TL;DR
New Survey: How's everyone feeling?We’re running a quick 11-question pulse-check survey to learn how digital agency leaders feel about their business going into summer. We'll share insights like:
Take the quick survey and help us paint a clearer picture of where the industry is heading.
New Report: 2025 Digital Agency Industry ReportWe’re excited to share the latest version of our industry report, designed to help agency teams create even better growth strategies! Here's the executive summary: The digital agency industry in 2025 is a crowded, maturing sector where macro forces play as much of a role as strategic or operational excellence in determining the winners and losers. Agencies that adapt their offerings, sharpen their positioning, and build repeatable revenue engines are pulling ahead, while those standing still fall behind. The overwhelming majority of agencies now identify as specialists (84%), signaling that broad-based generalist positioning is no longer viable. Even among the specialists, those that fail to articulate how their specialization delivers superior value will struggle to maintain pricing power or customer loyalty. The firms growing fastest are those that make strategic shifts. Agencies that expanded services grew 9.7% in 2024, and those that repositioned their offerings grew 8%. In contrast, agencies that made no changes grew just 1.1%. Services like mobile app development, UX/UI, and even standard web design are declining, while newer or resurgent categories like AI integration, SEO, and content marketing are on the rise. Agencies that haven’t realigned their services risk commoditization. Most agencies still depend on referrals, which are high-trust but low-control. The average firm spends just 7% of revenue on marketing and sales. Passive referrals aren’t a growth strategy. Agencies seeking sustained growth must build structured go-to-market systems that attract, qualify, and convert demand, especially as competition intensifies and differentiation blurs. Growth now depends less on being capable and more on being valuably different. Agencies that clarify their positioning, adjust their offerings in response to structural market shifts, and invest in scalable growth engines will outperform. Those that continue to conflate execution with strategy will be stuck fighting over shrinking margins and increasingly undifferentiated work.
New Episode of Agency Mythbusters: Mo Clients = Mo Money? Join me at AmpUp 2025 in MayI’ve spent the last year analyzing where digital agencies are headed and, more importantly, why some are thriving while others are stalling out. Join me at AmpUp 2025 hosted by GatherUp, where I’ll share the biggest trends reshaping agency models, margins, and mindset.
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TL;DR NEW SURVEY: Web Host Sentiment open through 5/30. Agency leaders are slightly optimistic about their agency's outlook for the rest of the year. Many leaders view 1H25 as a low point, so it’ll be pretty easy for the second half to be better. Web development services face polarized demand depending significantly on client industry health and exposure. We saw high demand for strategy services (digital and marketing strategy). The weakest services were content marketing, social media...
TL;DR Referrals are one of the most powerful and cost-effective growth channels for digital agencies. There are four main sources: Current clients, Partners / adjacent businesses, Past clients, & Personal and professional contacts Ask for referrals at the point of peak happiness, when industry changes occur, or when tech changes. Different roles will be responsible for referrals at different-sized agencies, but make sure that SOMEONE is owning it. Use simple, confident language and tailor...
TL;DR I'm speaking at a few spots this month, and it'd be great to see some of you there! There are three core account growth frameworks: Cross-selling (sell adjacent services into current accounts) Upselling (sell a higher-tier version of the same service) Expansion selling (sell the same service with a greater scope) Cross-selling works great for full-service agencies with mid-market or enterprise clients who have broader needs and budgets. Expansion selling is critical when working with...