Épisodes

  • SEO Is Over. AEO Is Here: How Agencies Stay Visible When AI Chooses the Answers with Kasim Aslam | Ep #863

    SEO Is Over. AEO Is Here: How Agencies Stay Visible When AI Chooses the Answers with Kasim Aslam | Ep #863
    Dec 17 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training As a user, do you still use search engines or have completely defaulted to AI? How will this shift reshape the agency world? How will ads work when people are only getting the one answer they need? Most agency owners are still treating SEO like it's 2012 — optimizing keywords, buying backlinks, and praying to the Google gods. But search has already changed. People are asking AI for answers, not Googling for links. And if you want your agency or your personal brand to stay visible in this new era, the rules are completely different. Today's featured guest will unpack the shift from SEO to AEO and why most businesses are invisible to AI without even realizing it. Kasim Aslam is one of the world's leading voices on Answer Engine Optimization. He runs one of the largest AEO communities and leads a six person research team that has analyzed millions of AI citations to understand how large language models choose their sources. He is also the author of The AEO Blueprint and the founder of multiple companies, including a staffing agency, a mastermind, and AEO.co. Kasim has spent the past year deep in the trenches studying how AI crawlers gather, filter, and prioritize information. When it comes to AEO, nobody has more real data. In this episode, we'll discuss: SEO is over. Understanding AEO. Why brands may get lost in LLMs. The quiet Google change that just changed everything in AI citations. The future of ads. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Why SEO Is No Longer Enough: The Rise of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) To understand Answer Engine Optimization, we must first understand that, despite what some agencies may be saying, it is not the same as SEO. Traditional search engines prioritize links. That is why entire industries exist around buying them. In the world of LLMs, backlinks barely matter. The number one ranking factor for AI citations is schema markup. And only 12.4% of websites have clean, validated schema. In other words, nearly 90% of brands are invisible to AI crawlers, regardless of how strong their SEO is. Schema isn't just another optimization tactic. It is the visibility layer. It is the metadata that helps LLMs understand and categorize your content. If your schema is broken or missing, AI cannot reference you even if your content is excellent. This is the equivalent of having a beautiful storefront on a street no one can find. The second key is social mentions. In the same way SEO relied on links, AEO relies on people talking about you. For instance, a TikTok comment from someone in the agency industry saying Jason Swenk is their go-to agency guy counts as an authority signal. LLMs weigh these human mentions heavily. Finally, a lot of the nuances on AEO are changing every day, but Kasim has learned that the real key is building authority, long-form content. That along with clear schema and personal brand is the future of staying in the conversation. Why Personal Authority Beats Brand Authority in AI Search One of the biggest shifts Kasim highlights is that answer engines prefer individuals. A person can write a book, earn a PhD, share opinions, create content, develop mastery, and build authority in a way brands cannot. That means generalists are in trouble. If your expertise is scattered, AI won't know how to classify you and won't choose you as an authoritative answer. Meanwhile, someone who goes deep in a single topic becomes the preferred answer. It is a shift away from corporate brand authority and toward personal authority. Authority is not spread across a company anymore. It sits with people. Agencies that hide behind a brand name will lose visibility. Personal brands that plant a flag will win. For agency owners, this is huge. You do not need a bigger brand. You need clear expertise tied to a real person. This is exactly why Jason positions all the Agency Mastery content around him. Personalities thrive. Brands get lost. Where LLMs Get Their Data (and Why That Just Changed Overnight) Kasim's research revealed that 21 percent of all AI citations once came from Reddit. YouTube followed at 18.8 percent. These platforms had deep context and raw human conversation, which LLMs love. Then Google quietly changed everything. Twenty two days before the interview, Google cut off 90% of the internet from AI crawlers by reducing search results from hundreds to ten. Because LLMs rely on deep search results (not the top ten), reducing the searchable depth limits the information AI can access - removing platforms like Reddit from ...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    24 min
  • Why the Most Profitable Clients Aren't Always the Biggest. Selling Smarter with Charlie Clark | Ep #862

    Why the Most Profitable Clients Aren't Always the Biggest. Selling Smarter with Charlie Clark | Ep #862
