Effective Marketing Agency Strategies for Success

According to a study from Avid Panda, 34% of marketing agencies fail within their first 5 years.

And it’s not just one source that sees this trend. Hootsuite recently compiled a study to show that a mere 10% of marketing agencies survive past 5 years.

In order to find success through your marketing agency, the road is looking razor thin.

But along with these jarring statistics, there are solutions and ways to combat the challenges. Marketing agencies absolutely have the capability, talent, and resources to not just survive, but thrive.

And we’re here to show you how.

Without further adieu, here are various strategies that help marketing agencies excel in a competitive landscape.

1. Understand the Market Landscape

Growth can only happen when you have a full understanding of what you’re up against. You can’t grow your business and be successful if you’re playing an entirely different ballgame than your competitors. It’s important to understand the competitive landscape in your market.

Industry Trends

First up – you need to be up on (and ahead) of industry trends. To dictate your success and get a leg-up on the competition, you must be aware of the market landscape.

It’s ever-changing, but here are the current marketing agency trends to be on the lookout for:

• AI Influencer Marketing
• Voice Search Optimization
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Short-Form Video Content

What do all of these trends have in common? They are new ways for marketing agencies to pleasantly surprise their audience with their content. By keeping up with the trends, you promise your audience to keep them on their toes and begging to see what you have in the works.

It also positions you as an expert on these newer marketing strategies that you can sell to your clients.

Competitor Analysis

Once you’ve locked down industry trends, the other half of it is to analyze your competitors.

What might they be doing to steal your thunder? What areas have they tapped into that you could be as well?

Begin conducting competitor analysis either with a SWOT analysis or your common market research tools.

If you can clearly state your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, you’ll begin to transform how you compete in the market landscape and you’ll never have to worry about losing your edge again. It can also help you position your agency in RFPs and other proposals where you’re going head-to-head for work.

2. Define Your Agency’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Now that you know the market, it’s time to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Identify Your Niche

Finding your ‘niche’ is just the fancy way of figuring out what you do best. What can your agency do better than other agencies? It’s the importance of specialization. Perhaps your agency thrives in B2B vs. B2C, or maybe your marketing agency has the ability to break through specific industries.

Whatever your marketing agency’s superpower may be, it’s crucial to drive that awareness. Drive awareness so much that your niche is what you’re known for.

Successful niches your marketing agency could leverage:

• Video Games
• Health and Wellness
• Travel
• Technology
• Personal Finance
• Conscious Consumers
• Influencer Marketing
• Government Contracts
• And more!

Craft Your UVP

Next up – nail your unique value proposition (UVP). You may have your UVP in mind, but how do you develop it enough for it to hit the ground running?

Here are the steps to develop your next compelling UVP:

• Keyword Magic Tool
• In-depth Keyword Research
• Organic Research

This guide will walk you through how to write a value statement. These steps will help you to develop and establish your UVP.

See firsthand the most successful agency UVPs that exist for inspiration to refine your own.

3. Build Strong Brand Identity

Next up is to build a strong, recognizable brand identity. You want to be at the top of your mind when businesses in your community need help with their marketing or are in the market for an agency partner.

Brand Positioning

Focusing on how you position your brand can make a world of difference between strengthening leads and staying stagnant.

Techniques for effective brand positioning:

• Create a positioning statement.
• Define your brand’s purpose.
• Align marketing and sales efforts.
• Provide excellent customer service.

Brand positioning = client perception. The way you position your brand will be how potential clients perceive your brand.

And if clients perceive your brand well, success will follow.

Create a Consistent Brand Voice

If you are unsure if your brand has its own brand voice, most likely it hasn’t been defined yet. Your brand’s voice is really the way you communicate and address your audience.

For example, is your brand extremely professional and informational? Or is it more relaxed and conversational? You can also think of it like this: What sort of relationship does your brand have with your audience?

Pro Tip #1: Personalize your brand voice with specific tones, styles, and jargon.

Pro Tip #2: Once you’ve established your brand voice, ensure it’s consistent on all platforms. This is how clients remember you!

4. Develop a Comprehensive Service Portfolio

Core Services

You’ll want to define and promote your core services. These are a handful of essential services most marketing agencies offer. These are known as core services.

