The Agency Growth Podcast

[Cold open [Google AI Search Chaos & Scraping Bot Wars.] ends at 08:56.] Good results won’t keep a client who doesn’t understand what they’re paying you for. This week, we’re talking about communicating your agency’s value before the sale and throughout the relationship. Saying you “go above and beyond” doesn’t explain much. We discuss how to make it clear who your agency serves, what you deliver, and who would be better off working with someone else. For performance marketing agencies, that means getting benchmarks during onboarding and agreeing on what profitable results actually look like. A cost per lead you’re happy with might mean nothing to your client. We talk through using their margins, close rates, and customer value to get on the same page. We also get into why communicating value is a job you never finish. Having to explain it again a year later can be frustrating, but that conversation is part of keeping clients. If a good client starts asking what you’re doing for them, it might be time to give them some attention. ----- MENTIONS IN THE EPISODE: Article: Your AI search visibility keeps changing: Here’s what to do about it https://searchengineland.com/ai-search-visibility-changing-what-to-do-492661?_bhlid=a7764e88bd113134bf3c12f620e0d2c6e9d73cd0 ----- PREMIUM: Join the Patreon and get exclusive content from this episode with more in-depth advice and hours of bonus content each month: https://www.agencygrowthpodcast.com/premium ----- RESOURCES: Want the tools and resources we recommend for agencies? Check them out here: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/tools ----- NEWSLETTER Want the show in your inbox? Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/newsletter ----- COMMUNITY Looking to join a community of agency owners? Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD ----- CONTACT Got something to say? Send us a message: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/contact

[Cold open [2026 Holiday Forecasts, Inflation & The Post-COVID Hangover.] ends at 07:05.] Signing new clients doesn’t get you very far if you’re constantly replacing the ones who leave. This week, we’re talking about six ways agency owners can improve client retention. We cover setting expectations before the sale, automating communication, simplifying reports, responding quickly, and knowing when to pick up the phone. These are basic things that are easy to let slide when you’re busy doing the work. We also talk about why clients need reports that connect your work to their business. More traffic doesn’t mean much if it isn’t bringing in leads. And a quick response that says you’re looking into something beats leaving a client wondering whether you saw their email. We share our own retention challenges, including landscaping clients who pause marketing over the winter. We discuss how services like website maintenance can keep the relationship going when marketing stops. The goal is to provide enough ongoing value that clients have a reason to stay. ----- MENTIONS IN THE EPISODE: Article: NRF Forecasts 2026 Holiday Sales Growth as Consumers Remain Resilient https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/nrf-forecasts-2026-holiday-sales-growth-as-consumers-remain-resilient ----- PREMIUM: Join the Patreon and get exclusive content from this episode with more in-depth advice and hours of bonus content each month: https://www.agencygrowthpodcast.com/premium ----- RESOURCES: Want the tools and resources we recommend for agencies? Check them out here: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/tools ----- NEWSLETTER Want the show in your inbox? Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/newsletter ----- COMMUNITY Looking to join a community of agency owners? Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD ----- CONTACT Got something to say? Send us a message: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/contact

[Cold open [ChatGPT UTM Drops, Disney SEO & Godzilla.] ends at 08:11.] Getting better results for your clients shouldn’t mean making less money. But if you charge a flat retainer and eat every usage fee, that’s exactly what can happen. More leads mean more calls, more automations, and more charges. Multiply that across your clients, and those pennies start taking a real bite out of your margin. Our move from HubSpot to HighLevel brought this conversation back up. We talk through how call tracking, automation, reporting, and payment processing costs add up and why “we just eat it” deserves a closer look. We cover passing usage fees to clients, setting pricing tiers, and accounting for costs in your ad spend pricing. We also talk about why billing needs to be automated. Saving your margin doesn’t help much if you create hours of manual invoicing. ----- MENTIONS IN THE EPISODE: Article: ChatGPT appears to drop UTM tracking, making AI referral traffic harder to measure https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-appears-to-drop-utm-tracking-making-ai-referral-traffic-harder-to-measure-496552 ----- PREMIUM: Join the Patreon and get exclusive content from this episode with more in-depth advice and hours of bonus content each month: https://www.agencygrowthpodcast.com/premium ----- RESOURCES: Want the tools and resources we recommend for agencies? Check them out here: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/tools ----- NEWSLETTER Want the show in your inbox? Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/newsletter ----- COMMUNITY Looking to join a community of agency owners? Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD ----- CONTACT Got something to say? Send us a message: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/contact

