Tag Archive for: Book Writing

Agency Veteran Drew McLellan on How to Increase Agency Profitability

Are you a new agency owner? Do you have an agency that’s been around a while but isn’t growing?

In today’s episode I interview Drew McLellan. Drew has owned a marketing agency for almost 20 years, and has revenue of over $2.5 million per year. He is also the founder of the Agency Management Institute which advises other small and medium size agencies on how to increase profitability.

Drew McLellanDrew has found that many agency owners start out because they are really good at a particular marketing craft. Once they go from being a practitioner to an owner, they find themselves swimming in waters of overwhelm dealing with all the things they don’t know.  Listen in for powerful advice on growing a successful agency by focusing on the mechanics of the business.

We finish off the interview talking about how to crowd source books which can be a huge boon to your business.

Listen now and you’ll hear Drew and I talk about:

  • (03:00) Introduction
  • (05:00) What type of agencies do you work with?
  • (07:00) What advice would you give to new agency owners?
  • (12:00) How should a solo agency owner make the the transition to team building?
  • (16:00) Should agencies focus more on inbound or outbound?
  • (27:30) Why is having processes so important for agency owners?
  • (33:00) How does one crowd source a book?
  • (39:00) How many authors contributed to each book?

Resources Mentioned

More About This Episode

The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business.

It’s designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today – all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big.

Listen Now

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Connect with Trent Dyrsmid:

About Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan has worked in advertising for 25+ years and started his own agency, McLellan Marketing Group in 1995 after a five-year stint at Y&R.

He also owns and runs Agency Management Institute (AMI), which offers agency management training, consulting and facilitates agency owner peer networks for small to mid sized agencies (advertising, digital, marketing, media and PR) so they can increase their AGI by at least 25%, attract better clients and employees and best of all — exceed the agency owner’s life/financial goals.

Drew’s agency was a member of the organization for years before Drew acquired AMI and began to run it full-time.

He launched his agency’s blog in 2006 and it has been on the AdAge Top 150 from the list’s inception. His first book, 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing, was published in 2003 and Drew and Australian marketer Gavin Heaton created the Age of Conversation series of crowdsourced books in 2007. To date, the AOC series has raised over $50,000 for charity. Drew launched the AMR blog in 2012 and hopes it will be a great resource to agency leaders.

Drew’s often interviewed/quoted in Entrepreneur Magazine, New York Times, CNN, BusinessWeek, and many others. The Wall Street Journal calls him “one of 10 bloggers every entrepreneur should read.”

When he’s not hanging out with agency owners/staff, Drew spends time with his family and pondering why the Dodgers can’t seem to get back to the World Series.

Drew has a Master’s Degree from the University of Minnesota but alas, he cannot remember their fight song.

Digital Marketing Strategy: Joe Mechlinski on How He Built a Multi-Million Dollar Management Consulting Firm

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One of Joe Mechlinski’s favorite things to ask is, “How can we add value now?” Joe built his management consulting firm into a multi-million dollar business by providing tremendous value for his clients, helping them achieve significant growth in their companies.

Joe shares many of his strategies in his New York Times bestselling book, Grow Regardless: Of Your Business’s Size, Your Industry, or the Economy… and Despite the Government!

Digital marketing strategy forms a cornerstone of Joe’s success.  He shares with us what he did to make the launch of his book a success, as well as how he uses content marketing in his own business.

Of course, that only scratches the surface of the good ideas that Joe shares in this interview.

Listen now and you’ll hear Joe and I talk about:

  • (01:55) Introduction
  • (03:25) His bio and background
  • (06:10) How they got started in business
  • (08:55) How they dealt with their worst month ever
  • (12:55) How to position yourself to charge a retainer
  • (15:55) How they got their early clients
  • (18:55) Where you can be most successful first
  • (23:25) Overview of how they positioned themselves to command value pricing
  • (27:55) Why having 3 business goals was a big challenge and what they did about it
  • (30:55) Overview of Content Marketing strategy
  • (34:55) Overview of Book Launch success

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Resources Mentioned

More About This Episode

The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business.

It’s designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today – all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big.

Listen Now

Leave some feedback:

Connect with Trent Dyrsmid:

About Joe Mechlinski

joemechlinski-headshotJoe Mechlinski is the co-founder and president of entreQuest, a business development firm that helps increase revenue for small-to-midsized businesses.

He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Grow Regardless: Of Your Business’s Size, Your Industry or the Economy… and Despite the Government!

An Interview with Laura Ries On How to Create a Visual Hammer

In her father Al Ries’ legendary marketing book, Positioning, Al talked about the importance of owning a word in your prospect’s mind.

Trouble is, humans are visual, so most often we need some kind of image to help us get to the word.

For example, what do you think of when I say Geico, Afflack, or Twitter? I’ll bet you just thought of a gecko, a duck, and a little blue bird, didn’t you?

My guest on the show today is Laura Ries, author of several marketing books (the latest of which is Visual Hammer) and co-founder of the consulting firm Ries & Ries (along with her father, Al Ries). Laura has appeared on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, CNN Headline, to name just a few.

