I have a lot on my mind, so I create a lot of content.
But where do I come up with the ideas for what to write or talk about on podcast episodes?
The truth is that it’s the result of disorganized organization. Or organized disorganization. I’m not sure which fits best, but I’ll explain later in this week’s newsletter.
But first let’s take a look at the latest SAGA content and what Jen has rounded up for us this week.
— Chip Griffin, SAGA Founder
Latest from SAGA
SOMEONE WILLING TO LISTEN TO EVERY HALF-BAKED IDEA YOU HAVE. That 8pm Friday thought you don’t want to bother your team with now has somewhere to go. In the latest Agency Leadership Podcast episode, Chip and Gini talk through how to use AI as a genuine thought partner, not just a content machine, including how to push it to ask you questions instead of just telling you what you want to hear.
Jen’s Weekly Roundup
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK:
MAKING THE CASE FOR YOUR AGENCY — Jody Sutter’s Why your agency is worth choosing and how to prove it is taking on something most agency owners avoid thinking too hard about: how do you prove your value to a prospect who has plenty of other options? Confidence and vulnerability both play a role. Meanwhile, your agency has a LinkedIn newsletter — now what? from Lee McKnight Jr at RSW/US makes the case that LinkedIn newsletters can be a genuine business development asset, but only if they’re built around a real strategy rather than a content calendar.
VISIBILITY HAS CHANGED, AND SO HAS WHAT YOU OWE YOUR CLIENTS — Visibility is no longer something you generate through activity alone — in an AI-first world, it has to be earned through trust and credibility. Alejandro Arango at Spin Sucks uses the PESO model to connect earned authority to measurable outcomes rather than just impressions. Why communications must build the narrative code for the agentic age is the argument in the For Immediate Release podcast worth sitting with: the bottleneck isn’t the technology, it’s the operating model, and comms needs a “narrative code” before marketing builds one that was never designed for crisis or stakeholder complexity.
AI IS HELPING AND HURTING YOUR CONTENT AT THE SAME TIME — AI is quietly destroying your best content is Gini Dietrich’s specific, practical warning: AI-driven repurposing is diluting the work you’ve worked hardest to produce, and there’s a 30-second test to see if it’s already happening to you. Over at the Digital Agency Growth podcast, Robert Patin on pricing math, AI workflows, and the race to become a software-powered agency looks at what the numbers actually look like when AI is doing more of the work. Are you using AI to create more value, or just more output?
RUNNING A SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE — New research shows 58% of agency owners want to “fire themselves” within 5 years — but most aren’t building toward it in any concrete way. Karl Sakas frames this less as an exit planning question and more as a question of whether your agency is giving you real choices. Doing your own events well from David C. Baker is a detailed, thorough guide to running events as a business development and positioning move. Operationalizing AI without the chaos, with Matt Cyr on Sharon Toerek’s The Innovative Agency, covers how sustainable practices require systems, and AI is only one of them.
BEST OF THE REST — One PR pro shows there is purpose in the press on That Solo Life features Candice Smith of French Press Communications on how she’s applied her background in education to build a more structured, sustainable solo practice. Under the Agency Hood Interview with Philip Byrne of SB&A from RSW/US is worth a watch if you’re interested in how other agency owners are actually navigating growth and positioning right now.
— Jen Griffin, SAGA Community Manager
Where do these topics come from?
I could tell you that my process for creating articles, guides, podcasts, videos, webinars, and more is a well-oiled machine with a clearly defined content calendar.
But one look at these weekly missives and the SAGA website will help you see that’s not the case.
It’s an engine that runs a bit like a 30-year-old car — that is to say it works when it feels like it.
The reality is that while I love to write and have never turned down the opportunity to pick up a microphone, I get busy like the rest of you and tend to de-prioritize my own content creation.
So I need to be able to jump in quickly when the opportunity presents itself.
That means I need a reservoir of ideas so I’m (hopefully) not left staring at a blank screen wondering what to do next.
I have created a system that enables me to keep track of my ideas in several different buckets. The most structured approach exists in Notion where I have sections dedicated to specific article ideas — usually with a tentative headline and some notes — that I would like to write.
I also capture links to interesting articles and videos in a space I call “Content Fodder.” This is inspiration that falls short of a concrete concept for an article or episode.
Then I have a couple of Google docs where I just include free-form notes. One is titled “Hooks” and is a single sentence that might lead a social post or conclude an article. Many of these may not rise to the level of being a full piece of content and instead work better for a short social post only.
Gini Dietrich and I have a separate Google doc we share for recording episode ideas — it’s messy and a bit unwieldy, but it does help.
Finally, I have a document called “SAGA newsletter topics” where I … well, if you can’t figure it out, we should probably just move on.
So this is my disorganized organization, but where do the ideas come from to populate these reservoirs?
Some of it comes from reading other content, watching YouTube videos, or listening to podcasts. In fact, I think the idea for this article may have come from something David C. Baker shared about his own process.
A lot of it comes from actual conversations that I have with agency owners, including clients and others in our broader community.
On calls, I’ll often make a quick note to myself in real-time — either in one of the repositories mentioned above or simply on my daily task notecard I keep.
My philosophy generally is that there are few — if any — challenges that are so unique that another owner wouldn’t benefit from hearing more about it.
When necessary, I may modify hypothetical scenarios to ensure they can’t be traced back to a specific source, though some owners will undoubtedly recognize themselves in the challenges and solutions I present.
Now, when it comes to choosing what to include in a newsletter like this one, I consult these lists to see what strikes me in the moment.
I might pick something because it has been simmering on my mind for a bit. Or perhaps there’s a timely element to the idea. Or let’s face it, sometimes it’s just something easy to write about and Jen is pinging me repeatedly to find out when I’ll be able to send her the draft. [Jen’s note: I gently reminded him. Once.]
So that’s how I come up with my ideas. For those of you looking for a neat and tidy process you can replicate, my apologies. For the rest of you, does this look like how you work on your own content? Or do you have other ideas I should be trying to borrow for myself?
