Between clients and podcast guests, I’m excited to hear all the great plans agency owners have in store for the coming year. Best of luck to you all and your endeavors in 2023.
Recession?
I’ve recorded about 25 episodes for the podcast so far. And as many of you know, I ask about the future, and goals, and challenges. And you know what subject has not come up one single time? Anyone talking about a recession. In a time when there are layoffs from big companies every other day, doomsday recession talk in the news, increasing interest rates, etc…no-one’s main concern has been the economy. Or at least they’re not sharing as much. This is very exciting and I think is a great outlook despite what the doomsday folks are saying. But why is no one talking about it? Here is my quick take:
As I was sunsetting my career inside my agency around the middle of 2021, I was growing very concerned about the hiring craze at the time and the extreme talent wars in the marketplace. I was concerned because of the effect I thought it could have on agencies. Would it create such a suffocation of talent that agencies wouldn’t be able to function?
Not quite. While we are seeing the fall out of the salary/talent wars being paid by the bigger tech companies, I was wrong on the effect it would have on agencies. Most got lean and mean. Agencies became efficient and learned to zero in on more value with less overhead. Talk about a recipe for becoming recession proof.
Economic pressure in the near term may force some change in marketing budgets but they’re going to be looking for exactly what the talent wars created within agencies, especially smaller ones. When money is tight companies will…
- Seek more certainty of where their dollars are being allocated vs frivolous spend.
- Desire for more direct lines of communication with subject matter experts and practitioners.
- Take a hard look at their current marketing company(s) and be pickier in how they select by looking for targeted solutions vs generic offerings.
My magic 8 ball says signs definitely point to good things ahead for small to medium marketing agencies in 2023.
This month’s featured episode:
I’ll use Matthew’s own words when he shared this episode on LinkedIn…”Drug deals, an ultimatum, and ham sandwiches.” Listen to this episode to see what those three items have to do with an agency.
See you next year!
Sincerely,
Russel
“The Backboard”
