5 Things You *DON'T* Need to Grow Your Branding Agency
Running a successful small branding agency has its fair share of complexities, as does any small business. But unfortunately I see a lot of agency owners who make things even harder on themselves—and it seems like they think they have to!
They take well-meaning advice, like building systems and processes, and turn it into extremely difficult-to-navigate mountains. They do it with good intentions, but they don’t stop to think about how these activities contribute to the bottom line. And honestly, that should be your ONLY reason for adding any extra layers to how you operate.
Fixing what's not working in your agency is as much about what you STOP doing as what you should START doing.
It’s time to let go of these five things you think you need but really don’t. You’ll free up time and money to do the things that will actually move the needle on your business.
1. More Clients
Wait—more clients? Really? That’s how you make money in the first place. Why don’t you want more?
This is the number one thing you absolutely DON’T need when your business isn’t doing what you want it to do. It’s counterintuitive because you think that more clients will solve your problems. But you’re dead wrong.
Because guess what clients who think this tell me? They say they work. All. The Time. They can never take a vacation because they are too busy. So I ask them: When are you going to serve all of these clients that you think you so desperately need? And how exactly are you going to give them high value if you are already booked solid without them?
But what if you’re busy looking for clients? If you had clients, you’d still be busy, but at least you’d be making money, right?
WRONG AGAIN!
Because if you are booked with high-paying clients, it means you have no time to do the work to get your next clients. So when those clients run out, you’ll be back to being overworked looking for clients. Rinse, repeat.
So I’ll say it again: You don’t need MORE clients.
Instead, you need BETTER clients. Clients that hire you because you are an expert, NOT a service provider. Clients that pay you more because of that expertise. Clients that listen to your guidance.
More low-paying, low-value clients will only result in you continuing to keep your low-paying, low-value agency on life support.
2. More Employees
I used to think that employees were a great way to maximize my time. More people means I can handle more work. I thought it was the only way to get bigger, higher-paying clients. Make my agency look big, and I’ll get bigger projects. Employees are a badge of honor. It means you’ve made it!
But it’s another trap.
See, employees can be a great asset when you have a steady flow of clients and work, a process you know is profitable, and a reputation that will continue to bring in new clients. Otherwise, they are a huge expense that requires you to generate a lot more money. This means you will still work all the time and often bring home less money.
Until you’ve dialed in your business, employees are not going to help you grow. They are going to help you spend. They will camouflage your business issues.
Because you can take on a lot more work, your revenue increases while you have other people doing the work, and it can feel like you are “growing.” But if you take home less than a normal salary and work more than 40 hours a week, those employees not only aren’t helping you grow; they are probably a hindrance to your growth.
Instead, you need to cut the fluff and make your offerings so profitable that you don’t need employees. Use contractors if you must. Definitely utilize VAs to multiply your effectiveness. But you need to cut all the fat from your agency all by yourself before you start investing real, consistent money into an in-house team.
3. SEO
Have you ever thought that the best way to grow your agency is to be found on the first page of Google for “graphic designer” or “marketing agency”? Have you ever hoped that if you just invested in an SEO company for things like backlinks, keywords, or alt tags, then you could just sit back and let Google send you those dream clients?
Sounds great; doesn’t work.
I know a lot of SEOs are going to have my head on a stick for saying this, but you don’t need Google to grow. And while we’re at it, Google can actually STOP YOU from growing.
Say WHAAAAT?
First of all, you’re just NOT going to be found for keywords as generic as “branding agency” or “marketing agency.” There are too many other companies that have been around a lot longer than you that own those terms—and a lot more companies like you trying to own them.
Second—even if you did somehow land on the first page of Google, being found for generic search terms through SEO doesn’t mean qualified leads. It means people are searching for those terms. And if you magically get some amazing traffic, it doesn’t mean sales.
High-end agency services are not generally found through Google. They are discovered through trust—which means either referrals or trust-building content.
Forget SEO. Pour your time, money, and energy into building valuable authority-enhancing content. If you create enough content that’s actually valuable, you will get the short-term benefit of nurturing everyone that sees your website into a potential client. Plus, you will get the long-term benefit of some of that content showing up on Google for long-tail keywords. That’s a much more realistic goal than trying to rank for impossible generic terms.
4. Forbes Column / Podcast / Book
Don’t get me wrong—authority-building content is great for boosting your small agency. In fact, it’s the third pillar of scaling a no-BS agency.
But you don’t NEED it to grow your agency, and it’s not the first place to focus if you are still struggling to make a decent income without working 24/7.
When I went from $40k in debt to $500k in just one year, I didn’t have ANY of those things. All I had was a blog I had been writing 2x/month for six months and a lot of networking contacts I had met by pounding the pavement meeting people in person for a year and a half that I had put on an email list. That list had fewer than 1,000 people. NO social media. NO book. NO Forbes column.
If you know how to shine to your ideal clients and audience and have a no-BS offer, you can absolutely grow a 6-figure agency without those things.
5. A Fancy Pitch Deck
Just because clients ask for it doesn’t mean they actually want it. I don’t know many people who want to pour through pages and pages of information. Pitch decks make the client do work just to do business with you.
But when you’re supposed to be the expert, you should be able to lead them to your services. Handing them a pitch deck is like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, hoping they don’t get lost going to the next step.
Instead, connect directly with your clients. See where they need help and share how you can add value to their lives. Be the leader they expect you to be and build personal connections that no fancy pitch deck can match.
Want to see how to grow your agency and cut the fluff? Download my NO BS Blueprint to $30k Months.