For example:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• PPC Marketing (Pay Per Click)
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Website Development
• And more!

Although it’s beneficial for marketing agencies to tap into their core services, your marketing agency may focus more on one over the others. Prioritize your core services based on your niche by conducting audience research.

If you know your audience is more responsive to SEO services, then you can put more time and effort into that service than PPC marketing.

Value-Added Services

Core services should always be offered without a doubt. But this is not the case for value-added services.

You can think of these as the “nice to have” section on a resume. Your clients will nonetheless appreciate these services but these are not considered make or break when relating to your agency’s success.

This could include services like:

• Influencer Marketing
• Event Marketing
• Referral Marketing
• And more!

Benefits of offering additional services:

• Market Differentiation: Add-on services help your agency stand out by offering specialized or niche services that may attract new clients. It can also help position your agency as an innovative leader in your industry.
• Increase Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty: Having a wider range of complementary services helps reduce the need for multiple agency partners or vendors. This convenience factor can boost profits through improved customer retention.
• Upselling & Revenue Growth: Add-on services create opportunities for you to increase revenue through upselling services to existing clients. This boosts average revenue per client and delivers more value by providing different services.

5. Implement Effective Client Acquisition Strategies

In order to be successful, you need to implement effective client acquisition strategies to build your client base. You need to have a strong backlog of prospects and leads to continuously generate new clients as existing client relationships or one-time projects end.

Inbound Marketing Techniques

Your inbound marketing strategies focus on attracting customers through relevant and helpful content rather than interruptive advertising.

For example:

• Utilizing content marketing, SEO, and lead magnets.
• Creating a blog, webinars, or e-books.

Outbound Marketing Techniques

Whereas, outbound marketing refers to traditional marketing strategies where your agency proactively reaches out to potential clients. Unlike inbound marketing, which focuses on attracting customers through content and interactions, outbound marketing takes a more direct approach to capture attention and generate leads.

For example:

• Cold emailing
• Direct mail
• Networking events
• Strategic partnerships

Your agency relies on both in order to successfully grow in your community and niche.

6. Nurture Client Relationships

Most importantly, you need to nurture existing client relationships. They are the businesses and professionals that can be your biggest influencers. Their reviews and feedback can drive new business for your agency.

Effective Communication

Effective communication with clients is essential for long-term success. It’s not just about delivering your product or service, but ensuring that clients feel heard, valued, and understood. By keeping up with your clients through consistent touchpoints, organizing information effectively, and actively asking for feedback, you can build stronger relationships and ensure higher satisfaction levels. Here’s how to expand on each of the best practices for client communication and reporting:

1. Maintain Consistent Client Touchpoints

Building trust and showing reliability starts with regular communication. Keeping clients updated consistently shows that you’re committed to their success. Here’s how you can structure touchpoints:

• Scheduled Check-Ins: Regular calls, emails, or video meetings (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) can provide clients with consistent updates, address any concerns, and maintain an open line of communication.
• Progress Reports: These can be weekly or monthly summaries of key metrics, milestones, and deliverables, depending on your business and the client’s needs. These reports should be clear, concise, and easy to understand.
• Use of Communication Tools: Implementing tools like email newsletters, SMS updates, or client portals can help deliver timely information in the format that suits your clients best.
• Personalization: Regularly check in on your clients beyond work-related topics. Showing interest in their personal achievements or challenges can go a long way in building rapport.

2. Organize Client Information

Effective communication relies on having access to the right information at the right time. Keeping your client details well-organized ensures you can quickly respond to inquiries, track interactions, and provide customized service. Key strategies include:

• Centralized Client Database: Using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool allows you to store all client data in one place—everything from contact details, to past communication history, to project status and deadlines.
• Categorizing Client Information: Organizing your clients by factors such as industry, project type, or communication preferences can help tailor your approach. For example, clients in the tech industry may prefer detailed, data-driven reports, while those in creative industries might appreciate more visually engaging updates.
• Automated Data Entry: Tools like Salesforce or Insightly can automate aspects of data entry, ensuring your information stays current without time-consuming manual updates.

