Guides
Guides on growing a marketing agency
Last updated: Published by Tim Kilroy
To grow a marketing agency past referrals, you need a clear ideal client, scalable lead generation, and the right offer for that client.
These are Tim Kilroy's three keys for escaping the owner-operator trap, and each guide below expands one part of them for established small marketing and PR agencies. Every guide is published by Tim Kilroy.
All guides
Which guide should I read first?
If referrals have slowed, start with growth. If calls go well but deals stall, start with discovery. If deals keep coming down to price, start with positioning.
- Agency growth
How to grow a marketing agency once referrals stop being enough
This guide is published by Tim Kilroy, who reports coaching more than 300 agencies across over 25 years of agency and marketing work. It is written for established small marketing and PR agencies whose referral flow has stopped matching their growth goals.
Published by Tim Kilroy
- Discovery call sales
Agency discovery calls: how to qualify the prospect without pitching
This guide is published by Tim Kilroy and draws on his discovery call playbook and the coaching calls he runs with agency owners. It covers preparing for the call, qualifying the prospect, and following up in a way that does not get you ghosted.
Published by Tim Kilroy
- Vertical positioning
Vertical positioning for marketing agencies: picking a lane you can win
This guide is published by Tim Kilroy and summarizes his agency positioning playbook for established marketing and PR agencies that still describe themselves as working with everyone.
Published by Tim Kilroy
- Coaching
Marketing agency coaching from Tim Kilroy: options and costs by stage
Group and custom coaching options, the revenue stage each fits, and published monthly prices.
FAQ
Common questions
- Why don’t referrals scale for agencies?
- Referrals come from past work and relationships, so you cannot decide to get more of them today. Tim Kilroy notes that you cannot say you need more money and therefore you will get more referrals. Agencies that rely on them hit a ceiling and need a system of scalable lead generation instead.
- What is vertical positioning for an agency?
- Vertical positioning means choosing a specific market to serve and committing to it long enough for that market to notice. Tim Kilroy calls positioning the choice to burn the boats. A niche buys faster trust and higher rates, but it also concentrates risk, so pick a market you can genuinely dominate.
- What is an agency discovery call?
- An agency discovery call is a structured conversation whose only job is to understand the prospect’s problem well enough to decide whether a next step makes sense. Tim Kilroy’s playbook is blunt: a discovery call is not a sales call. You are there to discover, not to run through your deck and case studies.
- How do you qualify a prospect on a discovery call?
- Learn what is broken in their business, how big the problem is, what they have tried, how they make decisions, and whether you can genuinely help. In Tim Kilroy’s sales funnel, a prospect counts as qualified only when both sides agree out loud that there is a real problem, it is worth money, and they decide.
- Where should I start if I don’t know what is broken in my agency?
- Take the WTF Assessment, a two-minute diagnostic on timkilroy.com that points to where your agency is stuck and which tools to use first. If you would rather talk, book the free 30-minute WTF call. Either route gives you a starting point before you spend any money.
Want help turning better calls into more qualified clients?
Tim Kilroy coaches established marketing and PR agencies that have outgrown referrals. Reach out to talk about positioning, lead generation, and a repeatable way to win clients.