Back in 2020, every enterprise from the small spa to the mega manufacturer was going online.
CEOs, founders, and solopreneurs were hungry for a digital-fueled business boom. The pandemic struck, perfectly timed with a world increasingly embracing a digital-first and “work from anywhere” culture.
The agency business model was at peak. Agencies were getting all the love and business was good for agency owners.
Back then, every business was instantly liquid and eager to spend at the mention of the word “digital”. Ads, content, digital marketing, were all the rage. Businesses were spending for the promise, not the data. Little did we know that this euphoria was never to last as the bubble was fat enough and far too stretched to hold any longer.
In 2025, it’s clear that you can no longer simply win business based on copywriting and ad creatives. You cannot just outsource marketing to an agency and expect results.
Why?
An agency will NOT devote sufficient TIME and EMOTION to understand your business.
You see, in 2025, your typical customer knows exactly what they are looking for. They are highly-engaged, highly-informed with the product they are looking for. They know the nuance and context of what they want.
No agency will invest enough time to nail your ideal client. Only you can talk directly to your client because you have a DEEP understanding of the problem you are solving.
Traditionally, you hire an agency for the structure and systems they use to help other businesses grow. You hire an agency because they have systemized and templatized time-consuming processes that would eat into your valuable resources.
But today, templates and systems are just semantic fog. Any decent AI can build you a highly detailed system/assets, but does your ideal customer actually connect with the synthetic knowledge spat out by Chatgpt? Probably not. So why pay a premium for it?
So, what options do you have as a time-strapped entrepreneur?
1. Do it Yourself – Get your hands dirty and do the labor. Craft the material and content that you know will resonate with your ideal customer. You already know their pain, and you know that your product is the solution. Not a scalable option, but very practical. Best option if you ask me.
2. Hire an Expert (Not an Agency) – Find a dedicated specialist or a small, embedded team whose success is directly tied to yours. This isn’t an agency that sees you as one of 30 clients; it’s a partner who will commit their TIME and EMOTION to deeply understanding your product and market. The second-best option in my opinion.
The era of replicating formulas is gone. The agency model has been overtaken by time and events. The current customer values a deep connection to product. If you want success today, especially in the B2B space, go the DIY way or partner with an expert willing to deeply connect with your product and its customers.