Why Brands Pay More For Agencies With Expertise and How to Become an Expert
My expertise is growing agencies. What about yours?
I’ve been growing agencies for 12 years and I can tell you from experience that agencies who make it a point to be experts in an industry or service succeed more than agencies who don’t. I can also tell you that you can raise your rate if you become an expert in any given industry.
With 79% of brands willing to pay more for an agency that is an industry expert instead of an agency that services all types of brands, it’s clear what brands want. Expertise.
Let’s explore how you can go into 2024 as an expert and attract more qualified clients.
Embrace a Niche
I know that it is kinda scary to stop casting a wide net and focusing on 1-3 industries. But I’ve seen it happen so many times that agencies discover their niche and start landing more clients because brands want an agency that knows them inside and out.
It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to identify your agency’s niche. Check-in on the work you’ve done and see which industries you know the most about. Also, look at the different industries that you have served and consider which ones are the most profitable.
To really understand the importance of a niche and how to embrace one, I wrote a guide on it, and you can read it here.
Become a Thought Leader in the Industries You Serve
Once you’ve embraced your niche, it’s time to demonstrate your expertise with thought leadership.
Thought leadership gives you the credibility to land new clients easily. And it also gives you something to leverage when talking to potential clients. It even helps you retain the clients that you already have.
There are so many ways to convey thought leadership, and the strategies that have been most successful for me are:
Guest posting on high-profile publications
Running a blog for your agency
Hosting a webinar
Network online and offline for some personalization
Actively post tips about your industry on social media
Join HARO and provide excellent tips to publishers
Identify podcasts that you can be a guest on
Earn and Leverage Social Proof
Social proof is a great way to display expertise in your niche. It provides brands with the third-party endorsement they crave.
Social proof shows brands how brands like theirs have had success via your agency, and you can leverage it in various ways.
To leverage social proof, you must earn it. Make a list of your happiest clients and ask them to give you a testimonial or post on social media about their positive experience with your agency.
Once earned, you need to look at social proof as a trail of breadcrumbs leading to becoming a client of your agency. Brands will seek it out on their own, so you need to make it easy to find. Provide social proof on your website, on social, in your email marketing, ads, and more.
Publish Your Own Data
We are marketers. We know the value of data.
Publishing your own data not only conveys expertise it also generates leads. You can do this by surveying 300 members of a target audience and creating a comprehensive report with the new data you gathered.
When you gather and publish your own data, it’s super easy to promote because people love new data. You can gate it with a lead capture form to nurture the people who download your report and turn them into clients.
Publishing data for agencies is my most popular service, and I spilled my secret to this approach in this post.
Final Thoughts: I’m Ready To Enhance My Agency’s Expertise!
With 2023 wrapping up, it’s a good time to check in on your agency and plan what to do differently in 2024. The strongest way to grow your agency is to embrace a niche and specialize in 1-3 industries.
There are so many ways to convey expertise, and once you’re a thought leader in your chosen industry, I think you’ll be surprised that your agency will become more profitable.
And of course, these strategies to become an expert in your chosen industries require a decent amount of time and dedication. That’s where I come in. I have been growing and optimizing agencies for 12 years, and you can get in touch with me here.
What is your agency’s niche? I’d love to read all about it in the comments below!
