Oct 12, 2021
AgencyTalk Ep.01 Recap
In the first AgencyTalk episode, Conduit CEO Tim Burke and Marcus Murphy discussed an important, yet seldom-addressed topic: Agency failure.
What causes agencies to ultimately shut their doors for good? Check out the video below to hear Tim and Marcus’s takes along with some other great insights!
Watch AgencyTalk Ep.01 Here:
The Elephant in the Office No One Wants to Talk About: Agency Failure
As with any industry, not all digital marketing agencies will last indefinitely. When Marcus asked Tim what are some reasons for agency failure, this is what he had to say:
👉 Not Beginning with the End in Mind
When starting any business, there needs to be an end goal in mind. From there, you can create a GPS roadmap to achieve what you set out to accomplish. Without that north star, leaders can’t lead their teams effectively. Lack of specificity is and always will be the greatest roadblock toward progress.
👉 Lacking Framework to Reach Your Goals
Even if you have outlined specific goals for your agency – how do you reach them? Without the right process framework to arrive at your destination, a directionless environment can result in massive detours on your business journey. When you have the infrastructure built to support your mission, you can remain on course and produce tangible results along the way.
👉 Misaligned Priorities
Starting an agency does not unlock a get-rich-quick opportunity. It requires a dedication to working hard, delivering on results, and a great plan to reach your goals in order to scale.
While everyone’s business operates differently, authenticity and credibility should be two universal threads in the fabric of your business. You produce high-quality, original work for your clients and follow through on the commitments you’ve made to them. This will help improve your agency’s reputation and reduce dreaded account churn.
👉 A Shaky Foundation for Your Operations
A successful agency builds its foundation on these following principles:
A team of the right people to carry out the processes required to reach your business goals.
A complete product suite to remain competitive in today’s digital marketplace.
Airtight processes to enable your team to perform to their highest potential.
A pricing strategy that meets your client’s expectations and generates profit for your business.
Performance results that justify your client’s investment and grows their trust in your team.
These P’s form stable pillars for a great digital agency. When they are all working in sync with one another, you can position yourself to scale higher than the competing agencies in your market.
👉 Constantly Chaotic Capacity
Utilization ties inherently to scale. When you are underutilizing your team, your agency is not operating profitably. When you are overutilizing them, this strain on capacity can cause excess stress and lead people to leave your team.
Without the infrastructure to manage capacity at high volumes, an agency stands the risk of failing under the weight of its own ambitions.
Scaling Your Agency Profitably with Digital Performance Partnership
To summarize everything above, agencies fail in isolation. Without support, critical operations can crumble and profitability seems like a pipe dream.
Businesses need a strong support network behind them in order to scale. For agencies, a white-label digital performance partnership supplies that much-needed help when those can’t-miss opportunities arise.
As Tim says, there are three types of white label partnerships: Platform, vendor, and partner.
1. A platform is a marketing software that your team can use to manage operations efficiently.
2. A vendor is a transactional relationship where a service is provided in exchange for money. Most vendors are freelancers, consultants, or a specialist provider that focuses on one or two digital marketing services.
3. A partner is a team that acts as an extension of your own from operations to performance. Your partner cares as much about your agency’s success as you do.
Why Choose a White Label Partner Over a Platform or Vendor?
Conduit was founded to be the white label performance partner for successful digital agencies. We chose partnership instead of acting as a platform or vendor because we believe the best results come from investing in those who invest in us.
Over the years that we have partnered with agencies, these are the key benefits that we believe highlights the impact of agency partnership:
💰 More Long-Term Profitability
White label partners operate on a wholesale model while delivering measurable performance results. This generates long-term profitability by allowing your agency to keep expenses at a reasonable level for maximum value.
📈 Better Manage High-Scale and High-Volume
Partnership allows you to align your agency’s utilization rate with your growth rate. Instead of worrying about overutilizing your team or having to hire new people, your partner’s team can help you expand your services with certified experts or even simply handle your account overflow profitably.
💻 A Complete Digital Suite for Your Agency
If your client wants a service that you don’t provide, there’s a good chance they will start looking for a competing agency that can and will fulfill their needs. When you have access to your a complete suite of digital marketing solutions, you can trust your partner’s team to fulfill these campaigns at a high level. The sentences “we can’t do that,” or “we don’t do that here,” are no longer part of your business vocabulary.
Launch Your Own Digital Performance Partnership Today
At Conduit, we spend each day helping our successful agency partners scale. With a complete suite of digital products managed by dedicated in-house teams of certified experts, we give your agency the ability to say “yes” to more of the right opportunities. This is all accomplished without offshoring or outsourcing and never “setting and forgetting” your client’s campaigns.
To learn more about scaling your own agency with a digital performance partner, contact us today to learn more about white label partnership.
