GYDA - Grow Your Digital Agency

Director Fatigue

In this video, I discuss the concept of director fatigue and how it is affecting various aspects of our lives. I highlight the current state of affairs, including the sluggishness in pipelines, the prolonged duration of tasks, and the exhaustion experienced by agency directors and clients alike. I also touch upon external factors such as upcoming elections, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, post-COVID hangover, and the inflationary economy. Through this video, I aim to shed light on the c...

What is the problem?

Our Greatest Acheivements in 2023

Getting the team to have the commercial awareness your agency needs

Why We Should Celebrate Mid-Level Agency Managers

Positioning: The Key to Standing Out in a Competitive Market

Digital Agencies Shouldn’t Do Digital… To Get Clients

Jon Waring of 3sixty on How to Increase Your Pitch Win Rate

In this GYDA Talks, Janusz talks to Jon Waring. Jon is the Founder & CEO of digital agency 3sixty. They design, build and maintain websites exclusively for the travel industry. 3sixty’s work is recognized industry-wide for performance and conversion rates. Janusz and Jon discuss pitching. Listen as they give their insight into the process and why they have an enviable track record of pitch wins.  

The Growth and EOT Sale Story of NOVOS with Sam Hurley

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Sam Hurley. Sam is Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at NOVOS. He previously headed up SEO for Made.com across all major European markets. His achievements include growing Made's non-brand SEO traffic by over £10.4million. NOVOS has grown from 0 to 45 people in 3 years. They've won numerous search & drum awards and were most recently voted 5th Best place to work in the UK.  Robert and Sam discuss the growth and sale story of NOVOS, the highs, the lows...

Sabrina Chevannes on Why There is Such a Lack of Diversity in the Creative Sector

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Sabrina Chevannes. Sabrina is the Managing Director of Complex Creative. She started her first business in 2008 so has a wealth of experience in running companies. Having made many mistakes along the way, Sabrina is keen to help prevent others from making the same mistakes. With clients as high profile as UNICEF, Pirelli and the Ministry of Defence, she is in a position to give some tips as to how to land major names. Sabrina specialises in everything cr...

Andy Lambert on Social 3.0 and Marketing Your Agency

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Andy Lambert of ContentCal. Andy is one of the founding team and director of growth at ContentCal. From starting out as an agency and then launching their software product in 2017, ContentCal is now used by over 40,000 businesses in over 140 countries. In December 2021, ContentCal was acquired by Adobe. Robert and Andy talk about Andy’s new book ‘Social 3.0: How forward-thinking B2B’s can unleash the power of social media.’ Plus Andy gives his insight int...

Recruiting in 2022: The Top Five Challenges for Digital Agencies with Leon Milns

In this GYDA Expert Seminar, Leon Milns of We Are Adam, joins Robert Craven to talk everything recruitment in 2022. They discuss what's happening in the digital agency space and the top five challenges facing every agency when recruiting.   The key points; Shortage of talent and huge demand – how do you attract / entice / seduce the best people to leave and join you? Retention – there’s a lack of stickability, heads are constantly being turned and people are jumping ship Affordability –...

Carl Sargunar on CTOs in Digital Agencies

In this GYDA Talks, Janusz talks to Carl Sargunar. Carl is a technical consultant with a wide range of experience in the field of web and application development. From being the CTO of a thriving agency to helping his clients grow their technology to meet their ambitions, he can also be found tinkering in his garage with IoT devices. Janusz and Carl talk about the role and importance of the Chief Technology Officer in agencies: What is a CTO? What makes a good one or a poor one? Do they ...

Creating Great Customer Experience with Nigel T Packer of PelaTis Online

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Nigel T Packer. Nigel is a Digital Customer Experience Consultant and Trainer.  He is also an author and digital business speaker. For over twenty-five years he has used his extensive knowledge and broad range of experiences to engage, educate and entertain business audiences across the UK and Europe. His subject expertise includes customer experience optimisation, customer experience journey mapping, e-Business strategies, effective website development, a...

