The latest research, insights, tools, and resources that make managing a digital shop easier,
Updated Agency Research & A New Survey
TL;DR
NEW SURVEY OPPORTUNITY: Agency Web Dev/Design SurveyThis one’s for those actually involved in web dev/design at your agency, and we’d love to get multiple perspectives from each shop! It’s a bit of an understatement to say that a LOT has changed in the last few years. Part of that change has been in how we create things for the web. A bunch of agency leaders were curious about these shifts, so we worked with Productive to design a research project to find out what’s up. We’re exploring the various trends shaping how developers and designers at digital agencies approach web dev and design work today. Including:
Please help spread the word by sharing this will all the web devs and designers you know.
UPDATED RESEARCH: Digital Agency Industry ReportWe’ve updated our Digital Agency Industry Report with the latest data on digital shops. This is our primer piece for getting everyone up to speed on the digital agency world. It's been helpful to everyone from the smallest digital shops to the largest agency holding companies and just about everyone in between. Beyond agencies, this compilation piece has been used by consultants at two out of the top three management consultancies, four of the top ten PE firms, many of the largest tech companies, and just about every agency coach/consultant. This is the cheat code for getting up to speed quickly on the high-level details of the digital agency world.
Here's Part of the Executive Summary: The digital agency industry is one of the more attractive ones for several reasons. Participants have grown at an average rate of 13% since 2015 and earned an average net margin of 15%. Despite its attractiveness, the digital agency industry is not without its challenges. Many of the industry’s best practices are underdeveloped or poorly disseminated. However, the average level of sophistication has been steadily increasing in recent years, challenging owners to pay closer attention to how and where their firms operate. This is evident in the increasing number of agency leaders who are tracking more advanced metrics like utilization rates, a sign of the industry's evolution. Digital Agency Revgen Review: Two Openings in SeptemberEven as some pipelines are showing signs of life, a ton of agencies are struggling with revgen right now. Revgen issues topped the list of agency leader concerns in our latest survey: “Lead generation, Sales, and Account retention/growth were the most commonly cited challenges for the remainder of 2024. The second most common grouping of top challenges was simply Lead generation and Sales. Clearly, growth-related challenges are top of mind for many leaders” We’ve helped hundreds of agencies over the years, and our research has covered thousands more. This has allowed us to identify the core components of a successful revgen strategy:
We evaluate each of these, find the gaps, and provide recommendations on how to improve them. All in a single two-week sprint. If you’d like help dialing in your agency’s revgen strategy, let’s chat:
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Research & Strategy for Digital Agencies
The latest research, insights, tools, and resources that make managing a digital shop easier,
TL;DR Many agencies go through a kind of boom-and-bust cadence where leaders need to periodically jump in and reignite leadgen and sales. The boom-bust cycle many agencies endure makes it challenging to forecast, wreaks havoc on morale, and forces shops to hold a bigger cash/credit buffer than they’d otherwise need. There are multiple paths to stability, and they can include things like: consistent leadgen, account management expertise, increasing revgen velocity, growing your agency,...
TL;DR Share the Agency Web Dev / Design Survey with your team's devs and designers and get access to the full report when it's live! An agency’s ability to reliably generate new leads has a waterfall effect on just about every other aspect of running a shop. The more effective your leadgen is, the faster you’ll be able to grow. Knowing your level of leadgen today unlocks your ability to accurately forecast tomorrow. Any misstep in leadgen flows right to forecasting, which translates to poor...
TL;DR We're soft launching a one-stop shop for all your digital agency research needs! Use code PRNEWSLAUNCH for $95 off. New Research: Bending, Not Breaking: The State of Digital Services 2024 Agency growth was worse than expected in 2023 (4.5%), and our expectations were low. Some shops still managed to grow at rates 2-3x above average. Those fast-growing shops did some similar things: They readjusted their service mixes, specialized by industry and service mix, raised rates, served a more...