As a creative agency executive, you need technology that enables you to run your business and serve your customers effectively. Most importantly, your suite of technology tools should give you the freedom to concentrate on what you do best—delivering innovative products and services to your customers—so you're not bogged down by inefficient systems and processes.

So, what does an efficient tech stack look like for creative agency execs? Imagine this: You’re on a two-week family vacation. At the same time, products are being delivered to your clients on schedule. You see your team has arranged for a quick, last-minute video conference to solve a problem (without reaching out to you first!). And you finish processing payroll while relaxing on the beach.

This is the power of the perfect tech stack, which is the set of software tools and apps your agency uses to allow for a high level of oversight and the freedom of a flexible, stress-free schedule.

What Is a Tech Stack?

Tech stacks, also referred to as solution stacks, are the invisible infrastructure of software tools that help businesses automate aspects of their day-to-day operations. The tech stack is a system that takes care of tasks like user authentication, database management, purchasing, messaging, web design, and the like. 

While users don’t typically experience the inner workings of the tools directly, they do experience the front-end effects of the tools. When they enter their credit card information or send a direct message, they’re not thinking about the coding language that such tools use, but they do expect those features to work, and work effectively. 

The sleeker the stack, the fewer elements there will be to troubleshoot when something goes wrong. Also, fewer tools result in more optimal performance—think quicker results, with fewer challenges.

You’re a Creative Agency. Do You Really Need a Tech Stack?

According to the 2020 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Trends Report, “the average small business uses 102 different apps, while each mid-market business uses an average of 137 apps.” While it’s true that not all creative agency executives want to take their business to the beach, they want to know it’s a viable option. 

But without a tech stack, you’re locked into your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is one sure way to deplete your creativity. Of course, your relationship to your business’ technology has to fit your unique needs, goals, and preferences. That’s why being thoughtful from the get-go about your tech stack is important; it’ll better enable your business to thrive.

Luckily, if you don’t have anyone on staff that’s tech-savvy, you can still build a tech stack that fits your agency’s needs by choosing technology that is most relevant to your day-to-day operations. You can also access extensive tech-stack recommendations from tech-pros online.

How to Build Your Tech Stack

Your tech stack becomes the foundation from which to build your business, as it frees up time for you to focus on meaningfully engaging with your team and your clients. But the hardest part about building a tech stack is making sure that it aligns with your agency’s offerings and your business strategy. 

There are a few aspects to consider when choosing your tech stack, many of which rely on one essential question: 

What problems do you hope to solve when investing in various software tools? 

Start by considering the outcomes you hope to accomplish alongside customer and team needs when choosing each product in your tech stack. This is where the term “solutions stack” feels appropriate, as you want to automate the daily systems and processes that can drain your creativity and free time.

As you can see from this graphic of a creative agency tech-stack, specific outcomes and technology tools for creative agencies can vary. Within each outcomes category on the graphic, there’s a variety of tech tools designed to solve problems affecting your creative agency’s growth.

While your specific outcomes list may be different than this one, it’s a good place to start as you begin to build your creative agency’s perfect tech stack.

Awareness

Awareness tools allow your business to appear front and center in the creative agency space. One of your goals may be to attract prospective clients and retain current ones through organic web traffic. Using strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) can help you increase organic traffic to your site over the long term, but you need tools to automate that strategy.

Be sure your awareness tech includes or is compatible with analytics software, which will give you valuable insight into whether you’ve successfully engaged your target audience. Some tech stack awareness tools we like include:

• Buffer

• Hootsuite

• SEMrush

• Smile.io

• Sprout Social

Relationship Management and Automation

You’re focused on providing a product or a service that your clients value. A customer relationship management (CRM) system can be used to help you manage your communication with clients in a central location to reach them wherever they’re at in your sales funnel, whether you’re nurturing leads or retaining existing clients. 

CRM platforms store client data and interactions and allow client profiles to be accessed by your creative team. What’s more, marketing automation tools will help you streamline emails and online content. Much like awareness tools, many CRM platforms feature analytics tools that can guide your future relationship-building strategies. 

Look for CRM systems and marketing automation tools that are user-friendly and can be easily learned and adopted by your entire team. Mobile compatibility is also helpful since you’ll want to be able to engage with clients and access their profiles from your device. Some common CRM tools include:

• Close.io

• Freshworks

• Hubspot

• Pipedrive

• Salesforce

Content Management System

Your content management system (CMS) is the platform that powers your marketing content on the web; this includes items like your landing page, blogs, and frequently asked questions page. 

Your CMS should be easy for users to interact with and navigate. 

If you’re not familiar with things like web coding or search engine optimization (SEO), look for a CMS that requires little-to-no coding knowledge, built-in SEO tools, and one that is easily managed by your marketing team. Your web content and CMS user experience will undoubtedly evolve with your business, which means that your team should be able to make changes to your site with ease. Some great CMS platforms include: 

• Contentful

• Drupal

• Instapage

• Webflow

• WordPress

Creative Software

Find and invest in the right creative software that fits your agency’s specialization. You’ll want to look for software that your whole team can access and use, ideally with embedded or external user-support resources. The right creative software will help your team better serve your clients and deliver high-quality products or services. Some common creative software tools we recommend include:

• Adobe Creative Cloud

• Adobe Lightroom

• Canva

• Sketch

• Zeplin

Analysis and Intelligence

Analytics tools can help you determine whether your team’s efforts to earn or retain clients are paying off. You’ll be able to see where your web traffic is coming from and how your users are interacting with specific marketing content and/or your CMS.

Look for analytics tools that offer custom reports, real-time traffic information, automated data collection, and visitor insights. With analytics tools, you’ll gain a complete understanding of your business's web presence and you can assess your marketing strategy accordingly. Some of the analytics and intelligence tools we like best include:

• Amplitude

• Chartio

• Google Analytics

• Mixpanel

• Tableau

Collaboration and Productivity

Strong communication is vital to your agency’s daily operations, and sometimes email just isn’t quick or collaborative enough, especially if any of your team members work remotely. Consider instant-message platforms that allow for real-time communication. Often, collaboration software also includes ways to organize conversations and prioritize collaborative tasks.

For improved productivity, consider investing in product-management software that helps your team track and manage every project from start to finish. Product-management software often includes deadline-driven organization tools that allow team members to share and store files, provide project feedback, and update project statuses. Some collaboration and productivity tools we recommend are:

• Asana

• G-Suite

• Slack

• Trello

Build an Efficient Tech Stack With Input from the Experts at Lamplight Advisors

It’s easy to overcomplicate your tech stack by adding the latest bells and whistles. But by thinking critically about the dynamics of your business, especially with attention to your desired outcomes, you may discover opportunities for greater efficiency or consolidation. 

At Lamplight Advisors, we know how challenging it can be to run your business, especially when it comes to budgeting for your agency’s tech stack. Having a strategic partner in your corner can help you make the critical decisions that allow your business to grow so you can build wealth. To see if we can help you streamline your processes for better efficiency and a greater profit margin, click here to schedule a conversation today.