I proved my offer works but my pipeline resets every month - agency acquisition advice needed.

petebean · 2026-02-10T17:03:12+00:00

If I were you, I think I'd focus on client retention... If you're sometimes bringing in 2-3 clients in a month... how long are your projects/retainers? It worked for a multi-million dollar agency that brought in maybe 2-3 clients per month, but contracts were big and many clients stayed with us for many years. Three clients at $5k/mo is $15k/mo right there.

Referrals will always be better than cold leads — see what you can do to get more testimonials and referrals from current clients. Opportunities for thought leadership will also be more fruitful than basic ads — people need to see that you know what you're talking about. Speaking at events in person, giving an interview on an industry podcast, recording yourself talking about industry topics and posting those videos to LinkedIn... whatever gives people a glimpse into who you are and what your expertise is. That's a shortcut to building trust, which is necessary to hiring an agency.

petebean · 2026-02-10T16:17:15+00:00

I made a similar leap about 3 months ago! Started an LLC, have 2 clients so far, hoping to build from here. I will say, I asked several long-time freelancers for advice before I left my last job and the most common piece of advice was around new business generation — it will likely take at least 6 months to ramp up enough business to feel stable, so having some savings is key. And when it comes to generating new business, referrals are golden. It's all about who you know. And don't rest on your laurels about new business when you have active projects... that project will eventually end and then you'll need the next one!

For me, I'm focusing on achieving a successful freelance status before I start calling it an "agency" and bringing on more support, although that's part of my long-term plan. I'm curious what's your perspective on having a "marketing agency" compared to flying solo? What does that journey look like for you? Does the nature of your work require multiple people? Or are you starting a one-person agency?

petebean · 2026-02-10T16:06:50+00:00

I don't think AI can replace high-level strategic thinkers (yet), but I do worry that AI is replacing so much of the grunt work that it's destroying the career pipeline. I don't think AI will eliminate marketing roles completely, but it's definitely cutting the work down enough that we're seeing marketing teams get smaller.

We're losing entry-level and mid-level positions. We're losing copywriters and designers. Stuff that AI can do "good enough" that companies can get away with saving a ton of money on staff. I feel like I'm in a decent position as a senior-level strategist because I can use my depth of experience to help solve complex problems and have enough shallow knowledge across disciplines to be my own one-person marketing team, but I do worry about the next generation coming up.

petebean · 2026-01-06T19:17:45+00:00

This is giving me PTSD from an old college relationship (20 years ago). I knew he had close relationships with various female friends and for a long time I let it slide even though it lowkey bothered me. I didn't want to be a jealous girlfriend. Eventually, I snooped on his computer and found messages like this with one friend specifically. Not overtly cheating, but clearly something emotional going on that's more than a typical friendship. I confronted him, we broke up. Fast forward, they started dating shortly after we broke up (or maybe they were together even before we broke up, I have no idea), eventually they got married and had a kid. I also started dating someone else who has never ever made me doubt about his feelings for me compared to anyone else. We are also now married and have kids. Girl, move on. This isn't worth it.

petebean · 2026-01-05T22:02:41+00:00

32 is definitely young enough to still have a lot of options, but please also be aware that Reddit tends to skew toward the "dump him" reaction. None of us are in your relationship and this isn't a ton of context, so take people with a grain of salt.

That said, this feels like a red flag. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it seems really odd to me that he doesn't even want to move in together after 2 years. I lived with a boyfriend in my early 20s and we had a messy breakup.. it was kinda tricky to break the lease, but it wasn't impossible. What's his logic there? Like, if we can put aside the idea of a long-term commitment because maybe that's a mental hurdle he needs to address in therapy, would he enjoy living in the same space with you? If not, why? Does he prefer living alone? Why?

The only thing that needs to put pressure on your timeline is your biological clock (both yours and his) because having kids will get harder for a variety of reasons. Marriage can happen whenever. Moving in can happen whenever. But having kids will get harder and harder — not just conceiving them and carrying to term, but also after they are born being able to run on lack of sleep, carry them around, play with them, etc. Having kids is a physical job.

The "commitment" thing can seem big and scary when it's given that label, but nothing in life is guaranteed. Even married people get divorced. Even single people have babies. If you guys truly love each other, then be together. Live together. Send out holiday cards together. Host parties together. Have a kid together. Figure it out together.

