GYDA - Grow Your Digital Agency – Details, episodes & analysis

Will is SUSO’s founder and CEO. He started the company in 2014 as a two-person consultancy business and has transformed it into a team of forty specialists providing technical SEO services for clients in a wide range of industries.

While building SUSO, he has gained experience scaling a team of SEO experts and developed an international team based in Poland. Will values a people-first culture, which allows every one of SUSO’s employees to strive for the best in a safe, stimulating, and supportive environment.

Robert Craven interviewed Will Bagnall about Suso Digital's history, growth, and adaptation to the evolving digital landscape, including their specialisation in SEO, overcoming scaling challenges through talent strategies, and successful white-label partnerships.

They also discussed the significant impact of AI on search and Suso Digital's proactive approach to integrating AI into their services and strategies for the future. Will Bagnall advised new agencies to prioritise brand building and maintain perspective in their work.

• Introduction to Suso Digital
• Evolution from Full-Service to Niche Focus
• Breaking the Growth Barrier
• The White Label Strategy
• Strategy vs. Luck in Business Growth
• Impact of AI on the Agency Landscape
• Suso Digital's Approach to AI
• The Significance of Thought Leadership and Brand Building
• Future Outlook for Suso Digital
• Advice for Small Agencies

In this GYDA podcast Robert talks to Rory Spence of The Wow Company. Key points of the talk are:

• Introductions
• The Issue of Agency Pricing
• Profit First Mentality .
• Understanding Financial Data
• Presenting Financial Information Effectively
• Developing Business Acumen
• The Importance of Forecasting and Planning
• Customizing KPI Dashboards
• The Golden Nugget: Obsess About Gross Profit

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-spence-63023884/

The podcast is a conversation between Amanda and Robert Craven discussing Amanda's new book "Unblock" about productivity in organizations.

Amanda Sokell is a process and productivity expert who helps companies thrive. She’s also a popular speaker, author, entrepreneur, creative, polymath and educationalist; lover of learning, chocolate, dancing and difference.

In a 25-year career spanning public relations, software development, coaching, mentoring and training, Amanda has helped transform the productivity culture of organizations from global pharmaceuticals to family-run microbusinesses.

Amanda and Robert discussed:

Book Background
Amanda wrote the book based on her extensive experience in project management, particularly in software development and system implementations. She noticed that many projects fail to deliver significant productivity improvements when not aligned with broader business strategies

Productivity Insights

Amanda highlights a critical observation from a Vistage behavioral economist who suggested that to meet pension demands, businesses need to become three times more productive

Productivity Measurement
Amanda discusses a key productivity metric called output per worker, which is:

• Calculated as gross value added (revenue less external invoiced costs) divided by the number of full-time equivalent employees
• A universal metric recognised by the Office of National Statistics
• Currently not widely used by most companies across industries

Digital Agency Context

• Most digital agencies currently measure productivity through utilisation rates
• Typically, only fee-earning staff are included in productivity calculations
• The current approach doesn't capture the productivity of the entire business system

Broader Implications
Amanda argues that the lack of productivity focus contributes to:

• Stagnant economic growth since 2008
• Challenges with standard of living
• Potential economic challenges for younger generations

The podcast aims raises awareness about productivity measurement and its critical importance for business performance and economic development.

In this month’s GYDA Member Hub interview, Robert interview Jason Swenk. Jason is an ex-digital agency owner who now runs a unique consultancy helping marketing agency owners grow their agencies faster.

Jason has literally written the book for growing an agency from nothing to an eight-figure agency.  He is one of the most sought out advisors to agencies in the World, by showing them an 8 system framework that worked for growing his agency, working with brands like AT&T, Hitachi, Lotus Cars, and eventually lead to selling his agency.

Jason is now the agency advisor and mentor that guides marketing agencies through a proven framework for growing their agency faster.

