Before I jump into this week’s topic, would you do me a favor and take a few minutes to complete the Q4 2024 SAGA Agency Owner Survey? This quarter we’re looking at the overall outlook for agencies along with a deep dive on talent-related issues like compensation, recruitment, and retention.
It’s not secret that most agency advisors (myself included) encourage owners to find a clear focus. Usually this takes the form of areas of specialization and/or “niching down” to specific industries.
As public relations and marketing have become more technology-enabled and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions have proliferated, it has become more common for agencies to specialize in a particular software platform.
Some providers — like HubSpot — even design specific programs to encourage this behavior from agencies.
Whether you specialize in Google Ads, Shopify, WordPress, Amazon, or something else, there can be great benefits to having such a clear focus.
But there are also risks in tying yourself to a third-party platform that you need to keep in mind — both before making the decision to specialize as well as while your agency is having success with the strategy.
The recent turmoil around WordPress underscores the importance of considering not just the rewards, but also the risks, in platform specialization.
I’ll explore this more a bit later in this week’s newsletter, but first let’s look at what Jen has rounded up for us this week.
— Chip Griffin, SAGA Founder
Upcoming Events
- Webinar: Step-by-step guide to starting a podcast for your agency (November 7)
Weekly Roundup
Below are some articles, blog posts, podcasts, and videos that we came across during the past week or so that provide useful perspective and information for PR and marketing agency owners. While we don’t necessarily endorse all of the views expressed in these links, we think they are worth your time.
— Jen Griffin, SAGA Community Manager
Articles & Blog Posts
- How Many Times to Touch that Lead? (RSW/US)
- The No BS Podcasting Guide for You and Your Clients (Spin Sucks)
- Which agency conferences will you attend in 2025? (Sakas and Company)
- 7 Agency Hiring and Recruiting Strategies (and Mistakes to Avoid) (AgencyAnalytics)
- Without focus I can’t succeed (Anchor Advisors)
- What Outsiders Think of Us (Punctuation)
Podcast Episodes
- The Benefits of Hiring a Fractional CMO For Your Agency, with John Jantsch (The Agency Profit Podcast)
- Turn On Your Creativity – 2 Minutes to Better Business Ideas, with Julie Stout (The Personal Brand Business Show)
- Finding Balance: How Hobbies Enhance Professional Life with Paula MacDonald (That Solo Life)
- How Comms Pros Can Counter Misinformation (Spin Sucks)
- The Art of Building Trust Through Targeted Outreach (The Digital Agency Growth Podcast)
- Using Books as a Credibility Tool to Win Clients with Michael DeLon (The Digital Agency Show)
- Something Old, Something New (For Immediate Release)
- Monetizing Ideas and Intellectual Capital Effectively, with Brett Banker (The Innovative Agency)
- Do You Have the Right Support to Grow Your Agency? 3 Benefits of Community with Darby Copenhaver (Smart Agency Master Class)
Videos
- LinkedIn Live – 2024 RSW Agency New Business Report Key Stats (RSW/US)
- Just Ask Jody: How do we pitch a prospect in a new category? (The Sutter Company)
- No wonder you can’t make any money (Agency Management Institute)
- 3 Takeaways (6th Halloween Special): The Frogman Cometh! (RSW/US)
The risks of tying your agency to a specific platform
Many agencies that specialize in WordPress have faced moments of anxiety in recent weeks as the co-founder of that popular software initiated a battle with a large hosting provider.
The subsequent back-and-forth has driven many in the community to take sides and more than a few have questioned the future of the platform — especially for business use — given the instability this fight has caused.
The reality is that focusing on a specific platform can be a great way for your agency to cultivate deep expertise and take advantage of the efficiencies that come with such focus.
But anytime you depend upon someone else’s work to be successful, you also run the risk of major unplanned disruption to your own business based on the whims of an executive in another firm.
In the 30+ years that I have been in the agency world, technologies have come and gone. Providers have blossomed then faded. Even the basics of what a work day looked like when I started out as Junior Account Executive in a small agency in 1994 have been completely transformed.
Before you decide to tie yourself to a specific platform, you need to understand the benefits that it brings, but you also need to recognize that things may change.
The platforms can be modified, their rules can change, and the client’s preferences can shift.
That’s why it is important to focus on the platform, but also ensure that you are developing transferable knowledge and best practices, too.
And before you start (and even when you are running your platform-focused agency successfully) you need to have in mind how you might pivot if you wake up one morning to find that there has been a dramatic shift.
In some cases, a platform could take the (admittedly unlikely) step of banning agencies or limiting availability of agency tools to only a chosen few. What would you do if you found yourself frozen out or faced with a limited toolset that doesn’t allow you to provide full value to clients?
Other solutions, like WordPress, would be more likely to face a gradual decline so you might have more time to prepare. In fact, there is likely a great opportunity to be had for WordPress specialist agencies if there was a sudden need to migrate clients to some new CMS.
But it can be very easy to ride the coattails of success with a third-party platform, especially when they have systems in place to steer business to favored agencies.
The bottom line is that you should never leave the fate of your agency in someone else’s hands. The more you lean on an external platform for success, the more you need to be ready to pivot on little notice to an alternate approach.
Embrace the benefits of specialization in a particular platform, but also understand the risks.
Webinar: Step-by-step guide to starting a podcast for your agency
You may have heard that podcasting can be a useful tool to grow your agency’s business, but how do you even start?
In our upcoming webinar, Chip Griffin will explain what makes an effective agency podcast and provide clear and simple steps for getting started.
Hosting a podcast doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated, and Chip will show you just how easy it can be to get off the ground.
To register for the roundtable from 12-1 PM ET on Thursday, November 7, click here.
