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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

21:31

Avoiding time-wasting in your agency

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2024/02/14

Are you and your agency team spending too much time writing proposals, creating capabilities decks, and building brand personas? It may seem productive, but clients value results - and so should you. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss how to get your agency's time under control and offer advice on managing business development and project management to avoid the unnecessary and focus on real value creation.

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22:44

What recent media layoffs mean for PR agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2024/02/07

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss the recent wave of layoffs in the media industry and its implications for PR agencies. They explore the challenges of securing earned media in a landscape with fewer journalists and offer insights on evolving strategies to effectively reach target audiences through alternative channels. Emphasizing the importance of setting realistic client expectations and embracing creativity, they highlight the need for agencies to adapt and innovate amidst industry

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22:38

Did your agency have a rough 2023?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2024/01/30

A lot of agencies have told Chip and Gini that 2023 was a bad year for them. Fellow agency adviser Karl Sakas posted on LinkedIn that he has been asked if it was bad for everyone. In this episode, Chip and Gini share their perspectives — along with things that positioned some agencies for success in what many experienced as a down year. Whether you had a good or bad year, there are lessons to take away to make 2024 and future years more successful.

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17:31

Agencies succeed through consistency and evolution

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2024/01/23

When Gini shared in a recent episode that her success has come from doing the same thing for 15 years, a listener pointed out that she has continued to evolve. The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the best agencies usually combine the two. Rather than chasing trends, successful agencies consistently produce excellent results for a well-defined set of clients. At the same time, these high-performing agencies continue to evolve and adapt as tools and techniques change. In this

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21:35

Are digital agencies dead?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2024/01/10

The Wall Street Journal recently suggested that the era of digital agencies may be over. It's not that digital services are no longer required, but the label for agencies may no longer make sense. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about the need for agencies to find a sustainable focus and be cautious of riding the wave of the latest type of "hot" agency — including digital, social media, cannabis, crypto, and many others that have come and gone. As digital services become table stakes

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22:16

Beware easy-to-sell but hard-to-serve clients for...

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2024/01/02

It's not uncommon to hear agency owners talk about wanting to target small businesses because there are so many of them and you can talk with the decision-maker more easily. While it may be an appealing target, there are reasons to be cautious. There's a good chance that you will be dealing with the owner, which can help lead to a faster sale since they may treat it as an impulse purchase. On the flip side, every penny you get is out of the owner's pocket so they will be scrutinizing results

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19:07

Small agencies should beware the big brands

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/12/13

It seems so alluring to be able to put a Fortune 500 logo on your agency's website. Many of us dream of the creative things that we can do for these household names. Yet often these big brands end up being bad deals for small agencies. They are time-consuming to sell, difficult to service, and often subject to onerous contractual terms. In this episode, Chip and Gini take a look at the appeal presented by these opportunities, along with the risk that they present.

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17:19

How to motivate your agency's freelancers

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/12/05

In this episode, Chip and Gini take a question from the SAGA Community on Slack about ways to motivate freelancers just as you do with employees. The reality is that freelancers and employees aren't the same and contractors should treat your agency as a client and produce excellent results — just the same way you do for your own clients. The real question ought to be how to engage freelancers more effectively, and that comes down to clear communication. As long as both parties understand

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21:30

The value of outside perspective to agency owners

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/11/28

It's easy for all of us to get stuck inside our own heads. Having someone we trust who can help to provide some independent insight and challenge our own beliefs can be very helpful. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about why it is important for agency owners to have someone outside of the business — a mentor, consultant, coach, friend, or even another agency owner — who can help to play that role. In addition to getting a different opinion and perspective, that individual can help hold you

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24:45

Hidden overservicing by agency employees

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/11/15

If you're anything like Chip and Gini, you have discovered employees doing work for clients that is outside of the scope of work you have agreed to. There are many reasons for this behavior and this episode explores those as well as potential solutions. Whether your team just wants to make clients happy, enjoys doing some work more than others, or simply isn't aware of the actual scope of work for a project, you will get some practical tips on what to do — as well as a bit of reassurance

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24:42

What to do when your agency needs new revenue NOW

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/11/07

Most small agencies at some point experience the sinking feeling of losing a whale client or seeing a sudden sharp reduction in revenue. When you get that kind of news, what do you do? That's what Chip and Gini discuss on this week's episode — especially for agencies that may not have an active pipeline of prospects in place. Ramping up revenue quickly means focusing on the right things and not wasting time on tactics that will only pay off in the long-term (if ever).