    Dec 14 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Have you ever felt like enterprise clients were running your agency instead of the other way around? Buried in endless proposals no one reads, forced into rushed timelines, or watching your margins shrink every time a project drags out? Today's featured guest opens up about how he broke out of that exhausting cycle. Instead of over-delivering just to keep big clients happy, and seeing little return, he made the bold decision to focus on smaller, more committed clients who were ultimately more profitable and easier to build long-term relationships with. He'll share what he learned about sustainable growth, including why productizing your services sounds great in theory but can actually become counterproductive when it only happens externally. He'll also explain the sales shift that changed everything: offering a low-risk, "foot-in-the-door" engagement that qualifies prospects, builds trust, and creates a smooth path into deeper service offerings. Charlie Clark is the founder of Minty Digital, a boutique SEO agency focused on travel and lifestyle brands that originally launched in Barcelona and now operates from London. In this conversation, he'll break down the mindset, systems, and strategy needed to stop chasing validation from big brands and instead build a business where profitability, alignment, and respect come first. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why mid-market clients deliver higher profits than enterprise. How internal productization increases efficiency by 3X. How clear pricing transforms the sales cycle. How AI forced a new level of adaptability in SEO agencies. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. From Struggling Freelancer to Sustainable Agency Growth After a short stint in an agency at age 22, Charlie tried to go solo before realizing he didn't yet know how to grow a business. He assumed he could do it on his own and quickly learned he wasn't ready yet. Instead of quitting, he got a job as a Digital Marketing Manager, where he could make mistakes, learn operations, and understand what actually works inside a business. Moving to Barcelona created the perfect environment for momentum. His one-month stay turned into ten years after he landed several clients within weeks. His first retainer was €500 a month, which he laughs about now, but he admits it took years before he learned how to price correctly and move away from low-margin retainers. Those early years were full of trial and error, but the big breakthrough was realizing that charging more wasn't always the key to profit. Charging smarter was. Real Profit Lives in the Middle, Not the Top One of the strongest lessons Charlie learned was that bigger retainers did not equal bigger profit. Working with enterprise clients, he saw they could easily squeeze margins, the team would end up over-delivering, and on top of it all, payment terms were a nightmare. After years, he realized these clients often cost the agency money when the team over-delivered just to keep them happy. By contrast, the clients who had been with him since the early days, the ones paying between three and six thousand per month, were the most profitable and the most loyal. They bought the same deliverables. They stayed for years. And they matched the agency's internal processes beautifully. Once he realized this, he moved to intentionally pursuing that sweet spot. Not the five figure monthly retainers or the cut rate ones. The predictable, operationally aligned middle where the team can deliver consistently and profitably. For Charlie, this changed everything from sales cycle speed to team alignment to lifetime value. Internal Productization: The System that 3X Efficiency Many agencies think productization means selling rigid packages that make you look less strategic. Charlie took the opposite approach. Internally, his team adopted highly productized systems, templates, and SOPs. They knew exactly what to do for a three thousand dollar client versus a six thousand dollar one, and how much effort each one required. Externally, the offer still looked consultative and customized. Clients saw a broad range of what could be included, but the delivery stayed tight behind the scenes. This improved profitability, gave the team clarity, and dramatically sped up onboarding. The biggest win? It eliminated the "start from scratch every time" problem that slows agencies down and kills margins. How ...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    23 min
  • Why Clients Keep Asking for Deliverables and What They Actually Need with Nico Biggi | Ep #861

    Why Clients Keep Asking for Deliverables and What They Actually Need with Nico Biggi | Ep #861
    Dec 10 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Why do clients keep asking for deliverables they don't actually need? How to get them to focus on the outcome instead of the task list? Every agency owner has had clients show up asking for a website, SEO, or a million social posts, when what they actually need is something much deeper: more leads, more profit, more time back, and a business they're proud of again. Today's featured guest broke down how he built an 11-year-old shop that delivers exactly that. We dig into why small businesses really hire agencies, why "selling SEO" is a trap, and how simplifying complex work can make your agency more profitable, more trusted, and a hell of a lot easier to run. Nico Biggi, Founder of The Gorilla Agency a full-service Oregon digital agency that helps small businesses achieve their marketing goals. After applying to 31 agencies and hearing absolutely nothing back, he decided if no one would hire him, he'd simply build the place he wished existed. Eleven years later, his agency helps small businesses fall in love with their companies again by delivering marketing that feels personal, purposeful, and rooted in truth—not hype. In this interview, we'll discuss: Why clients don't want SEO and what small business are really buying. How radical simplicity makes agencies more profitable. Walking away from big clients to make your agency stronger. How AI is changing client expectations. