Strengthening Client-Agency Relationships: A Talk With Bohumil Pokstefl

Welcome to the Marketing Growth Podcast. I’m your host, Shane Barker, and today I’m going to pick up the conversation from where we left off last time with Bo Pokstefl, the CEO of Kontentino. Let’s get started.

But I want to talk a little bit about the client-agency relationship, because I know you have a lot of experience working with big brands. You guys have really learned how to make it better for people to communicate when it comes to clients and agencies. There’s always, not always, a disconnect between expectations and price, and then what’s really going to be done and how things are going to be handled. So give us some intel on, when it comes to brands and agency-side marketers establishing stronger relationships, what are some of the key components to making this happen?

Yeah, we talk about proper expectations—what do you expect to get out of this? Because if your goals are totally different than my goals, we’re never gonna align. You’re always gonna be excited while I’m disappointed, or vice versa. It really comes down to clear communication—being able to understand, “Hey, with us, we always send questions out and say, ‘What would be a home run for us? What are your goals?’” I want to know, at the end of the day, if we did this for six months, what would make you happy? What would be a home run? That’s often where relationships break down—people don’t always flush that out. If the agency is happy and the brand isn’t, I can tell you what happens: you’re not going to get that client again. So, how are you going to hit a goal if you don’t know what your client is looking for? I love that.

So, when we talk about collaboration and the approval process, obviously that’s what you guys have built your business model around. What do you think? I mean, you kind of touched on it—it’s like trust. It’s about building that trust and transparency and setting proper expectations. Is there anything else that you think can make the relationship stronger between agencies?

Yes, because you’re making them part of the process so they can feel like they’re part of it. So, what would you say, once again—because of your background and what you guys have built—what are some of the common mistakes agencies make when working with clients? I talk about expectations. What are some of the things on your side that you see a lot of agencies messing up with when it comes to clients? Do you have any good intel on that?

Yeah, and I think another example is SEO. I see this when people come to us and say, “Hey, can you guys take a look at what this SEO company is doing to see if they’re doing a good job or not?” And I’m like, “Well, send me the report.” They say, “Hey, you’re number one for blue widgets.” And I’m like, “Yeah, but you guys don’t sell blue widgets. Who cares that you’re number one for that keyword?” They’re showing you this, and you’re number one for all this stuff—which might sound awesome—but there’s no real intent with that keyword.

For us, that’s what we get all the time. People come to us and say, “Yeah, but we’re number one for these 80 keywords.” And I go, “Who cares?” I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s not driving much traffic. I mean, how many people are you actually driving from that? I could be number one for “cool kids,” but I don’t really care about that because it’s not going to drive clients. Someone might think I’m a cool kid, but that’s not a high-intent keyword, and we see that a lot.

It’s about understanding what your goal is and asking the right questions to gauge a successful campaign—like with Facebook ads. Facebook ads might say, “Hey, 2 million people saw your ad.” But what does that mean? I care about conversions; I don’t care about how many eyeballs unless it’s just for branding—and then maybe I’m Coca Cola, and that’s fine. But for me, I want to know the difference between someone watching three seconds of a video versus one or two minutes. Three seconds isn’t going to make an impact. I want to know how many people watched for a minute or two, and I want to know who finished the video. If a video is so compelling that 30% of the people finished it, that’s actually not a bad number.

It all comes down to that. I think a lot of brands don’t know which questions to ask to truly understand their metrics. They see these numbers and say, “Yeah, this is great.” But as an agency, I look at it and say, “It’s not really great.” Let me explain why: Agencies are famous for twisting the data around a bit to make it look like they’re doing a phenomenal job.

That’s the key—that really is. I always tell our clients, “Listen, I’m going to educate you enough. And if you feel you’re smart or even smarter than me and can do it on your own, you absolutely can.” But I want you to know that the whole process—infamous in content writing and SEO—is something most people who hire us feel they’ve been abused by another agency. And then I just tell them, “This is what you need to look at. These are the questions you have to ask—not to get the business and screw another company over, but so you really know what they’re doing and whether it’s good or bad for your company.”

Because most people go, “I’ve hired an SEO company. I’ve been working with them for a year, and I’m like, ‘How’s everything going?’” And they’re like, “I don’t know. I’m not really sure what to look at.” Then I say, “Okay, well, these are the questions to ask,” not to throw anybody off. And then there’s the other side: a client might say, “Hey, I’m paying $100 a month. I wonder why I’m not getting results.” And I’m like, “It’s because you’re paying $100 a month. You can’t expect miracles to happen on that budget.”

