Smart Agency Masterclass Podcast with Jason Swenk

Bi-weekly interviews, strategy, and advice for building your marketing agency the smart way.

The popular agency podcast has just turned 10 years old and covers everything from starting a successful agency to selling your agency.

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How to Build the Leadership Layer Your Agency Needs to Scale with Brandon Rost | Ep #855
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

How to Build the Leadership Layer Your Agency Needs to Scale with Brandon Rost | Ep #855

Is your agency growing fast but still running without the right structure or leadership team to sustain that growth? If too many people are reporting directly to you, it’s a clear sign you’ve outgrown your current setup. But building that next layer of leadership isn’t as simple as promoting your top performers. Without a clear strategy, those well-intentioned promotions can backfire, causing confusion, turnover, and setbacks that stall your agency’s momentum.

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How AI Is Changing SEO: What Every Agency Owner Needs to Know with Vishal Mahida | Ep #853
AI for Agencies Jason Swenk AI for Agencies Jason Swenk

How AI Is Changing SEO: What Every Agency Owner Needs to Know with Vishal Mahida | Ep #853

How are you preparing your clients to start thinking about AI as part of their SEO strategy? Are you educating them on what they can expect now that the landscape is changing with AI optimization? As an agency you should be starting these conversations because you can be sure your clients are already thinking about AI, even if they still don’t understand it’s applications for how clients will get to their content.

Artificial intelligence isn’t just changing how people find information, it’s rewriting the rules of search altogether. Today’s featured guest is already running AI audits for his clients, he thinks all agency owners should be doing this. He’ll unpack what AI optimization really means for agencies, marketers, and business owners who’ve lived and breathed SEO for decades.

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How to Stop Fake Profit From Fooling You: Agency Finance Secrets With Lacie Edgeman | Ep #847
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

How to Stop Fake Profit From Fooling You: Agency Finance Secrets With Lacie Edgeman | Ep #847

Ever looked at your agency’s bank account and thought, “We’re crushing it!” only to realize two months later that half that cash wasn’t really yours yet? Or maybe you’ve hit that milestone where you start wondering what your agency might be worth if you sold it tomorrow… but your books are a confusing mix of guesses and gut feelings. Today's featured guest was a finance expert before falling in love with the agency world and has the knowledge to help us unpack how smart financial planning, not just more clients, can completely change your agency’s future. From forecasting and cash flow to the hard truths about selling, this conversation is packed with real-world lessons every agency owner needs to hear.

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How to Build a Resilient Agency That Stands the Test of Time with Bill Swanston | Ep #842
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

How to Build a Resilient Agency That Stands the Test of Time with Bill Swanston | Ep #842

What does it really take to keep an agency alive through market crashes, pandemics, and the endless grind without burning out or losing your edge? Today’s featured guest will unpack his journey from starting in a basement with a couple of clients to leading a 30-person team through some of the toughest seasons an agency can face. From navigating financial blind spots to learning how to actually let go and trust his team, and the reason the agency’s 25th anniversary actually marked a big shift with a new rebrand.

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How to Make Clients Choose You and Stay: Lessons You Can Steal from Caitlin Copple & Holly Conti | Ep #811
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

How to Make Clients Choose You and Stay: Lessons You Can Steal from Caitlin Copple & Holly Conti | Ep #811

How are you positioning your services as essential rather than optional, and accurately measuring growth and profitability to sustain long-term success? How are you measuring your agency’s growth and profitability? Today’s featured guests unpack how they scaled their PR shop past the million-dollar mark in under four years — and their journey offers valuable insights that any agency owner can apply immediately. Learn why they prefer growing the agency as partners, as opposed to sticking to being solopreneurs, how they’ve been tracking their growth, and how to over-communicate with clients openly so that choosing you is the easiest decision.

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Mastering Financial Literacy to Set Up a Successful Exit with Brian Rodriguez | Ep #753
Selling Your Agency Jason Swenk Selling Your Agency Jason Swenk

Mastering Financial Literacy to Set Up a Successful Exit with Brian Rodriguez | Ep #753

What is the one key thing that is holding you back from know your agency’s value? For many it’s having the financial literacy necessary to build an agency worth buying. Today’s featured guest learned that financial literacy can make or break an exit strategy. Despite his early start in business and formal education, it was the guidance of an outsourced CFO that truly transformed his understanding of business finances. This knowledge proved invaluable years later during acquisition negotiations and his successful exit.

From his teenage ventures in website development to building a thriving digital agency, and ultimately, to negotiating a successful exit on his own terms, join us as we explore the beginnings his agency and essential lessons on the importance of financial literacy, knowing your worth, and preparing for life after the sale.

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4 KPIs to Predict Your Agency Financial Future with Jody Grunden | Ep #594
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

4 KPIs to Predict Your Agency Financial Future with Jody Grunden | Ep #594

What key metrics are you tracking for your agency? Do you know which KPIs are crucial for making proactive decisions to benefit your agency? There are 4 key metrics that enable you to see into your agency’s future and make smarter growth decisions. Today’s guest runs a CPA advisory firm that provides agencies with the tools they need to come up with original solutions for their unique challenges. He shares the four key metrics every agency should be tracking to predict their future moves.

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Boost Your Agency's Success with the Power of BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE with Shirin Oreizy | Ep #576
Scale Your Agency Stacey Green Scale Your Agency Stacey Green

Boost Your Agency's Success with the Power of BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE with Shirin Oreizy | Ep #576

Did you know that applying behavioral science to your agency's work will result in better outcomes for your clients? By utilizing research-backed methodologies, you'll gain a competitive advantage. With extensive research on how to decipher customer thought processes, behavioral science is an incredibly useful tool for influencing and predicting their behavior.

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About the Show

The popular agency podcast has been around since 2014 and covers everything from starting a successful agency to selling your agency. What makes this podcast a must-listen is Swenk’s background as the founder and CEO of an agency for over a decade. Swenk brings his own experience to the table, besides the expertise of his guests. He mostly covers topics that help growing agencies scale to the next level.

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YOUR HOST

JASON SWENK

Smart Agency Masterclass

Jason is a family man who also happens to have created a couple big marketing agencies, helped thousands of agency owners, and had a big agency exit too.