The Agency Scoop

Tips for setting achievable professional goals in 2024

On this month’s episode of the Agency Scoop, Jill and Maggie discuss holiday gift giving and how consumer shopping trends are changing as a result of inflation and supply chain issues. In the pull back the curtain segment, they talk through recent wins, streamlining processes, and the importance of transparency and outlining what’s needed before making informed decisions.In the episode’s main scoop Maggie and Jill dig into goal setting moving into 2024. When it comes to both marketing goals and personal goals, they recommend setting clear intentions so that you are able to set yourself up for success. For the latest updates on what’s going on within the agency, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @theagencyscoop!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intro - 00:00 Consumer shopping trends with inflation on the rise - 3:04 Behind the Curtain - 8:27 Main Scoop - 13:16 Don't be that Girl - 30:26

In this month’s episode of Agency Scoop, Jill is dishing out the inside scoop of her BrightonSEO trip. She takes you on a journey through her conference experiences, providing valuable insights into what to do and what to avoid, ensuring that your next business trip is nothing short of successful. From practical tips to personal anecdotes, Jill's insight can be helpful for anyone seeking to make the most out of professional engagements. For real-time updates and the freshest insights, be sure to connect with us on Instagram and stay in the loop with the latest scoop.

This month, Jill and Maggie cover the dynamics of various generations in the workplace. They tackle common misconceptions about Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z, drawing from their personal experiences. They also explore effective strategies to bridge the generational gap and foster team cohesion. Amidst the insightful discussion, they share some laughs and provide their own hot takes on high-profile celebrity PR relationships, such as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and more. So, grab your coffee and tune in as they give you the scoop!

How it Began: Starting an Agency with Greg Finn and Matt Mombrea of Cypress North

Unlimited PTO and Workcations | Paradise or Pitfall?

A Practical Guide for Managing Stress, Burn-Out, and Rust-Out, in Agency Life #managingstress #agencylife Managing work-life balance while working for a digital marketing agency can be challenging, considering the fast-paced and demanding nature of the industry. However, with effective strategies and prioritization, you can create a healthy balance between your personal and professional life. In this episode of the Agency Scoop Jill and Maggie go over some tips to help you manage stress, burn-out, and rust-out when working for a digital marketing agency.

Agencies are Eliminating their College Requirements in 2023

Looking for details on how to help the American Cancer Society?

Contact - jfecher@cypressnorth.com

In recent years, there has been a trend among some digital marketing agencies to eliminate their college degree requirements for certain positions. The reasons for this shift vary, but some of the main factors include the desire to diversify their candidate pool, the recognition that college degrees may not necessarily correlate with job performance, and the need to fill positions in a rapidly growing industry. One of the main arguments against college degree requirements is that they can create a barrier for individuals who may not have had the opportunity to attend college, but who possess the skills and experience needed to succeed in a digital marketing role. By removing this requirement, agencies are able to expand their candidate pool and consider a wider range of applicants. Additionally, some digital marketing agencies have recognized that a college degree may not necessarily indicate job readiness or success. In the field of digital marketing, skills such as creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability are often more important than a specific degree or academic background. By focusing on skills and experience rather than formal education, agencies may be able to find better candidates who can hit the ground running and quickly contribute to the success of the agency. Finally, the rapidly evolving nature of the digital marketing industry means that there is a high demand for talent, and traditional hiring practices may not be able to keep up with this demand. By removing college degree requirements, agencies can more quickly fill open positions and keep up with the fast-paced nature of the industry. It's worth noting that while some digital marketing agencies are eliminating their college degree requirements, this is not the case across the board. Many agencies still require a college degree for certain roles, and there are certainly benefits to having a formal education in marketing or a related field. However, the trend towards eliminating these requirements does highlight a growing recognition of the importance of skills and experience in the digital marketing industry.

The state of the economy is changing drastically with some sources saying that we could be heading into a recession. What does this mean for companies and their marketing budgets? We discuss the age-old topic, “hiring in house vs hiring an agency” and welcome a special guest, Cypress North’s Jess Budde to discuss our new client structure and how this structure has increased our productivity and client relationships.

The big talk from the technology space these past few weeks has been artificial technology and more specifically Chat GPT. We tried it out on this month's episode to see how it works. 

We also tackle the topic of "Quiet Quitting" that has been all over the media lately. Is someone on your team quiet quitting or just setting boundaries? Find out what we think about it and how we are addressing it at the agency.

New Year, New Scoop! Working Hard and Sometimes Remotely

Jill Fecher is back with a new co-host Maggie Humphrey. Join these two in discussing the pros and cons of the main topic each month. As a listener you get to take a peak behind the curtain here a Cypress North. Discover what we're excited about and what we're struggling with.  This month Jill and Maggie will be discussing working remotely. How do agencies (and other companies) deal with it? We also talk about the recent trends in layoffs, 2022 internet usage stats, and hiring.

This month, I'm joined by Irene Muchai from Online Optimism, a digital agency in New Orleans. We talk about new business strategies including what we look for in a new client, how to make sure your ideas will help them accomplish their goals and ideas for agency growth. 

Jill Fecher and Jordan Siefer talk about the evolution of the creative team at Cypress North. Jordan gives advice for how to understand your clients' challenges and needs, finding inspiration, and setting expectations for a career in design.

Join Jill this month with her special guest, Barry Schwartz, CEO of web service firm Rusty Brick and founder of Search Engine Roundtable. His career began at age 14 when he joined his twin brother in starting a software development business. Their unofficial business started with local and small businesses by helping their businesses become more efficient through their custom software. From there, RustyBrick has evolved and grown to the business it is today. In this episode, we discuss what drives his business, challenges post-pandemic, and his prediction of upcoming trends in the industry.