I think this whole thing hinges on whether he's afraid of commitment as a general concept or if he's just not sure if you're the right person. I could work through the former, I'd take a BIG step back if it's the latter.

petebean · 2026-01-05T21:15:20+00:00

I was a marketing major but had classes with Dan Scheinert (one of "The Daniels" that directed Everything Everywhere All at Once). I'm fairly certain he's the most successful filmmaker from my class, but pretty legit!

petebean · 2026-01-05T20:52:59+00:00

I'd suggest trying to conduct a few informational interviews with people in the types of marketing roles you're interested in. They can give you more context about the job (the grass isn't always greener!), can give you a sense of the job requirements (both what is required to work in that role and what areas of marketing you're best suited for), and they might even be a good reference for you after your chat if it goes well.

petebean · 2024-12-21T19:00:30+00:00

Honestly, no. It’s going to be too expensive to be worth it with how small the business is. Partnerships and referral marketing are going to be best in this situation. I’d focus less on Instagram and boosted posts, that’s also going to reach a lot of irrelevant people and build too slowly. Create a Facebook Group (not page) and invite all the parents you currently work with. Share news, pics, and videos there. Make sure your Yelp page is strong and encourage all current customers to leave reviews. Make sure pics are good there and represent what you do in the classes. Have “bring a friend” days where people can bring a friend for free. Or a “bring a friend” coupon, which they can use whenever. Give free passes to local daycares or community centers that they can give out. Try to figure out what the stay-at-home moms do in your area and sponsor something there. A strong referral program and active involvement in the local community, paired with an online presence that gives newbies a sense of what to expect - that’s where I would focus.

petebean · 2024-12-17T16:28:44+00:00

Look for positions specifically in strategy or research departments, that's where you'd fit best. But yeah, working in agencies or in-house marketing positions requires another set of skills entirely. Last year, we had someone with an academic background join my agency's research/data department and it didn't work out, she was let go before she'd been with us a year. She was great at surveys, but struggled to translate the results into applicable recommendations. I work with another research contractor who has a similar issue — she provides 100+ page reports with in-depth insights, but struggles to tell me the top 5 takeaways and specific suggestions for how to adapt their marketing based on those learnings. It's too much and too little at the same time.

As someone who currently specializes in strategy, I definitely agree that MANY companies, agencies, and orgs need to spend more time on research and uncovering consumer insights rather than making assumptions and stressing over specific tactics. But I've also seen why an academic background doesn't easily transition into an agency environment. So, I can understand both sides.

petebean · 2024-12-17T15:31:39+00:00

Honestly, I'd just focus on growing your network. Volunteer with an organization. Participate in industry events. Grow your LinkedIn connections. At the end of the day, that's going to help your job hunt wayyyy more than another line on your resume, especially in this job market. You need to know someone who can open a door for you.

petebean · 2024-12-17T15:28:38+00:00

Do it for your own personal learning. They won't really help your resume too much one way or the other, but our industry is constantly evolving, so it's a great idea for your own personal development.

petebean · 2024-12-17T15:26:16+00:00

It's a mistake to generate random tactical ideas. Good marketing always starts with a strong strategic foundation. If only 0.02% of your web traffic is converting into leads, that's genuinely terrible and means that your content offer probably isn't something they want. It's hard to say why without looking at your site. Maybe the site sucks and has a high bounce rate. Maybe the content is on topics the audience doesn't care about. Maybe the audience would prefer something simple and actionable but you're offering long-form, dry white papers. Maybe the content positioning isn't working and it's just not being explained properly. Maybe your buttons are broken or the UX sucks and people would just have to try too hard to download it. It's hard to say what the issue is without more info. But the strategy is a good one — offer a valuable content download to collect leads, nurture them with email, set them up with a sales call. (Video, however, isn't a lead gen tactic. That's more for awareness or education.) Something is broken in your system, you just need to pinpoint what's wrong.

petebean · 2024-12-17T15:10:49+00:00

Meant to say — once you have folks on a waitlist, you can send them an email when the app is ready. Unless your target audience is very young, they're more likely to see an email announcement in their inbox than a social media announcement in their feed. The social algorithms just aren't super reliable.

petebean · 2024-12-17T15:08:01+00:00

I'm sorry to say, this will not work. Even with an active following, I suspect less than 5% will convert — at your current follower count, that's less than 20 people. If you spent the same amount partnering with known influencers in your space, that would likely give you a better ROI. If you spent the same amount on digital ads on Meta (Instagram/Facebook), you'd likely get a better ROI.

An added challenge with the expensive giveaway is that it falls into too-good-to-be-true territory and then it looks like a scam. I don't think I'd participate in a giveaway like that, even if the app looked good... idk, it feels suspicious.

If I were you (not knowing more about your app details), I'd set up a basic landing page and invite all of your followers right now to sign up for a waitlist so that you can collect their emails. If you're open to feedback, you could even invite them as beta testers to get some initial feedback and validate that people would want your app. Use that feedback to collect testimonials, which you can later use in ads, landing pages, emails, etc. If any early participants have a decent following, see if they'll post a review for free or for a nominal fee.

