When you talk about your business, should you present your business as an agency and talk about your team? Or, should you position your business with you as an independent consultant operating on your own? I actually think there’s a third approach that’s much better than either of these two options.

00:00 – How To Position A Digital Marketing Agency
00:30 – Digital Marketing Agency
01:33 – Digital Marketing Consultant
03:54 – Digital Marketing Product

## Digital Marketing Agency

Most people usually present their business as a web agency or a digital marketing agency even if they are the only person working in the business. It’s easy to justify because you can say that you have a network of freelancers you can call on at any moment to help. So, while it’s not a team of full-time employees, you still have access to other people who can help when a project calls for additional expertise.

### Digital Marketing Agency Benefits

1. Your business seems substantial and capable of handling large projects.
2. You can offer a wider range of services
3. You can compete against other agencies

### Digital Marketing Agency Problems

1. It’s actually sort of misleading
2. It’s hard to keep a consistent team together
3. Delivering good results depends on a loosely connected team

### Digital Marketing Agency Purpose

The purpose of presenting your business as a digital marketing agency is for people to **get access to your team.**

## Digital Marketing Consultant

The other option for people who don’t want to present their business as a web design agency or digital marketing agency is to present themselves as an independent digital marketing consultant. They still may have a network of freelancers they can include when a project requires additional help, but the business itself features you as a person.

### Digital Marketing Consultant Benefits

1. You accurately represent exactly what you’re doing
2. You can highlight your credentials
3. You avoid competing against agencies by offering a more personalized experience

### Digital Marketing Consultant Problems

1. There is a perceived increase in risk to the client
2. It feels less valuable than getting access to a larger agency
3. If you grow into an actual agency, you have to rebrand

### Digital Marketing Consultant Purpose

The purpose of presenting yourself as an independent consultant is for people to **get access to you personally.**

## Digital Marketing Product

I take a new approach that I almost never see anyone else doing, but I think it gives you all the benefits of both the agency model and the consultant model with none of the problems.

Build your business around a product or a productized version of your services.

### Digital Marketing Product Benefits

1. You get more leads because you highlight the results of the product (not yourself or your team)
2. You can show case studies demonstrating that it works
3. You create a market of one without competing head-to-head with digital marketing agencies or other consultants.
4. The value is associated with the results not the size of your team
5. It doesn’t matter how you implement the results. You can do it yourself, engage freelancers, or hire employees.
6. You can grow as large as you want without ever having to rebrand
7. It keeps the focus on solving the client’s problems

### The Purpose Of A Digital Marketing Product

The purpose of presenting your business as a product is for people to get access to the solution – not you, not your team – but the solution to their problem.

If you present your business as a productized service you’ll get more leads at higher prices and your work will have much higher profit margins which is exactly what you want if you care about growth.

If you want to see a detailed example of how to productize your services, check out this next video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b58wIfPwKSU

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