Masterclass - Rethinking the Customer Journey with John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing

In this GYDA Masterclass, John Jantsch of Duck Tape Marketing, gives his insight into the Customer Journey. Marketing today is less about demand creation and more about organising behaviour – marketers must understand how to guide customers through a full marketing journey. John will take you through the framework that has been created by Duct Tape Marketing and has been employed in thousands of businesses and consultants to make their own customer journeys a success.   This is a bite-si...

Building and Selling GoProposal with James Ashford

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to James Ashford. James helps accountants and bookkeepers to grow their firms into profitable businesses by pricing consistently, selling more confidently and minimising risk. He first achieved this in his own firm – MAP – where alongside Founder Paul Barnes, they first developed GoProposal & implemented a sales culture to ensure they were maximising the value of their clients. Now, as Vice President of GoProposal by Sage, he continues to help thousands of ...

How to Market Your Digital Agency with Itai Sadan of DUDA

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Itai Sadan. Itai is the CEO and Co-Founder of Duda, a professional website builder for agencies and SaaS Platforms. Under Itai’s leadership, Duda rapidly expanded its professional website builder product suite with an emphasis on empowering web professionals with cutting-edge tools to help them create beautiful conversion-driving websites at scale. To date, Duda hosts more than a million active websites that have been built by over 17,000 customers globall...

Stop Wasting Time at Work with Paul Holbrook

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Paul Holbrook. Paul is an author and leadership rebel who, after 20 years managing rapid technology change in the City of London, decided that he’d had enough of standing by, watching the toxic effects that accidental managers had on their people and themselves. From that moment, he decided he wanted to spend his time creating a world of better-led people. As an all-round optimist and creator of the Diary Detox®, Paul believes the best way to eradicate ac...

Positive Mental Wealth with Mike Pagen

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Mike Pagan. Mike is an expert in helping you achieve positive mental wealth through building hand-picked support networks. Surround yourself with your personalised Mental Wealth team, become happier in life, be more successful in business, and become mentally and physically stronger to navigate the path ahead.   Robert and Mike discuss: Why Mental Wealth? Mental Wealth not Health How does this apply to the agency owner? The four areas: Sorting your ...

Productivity Masterclass for Digital Agency Leaders with Michael Tipper

Welcome to another GYDA Masterclass with Michael Tipper on productivity. This presentation will help you and your busy agency eliminate distractions, get laser-focused and achieve much more with just a handful of tiny tweaks to what you’re already doing. Michael ends his presentation with a Q&A from the audience. This is a bite-size version of the hour-long video. To watch the rest head on over to GYDA Member Hub!

Financial Benchmarks for Digital Agencies with Paul Barnes of MAP

In this GYDA Expert Seminar, Paul Barnes of MAP shares his insight into the key financial metrics that agencies should focus on. Whilst every agency is unique and should develop their own tailored business plan that meets it’s own vision and ambition, there are some key metrics that every agency should pay attention to. Paul explains not just what good performance looks like, but how to track and improve in these key areas. This is a bite-size version of the hour-long video. To watch the r...

Back to Basics for Marketing Digital Agencies with Simon Akers of Archmon

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Simon Akers. Simon is Founder of Archmon, a growth marketing consultancy that delivers actionable media strategies that deliver performance and new customers. Simon is a regular contributor to the industry press and events, and is also author of the book Back to Basics. He documents his experiences from 15+ years working performance-first campaigns to some of the UK & world’s leading brands. Simon gives his insight into the agency world and how to market ...

Building a White Label Agency with Mike Knorr of That Company!

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Michael Knorr. Mike has over seven years of providing hands on strategic internet marketing recommendations to clients and prospects. In his consultative business development role he helps companies (representing both That Company! and it’s numerous white label and affiliate partners) identify the digital marketing channels that will best help the prospect attain the greatest return on investment. Once Michael has developed the high level strategy he then ...

