However, he soon grew frustrated with the lack of reliable and proficient automation support. Necessity births invention, and so he created Fusemate, an agency that combines sophisticated software tools to automate business processes. Fusemate focuses on the ways that agencies and marketers can expand their businesses without having to put in more effort.
For Anthony, his agency is all about adding more value to his clients’ lives, so that not only do they have successful businesses, but they’re also able to have the lifestyles they want. We got the chance to pick this Agency Guru’s brains on the challenges of finding the right team members, the significance of a clear online customer journey, and of course, automation.
Cloudways: Hi Anthony! You founded both Fusemate Automation and the Self-Publishing Lab. Can you tell us a little about these companies? How did you come to transition from publishing books to marketing automation?
Anthony: Hey, thanks for having me. The Self-Publishing Lab was my previous agency, where we assisted publishers and authors in producing and publishing print and digital books. It was building this business where I learned the power of automation and how critical it is to have team members who are A-players that not only drive systems but maintain and create them.
The thing is, finding A-players is very challenging, not to mention the training and costs associated with hiring full-time staff. On the other hand, freelancers can be unreliable and often don’t get time to continue their self-development as they are continually chasing the next invoice.
Source: selfpublishinglab.com
As the years passed I was able to reach a point where I had systems and automation in place by utilizing software and people, which allowed me to step away and have it keep running.
The time came where I was looking for my next venture. After several conversations with agency owners and marketers asking me about how I found great people, systemized, and automated a service-based business. These people were struggling to scale and finding, hiring, and training staff, due to high costs or failed attempts at finding reliable freelancers.
I realized I had discovered my next opportunity and Fusemate was born. Our mission is to solve this growth problem for other agencies and marketers by providing an on-demand white-label marketing team, trained, certified and knowing all the language that agencies use.
Cloudways: As a marketing automation specialist, what do you think is the point when companies should start implementing a marketing automation platform?
Anthony: When you reach a point where you’re finding yourself or your team repeating the same tasks, or you’re overwhelmed because you’re doing everything yourself from admin, scheduling and client delivery. These are common indications you’re ready to have automation in place doing some of this for you.
The great thing here is it allows the people to work on higher-value tasks that move the business forward. Automation also allows for a consistent, scalable experience for your clients from that first interaction to onboarding and ongoing engagements.
Cloudways: To you, automation is a way companies can free up time to focus on growing and expanding their business. What do you think are the major blocks that keep companies from automating their processes?
Anthony: The number thing I hear is a lack of time to create processes. Without having your processes down, it’s hard to know what can be automated with software, or delegated to another person to do instead.
They feel that’s lower-value work that gets in the way of executing daily client deliverables and the impending overflowing inbox, phone calls, and team requests. Consequently, they never get to enjoy the benefits of freeing up their time for having more sales calls or time with family. They never get out of the grind.
Another thing is control. Some agency owners and solopreneurs tend to have a hard time letting go of the day-to-day operations and client deliverables. I’ve found that this is sometimes due to previous failed attempts of delegating the work because they didn’t have the systems, SOPs and style guides for someone to execute tasks “just like them”.
For some, the idea of hiring someone is overwhelming and a distraction, and before they know it, another year has passed, and they’re still working nights and weekends.
Cloudways: You’ve spoken about the importance of a clear online customer journey when it comes to taking your business to the next level. How can agencies continuously improve their online customer journeys and add value to both current and potential customers?
Anthony: Getting clear on the goal the end-client is wanting to achieve, having those regular conversations with your ideal client, and using that information to refine your sales messaging, improve website copy, review pricing and inform updates necessary in each stage of your customer journey. These conversations are invaluable, including the “No’s” you get from sales calls or proposals. Learn from them and use it to your advantage.
We’ve seen great success with agencies visualizing customer journey’s for their end-client as part of their service. Getting visual by using a mind mapping tool or one-page printout helps paint the picture of how a lead first becomes aware of your client’s brand, through engagement and buying from them. Using a visual tool allows you and your clients to get on the same page quickly, and this helps build trust and the relationship even faster.
Cloudways: How does Fusemate develop and implement an effective marketing strategy for a client? How can agencies maximize account performance and minimize marketing costs across digital platforms for their clients?
