3 market developments for agencies to respond to [research]
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92% of agencies are more focused on improving financial results on projects this year than a year ago. The main reason? They want to grow. How do you turn market developments into growth opportunities?
We conducted research among more than 90 agency owners, agency managers and project leaders at agencies (5-100 fte) and asked them which market developments are the biggest opportunities and threats for their business operations this year. Three clear developments emerged:
artificial intelligence (AI)
mergers and acquisitions
increase in the number of freelancers
Agencies benchmark report: three clear developments
In this article I share my tips on how to convert these market developments into growth opportunities for your agency.
1. 80% of agencies embrace AI
The impact of AI on agencies is staggering. The Simplicate Agencies Industry Report found that 80% of agencies are actively embracing AI in their work. And are making strategic decisions to integrate AI efficiently. This helps them deliver work faster and creates more space to take on new work.
Not only does a growing number of assignments lead to more turnover. More than a third of agencies are also investigating how AI technologies can generate new types of assignments, in order to expand their services. Because 27% of agencies indicate that the demand for AI-related assignments is growing.
Agencies also see opportunities through AI to profile themselves more as a strategic partner. Because the more routine work AI performs, the more time agencies have to advise their clients. And that expert role offers opportunities to charge a higher hourly rate.
Finally, training and development in AI are also important: 53% of agencies are investing in this to use AI as efficiently as possible. A small group of pioneers, around 22%, are even already investing in developing their own AI tools.
Of course your agency wants to explore the possibilities of AI. But how much time can you actually free up for that? My tip: set an internal budget in advance so that you can spend targeted time on new developments.
Monitor the hours you invest in AI and what it list of maldives consumer email ultimately yields. This way you prevent overspending on product and knowledge development, you create more realistic business cases and you see afterwards how much return a strategic decision regarding AI has.
2. Mergers and acquisitions on a regular basis
Almost every week I hear or read something about an agency that is expanding or has been acquired. Small and large agencies are joining forces. They are strengthening and broadening their skills in the field of why you can really make an impact with purpose-driven marketing creativity and marketing. A striking market development that almost half of the agencies (48%) feel the impact of. Why would you or would you not join a larger agency?
Also read: The agency of the future: a thought aob directory experiment
A large proportion of agencies indicate that a takeover offers them the opportunity to specialise more (65%) and to focus on their distinctive quality (84%). More than 1 in 5 (23%) agencies continue to observe the market first.
Half of them consciously choose not to join other agencies. They prefer to remain independent and strengthen their own position.