You know something is off. Revenue is down, margins are small, biz dev seems to be taking an awful long time to close and there’s friction in your team over who’s billable…and who’s expendable. As an owner or operator, you want to start pulling levers—but which ones? The answers lie in KPIs and business dashboards.
At Vodori, a digital marketing firm in Chicago, their business performance is on display, for everyone to see, with metrics unfolding in near real time. Read on to hear how they got started, and how you can too.
Traditional agency, web shop or software company, we’re all looking for ways to do things faster, better and more profitably. As Dave Prior, Senior Consultant at LeadingAgile, tells it, process is easy. It’s culture that gets in the way. Dave joined us on The Bureau Briefing to outline some steps to help move your team and mindset towards Agile. Read on for ways to get closer to Agile to increase client satisfaction and improve relationships.
Collaboration between digital agencies has the potential to alleviate many issues shops face. But better days won’t come without a lot of thought, discussion and preparation. So what are the secrets to making collaboration work? Whether you’ve tried before or you’re just now considering the plunge, read on for best practices shared by shops in The Bureau community—they might just make you a believer.
Sometimes business development reads like a fairy tale. A hero (you, obviously) fights the good fight, beats the odds and brings back the golden goose. Other times, biz dev feels more like Oliver Twist—clinking a spoon against a sad, empty bowl, begging Mr. Bumble for some more unfulfilling gruel.
Whether you’re killing it or still working on it, read on for some biz-dev-approved books and articles to supercharge your efforts.
What makes the perfect pitch? That was the question posed at Biz Dev Camp, with Joe Rinaldi, Coach/Owner of That was Clutch, facilitating the discussion. Drawing on the collective experience and know-how of the group, we landed on several takeaways to up the ante on your next pitch.
Read on for a walk-through of the ideal pitch, play-by-play, using insights gleaned from Biz Dev Camp.
The digital services industry is changing. That is beyond doubt. What it meant to be in the industry in the late ’90s and mid-2000s and what it means to be a part of it today are hugely different. And every year, someone decides that the end is near. Sometimes it’s a member of the old guard, and sometimes it’s a member of the new.
But we’re still here. Not because they were wrong, which they were, but because we are resilient and strong. We learn and we adapt. And the digital services industry is maturing. Where will it end? We don’t know. But we do have some insights into where it’s going.
So read on!
Of the hundreds of people I’ve met who started a digital agency, almost all of them stumbled into it. But the two people on today’s show saw the web as a way to improve their lives. Living in a small Northeastern mill city, a tanking economy and failing health were taking its toll on the young couple. And then a friend told them about working in tech in Atlanta. Sherri and Reuben Johnson never looked back. Listen to part one of The Fly Media Origin Story. Listen to this episode now!
Post-Summit blues are a real thing. But in a good way. It’s sad to turn the page, but exciting to get back to the day-to-day with a fresh perspective, set new intentions and start putting takeaways to work with the team. And there’s always the promise of next year.
Read on to find out more about Owner Summit in 2019!
Imagine walking into a room of 200 people. People you’ve never met. People who don’t know you from anyone. Now imagine you have to figure out how to get them all to work together. And not just work together, but work together effectively. Because your job depends on it. Where do you start? How do you know who’s a team player and who’s a problem? And how do you answer questions from your boss like, “how long is this going to take?” and “how will we know if it’s working?” Well, that’s exactly what Garci Inigo did when he accepted a job with the National Bank of Canada.
Listen to this episode now.
If I say the word “sales” I bet a lot of you will stop readin… WAIT! Come back right now! This is important. For some reason in the digital services world, we get creeped out by that word. But this isn’t about wearing polyester and convincing you to buy the 2-year warranty that you don’t want. But it might include cold calling. And today more than ever it feels like digital agencies are maturing when it comes to how they manage not only inbound but outbound, too. So listen in as Dan Englander from Sales Schema talks about selling in a way that doesn’t make it feel gross. Nice work, Dan.
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From the beginning, digital studios large and small have leaned on contracts, SOWs, and MSAs that weren’t quite right. Either they were based on agreements that had been created for a different industry or we worked with lawyers that didn’t quite understand the nuances of the work.
