5 expert tips to differentiate your inbound agency

From a prospect's point of view, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between one inbound agency and another. They all provide very similar services, they have similar workflows and promise the same increase in lead generation. In 2016, even more digital agencies are turning into inbound agencies and the differentiation issue is becoming more and more critical.

So we thought we'd ask for an expert's advice. Mike Lieberman was on the top of our list, since he has been successfully coaching, advising and providing support to other agencies ever since his own company - Square 2 Marketing - became a leading, award-winning Inbound Agency. Take a look at what he had to say.

The "remarkable" factor

Mike Lieberman definitely found this "remarkable factor" for his agency, Square 2 Marketing. His company was HubSpot's FIRST Diamond Partner and, later, went on to win two prestigious awards: Agency of the Year in 2013 and in 2015. Over the years, this agency has created the structure for a profitable and result-oriented inbound engagement, pioneered performance-based pricing and set some important landmarks for inbound marketing.

Tip 1: Your agency has to be your best client

There's no better way to test the power of your services than to be your own "guinea pig" and succeed. Your team, your clients, your prospects - everyone's going to trust your company more.

"We could not grow our agency without our own inbound marketing program. We get over 20,000 visitors to our website and generate over 300 leads a month for our own agency."

Tip 2: Have the same definition of success as your clients do

Mike has shared his key-metrics for measuring customer success:

Leads generatedSales generatedBusiness resultsNet Promoter ScoreTip 3: Use the right tools to optimize your processes

Mike's list of must-have tools in 2016 for inbound agencies includes:

Marketing automationInbound program optimizationUser tracking toolsContent management toolsInfluencer marketing toolsTip 4: SEO plays a key role in this differentiation game

"SEO is something you have to do. If you don't do it, your program is not going to be successful."

Tip 5: Track your own agency's growth

Revenue is a key-indicator no CEO ever misses. But aside from the obvious income metrics, Mike would recommend looking at the average monthly retainer across all clients, net profit and percentage of revenue that's from retainers instead of projects.