Let me paint a familiar picture. Your marketing agency just delivered another stunning performance report. They are delivering more leads than ever, and metrics look fantastic — impressions are up, social media engagement is soaring, and that new website? Drop-dead gorgeous.
But here's the question that keeps you up at night: Why isn't my revenue growing?
I've spent decades and multiple leadership roles in this industry, and I'm going to share an uncomfortable truth: Marketing has become incredibly skilled at measuring everything… except what truly matters. Your bottom line.
And let's be honest — you don’t want to wait for 2-3 years until you see a return on your investment. You do want to know how each department is currently pulling its weight and moving the company forward.
All too often, I see traditional marketing agencies (and some internal departments, too) excel at designing beautiful brands, crafting clever content, and collecting industry awards. But meanwhile, your sales team is struggling to hit their numbers.
Does any of this resonate? If so; here’s my hot take.
Traditional Marketing Has a Narrow Focus
I'm not here to bash traditional agencies. They're excellent at what they do. But here's the thing: revenue growth is too important to be left to one department. I’ve learned this lesson firsthand.
Think about what your current marketing team or agency does. They help you execute tactics, build websites, and create beautiful materials. Maybe they're specialists in graphic design, content creation, or social media management. But…
- When did they last sit down with your sales team?
- Do they look at your revenue pipeline beyond basic lead attribution?
- How many of their solutions go deeper than “content” and “creative?”
- Is 90% of their time and energy spent on generating net new leads, with little focus on nurturing or communicating with existing clients?
These are the questions that need to be answered in order to align your teams. Three teams (let's not forget about customer success) going in different directions and not talking is not constructive, it's destructive!
A Growth Agency Strengthens Pipelines
A growth agency is fundamentally different. They go beyond traditional marketing to become strategic revenue partners. They can still handle all the traditional marketing tasks, but also look at your entire, end-to-end revenue cycle, with the goal of building your pipeline and converting more deals.
What do I mean by the end-to-end revenue cycle? Consider this “bow tie” funnel and think about where you have a bottleneck.
When was the last time your agency asked about your CRM limitations or bottlenecks in your deal pipeline (the middle of the bow tie funnel)? Or dug into your customer base insights (the far right side of the funnel)? Or — and this is a big one — actually sat down with your sales team to understand their goals and how to help, or even get real, live, customer feedback (the feedback loop in the middle)?
These aren't just random questions. They're the kind of deep-dive inquiries that bring your sales and marketing teams together, getting them to actually talk to each other to find and overcome the bottlenecks in your revenue process.
Here's what I've learned after years in business: When those teams align and your business processes sync up, that's when the real growth happens. You’re not getting everything out of your team if Sales, Marketing, AND Customer Success are not talking and working together.
It’s a holistic approach. Customer Success can tell you what current customers need to retain or grow them. Sales can tell you what problems they are hearing about in the industry and what specific problems need solving. Then the marketing strategy is built to support everyone (and yes; talk to the whole market). No blame games that “the leads suck” or sales play too much golf.
It can be a scary process. Sometimes we discover that the website doesn’t help in achieving company goals. Your CRM may not be set up to provide the data you really need, or worse, it may not be capable of it even if you tried. You may learn that you spent a lot of money generating leads that are all stuck in one phase in your sales pipeline, or worse; that they aren’t the right leads at all for your business (OUCH!).
But that's where a growth agency can step in. They can help make the foundational fixes and get everyone focused on heading in the same direction.
Comparing a Traditional Marketing Agency to a Growth Agency
Let me try to make this really clear.
Traditional agencies focus on measuring, while growth agencies ask what metrics are worth measuring to impact revenue.
Should You Partner With a Growth Agency?
“Well, who wouldn't want more business and increased revenue?” - Most Businesses
It seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? But here's the reality check I often have to give: Not everyone is ready for this journey. You must have a growth mindset.
Having a growth mindset means seeing your business as an evolving entity. You're building something bigger, better, and more sustainable. I've seen this mindset transform companies, and here's what these leaders do differently:
- They approach revenue like they would operations; systematically. They are always testing and learning, focused on continuous improvement, understanding that sales is a process and marketing is never “done”.
- They view “failures” as valuable data points.
- They invest in tools and talent for the long game, not just quick fixes.
- They understand the balance of short and long-term wins and have realistic expectations on how long systematic change can take.
- They see marketing as a revenue driver, not a cost center.
- They know that they cannot personally drive all the growth they want (it’s no longer just their name and network that will grow the business).
Are You Ready?
If you're nodding along with everything I've said about having a growth mindset, congratulations — you've cleared the first big hurdle. Here's what you need to know upfront:
- Growth requires investment (both time and resources).
- Legacy systems and processes need to be evaluated. Don’t cringe at the “d” word, but Discovery is crucial so that you know what you already can/cannot do with what you have.
- You'll need to commit to a reasonable marketing budget (there are bottom-line best practices). A B2B average is 6-8% of topline revenue… So can you commit to at least 5%?
- Trust is non-negotiable. You cannot expect anyone to change your process in 90 days. The longer the sales cycle, the more patience and trust you must have to reach desired results.
A growth agency should create a plan for you where every single tactic (both short-term and long-term) is created with revenue in mind. There are no random acts of marketing or reliance on a single salesperson’s network.
The Bottom Line: Is a Growth Agency Right for You?
Traditional marketing has mastered the art of measuring everything except what truly matters to your business—revenue growth. At 1 Bold Step, we've transformed from a traditional marketing agency (been there, done that) into a growth agency because we understand that true business success requires a holistic approach to your entire revenue cycle.
A growth agency doesn't just create beautiful content and track vanity metrics. We dive deep into your sales pipeline, align your marketing and sales teams, identify bottlenecks, and implement strategies that directly impact your bottom line. We look at the complete picture—from lead generation to customer retention—and build systems that drive predictable, measurable growth.
If you're tired of impressive marketing reports that don't translate to revenue, if you're ready to adopt a growth mindset, and if you're willing to invest in sustainable, systematic change, then a growth agency partnership might be exactly what your business needs. We don't just promise more leads—we promise a transformation in how your entire business approaches revenue generation.
Ready to take that bold step toward real growth? Let's start with a growth audit and build a tactical plan that aligns with your vision and delivers the revenue results you've been looking for.