Join Jill this month with her special guest Lauren Molenda of Riveter Design. Lauren has grown through her career in the agency world and is connected to all of the great agency talent in WNY. Riveter's microagency approach is unique and creative, benefitting clients who may not have connections to these types of resources and providing the hub of freelancers and part time talent a culture that is flexible for their lifestyles. We also discuss Lauren's amazing feat of recently climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and raising over $25,000 for a girls' school in Tanzania.

This month, Jill Fecher sits down with Tricia Barrett, Chief Operating Officer at Crowley Webb and Praxis. They discuss ways that Crowley Webb has differentiated themselves and diversified their offerings over the past 20 years, as well as the challenges agencies have faced through and after the pandemic.

This month's episode of the Agency Scoop features an interview with Charlie Fashana, Marketing Director of AAA of Western and Central NY. 

We discuss his 20-year career journey from client-side to agency-side and back. Charlie gives great advice for companies looking to hire an agency, advice to agencies about how to serve clients better, and advice for anyone looking to get into marketing and advertising. 

This month I sat down with Sarah Burke, our Data & Analytics Manager at Cypress North. We talk about her journey from digital marketing to focusing on data and analytics. She gives us some insight into what is happening next with our newest division!

This episode is a look behind the scenes at how we go about building world-class websites. It includes a step-by-step process of what to expect in working with us as well as tips for selecting a website vendor to make sure your project goes smoothly.

When a company is wrestling with the decision of hiring an agency or hiring staff members to handle its marketing, there is not a one-size-fits-all answer. In this episode, I'm joined by Casie Gillette, an amazing marketer with experience both on the agency side and as part of an in-house team to talk about the pros and cons of each.

This month I’m joined by our two Spring 2021 interns turned full-time employees, Nicole Waddington and Caleb Blodgett. We talk about the expectations of an intern going into an interview, making the internship valuable for both parties, creating a full-time job opportunity from a temporary internship, and more. This episode is full of advice for anyone thinking of hiring an intern and college students looking for an internship!

I had a chat with Amalia Fowler, creator of The Wholehearted Manager newsletter, marketing agency veteran, and long time people manager. We talked about management philosophies, avoiding burnout in an ad agency, company culture, and more.

This month I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with a long-time friend, and fellow agency professional, Donnie Broxson, to chat about agency culture, and his role as CEO of Acento Advertising, a Los Angeles-based advertising agency.  

Acento focuses on cross-cultural advertising and promotes diversity in language and culture within their projects. 

We discuss: 

• Challenges of managing an agency
• Putting the agency first once in a while instead of only focusing on clients
• Unique agency culture 
• Talent retention 
• Working with other agencies on the same client 
• Stress throughout the pandemic and some positives that came out of it  

Before the interview, I discuss a little bit about our challenges in finding good talent and how we are using our intern program as a way to build our team.

Over the past year, how we run our agency has evolved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I sat down with co-founders of Cypress North, Greg Finn and Matt Mombrea, to discuss how the pandemic has affected us, and how we have grown from it.

We discuss:

• When COVID-19 first hit
  
• Going fully remote - the challenges & the wins
  
• Coming back to the office
  
• How our team felt about it all

Being a working parent can be extremely challenging but also rewarding. Jess, Christine, and I talk about the good, the bad, and the funny of juggling home and work in this month's episode. We discuss all the challenges that face moms when they first return to work, the rollercoaster of emotions we deal with on a daily basis (even as the kids get older), and some tips on how to handle the bad with the good!

In this episode, Jess Budde joins me again and flips the script. She interviews me and asks all about my past, present and future. I spill all my deep, dark secrets (spoiler alert: they aren't dark at all and I'm a pretty open book). We talk about:

• Professional goals
• Being a working mom
• My big family
• And more!

This month, Mark and Jill discuss how common it is for marketing and sales teams in B2B organizations to work in silos, separate from each other. 

We cover:

• Why it is important for B2B marketing and sales teams to work together to achieve better results
• Barriers to achieving alignment
• Steps to reset your processes and work together
• Ways to keep the harmony going

This week we had the honor of having Pat Donovan, HubSpot Channel Account Manager at HubSpot, discuss CRMs, HubSpot and the HubSpot Partner Program (and what it means for you). In this episode Pat & I cover:  

• Why should an agency have an automation platform for themselves or their clients?
• What an agency gains from the partners program
• What the biggest benefits are
• Does someone looking to implement HubSpot *need* a partner agency?
• Why a client should work with a partner agency to implement
• Tips for partner agencies trying to get their clients into Hubspot or another automation platform?
• Who is Hubspot not the right fit for?   
• Pat's Fav agency to work with :)  

Read more at: https://cypressnorth.com/the-agency-scoop/should-you-hire-a-hubspot-agency-partner

Have you ever been in an agency-client relationship and felt like it just didn't fit? Just like any kind of relationship, there are certain characteristics that can make it successful...or not. On this episode, I'm joined by Cole Soldwisch to discuss what we look for in a client relationship with our agency, Cypress North. There are certain traits we need to see in prospective clients to agree to take them on, and some red flags that have us running in the other direction.

What makes your team special or unique? How do you define who you are and how you do things? In this episode of The Agency Scoop, we talk about how our marketing team recently defined our guiding pillars. We use these five pillars to guide how we work with our clients, how we hire new people, and even how we select clients that we would like to work with.