[Cold open [Marathon Medals & Big Tech Ad Warfare.] ends at 07:30.] Before you spend thousands on a marketing course, see what you can learn for free. We both spent money on programs that didn’t deliver what we expected. This week, we walk through free courses from Google, HubSpot, Meta, and WordPress that agency owners and their teams can take. Knowing the fundamentals helps you spot when some biz bro is charging you for outdated, regurgitated information. We also cover why Google Tag Manager is one of the most valuable skills you can add to your agency. Tracking leads and sales matters when clients are paying you to deliver results. And if you’re using AI to build websites, you still need enough web knowledge to understand what it built and what’s broken. Getting certified doesn’t make you a marketing genius. We talk about where certifications fit into Google Partner status, how they can help establish credibility, and why platform training still deserves some skepticism. Start with the free resources before deciding what’s worth paying for. ----- FREE COURSES: HIGH LEVEL SOLUTION: DIGITAL MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS Hubspot's Digital Marketing Fundamentals https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/digital-marketing Google's Fundamentals of Digital Marketing https://skillshop.exceedlms.com/student/collection/1830706 HIGH LEVEL SOLUTION: WEB DESIGN Everything Wordpress https://skillshop.exceedlms.com/student/collection/1830706 AI COURSES Google AI Essentials https://grow.google/intl/es/ TRACKING YOUR WEBSITE Google Analytics 4 by Google ** Knowing Google Analytics is fundamental for SEO and digital marketing in general. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/15068052?sjid=16468356113301912686-NA Google Tag Manager Fundamentals Course https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/15068052#zippy=,get-started-using-google-analytics-introduction,go-further-with-advanced-features-in-google-analytics-advanced,answer-business-questions-with-google-analytics-intermediate,use-google-analytics-for-your-business-beginner HIGH LEVEL SOLUTION: SEO Google SEO Fundamentals **This course is recommended by Google themselves. https://www.coursera.org/learn/seo-fundamentals SEO Certification Course by Hubspot ** Hubspot has a plethora of free courses and their SEO course is pretty decent. https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/seo-training Semrush SEO Crash Course ** Semrush is a well-respected analytics tool in the SEO/PPC industry and provides this free course led by Brian Dean. https://www.semrush.com/academy/courses/semrush-seo-crash-course-with-brian-dean/ Wix Studio SEO Course https://www.wix.com/seo/learn/course HIGH-LEVEL SOLUTION: SOCIAL MEDIA Meta Blueprint Certification https://www.facebookblueprint.com/student/catalog TikTok Academy https://ads.tiktok.com/business/en-US/blog/introducing-tiktok-academy LinkedIn Academy https://training.marketing.linkedin.com/ Full-funnel content marketing strategy https://training.marketing.linkedin.com/building-a-full-funnel-content-marketing-strategy-on-linkedin HIGH-LEVEL SOLUTION: PPC Google Ads Certification https://skillshop.docebosaas.com/learn/signin HIGH-LEVEL EMAIL MARKETING Hubspot's Email Certification https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/email-marketing-certification-en?utm_source=lookingformarketing&utm_medium=referral ----- MENTIONS IN THE EPISODE: Article: Apple, Amazon, Meta At A Standoff Blocking Ads, AI Agents https://searchengineland.com/google-tests-bigger-local-services-ads-491531 Google Ads Quality Score https://tenscores.com/quality-score/ ----- PREMIUM: Join the Patreon and get exclusive content from this episode with more in-depth advice and hours of bonus content each month: https://www.agencygrowthpodcast.com/premium ----- RESOURCES: Want the tools and resources we recommend for agencies? Check them out here: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/tools ----- NEWSLETTER Want the show in your inbox? Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/newsletter ----- COMMUNITY Looking to join a community of agency owners? Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD ----- CONTACT Got something to say? Send us a message: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/contact

[Cold open [Google is testing bigger Local Services Ads.] ends at 06:23.] More clients won’t fix an agency that can’t handle the ones it already has. In this episode, we lay out seven steps for growing an agency. We also talk about deciding what kind of agency you actually want to run. That decision affects the services you sell and the clients you take on. We share how onboarding became such a bottleneck that we stopped taking new clients for months. Clients had already called us out for being too busy growing to deliver the monthly service. They were right, and we had to fix it. We also get into why adding clients and hiring more people eventually stops being enough. Increasing revenue per client matters, but selling an extra service you can’t confidently deliver can cost you the relationship. These are lessons from building our own agency, including the parts we’re still figuring out. ----- MENTIONS IN THE EPISODE: Google tests bigger Local Services Ads article: https://searchengineland.com/google-tests-bigger-local-services-ads-491531 ----- PREMIUM: Join the Patreon and get exclusive content from this episode with more in-depth advice and hours of bonus content each month: https://www.agencygrowthpodcast.com/premium ----- RESOURCES: Want the tools and resources we recommend for agencies? Check them out here: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/tools ----- NEWSLETTER Want the show in your inbox? Sign up for the newsletter! https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/newsletter ----- COMMUNITY Looking to join a community of agency owners? Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/uvHRRRFVRD ----- CONTACT Got something to say? Send us a message: https://www.agencygrowthpod.com/contact