In late 2007, I was hired as VP of Business Development and Marketing by a small digital agency called Spunlogic that would soon be acquired by Engauge. I got called into a meeting with my boss and three of my peers (VP of Client Services, VP of Strategy, and VP of Research and Innovation). They told me to learn how to do my job or GET OUT! Here is the story recounted by four of the people who were in the room:
I love being involved with the University of Georgia'sTerry College of Businessserving on the Marketing Executive Board. As part of my involvement there, I agreed to be the first participant in professor Jennifer Osbon's book club with marketing students. Tomorrow night I will be discussing Cialdini's fantastic book:
Influence: Science and Practiceby Robert B. Cialdini (affiliate link) Here is a cool illustrated video that explains the concepts in the book:
Posted by Joe on Wednesday, July 29, 2015,
In :
Personal Life
When our twins were born in 2010, my wife, Michelle asked me to reduce the number of activities in which I was involved. It was a very reasonable ask since family was important to us both, so I resigned from a few boards and focused on family and work. Now that the kids are headed to kindergarten and AgencySparks is going well, I have slowly gotten back involved in a number of initiatives which are important to me.
My goal for this post is to spark some interest from YOU in getting more invol... Continue reading ...
When he asked me to talk to him about how to hire a great sales person, I was excited to talk about the years of marketing and sales experience that lead me to founding AgencySparks. I have insight into what works and what does not, with regards to sales talent.
Please check out the podcast to learn more about what I shared with Gene:
Special thanks go Lindsay and Ben at Bright Fox Agency for helping us with our new brand, logo, business cards, infographics, collateral materials, and website!
Posted by Joe on Tuesday, November 18, 2014,
In :
Setup
There are so many exciting things happening for AgencySparks! I will not bore you with all of the details, but here is a quick list:
1. Several of our agencies have closed deals from the introductions we made to potential clients. This is the most important of any of the points on this list.
2. We got a new logo/brand and are working on a new website and marketing materials:
Posted by Joe on Wednesday, June 11, 2014,
In :
Setup
We are so pleased to welcome Katia Herrera to AgencySparks!
Katia joins Stephanie Peterman and me as our third employee and a valuable member of our team. We were thrilled to have Katia join us due to her enthusiasm, stellar intellect, and strong work ethic.
Katia will be graduating from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia in August 2014. She will be receiving her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing with a Digital Marketing area of interest.
Posted by Joe on Wednesday, June 4, 2014,
In :
Setup
Jason Swenk has built a nice business advising marketing agencies on how to be more successful. His experience comes from running a digital agency for 12 years before selling it in 2011.
Posted by Joe on Friday, May 30, 2014,
In :
Events
I had the good fortune to moderate an EXCELLENT Atlanta Ad Club event entitled New Business in the Modern Age. There were over 100 people in attendance and they were delighted by the all-star panel:
Stephanie left Engauge/Moxie a few months ago to join a small digital agency, and I immediately began talking to her about the idea of joining AgencySparks. In case you do not know about Stephanie's very interesting career path, here are a few of the highlights:
Stephanie was a Journalism major at the prestigious Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syra...
Posted by Joe on Sunday, February 2, 2014,
In :
Setup
I could not be any more excited to announce that I have launched a new company - AgencySparks!
AgencySparks provides business development and communications consulting services to marketing agencies.
I want to share the story of how the company was born:
Very soon after I left my agency of the last six years, in early January of 2014, I felt VERY fortunate to have several excellent opportunities. Most of them were with small-medium sized agencies looking for me to help them grow, like I ha... Continue reading ...
Posted by Joe on Wednesday, December 4, 2013,
In :
BtoB vs BtoC
I am often asked about the differences between business-to-business marketing and business-to-consumer marketing. While BtoB has its nuances: nurturing leads along a pipeline, buying teams vs. individuals, slower sale cycle, and more expensive products there are many more similarities than differences.
At the end of the day, you are trying to move a person to take action... The context of the engagement is different. Getting a consumer to buy a candy bar (often an impulse purchase) is dif... Continue reading ...