3. Ask For Feedback

Feedback is one of the most powerful tools for improving both your service and communication. Asking for feedback not only helps you identify areas for improvement but also shows that you value the client’s opinion. Consider these methods:

• Surveys and Polls: Use simple, targeted surveys after meetings or at key milestones to gauge how well you’re meeting expectations. Keep them short and to the point to ensure clients actually complete them.
• Regular Check-ins for Feedback: In your scheduled touchpoints, ask clients how they feel about the work, the communication process, and anything that could be improved. This makes the feedback process a natural part of your relationship.
• Follow-up Actions: Act on the feedback you receive and let clients know what changes or improvements have been made based on their input. This demonstrates that you listen and care about their experience.

4. Tools to Manage Client Interactions

To ensure effective communication, leveraging the right tools is crucial. These tools help you stay organized, communicate more efficiently, and keep clients happy. Here are some popular options:

CoSchedule Agency Calendar

This tool allows you to plan, schedule, and manage marketing campaigns in one centralized calendar, making it easy to track deadlines and client projects. It’s particularly useful for agencies handling multiple clients at once.

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Salesforce

A robust CRM platform, Salesforce is known for its powerful tools to track and analyze client interactions, sales data, and project progress. It’s particularly useful for larger teams or companies with complex client needs.

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Creatio

This platform specializes in automating workflows and streamlining communication between sales, marketing, and customer service teams. It’s designed to ensure that no client communication falls through the cracks.

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Insightly

Insightly is a user-friendly CRM that’s excellent for small businesses and growing teams. It provides tools for managing contacts, sales pipelines, and project timelines, making it a great option for those looking to streamline client interaction.

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By maintaining consistent communication, organizing client data effectively, actively seeking feedback, and utilizing the right tools, you’ll be well-equipped to enhance client satisfaction and ensure the smooth running of your business operations.

Deliver Exceptional Service

Want to know the key to providing service your customers will rave about?

• Prove you listen to their feedback. (This could be making small changes customers have expressed, or announcing opportunities for them to speak their minds.)
• Exercise regular check-ins and feedback loops. (Simply don’t leave your audience high and dry.)

7. Leverage Technology and Tools

Essential Tools

There are some tools your marketing agency just shouldn’t live without.

Here are the must-have tools for project management, analytics, and automation.

1. Monitask

Monitask is a productivity monitoring tool that’s particularly useful for agencies with remote or hybrid teams. By tracking time, task completion, and screen activity, Monitask helps agencies ensure that their employees are staying focused and working efficiently, even if they’re not in the same office. The tool automatically logs work hours and provides detailed reports on individual and team productivity, giving managers insights into how tasks are being handled. This allows for more accurate project timelines, better resource allocation, and ensures that client projects are delivered on schedule.

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2. Trello

Trello is a versatile project management tool that uses a Kanban-style board to visually organize tasks and projects. It’s ideal for marketing agencies looking for a simple and intuitive way to manage workflows, track task progress, and keep all team members aligned. Trello allows you to create boards for individual clients or projects, break them down into lists (stages of work), and add cards (individual tasks). With features like drag-and-drop task management, deadlines, and team member assignments, it’s easy to ensure tasks are moving forward. It also integrates with other tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Zapier, making it a flexible and scalable choice for agencies of all sizes.

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3. Airtable

Airtable combines the simplicity of a spreadsheet with the power of a database, allowing marketing agencies to organize and manage complex projects and data with ease. Whether it’s tracking content creation, managing client information, or organizing campaign analytics, Airtable provides a customizable and flexible platform to fit any agency’s needs. It offers multiple views, such as grid, calendar, and Kanban, allowing users to visualize data in the way that works best for them. Airtable’s ability to integrate with other popular tools like Slack, Trello, and Google Workspace enhances its versatility, making it an ideal choice for teams that require both robust data management and collaboration features.

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4. Basecamp

Basecamp is a robust collaboration and project management tool that simplifies communication and task management for marketing teams. With its clean and user-friendly interface, Basecamp brings all of your projects, team discussions, to-do lists, and files into one central platform. This all-in-one solution eliminates the need for separate email threads, document-sharing tools, and chat apps, streamlining team workflows and improving transparency. Its powerful notification system ensures that nothing slips through the cracks, while its focus on simplicity makes it an easy tool to adopt for both small and large teams. For agencies that prioritize ease of use and efficient communication, Basecamp is a valuable tool that enhances productivity without overwhelming users with complex features.

