIA: What Being a “Values-Based” Agency Really Means w/ Ben Herman

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

“Values-based” is a great SEO keyword, isn’t it? It can be so much more than that, though.   If values drive your agency to the point of shapin...

100: Why Your SEO Strategy Needs to Go Local

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Agency owners go straight to global when they think SEO, but their clients need them to think local.   If you’re a brick-and-mortar, having local S...

#BestofTIA: ROI-Driven Marketing w/ Mike Krass

22 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you hear ROI, you’re either groaning or super excited.   These are the 3 letters that most agency owners talk about, regardless of whether their...

99: Successful Agencies Do These 2 Things

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It might sound absolutely basic, but successful agencies — the ones with 2020 as their best year ever — have a business plan & manage cash flow.  ...

98: Willingness to Change: The LEAP Strategy

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You want to be an ally to the Black community, but you have no idea how to get started.   The first and most important step is willingness to change....

#BestofTIA: Performance-Based Marketing w/ Robert Glazer

08 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The age-old dilemma: how to build an agency that makes sense for you plus makes you attractive to your clients.   Arguably the best form of marketing...

97: Your Agency Needs Multiple Revenue Streams

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Longtime listeners of my podcast know how much I believe agencies need to develop multiple revenue streams.   Just in case I couldn’t persuade you,...

96: Why SEO Is Essential to Your Marketing Mix

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ignore SEO at your own risk.   Today’s guest has focused so well on SEO that he’s scaling from 230+ to 500 content writers by 2021.   In this ep...

#BestofTIA: 5 Ingredients to Agency Growth w/ Grayson Lafrenz

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The conversation I’m featuring on today’s episode of #BestofTIA is with Grayson Lafrenz, Founder and CEO at Power Digital Marketing, about agency ...

95: How To Position Your Team Members as Thought Leaders

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It’s easier than you think to provide opportunities for your agency team members to display thought leadership.   They already do every day in your...

94: Speak Your Clients’ Language with a Focus on Revenue

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you polled your clients, how would they answer these 2 questions?   - Do we speak the language of your company?   - Are we relevant to your reven...

#BestofTIA: 3 Marketing Strategies to Toss & 3 to Keep w/ Patricia Beitler & Abigail Sierra

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

During this episode of the #BestofTIA series, we’re revisiting my chat with Patricia Beitler, President at Velocitas, and Abigail Sierra, Director o...

93: Diversity & Inclusion: Better to Be Awkward Than Silent

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

His background is cosmetology, not marketing. He owned a salon, not an agency.   That is, until he recognized that Black salon owners are powerful in...

92: Virtual Strategies from a Web-First Agency

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When you’ve never had a brick and mortar agency, there’s one thing you want to tell people working remotely…   It doesn’t have to be this har...

#BestofTIA: People-Focused Leadership Means Compassion & Empathy w/ Darren Magarro

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today on the #BestofTIA series, we’re highlighting my conversation with Darren Magarro, Founder and President of DSM.   We talked about:   - Where...

91: How to Win at Content-Based Relationships on LinkedIn

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The reason people don’t produce content is that they don’t know what to produce.   (Hint: It shouldn’t be promotional content.)   Welcome to y...

90: How to Design Unified Branding & Messaging

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There used to be just a couple of ways a customer could interact with your company. Now there are a dozen.   Brand unity is desperately important, an...

#BestofTIA: Innovating Your Agency Revenue Model w/ Jeff Pedowitz

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the first episode of the #BestofTIA series, I’m featuring my conversation with Jeff Pedowitz, President and CEO at the Pedowitz Group.   Tune in...

89: Positive Habits of the Business Development Mindset

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We can’t always rely on referrals and personal networks to answer this question: Where will the new business come from?   In this episode, I interv...

88: How to Specialize During a Crisis

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Most people treat a crisis as a good time to panic, when it’s actually the opportune moment to make a dramatic change decision. Narrowing your focus...

87: When Your “Why” Helps Marketers Double Their Reach

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Consumers hate being tracked. But marketers need data to create precision ads.   Today’s guest brings his problem-solving skills to the cutting edg...

86: How to Balance Brand & Demand

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the classic debate about brand vs. demand, there is no 1 winner. There’s only the perfect fusion of both.   Smart agencies know which levers to ...

85: How to Treat Your Agency Like a Client

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the eternal struggle between the urgent and the important… our clients often win, and our agencies often lose.   But treating your agency like y...

84: Outbound is the Future of ABM

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Is it scary to put all your eggs in one basket? We’re talking about going niche with your ABM outbound strategy.   Yes, of course, it is. But outbo...

83: How Agencies Should Leverage Digital Media Buying

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We’re being overrun with technologies that are supposed to make digital marketing more efficient.   The reality is that AI doesn’t always work th...