Adding YouTube Ads to Your Agency Portfolio with Shashwat Singh of Linx Digital

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Shashwat Singh. Shash has over six years of experience in the digital marketing space, he is the CEO and head strategist for Linx Digital, and has extensive experience with both Facebook and YouTube ads. He has a passion for scaling businesses through paid traffic and helping clients achieve massive growth.   Robert and Shash discuss: Why do people resist YouTube Ads? The attribution issue The marketing and sales issue How to introduce YouTube ads to...

Growing an Agency in 2022 with Jon Tsourakis of Oyova

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Jon Tsourakis. Jon is a serial entrepreneur, seasoned leader and strategist. As a sales and marketing expert, he is constantly studying brand identity, business communications, buyer behaviour, sales conversions, marketing systems, product/service design and all things digital. He has created two companies that average 4X’s ROI for businesses with branding and marketing models. In 2019, he merged his agency and became co-owner of Oyova. As President and C...

Building to Sell vs Buying to Grow Digital Agencies with Luke Judge

In this presentation Luke Judge talks through the strategies that you need to build and sell an agency vs buying one to build your empire. He ended the session with a Q&A, so the video has loads of awesome insight from someone who’s been there and done it! If you want to talk further on the subject, send Luke an email here.   This is a bite-size version of the hour-long video. To watch the rest head on over to GYDA Member Hub!

Growing an Agency in 2022 with Jon Tsourakis of Oyova

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Jon Tsourakis. Jon is a serial entrepreneur, seasoned leader and strategist. As a sales and marketing expert, he is constantly studying brand identity, business communications, buyer behaviour, sales conversions, marketing systems, product/service design and all things digital. He has created two companies that average 4X’s ROI for businesses with branding and marketing models. In 2019, he merged his agency and became co-owner of Oyova. As President and C...

Four Strategies to Solve Your People Puzzle with Gareth Healey

In this GYDA Expert Seminar Gareth takes you through four strategies to help you with your people puzzle. Including: ‘Enabling and encouraging people to achieve greater knowledge, capabilities and performance.’ This is a bite-size version of the hour-long video. To watch the rest head on over to GYDA Member Hub! 

Entrepreneur Mindset Q&A with Pete Everett

In this GYDA Expert Seminar our special guest Pete Everett discusses Entrepreneur Mindset – why what got us here, might not get us there, and what you can do about it. Featuring David Gilroy of Conscious and led by Robert Craven, this hour-long video holds great insight for any digital agency leader.   This is a bite-size version of the hour-long video. To watch the rest head on over to GYDA Member Hub!

GYDA Talks - Adam Graham - Gray Matters

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Adam Graham. Adam is founder of Gray Matters and is a creative, commercially focused new business and marketing specialist, driven by a desire to help B2B businesses stand out and grow by building reputable brands. He has honed his craft over the last ten years, having worked in new business consultancies and in-house for RAPP, Omnicom, Vizeum, Dentsu Aegis and Isobar. He’s experienced in brand building, marketing and sales pipeline development as well as ...

Masterclass in Content by Andy Lambert of ContentCal

Watch this masterclass in Content by Andy Lambert of ContentCal. Andy takes us through a How To session on content marketing. Including: Where content marketing fits in our marketing mix. What a good strategy looks like. How it can be done. Plus loads more!   This is a bite-size version of the hour-long video. To watch the rest head on over to GYDA Member Hub! 

How to Use Qualifying to Win New Business with Ben Potter

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Ben Potter. Ben helps agencies to win the right clients. He is a mentor for agency owners and business development managers. In this session Robert and Ben discuss how to master qualifying. What is qualifying? How can you implement it in your agency? How to use qualifying to help you win new business   This is a bite-size version of the hour-long video. To watch the rest head on over to GYDA Member Hub! 

Marcus Sheridan on They Ask, You Answer

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Marcus Sheridan. Marcus is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker known for his unique ability to excite, engage and motivate live audiences with his simple, yet powerful transformational business approach. Marcus has been dubbed a “Web Marketing Guru” by the New York Times and in 2017 Forbes names Marcus one of 20 “Speakers You Don’t Want to Miss.” Not one to be limited to the stage, Marcus is most often found walking through the crowd, calli...