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5. Slack

Slack has revolutionized team communication, making it faster, more organized, and less prone to miscommunication than traditional email. By allowing teams to create channels based on projects, clients, or specific topics, Slack enables better collaboration and keeps conversations focused and easily searchable. Its real-time messaging, file sharing, and direct messaging features make it the perfect tool for quick updates, feedback, and discussions. For marketing agencies, Slack is an essential tool for fostering communication between remote and in-house teams, keeping everyone on the same page, and ensuring quick decision-making and response times.

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6. CoSchedule Agency Calendar

CoSchedule’s Agency Calendar also includes a robust suite of task and project management tools to help you plan and execute your marketing (and all of your clients’ marketing projects and campaigns) in one place.

The Calendar includes project templates to standardize processes, required approvals to get sign-off from your clients, and more.

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For agencies, you can easily collaborate with your internal team and clients with discussions, read-only views, and more.

Stay Updated

In this day and age, in order to stay at the forefront of your customer’s minds, you need to be at the forefront of technological advancements. By being ahead of the next big thing in technology, you avoid missing contact with your customers on new platforms.

Spend some time to consistently evaluate and adopt new tools. Do some research as to what new technological advancements may be hitting the market soon.

Pro Tip #3: Technology-focused podcasts could be an extremely easy and helpful way to stay ahead of the crowd.

8. Measure and Analyze Performance

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

If you’re unfamiliar with common KPIs for marketing agencies, they are simply the statistics that marketing agencies track to ensure they are making progress and where in their marketing needs attention.

For example, strong marketing agencies will track:

• ROI
• Client Retention Rate
• Cost-Per-Lead and Cost-Per-Click
• Customer Lifetime Value

Depending on your agency’s goals, it’s important to track the right KPIs.

If you have a strong focus on money, your agency should spend time tracking ROI or CPL/CPC. On the other hand, if your agency is more customer-driven, track client retention rate and customer lifetime value.

Pro Tip #4: Common KPI’s are not limited to the ones listed above. Check out the top KPI’s for marketing agencies.

Data-Driven Decision Making

We know “data-driven decision making” can sound like rocket science. But it truly is not meant to be difficult.

Simply use built-in analytics to drive strategy adjustments.

All this means is, whatever CRM platform you may be using to help organize your customer interactions (like we mentioned previously), you can tap into their analytics (a core service)and see what is performing well for your agency and what may be slacking.

See how some of the biggest companies in the world improved performance through data analysis.

9. Scale Your Agency

Expand Service Offerings

The marketing world is forever in motion. So, to properly scale your agency you may need to diversify your offerings.

Now, as with any change, there will be customers who wish you would change it back, and others who have been dying for change. As always, keep in touch with our audience and gauge which adjustments are worth it and which ones you can do without.

It truly is easy to identify opportunities for service expansion. All you need to ask yourself is, “where does my marketing struggle or hit roadblocks?”

That right there is a tell-tale sign which services you should begin to offer or take away.

Hire and Train

It’s easier than ever to recruit top talent. Consider leveraging LinkedIn Recruiter to efficiently find the best available candidates for your team.

Once you’ve found your star talent and pulled together your A-team, the next step is to develop an effective training program.

Your team is only as good as the training! Set them up for success, and ensure they get fully trained in, so they can better help your cause.

Become A Master Of Marketing Agency Strategies

Now you can leave here today feeling fully versed in everything strategic about marketing agencies.

In case you return to this post later, here were the key strategies discussed:

• Understand Market Landscape
• Define UVP
• Build Brand Identity
• Develop A Service Portfolio
• Implement Client Acquisition Strategies
• Nurture Client Relationships
• Leverage Technology & Tools
• Measure Performance

Don’t hesitate to implement these strategies the next time you’re ready to bring your marketing agency to the next level.

And when you do, we invite you to share your experiences with us. Even beyond what you take away from today, reach out to CoSchedule for personalized advice and guidance in anything marketing agency related.

Pro Tip #5: For those who want to dive deeper into the needs of success within marketing agencies; check out these additional readings.

• Agency Marketing
• How To Create Brand Identity
• AI Prompts For Agencies