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Why Clients Don't Actually Want SEO (And What They're Really Buying from Agencies) Nico knows why his clients first reach out and he understands that, in reality, no one wants SEO. No one wants a website. No one wants a content calendar. What they want is for their phone to ring. They want predictable revenue and to stop feeling behind. Basically, they want a business that finally looks and performs the way they imagined when they started it. Hence, when Nico sits with a new client, he doesn't take their request at face value. He keeps pulling the thread: Why do you want that? What are you really trying to fix? What's happening behind the scenes that made you reach out today? By the time he gets to the core problem, the tactical service almost never matches the thing they originally asked for. And that's where trust is built—showing clients the real path to their desired outcome, not the task list they think they need. As he puts it: Services are the toolkit. Outcomes are the reason you pick up the tools. How Radical Simplicity Makes Agencies More Profitable and Improves Client Trust During client meetings, Nico strives to strip away the complexity agencies tend to hide behind. Clients don't want a masterclass in keyword density or a dissertation-length PDF they'll never read. They want clarity. To him, the best operators and the best salespeople think like teachers. Teachers take complicated ideas and make them accessible. They speak in a way a fifth grader can understand, because simplicity builds confidence, and confidence builds buy-in. Inside his own agency, this shows up in the way he trains his team. No silos. No "not my job." Everyone learns how every part of the system works, from content, SEO, design, dev, and strategy. That shared understanding creates respect, efficiency, and a culture where no one feels like they're building in the dark. Everyone in his team is taught that no one is above anyone and they're all running the machine together. It's a mindset that creates accountability among the team and helps the client understand exactly what they're paying for. Why Saying No to Big Clients Can Make Your Agency Stronger Every agency owner has a moment where the "big" client forces them to rethink everything. For Nico, it was early on, when a client offered him more money than he even asked for ($10k a month) and three months later, he fired the client. On paper, it was a dream account. In practice, it drained the team, misaligned with their process, and became the catalyst for rebuilding the agency from the ground up. He spent two years refining every process—on-page and off-page SEO, content creation, design systems, communication workflows—all centered around one thing: making sure clients always know where their money is going and how it's working. Most agencies duct-tape their operations when things get messy instead of rebuilding the underlying, broken system. Nico rebuilt his foundation truly believing that all business owners need is for someone to create systems, truly listen to them, and help them articulate...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    28 min
  • Why a Fortune 500 Marketing Leader Left His Dream Job to Start an Agency with Eric Gray | Ep #860

    Why a Fortune 500 Marketing Leader Left His Dream Job to Start an Agency with Eric Gray | Ep #860
    Dec 7 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Would you ever walk away from a "dream job" to start over from scratch? And if you've spent years building a career inside big brands, does it ever feel like it might be too late to launch your own agency? Most people talk about leaving their corporate job to chase something bigger. Very few actually do it, and even fewer jump without a parachute. Today's featured guest is one of those rare ones. After nearly two decades leading social, content, and influencer teams for household brands, he walked away from his so called dream job to start his own shop without any safety net. Today, he calls himself a brand guy who happens to own an agency. Eric Gray is the owner of Maverick Content Studio, a twelve person, social-first agency for Fortune 500 brands. After a long and successful career in corporate, where he spent eighteen years building high performing social and content teams for companies like Universal Parks & Resorts, Eric realized he did not want the future he saw in front of him. He left Universal with two months of savings and zero clients. His story is a blueprint for leaders wondering whether to leave corporate and build something of their own Today his team works with brands like Advent Health, Winn-Dixie, and Travel + Leisure, helping them build audience, loyalty, and relevance through social-first content. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why target Fortune 500 brands? Why most agencies fail at building their own brand. Leaning on the power of personal brands. The hardest challenge of growing a young agency. