Crafting a Digital Marketing Agency Business Plan

Any business worth its salt must have a business plan that outlines various things about the business, and a digital marketing agency is no exception. Certainly, a digital marketing agency business cannot be started and operated using the prepackaged business plans that come in templates, especially if your business is unique, calls for a lot … Read more

Agency Financial Forecasting

Here are 10 ways to get the most out of your agency’s financial forecast. Confirmed Revenue. Probably the single most important number on any forecast so your forecast should focus on this number. Only include confirmed projects/retainers. This is your worst case scenario hopefully something from your pipeline (below) will drop in but it’s not … Read more

Leadership and mental health: "Bosses burn out too"

Interesting read in the Singapore Business Times from Anthea Ong, founder and chairperson of WorkWell Leaders, a non-profit collective of CEOs and leaders focused on championing workplace mental health and wellbeing. The key quote for me: "Employee mental health has never been given more attention by employers. However, experts say late-stage pandemic fatigue is also … Read more

Social Innovation Camp – 5-7 December 2008

Social Innovation Camp 2 (The Revenge!) was an amazing experience – tiring, draining, seemingly unending, but fun, fulfilling and infinitely rewarding. Around 60 people descended onto 7 different ideas trying to make positive social change to bring them from the glint of an idea into a project that could be taken on past the weekend. The key idea … Read more

Essential Freelance Reads and Top Freelancer Blogs

Following on from my guide to being a freelance consultant, I’ve pulled together a list of essential freelance reads and top blogs so you can get up to speed on all the latest freelance thinking. These are presented in no particular order, but feel free to add your own suggestions by leaving a comment! Freelance … Read more

Economy, Effectiveness, Efficiency: How councils can measure the success of social media

(This is a full version of an article I wrote for The Guardian’s Local Leaders Network on how councils can measure the success of social media. You can read the edited version on the Guardian’s site.) According to the 2013 BDO Local Government Social Media Survey, 98% of UK councils are using some form of digital or … Read more

Freelance Social Media Consultant Q&A: Damien Clarkson, Social Chic

(This is the fifth in a series of interviews with freelancers, telling us their stories on how they went freelance. The aim is to help others who are thinking of becoming freelance learn more about what it takes, as well as get advice and inspiration so they can get the confidence and understanding to find … Read more

Online Privacy Issues Need to be Easier to Understand

Online privacy issues are currently difficult to understand. Amid media headlines about NSA, Prism and Snowden, terms such as encryption, Tor and HTTPS are used extensively with the average person expected to keep up  with what they mean and understand how the issues affect them. For people who aren’t technically adept, the message about why online … Read more

How to build long-term client relationships as a freelancer

How to build long-term client relationships is a follow up to yesterday’s post on finding freelance work in the summer slump, and a longer term goal to write more about freelancing in general. I’ve written quite a bit about what I’ve learned from freelancing, but if there’s any topics you want to cover just let … Read more