Episode 562 Burn the Old Playbook and Find Your Agency Tilt with Joe Pulizzi

Get ready for an eye-opening episode of Build a Better Agency! This week, Drew McLellan is joined by the always generous and sharp Joe Pulizzi, author of "Burn the Playbook" and a longtime leader in the content marketing world. Together, they dig into some big questions facing agencies today: Why does the old way of doing things feel stale? How do you keep showing up—and standing out—when everything around you is changing at warp speed?

You'll hear Joe Pulizzi make a compelling case for "leaning into your weirdness"—that special mix of obsession, expertise, and audience that sets your agency apart. He shares why going broad just doesn't cut it anymore and how being someone's favorite—even in a narrow niche—beats trying to be liked by everyone. Drew McLellan and Joe swap ideas for digging deep into your agency's true mission, trusting your team to help tell your story, and making sure your marketing is as good as what you create for clients (yes, really!).

They dive into honest conversations about what's working, what's not, and how trust has become the secret sauce to building real, lasting relationships—especially in an AI-saturated, hyper-competitive moment. Joe also gets real about how to build your "board of life," the handful of people who support you, challenge you, and help keep you grounded as a leader.  

If you're feeling the itch to shake things up—or just want some candid advice for making your agency more meaningful and resilient—this episode's for you. Walk away with a bunch of practical tips to rethink how you talk about what you do, rally your team, and create the kind of agency clients and employees can't help but trust.  

A big thank you to our podcast's presenting sponsor, White Label IQ. They're an amazing resource for agencies who want to outsource their design, dev, or PPC work at wholesale prices. Check out their special offer (10 free hours!) for podcast listeners here.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

• • Understand why the traditional content marketing model is breaking down under AI pressure and what agencies need to replace it with  
  • Discover how to find your agency's content tilt, the recombination of existing expertise, passion, and audience that makes you unmistakably different
  • Learn why being a generalist is increasingly dangerous and what becoming somebody's absolute favorite actually means for agency findability and growth 
  • Find out why transparency and human vulnerability in your content build more durable trust than any feature list or capabilities deck ever could
  • Understand why you should never try to build a community and what you should focus on doing instead
  • Learn how to strategically assemble a board of life around you, including mentors, peers, and champions, with real intention and regular accountability
  • Discover the less is more audit that helps agency owners eliminate scattered marketing efforts and double down on what actually moves the needle
  • Learn why your individual employees, not your agency brand, may be your most powerful and most underleveraged marketing asset
  • Get a practical starting framework for clarifying your agency's mission, cutting energy drains, and empowering your team to communicate with authority