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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

19:55

Agencies and Twitter in 2022

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/11/09

What should agencies advise clients with regard to Twitter today? It has obviously been a very turbulent couple of weeks since Elon Musk took over, but what does that mean for communicators? Chip and Gini explore this question that they have been hearing from many agency leaders in recent days. They emphasize the need to understand what is right for individual clients and their target audiences rather than substituting our own personal points of view. There are lessons to be learned from what is

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26:20

Avoid misusing agency KPIs

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/11/02

It's great to have goals and objectives — both for your agency and for your team members. But many agency leaders don't set and implement them correctly. Chip and Gini explain how bad KPIs can be worse than no KPIs, as well as what you can do to make sure that your goals are actually reasonable. You will find no shortage of advice on KPIs, OKRs, SMART goals, and all sorts of other trendy topics, but this episode should help you cut through some of the fluff and get to the point of what really

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20:20

Helping your agency's new managers

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/10/18

As small agencies grow, individual team members usually begin to take on direct reports — often for the first time in their careers. These newly-minted managers need mentorship and support to excel. Owners need to make sure that they set aside time and resources to help these talented individuals develop the skills that they need. Chip and Gini share some of their experiences, including things you may want to avoid with inexperienced managers and some areas where you should focus your efforts for

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21:53

Taking your agency global

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/10/12

Have you ever considered expanding to other countries, either by hiring help or signing up clients outside your current borders? Chip and Gini share some of their experiences in working internationally as an agency, including things that you should consider before you take the leap and the benefits of doing so. The co-hosts answer some common questions they get from agency owners, and they talk about some of the challenges that they have encountered along the way (and how they handled them).

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20:59

The Truth Behind Agency Feast-or-Famine

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/10/04

Many small agencies experience revenue peaks and valleys and wonder how they can break out of the "feast or famine" cycle. In this episode, Chip and Gini explore the real cause of the revenue roller-coaster and what agency owners can (and should) do about it. The co-hosts share some of their own experiences and the advice they received years ago — and why it still applies today.

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20:05

Charging clients for internal agency staff time

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/09/28

If you have listened to Chip and Gini's advice in the past, you are carefully tracking your team's time to understand how much it costs you to serve your clients. One of the things that you might discover is that you're spending a lot of time on internal meetings and conversations — something that you may not have considered when you set the initial price for the engagement. What do you do now? A recent question from an agency owner wondered if they would need to double a client's retainer to

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21:16

The One Magic Agency Business Metric

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/09/20

Wouldn't it be great if there was a single metric that you could use to measure the health of your agency business? You could set one KPI to keep an eye on and ensure that you were successful. Unfortunately, no silver bullet exists. In this episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast, Chip and Gini discuss some of the more popular "single number" metrics that some advocate — and then explain why they may not be the best for your purposes. Don't worry, Chip and Gini also talk about what you should be

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19:31

Fractional C-level help for agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/09/14

Does your agency need a fractional CFO, COO, or head of HR? That's the question that Chip and Gini explore in this week's episode — along with follow-up questions of what to look for in these outside advisors. These fractional roles have become popular positioning tactics, including for agencies themselves who may position their offering as a Fractional CMO service. But is it more than marketing-speak? And what is the right way to get the help that you need as an agency leader?

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18:59

From laid off to you're the boss

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/09/06

Many agencies got started when their owners were laid off from their full-time jobs. Rather than looking for a new full-time gig, it can be tempting to grab some freelance contracts and see if you can make it out on your own. It's not a bad idea — especially if you have some severance and access to COBRA health insurance (here in the U.S.). But is it really a good idea? Can you take freelance work and look for a new job at the same time? How do you test the waters without challenging your own

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25:06

What to think about when starting your agency

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/08/23

Maybe the Great Resignation has you thinking about hanging out your own shingle. Or perhaps your dream has always been to own your own agency. However you got to this point, you likely have questions and concerns about running your own firm. Recently, Chip and Gini have been fielding questions from some who are in the same place. Do I have what it takes to drive sales? Do I need to specialize or can I be a generalist? Is it too risky to take the leap? These are just some of the questions that are

