The Innovative Agency
The Innovative Agency is a podcast that exists to help marketing agency leaders answer the question: "What's Next?". How are agencies staying on the cutting edge of marketing trends? How are they adapting their businesses to meet new business challenges in the agency world? Hosted by marketing law and intellectual property lawyer Sharon Toerek, we'll talk with agencies who are at the cutting edge of innovation and industry experts who have a front row seat to the practice of innovation in today's marketing, communications and creative agencies. The goal is to help listeners learn to look around the corner to spot their next opportunity. Sharon will share her expertise along the way about how to legally protect your agency's assets, and how to turn your agency's innovation into cash.
Episodes
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Christy and Whit Hiler of Cornett, for a candid conversation about what happens when leadership, legacy, and marriage all intersect.
As a married couple stepping into agency ownership, Christy and Whit share the real story behind succession and transition: the uncertainty, the high-stakes decisions, and the mindset shifts required to r...
Branding is often treated like decoration. Something you polish after the "real" business decisions are made. But when agencies are navigating growth, mergers, acquisitions, or fundraising, that mindset can quietly erode value.
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek is joined by Marc Rust, CEO and Founder of Consequently Creative, to challenge that thinking head-on. Marc works with venture-b...
So many agency owners struggle with the tension between wanting to be visible and waiting until their message feels "perfect." On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek sits down with Carrolee Moore, CEO and founder of Podcast Pitching Society, to challenge that mindset and unpack why visibility, not perfection, is the true foundation of agency growth.
Drawing from her journey running...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast welcomes Harv Nagra, host of The Handbook podcast and Head of Brand Communications at Scoro, to unpack a hard truth many agency owners overlook: growth stalls when operational maturity can't keep up with success.
Harv draws from his own agency experience to explain why chaos, burnout, and shrinking margins are often symptoms of broken systems, not broken strate...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast features a guest that has truly seen our industry from every angle. Armando Turco, President of Mojo Supermarket, has built a career that spans major creative agencies, brand consultancies, media companies and crucially, leadership roles on the client side. That journey gives him a rare, unfiltered perspective on what's really happening inside client organizations right now...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes CEO and co-owner of Mason Interactive, Brook Shepard, for a conversation about one of the most pressing realities every agency leader is feeling right now: uncertainty.
Brook offers a candid look at navigating volatility, understanding what today's clients truly expect, and why deep industry expertise has become one of the most powerfu...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek is joined by someone who understands the real pressures agency owners face in today's results-driven digital world. Sam Piliero, Founder of The Moonlighters, went from running entrepreneurial lemonade stands as a kid to leading a high-performing agency serving nearly 100 clients across Facebook, Google, and the ever-shifting digital advertising landscape.
<...This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast features one of the world's foremost authorities on trust-building in the sales process, Ari Galper. If you've been feeling the squeeze of longer sales cycles, increasing commoditization, or the growing "trust recession" impacting today's marketplace, this conversation will hit home.
Founder of AriAI, Ari joins Sharon Toerek to unpack the very real challenges a...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Aya Kikimova, Founder and CEO of LeapEngine, for a conversation that hits directly at one of the biggest questions agency leaders are wrestling with today: How do you build a profitable, innovative marketing practice while serving small and midsize businesses for clients who need high-quality work but often operate with leaner resources?
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Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek sits down with Aaron Burnett, Founder and CEO of Wheelhouse DMG, for a deep dive into one of the most pressing, and misunderstood, issues in our industry: data privacy.
Aaron shares hard-earned lessons from leading an agency that serves highly regulated sectors like healthcare and medical devices, revealing how boundaries around data can actually spark i...
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Emeric Ernoult, CEO of Agorapulse, to explore what's really working in social media right now — and what's just noise.
As both a former lawyer and agency owner, Emeric brings a rare mix of legal acumen and hands-on marketing experience to the conversation. Together, he and Sharon unpack how agencies can stay ahead as technology, algorithms, and ...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast tackles one of the most pivotal conversations for marketing agency owners: how do you build a business that's not only successful today but also strategically designed for the future?
Joining Sharon Toerek is Nick Avaria, Founder of Agency Acquisitions and a seasoned agency owner who's built, scaled, and sold multiple agencies. Nick shares hard-earned lessons ...
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek sits down with Pete Sena, multi-hyphenate founder, brand experience visionary, and creative provocateur, to tackle one of the most urgent questions facing agencies today: How do you keep innovating when AI is rewriting the rules of marketing in real time?
If you've ever wondered how AI is reshaping not just how your agency works, but how your clients' cu...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes back Logan Lyles, Founder of DemandShift and a seasoned B2B marketing strategist, for a deep dive into how agencies can reclaim webinars as a high-impact growth engine.
Logan reveals how his Webinar Fast Track Framework turns webinars from passive brand awareness plays into measurable lead generation machines helping agencies attract r...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek chats with Jesse P. Gilmore, Founder of Niche In Control. Jesse opens up about his journey from entrepreneurial burnout to building agencies that scale sustainably, without sacrificing sanity or freedom.
He shares powerful lessons on the mindset shifts that turn overwhelm into momentum and breaks down why adding more people isn't always the ans...
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek and guest Carl Holden tackle one of the biggest shifts reshaping our industry — how AI is rewriting the rules of SEO and digital marketing.
Carl, agency owner and Founder of RankBot, has been at the forefront of this transformation. He's seen firsthand how AI is changing client expectations, lowering barriers to entry, and forcing agencies to redefine wh...
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek is joined by Leslie Carruthers, Founder of The Search Guru, for a conversation that every agency leader needs to hear right now. Generative AI isn't just a shiny new tool, it's rewriting the rules of search, visibility, and how clients find their next partner.
If you've seen your organic traffic slide or you're struggling with how to guide clients throu...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek chats with Justin Rashidi, co-founder of SeedX, for a no-fluff conversation about one of the toughest challenges every agency faces: client churn.
Justin brings a candid, inside look at why expectations so often fall apart between agencies and clients and what to do about it before the relationship unravels. From spotting red flags early, to se...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Dan Englander, CEO and Founder of Sales Schema, to dig into what's really ahead for agency business development in 2025 and beyond. Dan has spent years in the trenches with independent agencies, and he's here to share why specialization and perspective are no longer "nice to haves" but are survival skills.
This conversation delves into...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek sits down with Elise Mitchell, Founder of the award-winning Mitchell Communications and trusted leadership coach to agency owners. Elise knows firsthand what it takes to build, scale, and sell an agency. She's bringing that hard-earned wisdom into her work guiding leaders through today's turbulence.
Elise tackles the challenges agencies are fac...
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