After a B2B SaaS founder achieved a $5 million annual recurring revenue (ARR), they experienced significant pipeline stagnation across all five of their ad channels.
The founder now needs more than just another buyer to experiment with creative ads—providing the right strategy for how to market products through a holistic integration of sales and positioning with data is critical here.
This comprehensive go-to-market resource outlines the actual marketing strategy agencies building revenue performance for their clients and gives you the exact framework to use for selecting the right agency for you.
What to Know About Marketing Strategy Agencies
Most agencies have no proof of performance and provide only the same few agency names. Instead of being able to point to actual deliverables produced by the agency, most agency websites simply contain basic descriptions with no actual evidence.
Top-tier strategic agencies develop brand vision development guides and messaging houses along with comprehensive solution channel plans. Agencies will not build and develop your brand without performing in-depth analysis of what you are trying to accomplish; they will only present their clients with a general overview of the objectives.
If you can’t see a client name and documented ROAS and/or CAC metrics, you should leave that agency immediately. Agencies are an excellent fit for companies needing long-term ongoing multi-channel execution, whereas consultants are best suited for companies that need only high-level direction.
Expect to invest between $10,000 and $40,000 for a well-developed roadmap, while a complete GTM or worldwide repositioning will cost you anywhere from $30,000 and up to $1,000,000+. Rather than spending money on creating useless presentation folders of slides, buy execution-oriented roadmaps.
10 Marketing Strategy Agencies Delivering Hard Numbers
1. FRENZY
FRENZY is focused on creating human-centred brand platforms that address buyer fatigue. FRENZY does not simply provide a marketing strategy to clients, they are focused on connecting their client’s creative to the hard pipeline metrics.
FRENZY generated $1.26 million in revenue during the first month following the launch of a new brand called Urbandi. The company achieved a media return on ad spend of 6.03 and a blended return on ad spend of 4.80 on $209,192 of paid media spend through their strategy.
When a direct-to-consumer (DTC) or B2B brand scales paid social, the company does exceptionally well, but when that brand runs into the brick wall of tired messaging, their ability to get paid social to perform declines.
2. GrowME
GrowME provides pricing transparency in an industry that is typically opaque when it comes to pricing. Each deliverable is mapped to a specific budget band.
You know exactly what you'll receive. You'll pay between $10K and $40K for a strategic audit and roadmap.
You can expect to pay between $25K and $100K for full brand positioning and messaging. Their complete go-to-market plans range from $30K upward. They also provide fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) retainers, which range from $8K to $25K per month for companies looking to provide leadership on an ongoing basis but do not need that person full-time.
3. Marketing Evolution
Marketing Evolution has experience in data modeling and optimizing media mixes with a focus on long-term brand performance instead of simply looking at the lowest-cost top-of-funnel clicks.
The company has proven their model in 36 months with a large automotive manufacturer.
They have demonstrated success resulting in a 50% increase in the effectiveness of media spend and a 20% decrease in cost per acquisition. They have even reduced their television advertising spend from 60% to 40% while maintaining zero loss in performance; this proves that effective strategy saves money.
4. Atlas Marketing
Atlas Marketing works on tight, strategic, focused projects, along with larger communication deployment projects.
Typical pricing for projects ranges between $5,000 and $35,000.
Atlas Marketing is flexible with its pricing and will work within its clients' timelines and budget constraints. A quick, effective crisis communication and webinar plan may be done for less than $10,000. A comprehensive communication strategy is closer to and above $30,000.
5. Media Frenzy Global
The Media Frenzy Global agency specializes in working with large enterprise brands looking to reposition themselves heavily and require deep, committed engagements from all parties involved, with average strategy project costs ranging from $50,000 to $200,000.
They also have smaller, more targeted project scopes ranging from $10,000 - $49,999. Their focus is primarily established companies which may start from scratch when trying to change or substantially improve how they are perceived by potential customers in the marketplace.
6. Redefine Web
Redefine Web is an agency that creates a link between high-level funnel strategies and immediate local lead generation.
Redefine Web created a comprehensive 12-month social funnel strategy that increased Beauté Aesthetics NY's lead volume 166 percent and new user-growth rate 88 percent.
