Of the 70 agencies that feature in this year’s B2B Marketing’s B2B Agencies League Table, 10 show no, or negative turnover, growth. In past years a recessionary environment could explain this. However, the UK economy is once again growing and this is feeding through to B2B marketing budgets. The B2B Barometer study found that 56 per cent of B2B marketers have seen their budget grow in the last 12 months.
Why are they struggling?
Well, more intense competition is probably part of the problem. Three years ago 40 agencies featured in the league table, now there are 70. But I think a bigger issue is that some agencies haven’t evolved to a new reality. If we compare the 10 fastest growing agencies with the 10 under-performers, three differences emerge:
1. High-growth agencies focus on clients who themselves are high-growth, especially those in the technology and professional services sectors. In contrast, a minority of under-performing agencies target the technology sector, and are much more likely to see industrial and manufacturing clients on their books.
2. High-growth agencies tend to specialise in three service areas – marketing strategy, web related services and content marketing. While under-performers also have a strong focus on marketing strategy, they are much less likely to provide web related services or content marketing.
3. Meanwhile, high-growth agencies are more likely to embrace marketing technology. Five of the 10 in this year’s fastest growers league table are certified in marketing automation, and five in CRM systems.