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Walking Away from the Corporate Dream Job At age forty-one, Eric had success on paper but a growing dissatisfaction in real life. He was leading big teams, holding a prestigious role, and doing work others envied. But he felt stuck inside a corporate machine that limited purpose and impact. Although he's thankful for the time he spent in that world, he didn't believe he was living his full purpose inside an organization with lots of bureaucracy. With the support of his family and his pastor, Eric decided he didn't want to get to his later years wishing he had taken more risks and took the jump to find out what could happen if he bet on himself. Leaving was messy, scary, and absolutely not the playbook move. No freelancing ramp up. No contracted clients. It was no tidy transition. Yet he trusted that his experience and network would open the next chapter. Looking back, it did. Why Target Fortune 500 Brands? Most new agency founders start small. Eric went in the opposite direction. He targeted enterprise brands from day one because that is where his expertise lived. He had already built the blueprint inside Universal Parks & Resorts and believed he could help other brands treat social as more than an afterthought. Eric knew many enterprise brands still underinvest in social. They focus on one big campaign or hero asset while ignoring the loyalty and connection that is built through consistent storytelling. His agency's entire model revolves around what he calls the connection strategy. It is the belief that brands win when they create emotional relevance around the stories customers already care about. Furthermore, large brands have large scopes, which also means you do not need forty clients. You just need the right five. That became a core advantage as they started growing. Building the Early Client List Through Relationships Eric did not cold call or blast DMs. He leaned into what he had spent years building. A strong network with strong relationships. Most of their early clients came from people who had worked with Eric before, or from friends of those people inside other major brands. Big companies talk to each other more than you think. This doesn't mean it was easy for them. They still have a lot of work to do to break through. But if you invest in your network before you need it, it becomes your biggest shortcut when you step into entrepreneurship. Why Most Agencies Fail at Building Their Own Brand But Eric points out that almost no agencies truly build their own brand. They hide behind their walls and hope referrals save them. Others talk about themselves, focusing mainly on their people, process, and portfolio. Meanwhile they tell clients to produce consistent content, invest in story, and build an audience. When Eric launched Maverick, he refused to be another guy...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    24 min
  • The Truth About Agency Growth: Why It Gets Harder Before It Gets Easier with Elyse Lupin | Ep #859

    The Truth About Agency Growth: Why It Gets Harder Before It Gets Easier with Elyse Lupin | Ep #859
    Dec 3 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training What if growth doesn't make things easier but actually just raises the stakes? Agency life looks glamorous from the outside, but the real growth usually starts in the messy middle. Today's featured guest just wanted to build something of her own, but quickly learned that growth means the challenges get harder, instead of easier, and that your client and team retention will always be the best measures of success, since it means you've managed to build a business that has a real impact on clients and a culture people never want to leave. She'll share the pressure she felt as the agency got bigger, how she learned to celebrate the little wins, and how she built a culture that has truly worked as a strategic advantage. Elyse Lupin is the president and founder of Elysium Marketing Group, a full-service agency specializing in food and franchise marketing. With more than a decade of running the business, she has scaled from a new mom charging a thousand bucks for her first client to leading a well known, franchise-focused marketing team recognized for expertise, execution, and a culture clients genuinely enjoy working with. In this episode, we'll discuss: Why growth gets harder as your agency scales. 2 metrics that actually predict agency success. How culture became her agency's competitive advantage. The importance of letting go instead of babysitting tasks. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. How Mentoring Can Be the Push You Need Elyse started her agency during what most people would consider the absolute worst time to make a career change. She had a newborn, a mortgage, and a job that drained her every morning as she left her child in daycare. That friction reached a breaking point. A mentor tossed out traditional job options, but Elyse surprised even herself when she said, "I just want to start my own thing." Instead of talking her out of it, that mentor became her first client. It's one of those decisions you look back on and realize how thin the line is between staying stuck and building something you love. In the early days, she charged way too little, as nearly all agency owners do for those first engagements. But like she said, ignorance can be a gift. When you are early and scrappy, you move fast and celebrate every small win because you have no idea what's coming next. Why Growth Gets Harder, Not Easier After eleven years, Elyse said she was shocked by how the difficulty of running an agency evolves. Things do get easier in some ways, but each stage comes with a new complexity level. As the agency grew, so did the pressure to hire better people, keep up quality, retain clients, and juggle new demands that never existed in the early days. You go from hands-on fulfillment to team building to culture shaping to visionary leadership. Each level is a different skill set and none of it is simple. Scaling is not a victory lap. It is a longer, more strategic version of the same game you started with: solve the next problem without losing momentum. For Elyse, it's all about stopping to celebrate the little wins and let herself enjoy watching her team crush new challenges. 