I was speaking with a marketing agency recently about what they do and who they do it for. As I spoke with them, I was looking at their website. Their website had generic pages like “SEO services” and “Digital Transformation”, but didn’t actually say anything about the types of work they do – or who (brand, vertical, industry) specifically they create the best results for. When I asked them about it, they said “Oh yeah, you know the cobbler’s kids….
Looking for a new digital marketing agency that can accelerate your results and get you more website traffic? Schedule a free marketing evaluation with our team to meet the right agencies fast. In this economy, you can’t afford not to. It’s fast, free, and we get it right. Matching brands with agencies is literally what we do. [This post is updated annually to add and remove ways to drive traffic to your site. It was last updated May 2023.] You…
We live in a fascinating time. Perhaps you grew a few affiliate sites organically, went on to help a couple of friends get that #1 spot on search engines, and… boom! -you decided to start an SEO agency. You know you can get results & can convince potential clients of the same. However, this is no individual work; now, you are in the agency business. Here, understanding the client’s business thoroughly & understanding their goals and reasons behind hiring your…
As an agency, your business grows when one of a few things happens: You get more leads and close more of them You retain clients for a longer period of time You trim back expenses Let’s be honest first, getting more leads and closing more of them is really hard. We all wish there were a magic button labeled ‘New Leads,’ but if you’ve been trying to increase leads to your site, you know it’s just a lot of…
Over the years Credo’s been contacted by quite a few entrepreneurs and new agency owners who are signing new clients and looking to find contractors to deliver the work. I’ll be upfront and say that if someone is looking for contractors, Credo is not a good fit for them. We mostly work with best-in-class digital agencies, not contractors, and we have helped a few agencies of record find another agency to run a specific channel that the AOR does not…
When I come across service businesses, especially agencies, that are struggling to grow it’s usually because processes are not in place to allow them to scale. Whether it’s a marketing process, a payroll process, or a sales process, getting these squared away in your business will only make it more sane, more profitable, and incredibly better to run. In this episode I talk about an agency I spoke with where I helped them rework their sales process to great effect….
I hear from way too many service businesses who haven’t raised their rates in way too long. Some of them, their teams are even begging them to raise their rates! So here’s the newest episode of the CredoCast. Why you should raise your prices as a service business. We cover: How you’re losing money (not just not making it) every year if you’re not Why higher rates leads to happier and more successful clients How to raise your rates so…
Note: I plan to update this post over time with new polls done to help the digital marketing industry understand how the industry is being affected as well as when it begins to come back. Most recent number: 82.9% of respondents have seen a decrease in leads over the last two weeks as of April 7, 2020. Right now a lot of digital marketing agencies and consultants are facing uncertain times, and it’s unclear when everything will shake out. I…
Dear reader, Well, we’re in weird times right now aren’t we? I’m only 35 so I wasn’t really paying attention to the broader world during the economic crash in 2000/2001, didn’t really think about SARS when it was ongoing, and I had just started my first professional job 3 weeks before the 2008 recession began. Interestingly, that company about doubled in size during that recession and I learned a few things. Right now, with the COVID-19 virus spreading and the…
If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years in business, it’s that people are always more optimistic than they think they are. Most (many?) businesses start because the founder saw something they needed and decided to build it after they couldn’t find it. We’re always looking for solutions to problems that we have, and sometimes they exist and sometimes they don’t. Check out the “request for product” search on Twitter: With this in mind, I’ve learned that there…
Something I find myself thinking about a lot recently is the growth of certain industries and types of businesses. For example, when we look at the growth of Software As A Service (SaaS) as a topic over the last 15 years we see this: But when we compare that against e-commerce, we get a very different picture of its actual size: To bring the example back closer to home, let’s look at how [search engine optimization] as a topic compares:…
Are you constantly being asked for services that you don’t offer but do not have a great place to send them? If so, then this episode is for you. In it, I unpack the different ways you can sell services that your agency doesn’t offer while also being transparent with your client and making more money for your agency if you do it right. If you’re trying to close more consulting clients, check out our free guide to it – https://www.getcredo.com/sales-framework/…
Have you ever been speaking with a prospective customer but along the way they started disengaging or not really understanding what you are talking about? We often think that sales and marketing are about directly explaining what it is we do in technical terms. Digital marketers are especially guilty of this. If you’ve experienced this, then today’s episode is for you. If you’re not telling relevant stories to your prospects, then you’re going to have way worse close rates than…
One question I’ve been asked a few times is why marketing firms get fired. And really, it’s not super complicated but what I’ve observed over the last few years is that there are three main reasons. And in this episode, I talk about the three most common in order which are: Failure to communicate effectively Failure to deliver on time Failure to get results I also mention at the end that if you’re struggling to get prospects into your sales…
We’re back with a brand new Credo Podcast episode! I took a few months off from recording these because my daughter arrived in mid-April 2019 and I’ve been heads down with Credo as we work to change a lot of things and move forward into the future! This episode is all about selling marketing retainers, which are singlehandedly the best way to build a sustainable service business that is not a lead eating machine. PS if your business IS a lead…
Psychological triggers. Discovery calls. Pain points. Active listening and getting internal stakeholders to be your internal influencers and sales champions when selling enterprise deals. Hopefully you’re intrigued by this stuff, because if you’re a marketing service business owner (whether independent or with employees) your business will live and die based on how good your sales process. Lucky for you, I brought on one of the best at teaching service business owners onto the Credo podcast, and today here is that…
Make sure to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify for a new episode every Thursday! A couple of months ago, I was on an airplane in Portugal getting ready to take off. I wasn’t the pilot but I did have a window seat (rare for me as I usually prefer the aisle). As I tend to do on planes, I was listening to a podcast and doing some work. I was technically on vacation, but we hadn’t landed in our location yet…
Looking for a new ppc agency who can accelerate your results? Schedule a free marketing evaluation with our team to meet the right agencies fast. In this economy, you can’t afford not to. It’s fast, free, and we get it right. Matching brands with agencies is literally what we do. Since 2015, we’ve seen 6,500+ companies come through Credo with the goal of hiring a marketing agency. In this time, one fascinating trend has come up time and time again….
Are you struggling to close enough of the leads you’re receiving into business? While some marketers just get referral business and can close those with very little effort, when you’re in growth mode or trying to close bigger contracts you need a sales process that works for you. There are four main reasons we see here at Credo that agencies and consultants struggle to close work, even when that referral is super warm and actively looking to work with someone….
Let me tell you about my friend Travis. He came to Credo in August 2017 looking to hire an agency. He signed with a Credo agency on January 28, 2019. That’s right, it was 17 months from the time I first spoke with Travis until he signed with an agency. And why did he ultimately end up signing with someone we referred him to? Because I kept following up with him every month, without fail, while they were working through…
Let me tell you a story. A few months ago I was speaking with a Credo agency during our monthly catchup. Per usual, we were going through the clients we had sent them in the recent past and discussing them. We do these monthly with our Preferred agencies, and often they turn into consulting sessions once we’re through the business side. This particular agency told me that their billing process worked this way: Client signs contract Agency sends content ideas…
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