The latest research, insights, tools, and resources that make managing a digital shop easier,
Agency Operating Models & a SaaS/PaaS Sponsor Opportunity
TL;DR
Assessing Agency Operating ModelsTake our Agency Operating Model Assessment to see if you're set up more like a factory or a consultancy and identify the gaps that are slowing growth and weighing on margins.
Help Agency Leaders GrowWhen pipelines slow, the first question that comes up is some form of: "Is it us, or is the market just slow?" Answering that correctly has been tough. Most leaders will ask their peers in Slack groups, look to consultants, or check industry publications, but getting a real read on the market hasn't been easy. A year ago, we launched Delphi to give agency leaders better insight into this question, and it's allowed them to build proactive agencies that lead the market rather than follow. Today, hundreds of agency leaders are part of the Delphi network. They participate in quarterly surveys that help everyone understand what's going on. This lets them make better decisions about how to react to shifting trends before they become major issues. We believe that this kind of market intelligence should be available to more agency leaders. It should be easy for them to quickly check their agency's performance against the market, spot potential pitfalls, and uncover where the next opportunities lie. For companies that serve agencies, this is a valuable group to get to know. Sponsoring Delphi gives your company a way to support research that helps them run their agencies. We’re opening one dedicated sponsor slot for 2027 as we expand the network. One company will have the opportunity to increase its visibility alongside a resource that has already helped hundreds of agency leaders in its first year. If these are the people you want to help, reply to this email. |
Research & Strategy for Digital Agencies
The latest research, insights, tools, and resources that make managing a digital shop easier,
TL;DR This quarter's Agency Pulse Survey is live! Join Delphi to learn if it's you or the market. We're working on the next salary survey, and we'd love your input! Brands hire agencies to solve problems that they either don’t have the knowledge or capacity to handle themselves. AI doesn’t know what’s important, so it rushes to include everything, regardless of merit. We’ve noticed an uptick in the complexity of service offerings in many of our engagements over the last 9 months, resulting in...
TL;DR We reviewed all our Growth Review engagements over the last 10+ years to identify the most common issues. Focus and agency complexity were common issues that have gotten worse recently. Cheap AI builds can make focus and complexity worse by creating expensive distractions. Vision and alignment were the most common, as very few teams could consistently articulate what they're building. Positioning, a critical area for agency growth, was another area where gaps were common. Finally, new...
TL;DR Beyond referrals, three strategies are driving agency growth today: thought leadership, programmatic M&A, and RFPs. Real thought leadership is the best way to build trust without a referral. The point of view has to come from leaders, and writing is how you develop it. Distribution is expensive, and underinvesting in it is what kills most thought leadership. You can buy trust. Programmatic M&A, a real market thesis executed through smaller deliberate bets, grows agencies, while...