Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Interview at AccountsBalance.
My name is Connor Gillivan. I’m the CMO and an Owner of AccountsBalance.
We’re on a mission to help 1,000+ businesses better understand their numbers, and industry partnerships is a big way that we’re able to make it happen.
We’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the agency, SAAS, and online space.
In this exclusive interview, we interview Lane Houk from Signal Genesys.
We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an agency business owner.
Connor: Hey Lane, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of Signal Genesys & Quantum Agency and how it got started?
Lane: It started in 2010 when I launched my own Web & SEO agency, Brand Equation. It was a generalist agency providing web development, reputation and social media management and SEO. We needed to solve our own scaling issues in SEO for Brand Equation but Matt and I decided early in 2017 that we would develop our software technology to solve an industry problem so we layered on a white label strategy and programming to adapt to the agency/marketing industry.
Basically, we solved our own problem but strategically decided to help solve what we knew was an industry problem. We launched Signal Genesys (fka Quantum Newswire) in January 2019. We launched under the brand “Quantum Newswire” but had the Signal Genesys brand ready but wanted our software to mature before revealing it. In about August/September 2019, I made the strategic decision to transition Brand Equation, our agency and our internal fulfillment team, to a white label agency so that I could put 100% focus on helping agencies.
Our new white label agency was named “Quantum Agency.” We provide white label web dev, SEO and PPC solutions to agencies and have been since late 2019.
Connor: That’s awesome! Can you dive a bit more into the marketing solutions that you offer? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.
Lane: In short, Signal Genesys is our Adaptive Web Presence SaaS that serves the marketing agency industry. Signal Genesys helps agencies create better, more predictable SEO outcomes in both map pack and organic search rankings; it helps agencies provide more tangible and perceived value to their clients; it helps agencies do this with greater operational efficiency and thus helps them save money getting the first 3 results.
Quantum Agency provides the back-end fulfillment for agencies who want to outsource their web dev, SEO, and/or PPC fulfillment to an experienced team through our agency partnership program.
Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Signal Genesys & Quantum Agency solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?
Lane: Getting better results, more predictably and better prices – on either side/either company.
Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products?
Lane: Well, first I am shifting my focus in sales to Signal Genesys starting May 1. Up until now, the majority of my sales efforts have been focused on the agency but long term, Signal Genesys has much greater scalability, much greater impact and much greater reward potential.
We needed the software to mature to a certain point and we have hit that milestone this first quarter of 2023. We are releasing new distribution channels for the digital PR network in the software which started in March and will continue in April and beyond. We added another 50 or so news sites in March to one channel. We have Newsmax going live this weekend to all users and still in April, we will be releasing MarketWatch, DigitalJournal, APNews and Yahoo Finance as new premium channel options within Signal Genesys.
Connor: And how specifically would you say that Signal Genesys & Quantum Agency and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?
Lane: I will explain this once you ask some of this I have answered above. Longer answer will be that Signal Genesys is our Blue Ocean Strategy. I used that framework to come up with an industry solution that is 100% unique. Therefore we have no direct competitors and we are unique in the SEO software industry. All other SEO software falls into a sub category of “research, analytics, data or reporting software” for SEO purposes.
None of these software solutions actually move the needle or influence the algorithm in any direct way. The intelligence you get from the software is fantastic and can be used in your strategy or in the case of certain software, they do a great job of keyword research or reporting or whatever. They don’t move the needle.
Quantum Agency is a white label agency built by an agency owner who built his own agency. We are committed to quality and a great company culture. We only work with great people in our agency partnership program.
Connor: What made you decide to get involved in the digital marketing space? What’s your starting online business story? From what we’ve found, a lot of business owners in the digital marketing space have fun stories of how they first started…
Lane: The 2008 crash….
Connor: Love it! Talking more about the online business industry, where do you see it going in the next 1-2 years? Any unique predictions that you could share?
Lane: I think we are all in for a bumpy ride geo-politically speaking. Things are tough out there so you better be prepared in multiple ways. That said, the future is always exciting because challenges ALWAYS bring opportunities.
Connor: Giving you an open mic for a minute, what is something you’d want the AccountsBalance audience to hear?
Lane: Not sure need to understand your audience a little more. Maybe you can give me some greater insights on the episode and then ask me?
Connor: Changing gears a little bit…When it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, what do you think the biggest pain points for business owners are? Feel free to speak from personal experience as well.
Lane: Most people mildly to greatly hate accounting and finance issues. I am one of them honestly. I have to know the numbers and KPIs BUT I don’t do my books or taxes and haven’t for probably over 10 years. Even if you like it, I still recommend outsourcing this area to a 3rd party.
Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?
Lane: https://go.signalgenesys.com for Signal Genesys
https://quantumagency.io for Quantum Agency
https://lanehouk.com for me personally
Special Offer: Good for 1 week only, anyone who signs up for a Signal Genesys account, I will give you one free press release distribution. You have to get your account first and then DM me on Facebook or LinkedIn with this offer. I will add the comp credits to your account.
