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 Choose the Right Agency Niche and Stick With It Through Uncertainty with Filip Lugovic | Ep #868
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

How to Choose the Right Agency Niche and Stick With It Through Uncertainty with Filip Lugovic | Ep #868

Starting with a clearly defined niche can make all the difference when you’re landing your first clients and deeply understanding that niche can carry you through the toughest seasons of agency life. Today’s featured guest built his agency on exactly that foundation.

Before launching his firm, he spent years working as a consultant for governments, UN agencies, and the European Commission. Along the way, he identified a clear gap in the market.

That expertise proved invaluable during the pandemic. While uncertainty hit many agencies hard, he trusted his understanding of the space and chose to weather the slow months, confident the work would return. His patience paid off as demand surged later in the year.

He’ll share the lessons learned from more than 20 years of building and running a thriving niche agency in one of the most political and complex markets in the world—and why focus, patience, and deep domain knowledge remain his greatest competitive advantages.

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When an Agency Merger Falls Apart: Lessons on Reinvention with Tom Snyder | Ep #864
Selling Your Agency Jason Swenk Selling Your Agency Jason Swenk

When an Agency Merger Falls Apart: Lessons on Reinvention with Tom Snyder | Ep #864

What would you do if the merger you believed would change everything suddenly collapsed? Agency owners often dream of the big exit: the acquisition, the payday, the validation. But if you’ve been in this industry long enough, you know the story rarely goes as planned. Today’s guest lived through the dot-com boom, a merger gone sideways, a rare “un-merger,” and multiple reinventions across three decades.

Today’s featured guest is an agency owner who lived through the dot com boom, a merger gone sideways, an unmerger (a rare event), and multiple reinventions over three decades. He’ll talk about his journey and the lessons he’s gained in resilience, clarity, and what it means to build a business that lasts.

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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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3 Moves Your Agency Must Make in an Economic Downturn with Dan Kahn |Ep #790
Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk Scale Your Agency Jason Swenk

3 Moves Your Agency Must Make in an Economic Downturn with Dan Kahn |Ep #790

How are you adapting to the many changes in the industry and society overall? For many, including today's featured guest, this is a golden era for agency business. Of course, not everyone will thrive—success depends largely on your ability to adapt. Our guest has mastered adaptation through several economic downturns over the years and we’ll discuss how he navigated each crisis, and why he firmly believes there has never been a better time to be in the agency business.

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Empower Your Agency Team & Be the Beneficiary of Your Hard Work with Ryan Kutscher | Ep #602
Scale Your Agency Stacey Green Scale Your Agency Stacey Green

Empower Your Agency Team & Be the Beneficiary of Your Hard Work with Ryan Kutscher | Ep #602

Do you lack a clear vision for your agency? Communicating the vision is the best way to empower your agency team. An unclear vision leads to a lack of direction and makes it more difficult to scale your digital agency. Today's guest has grown his agency to nearly 8-figures and admits only recently things have become more clear. He expands on how a lack of direction was one of his first mistakes with the agency and how he has been getting through rough times thanks to the support of other entrepreneurs.

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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.