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
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...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast welcomes back Mandi Ellefson, Founder of Hands Off CEO, for a candid and timely conversation about profits, client value, and the hidden levers that drive sustainable growth.
Too often, agency leaders obsess over monthly revenue or the size of the next contract while missing the real game-changer: long-term, high-profit “sweet spot” clients who fuel exponential...
Today on the Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Torek is joined by Paula Bruno, CEO and Founder of Intuition Media Group, and influencer marketing pioneer who’s been navigating the creator economy for more than 15 years.
Paula gets candid about the real challenges marketing agencies are facing, including how to separate creators with genuine communities from those chasing vanity metrics, the contractual and...
Today on the Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Torek is joined by Emily Hatton, an expert at turning bold ideas into real, measurable progress. If your agency has ever wrestled with too many opportunities, scattered priorities, or half-finished projects collecting dust, you’ll want to lean into this conversation.
Emily unpacks the hidden barriers that keep agencies stuck in “idea mode” instead of executio...
AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore. It’s reshaping how agencies build, deliver, and scale creative at lightning speed. But for every opportunity it unlocks, there are just as many questions: How do you keep your creative edge? What are the legal landmines? And how do you actually integrate AI in a way that drives results and protects your agency?
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek...
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek sits down with Bill Swanston, co-founder and President of Bosun, for a raw and revealing conversation about what it really takes to reinvent a legacy agency.
Bill doesn’t just share the highlight reel. He takes us inside the emotional highs and lows of letting go of a longtime identity, including the one literally tied to the founders’ names.
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Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek is joined by President and Co-Founder of Uproar PR Mike Harris. Mike brings the kind of hard-earned wisdom you only get from selling an agency. Not once, but twice.
If you’ve ever wrestled with the idea of letting go of something you built from the ground up, this conversation is going to hit home. Mike takes us behind the scenes of the emotional roller...
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Louise Oliver, Founder and CEO of Peritus PR, for a story that doesn't get told nearly enough, but every agency owner needs to hear it. Louise discusses the bold and deeply personal decision to hit pause and step away entirely from the business she built.
Not just a vacation. A real, extended break. And what happened next? Transformation for he...
Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek is joined by Taylor Frame, Chief Revenue Officer at Best Practice Media. Taylor knows what it really takes to grow agency revenue in a market that’s full of hesitation and slow-moving buyers.
With economic uncertainty and client priorities shifting by the week, Taylor shares a refreshingly honest take on the sales challenges agencies are up against, and...
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek is joined by Jennifer Kaplan, Founder of Evolve PR and Marketing, an industry veteran who’s had a front-row seat to the seismic shifts reshaping how we communicate.
In a marketing landscape defined by constant change, Jennifer breaks down what’s actually working today in PR, from the rising influence of podcasts and creators to the high-stakes...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast welcomes Lori Highby, CEO and Founder of Keystone Click, for an honest and practical conversation about what it really looks like to run a digital agency in the age of AI.
Lori shares how her and her team are weaving AI into daily operations, not just the flashy stuff, but the messy, behind-the-scenes realities most agencies aren’t talking about. She tackles how AI is rew...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast examines a challenge every agency leader has faced at one point or another: watching a promising new client relationship fall apart too soon.
Today’s guest is Chip Griffin, Founder of the Small Agency Growth Alliance (SAGA), and he’s here to unpack how to set agency-client relationships up for success before the contract is even signed.
Chip candid...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast welcomes Saul Marquez, Founder and CEO of Outcomes Rocket, an expert in digital marketing for the healthcare sector. Saul dives into the core challenges agencies face in proving the effectiveness of digital campaigns and building lasting client trust, especially when expectations and reality don’t always match up.
Saul breaks down the critical framework of ass...
Today’s episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast is a must-listen if you’ve ever found yourself staring down an empty pipeline, wondering where your next opportunity will come from. Sharon Toerek is joined by Tom Martin, Founder and CEO of Converse Digital.
Tom doesn’t pull punches when it comes to one of the most critical and overlooked agency challenges: consistent business development in an unpredictab...
Leading a fast-growing agency comes with unique challenges. How do you scale at speed without losing your culture, your talent, or your edge?
This special milestone episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast (we’ve hit 300 episodes today, all!) features Stephanie Spicer, President of Luquire, an agency recognized for its rapid growth and i...
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast welcomes back Karl Sakas, a familiar and trusted voice in the agency world. Through Sakas & Company, Karl offers custom consulting, executive coaching and training programs and products to help agency owners “up-level” at their agency.
He joins this episode of The Innovative Agency to share powerful and practical strategies straight from his latest book, Calm T...
In this episode of The Innovative Agency, Sharon Toerek is joined by Ellen Praytor Faulkner, CEO of Lewis Communications, a performance marketing powerhouse with deep roots and a forward-thinking edge. Ellen opens up about what it really takes to lead an agency through transition, stepping into the CEO role in the wake of COVID and steering through the ripple effects of economic headwinds and rapid tech shifts.
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