Getting Meta: Marketing the Marketing Agency with Amanda Milligan

Amanda Milligan is the Marketing Director at Fractl. She writes tons of guest posts and tackles the "meta" job of marketing the marketing agency. Fractl itself is a content marketing and growth marketing agency. In 2019, it was named one of the Top Content Marketing agencies by Clutch. Amanda also hosts a podcast, called Cashing in on Content Marketing. Its tagline is "Get the buy-in and budget you deserve." It's all about proving the ROI of your content marketing work, a skill every content marketer needs to get and keep clients, or to get what they need to create the kinds of content that perform. Today, though, she and Garrett get into the nuts and bolts of her daily job, which is marketing the marketing agency. Often, marketing agencies let their own marketing fall by the wayside while spending all their time servicing clients. Fractl is a rare agency that has a dedicated person devoted to making sure their name continues to get out there.So tune in! You'll walk away with some insights about how to keep your own agency in the spotlight.The highlights:[1:15] Amanda's role at Fractl. [3:06] Amanda's approach to content marketing for her agency.[5:25] Where to focus agency marketing efforts.[6:31] Prioritizing and scheduling tasks.[10:03] Integrating marketing with sales.[14:42] Maturing content to appeal to the right leads.[16:33] How Covid impacted client relationships at Fractl.[18:47] Predictions about the future of content.[21:28] Amanda's cause.The insights:Amanda's Role at FractlAmanda's career path offers new marketers some tantalizing glimpses of what a marketing career on an upward trajectory might look like."I've been with Fractl for six and a half years. I've done a lot of different things there. I was hired initially to do copywriting and copyediting. Then I was doing the projects themselves. We call that creative strategy at Fractl, which are basically the people putting these content packages together. They oversee the creative direction. I was doing that, mixed with a little project management. Then I was doing account strategy. I was basically the point of contact for our clients managing overall engagements."Now?"Now I have the meta job of marketing a marketing agency, which is just as fun. It's separate from the client work, but it's actually getting to talk about all the other stuff at Fractl I know so well and explain how it can be valuable to businesses. I've been in this role for two years, all those guest posts are part of that, and it's been a blast."Amanda's Approach to Content Marketing for Her AgencyAs mentioned (and as known, sheepishly, by agencies everywhere), agencies in general struggle to market themselves. Amanda has an approach that works, however.One part of that approach is to avoid over-planning."Sometimes we have these grand plans like: we're going to plan out the year! It never goes that way." Amanda says you should expect to have to recalibrate every few months. Other than that, you have to do the same things for your agency that you do for your clients."We create, for our clients, these data journalism and content projects, then pitching those through digital PR to the media. We do the same thing for Fractl. I've been involved with initiatives like that while dabbling in these authoritative ways to continue. That's an authoritative play as well, link building projects, the podcasting, the guest posting on Moz and TechCrunch. People just see your brand being mentioned. We dabble in a lot of different things, and then over time, we measure. You have to have different goals for everything, and not expect conversions every time an episode goes live." Where to Focus Agency Marketing EffortsAmanda says she really focuses on the top of the funnel."We really focus on inbound. We're really just honing: okay, what is really helpful for people, what's working, what's getting them engaged, what's the next thing we can provide to help them?"She says this year she's been focusing on on-site content."We hadn't put a lot of time on it in the past. We've had some great things in the past, but it's not as optimized as it could be, it's not as updated as it could be. That's been really fun to focus on."Amanda says she enjoys watching the leads come in. She likes seeing what kinds of questions the clients are asking so she can create new content pieces that answer those questions. Prioritizing and Scheduling TasksDay-to-day prioritization is another challenge most marketers are familiar with. Here's what Amanda's been doing with her days."I'm getting a little more involved in sales. I'm really excited about that because I think we're all aware of how tied [sales and marketing] are. Now that I'm taking these initial calls and vetting leads, I'm hearing people explain why they reached out and what their problems are."This lets her know more about their ideal clients, how sales help them through those initial conversations, and how those conversations can continue to align...