The B2B agency model is broken. The way 99% of saas/growth/b2b agencies operate is wrong. Why?
Because it creates misaligned interests between client&agency. The two eventually end up rowing in different boats in differing directions. Think about it:
1. agency makes money by creating output: posts, graphics, vids etc. The more stuff created at an acceptable quality, the more $ for the agency.
2. client makes money by: selling (duh). Not by the number of bytes and pixels marketing creates, not even by ‘leads’ or any vanity metric.
More misalignment: when scaling marketing ops, the client will insource activites from the agency. This natural and positive phenomenon freaks out agency-people, so they end up desperately trying to sell other output.
I started a B2B agency earlier this year somewhat unaware of (but suspecting) this. After a few months, it became clear that our market ($2-20M tech with little marketing) needs a partner with 3 functions:
1. consultants to show the way (provide an always-on strategy service)
2. an execution arm for any work the client can’t do in-house
3. a team-building component to aid in recruiting and onboarding a revenue-team.
