Why Agencies Are Bad at Their Own Marketing

I know marketing agencies are the worst at marketing for themselves. Every day you're driving by the hood of the car. You're not looking further out, because you can't.

You haven't focused on your own marketing because the work just kept rolling in. Right until it doesn't.

It's perfectly normal to drive by the hood of the car. You just have to build your own systems like you would for a client. And the piece that matters most is consistency.

Key Takeaways

• Agencies don't do well when their positioning is bad, their offer is bad, or both.
• What wins right now is consistency.
• If we don't make it easy for people to buy our services, they will not buy our services.
• Hiring a salesperson or a marketing agency as the first fix is a bad idea.

Why are agencies the worst at their own marketing?

That's why the whole "cobbler's kids have the worst shoes" analogy exists. It's that old of an analogy, and we're still talking about cobblers.

It is not easy. When I was running my own agency, I had those concerns too. What if our positioning didn't match clients' expectations? What if our stance turned people off?

And AI is certainly not going to help you, with its sycophant play.

What actually breaks when an agency markets itself?

Their positioning is bad, their offer is bad, or it's a combination of the two.

You're not getting more clients because the people who could hire you are unclear on what you do. In Hinge Research Institute and XPX's referral research, 262 business advisors each named their top three referral killers, and "absence of visible expertise" made up 45.5 percent of those picks. "Not asking for referrals" got 1.1 percent.

That's the full-service agency downfall. You want to look full service, and that label is vague to every buyer who reads it. You think you're going to catch a lot more with a broader net, but they just slip through.

What makes going to market hardest for an agency is that our offer is "we do work." Buyers are looking to buy solutions. We need to sell solutions.

If you don't tell people how to buy something from you, it's very challenging. They don't know how to buy, because they don't do this all the time. At the agency I ran, we had a bunch of packages. I never once sold a single one. They're the outfit on the mannequin. If we don't make it easy for people to buy our services, they will not buy our services.

A lot of agencies can't find new clients because they don't have anything to say. You have to break the pattern and stand out. You have to have an opinion.

There's a difference between being showy and having control over your own reputation. You do have a reputation, and whether you add to it or control it is up to you. If you want to leave it up to other people, sure, go put up a website and a LinkedIn profile. And watch people not have any idea when to call you.

Number one, people don't care, because you haven't given them a reason to care. Number two, people don't know you exist, because you haven't told them. And number three, people aren't coming to save you, because you haven't told them how to save you.

Why is consistency what's missing?

There's a secret fourth thing that agencies are bad at, which is consistency.

Most of my best clients watch me for a year without ever reaching out. They don't like a post. They don't comment on a post. I post and comment often enough that when the timing is right and they need some help, they know exactly who to call. They don't call anybody else.

We trust people we see consistently. Even if we don't know them, if we see the same person every day at the coffee shop, our defenses aren't up with that person.

It feels like luck sometimes, but we can manufacture luck by creating lots of opportunity. Opportunity is networking events, connecting with new people, posting, commenting, and staying visible to all those people. Consistency builds up timing, and when opportunity and timing meet, that is a project or a retainer.

Pick a couple of channels and nail them consistently. That's all you need to do.

What does a daily and weekly rhythm look like?

If you're not sending out at least a few new connections, commenting on a few other people's posts, or sending a new message to somebody new every day, you are behind. Send out three or four of those a day, which takes you 15 minutes.

Commenting on other people's stuff is more powerful than posting yourself. Commit to posting twice a week and leaving at least one or two genuine, thoughtful comments on people's stuff a day. Sometimes those comments are not going to be great. Sometimes those posts are going to get one like. I don't care. Commit to a year of doing it, and I guarantee you will grow your business.

Opportunities will start to arrive maybe in a month or two or three or four.

The goal on LinkedIn is to stay connected with the people who are hiring us and stay top of mind with them. You also need to build up a list of partners you're staying in contact with, because they could bring you in.

I've got agents that run a lot of my stuff for me now. I wouldn't be consistent if it wasn't for them. You set up a schedule, and it'll even open LinkedIn for you. But be careful, because it's a rabbit hole. I don't know anybody who's using AI who's working less today.

Then go back to the well. The quickest new work comes from people who have already written us checks, or who have told other people to write us checks. How to grow existing client accounts at your agency covers that step.

What should an agency not do when its growth stalls?

When the work stops coming in, you start going, "Maybe we need to hire a salesperson." Don't do that, because it's a bad idea. Or, "Maybe we need to hire a marketing agency." Bad idea. Don't do that either.

A salesperson's role is to close deals. That takes a sales process, a CRM, and leads coming in. When the pipeline is thin, you have a lead gen problem.

A marketing agency, unless it specializes in professional services, is going to have a really difficult time selling what you're doing. Most of the world is built around selling products and pushing SKUs and inventory.

Cold email these days is very challenging. You can have success with it, as part of a larger strategy. In SparkToro's 2025 survey of digital agencies, 376 respondents took part, and most were solo consultants or agencies of up to 25 people. Of the 59 percent who had tried outbound sales, 9 percent called it very effective, 58 percent moderately effective, and 33 percent not effective at all.

We keep the business model and change our positioning.

How does Schmidt Consulting Group help an agency owner market their own agency?

Schmidt Consulting Group works with founder-led agencies and professional services firms on positioning, pricing, and new business.

I have basically two ways I work with agencies. One is done with you, and the other is done for you. Done with you means we come up with the goals and you do all the execution. I'm your account buddy and your therapist. Done for you is for when you don't have the time or the willpower, whatever the case may be, and you want to move faster.

Mentorship is twice-monthly counsel for founders on pricing, hiring, clients, and direction. You set the agenda, and your team does the work.

Advisory is a weekly operating rhythm for growth: a written plan, one priority at a time, and a review of results every week.

If you're weighing what kind of outside help fits, read how to choose an agency growth coach or consultant.

You'll hear the fee on our first call.