But even more importantly, through developing and implementing this social funnel strategy, they increased the total consultation conversion rate by 27 percent. This agency has proven that strategy must evolve into booked revenue.
7. Catalyst IQ
Catalyst IQ is an agency that emphasizes moving physical inventory by repositioning the marketplace effectively.
They completely re-established Linwood GMC’s marketing position to increase the number of vehicles sold by 102 percent and reduced the average number of days vehicles remained on the lot by 51 percent.
This is an example of how a successful strategy can translate into successful execution on the sales floor.
8. SAGE Marketing
SAGE Marketing is a HubSpot Diamond Solutions Partner that bridges the gap between high-level revenue strategy and technical revenue operations (RevOps). Many B2B SaaS companies find the separation of CRM data from the data spent on marketing difficult to connect or make sense of.
SAGE Marketing not only builds that bridge, but also makes sure your go-to-market plan is executable through your current marketing automation system. Your company's growth strategy must work with the technology solutions that you're using. If not, the strategy does not stand a chance.
9. Siege Media
Siege Media creates their strategies around organic growth and content creation for B2B companies looking to capture search results.
They do not produce generic blog posts. Rather, they specialize in programmatic SEO and create extensive, long-form content.
By developing their strategy for capturing high-intent traffic to generate pipeline, Siege Media identifies exactly what content your buyers are looking for at the mid-bottom of the funnel stage.
10. The Sampson House
The Sampson House operates under a highly visible and strict framework of Discover, Define, Build, Implement and Refine.
They are also very transparent about their processes.
They provide you with a clear, defined set of deliverables that include a 90-minute positioning workshop, a layered messaging house, and a channel scorecard. They clarify how many interviews they want to conduct with stakeholders and what access they require.
How to Choose the Best Marketing Strategy Agencies
Finding the Right Team for Your Stage
Don't continue to search for a "best" agency. Instead, find the right agency for your current growth stage.
If you have a startup with $2 million in revenue, you can create a tactical GTM plan to test channels and learn where to hire a full team. If you have a mid-market company with a flat pipeline, conduct a thorough audit of your mid-funnel content to identify where your leaks are occurring. If you have an enterprise brand, hire a specialized boutique agency to execute your global repositioning campaign.
When considering whether to work with a consultant or agency, think about whether your internal team has the ability to do the tasks without direction. If so, hire a fractional CMO or consultant to provide direction for your internal team. If you need both a roadmap and resources to implement the roadmap, hire a full-service agency.
Questions to Ask on the Sales Call
On the sales call, marketing strategy agencies will often try to sell you on their "data-driven" or "revenue-focused" efforts without providing any real evidence.
You should ask for two case studies from companies in your industry indicating the specific timeline of events on these projects, the ROI gained from the project, and how much additional revenue was generated through that project.
Make sure you ask who will be the person working on your account. A company may have a senior partner or employee sell you on a project but they could pass the work onto a junior employee. You should ask for sample examples from each company. Look for a positioning plan or a channel prioritization matrix. If a company cannot provide you with these samples then I would not recommend signing a contract with that organization.
Why Strategy Fails
There are many reasons that strategy engagements fail. The single biggest reason is that there was no internal owner for the rollout within the business. If no one takes responsibility for the rollout internally, it will fail.
Any misalignment between sales and marketing ultimately destroys efforts made to make a business successful. If a company creates a messaging house to provide prospects with information regarding their solutions, but the sales team continues to use the same cold outreach message, it will not work. Also, if an agency cannot get access to your data or systems (i.e. CRM and ad accounts) within the first week of working with you, the timeline will break down.
Final Thoughts on Growing Your Business
Growth planning is not an academic study; it is a very specific roadmap for your organization to follow for the purposes of making a profit.
The best marketing strategy agencies should be transparent about their pricing structure, present clear artifacts to demonstrate their work, and list measurable results from their clients. Choose an agency that is aligned with the growth stage your company is in, provides the appropriate resources to successfully implement the plan, and does not attempt to sell you a strategy without providing an execution path.