Anthony: At a high level, it generally starts when we work with an agency establishing who the ideal customer is, their current state of pain, the desire to reach the “after” state, or the desired end goal. From there, we begin mapping out each stage of the customer journey from awareness, engagement, lead acquisition, sales, delighting the customer through to maximizing lifetime value. This journey is the “bridge” to get their end-client from where they are to where they want to be.
Then we create what we call an Execution Map, which is a visual breakdown of the customer journey into bite-sized executable parts to implement at speed using a suite of tools. Planning upfront can save a lot of expensive rework time later.
When the time comes for implementation, picking the right tool stack can get the job done but also save on costs. Platforms are becoming quite comprehensive, to include email, automation, landing pages, payment processing and more in one package. This reduces cost in implementation and duct-taping multiple monthly billing tools together to achieve the same thing.
Here’s the best approach to client management
Cloudways: As a digital marketing specialist, how can agency owners stay top of shifts in how audiences consume content, and develop fresh and interesting content in 2020?
Anthony: Find as little as 15 minutes a day to follow publications and marketing influencers who have a broad reach with a deep footprint in business and consumer sectors, because this allows them to see a lot of data and trends in attention and report about it.
People like GaryVee and Neil Patel are on the leading edge of how attention is being affected or where it’s going online. I’ve also found mastermind groups to be invaluable about getting a fresh perspective and insight on what content is performing well for their agency and their clients.
Also, it pays to keep in touch with the industries of your clients, by following a couple of leading influencers or organizations in their space. This helps you keep on top of trends and speak the language of your client. Come to the table with a new campaign that addresses an impending industry change before your client asks about it. It’ll make them feel like you’ve got their back and a real partner in their success.
Cloudways: The pandemic has forced agencies all over the world to change the way they do business. Do you find more businesses are turning to social media for lead generation? What’s the most common mistake agencies make with social media lead generation?
Anthony: From what I’ve seen with the agencies we partner with, organic social media is being used for building brand awareness, and the end-customer is using social as part of their research about a company.
We’ve also seen a reduction in Facebook advertising costs during the last several months, which has enabled smaller companies to spend more in specific sectors.
Cloudways: What advice do you have for digital agencies managing remote teams? Are there any tools or techniques for remote collaboration that you recommend?
Anthony: Great question, as communication is everything. I recommend that however possible, stick with the KISS principle of keeping it simple. A cumbersome tool stack with many tentacles slows the process down from my experience.
Use Zoom to have weekly team check-ins, and if you have a small team under say five staff, consider doing weekly or at least a monthly one-on-one. The key here is to have your remote team members still feel connected and seeing their positive contribution to the company. It helps with keeping morale and productivity high.
Managing a remote team isn’t as difficult as you think it is.
Cloudways: Off the top of your head, what are the projects you’ve most enjoyed working on at Fusemate? What did you like about them?
Anthony: One was where we had to help a fitness business impacted by COVID completely move off the field and online in less than three weeks. From conducting classes, an enrolment system, onboarding funnels, team operations, registrations, payments, the whole she-bang!
I’m proud of what the team was able to accomplish in such a short space of time and the business is here today holding fast and growing because now they’ve used this opportunity to go from just serving a local market to nationwide.
Another project I’m proud of was a couple of months ago; we took care of some email automation work for an agency owner who was slammed. Over 48 hours, we updated the funnels and the integrations into the website. She was overjoyed; she was able to “clone herself” by offloading the task to us, meet her Thursday morning deadline, and help paint her daughter’s bedroom she’d been promising to do for months. This is why we do what we do.
Cloudways: Who would you recommend we interview next for this series?
Anthony: Kasim Aslam
Our thanks to Anthony for his insights! Keep up with and continue to learn from the experiences of leading specialists and agency owners.
Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, or contact him at the Fusemate website
Arsalan Sajid
Arsalan, a Digital Marketer by profession, works as a Startups and Digital Agencies Community Manager at Cloudways. He loves all things entrepreneurial and wakes up every day with the desire to enable the dreams of aspiring entrepreneurs through his work!
