How to Overcome "Best Practices" Overload for Your Agency

Is your agency stuck in a "best practices" rut? Are you following so-called industry best practices without seeing results? If you’re in a place where excitement and momentum have puttered out and you think your agency has plateaued, you’ve hit what my guest calls your “crapping point” :) It's time to start asking the right questions and creating your own best practices. In this episode we’ll cover: Understanding your context and its three components. How to create your own formula for best practices. How to not fall into the best practices trap. Today’s guest is Jay Acunzo, is Sorry for Marketing and shares it all as a keynote speaker, blogger and host of the podcast, Unthinkable. Jay has an impressive background in the tech world and with start-ups, including a career at Google and Hubspot. He also did investing in start-ups for a firm, so his experience and insight comes from both sides of the aisle. Jay understands the importance of asking a lot of questions, the right questions, and turning away from conventional thinking. Today he is in a fight with best practices because “it has never been easier to be average.” If you aren’t seeing the results you expected and your agency has “Crapped Out,” Jay is here to give us some tips on how to better find your best practices by asking the right questions so you can stand out, rather than blend in. Understanding Your Agency’s Context Your context consists of three things: Those doing the work - yourself, your agency, your team Those receiving the work - your audience, the customer or client Your resources - the means to make things a reality If you find yourself asking “Why isn’t this working?” don’t forget to start adding the word “us” to the equation…. Such as: “Why isn’t this working… for us?” The best practices that might work for one company, may not for yours because your context is different. “Success leaves clues.” ~ Tony Robbins Success might leave clues, but it doesn’t leave answers. Best practices are simply a possibility that still need to be put through the filter, that is your context and then add your details to, and find, a best practice that will work for you. It is time to start thinking for yourself and not just following a list. You are the expert of your agency’s context. How To Create Your Own Formula for Best Practices One word: INTUITION We aren’t talking about the gut feeling you get from emotion and running with it. We are talking about the defined word, Intuition, which has roots in Latin that mean: Knowledge from within In other words, this circles back to knowing your stuff -- knowing your context The best way to know your context is to make sure you are asking the right questions for the three things that make up your context, listed above, Yourself, Your Audience and Your Resources. Visualize your intuition as a thing or tool that is on par with a list article. Understand that Intuition is that compounding return you experience from, constantly asking questions and understanding your context, and making the right call. Trust your INTUITION. How To Avoid the Best Practices Trap It all starts with a shift from the desire of knowing the answer, to caring more about how to find answers. This mindshift begins with asking the right questions of your context points. Each component has two questions and we can look at it like a funnel... The TOP Level is where all the confusion and all the excessive information is found. Sublevel 1 - YOU What is my aspirational anchor? Meaning, your intent for the future and hunger for today. What is my unfair advantage? Do an audit on your team to determine strengths and figure out how to best utilize them. Sublevel 2 - YOUR AUDIENCE What is my first principle insight? Understanding your clients needs/wants and knowing what you can bring to the table to help them achieve those. Who are my true believers? These are the people (even if just a few) who are passionate about what you're doing. Find your super fans. Sublevel 3 - RESOURCES What are my constraints? Is it money, size, time? Understanding these constraints will help you innovate within them. How can I expand? Think big, but understand that you have to start small. Putting a lot of boxes on a field will still cover the field and can build something big The BOTTOM Point is where you find your CLARITY. Be the exception. By identifying and acknowledging your specific context you are in a category of ONE! Related: Creating content that speaks to an audience of one.