Agency Principals Ask: What Are We Missing?

I had a conversation with an agency considering our services, and the principal asked if I would take a look at their current service offering and answer the question,

What Are We Missing?

After a bit of clarification, I understood he meant in terms of future-proofing: are there services they should be considering to show prospects they’re keeping their firm prepared and looking forward.

It’s an important question, and one you should be asking yourself and your team.

There’s a certain level of shiny object infiltration here (which would be a great, if not lengthy, band name – use it with my blessing).

There are of course, “would be cool to haves” and “need to haves”, which is what want to talk about here.

Two articles will help me do this, and some context from the first, Top Predictions For Marketing Agencies In 2025. (Yes, it’s time for the glut of new year predictions!)

The last 24 months have been challenging for the agency marketplace, with depressed tech spending in the US and global dragging of agency performance. In particular, the start-stop nature of existing or newly awarded brand assignments was a source of financial frustration. Yet 2025 shows signs of optimism, including a strong US economy, agency M&A activity, a resurgence of brand spending, and a growing independent agency market.

Good stuff, right?  The whole piece is worth a read, but there are 2 points you should think on.

1) One-third of digital media specialists will evolve into full-funnel agencies

According to the Forbes piece, “In 2025, CMOs and agency executives will reconcile full-funnel, full-service capabilities with deep expertise in various disciplines and channels.”

So what does that mean?

• Division Between Brand and Performance Media is BlurringCMOs (chief marketing officers) increasingly expect their agencies to bridge the gap between branding and performance rather than working in silos.Barely half of CMOs plan to integrate brand and performance media, meaning there’s still significant opportunity for agencies to educate and position themselves as seamless full-funnel solutions.
• Integration of Creative and Media AssignmentsMore than one-third of CMOs plan to integrate creative and media assignments within the next year. This suggests that clients want agencies capable of aligning creative ideas directly with media strategies to drive results.
• Reconciling Full-Service and ExpertiseWhile clients want the convenience of full-service capabilities (e.g., creative, media, strategy, and performance in one place), they’re also looking for deep expertise in specific channels or disciplines.

So, when you ask, what are we missing, your firm may already be well-positioned here, and you should capitalize on that:

1. Highlight your ability to deliver both brand awareness and performance results.
2. In business development outreach, focus on how you can simplify and unify what is often fragmented across multiple agencies or vendors.
3. Be clear about where your agency excels while still offering a broader range of services. For example, if your strength is in programmatic performance media, highlight how it connects with your creative and brand-building efforts.

And if you aren’t well-positioned in terms of services, collaborate with partners or explore building a cross-functional team to ensure you meet client expectations for both depth and breadth of expertise.

2) AI-powered content production will decelerate marketing in-housing

The piece points out 61% of external agencies already use genAI in their marketing efforts, compared to only 17% of in-house teams.

This gap highlights a significant opportunity for agencies to position themselves as leaders in AI-driven content production.

And of course, where AI ends up and how it’s used is very much still unknown, but the bottom line is, you can’t be left behind in it’s usage.

So, as above, when you ask, what are we missing, your firm may already be well-positioned here in its AI usage, and you should capitalize on that:

• Use messaging that emphasizes cost-efficiency, speed, and customization to appeal to marketers who are reevaluating their reliance on in-house teams.
• Many marketers may (or even definitely) still lack a clear understanding of how generative AI can transform their content production. Use thought leadership—through webinars, blogs, and social media content—to educate potential clients on the benefits of outsourcing to an AI-driven agency.
• Showcase how your agency can go beyond what in-house teams offer, such as: Advanced AI model customization tailored to a brand’s voice and access to cutting-edge tools and expertise.

And if you aren’t well-positioned in terms of AI, (and this won’t surprise you), agencies with generative AI expertise will gain a significant advantage.

As budgets allow, invest in genAI tools and talent to position yourself as knowledgeable and on top of  AI-driven content production.

3) Your Prospects’ Attention Has Never Been More Divided

And lastly, a piece from MediaPost, Attention: It’s In Short Supply:

While our attention spans aren’t really as short as Ted Lasso’s 10-second goldfish (btw, that figure has been refuted by scientists studying goldfish), UC Irvine’s Dr. Gloria Marks found through tracking research that we switch screens after 47 seconds on average, down from an average 2.5 minutes back in 2004.

This is so critically important for your business development process, and I’ve been preaching it for years: keep your initial biz dev outreach succinct, to the point, and value-driven.

If your first outreach to a prospect is a 5 paragraph email screed, that’s an automatic delete.

But there’s another, valuable piece of info here:

TikTok may dominate time spent for younger cohorts, but an Involved Media study found the greatest monthly reach from YouTube Shorts (44%) and Instagram Reels (41%). But older cohorts can learn to love a faster pace. The Involved study found that parents followed their children to short-form platforms. Got kids? Chances are you watch Reels, Shorts and TikTok more than other 40-year-olds.

We’ve been experimenting with YouTube shorts for a little while now to drive new business for RSW (you can see a few here for reference) and met with some initial success.

So, as above, when you ask, what are we missing, if you haven’t explored short-form video to help drive your thought leadership/content strategy for business development, this is the time.

Yes, you’ll need to do some planning , but these are meant to be short and impactful, and best of all, are typically done on your phone.

Authenticity is key here.

Keep asking yourself, and your team, “What are we missing?”.

It will pay off.