82: Solve Brand vs. Demand with Workshops

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Some agencies approach both brand and demand simultaneously, while some hope the issue of prevalence never arises.   On a recent episode of The Inno...

81: How to Be an Agile Social Media Agency

16 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Yes, okay, agile is a buzzword… but we do actually want to be agile, right?   Actually, agile just means a way of managing projects.   In this epi...

80: What’s Your Mobile First Strategy?

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a not often talked about aspect of agencies that’s massively important: technology.   Mobile technology, mobile strategy, and the interpl...

79: Your Pain Is Fuel: Leadership in a Crisis

02 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

78: Pivot Your Agency to Serve a Larger Audience

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you're an agency owner or a leader listening to this right now, you’re probably considering pivoting your agency — especially if you’re in a ...

77: In a Crisis, Serving Your Clients Is Everything

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

76: The 4 Pillars of Agency Authenticity & Trust

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Creativity has many facets.   It means different things depending upon the clients that your agency might serve and how you might attack creativity d...

75: Asking Clients the Hard Questions

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

74: How Esports Is Leading Generational Marketing

28 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

73: How Your Agency Can Make Money with Authority

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

72: Innovating Your Agency Revenue Model

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

71: People-Focused Leadership Means Compassion & Empathy

07 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Connecting with others through compassion and empathy...   Nobody thinks you’re a jerk when you’re trying to do this.   In fact, people will dee...

70: Developing a 5G Brand Strategy

31 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 traf...

69: A People-First Agency Transformation Strategy

24 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Transforming your agency from a long format agency to one focused on data analytics is a long, involved process.   It takes about 15 years, to be exa...

68: Marketers and Data – Back to the Future

17 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Having first-party data is one thing, but knowing what to do with it is another.   On a recent episode of The Innovative Agency, I interviewed Andrew...

67: 3 Marketing Strategies to Toss & 3 to Keep

11 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

About 15% of 2020 is already gone — making this the perfect time to review our plans and think about what’s working and what’s not.   In my vie...

66: 5 Ingredients to Agency Growth

03 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As a small, recently founded agency, committing to a growth strategy can be intimidating, to say the least.   More than likely, you’re going to ove...

65: Performance-Based Marketing w/ Robert Glazer

25 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The age-old dilemma: how to build an agency that makes sense for you plus makes you attractive to your clients.   Arguably the best form of marketing...

64: Opportunity vs. Strategy in Agency Growth

18 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ad agencies aren’t known for taking things slowly or being highly conservative. At least, a lot of the best ones aren’t.   Is that growth all coi...

63: ROI-Driven Marketing w/ Mike Krass

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you hear ROI, you’re either groaning or super excited.   These are the 3 letters that most agency owners talk about, regardless of whether their...

62: The Art & Science of Podcast Guesting

04 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You want to get into podcast guesting, but you have no idea how. (Frankly, you don’t even have a message yet, much less a brand strategy.)   You ju...

61: All Good Marketing Is Pictures And Words

28 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Advertising work doesn’t have to be sexy, shrouded in technical lingo, or confined to just one package. Actually, it’s mostly just words and pictu...

60: What Being a “Values-Based” Agency Really Means

21 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

“Values-based” is a great SEO keyword, isn’t it? It can be so much more than that, though.   If values drive your agency to the point of shapin...

59: A Brand Strategy that Cuts Through the Clutter

08 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As a marketing agency, your client’s customers are like tourists standing in Times Square, bombarded with billboards and bright lights on all sides…...

58: Selling, Marketing, and Building Brands on Amazon

01 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With 100 million Prime members in the U.S. alone, Amazon is the place to sell products online. Marketing agencies focused on Amazon can help a lot of ...

57: Lessons in Innovation from a Late Blooming Entrepreneur

25 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you can no longer scale up? Or your core business just got commoditized and now everybody thinks they can DIY it on the cheap?   Ke...

56: Content Paralysis: What It Is & How to Avoid It

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The design of a content marketing program seems simple - most agencies do it every day. But it creates challenging questions for agencies and clients:...

55: How to Navigate Transactional Client Relationships

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The marketplace has shifted. Retainers/AORs are becoming less common, and brands are moving toward project-based client/agency relationships. But that...

54: 5 Ways Agencies Can Beat In-House Marketing Teams

03 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Agency owners constantly worry about the threat of in-house agencies.   David Freedman has a few tips on what agencies can do to compete, and the go...

53: How Social Media Has Changed Agencies

25 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

“If I had time to take photographs, I wouldn't have hired a PR agency.” — Every non-agency business owner, ever. Business owners don’t care ho...

52: Why Adaptability & Resiliency are Essential to the Accidental Agency Owner w/ Indra Gardiner Bowers

04 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Are you an entrepreneur that didn’t plan on being one? This exact scenario actually plays out more than you might expect. It’s what happened to In...