GYDA Talks - Tom Peters - Excellence Now 2021

Tom is insisting about the critical nature of leadership in current conditions. These tumultuous times demand deep engagement, human connection, and, yes, EXCELLENCE. In response, Tom has started his Excellence Now Campaign, a trio of tools intended to be his final lessons in Excellence. Lessons which focus on these topics of surpassing importance; topics which are, in fact, more important now than ever. The tools are Excellence Now: The Forty-Three Number Ones eBook, Excellence Now: Extreme...

Robert Craven Interviews Bo Burlingham

Our GYDA Talks special guest for June 2021 needs little introduction…   Bo Burlingham is an editor-at-large of Inc. magazine and the author of five books, the most recent being ‘Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top’ (Portfolio/Penguin, 2014). A previous book, ‘Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big’ (Portfolio/Penguin, 2006), was one of five finalists for the 2006 Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award. Burlingham j...

Achieve Your Personal and Professional Goals with Serena Humphrey

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Serena Humphrey. For almost 30 years Serena has been on a mission to help business owners get the life they want and deserve. She’s spent that time growing her knowledge around why, despite years of hard slog, most small businesses either fail or just survive.   In the early ‘90s three things happened that changed the course of Serena’s life and set her on a journey to help businesses. First she lost her home, due to interest rates at reaching 15%. Then ...

Build Financial Maturity in Your Agency with Paul Barnes - MAP

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Paul Barnes. Paul is Managing Director of MAP, who specialise in helping digital creative agencies to climb the maturity curve and grow more profitably. They do this by giving the agencies total visibility and understanding of their finances, so they can make better and more timely decisions. An agency’s growth often outpaces the effectiveness of their finance function; while a well optimised back office can be an essential component in ensuring you are g...

GYDA Talks - What happens when the world locksdown and your industry grinds to a halt - Farhad Divecha, Accuracast

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Farhad Divecha. Farhad is Managing Director of AccuraCast. His vision, technical know-how and drive have been instrumental in turning AccuraCast into London’s leading search engine marketing firm and one of the UK’s top search agencies. His experience includes the successful launch of numerous online companies, management of an $80 million+ product line and winning a pie-eating contest. Robert and Farhad discuss the last 12 months: what happens when the w...

GYDA Talks - Why Influencer Marketing Works with Gordon Glenister

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Gordon Glenister. Gordon is an influencer marketing strategist trainer and speaker  He is also the Global Head of Influencer Marketing at the Branded Content Marketing Association and the CEO of Membership World. Gordon was formally the director general of the British Promotional Merchandise Association for 11 years then launched his own membership consultancy in September 2018. From there he went on to launch a new influencer marketing channel at the Bran...

GYDA Talks - Mark Wilkinson - Life ReMixed

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Mark Wilkinson. Mark is a multiple business owner, coach, speaker and published author. Originally, music was Mark’s life as an international house music DJ and record producer. He was resident DJ at the famed Ministry of Sound in London, played music in 65 different countries, and achieved a UK Top 10 hit! At 33 years of age, Mark collapsed with an incurable disease. It was the start of a hellish experience as his body froze up over the next 18 months re...

GYDA Talks - How Smart Procurement Can Save Your Agency £££ - with Mike Lander, Piscari

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Mike Lander. Mike is a successful entrepreneur and expert negotiator with a proven track record of buying, growing, and selling businesses for seven-figure sums. He’s raised over £6.5m of acquisition/growth capital in his career and grown companies to over £20m revenue and £4m EBITDA. Mike has a uniquely valuable perspective on negotiating commercial deals, having worked on both sides of the table as a Procurement Director and an entrepreneur. In one of h...

GYDA Talks - Tim Butler - Innovation Visual

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Tim Butler Founder of Innovation Visual. Tim has a background in marketing, sales and consultancy as well as having deep digital expertise. He has worked in a wide variety of sectors such as marketing services, technology, banking, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, professional services and finance, giving him a very broad and in-depth view of business. Using this business acumen and knowledge, and applying it as a ‘digital marketing expert’, Tim has led prof...

