What’s your agency’s superpower?

Having a specialism and being known for it is one of the most important things you can do as an agency.

This could be a sector or skillset expertise, methodology, technology or a particular problem you are great at solving. And where there is clear opportunity for revenue growth.

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In challenging times, founders are often tempted to expand their services and sector offer to maximise the number of potential clients they can appeal to. Picking a lane or narrowing your client types can feel risky and even counter intuitive. But that’s what the most successful agencies actually do. It gives them stand-out and potentially a higher value.

At BLINK we recently hosted a packed house of agency founders for a discussion event with two successful exited agency founders and an agency M&A specialist. When asked about what makes agencies successful and valuable, one phrase came up again and again:

“Know Your Superpower”

Find the thing that you’re good at and double down on it. Be the master of a trade rather than a Jack of all. And build a reputation for it in the market so clients and the best talent know you’re the go-to agency for that thing.

This is backed up by the data. Agencies with a smaller suite of services are on average faster growing and more profitable that those with a larger list.

In contrast, generalist agencies lacking a clear niche can be more easily commoditised, meaning less security in client relationships vs rivals and weaker pricing power.

A niche or specialism also makes an agency more attractive to buyers. At our BLINK event and in other conversations, M&A brokers repeatedly say that agencies with expertise or capability in a particular area are more desirable. The recent M&A Benchpress report on the agency sector by accountancy company Wow lists service offering as the single most important thing buyers look for in agencies to acquire. Over 40% listed it as their top reason for acquisition.

Deep down, most founders know what their agencies are, or could be, best at. And hopefully, which of the things they do are most profitable and have the most potential.

What’s your superpower? And are you making the most of it?

Read Andrew’s bio here

If you fancy an exploratory chat about how we can help you, let’s find a time.