Managing agencies and creative teams is equal parts art, science, and group therapy. You’ve got designers chasing pixels, media buyers chasing ROAS, and clients chasing unicorns. My job? Align all of them without losing focus (or my sanity).
Here’s how I turn creative chaos into performance systems that actually deliver.
Strategy: KPIs Before Ego
✔ Define the scoreboard – Revenue, CAC, ROAS, retention. Creative without metrics is just decoration.
✔ Translate goals to tasks – Break big revenue targets into media buys, design sprints, and campaigns.
✔ Guard against “random acts of marketing” – Every project ties back to core KPIs.
People: Cats, But With Deadlines
✔ Contractors vs. in-house – Contractors bring speed, in-house brings consistency. I balance both.
✔ Agencies as partners – Treat them like extensions, not vendors. Respect = better results.
✔ Specialists in the right lanes – Don’t ask your copywriter to configure GA4. That’s how fires start.
Process: Systems Save Sanity
✔ Weekly sprints + check-ins – Everyone aligned, blockers removed fast.
✔ Project management tools – Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Monday—I’ve run them all.
✔ Playbooks, not reinventing wheels – Reusable SOPs mean campaigns launch in days, not months.
Revenue: Agencies Can Be Profit Centers
✔ Margin discipline – Know what services actually pay vs. what burns hours.
✔ Retainers + performance incentives – Align agency upside with client results.
✔ Upsells + cross-sells – Agencies that only “deliver scope” leave money on the table.
Communication: The Real Glue
✔ Clients want clarity, not jargon – Translate CTR, CVR, and LTV into “this is making you money.”
✔ Teams need context – Share the “why” so creatives feel ownership, not burnout.
✔ Feedback loops – Data in, adjustments out. Fast iteration = happy clients.
How I Actually Lead (The Boring but Effective Stuff)
✔ Start every engagement with a North Star metric everyone can rally around.
✔ Keep contractors, in-house, and agencies aligned through one ops cadence.
✔ Build SOP libraries so creative energy goes to innovation, not re-doing basics.
✔ Use quarterly audits to prune services, renegotiate retainers, and scale winners.
✔ Make customer service + delivery part of the revenue team, not an afterthought.
Leading agencies isn’t about making creatives happy or clients happy—it’s about building a system where both sides win, the numbers prove it, and nobody feels like they’re herding cats (except me).