How the Modern Marketing Manifesto Can Transform Your Agency
Key Takeaways
- Define your desired lifestyle first, then construct your agency to support it
- Use actual client language and pain points from sales conversations in your marketing copy
- Guide decisions by data, deliver remarkable experiences, treat people with respect, and learn from failures
- Avoid industry jargon that prospects may not understand or have negative associations with
Ryan Ruud, founder of Lake One Digital, joins the Agency Journey podcast to discuss his Modern Marketing Manifesto and how he built a fully remote agency around the lifestyle he wanted to live.
Building an Agency Around Your Life
Ryan made a deliberate decision to build Lake One Digital as a fully remote agency. Rather than starting with a business model and fitting his life around it, he started with the lifestyle he wanted and designed the agency to support it. This meant remote work, flexible schedules, and a team of people who valued the same kind of freedom.
The takeaway for agency owners is straightforward: define what you want your life to look like first. Then build the business to serve that vision. Too many founders build agencies that end up controlling their lives rather than enhancing them.
Using Client Language in Your Marketing
One of the most practical tips Ryan shares is about marketing copy. Rather than using industry jargon or internal terminology, Lake One Digital pulls language directly from sales conversations. When a prospect describes their pain point in a specific way, that language goes into the website, emails, and content.
This approach works because prospects see themselves in the messaging. They feel understood. And it avoids the trap of using terms like “inbound marketing” or “demand gen” that may not resonate with - or may even confuse - the people you are trying to reach.
The Modern Marketing Manifesto
Ryan developed four core principles that guide how his team operates:
Guide decisions by data. Marketing decisions should be based on numbers, not gut feelings. If you are going to improve the client’s results, you need to be guided by the data, interpret what it is telling you, and take action based on real insights.
Deliver remarkable experiences. Every touchpoint with a client should feel intentional and valuable. This applies to the work itself, the communication, and the overall relationship.
Treat people with respect. Both internally and externally, ethical treatment of people is non-negotiable. This includes honesty when results are not meeting expectations.
View failures as learning opportunities. Not every campaign will succeed. The key is to analyze what went wrong, extract the lesson, and apply it to the next effort.
Transparency Builds Trust
Ryan emphasizes the importance of honest communication with clients, especially when things are not going well. Rather than hiding behind reports or spinning negative results, Lake One Digital addresses issues directly. This transparency builds trust and strengthens the client relationship over time.