We’re all marketers. Smart marketers know if your agency isn’t remarkable it’s invisible. That’s what we tell our clients right? So what makes your inbound marketing agency remarkable? Even I’ve been challenged over the past few weeks to know what makes Square 2 Marketing remarkable.
If you’re not looking in the mirror and asking yourself this question, you’re going to be in for a surprise when you lose that prospect to another agency for a lower retainer. Why should they pick you? Why should they pay more for your retainer than for some other agency’s retainer? If you don’t know the answer—you can be sure your prospects won’t either.
Here are some aspects of your business you might think makes you remarkable. Are you sure it makes you remarkable?
- You’re A Tiered HubSpot Partner – Nope…there are now thousands of tiered partners. Your clients don’t know the difference between Diamond, Platinum, or Gold.
- You Offer Growth Driven Design – Nope…there are plenty of certified agencies that provide that same service.
- You Specialize In A Vertical – Maybe, but how many other agencies specialize in your same vertical and how many generalists have enough clients to compete against you and your specialization.
- You Make The Client Go Through A Company Wide Workshop On Inbound – Nope…there are lots of agencies doing that now, in one form or another, not remarkable anymore.
- You Make Sure Your Prospect Does Strategy Before Doing Their Tactics – No…not remarkable anymore. Between the assessments, reviews, blueprints and other work that passes as strategy, the client doesn’t know the difference.
- You Do Agile Marketing – Hmmm, maybe but because the clients don’t understand everything that goes into working in an agile way and other agencies say they’re agile ( I actual think they believe they are agile) but all they have to do is say it and it’s no longer remarkable.
- You Provide Inbound Sales Services, So You Help Them Close The Leads You Get For Them – Nope, not remarkable. Plenty of agencies now offer sales enablement services.
- You Get Them Results – Definitely not, every agency can produce a collection of clients who have seen positive results from Inbound. Reviews, stories and testimonials are something every agency has.
- You're Local and You're Small So You Can Provide Personal Service – Nah, if there aren’t any other local agencies in your area yet, they will be there and it’s going to be soon.
Fill in what makes you special here: Really, drop a note in the comments section and let’s talk about it. I’d love to hear what you think makes your agency remarkable.
Winter is coming. If we don’t start standing out, our clients will have no choice. When faced with similar solutions, price will always be the deciding factor. Who can deliver it the cheapest? Have you lost any prospective clients lately to price? Did you wonder how that company could have selected that agency? They’re far inferior to you right? They picked them because they were cheaper and they did that because they didn’t see any differences between the solutions. You might even know that it’s going to be impossible to get that business the results they expect for the price they’re charging. It doesn’t matter, you lost the deal.
I could go on, but it’s starting to sound a little morbid. I’m not trying to scare anyone, nor am I trying to stick pins in anyone’s balloon. If any of these are your differentiators then I’m challenging you to be better, to think harder, to be more unique than everyone else in the community.
How can you do something no one else is doing? How can you be so different that people start talking about you? How can you make your agency so remarkable that everyone wants to work with you and only you? This won’t be easy and it won’t be something you do once.
Being remarkable is something you have to be committed to and it has to be part of your DNA. I can assure you that we (Square 2 Marketing) are not comfortable being one of many. We are not going to be part of a commodity marketplace. We will not stop working on our business until it is REMARKABLE. By definition, doing things that NO ONE else is doing.
It takes time, good solid thinking and bravery to be remarkable. It won’t get done by the weekend. Start your work today, so by the end of the year, you’ll be ready to stand out at a time where standing out is going to seem super smart to everyone else who didn’t see the writing on the wall and didn’t do the hard work to make their agency remarkable.
I’m imploring you to look at your agencies and start thinking the same way because what I see now is 1,500 HubSpot partners that look so similar I can barely tell them apart and if I can’t tell them apart, I assure you the prospects can’t either.
Start Today Tip – Include your team in the brainstorming, edge crafting and ideation around what might make your inbound agency truly remarkable. Don’t worry about asking your clients or prospects, they won’t know. Not because they’re not smart but because they don’t know your ecosystem like you do. Who would have suggested to Apple to put a phone and a camera together in one device? No one. Here’s a question to help you get started. What do your clients HATE about doing business with you? What do they HATE about doing business with any inbound agency? Every company has an answer to this question. If you can answer it and make it go away—you’re on your way to being remarkable.
Agencies 2 Inbound – Helping You Go ALL IN ON Inbound!
