Updates We'd like to feature some agency leaders in a new interview series related to our Digital Agency Growth Guide. Spots are first-come, first-served, so be sure to fill this out soon if you're interested in participating. We're going live with our Q3 agency pulse survey next week. If you lead an agency and want a real answer to "Is it me or the market?" join Delphi and find out. We work with SaaS/PaaS companies to fund agency research. We have new research topics we would like to publish...
18 days ago • 5 min read
TL;DR We launched a new Digital Agency Growth Guide The widening gap between thriving and struggling digital agencies traces back to a misunderstanding of revenue generation. A large portion of the industry borrowed SaaS and product go-to-market tactics that don't fit how they win clients, and many misapplied generic best practices. There's no universal "best practice." Tactics succeed when they fit your agency's operating style and fail when they conflict with it. The 78-page Growth Guide is...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
TL;DR Welcome to the new-look newsletter! We're launching a new Digital Agency Growth Guide. Delphi members will get it early. Join Delphi so you get the guide as soon as it drops. Value-Based Pricing was supposed to save us, but usage fell from 31% of agencies in 2024 to 18% in 2025 Agencies still using it grew more slowly than every other pricing model in the survey AI exposed how much of the "value" was actually still execution, and clients caught on Most agencies pitching VBP can't...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
TL;DR We're enhancing Delphi membership with discounts on our Digital Agency Growth Review. We tested 29 variables across eight years of our State of Digital Services data to find what consistently separates Fast-tier growers from the rest. Five factors provided durable positive impacts on agency growth. Bigger engagements — the most stable signal in the analysis. Bigger clients Service specialization (by service mix, not by industry alone) Raised hourly rates Service mix evolution — the...
2 months ago • 4 min read
TL;DR The digital agency industry has been shifting away from sub-10 FTE shops toward mid-sized agencies since 2018. This is reshaping the talent environment. Bigger agencies require more management, increasing demand for experienced Director and VP talent across the agency. Director-level hiring picks up sharply in the 25-50 FTE range, which is where most of the industry's growth is happening. Most founders haven't built the management muscle for the next size tier, and they tend to hire too...
3 months ago • 8 min read
TL;DR Get your copy of our free industry primer! The agency industry is made up of a ton of small companies, which directly impacts your strategic options as a leader. This also impacts how SaaS and PaaS firms work with agencies. We help them too. Prospects have a ton of options. They know more about pricing, and it's harder to stand out. Niching, referrals, and acquisitions are the predominant growth vectors. Quality varies dramatically from one agency to another, so demonstrating expertise...
3 months ago • 2 min read
TL;DR NEW SURVEY: The 2Q26 launches tomorrow. Join Delphi to learn what's impacting agency sales pipelines. REQUEST: We'd love to include some quotes from agency leaders in our upcoming Digital Agency Industry Report. Reply to this email with your take on some prompts to be considered. NEW RESEARCH: Get the latest agency benchmarks in our State of Digital Services Report! Growth rates, margins, AI use, hourly rates, M&A activity, and more. There isn’t a single best pricing model for digital...
3 months ago • 4 min read
[ARTICLE TITLE] NEW RESEARCH: Announcing our 2026 State of Digital Services readout and Q&A webinar next Thursday, 3/26. If you participated, use the link in the other email to register. If you missed the survey, you can still purchase a copy of the report and access to the webinar here! SIGN UP: The second quarter is almost here, and that means it's almost time for another Delphi pulse check. Make sure you're signed up to get the survey and private readout results. The survey goes live the...
4 months ago • 2 min read
TL;DR SURVEY CLOSING: The State of Digital Services 2026 survey closes Monday, 3/9. Be sure to participate before then to get access to the full report and live readout webinar. Agencies have largely stopped hiring entry-level and junior talent since 2022-23. That gap will show up later as a shortage of mid-level and senior practitioners. At the same time, AI is absorbing the kind of repetitive production work juniors used to do across coding, marketing, and design. Senior talent remains...
4 months ago • 3 min read
