TL;DR

• SoDS: We're live with this year's State of Digital Services Survey! Take the survey and get the full report + an invite to the private highlight review call.
• If you're missing internal data to do a first-pass benchmark assessment, start with revgen.
• The first part of triaging revgen is understanding the actual value you deliver to clients.
• Part two is developing a deep understanding of who you deliver value for (ICP and buying committee).
• Now, you have the groundwork necessary to develop clear and compelling messaging to that buying committee.
• Deliver that message to your buying committee where they seek new information.
• Align your sales and marketing tactics with your ICPs, messages, and channels.
• Promethean Capacity Update: I'm booked through March for agency strategy engagements. If you'd like a data-backed growth strategy for your agency in the second quarter, let's chat.

2025 State of Digital Services Survey

We’re diving deep into the state of digital agencies to answer all the tough questions about:

• Hourly rates
• Growth rates
• Specializations
• Profit margins
• Utilization rates
• AI use
• And more!

This is one report you don't want to miss. Participants get the full report for free PLUS an invite to the private highlight review call!

Agency Triage Part Two: Missing Data

​Last time, we walked through how to run a first-pass triage assessment with benchmarks.

But what do you do if your agency doesn’t track those metrics?

Having an industry average isn’t really helpful if you don’t have your own internal metrics to check it against.

It turns out that the old adage “revenue cures all” is real.

It’s typically safe to start with revgen.

As you’ll see, the order of these is essential. Decisions made early on ripple through the rest. Trying to start at the end leads to a bunch of circular conversations that muddy the process and make it impossible to define a solid direction.

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Value

Value is a big one. Why do your clients REALLY hire you? What are they buying?

It’s not a website. It isn’t technical SEO. And it sure as hell isn’t an elaborate design system.

More often than not, it’s security. It’s trust. It’s reliability.

Growth, savings, and ROI are in there too, but they’re not differentiators, they’re expected.

I don’t believe I’ve ever met a team who can articulate this.

Figure out the real value you deliver to clients and make sure your team understands their role in creating it.

TEST

1. Figure out what your clients are buying.
2. Ask your team (individually) to describe the value your agency delivers to clients.
3. Do they match?
4. If they differ, you have an alignment issue.
5. If they can’t articulate it, you have a communication issue.
6. If it’s weak but correct, you have a service mix issue.

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ICP / Buying Committee

Who do you create value for?

Building out ICPs and buyer personas can quickly become a performative waste of everyone’s time.

Forget all that.

Let’s simplify them to what moves the needle.

The goal of an ICP is to make it so you can filter the corporate world into a realistic list of targetable accounts.

Here’s what matters for an ICP:

• Industry/sector
• Size
• Location
• Triggers (things like M&A, turnover in a specific role, launching a new product, securing funding, etc.)
• Tools and tech (if they impact your work)
• Dominant industry trends that impact them

The goal of a buying committee is to understand who you’re selling to, what matters to them, and any constraints they face.

You need to understand this because different people need to hear different things to break through the inertia that stops us from trying new things and working with new people.

Here’s what matters for a buying committee:

• Who’s your internal advocate?
• Who influences the deal?
• Who has budgetary control / final say?

Then, for each of those:

• Typical job title and department
• Where they source information
• Personal motivations
• What are they trying to accomplish in their role?
• What friction do they face in their current day-to-day?
• Pain points (data-driven, not guesses)
• What’s their dream state?
• What friction or blockers prevent them from buying?

TEST

1. Does your value match the pain points in your buying committee?
2. How many deals in your sales pipeline match your ICP?
3. How many ICPs do you have?
4. How many can your marketing and sales teams realistically create fully detailed buying committees for?
5. How many individual messages can you afford to effectively deliver without your brand becoming a muddy mess?

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Message

Tell them what they want to hear.

Most agencies talk about what they do. That’s a mistake.

Messaging needs to focus on the value clients get, framed in a way that matters to your buying committee.

That’s your core message.

There’s an art to copyrighting that can take these to another level, but you can get pretty far (at least far enough to hire that out to a specialist) with just the core message.

TEST

1. Does your home page speak to your internal advocate?
2. Does your marketing and sales collateral cover the typical buying committee?
3. Does that collateral speak to their individual pain points?
4. Does it address their needs across the various funnel stages?

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Channels

Go where your people are.

The “where they source information” component of the buying committee is just as critical to get right as the pain points.

You can have everything else dialed in, but if you’re investing in Bluesky content while trying to sell into the petrochemical industry, you’re fighting an uphill battle. I mean, maybe, I don’t really know where petrochem execs hang out, but I’m guessing it isn’t Bluesky.

TEST

1. How many quality leads do you get from each channel?
2. Where did past ideal clients meet you?
3. Count how many channels you’re active in.
4. Quantify the effort/cost necessary to participate in each.
5. Do your channels match where your buyers seek new information? Do they match where your past ideal clients met you?
6. Cut the channels that don’t match or don’t meaningfully support the ones that do.

Don’t beat yourself up on this one.

Peer networks tend to be a key channel for most agencies, and getting into those rooms and conversations can take a lot of work and time.

There are also a ton of channels where it's "easy" to show up, but be careful since effort there takes away from effort in more effective channels.

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Tactics

Channel presence is critical, but how you show up in those channels can be just as important.

A growth strategy is elegant when the components mesh well and support one another. Growth tactics need to match the ICPs, messages, and channels.

As I noted in the channel discussion, peer networks tend to be a key channel for most agencies, so referrals are an example of a tactic that would match well with that channel. Cold outreach doesn't.

Beyond matching your tactics with your buyer personas, you also need to take into account your ICP’s firmographics. A good example of this is how different tactics are effective for different-sized accounts.

In our How Digital Agencies Grow Report, we found that the efficacy of a number of tactics fell as the size of the target client grew.

Furthermore, you’ll use different tactics, channels, and communication mediums for various buyers at various points in the buying journey.

Agencies that struggle often jump from tactic to tactic, looking for a silver bullet.

Successful agencies focus on a narrow set of effective tactics that align with their buyers, channels, and growth goals.

TEST

1. List your current sales and marketing tactics.
2. Is there a purpose for each?
3. Are there duplicates?
4. Are there holes in the buying journey?
5. Rate how good your team is at executing each tactic.
6. Answer if it’s a skill issue or a tactic mismatch.
7. Honestly evaluate how many resources are required to be successful in each channel vs. what you have at your disposal.

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When You're Missing Metrics, Start With Revgen

When a shop's in trouble, starting with quality revgen can make a massive difference.

It requires a few weeks of introspection. Step back and figure out what’s broken: your value prop, your ICP, your messaging, your tactics, or all of the above.

Don't forget the note about new revenue being profitable and cashflow accretive.

Once you have that clarity, simplify.

Cut what doesn't serve you and double down on what works.

A quick note on Promethean's capacity: I'm booked through March for agency strategy engagements. If you'd like a data-backed growth strategy for your agency in the second quarter, let's chat.

-Nick