How to Grow 2 Successful Agencies at the Same Time

Nicole Pereira is a partner in Campaign Creators and Deep Root Digital, two San Diego agencies that grew out of one design and development firm she helped start seven years before this episode. Gray MacKenzie interviewed her one-on-one on Inbound Agency Journey about why the partners split one full-service agency into two brands, how the two operate, what “middle of the funnel” means in practice, and where she sees the next opportunity for agencies.

”We did fall into the trap of doing everything okay”

Nicole started as the SEO and tech person in a design and development firm, and over six years it became a full-stack inbound agency. The problem was the result.

We did fall into the trap of doing everything okay. And so there was a certain caliber set of clientele that we worked well for, because they paid an okay price for an okay product. And it was about a year ago that we decided, there’s a couple things we do really, really well. And we’re getting lost in the noise of the inbound space and the digital marketing space. And we need to kind of solidify our identity.

(Listen at 3:15)

Because the firm’s roots were in go-to-market strategy, the partners figured they could launch a brand quickly. They launched two.

Deep Root Digital only focuses on websites, design, and software. And Campaign Creators doesn’t just do any marketing, it only does mid funnel marketing tactics. So a more mature marketing client would come to us, they’ve already established healthy awareness paths. They’re trying to solve lead generation, lead nurturing, and sales and marketing technology problems within the organization.

(Listen at 4:37)

Two sets of books, and the brands bill each other like clients

Gray asked whether the two are separate legal entities. Not yet: they’re DBAs with two sets of books and revenue and costs split out, and the goal is that each brand finds its legs and branches off on its own. Campaign Creators launched the previous November and, eight months in, had “surpassed basically every metric we had built for the first six years in our original brand.” Asked whether marketing two businesses had been harder than expected, Nicole said the brands don’t share resources at all.

Rather than resource sharing, which is what you’re alluding to, we’re selling services to each other. So one of my clients on the Campaign Creators side is Deep Root Digital. We treat them like a client, we deliver services like a client, we bill like a client, and vice versa… When you resource share, no one really knows their place, right?

(Listen at 8:17)

The hardest part has been teaching clients that there are two brands and two points of contact; the upside is that a delayed website on one side doesn’t stall a campaign on the other.

Middle of the funnel: everyone says the words, very few build the engine

Nicole’s view is that top-of-funnel tactics are mature and well documented; clients have attracted an audience and don’t know what to do with it. Even inbound agencies use the words for funnels and triggers, “but very few people have it in application. Very few people know how to actually make that engine.” Asked for a taste of the methodology, she said the secret is patience that almost nobody practices.

Everyone knows it. They just don’t do it. Right? We absolutely don’t reach out to have a sales conversation to somebody who has not signaled to us that they’re interested in a sales conversation. I have people in my database who just finally have popped out of our little nurturing engine three years later going, whoa, you’re a whole new company now, but now you’re talking my language.

(Listen at 18:28)

Campaign Creators runs about 17 funnels that hand off, trigger, and switch off so a contact reaches the bottom already understanding the offer. What’s proprietary, in her words, is “the fact that we actually apply it and we pull it all together.”

Be your own first client

Nicole said the original brand “did okay marketing for ourselves.” The new one doesn’t.

Now that we’re Campaign Creators, we are our first priority. So we practice the best possible marketing that we could ever do. And I think most agencies will skimp on their own marketing. And we may not offer social media services, but our social media is pretty damn good. And we may not offer blogging, but our blogs are pretty damn good.

(Listen at 13:25)

Almost all of the blog is vlog-style, with a YouTube following she never expected. The agency also started and runs the San Diego HubSpot User Group, which grew from about seven people to 2,500 in four years. The budget line that makes it work: “We don’t spend a dollar on paid advertising.”

The next opportunity: optimization on top of what’s already built

Asked what she’s investing in next, Nicole went back to her SEO roots: first everyone built websites, then they had to optimize them.

People can pay you to launch a campaign or launch a landing page once. It’s the individuals who have the skills, the tools, the acumen, and the experience and knowledge to say, hey, if we do this, I think we can uptick our results by 1%. But when you’re dealing with thousands, right? When percent matters.

(Listen at 28:27)

Her clients can put up a landing page and turn on a workflow. What they can’t do is read the data and make the next email perform better. Her suggestion for any agency: build an optimization service on top of whatever your niche is.

Nicole closed with advice for newer owners: find other agency owners, because “very few people get how crazy agency life is,” then find a mentor and stick with them.