Best Blackhat Forum

The following is an excerpt from Joshua Bretag, taken directly from inside AdSkills exclusive media buyers group, Pro League.

Normally, we reserve these private conversations for our paying customers, but Josh has graciously agreed to let us share his advice with all of you during these interesting times.

For those of us experiencing uncertainty in our agencies right now...

...this is a “Must Read.”

Josh is a longtime member of AdSkills and founder of Cubatica, an Australia-based digital marketing agency. He has helped major brands like Canva scale to a $3B valuation and Simba Sleep go from pre-revenue to £33 Million pounds within 18 months.

Here is his post from inside Pro League:

Recently, I was asked “How are you adapting to this crisis? Which changes have you made, and why?”

Here are a couple of pivots we are doing right now:

1. We are developing partnerships between all our clients and people that I know and other agencies where there are natural overlaps in audiences.

2. As a company, we always hold over 12 months of expenses in a dedicated bank account so we can get through times like these.

3. We are pivoting our mix of clients to be 50% that will grow during this period, e.g. immunity, health and wellness, online education, cosmetics, telecommunications, office furniture, online entertainment, etc.. and 50% that will excel after the crisis.

4. We are re-negotiating contracts with clients so they can get through this time where needed. Agreements that have additional benefits to us and don’t cost the partner right now.

5. We are going through all our software subscriptions and removing those we don’t need, and getting discounts on those we do need as to reduce that expense (We’ve gotten 30-50% off on some subscriptions doing this).

6. We are discussing with all our partners and finding out where they are at. Those that have cash flow issues or can’t survive through this period, we’ll buy out and bring them into our brand so they can continue business as usual

7. We have moved more heavily into CPA style deals since as a business, we can spend as much of our own money as we want. We don’t see the demand dropping off here, only potentially the limiting of supply due to warehouse shortages.

8. We have cut everything nice to have in the business already and had an “all hands on deck” meeting to reassure that business is “ok.” We do, however, need to take all precautions necessary just in case. We’d rather be over-prepared right now instead of underprepared.

9. The leadership team of the business is having daily meetings to determine what pivots and where we’re going to focus our energy for the day. This direction is based on new data we have from our researchers and also the public in terms of stimulus packages and new lock down requirements across all the countries we advertise in for our partners and clients.

10. We are being helpful and recommending resources that may help our partners and clients through this period such as how to apply for small business relief loans or grants. One of the leading supply chain people I know is graciously giving his time away for free to help out people with supply chain issues right now.

11. We are ensuring all staff and contractors can draw down on our own fund for supplements, tablets, and basic essentials that they need so we can help them to keep their families safe. We extend this offer to their family so they don’t have to worry about them being safe during this time and able to continue in their work.

12. We were already a remote-first company so the impacts of being locked down had no huge impact on us. This is actually seen as an advantage now by our partners and clients.
However, I am seeing a lot of miss information about what really is effective and productive for working remotely. I suggest a reading of Remote by Jason friend (CEO of basecamp) as a great place to start.

13. We are talking with peers in our industry. This is helping us to keep a pulse on what’s going on as we catch up every 3 days at the moment as we deal with what’s going on and all the pivots we each need to make. Now is not the time to try and make money, but give as much as you can to your fellow friends.

14. We have already decided on Tier 1 through Tier 4 cuts and sacrifices we have to make if cashflow hits certain levels pre-defined levels.

I suggest you do the same. We have set ours at:

Tier 1 = 30% revenue loss
Tier 2 = 50% revenue loss
Tier 3 = 70% revenue loss
Tier 4 = 100% revenue loss

I hope this helps anyone in this group.