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PODCAST

Agency Leadership Podcast

Chip Griffin and Gini Dietrich

The Agency Leadership Podcast provides insights for agency owners and executives. Co-hosts Chip Griffin and Gini Dietrich share practical advice and industry news relevant to PR and marketing agency leaders.

business management

All Episodes

20:04

Should your agency hire specialists, generalists, or...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/08/08

Chip and Gini recently spoke about the challenge of small agencies seeking to hire unicorns who excel at everything. In this episode, they look at when you should be looking for specific kinds of hires and whether they should be specialists, generalists, or fractional support. Knowing the level of expertise needed and understanding how much demand your agency will have for their time helps you to make a smarter decision about how to obtain the resources needed to serve clients and manage your

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18:21

Are you trying to hire unicorns for your agency?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/08/01

Agency owners tend to be good at a little bit of everything — that's typically how they ended up as owners in the first place. They're used to rolling up their sleeves and digging into client work, business development, management, and just about anything else that's needed. As they staff up their teams, they often look for people who can check several boxes at once. Part of it is because that's what they do, and part of it is because that's what they need. Most small agencies don't have

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21:12

Stop asking what you can delegate as an agency owner

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/07/25

Agency owners ask Chip and Gini all the time how they can figure out what to delegate — and how to do it — to free up time in their days. In this episode, they talk about why agency owners should change their mindset to assume they will delegate anything that comes across their desks — then only keep it for themselves if they can't find any viable alternative. It's a subtle but important shift in thinking that can help you get more time to work on your business or even simply get some more

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19:34

Be smart about titles at your agency

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/07/18

Have you ever given serious thought to the structure of the titles at your agency? Or have you dealt with them simply as one-off decisions with individual employees? In this episode, Chip and Gini explore how — and why — you should be more thoughtful about how you hand out titles to employees. More important, they discuss how a mindful approach to titles can help you to retain your best employees. Of course, there's also discussion around the problems that come from title inflation that can

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19:00

Are client satisfaction surveys worthwhile for agencies?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/06/20

Does your agency regularly survey your clients to see how happy they are with the services that they are receiving and how likely they are to recommend you to someone else? Is it even worth doing these surveys? That's the question that Chip and Gini explore in this week's episode. Spoiler alert: they're not big fans of formal surveys, so they offer some alternative approaches. For those who still insist on sending questions to clients, they do have some practical advice on how to make the

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20:40

Be more collaborative and less transactional with...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/06/13

Too many agencies focus on reporting the amount of time and effort that they put in on behalf of clients rather than talking about the strategy and the results it produces. When agencies tell a client how many hours were spent on work that is not billed by the hour, it serves little or no purpose. If you talk about how many reporters you pitched rather than the number of stories you generated, you are missing the point. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about the perils of transactional

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20:59

Are you getting lost in the wrong stuff as an agency...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/06/06

In this episode, Chip and Gini explore some of the things that PR and marketing agency owners focus on that probably aren't worth the time. For example, do you fret over fractional days off taken by employees or trading out paid holidays when a new one gets widespread recognition? Getting lost in the weeds — especially the wrong ones — can really hold back your agency's growth and negatively impact employee retention, so Chip and Gini offer some advice on how to combat the urge when it

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19:09

Is business slowing down for agencies in 2023?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/05/30

Chip and Gini get asked frequently about the state of the economy, the prospects of a recession, and what it means for agency owners. Not just now in 2023, but all the time. For years. But what is the state of things right now, in Q2 of 2023? The co-hosts explore what they're hearing and seeing from agencies that they're talking to. If prospects are being more cautious and more risk-averse, what does that mean for the length of agency sales cycles and the types of projects that are more

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19:09

The challenges of project-focused agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/05/23

While many agencies believe that recurring revenue is the answer to all of their problems, the reality is that many agencies become quite successful by generating most of their income from individual projects. However, project work comes with a unique set of challenges, especially as it relates to dealing with clients who may end up inadvertently delaying completion of a project. The unpredictability of resourcing and revenue that these delays can create mean that agency owners need to find

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25:16

Setting AI policies for your agency

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/05/17

In this episode, Chip and Gini review the recently released PR Council guidelines for the use of generative AI by agencies. They explore which elements small agencies might consider adopting, as well as identifying others that may warrant more of a "wait and see" approach. As the use of AI by communicators continues to expand, there will be many thorny issues to navigate. The PR Council guidelines provide a useful starting point for some of these discussions.