2 Metrics That Predict Agency Success: Client and Team Retention A lot of agency owners fall into the trap of measuring success by employee count or top line revenue. Elyse prefers to track retention. She considers it far more meaningful. Clients only stick around if they are getting results and some of her clients have been with her agency since the beginning. Employee retention matters just as much, because no amount of growth means anything if the team delivering the work is burning out or bailing. Even during COVID, when most of their food clients disappeared overnight, Elyse's agency found a way to pivot into B2B, protect the team, and still grow. Not at the same pace, but still upward. That speaks to culture, resilience, and leadership. In the end, what really matters is how happy you are in the business, whether or not your team is happy, and how profitable the business actually is. These are the things that will guarantee you stay in business and not start to resent it. How Culture Becomes an Agency's Competitive Advantage Elyse's agency has a spirit week. costume day. concert tshirt day. team jersey day. They joke about team members hearing her excitement through the office walls. But behind the fun is something serious. A happy team performs better, stays longer, and delivers higher quality work. She also implemented rituals that reinforce positivity and growth. Every ...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    26 min
  • Why AI-Enhanced Agencies Are Outpacing AI-First Pretenders with Michael Davern | Ep #858

    Why AI-Enhanced Agencies Are Outpacing AI-First Pretenders with Michael Davern | Ep #858
    Nov 30 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training AI is changing the agency landscape faster than most owners can keep up with. Tools are popping up daily, clients are asking if rates should drop, and your team is either fired up or freaked out. Today's featured guest talks about what it takes to build an agency that thrives in a world obsessed with shiny new tech, where the edge is not more tools. It is better leadership, human connection, and an incubator mindset that keeps them ahead without drowning in the noise. Michael Davern is the CEO of Incept, an AI-enhanced, digital-first agency that has been around for a decade. Today, his agency blends automation, machine learning, and human-centered strategy to help enterprise clients grow with clarity and smart execution. He is an early adopter who still believes the real edge is human connection and wants to encourage agency owners to really think about who should lead. In this episode, we'll discuss: AI-enhanced vs. AI-first: what actually creates agency value. Leading an agency through rapid AI change. Why human-first agencies win in the long run. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. Evolving from a Specific Niche to a Full Service Agency Before agency life, Michael spent years in corporate America and even longer in the music industry as an artist development rep. That career went up in flames when the label collapsed and no one got paid. After a brief return to corporate, he approached his now business partner with an idea to sell text message marketing, and suddenly he was an entrepreneur learning the agency game the hard way. Early on he chased small business clients with $49 starter packages and cheesy platinum tiers. Nobody wanted it. The market did not understand text marketing yet and the value was unclear. Everything changed when an enterprise vendor in the Medicare insurance space let them into their workflow. Overnight texting became a revenue driver. That win opened the door to more enterprise relationships and pushed them to expand far beyond their original niche. What started as a simple vendor relationship ballooned into a full service digital agency. With time, growth came from necessity and opportunity, not a master plan. Michael admits they were often too early to the game, but that curiosity and experimentation kept them alive long enough to get good. AI-Enhanced vs. AI-First: What Actually Creates Agency Value Plenty of agencies slap "AI-first" on their website. Michael prefers to say "AI-enhanced" since "AI-first" implies handing the keys to robots or machines. That is not what his agency does. Instead they use AI to enhance execution. They were early with automation, early with machine learning through the IBM Watson test program, and early with programmatic bidding when DSPs were still new. Those experiments shaped how they work today. Now, they use all this knowledge to save money, time, and drive better results for clients. Clients are not paying for prompts or tools. AI lets the team save time, move faster, and stay in the lab testing new options without drowning in busywork. In Michael's view, agencies are not competing on deliverables anymore. They are competing on thinking. Navigating the AI Gold Rush Without Losing Your Mind There is a tool for everything now and most of them promise the world and deliver nothing. Michael believes the real threat is not AI taking jobs. It is crappy tools cluttering