GYDA Talks - Run your agency easier, faster, more profitable and more enjoyable - with Lee Goff

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Lee Goff. Lee is an entrepreneur who grew up in Mississippi. He started his first agency, Getuwired, in 2003 in his upstairs bedroom with absolutely nothing and grew it into a multi-million-dollar agency. He retired from the agency in early 2014. Then in June of 2016, sold out the remaining shares to his long-time partners to pursue his passion of mentoring small businesses. Lee now focuses all of his energy on creating and implementing guaranteed ways to ...

GYDA Talks - How to Work Without Losing Your Mind - with Cate Sevilla

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Cate Sevilla. Cate is an author and journalist who has led and managed editorial teams for some of the world’s largest media and tech companies – including Google, BuzzFeed and Microsoft. She was a founding member of BuzzFeed UK and later became Editor-in-Chief at The Pool, at the helm when the company collapsed. Cate is the host of the careers podcast ‘The Heart Of It’, and her writing has appeared in The Independent, Stylist, The New Statesman and Busine...

GYDA Talks - Byron Marr - Aira

In this GYDA Talks, Robert interviews Byron Marr. Byron is head of paid search at Aira. A self-taught digital media specialist, Byron has worked in paid media for eight years and in 2020 was ranked in the Top 50 Most Influential PPC Experts by PPC Hero. In 2017 he joined Aira, a Google Premier Partner and Facebook Marketing Partner who work with medium to large businesses across a range of industries and sectors. Robert and Byron discuss: Agencies rising to the challenge What is the chall...

GYDA Talks - Michael Tipper - Peak Performance Productivity

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Michael Tipper of Peak Performance Productivity. Michael is on a mission to help busy professionals squeeze even more juice out of this thing called life by helping them cross the bridge from overwhelm to overachievement. From distraction to disciplined delivery. From procrastination to purposeful progress. His specialities include: How To Be Productive Working Remotely, Finding Focus In A Distracted World, Eliminating Procrastination To Get More Done and...

GYDA Talks - Gareth Hoyle - Marketing Signals

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Gareth Hoyle of Marketing Signals. Straight from university, Gareth started his own digital marketing agency from which Marketing Signals has grown. A commercial mind with a deep technical understanding, he conveys comprehensive digital marketing knowledge in a straightforward and easily understandable way to stakeholders at all levels. An investor in people. Robert and Gareth discuss: How is your agency different? Why do people buy from you? Are there ...

GYDA Talks - Stefan Bardega - Traktion

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Stefan Bardega. Stef is Co-Founder of Traktion, a new SaaS platform that helps businesses discover and hire the best freelance marketing talent. Stefan spent the previous 15 years building various agencies including two that reached number one spot: MediaCom and iProspect. He grew the MediaCom digital agency business from 14 to 300 people during tenure and was most recently CEO of iProspect in the UK, an operation with 700 people. Robert and Stefan discus...

GYDA Talks - Amanda Barry - The Entrepreneurs Coach

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Amanda Barry. Amanda is a business and personal development coach who works with entrepreneurs, focussing particularly on those running ethical, environmental or social impact businesses. She qualified with the Co-Active Training Institute, one of the world’s leading coaching training organisations and is certified with the International Coaches Federation. She spent the first part of her career as a PR and Comms Consultant, which included running her own ...

GYDA Talks - Rand Fishkin - SparkToro

In this GYDA Talks, Robert talks to Rand Fishkin. Rand is the Co-Founder and CEO of SparkToro. He has dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through his blogging, videos, speaking, and his book, ‘Lost and Founder’. When Rand’s not working, he’s most likely to be in the company of his partner in marriage and (mostly petty) crime, author Geraldine DeRuiter. If you feed him great pasta or great whisky, he’ll give you the cheat code to rank #1 on Google. Rand drop...