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24:24

Micromanage your way to agency failure

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/05/09

Agency owners often micromanage their employees without even realizing it. They think that they are merely seeking better results, when in fact, they are slowing things down and demoralizing their teams. When Chip and Gini speak with many owners, they express frustration with how many hours they work and how they can't spend enough time on building the business because they are so deeply in the weeds. The reality is that leaders need to trust their team members to do a good job — and then

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20:18

An honest conversation about agency owner compensation

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/05/03

In this episode, Chip and Gini offer up some tough love for many agency owners who aren't compensating themselves fairly. The co-hosts discuss the need for two income streams: compensation for work provided to the agency and profit-taking as a reward for entrepreneurial risk. They talk about the different ways that owners can take compensation, the value of getting professional advice, and specific areas where they have seen owners miss opportunities.

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21:34

Helping agency employees to improve their PR skills

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/04/25

Most public relations agencies hire employees with a mix of experience. Some already have a proven track record in generating media coverage, while others have only just begun to learn the ropes. In this episode, Chip and Gini explore how agency leaders can help their team members to develop the skills and knowledge needed to produce excellent results for clients. The key is understanding the needs and learning styles of each individual so that the appropriate type and level of support can

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21:07

Weekly 1:1 meetings make a big difference for your...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/04/18

It's no secret that Chip rants about the importance of weekly 1:1 meetings between agency managers and their direct reports. So he and GIni dedicated this episode entirely to the topic — including why they matter and how to run them correctly. This isn't simply a checkbox that you need to tick off, it needs to become a fundamental part of the culture of your agency if you want to see the best performance from your team and the best results for your clients (and your business).

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20:52

References and case studies for your agency

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/04/04

Another day, another rant from Chip and Gini. This time they have references and case studies on their minds. The co-hosts come down firmly against spending time developing and publishing case studies, explaining that agencies are better off demonstrating expertise in conversations with prospects by tying past experiences to current challenges. When it comes to references, both Chip and Gini have regularly provided them in the past. However, they both question the value of them — as well as

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21:24

The 2023 Banking Crisis and what it means for your...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/03/28

The past few weeks have been full of headlines about bank runs, government takeovers, and financial pandemonium. Even if you don't use Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse, or any of the other banks at the center of the news, there could be broader implications for banks and the overall economy. How long it will last and what it all means remain open questions at the time of this episode, but Chip and Gini tackle what is known and how agencies should be thinking about what they should be

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24:04

Expanding the service offerings of your media...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/03/21

Chip and Gini frequently hear from PR agency owners who want to move beyond just offering media relations services, but aren't sure how best to do it. They may love the idea of Gini's PESO Model, but they also recognize that they probably can't get there all at once. In this episode, Chip and Gini share some of their tips for how to supplement media relations services and better position yourself for success in an environment in which media hits are harder to come by and clients expect a

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15:30

Keeping an eye on your agency's finances

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/03/14

Agency owners can be reluctant to involve employees or contractors in managing financial aspects of their businesses, especially anything that involves access to bank accounts or credit cards. The concern is understandable, especially with recent examples of even large agency financial team members stealing from their firms. Chip and Gini argue that the solution isn't to hold on to these administrative tasks yourself, but rather to set up some reasonable controls coupled with periodic

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15:02

Think twice about seeking awards for your agency

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/02/28

Most agencies love awards. Larger agencies even have teams devoted to seeking them. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss why the time and money spent on awards may be misplaced. They even have a suggestion for those of you who may disagree so that you can make a more informed decision about your future investment in awards.

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19:39

Do you need a new tool for [whatever]?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/02/22

Like many of us, agency owners can fall into the trap of believing that tools solve problems. The reality is that we use tools to implement the processes that solve problems. Rather than falling in love with the latest and greatest, start by understanding what you want the tool to do for you. Whether you are considering switching project management systems or implementing a new time tracking program or just exploring some new innovation you just heard about, the advice that Gini and

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179 results

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