decision making and distracting agency owners from what matters. To keep his team sharp, he sets an AI budget for every employee at his agency. Everyone is encouraged to experiment, explore, and bring ideas back to the incubator. On Fridays, they compare notes. What worked. What flopped. What needs more testing. That culture of curiosity is what keeps them out in front rather than scrambling to catch up. Leadership in the Age of Rapid Change Nineteen months ago, Michael made a call. The company was going all in on AI enhancement. He sat the team down and said, "This is where we are heading." If anyone was uncomfortable, they could talk privately or get help transitioning to a different job. Not one person left. Clarity breeds confidence. When owners waffle or delay, their team feels it. When owners point the ship and support the crew, people dig in. Michael's team embraced experimentation because they were given structure, purpose, and room to contribute. And because of that leadership, his agency ...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    23 min
  • The Smartest Inbound Channel for Agency Owners Who Hate Cold Outreach with Chase Clymer | Ep #857

    The Smartest Inbound Channel for Agency Owners Who Hate Cold Outreach with Chase Clymer | Ep #857
    Nov 26 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training If your inbound pipeline dries up tomorrow, do you have a channel that can refill it on demand? Every agency owner needs at least one reliable way to attract new leads when things slow down. Today's guest doubled down on a podcast as his inbound engine, and it paid off big. But launching your first episode is just the beginning. The real growth comes from getting your ideal clients as guests, creating a conversation that builds connection (not just content), and staying consistent long enough to earn momentum. He'll break down how to find the right niche, build authority through partnerships, and turn podcasting into a powerful inbound system that keeps quality leads coming in on autopilot. Chase Clymer is the co-founder of Electric Eye, a Shopify Plus partner agency specializing in conversion rate optimization (CRO) and e-commerce growth strategy. Since 2016, he and his team have been helping direct-to-consumer brands optimize their digital storefronts to drive measurable results. Beyond his client work, Chase also hosts the Honest Ecommerce podcast, where he interviews founders and shares unfiltered lessons on what it takes to grow an online brand. In this episode, we'll discuss: On his strategic partnership with Shopify. Podcasting as a business development engine. The key to consistently booking great guests. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. From Touring Musician to E-Commerce Marketer Before entering the agency world, Chase was a touring musician in a pop punk band. The road life didn't pay the bills, so he began experimenting with photography, design, and digital marketing, all skills that eventually laid the foundation for his agency. Towards the end of his music career, Chase's future co-founder Sean approached him with a few freelance projects. They quickly found themselves with six clients, and a lot of questions about taxes, pricing, and structure. The early chaos of being creators first and business owners second forced them to learn fast, especially when it came to how to position themselves, how to deliver results, and ultimately, how to specialize. As Chase puts it, "We realized if you can validate the results you're getting for people, they're going to be happier to pay you." That mindset led them toward e-commerce, where success is measurable and client satisfaction is tied directly to sales metrics. How Strategic Platform Partnerships (Like Shopify) Accelerate Agency Growth One of the biggest accelerators for his agency was its partnership with Shopify. When the agency first started, they were platform-agnostic, working across WordPress and other technologies. But after joining Shopify's Partner Program, Chase and his team found something rare — an actual human on the other end of the email. That support led to event invitations, collaboration opportunities, and eventually a deep specialization that positioned them as trusted experts. Chase credits much of their success to that early alignment. "We just happened to be in the right place at the right time," and the lesson for him was: pick your ecosystem wisely and go all in. He advises other agency owners to double down on one technology or niche rather than trying to be everything to everyone. "If your roof is leaking, you don't hire a general contractor, you hire a roofer," he says. It's the kind of clarity that will help you see real growth. Does this mean you should only aim to partner with Shopify if you're in the ecommerce niche? Not at all. Chase recognizes that part of their success story came from having found Shopify at its early stages. This allowed the agency to grow alongside them and unlock more opportunities. Using a Podcast as a Scalable Inbound Marketing Channel For many agencies, lead generation is an uphill battle. For Chase, it became a creative outlet that turned into a consistent revenue driver. In 2019, he launched his podcast, Honest Ecommerce, as a way to avoid writing blogs. But over time, it became a cornerstone of his agency's inbound and relationship strategy. Chase now uses the podcast to connect with ideal clients by inviting them on as guests. Instead of cold outreach, he reaches out on LinkedIn to CEOs of brands he admires, offering them a platform to share their stories. That invitation often leads to partnerships, friendships, and often clients. "You're not starting off on your back foot," he explains. "You're building a genuine relationship." Chase also uses the podcast to gain access to industry events. With a media pass, he's able to ...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    27 min