So there’s always an education—if you’re paying good money and not seeing results, let’s talk about that. Or if you’re not paying enough, you’re not going to see results for 10 years anyway, so you can just keep paying $100 and figure that out.

You’ve been very modest about Kontentino, but I want you to tell me what the solution is. For brands and agencies listening right now, how is it that your software works? You’ve talked about other software, and yeah, you do this, but don’t be humble. I know the power of what you guys have built, so tell me—if I’m an agency or a brand, why would I want to sign up with you guys? What’s the deal? This is no time to be humble. Lay it on the line. People are listening.

So having a cute baby, very attractive baby, like a model baby, yeah.

t’s time and money, right? It’s about the process and having a happy brand you’re working with because, you know, you’re saving time and money. But if you have a brand that’s pissed off, that doesn’t work. The idea is you can make the brand happy. They can be part of the process, feel like they’re being validated and listened to, and you save time and money. What are we talking about here, folks? This is a green light for everybody to go check it out.

That’s it—love it. See, keeping it simple. Folks, the process doesn’t have to be a nightmare, because I guarantee there are plenty of people for whom it is right now. And it sounds like your onboarding process is an easy way to go. So tell me about Kontentino. What’s it? What do you guys have in the future? What features are you planning on adding? Just share what you can—nothing too secret, but what else do you have going on?

I can tell!

You guys have conquered the social media space, and now you’re jumping into paid ads because it’s the same broken problem—it’s the approval process, it’s collaboration. It’s like, how do you share an ad with a client once you’ve created it, and then how do they approve it, how do they write comments in the collaborative space? I can see how that’s a no-brainer for you. You’ll also put the link in the show notes, so people can just click on it and check it out.

Alright, Bo, this has been fun, but this is awesome. You were humble for too long there, buddy—I can’t have you be humble the whole time. You got to talk about how you broke out and said, “Everybody needs this tool today.” And I’m like, “There we go, that’s what I like to hear.” So let’s move to our fun section. I’ve got a few questions for you, nothing too difficult—stuff you’re going to be able to answer.

I’m a big reader. Well, let me take that back—I don’t read a lot of books. I listen to audibles because if I try to read a book, I think about 27 other things I should be doing. So I drive in my car and listen to an audible book—I try to do one a weekend. So what is one of your favorite books? What is a book you’ve read that’s like, “Man, this thing changed my life?”

We’ll put a link in our show notes for that as well, because I’ll tell you right now—I’m gonna go get that book. I’m always looking for suggestions. I have this long list, and for every one I read, I add like five or something. So I’m only behind maybe 600 books at this point, which I’ll catch up on someday—if I’m sick for like seven years, I’ll be able to catch up—but I’ll add that to my list.

So my other question is this: I always like asking people, “If you were to have dinner with three people, dead or alive, and this can be anybody—presidents, religious figures, even your mom—who would that be? And why?”

Got some questions for him?

I see you got some questions for him?

I might have to look him up. Man, I’m always looking for different cultures and different people who make an impact on communities and areas of the world. I’ll have to check him out too. I’m always searching for a different perspective on life, business, and personal matters.

So Bo, if anybody wants to get in contact with you, how can they do that? Obviously, we’ll put your website down below along with some of your book recommendations and other details. How can people reach you?

We’ll do this—we’ll add your LinkedIn down there as well. Because once again, if anybody is as challenged as I am when it comes to either speaking or writing, I’ll probably put extra A’s and O’s, and then I would never find you—which I think we’re already connected on LinkedIn.

Alright, you guys, we’ll add that in the show notes. If you like listening to the podcast and you like what you hear, make sure you subscribe and write some comments over on Apple and all the other fun platforms. And if you don’t like the podcast, please don’t write a comment. But if you love it, I really need you to write a comment—I want you guys to get in there.

So, Bo, hey man, thank you so much for being on the podcast today. I know it was hard to get you on because you’re a very popular guy working on all kinds of cool software. Good things are happening over there, and thank you once again for being on the podcast, my friend.

Before I sign off, I wanted to remind my listeners that you can reach out to my team for any services related to SEO, PR, content marketing, influencer marketing, and social media. We can help grow your business and take it to the next level. We’ll be back soon with another episode of the Marketing Growth Podcast. Stay tuned.