Many of us rolled our own which lead to some great innovation while also exposing us to more than a few liabilities. Finally, there is a standard base level agreement for digital services. Crafted by Gabe Levine and Josh Barrett, the Bureau Standard Agreement for Digital Services is a starting point for digital agencies that has been written based on the work that we do. Listen in as Gabe and Josh talk about the origin, process, and future of this large step forward for the industry.
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It's that time of year where we're getting ready for digital agency owners from around the globe to gather at Owner Summit 2018. So what better time to share the powerful closing keynote by Lori Gold Patterson from Owner Summit 2017?
Lori is a valuable member of the Bureau Community known for her contributions in helping us better understand diversity and inclusion as well as her insights on how to run a successful digital agency. Especially when it comes to creating an empowered culture. Just watch, you'll see.
Speakers and attendees from across the globe joined us for the Digital PM Summit 2017 in Las Vegas, NV. Sessions provided a solid mix of informative, tactical, reaffirming, and inspiring content. It’s a mix that we aspire for every year, and we’re certainly planning to make The Digital PM Summit 2018 even better when we converge on Memphis, TN September 4-6, 2018. Grab your super-early bird tickets now!
Hello, and welcome to the most anticipated post of the year. We’ve been asked a bunch of times about the plans for 2018, and as you’ll see it’s an action-packed calendar. For those of you new to the Bureau, we provide events and online communities where digital professionals gather to connect with peers, explore ideas, and learn from one another. Here’s an explanation of the different types of events we’re putting on in 2018.
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“How did you get into project management?”
I recently had the pleasure of presenting a workshop on digital project management basics to a group of tech apprentices who are a part of the Urban Technology Project in Philadelphia, and someone asked me that question. I fumbled through my story in response and finally said, “I think I was always meant to do this, it just took me some time to figure that out.”
The truth of the matter is that project management was never offered as a subject when I was in school. And early on, when working at a startup, it wasn’t even a role. And, I’ll admit it: PM isn’t the sexiest or most sought-after title--particularly in our industry. But the truth of the matter is, I found the role through a series of fits and starts, and I’m pretty darn happy with where I landed. And now I feel like it’s my mission, as a part of this community, to share that story and some basic principles with people coming into their own as young professionals. Read More.
If you’ve ever ventured off on your own to start a business, or even thought about it, then you should listen to this episode. There comes a time in every entrepreneur’s journey when they think about selling the company they’ve created. But how do you do that? And is what you’ve grown even worth selling? Listen as Martin Ringlein shares his story of selling his first company to Twitter. Then leaving Twitter to join President Obama’s innovation council. All the while running a successful co-working space which he later sold. Oh, and creating a product to disrupt the event space which was also acquired. His insights, experience, and enthusiasm are more energizing, they can help you see the world of business in a new light.
Listen to the episode now.
Every year, the Bureau of Digital invites the Digital PM community to take part in two days of enlightening and inspiring presentations, interactive sessions, and social events that spark new professional connections and friendships. This year’s Digital PM Summit, which also happened to be our fifth, followed through on that invitation in spades.
If you weren’t in attendance, you were missed and we hope you can make it to a future Summit to experience the event and the community first-hand. If you’re looking for some follow-up, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for links to presentations, photos, our favorite tweets, and more. Read more.
Why is it we don't do for ourselves what we do for our clients? We know the key to success in new business is sharing the great work we do. But when we get busy we forget to tell everyone we're here. It's crucial to remember that marketing ourselves isn't a one-time effort, it's an ongoing process of outreach across multiple channels. Frustratingly, we often quit using our most successful techniques because we don't like them. Even though they worked amazingly well. Today, Ilise Benun joins us on the Bureau Briefing to talk about marketing and managing clients. We also talk about the importance of self-respect in building the companies we want. Because ultimately, marketing is about relationships with ideal clients.
And be sure to say hello to Ilise at Owner Summit 2018 in Charleston! You'll learn more great insights and connect with digital agency owners from around the world.
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If you are part of a digital agency, there has a been a discussion around launching your own product. We all talk about it. Heck, maybe you've tried to build that perfect solution in the time between client projects. But you never get traction. Or maybe you assigned a dedicated team to develop it, but that adds financial and cultural stress to a successful service business. So how do digital agencies build and launch great products? Listen in as Martijn van Tilburg shares his insights from the creation of 10,000ft.
And be sure to join us for Owner Summit 2018 in Charleston to learn more great insights and connect with digital agency owners from around the world.
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