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26:00

Real talk about agency websites

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/11/01

Many agencies overvalue their websites and spend too much time thinking about and working on them. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about what matters — and what doesn't — when it comes to your website design and content. They share some of their experience about the areas in which the most time (and money) get wasted and how to make sure that you get the best ROI possible on your agency's website.

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22:15

Chaos is not a virtue for agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/10/25

Agency leaders need to stop casually discussing the chaotic environment common to so many agencies. Too often you will hear firm owners and others talk about agencies as hectic and fast-paced environments. Chip and Gini have had enough of this talk — and they both admit that they, too, used to embrace the idea that it was an unavoidable circumstance for agency life. Chaos is the sign of a problem that needs to be solved, not an acceptable condition that leaders and their teams should

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22:22

The rising salary demands of agency employees

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/10/19

With labor costs usually accounting for the largest share of agency expenses, it is no surprise that owners are particularly sensitive to any indication that salaries might be creeping up. Recent conversations that Chip and Gini have had with agency leaders suggest that both prospective hires and current employees are asking for much higher salaries than many owners feel comfortable paying. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about why salary expectations are on the rise and what agencies

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21:49

Setting expectations for agency clients

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/10/04

One of the biggest sources of friction between agencies and clients comes from mismatched expectations. Too often agency leaders don't do enough to set realistic expectations during the business development phase of the relationship. It's exciting to get a deal done so we often allow prospective clients to entertain inflated expectations without correcting them — or to avoid discussion of expectations altogether. Chip and Gini explain that for healthy, sustainable relationships with

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25:16

Should AI upend your agency business model today?

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/27

In this episode, Chip and Gini react to a blog post from their friend Christopher S. Penn who writes and speaks frequently and intelligently on new trends in communications and technology. In his piece, Chris argued that agencies should review their business model and pricing structure in response to AI developments in 2023. While the co-hosts see artificial intelligence as a force that will (and already is) impacting agencies, they're not on board with a wholesale change to agency models as a

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23:17

Getting agency-client contracts done right

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/19

Chip and Gini understand the excitement of closing a deal and the desire that agencies have to just get started with the creative process. But it's important to get the contracting process done right, including setting the best terms and having a signature before any work gets going. In this episode, Chip and Gini talk about some of the common mistakes that they have seen agency owners make with contracts and how to go about it in the best way.

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23:43

The aftermath of firing agency employees for cause

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/12

In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss when you should (and shouldn't) terminate an employee for cause. They explain the perils of allowing emotion to impact termination decisions and how you should approach these difficult circumstances. When an employee is terminated for cause, it can also cause agency leaders to wonder if they can trust others, so Chip and Gini explore the ramifications of that fear.

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22:16

The value of employee exit interviews for agencies

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/09/06

All agencies experience turnover, so it makes sense to have a process for when employees leave. The exit interview is an important part of that sequence. In this episode, Chip and Gini discuss best practices for conducting effective exit interviews, including who should run them and what they should include. The co-hosts also offer advice on the importance of ongoing employee communication to avoid surprises in the exit interviews that could have been avoided.

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21:21

Let's talk about bad agency pitches

Agency Leadership Podcast ·

2023/08/29

Chip and Gini are tired of all of the bad pitches from agencies that they find in their inboxes. They simply can't take any more. In this episode, they examine some of the really poor sales emails and pitches to have guests on their podcasts that they have seen lately. It's time for agencies to knock it off and put more thought into how they pitch themselves and their clients.

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179 results

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