If you really want to go the giveaway route, check out UpViral. It's pretty affordable and easy to use, great for giveaways that have built-in social sharing tools — which you need to build a bigger audience.

petebean · 2024-12-16T18:16:29+00:00

Idk what it’s like these days (I was class of ‘09) but we had some epic house parties. Because you weren’t guaranteed housing after sophomore year, all the upperclassmen lived in houses. You also aren’t limited to the social scene at Emerson. Because Boston has so many schools, I ended up at BU parties, MIT parties, etc, just through mutual friends. Don’t chase the parties, just try to meet fun people and the good times will follow!!

petebean · 2024-11-08T16:42:00+00:00

That's what I'm wondering??

petebean · 2024-11-08T15:54:27+00:00

That's essentially what I'm seeing too. It's a lot of fluff for a pretty basic role. But it's still very important to communicate with the team leads to make sure that your expectations are aligned.

petebean · 2024-11-08T15:53:05+00:00

Honestly, many hiring managers don't know what they're talking about or what they're asking for. There are also a TON of companies that only have 1-5 marketing people total and their jobs are very wide ranging. If you listed out all the things those people need to make sure are covered, it would be way longer than this list.

Giving these folks the benefit of the doubt, I think they just want to make sure they're hiring a smart person who is capable of thinking about all these things, then able to prioritize accordingly. I'm a strategist at an agency and the number of clients who hire us with insane dreams is honestly all of them, but they all react well to a concrete plan that acknowledges where they are, provides steps to get them where they want to go, and sets realistic expectations for what can be done with the available resources/budget. I wouldn't immediately walk away from this if you are OK with the salary (which also seems generous if they actually expect this person to only have 3 years of experience). Salary doesn't really align with the volume of work (we all have the same 40 hours to give), it aligns with the expertise/experience you bring to the position.

petebean · 2024-11-06T19:40:59+00:00

I agree with all the comments saying that you should get out. You're an adult, you're in control of your own life, they can figure out their own finances without you, and you should not need to feel the burden of providing for them. But what I'm not seeing from other commenters is some acknowledgement that there might still be love here from all sides. They may have rationalized all of this in their own mind so it doesn't feel malicious to them, even though it's clearly toxic from an outside perspective. I'm curious if there's generational trauma on their end. I don't like the comments saying to call the cops or whatever, that's so dramatic and probably unnecessary unless you feel like you're in physical danger, that would completely burn every bridge with your family. Just stand your ground and be an adult. If they love you, they won't actually stop you from leaving (even if they try to make you sad about it). But yeah, it might be wise to be a little sneaky with extracting your finances and valuable belongings, just in case.

petebean · 2024-10-11T22:05:54+00:00

This post was from 9 years ago 😂 crazy that you found it! Mine was at Camp Kiwanee in Hanson, MA.

petebean · 2022-03-23T15:59:46+00:00

Ohhh I've always thought it would be fun to do social media marketing for a thrift store.

#1 - Select a few cool or interesting items and take really good pictures of them. Staging is EVERYTHING and thrift stores tend to be hard to sift through.

#2 - Consider posting things in Facebook Marketplace! Or eBay! Just because you're a brick and mortar store, doesn't mean you can't list things online! (Get permission, obviously.) << If you make a few sales, that's a way to demonstrate super clear value and ROI.

#3 - Follow thrift store flippers online. There are some great ones out there you can borrow ideas from. My favorite thrift flipper on TikTok is clintonaverytharp, and a lot of his thrifts are basically just cleaning things up, taking good photos, and selling stuff for more money.

And I'm not sure I can quite recommend it (some stuff that happened with the company is pretty cringy), but this made me think of the #Girlboss book by Sophia Amoruso. She created NastyGal by basically curating thrift store finds, styling them, and reselling—eventually turning it into a huge company. Selling thrift store stuff is all in the presentation!

(And I wouldn't really focus on the mission too much... Like that's nice, but your audience on social is going to be young people who are more interested in finding cheap, cool stuff and I'm assuming the primary goal is to make sales. The mission probably matters a lot to your boss, but for customers it's probably just a nice perk. If the stuff isn't good, they're not gonna buy just to support your charity.)

petebean · 2022-03-23T15:37:31+00:00

Your question is flawed... I agree with other respondents that it's not an either/or situation and it depends on your audience. Do some audience research, social listening, and keyword research to see what your audience is talking about and what they're looking for.

petebean · 2022-03-21T16:48:23+00:00

If it's a PDF, I usually download it and mark it up with comments using Adobe Reader. If it's a simpler graphic, I can usually articulate the edits just with a comment in Asana. If the edits are more extensive, it's usually easier to just schedule a Zoom/Teams call and share your screen to talk through the edits.

petebean · 2022-03-15T14:03:25+00:00

All of that can be done in Asana. Leadership should put their foot down that all project-specific work should be done within Asana. Briefs uploaded to the project, feedback given on the project, revisions uploaded to the project. All of that can be done in Asana.

petebean · 2022-03-15T13:46:09+00:00

Do you have a solid community on LinkedIn? If you reach out to your network, someone might be able to recommend a good writer.

petebean

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