  • The Secret to Surviving AI: Why Soft Skills and Real Partnerships Always Win with Ben Childs| Ep #856

    The Secret to Surviving AI: Why Soft Skills and Real Partnerships Always Win with Ben Childs| Ep #856
    Nov 23 2025
    Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training If you're one of the many owners concerned that AI will end the agency model, what are you doing to stay relevant? How are you building lasting relationships that help clients see your value beyond executing tasks? Artificial intelligence, automation, and enterprise-level change have everyone in the agency world wondering what's next. However, agencies have managed to stay relevant with past technological disruptions and the answer has always been: you need to adapt. Today's featured guest has scaled his business through seven iterations for over fourteen years by being willing to adapt to change, and the AI era is no exception. He'll unpack how agencies can stay relevant when technology, data, and client expectations are evolving faster than ever. He also talks about the importance of partnership-based client relationships and why soft skills (not just smart systems) are the real differentiator in the next decade. Ben Childs is the President of Digital Reach, a full-stack B2B marketing consultancy serving SaaS, cybersecurity, AI, and data-driven technology clients. With deep expertise in paid media, SEO, RevOps, and digital experience, Ben's team helps enterprise companies integrate their marketing, data, and operations to drive real revenue growth. Since launching in 2011, Digital Reach has evolved through multiple "versions" as it adapted to the changing marketing landscape, becoming one of the most respected players in modern B2B marketing. In this episode, we'll discuss: The soft skills edge that outperforms AI. Why you should start running toward the problem. The power of in-person connections in a remote-forward industry. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources This episode is brought to you by Wix Studio: If you're leveling up your team and your client experience, your site builder should keep up too. That's why successful agencies use Wix Studio — built to adapt the way your agency does: AI-powered site mapping, responsive design, flexible workflows, and scalable CMS tools so you spend less on plugins and more on growth. Ready to design faster and smarter? Go to wix.com/studio to get started. How Agencies Can Stay Relevant in AI Revolution At a recent Ad Week event, Ben heard a fellow agency leader predict that all agencies would be "dead in two years" because of AI. Her point: enterprise companies are developing their own language models and internal data systems, cutting agencies out of the picture. Ben does admit this is true. However, his outlook is more optimistic, seeing several possible solutions. Should agencies be partnering with third-party data providers? Should they adjust their skill set? In his view, the need for strategic expertise and technical problem-solving won't disappear anytime soon. The agencies that thrive will be those who adapt to new tools while deepening their human value—helping clients navigate complexity, not just execute tasks. "The reality," Ben explains, "is that hiring people to help you solve hard problems isn't going away. Business is always changing, and that's a huge opportunity for agency owners willing to think and integrate, not panic." Why Soft Skills Outperform AI in the Agency World As agencies evolve, the differentiator isn't going to be who can use AI faster, it's who can understand and support people better. When it comes to enterprise clients, marketing execution has become table stakes. What truly sets a great agency apart is the ability to navigate organizational politics, manage internal friction, and act as a trusted advisor inside complex companies. "We're armchair psychologists half the time," he laughs. "Our clients know we're good at SEO or paid media. What they really need is someone who helps them get things approved, makes their life easier, and has their back when things get tough." Soft problems will never go away and, Ben argues, may even increase in value when the execution problems potentially become commoditized. Agencies that ignore human connection will lose, just like traditional firms that refused to go digital twenty years ago. In the end, the "people part" never goes out of style. Adapting Your Agency: Lessons from 7 Business Iterations Ben started Digital Reach in 2011 using his grandmother's dresser as a desk and charging $200 a month for Google Ads management. Since then, the agency has reinvented itself seven times—each evolution aligning to new markets, services, and technologies. From scrappy freelancer to B2B consultancy, Ben's philosophy has stayed the same: build, learn, and change before you're forced to. "We're on Digital Reach 7.0 in 14 years," he says. "We'll probably hit version 12.0 in the next ten. You can't just ride your old business idea into Valhalla. Some people will always be better at adapting, and that will never change." WhyPartnership (Not Performance)...
    Voir plus Voir moins
    22 min