The Thing That Makes Agency Marketing Work
There isn’t a silver bullet for marketing your agency.
That’s proven by the fact that there are alot of successful firms out there who employ different tactics. Just because a design firm drives most of their leads from a blog, or an ad agency has a great outbound sales program, doesn’t mean that’s going to be the right tactic for you.
So, maybe a better way to frame it is by asking: what do all successful agencies have in common?
From what I’ve seen, it almost always starts with one thing: buy-in.
Why buy-in matters
“We don’t really care what our positioning or strategy is as long as it works.”
That’s the mindset of an agency leadership team I recently worked with. What we did or how we did it didn’t matter to them as long as it led to the outcomes they wanted.
But that’s not how these things work.
Successful marketing stems from conviction. A belief in your service, product, or opinion that is uniquely yours, combined with a marketing channel that suits you and your firm’s personality and skill set.
Buy-in and belief in your approach lends itself to long-term thinking and iterating over time. You know you’re offering something that’s valuable and worth selling, so you’re not worried about today. You’re focused on finding the best long-term growth channels through thoughtful testing and iteration. You have a sense of urgency, but you’re not rushed.
As Richard Branson says, “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another coming around.” If you’ve committed to your positioning and strategy, you don’t need to chase that bus, just tweak your process and get ready for the next one.
The opposite of buy-in
The opposite of buy-in could be described as apathy. Apathy suggests a lack of concern or care. But that’s not exactly what’s going on here. What is going on is a lack of concern over the right things.
When you approach a problem by simply looking for a solution you’re likely to get caught up in short-term experimentation and distractions. When you say “we don’t really care what our positioning or strategy is as long as it works.” that really just means you don’t have a strategy. You’ll spend countless hours (and dollars) clawing around in the dark searching for a light switch.
Shift that thinking to “We really care about our positioning and we want a strategy that works” and you’re on to something. Now you have a north star, a strong foundation, and some useful guardrails in place.
How do you turn buy-in into buyers?
Just because you believe in something, doesn’t mean it’s going to be successful (but is there really any other way to do it?).
Once you’ve established your unique positioning, here are five basic steps to get you started on the right path marketing your agency.
Expect to attend events, network, and ask customers for referrals - this is non-negotiable.
Choose a marketing medium you can stomach. It may be writing, podcasting, videos, or hosted events - but it needs to be something you like or, at minimum, appreciate doing.
Create content based on your unique positioning. Commit to educating and adding value, not promoting your own firm. Embrace the double-benefit of content creation.
Amplify via your own channels. You have a LinkedIn page for yourself and your company, use it. It’s incredible how much better email newsletters and outbound sales emails hit when the content is genuinely helpful and not sales-oriented.
You’re not going to double your business in the first month. Slowly refine your medium and amplification approach based on where you’re seeing engagement and lead generation success.
Keep in mind, these are the basics. You may wonder, what about my website? What about paid ads? How do I create a bigger newsletter list? These are all good questions to ask (and please do ask them) but start here to lay the right foundation.
Remember, it takes more time than you think but, when done well, has a profound impact on your firm outside of just the new business generation.