They discuss:

Characteristics of agencies struggling or thriving
Growing a successful agency
Living the lifestyle – is it possible when you’re growing an agency?
The five roles of an agency owner
Snake oil salesmen
Self-sabotaging – what do you want, what sort of agency do you want to run?
Growing an agency – does the reality live up to the dream
Seth Godin’s favourite agency
Jason’s framework for growing an agency
Differentiating your agency – how to position yourself
Business development and sales
Price discounts – Jason’s opinion
Jason’s golden nugget advice for agency owners
 
This podcast is vibrantly rich with snippets to take away and implement into your own Digital Agency! To watch the rest of the video sign up to the GYDA Member Hub: www.GYDAmemberhub.com

In this episode of GYDA Talks, Robert sits down with Timothy Armoo. Timothy is the CEO of Fanbytes, a digital agency which helps the world’s largest organizations like UK Government, Apple and Deliveroo win the hearts of younger audiences on Snapchat and Tiktok.

As we watch the events in the US unfold and the #BlackLivesMatter movement grow globally, we discuss how it’s unfolding and reflect on the world that we live in… how far we have come and how far we have yet to go.

Robert and Timothy discuss:

How we can make a change towards a new, equal future
Timothy’s experiences from education to founding a business
How the Digital Agency world can make a difference

In this GYDA Member Hub Talks – Robert interviews the awesome Tom Peters. Tom is one of the world’s most respected Management Gurus. He’s an Author, Business Expert, Thought Leader, Speaker.

Tom is co-author of In Search of Excellence—the book that changed the way the world does business and often tagged as the best business book ever. Seventeen books and thirty-five years later, he is still at the forefront of the “management guru industry” he single-handedly invented.


What’s new? A lot.

As CNN said, “While most business gurus milk the same mantra for all it’s worth, the one-man brand called Tom Peters is still reinventing himself.”

His most recent effort is The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last (Vintage, 2018). Tom’s bedrock belief: “Execution is strategy—it’s all about the people and the doing, not the talking and the theory.”

In November 2017, Tom received the Thinkers50 Lifetime Achievement Award. (Effectively, All of Tom’s written and speech material covering the last 15+ years is available— free to download—at tompeters.com and excellencenow.com.)

This video is six minutes from the hour-long interview… Just a flavour of the rest of the interview that you can view on GYDA Member Hub: www.GYDAmemberhub.com

In this episode of GYDA Talks, Robert talks to our Digital Agency network on the current state of play in their agencies during the Coronavirus outbreak. This episode features expert guest, Rob Walsh — Client Account Consultant at OnlineMarkethink.com. 

They discuss:

• How to streamline your financial plan to optimise income and budgets in COVID
• What to outsource to accountants and when
• How to be authentic in your financial plan
• How to create and understand a beneficial financial forecast
• How you can improve as a leader in the COVID crisis

This episode was recorded on 20.05.20

In this episode of GYDA Talks, Robert talks to our Digital Agency network on the current state of play in their agencies during the Coronavirus outbreak. This episode features expert guest, Arnout Hellemans — Founder of OnlineMarkethink.com.

They discuss:

• The way you are reporting to profitability impact
• How to make clear choices to position your agency in; (PR / Outreach / PPC) > Work with marketing departments CRO, Analytics, Tech SEO and Site Performance > Work with operational departments
• How to search for potential collaborations (outside online marketing or inside)
• Embedding works, working at the client's location (for employees as well as clients
• Help clients above and beyond; set alerts, be proactive (GA works really well); help the people who hire you to look good (be their 2nd bencher).

This episode was recorded on 23.05.20

In this episode of GYDA Talks, Robert talks to our Digital Agency network on the current state of play in their agencies during the Coronavirus outbreak. This episode features expert guest, Adam Graham — Founder and MD of agency Gray Matters.

They discuss:

• Business development in May 2020
• What is good business development
• What doesn't work
• Why are agency websites so rubbish
• Show passion or frustration
• Stand for something
• Marmite is OK
• How to pitch
• What do people really buy

This episode was recorded on 06.05.20

An awesome 6 minute listen, presented by Robert Craven.