2d • The Weekly Stack
𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗛𝗼𝘁 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲: 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝘀 𝗩𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲.
Every week somebody posts a version of this in an agency group:
"My niche is too saturated. There are already 30 agencies doing this in my city."
It's not.
Or at least, that's not why you're losing.
When agency owners hit this wall, they do one of three things. They switch niches. They drop their price. Or they pile more services onto the menu so they look bigger.
All three solve the wrong problem, because all three carry the same vague offer somewhere new. New niche, same sentence. Lower price, same sentence. Bigger menu, same sentence.
The competition isn't what needs to change. The sentence is.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 "𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻" 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀
Go look at your homepage. If any of these are on it, you found the problem.
"𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲." Every agency in your city could put that on their site tomorrow. Some already have. When a prospect can't tell five agencies apart, they pick the cheapest one. Can you blame them?
"𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴." That's a menu, not an offer. You just handed a business owner a list and asked him to diagnose himself. He didn't call you so he could do your job.
"𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻." Which results? By when? Measured how? A word every agency uses tells the buyer nothing.
"𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲." When nothing else about you is different, cheap is the only difference left. And somebody is always willing to be cheaper than you.
"𝗪𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀." A roofer doesn't want the agency that works with everybody. He wants the one that already knows why his phone goes quiet in January.
Here's the thing:
You're not competing with 30 agencies. You're competing with the fact that you sound exactly like all 30 of them.
Your market isn't crowded. Your message is.
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀
It shows up in one question: "So what makes you different?"
If your answer is "we really care about our clients" or "we're great at communication," the call is over. You just don't know it yet. Every agency they talked to this month said the same thing.
So the call slides to the only thing left to compare. Price.
Run the math on that. Say you normally charge $1,500 a month and you knock off $300 to win the deal because you couldn't answer the question. That's $3,600 a year off one client. Do it across ten clients and you gave away $36,000 because you didn't have one clear sentence. Swap in your own numbers.
Now flip the "saturated" part around. Thirty agencies in one city means business owners in that city are buying marketing. A crowded market is proof people pay. An empty one is the market that should scare you.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁
Pull up your homepage next to three competitors in your area. Now picture swapping the logos.
Would anybody notice?
Be honest. If a business owner couldn't tell which site was yours without the logo, the market isn't the problem. You're invisible in it.
Some of you are already thinking: "If I get specific, I'll turn work away." Maybe. You'll also stop losing the work you actually want to the guy who charges $200 less. Specific doesn't shrink who can hire you. It makes the right ones pick you faster.
Sit with that swap test before you go shopping for a new niche.
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸
Run the logo swap. Your homepage against three local competitors. Highlight every sentence that could sit on their site without changing a word. Those sentences go first.
Write the one sentence. Fill this in:
"I help [specific type of business] get [specific result] by [the thing you actually do], so they stop [the problem that's costing them money]."
Example: "I help HVAC companies get more calls from Google Maps by fixing their Business Profile, so they stop losing emergency jobs to the shop down the road."
Test it before you move. Say that sentence to ten prospects in the niche you already have. Not a new one. If the calls change, the niche was never the problem. Fix the offer before you change the market.
Crowded markets pay. Vague offers don't.
Drop your one-sentence offer in the comments. The real one, the one on your site right now, not the one you wish was there. I'll tell you if it passes the logo swap. No judgment. That's what this room is for.
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𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗛𝗼𝘁 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲: 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝘀 𝗩𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲.
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