More and more of the agency owners that I talk with want to “make a difference.” Many have passionate interests in specific issues or causes.
This often leads to conversations about pro bono work or nonprofit discounts. The idea they have is that they want their agency to be actively participating in the missions they care about.
While there is definitely a place for free or discounted work by agencies — and I have done it myself over the years — it’s not the only way to make a difference.
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
Latest from SAGA
- Agency policies on using and expensing alcoholic beverages
- Do you trust your agency team members? (Agency Leadership Podcast)
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
Articles & Blog Posts
- When and Why Your Agency Should Turn Down Work (Upsourced)
- Putting Your Own Oxygen Mask On First (Punctuation)
- How Much Should Agencies Offer as a Sales Referral Fee? (AgencyAnalytics)
- It’s been an emotional week for me. (Anchor Advisors)
- How I Landed an Interview With Forbes in Five Hours (Spin Sucks)
Podcast Episodes
- Exit Planning Strategy, with David Tobin (The Agency Profit Podcast)
- How To Break In or Out of Being a Solo PR Pro (That Solo Life)
- 10 Reasons to Ditch the RFP Process In Your Agency Search (Spin Sucks)
- Embrace Your Expertise and Charge for Value NOT Time with Sharon Robustelli (Smart Agency Masterclass)
- Mike Brevik on Guerrilla Marketing, Nostalgia, and Building a Unique Agency Culture (The Digital Agency Growth Podcast)
- Escape to Consulting, with Brian Herriot (The Personal Brand Business Show)
- Creating Scalable Systems in Your Agency (The Digital Agency Show)
Videos
- Three kinds of growth goals (Agency Management Institute)
AI in Focus
- 5 lessons I learned leading AI adoption and implementation strategy (PR Week)
- Leveraging AI Tools & Niche Targeting for B2B Marketing, with Kate Vasylenko (The Innovative Agency)
- GenAI Is Paying Off for Individual Employees (For Immediate Release)
Make a difference without working for free
It’s great that you want to make a difference in the world, but are pro bono work and nonprofit discounts the only ways that your agency can help advance your goals?
I typically explain to agency owners that while it is great to want to find a way to use their businesses to make a difference, they first need to make sure that the agency itself is running well.
Pro bono work and discounts should only come into the picture when the agency is already firing on all cylinders and generating healthy profits with team members carrying reasonable workloads.
In general, I counsel thinking of any discounted work for a nonprofit in terms of a cash donation. In other words, would you be willing to write a check to the organization equal to the amount of unpaid work you are providing?
In effect, that’s what you are doing whether you think about it that way or not. It’s too easy to work for free without accounting for those costs, but as we know there is nothing that is truly free.
So how else can you make a difference?
Certainly you could write checks to your favorite causes. That’s probably the simplest approach and it doesn’t conflict with the idea of running your business profitably. In fact, it incentivizes sound decision-making because the more cash you put in your own pocket, the more you have to invest in the causes that you care about.
But there are other options, too. You might provide incentives and tools to help your team members make a difference. For instance, some agencies offer time off specifically targeted at volunteer engagements. Others might have matching programs for charitable donations.
Helping your team to invest in causes not only helps to make a difference, it can also improve retention by providing employees with tangible benefits.
You might even have service days where the entire team spends a few hours volunteering together for a local organization. (It’s best if this is during work hours so that it doesn’t feel like an additional burden to the employees.)
As a business owner, you might also be asked to serve on the board of an organization that you care about, and this can be a powerful way to make a difference.
Using the flexibility you can create in your own schedule as the agency owner, you also have the ability to make room for volunteer activities of your own.
You might also consider providing expert advice to nonprofit organizations on a limited basis. In the past, I have usually done this to help them find the right solutions (including employees and agencies) for specific goals that they are trying to accomplish. Often just pointing them in the right direction is enough, rather than shouldering the full workload of a project or initiative without pay.
Remember that it is easier to account for the impact of the time you spend personally to make a difference than it is to calculate the true cost to your agency if you take on larger projects involving multiple team members.
The bottom line is that to make a difference, your agency needs to be successful in the first place. Focus on that first, and then use the fruits of your success to donate time, money, and expertise to the causes that you and your team care about most.
