Design agencies are different to marketing agencies.
You could frame it as systems vs creativity, or ahrefs vs Figma, or retainer vs projects.
But fundamentally it’s because design is different to marketing.
It requires a different brain.
I wouldn’t say design is easier than marketing. But I do think that the brain that can do it is more scarce.
And that shapes a lot of things.
Where design agencies come from
A design agency usually doesn’t get founded. It just happens to someone.
Someone with design talent gets so much in demand that a business appears around them. And they have just enough business sense to put it together.
That combination, it transpires, is potent.
Design talent plus entrepreneurial spirit makes for someone who is extraordinarily effective at identifying problems and solving them. Their clients end up very happy. Referrals start flooding in. And they turn those referrals into work with very little effort, because they show up to sales calls knowing exactly what they’re talking about.
Everything you need for a successful business is there. With one problem.
An identity problem
Design agency founders are reluctant entrepreneurs. They’ve seen “sales” in action and their inbox is full of outreach. Never in a million years would they act like that, so they identify as someone who doesn’t sell or market to people.
This leads to them remaining a naive maverick in these areas, unable to understand what’s working or ever scale that secret sauce.
Let me talk to those founders for a moment.
If you are in business, then you are selling and marketing.
If you don’t know you are doing those things, then you are incredibly good at it.
Go to a big, successful agency and you’ll find business development teams trying incredibly hard to be consultative, authentic and authoritative.
They are trying to be you.
The scaling problem
What happens when you try to grow?
As an unaware sales superstar you can get far, but you will hit a ceiling. Sometimes this can be years in, when company culture and your own habits are set.
Moving beyond your referral network when it’s so tempting just to lean on that network and focus your attention elsewhere is hard.
But Trap 1. That type of pipeline relies on you.
And then there’s the fact that design, as a discipline, doesn’t like to be scaled.
A lot of marketing can be broken down into systems. Repeatable tactics. Campaign maintenance. You can document those things and hire people specifically to run them.
Design is harder to systematise. The talent required is scarce and the work is rarely the same twice.
Every project needs that experienced head. (Trap 2)
Adding and managing clients is hard too. Not because clients aren’t happy. But because the way the founder keeps them happy is with their own design effort. (Trap 3)
To afford expensive people, you need to know your delivery margins. You need to know what your rate has to be. You need a clear picture of project profitability.
But roll back to how these businesses begin. A talented person with a bit of entrepreneurial spirit. Those financial metrics are often not in place. In fact, “financial metrics” sits close to “sales” in the list of dirty words.
And when it’s just you, you can get round them anyway.
Working the weekend. Discounting hours to keep the client happy.
All leaving a mess where a project profitability report should be.
Not the foundation from which you confidently commit to a large new hire.
But who’s got time for reports when the projects need you? (Trap 4)
The ceiling
Design agencies are different because design talent is in demand and they grow around people.
This makes them amazingly effective up to a point.
They hit a ceiling of what that person can support.
How do you replace yourself?
You can do it on vibes.
Or you can recognise the value you bring and sort your numbers to the point where you can pay for someone else to deliver that value.
Honestly, it’ll be a bit of both. An opportunity may present itself. A lucky junior hire that overdelivers, or a price-insensitive client that delivers margin even with your poor financial tracking.
And then that headroom lets you start to sort things out.
But only if you spot the chance. Only if you identify with the entrepreneur inside that got you into this.
Say it with me.
“I do sales.”