In this interview, you are going to hear Laura and I talk about:

  • her new book Visual Hammer
  • what a visual hammer is and why it’s important
  • how to create your own hammer
  • how writing books has played a huge role in the growth of their consulting firm
  • her process for writing a book
  • how to use PR to help build your brand
  • why PR has become a replacement for advertising

And so much more…

Links Mentioned

Positioning by Al Ries
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Visual Hammer by Laura Ries
Ries Consulting
Zite

More About This Episode

The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business.

It’s designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today – all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big.

Listen Now

Leave some feedback:

Connect with Trent Dyrsmid:

About Laura Ries

Laura 4 (9061)5x7Laura Ries is a leading branding strategist, bestselling author and television personality.

In 1994, Laura founded Ries & Ries with her father and partner Al Ries, the legendary Positioning-pioneer. Together they consult with companies around the world on brand strategy.

With Al, Laura is the co-author of five books on branding that have been worldwide bestsellers. Her first solo book, Visual Hammer was released in March 2012.

Laura is a frequent marketing analyst on major news programs from the O’Reilly Factor to Squawk Box to the Today Show. In addition, Laura writes her own popular blog RiesPieces.com and Twitter feed @lauraries.

Along with her husband and two sons, Laura is a resident of Atlanta, Georgia. Laura enjoys many outdoor activities such as horseback riding, swimming, triathlons, snow skiing.

 

How to Deal with Adversity with Ray Hilbert

As entrepreneurs, it’s a pretty regular part of our journey to have to deal with adversity. The problem is that sometimes, the challenges we face can leave us feeling totally overwhelmed, confused, and alone.

If we are to be successful when dark times like this appear, we need to quickly move past them – but how do we do it?

In this episode of the Bright Ideas podcast, I’m joined by Ray Hilbert, co-author of the best selling business book, “The Janitor”. I read Ray’s book a few years ago and absolutely loved it, so when I had a chance to have Ray on the show, I couldn’t pass it up.

During the conversation that I had with Ray, you are going to hear us talk about:

  • how he nearly lost all his money and his marriage when things in one of his companies went really bad
  • how the period of adversity led him to make some pretty big realizations and what he did as a result
  • the new organization that he created and how this organization is helping over 700 other business owners to succeed
  • the six principles in his book
  • and so much more….

If you are experiencing a challenging time in your business or your life then Ray’s book, and this interview, are well worth checking out.

More About This Episode

The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business.

It’s designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today – all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big.

Listen Now

Leave some feedback:

Connect with Trent Dyrsmid:

About Ray Hilbert

RayHilbertRay is the CEO and Co-Founder of TRUTH @ WORK, a not-for-profit ministry, founded in 1998, whose mission is to “change the way America works by bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the marketplace.” Truth@Work specializes in helping Christian business owners and leaders build strong organizations and integrate their faith into the marketplace, through leadership and business development programs that are built on biblical principles and practices.

Ray is also a highly sought after speaker at churches and retreats across America, where for years he has challenged followers of Christ to integrate their faith in and through the marketplace on a daily basis.

He is also part of the speaking faculty for Orlando, Florida based “Man In the Mirror” ministry where he conducts seminars and retreats across the country.

Along with his close friend Todd Hopkins, Ray has co-authored a novel titled “The Janitor-How An Unexpected Friendship Transformed A CEO And His Company.” It has already become an international bestseller in South Korea, with over 350,000 copies sold and hit U.S. shelves in July 2007 through Thomas Nelson publishers. The book features the story of a young CEO mentored by a godly janitor who teaches the struggling young business executive the true definition of success and business.

You can learn more about Ray and contact him at rayhilbert.com.

How to Self Publish, Maximize Sales, and Dramatically Boost Your Social Media Following with Guy Kawasaki

Have you ever thought of writing a book? Doing so can lead to valuable brand awareness and speaking engagements.

Would you like to hear first hand from the author of 12 books, the exact step-by-step process you need to follow to get it right?

Would you like to learn the top guerrilla marketing tactics you should be using to maximize sales for your book?

In this episode of the Bright Ideas podcast, I’m joined by Guy Kawasaki, the author of 12 books, a technology evangelist, and well known social media personality with over 4,000,000 followers.

 

During Guy and I’s discussion, you are going to hear us talk about:

  • his book APE and why he wrote it
  • the challenges that non-fiction writers face when it comes to self publishing
  • the top guerrilla marketing strategies that you must use to maximize sales for your book
  • how to use curation to dramatically boost your social media following
  • how curation and SEO fit together
  • how to use Twitter to become known to experts in your niche
  • why Google+ might be a better platform for you than Facebook
  • and so much more…

Check out Guy and I’s interview now. You’ll be glad you did!

More About This Episode

The Bright Ideas podcast is the podcast for business owners and marketers who want to discover how to use online marketing and sales automation tactics to massively grow their business.

It’s designed to help marketing agencies and small business owners discover which online marketing strategies are working most effectively today – all from the mouths of expert entrepreneurs who are already making it big.

Watch Now

Leave some feedback:

Connect with Trent Dyrsmid:

About Guy Kawasaki

GuyKawasakiGuy Kawasaki is the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web, and a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures. Previously, he was the chief evangelist of Apple. Kawasaki is the author of ten books including Enchantment, Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream and The Macintosh Way. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Links Mentioned