In this episode, Andrew Aebersold discusses his journey from college to running a record label, the influence of ADHD on entrepreneurial tendencies, the challenges of defending a patent, and the importance of specialization for agencies. The episode also explores the experiences of acquiring an agency, giving back to the community, and incorporating growth habits into business ownership. Additionally, the importance of streamlining development processes and building a supportive community are discussed.
Andrew Aebersold is the CEO of Mediaura, a digital agency driving digital growth through a blend of experience, creativity, and technology. With over two decades of experience, Andrew is a marketing and entrepreneurial expert. He’s passionate about creating cutting-edge digital solutions and has a diverse background in various ventures, including music and cybersecurity, making him a dynamic guest for discussions on marketing, entrepreneurship, and business advertising. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Masters in Marketing Agency Podcast:
- Andrew did not let adversity deter him, and he continued to pursue his passion for business and entrepreneurship.
- The inability to focus on one thing can lead to unconventional problem-solving.
- The story of KFC’s impact on creating a digital menu board system.
- Team structure and staffing issues may arise when acquiring an agency, impacting client support and workflows.
- Habits that can help improve energy levels and increase purpose in the workplace.
- Eliminating the need to manage a stable of WordPress and Shopify developers allows for a focus on acquisition, customer service, and creative strategies.
- On-page SEO can be managed with basic web skills, but off-page SEO and link building require specialized expertise.
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Quotables:
- 39:10 – “We talked a lot about being kind of a niche, understanding your expertise, don’t do everything, but I think if you are a small business, you need to be able to pivot rapidly and make those changes. So if you kind of called yourself, I always used to joke, like if I called Mediaura “Andrew’s Website Design Company” in 2003, I’d have a harder time pivoting because people would just associate me with website design. And the reason I’m saying that is our industry’s just changing quicker right now than it ever has.”
- 30:20 – “I think this is going to be crucial for anybody that’s acquiring or anybody that’s thinking about selling their own agency. You have to be really clear about what that owner’s bringing to the table. And so earlier I mentioned the SEO stuff and it’s just one flavor. So pick your flavor of how you want to run your business. But for me that is a way for me to get out of the day-to-day so that if I choose to sell my business at some point in time, it’s not 100% dependent upon me.”
- 21:28 – “That’s one of the things I think that could be a lesson learned for other agencies and startups doing it: try to pick a specialty or a niche and be the best at it. We evolved organically over 20 years and picked up whatever was changing or going on at that time. And now we’re kind of looking back at it and saying “Okay, what can we be experts and specialists at?” and that’s been interesting.”
- 21:54 – “This topic comes up a lot on the show of the full-service agency approach. So what is really a full-service agency if they say they specialize in so many areas, how do you specialize in any if there’s so many? So I think that split is, that sounds like a great move because it allows you to focus the processes, and the teams, and the culture of one specialty one way and the other specialty another way. We’ve had a couple of conversations where if you are going to be essentially full service, then technically maybe you’re a brand and a consultancy, but then you outsource essentially everything else.”
- 04:09 – Josh: “Why do you think people that have Attention Deficit Disorders end up being in entrepreneurship?”
Andrew: “I think for me, it always felt like the ideas were just kind of bouncing around a lot more. And the inability to focus on what was laid out in front of me kind of made it feel like I was just being a little bit more creative, and filling in those gaps with my own information, which just led me down different paths. So if you’re able to really focus on something, maybe you’re reading like a novel and you just get fully engrossed in that novel and you’re in that world and you’re just following it from start to finish. And if you can’t focus on the novel as you’re reading it is obviously influencing your brain and now you’re bouncing to a different idea, but you’re borrowing from the content that you’re reading and you’re just kind of coming up with your own thing.”