The Digital Agency Growth Podcast

Chances are referrals work for your agency. Maybe they're the only thing that ever has. But you've never optimized them. [Note: this is an encore of an episode originally aired 12/3/25]. If your agency is stuck in "the Cobbler's Children phase", where you deliver great work for clients but new business feels chaotic and reactive, this episode offers a way out. I'm sharing my referral workshop from the All In Agency Summit, condensed from 60 to 30 minutes of pure strat...

What actually drives agency growth when pipelines are noisy, buyers are skeptical, and everyone sounds the same? In this episode, Dan Englander sits down with Alex Marshall, a longtime agency growth leader with two decades of experience across holding companies and independents, to unpack what really moves the needle. They explore why trust and relevance matter more than tactics, how storytelling shows up late in the sales cycle, and why relationships compound over time even when results aren...

If you’re planning your 2026 biz dev strategy without real market data, you’re guessing. In this episode, I talk with friend of the show Nicholas Petroski, founder of Promethean Research and creator of the Digital Agency Referral Playbook, about what the numbers actually say—and how top agencies are using referrals, account growth, and GTM clarity to build next year’s plan. This is the clearest look you’ll get at what’s really moving the needle heading into 2026. 🧭 What You’ll Learn The refer...

In this episode, Dan Englander sits down with Garrett Jestice, former CMO and founder of Prelude, to unpack how to turn that randomness into a repeatable Go-To-Market (GTM) system that actually compounds. Garrett helps B2B agencies and service businesses replace scattered marketing efforts with a focused GTM strategy built on customer proof — clarifying audience, offer, messaging, and channels so growth stops being a guessing game. They break down why most agencies start with the wrong things...

In this solo episode, Dan Englander breaks down a truth most agency owners quietly suspect: the majority of sales and marketing advice out there was never written for firms like yours. Most “agency growth” tactics are built for high-volume, productized services with large addressable markets—not for boutique, complex-service agencies selling trust, nuance, and strategy to a few hundred ideal clients. Dan calls this dynamic “The Great Mismatch.” He unpacks why the standard playbooks fail, what...

In this episode, Dan Englander welcomeed Carl Smith, community builder and leader of The Bureau, for a wide-ranging, no-BS conversation on where the agency world is headed. 🧭 What You’ll Learn The “Philosophical Futurist” Mindset How to face rapid change—especially around AI—without fear or cynicism.Inside The Bureau The story behind one of the most influential agency communities and how it evolved from a 24-person retreat to a 1,400-member ecosystem.The New Agency Model: Guilds & Partn...

In this episode, I sat down with @Sharon Toerek from Innovative Agency to talk about the real shifts happening in agency business development — and the constant evolution that comes with them. We unpacked why 2025 is the year agencies need to get honest about their positioning, how trust — not information — has become the key currency, and why specialization isn’t just smart, it’s essential for survival. ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 – Welcome and introduction: why the agency landscape feels confusing i...