Offer strategic partnerships not “consulting by the pound.”
While this is listed as Epiphany 9, differentiation is critical for long-term business success. Over the past few years, I have consulted with companies that all believe they are different from their competitors, and it is often tough for them to learn that they do the same thing, often just at a lower cost.
In a crowded marketplace where agencies often compete on price and deliverables, differentiation isn’t just a marketing buzzword—it’s a necessity for survival and growth. Many agencies struggle with client retention, pricing pressures, and proving their economic value. However, the agencies that thrive for a decade or more do so by focusing on demonstrating economic value, not just delivering services that are merely different from those of others.
From my experience working with agencies worldwide, those that differentiate themselves effectively often follow a few key principles. Let’s review what I’ve learned over the past 30 years to help your agency or company break free from the commodity trap and build lasting client relationships.
1. Just Be Different
Suppose you have been following the epiphanies in order; you know by now that my thinking and that of GSI differ radically from those of most agencies. I was proud that these insights enabled us to stand out, allowing us to work with some of the world’s largest companies. Our key differentiators focused on revenue creation, change management, and process improvement, positively impacting search and business performance.
In the lesson on Epiphany 11, a Winning Search Agency, I share the P&G story, where, because we were not just another order-taking agency, it allowed us to earn their business. The presentation began with the procurement manager’s concern that we were too small, as the leading contender planned to assign 21 people to the project. I asked them, “What are those people doing today – who has 21 people just lying around? Then what would they do? I went to the whiteboard and wrote the main deliverables of the RFP. I then drew our enterprise search framework and the required headcount to deliver it. Our framework is almost precisely aligned with the one mandated in the RFP.
I began drawing a model illustrating how we would integrate with existing workflows, share information across brands within categories, and establish a scalable and repeatable process. This required experienced strategists that would be embedded into their organization. I concluded that if you want people to sell you SEO by the pound doing everything as individualized projects without integration or scalable change, then hire the other guys. If you believe in the model you requested, your only option is to choose us, as we are the only ones who have demonstrated that approach. Ultimately, they chose us, and we built them an enterprise-grade search program, gaining the name “The McKinsey of Search.”
We demonstrated differentiation by not only completing checklist items but also focusing on frameworks and integrating them into their existing processes to create incremental value.
- Demonstrate your experience—we showed how we were doing exactly what they wanted and needed with similar-sized clients.
- Don’t be afraid to challenge their process – It is risky to argue with procurement, but if you are genuinely different and they cannot understand why, you will lose anyway. Unfortunately, they are often the least knowledgeable about the solution they need and the qualifications of those they are evaluating.
- Avoid being viewed as a commodity – Without differentiation, agencies risk becoming interchangeable and competing solely on price. A precise, unique positioning allows agencies to charge premium rates instead of engaging in a race to the bottom.
When an agency is unique in its approach, specialization, or services, it can communicate a more compelling reason why clients should choose it over its competitors.
2. Proving Economic Value: Why Clients Stay or Leave
If you have already read Epiphany 6, “Show Economic Value,” and Epiphany 8, “Showing the Love,” you will know that there will be another focusing on differentiation. A significant reason agencies lose clients isn’t poor work—it’s failing to showcase the value of that work effectively. I have consulted with agencies that have experienced client churn rates exceeding 80% after the initial contract period. Their renewal pitch was often simply a copy-and-paste of the original contract with “renew” written at the top: no progress, no new strategy, and no demonstrated ROI—just the exact deliverables listed again.
Differentiated agencies, on the other hand, don’t sell SEO by the pound or PPC by the click. They sell outcomes. They communicate impact, such as:
- How much revenue they helped generate
- How much money did they save a client
- How they contributed to a client’s key business objectives
An agency that tracks and reports on economic value (cost savings, revenue increases, efficiency gains) will stand out from those that merely list tasks completed. I have demonstrated strategic value to clients in various creative ways.
