You don’t fix complexity by adding more clarity.
You fix it by removing things.

That’s the hard bit. Most agency leaders don’t have a complexity problem, they have a deciding problem.

Let’s talk about Mike.

Jake ran a good agency.
Not a unicorn. Not a rocket ship. But solid. Twelve people, steady clients, decent margins, a few awards - the kind that prove you’re doing something right, even if you haven’t “arrived.”

He wasn’t burnt out. Just restless.

Tired of feast and famine.
Tired of selling time.
Tired of fixing fires.

And then, stuck in traffic one Tuesday, the idea hit: “We should build software.”

Missed deadlines aren’t a people problem… they’re a systems problem. Discover how one agency used “forcing functions” to replace chaos with clarity, and why structure is strategy made visible.

Ever wake up and think:
“I don’t want to do this anymore... but I also don’t want to leave”?

You’re not burnt out. You’re not failing. In fact, business might be going well. But the buzz of building your agency has faded, and the day-to-day grind of running it no longer excites you.

Maybe you want to get back on the tools. Or focus on the work you love. Or simply stop being the person everyone relies on for every decision.

That’s when the realisation hits: succession planning isn’t a “someday” idea. It’s a now problem.

And that’s not a crisis. That’s clarity.

If I had a pound for every time an agency leader said, “We just need a proper strategy,” I’d be somewhere warm and smug right now.

But let’s interrogate that.

Saying “we need a strategy” is like saying “we need to get fit.” It’s not wrong - but it’s not a plan.

Strategy isn’t a vibe or a to-do list. It’s a decision. About what game you’re playing, how you’ll win it, and what you won’t do anymore.

And here’s where most agencies get stuck: they call growth the strategy. But growth is an outcome, not a strategy.

So how do you set a real one? Let’s break it down.

Most agency founders don’t have real accountability.

They’ve got advisors. Teams. Maybe even a “strategy doc” buried in Google Drive.

But no one’s holding them to the hard decisions.
No one’s tracking follow-through.
No one’s challenging their thinking consistently.

That’s why so many agencies plateau.

You don’t need another strategy day.
You need a board. A real one. With rhythm, structure, and someone keeping it honest.

If you run a digital agency, you’ve probably felt it:

The things that used to work… don’t.

Clients are pulling back. Budgets are shrinking. AI is doing in seconds what used to take your team days. Talented people are leaving - or being let go.

And yet, your agency might still be running on the same model you built years ago.

So here’s the hard question: is that model still sustainable?

The future of agencies isn’t bleak - but it will punish those who don’t adapt.

Agencies hit a ceiling. One where delivery gets slower, recruitment gets riskier, and pricing becomes more arbitrary than strategic. The founder feels it in their gut - something’s off. But on the surface, everything looks okay.

The problem isn’t sales. It’s not marketing.
It’s not even your people.

It’s this: the work you're selling is too inconsistent to scale.

You’re selling creativity, but delivering chaos.

And chaos has a limit.

ver looked around your agency and thought, “We’re doing alright... so why do I feel stuck?”

You’ve got good clients. The team is solid. Profit is up. No major problems to fix. You’re even taking home decent money.

So why does everything feel a bit... flat?

That feeling isn’t weird. It’s not even rare. It’s a phase we see in many agencies we work with, and it’s often the beginning of a bigger problem:

Strategic stagnation.

We tend to notice when an agency is broken.

Burnout. Client churn. Cashflow issues. Panic mode.

But what about when things aren’t broken… just a bit beige?

What if your biggest threat isn’t chaos but comfort?

This is the subtle trap we see far too often. An agency isn’t in crisis, but it’s no longer becoming anything. It’s stable, predictable, and slowly sliding into strategic apathy.

We call it the stagnation plateau.

And it can quietly drain the potential out of even the most promising agency.

Let’s unpack why this happens, how to spot the signs early, and what to do if you’re in it.

Let’s be honest.

Most agencies are running their marketing on fumes.

They post now and again on LinkedIn. Maybe a newsletter goes out once a quarter. They rely on word-of-mouth and inbound leads trickling in from past work or luck.

And somehow, they still expect growth.

It’s what we call “hope marketing”. Passive. Sporadic. Emotionally comforting — because you feel like you’re doing something — but commercially risky.

There’s a pattern we’ve seen time and time again.

A technically strong agency. Talented team. Impressive client wins. But somehow, they keep slipping backwards. High churn. Low margins. Flat growth.

When we dig in, it often comes down to one overlooked problem.

Not sales. Not pricing. Not delivery.

It’s client services. Or more precisely, a fundamental misunderstanding of what that function is meant to do.

This isn’t about job titles. It’s about how your agency shows up in the room, and whether clients see you as critical or replaceable.

Here’s a recurring pattern we see in agencies that have plateaued.

Talented team. Great clients. No shortage of hard work.

But growth is flat. The team is over-reliant on one person. Strategic decisions stall or feel reactive. And new ideas rarely make it past the founder’s filter.

What’s going on?

Often, it’s not the business model or the market. It’s the mindset at the top.

Avoidance of 'The Numbers'

Are you running your agency on gut feel and crossed fingers instead of data?

Too many agencies are.

In fact, when we researched underperforming agencies, the most consistent behaviour we found was avoidance. Specifically, avoidance of “the numbers.”

I’m talking about finance. Forecasting. KPIs. Margins. The stuff that, yes, feels a bit dry - but is absolutely fundamental if you want to run an agency that’s profitable, resilient, and aligned with your ambitions.

How would you rate your agency’s marketing? Go on - give it a score out of ten.

If you're like most digital agency owners, the number that popped into your head was low. Three out of ten, maybe. Maybe even lower. And you’re not alone. We’ve asked over 450 agencies the same question. Nearly all of them (443, to be precise) gave themselves a 3 or lower.

Only seven cracked a 7 or higher.

That’s not just bad - that’s a pandemic of underperformance. And here’s the kicker: most of these agencies know they should be doing marketing. They know it’s important. They even try it. Briefly. Then it doesn’t “work,” and they quit.

Not just a little harder. Systemically harder. Margins are thinner. Expectations are higher. Competitors are hungrier – and cheaper. The platforms have changed, the buyers have changed, and the old ways of selling expertise just aren’t cutting it anymore.

So if you’ve felt like you’re swimming in a red ocean, trying to charge decent fees while a thousand “agencies” undercut you from a laptop and a Wi-Fi signal, you’re not imagining things.

The game has changed. This article is about how you adapt – or get left behind.