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18:14

Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/08/15

Agency owners love to ask what others are charging or what services they are providing. They dig into the competition for insight on their own planning. Chip and Gini argue that while competitive intelligence can be helpful, it should be one of the last steps in the process, not the first. Figure out the pricing that works for your cost structure and delivers the profit margin you want. Test it with prospects to see if it works. If it doesn't, see how you can tweak it. If it works, try increasing

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21:11

Understanding the cost of agency business development

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/08/08

A recent post by a member of the Spin Sucks Community raised the topic of calculating the cost of winning new clients — and determining how to account for that expense properly. "Any thoughts on how to account for the time spent on proposals (calls and revisions) to get a job? I’m the one that has to do the work. When I’m doing that, it’s 'lost time' for me. My first thought is to see how many hours I’ve spent in the first half of the year and then see how that is accounted for in my profitability

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20:06

How to allocate your client's PESO budget

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/07/27

Agencies commonly get asked how much they should spend on one tactic or another. Clients and agencies alike also ask what percentage of their budgets should be spent on each element of the PESO model. In this episode, Chip and Gini explore how agencies should approach this question, both when developing their own strategies for clients as well as for helping to guide the client on their overall communications planning.

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21:16

Measuring (and reporting) your agency's results for...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/07/19

A question recently popped up in the Spin Sucks Community for an organization looking to implement a communications measurement program for the first time. Chip and Gini took the opportunity to explore how to set up useful reporting for client work, as well has how your agency can communicate those results most effectively to your clients. Measurement isn't easy, but it doesn't need to be hard either. There are lots of great resources available. This episode will help you to build or improve your

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21:41

What value do clients believe your agency provides?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/07/12

Do you know what your clients really value from their relationship with your agency? Often we know that we are creating real value for a client, but it isn't always aligned with the value that they see. For example, clients may be looking to get something off of their own plates or relieving some logistical headache more than the actual results you produce. In other cases, they may be looking for external validation or a fresh set of eyes. The more you understand about why a prospect decides to

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19:59

Agencies and the possible Recession of 2022

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/06/29

Chip and Gini put this talk off for as long as they could, but many listeners have come to them during the past few weeks asking if they believe a recession is likely and what they should do to prepare their agencies for one. The truth is that the things that you should do to prepare for a possible recession are the same things that you should be doing to run a successful agency during the good times. The only difference is that you might want to be slightly more cautious and build in just a

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22:39

Bidding wars for agency talent

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/06/20

How should you handle it when one of your agency's employees — or prospective new hires — comes to you and asks you to match another offer? Or perhaps they approach you and tell you that they need to get a significant pay raise so that they aren't "forced" to go into the marketplace to try to find opportunities that pay more. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss how to approach these requests, whether you are in a super tight talent market like we see today or even in more "normal" times.

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22:04

Should your agency hire contractors or employees?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/06/08

The conversation about hiring traditional employees or independent contractors has been a popular one in the agency community for a long time. Some advocate the flexibility of using contractors and the ability to stop working with them without incurring unemployment insurance costs. Others promote employees as a better solution because they help create a real team atmosphere and are willing to do more for success than outside contractors. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the merits of some

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22:50

Handling clients who disagree with your agency's advice

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/06/03

Sometimes clients just won't take their agency's expert advice. There's nothing inherently wrong with that — after all, we can only offer advice. But how should you handle it when they ignore your recommended course of action? When should you push back — and how should you do it? Chip and Gini explore this topic and talk about the importance of understanding the root cause of the client's objection or desire to proceed differently. With that information in hand, it becomes much easier to figure

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18:30

Sharing your agency's internal work product with clients

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2022/05/24

Agency clients often ask for things like media lists, Photoshop files, raw research, and access to internal software tools. How much of this material should you be willing to share? How should you decide where to draw the line? In this episode of the Agency Leadership Podcast, Chip and Gini pick up a question from the Spin Sucks Community to dive into this topic. They started out with some degree of disagreement, but as usual ended up more in agreement than they first thought.

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