This article is from our Agency Growth Handbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter eight of ‘Part 3: Retention & Growth’.
Running an agency is difficult. Growing your agency is even harder.
For many, that growth comes organically with some big client wins. For others, it requires years of grinding. Regardless of how you’ve achieved your growth, there’s a good chance it’s going to come with difficulties that need to be navigated.
“The bigger you get as an agency, the easier it is to slip away from the things that made you successful to begin with”
– Laura Salter, Director of Operations, Kickpoint Media
Maybe it’s the right hire, but at the wrong time. Or, suddenly, you find yourself floundering without the right processes in place, leading to a lack of consistency. Maybe important clients suddenly leave. It could be that you’ve not been able to scale headcount fast enough.
“This taught me a crucial lesson: scaling an agency isn’t just about adding headcount.”
– Vera Shafiq, Fractional CMO and Consultant
Whatever it is, you’re probably not the first agency to have those issues. Our 2024 Local Marketing Industry Survey found that 66% of agencies were planning to hire new staff in 2025.
So to help you navigate these chaotic times, we’ve talked to a number of agency founders and leaders to find out what problems they had as they grew, and how they overcame them.
"Let Go and Keep Learning"
Blake Denman, President & Founder at RicketyRoo
The biggest challenge I have faced while growing RicketyRoo has been letting go.
I founded the agency on February 1, 2009, and have been actively involved for the vast majority of its life. However, as we’ve continued to grow, the things that I had been in charge of have been taken over by someone else on the team.
Operations was the last thing I truly let go of, and for a period of time, I felt more or less like the Pulp Fiction meme of John Travolta standing there with his coat, pointing one way, then pointing the other way, not sure which way to go.
Up until that point, I knew what I needed to get done within the agency to keep moving forward. I’ve learned that the only way to keep growing is to let go and remain teachable in all aspects of not only agency life, but life in general.
"Never Lose Focus on Your Culture"
Laura Salter, Director of Operations at Kick Point
The bigger you get as an agency, the easier it is to slip away from the things that made you successful to begin with. You’ll likely find yourself questioning whether a few tight months mean you should sacrifice the things that made your culture attractive and retain those talented, engaged people on your team.
Wherever you can, find creative places to trim that are not essential to who you are as an organization. If you don’t know what those essential things are, ask your team. And listen.
"Putting Processes in Place to Save Quality"
Nick Meagher, Owner at icepick
The biggest challenge for me was scaling without sacrificing quality.
What made the difference was creating clear SOPs and processes, then hiring talented people who could execute them well. That foundation allowed us to grow quickly while maintaining high standards.
"Talent Getting Bogged Down with Admin"
Vera Shafiq, Marketing Strategy Consultant at Vera Shafiq
The biggest challenge I have faced during rapid growth periods at agencies is watching talented media buyers and strategists get bogged down in administrative tasks while client demands intensify.
Despite hiring great people, our team’s strategic output would suffer because they were spending too much time on reporting, manual data entry, and repetitive processes instead of the innovative thinking that drives real results.
This taught me a crucial lesson: scaling an agency isn’t just about adding headcount.
It’s about ruthlessly automating the mundane work first. By prioritizing process streamlining and removing administrative friction, we could free our team to focus on what they do best: developing breakthrough strategies and delivering measurable growth for clients. By doing this, not only does work quality improve, but team morale soars when people can actually practice their craft.
Grow Your Own Way
Each of these agency leaders has gone through distinctly different issues. But the key message is one of adapting without losing sight of what you started in the first place.
While processes are important, for instance, you shouldn’t be against changing them. But doing so in a way that could affect your culture is one you should avoid.
If you need more help growing your agency, the Agency Growth Handbook offers insights from local SEO and digital agencies to help you grow your own without facing the same pitfalls they did.
We’d love to hear what’s happened on your growth journey so far. Drop us a comment on Linkedin, X (formerly Twitter) or Bluesky with your own.
