New Business for Agencies is Changing

Everyone is talking about how consumer brands should appear in AI, whether it’s the advancement of ads or which hotel to use on holidays. In the context of B2B though, businesses – and specifically agencies – don’t seem to be asking a more important question: when a prospective client asks an LLM to recommend an agency, does your name come up?

In my lifetime, I certainly haven’t seen such a rush to a new media channel as we’ve seen with LLMs. There have been new businesses that have come to the fore (TikTok) and channels have certainly come through relatively quickly (CTV / Retail Media etc). Few technologies have reached mainstream adoption as quickly as generative AI. As millions of professionals now start their research in ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, those platforms have become a powerful new discovery channel.

There’s also the content opportunity here, how can your brands appear within these new channels organically and how can you create content to better serve the LLMs with that context. I highly recommend listening to Andrew Lederman from Mondelez talk about how they were developing their strategies when speaking to Digiday for some inspiration if you’re looking for it.

So, there are plenty of ways that agencies are looking for new revenue streams from LLMs and ensure their clients aren’t being left behind. But the smart ones are also looking at it internally on how to improve their new business prospects.

Croud seems to have figured this out, seeing a clear problem that LLMs were going to solve; agency confusion. Historically, a client looking for a new agency would have relied on all sorts of different means to find the type of business they could go to for help. But with Claude or ChatGPT already open in their browser, now they can look for a “strategic media agency with specialisms in CTV” or a “boutique agency with strong CRM credentials” at the drop of a hat.

Croud have understood this cleverly as more than SEO, it’s about positioning and messaging. It’s about how you’re seen across the whole internet and making that digestible for an LLM to articulate to a customer that’s actively looking for you.

It’s critical that agencies really see this opportunity and lean into it. Showcasing yourselves as a swiss army knife of all things to all clients is no longer going to cut the mustard. You need a focused strategy, to ensure you’re thinking about the types of prompts that you want to appear in, and then deliver against that strategy consistently. LLMs reward clarity. If you want to appear when someone asks for “a strategic independent media agency with strong retail expertise”, you need to consistently demonstrate exactly that. Your positioning, content, case studies and thought leadership should all reinforce the same signals.

As agencies you will have your dream clients and sectors, you’ll have your specialisms and products that you show off and your strengths to flex. You’ll have them as part of your 3 and 5 year strategies and baked into your new business plans. Make sure you have an integrated marcomms plan that sits alongside it. If your potential clients are looking for you, let them find you first, rather than your competitors.

If you’d like some help with getting your agency moved up the rankings for your new business prospects, give With a call, we’d be delighted to help.