Agency Intensive

About Agency Intensive

Richard Hill, CEO and Founder of eComOne and SEO Traffic Lab, chats to agency owners with fire in their belly, processes at their core and people in their hearts. Learn from people who are fiercely resilient and ambitious. Listen to their challenges, wins and their journey to find out what adds the magic to their agency. Released once a month, these podcast episodes will be truly transparent and take you inside the busy minds of some of the biggest players in the industry.

Publisher

Richard Hill

Category

business · business · business · education · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 Jun 2024

Latest episode

5 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

23 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Oct 2026

   E22: Kat Thomas - How to Get Your Brand Found in ChatGPT, The New Rules of PR

   25 years in PR. Two agencies. One very big decision. Kat started out in London at Cake. Then she headed to Australia for 12 months. She stayed 13 years. At 28, she founded One Green Bean in Sydney with backing from independent ad agency Host. It grew fast, winning Google, Nike, Uber and Diageo, plus Australia's biggest bank, supermarket and car brand. At around 50 staff, Havas came on board as a shareholder. In 2015 Kat moved back to London to open One Green Bean London inside Havas HQ. Havas later bought the business outright. Kat stayed on for two more years, then in 2025 she handed over the keys. Today she's the founder of Knock Three Times, an AI-first creative PR agency backed by Common Interest. Who's this episode for? You'll get a lot out of this one if you're being approached about investment or a sale and want to know what life with a network shareholder is really like. It's also for you if you're wondering when it's time to step away from a business you founded, or trying to work out how your clients will show up when their customers ask ChatGPT or Claude for an answer. The honest bits Kat doesn't gloss over the hard parts. She explains why she brought Havas in. Australia's market caps out on budgets, and she wanted bigger work on a global stage. She admits she was the biggest skeptic about moving into a ten-storey network tower. A year in, she toured warehouses in Shoreditch and Dalston to move the team out. Her team asked if she was mad. They loved the office. It was her first real lesson in how much the next generation's expectations had changed. When she resigned, she had a six-month notice period. She refused to spend five and a half months pretending nothing was happening, so she told her team and clients within three weeks. She also admits that, looking back, she probably should have travelled instead of going straight into writing a book. PR in the age of answers The second half gets into what Kat calls the holy trinity. Editorial coverage influences AI, and AI influences people. While the network conversation about AI was all about efficiency and headcount, Kat wanted something different. She wanted to build a comms business with AI baked in from day zero, focused on capability and specialism, not size. Knock Three Times runs on a private Claude Enterprise setup, plus three tools built in-house. Audit finds the editorial sources LLMs actually draw on for a category. Architect turns that into a media targeting strategy. Readiness scores press releases out of 100 for structure, newsworthiness, data and whether they read as AI-written. She also shares why a dog walker's blog in the West Midlands gets cited by LLMs for Butternut Box alongside national titles. She explains why LLMs recommend confidently in FMCG but stay cautious in health and finance. And she shows how a Readiness score dropping from 74 to 40 after client amends gives her an objective way to push back on a watered-down release. If you're thinking about your own exit, or how your agency stays relevant now that people ask AI for answers first, this one's packed with real, candid lessons Topics Covered: 0:25 – How Kat got into PR and founded One Green Bean in Sydney at 28 2:46 – Rapid growth: winning Google, Nike, Uber and Diageo 6:48 – Taking on Havas as a shareholder at 50 staff and opening One Green Bean London 12:35 – Deciding when to leave the business you founded, and why AI was the trigger 18:07 – Resigning, telling everyone straight away and going straight into writing a book 25:15 – Launching Knock Three Times: capability and specialism over headcount 30:30 – The age of answers and building the agency on Claude Enterprise 33:47 – Audit and Architect: finding the sources LLMs cite, from national titles to a dog walker's blog 39:37 – Readiness: scoring press releases out of 100 to stop them being watered down 43:29 – The PR tactics that will matter most for eCommerce brands

2. 

   14 Jul 2026

   E21: Matt Burton & Russell Brockett - Retainers, Team Culture and AI: The Secrets to Agency Longevity with Rusty Monkey

   “Just don’t be a dick” is easy enough and potentially one of our favourite lines in this podcast, shortly followed by “we're actually two 80-year-old women" we can’t confirm or deny. Here’s to another episode of Agency Intensive. It’s number 21 and Richard Hill sits down with Matt and Russell, co-founders of Rusty Monkey, an agency that’s been thriving for over two decades in the ever-changing world of digital services. Together, they reflect on over 25 years of navigating recessions, technology shifts, evolving client demands, the pandemic and now the rise of AI “It can be a gaslighting jerk”. They manage all this while staying true to the kind of business and culture they want to build. Tune in as the conversation dives deep into the real keys behind sustainable agency growth: building resilient, profitable and enjoyable businesses that last, without getting caught up in vanity metrics or relentless headcount expansion. If you’re looking to understand how to adapt, price creatively, build enduring client relationships, leverage events for business development and have a laugh, this episode is for you. Time Stamps: 00:00 Sustainable agency growth tips 05:13 Balancing different services for stability 07:38 Balancing multiple services in agencies 11:33 Setting up project-based work 14:15 Discussing Budget Estimation Strategies 17:17 Sponsor message from Aristo Sourcing 22:02 Rethinking company structure 23:31 Finding our minimum viable audience 28:16 Challenges of Scaling a Business 31:16 Running events to win business 32:26 Growing the event's audience 38:33 Networking at events 42:41 AI impact on small businesses 44:53 Using AI for user experience 48:41 Casual and earnest AI users 51:33 Challenges in SEO and Digital PR 53:29 Changes in SEO and consumer behavior 57:52 Derek Thompson's book and TED Talk

3. 

   14 May 2026

   E20: Joshua Grant - Market Uncertainty to Operational Excellence: Agency Lessons in Resilience and Adaptation

   Welcome back to Agency Intensive, hosted by Richard Hill, where we dive into the realities of running and scaling successful agencies. In this episode, Joshua Grant, Managing Director of Absolute Design, offers a candid, insightful look at how the agency landscape has evolved over the past 18 months. Together, they explore how agencies can thrive in times of market uncertainty, win client trust, and find opportunities amidst economic pressures. You'll hear discussion on the rising importance of simplifying tech stacks, identifying and eliminating wasted spend and maximising value from the tools you’re already paying for. They dig into the practical ways agencies are leveraging AI for operations and reporting, while recognising its limits, and reveal how to truly become a trusted advisor to your clients. Whether you’re looking to tighten operations, deepen client relationships, or future-proof your agency in a noisy market, this episode is packed with relatable stories, actionable insights, and the latest trends straight from the agency frontline.

Podcast Authority Score: 22 / 100

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