3. Stop Selling Services—Sell Business Growth
Not to rehash economic value, but many agencies that struggle with differentiation often present their work in terms of actions taken instead of results delivered. Clients don’t care about keyword research or technical audits in isolation—they care about how those efforts translate into revenue growth, cost savings, or competitive advantage.
For example, in a high-stakes meeting with a Fortune 500 company, I witnessed firsthand how budgets don’t expand—they get reallocated. The client was sold on search optimization, but they had to cut funds from print ads to make room for it. This is the reality: If your agency or solution can’t prove why it deserves a bigger budget, someone else will.
Successful agencies differentiate by:
- Linking deliverables to measurable business impact (e.g., “Our SEO campaign reduced paid search spending by $880,000 per month.”)
- Aligning their work with client KPIs (e.g., revenue, lead generation, conversion rates)
- Shifting from a “consulting by the pound” model to a strategic partnership
4. Moving from Retainers to Relationships
The agencies that retain clients for 10 years or more prioritize long-term business value over short-term contracts. One of my most significant points of pride with the GSI team was our ability to retain our partners. In a presentation to WPP several years after the acquisition, we showed that our average client has been with us for 10 years, with many exceeding 15 years. I have never heard of any company keeping a search agency for that long. This was only possible due to the amazing team and our focus on delivering for clients.
Many agencies lose clients because they operate in reaction mode—delivering work as requested rather than proactively identifying growth opportunities. A Fortune 500 client once told me, “Your job as my agency is to keep my ass employed.” That insight was a game-changer. When clients feel their agency is actively working to help them succeed internally—securing their budgets, presenting them well in board meetings, and meeting their KPIs—renewals become a given. This was the driver being our focus on showing the love.
Differentiate by:
- Regularly checking in with clients to ensure they feel supported
- Aligning deliverables with their internal success metrics
- Creating customized reports that speak their language (e.g., revenue growth, lead quality, customer lifetime value)
5. The “30 Minutes to Search Greatness” Framework
One final way to differentiate is by consistently delivering quick wins while executing long-term strategies. Too often, agencies get bogged down in months-long projects without showing early results or a protracted procurement process can delay a real start of work but clients assume you have been working for them. To counter this, I developed a simple weekly exercise that any agency team would use to generate fast, impactful improvements:
The “30 Minutes to Search Greatness” Checklist
The idea was simple: once a week, on Friday or Monday, you would review the following for each of your clients. These simple data points called out elements that, if fixed, could show that we were moving the needle and delivering revenue or cost savings.
- Check high-cost PPC keywords. Are you optimizing for the same terms organically, and are they ranking? We can redirect traffic from high-cost keywords to organic, resulting in real cost savings.
- Review new homepage backlinks. Are high-authority sites linking to the wrong pages? Many press releases and industry references link to the home page. Identifying them quickly and requesting a link to the product or solution referenced shortly after posting can drive high-value links to where they belong.
- Analyze Search Console errors. Are technical issues blocking indexing or preventing pages from ranking?
- Find keywords ranking 5-10. Initially, this was ranking 11-15, but now, with multiple SERP elements, it is more like 5 to 10. The idea is that these pages are just off the mark, and a small optimization change of a single relevant backlink could move them to page one.
- Optimize underperforming high-ranking pages. This is the lowest-hanging fruit. If a page is ranking well but not receiving sufficient clicks, can we adjust the snippet or content to enhance the CTR? A simple export from Google Search Console of keywords by rank and click rate, identifying any top 3 with a click rate of less than 5%, is prime for snippet optimization.
This structured approach ensures that progress is visible and measurable every week, even within large-scale campaigns.
Final Thoughts: Make Your Agency Irreplaceable
If your agency looks and operates like every other agency, you’ll struggle with pricing pressures, client retention, and proving your value. But if you differentiate by:
- Focusing on economic value over deliverables
- Selling growth instead of services
- Proactively reporting on business impact
- Building long-term client relationships
- Delivering quick wins while executing big strategies
You’ll not only keep your clients—you’ll keep them for years.
The best agencies don’t just execute—they help businesses grow.
How does your agency demonstrate its economic value? If you’re struggling with differentiation, let’s talk.
