When it comes to client service and other day-to-day agency activities, owners often find themselves at one of two extremes: too deep in the weeds or too disengaged.
That’s why I always suggest to my clients that they think of themselves as someone who sprinkles magic fairy dust at just the right moment.
I’ll explain more a bit later in this week’s newsletter, but first let’s look at what Jen has rounded up for us this week.
— Chip Griffin, SAGA Founder
Weekly Roundup
Below are some articles, blog posts, podcasts, and videos that we came across during the past week or so that provide useful perspective and information for PR and marketing agency owners. While we don’t necessarily endorse all of the views expressed in these links, we think they are worth your time.
— Jen Griffin, SAGA Community Manager
Latest from SAGA
- You don’t need to be a visionary, but it helps to have a vision for your agency (Agency Leadership Podcast)
Articles & Blog Posts
- Understanding the Trade-Offs in Your Decisions (Punctuation)
- Custom work has hidden costs. Is it time to productize your agency’s services? (Sakas and Company)
- What the Warrior Games Reveals About Purpose-Driven Communications (Spin Sucks)
- Paid Search Analytics: Strategies, Tools & Metrics in 2025 (AgencyAnalytics)
Podcast Episodes
- How to Shorten + Improve the Agency Sales Cycle, with Taylor Frame (The Innovative Agency)
- Fractional COO vs. Operational Intelligence: What Agencies Actually Need, with Kristen Kelly (The Agency Profit Podcast)
- Implementing the PESO Model© in a Zero-Click, Zero-Share World (Spin Sucks)
- Jessica Malnik – Building Your B2B Content Moat (Agency Bytes)
- A DIY New Business System (2Bobs)
- Should Jobs Still Require Degrees? (Working/Broken)
- Mark Orttung -Hard-Won Lessons from Scaling an Eight-figure Services Firm (The Digital Agency Growth Podcast)
Video
AI in focus
- AI and the PR Profession: What You Need to Know to Future Proof Your Career (Solo PR Pro)
- How I’m using AI today. (Anchor Advisors)
Do you sprinkle magic fairy dust?
As an agency owner, you shouldn’t get bogged down in a lot of routine day-to-day activity. For many of you, that might mean scaling back the level of involvement you have in client service.
At the same time, you don’t want to be aloof and removed from the activity of the business and the relationships with clients.
In a small agency, the owner is never far from the action, but that doesn’t mean you need to be on the frontlines all the time either.
The way I describe an owner’s role to my clients is as someone who sprinkles magic fairy dust.
That might mean showing up to elevate the importance of a client meeting — or to respond to their own desire to elevate a specific conversation.
But it also means finding a way to add value in the right way to content that you are approving or strategies you are reviewing.
You need to distinguish between those things that add real value from your own participation versus those things that you simply might do differently (even better) if you were doing it on your own.
I admit that it is often difficult to let go of some of these things, especially when you are early in the growth stages of your business and just starting to recognize that you can’t be everywhere.
On the flip side, I have allowed the pendulum to swing too far in the other direction and lost all track of what was going on with clients or projects because I was trying so hard to avoid micromanaging that I wasn’t really managing at all.
The thing about focusing on the magic fairy dust is that it allows you to manage your time more effectively while also having a bigger impact from what you say or do.
If a client hears from you at every check-in, your advice can get lost in the noise. If you participate more sparingly and strategically, your words will carry greater weight.
The same is true when working with your team. If they have a steady stream of guidance, suggestions, and edits they won’t have the same impact as if you call out the most important items at the right moments.
The next time you agree to a meeting, provide feedback, or think about how to manage a client or team member, remember that your role is to sprinkle the magic fairy dust.
