Mastering Financial Success: Marketing Agency Strategies

I've witnessed instances where businesses experienced rapid growth, resulting in substantial challenges such as heightened stress levels, workforce layoffs, and even closures. Conversely, there are situations where businesses must accelerate their growth. 

In this article, I'll be centering my discussion on marketing agencies, drawing from my extensive expertise in this field. However, it's important to note that these concepts also apply to various other service-oriented industries, where similar overlaps can be observed.

Finding the Right Balance

Finding the right balance is crucial when it comes to building and growing a business. It's about challenging yourself and progressing without overextending too quickly. To illustrate this point, consider a recent experience I had while dining out with my brother. We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner, but as I finished, he posed an intriguing question: 'What if you had to eat that same meal again right now?' What once seemed exciting and delectable became almost torturous at the thought of a repeat. 

The same principle applies to business growth; too much expansion can be overwhelming, while too little can be equally detrimental. Today, I'll delve into key strategies for achieving sustainable growth in marketing agencies.

Reliable Cash Flow

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any company. Once your cash runs out, the business cannot grow or even function. Marketing agencies must contend with normal business cash flow, such as payroll and operating expenses, media costs, pre-billing, and seasonality.

I have some experience with agencies that get significant media costs upfront so they can pay the media vendors on time. Most agencies only get a percentage or flat fee for the media they run for their clients. Cash can get out of hand if you front those costs. You want to properly separate media cash from operating and cash available for investment, distributions, or bonuses. Here are some tips I recommend.

Consolidate Your Cash and Maximize Interest

Consolidate your cash and get the best interest rate on all your cash. Getting 5% or more on your cash is relatively easy at the time I am writing this. You can earn meaningful interest on your cash if you have client media cash separated from operating cash. We have found some very conservative investment approaches to cash. For example, a client received $6 million upfront for holiday spend. Many of these bills will be paid in January or February. They should earn $25k of monthly interest income with proper cash management.

Secure a Large Line of Credit

Make sure you have a large line of credit. Typically, this is based on Accounts Receivable (AR). Depending on the size of AR, I have seen Line of Credits get to $1-2 million for agencies with $5-20 million in annual billings. You should have a line of credit in place before you need it.

My next point will discuss forecasting cash more, but understanding future cash trends is essential to stay on top of the peaks and valleys.

Informative Forecast

When I talk about building a forecast model, people's eyes gloss over. What if you had a system to understand the impact of all your decisions, from pricing and hiring to investment in training, marketing, and any other overhead expense? Would this help you make better decisions, sleep better at night, and alleviate the overwhelming fear of the unknown? A sound forecasting system cannot solve all your problems because we don't know what the future will bring, but we can guess much of it, especially in the short term.

As you grow, all the clients, services, new business, employees, hiring, overhead, and cash flow decisions become too numerous to keep up in your head, so you need a system.

The Weather Forecast Analogy

The best analogy is the weather forecast. Regardless of what you believe about the accuracy of the weather forecast, meteorologists are becoming more accurate due to data models, historical information, and trending. Some anomalies and storms happen, and we make fun of the weather forecasters. But do you still look at the weather forecast for the week? Do they get closer to the temperature and precipitation forecast than if you had no information? Yes, they do.

Improved weather forecasts save lives and money and help people be more prepared for their plans. The same is true for a quality business forecasting system. Not only will you better understand how your revenue and expense translate into profit, but you can also mitigate risks and see challenges or opportunities ahead. It can be encouraging or discouraging, but a quality forecast can put you on the right track in advance. Who wouldn't want more information about where you are headed than nothing or your gut feeling?

Profitable Recurring Revenue Streams

Recurring revenue streams are incredibly valuable for any service-oriented business. Having a steady stream of contractual revenue coming in each month is not only exciting but also significantly enhances the overall value of your business when compared to those relying solely on one-off projects. When it comes to selling your business, those with monthly recurring revenue (MRR) tend to command higher valuations.

Upon conducting further research, it's worth noting that SaaS (Software as a Service) businesses are valued even more, sometimes twice as high, when their revenue includes lifetime plans. Now, while marketing agencies may not typically fall under the SaaS category, they can still establish various forms of recurring revenue in areas such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), ad service fees, consulting, social media management, creative services, website development, maintenance, hosting, reporting, and many more.

Ensuring Profitability

Another crucial aspect of revenue is ensuring its profitability. You might charge a client $1,000 a month or even $10,000 a month, especially for larger agencies, but profitability hinges on how many hours are spent serving that client. It's imperative to understand the profitability of each client. Establish a minimum fee that you won't go below to avoid a scenario where your top-line revenue grows, but you're not making any money, which can be incredibly frustrating.

Striking the Right Balance

Imagine a scenario where you're experiencing steady growth at a healthy pace, maintaining 20-25% profit margins, and feeling less stressed and overwhelmed. Wouldn't that be more exciting? I believe it would be. But what if you were growing at an astonishing 100% annually, yet you found yourself stressed out, working tirelessly, and not reaping any financial rewards? On the flip side, what if you were barely growing, merely holding on by cutting expenses and slowly fading away? Neither of these extremes represents the happy medium.

As I've been reading the biography of Elon Musk, I admire his unwavering determination and relentless effort to succeed. He faced numerous challenges, including rockets exploding during space missions with SpaceX and near-disasters with Tesla in 2008 and 2018. In 2018, Musk went to great lengths, working excessive hours, thinking creatively, setting up a massive tent, scrutinizing every requirement and process, assembling the right team, and making swift decisions to achieve the ambitious goal of producing 5,000 cars per week. It was an incredibly stressful period.

While I appreciate these efforts in building billion-dollar businesses, the immense stress and low probability of success are more than I'd recommend for most businesses. Only a select few aspire to or can become multi-billion dollar enterprises. So, why not take a path that balances success with a reasonable level of stress?

Ready to Strike the Right Balance?

Consider partnering with Bender CFO Services. Our expertise in financial management and strategic planning can guide your business toward sustainable growth without unnecessary stress. With reliable cash management, an informative and practical forecasting system, and a focus on cultivating profitable recurring revenue streams, you can find that happy medium and position your marketing agency for long-term success. Contact us today to explore how we can help you achieve your goals.