We did it, everyone! We made it through 2023, and it’s gonna be smooth sailing throughout 2024! I mean, it could happen, right? Okay, I’m sure there’s good and bad in store for all of us, but through it all I’m so glad to have the Bureau community sticking with me. We share our laughs, challenges, and lots of great advice and resources with one another. Every week a selection of these go out in our newsletter, and you can sign up for our email list here. If you’ve missed it, though, here’s the best from what I shared in our December newsletters.
Strategy & Operations
There’s a lot of work to do as we close out the year, but it’s also exciting to know there’s endless opportunity stretching before us. A lot of that boils down to whether an agency wants to diversify or specialize to best help them grow. It’s usually something of a cycle, according to Bureau partner Promethean Research, and to determine what is best for you in 2024 you should carefully weigh your options.
More about strategy:
The Content Strategy Quiz (Put your strategy to the test)
Machine Learning Aided Time Tracking Review: A Business Case (Blog link)
ContentOps 2024 Boom or Bust? (Webinar video and transcript)
Marketing & Goals
Operating an agency is a little like being a mother who is constantly feeding her children with little time for herself. How and when do you focus on your own marketing activities, especially when your own needs always get bumped to the bottom of the to-do list? Punctuation gives us a useful rundown of the complexities of marketing your own shop, including understanding the costs and how to maximize your own investment to meet specific goals.
Other marketing and planning tips:
How High Performing Agencies Market Themselves (Blog link)
What Utilization (Really) Is and How to Calculate It (Blog link)
Successful Goal Planning Webinar with Jason Woodley (Bureau webinar)
Money
One of the most fundamental questions owners grapple with is understanding the true cost of the work you do, so you can bill fairly and maintain a healthy profit margin. This involves understanding project-based and direct costs as well as the seemingly endless overhead you grapple with just as a normal part of doing business. Parallax sits us down for a thorough discussion of how we can understand the full cost of doing business to help increase profitability. Check it out!
More money talk:
That’ll do it for this month, and for this year! One of my resolutions for the new year is to keep providing useful, actionable content for our community, so I hope you’ll keep an eye out for our newsletters every week. Whatever is in store, I hope you have a fantastic 2024 full of success and healthy growth, and I’ll see you back here next time!