Every agency hits a wall where lead generation stops making sense. And yet… ❌ The pipeline is unpredictable. ❌ The leads coming in aren’t the right fit. ❌ Sales calls feel like uphill battles. You start wondering: “Maybe we just need to do more.” Wrong. The Real Problem: It’s Not Lead Gen, It’s Positioning Most agencies think they […]
Category: Positioning
Lead Gen Is Just Amplification—So What Are You Amplifying?
My 12-year-old son loves our backyard fire ring. Which makes sense—what pre-teen boy doesn’t love fire? But here’s the thing: he’s constantly trying to light the fire the wrong way. He’ll strike a match and hold it to a big log, expecting instant flames. Nothing happens. He tries again. Still nothing. Then he looks at […]
Why Your Agency’s Offer Isn’t Compelling—And How to Fix It
I once worked at a digital agency that leaned hard into programmatic ad buying. They loved it. Obsessed over it. It was the thing they sold. There was just one problem… Clients didn’t care about programmatic ads. They didn’t want to hear about: ❌ The complex algorithms. ❌ The audience segmentation strategies. ❌ The real-time bidding process. They […]
The 25 Biggest Messaging Mistakes Agencies Make
Most agencies think they have a lead gen problem. They actually have a messaging problem. Because here’s the truth: 🔹 Your prospects don’t care about your agency. 🔹 They don’t care about your process. 🔹 They don’t care about your awards. They care about one thing: What’s in it for them. And yet, agencies keep making the same […]
Prospects Don’t Give a Damn About Your Sizzle Reel
Agencies love to make a splash in pitch meetings. They dim the lights. They roll out the high-production sizzle reel. They showcase themselves. And then they wonder why the prospect tunes out. 🚨 Here’s the hard truth: Clients don’t care about your agency. They don’t care about your award-winning work. They don’t care about your “creative process.” […]
Stop Explaining Your Process—Start Owning the Outcome
If you’ve ever taken a parent or loved-one to a doctor’s appointment, you know the moment. The doctor peers at the X-ray, rattling off terms like ligament, elasticity, meniscus. They’re talking to the nurse, not your parent. Then they turn and say one of two things: “There’s structural degradation in the joint…” Or: “You’ve got a bad […]
Why DIY Marketing Is the Most Expensive Free Strategy You’ll Ever Try
I was in Home Depot the other day. Rows of roofing nails, shingles, adhesives. A well-designed, step-by-step guide—big type, full color—“How to Replace Your Own Roof.” It looked, from my extremely unqualified point of view… simple enough. But I’m not fixing my own roof. And not because I’m lazy. Because I like my bones intact. Because I […]
Your Marketing Isn’t Competing With Other Agencies—It’s Competing With Noise
In the 1970s, the average person saw about 500 ads per day. Today? That number is estimated to be closer to 20,000. Let that sink in for a moment. And now—try to recall the last ad you saw. You probably can’t. Or rather, you’re thinking of the last one you remember. Which is different from the last one […]
Why the Traditional View of Positioning Is Killing Your Pipeline
Let’s talk about positioning. Not in the way most marketers do—with brand pyramids and mission statements and cute taglines. Let’s talk about the way positioning actually plays out when it’s time to book real meetings with real prospects. Because most agencies think they have a positioning problem solved. But if the pipeline’s dry? If qualified leads aren’t […]
How to Choose the Right Market Development Strategy (Without Wasting Time on the Wrong Prospects)
Most agencies make the same mistake when expanding into a new market. They see an opportunity, think, “We should be in there,” and start throwing spaghetti at the wall. Here’s what happens next:❌ They spread themselves too thin and lose traction where they were already winning.❌ They go after everyone, instead of focusing on the […]