How do I grow my agency? A big list of resources

How do I grow my agency?

Creative and marketing agencies (of any type) that do really well, monitor what’s working for them and what isn’t.

And look externally for insight on a regular basis.

As an agency owner, you may be thinking:

– how do I expand my services in a profitable way?
– in a way that is ‘believable’ for my existing clients and prospects alike
– how do I define my proposition, the value my agency offers, to stand out in a crowded market?

I’ve been asked those and other questions in various forms by creative and marketing agency owners over the last few years.

Mostly that’s in the context of  their digital marketing services (my core specialism) and my agency operational experience (my other focus). But the conversations often go wider than that.

Here’s the thing:

It isn’t just about ‘growth’ for the sake of it, of course.

But growth is a useful term to encompass addressing what you want from your agency business – and how to get there.

Why this list?

Creative agency interior via unsplash

I’m not a big firm with lots of staff. And I don’t currently offer a ‘school’ / ‘university’ model.

I only work directly with a small group of agency clients at any one time.

So there are thousands of agencies ‘out there’ – globally – that I won’t get to serve.

Hence this list of resources for you, the agency owner.

Of course if you think I’d be a good fit for you, please do give me a shout to get a conversation going.


The live, curated agency resources list has its own page on this site:

Agency growth and success information resources

It is a live list (I add to it often) of consultants, coaches and firms that help creative and marketing agencies survive and thrive, in many ways.

I hope the list and referrals to other excellent providers will help get your agency growth, transformation or ‘rescue’ plan (I have worked on those too!) off the ground.

The links are mostly straight to their blogs but within some of the sites, you’ll find a great mix of videos, podcasts and presentations as well as long-form insight.


All killer, no filler:

I look at these resources myself.

I come at ‘agency growth’ from the position of my digital marketing expertise.

I’ve worked in digital marketing for 18 years and held senior agency management / operational roles for around the same amount of time.

I previously owned a small data / targeting agency and have run my consultancy business for 5 years, working with a whole range of agencies, UK and international.

So why do I use this list myself?

Because I can still learn a trick or two, so I refer back to this list on occasion.

That’s because I love to help my agency clients be even more brilliant and positively thrive in what is a really competitive market.

I’m constantly reading and assessing approaches to #agencygrowth.

Why should you call on external help?

Because the creative, marketing, digital, PR, comms (whatever sector you are in) agency market is huge. And really competitive.

But you know that.

By my calculations 16,000 to 18,000+ agencies of all shapes and sizes in the UK and c.80,000 in the USA. And another 100,000+ around the world.

The bad news:

All agencies have been or are being impacted by a range of factors:

  • the evolution of marketing technology (from AI to creative production platforms) – commoditizing some services
  • the encroachment of management consultancies and ‘IT’ consultancies into agency services
  • a reduction in client budgets (in general)
  • a move in some client quarters to take agency services in-house
  • the breaking down of geographical boundaries: agencies across the world can serve your local market

All of the above tells you that the agency world is very competitive and you will very probably be looking for help in some shape and at some stage.

If you think I’d be a good fit for you, please do give me a shout to get a conversation going.

 

[photo credit Annie Spratt on Unsplash]

6 thoughts on “How do I grow my agency? A big list of resources”

  1. Very flattered to have made it into your awesome list Mark – a great resource for agencies of all sizes! Some great options for agency owners, MD’s, Bus dev people and freelancers. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply

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