Positioning is the growth strategy

How earned-first agencies can build a competitive advantage that clients actually value

There is a simple truth that earned-first agencies (in fact, ALL agencies) often ignore: positioning is not a marketing exercise. It is a growth strategy.

Agencies that consistently outperform the market grow because they have established a clear, credible, and differentiated position in the minds of clients. They have answered one question better than everyone else:

Why should a client choose us instead of dozens of seemingly similar competitors?

In an increasingly crowded market, the answer cannot be "because we're strategic", "because we're creative", "because we’re good at media relations", or "because we deliver integrated communications". Every agency says that. Those have become table stakes, not a source of competitive advantage.

Here's the reality: if you position yourself correctly, you often win the battle before the pitch or selection process even begins.

Positioning is the first of The Savage Company's Five Doors to Revenue Growth. I’ll cover it in depth in this column and share insights on the other four doors in future articles.

Most agencies sound exactly the same

Ironically, agencies that help clients develop powerful brands often fail to do the same for themselves.

Visit the websites of twenty PR agencies and you'll encounter an almost identical list of capabilities:

• Media relations

• Content creation

• Social media

• Corporate communications

• Strategy

• Reputation management

• Stakeholder engagement

• Issues and crisis communications

The problem isn't that these services aren't important. It’s that clients already assume competent agencies can deliver them. Listing capabilities is the equivalent of a chef advertising that they know how to boil an egg.

The point is this: clients don't purchase services; they purchase solutions to urgent business problems.

Pause a moment. Breath in. I’m repeating it because it is so critical. Prospects purchase solutions to urgent business problems.

That subtle shift changes everything.

Start with the client's problem, not your services

Positioning should begin with: "here's the business problem we solve."

The strongest agency positioning is always client-centric rather than agency-centric.

Instead of describing capabilities, describe outcomes. Instead of promoting activity, promote impact. Instead of talking about yourself, talk about the client's future.

The most compelling positioning answers four simple questions:

• Who do we help?

• What critical business problem do we solve?

• What outcome do we consistently create?

• Why are we uniquely qualified to deliver it?

One useful framework is remarkably simple:

We help (who) achieve (outcome) by (our distinctive approach).

If your agency cannot explain its value within the first ten seconds of a conversation, your positioning probably isn't sharp enough. I call it ‘passing the grunt test’.

Have a look at your website. If a prospect is reading it, will they - in ten seconds - sharply understand what you do, what problem you solve, and why they should engage you?

Specialisation is not limiting. It's liberating.

One of the biggest mistakes agencies make is trying to appeal to everyone. They fear that narrowing their focus will shrink the opportunity.

In reality, the opposite is usually true.

A narrowly focused agency serving a profitable client segment is almost always more valuable than a generalist trying to compete across every category.

Specialisation creates expertise. Expertise creates trust. Trust creates pricing power.

As Blair Enns argues, the availability of substitutes gives buyers power. The fewer credible alternatives clients perceive, the stronger your negotiating position becomes.

That's why agencies should stop trying to become the best at everything. Instead, aim to become the only credible choice for something that matters.

You can specialise in several ways:

• Solve one important problem exceptionally well across many industries.

• Become the recognised expert within one industry or client category.

• Dominate a narrowly defined market where deep expertise is valued.

The principle remains the same: fewer things, done brilliantly. I love specialisation. Remember - pigeonholes are full of cash.

Go where the value is

Not every dollar is an equally good dollar.

Many agencies spend enormous energy chasing work that is highly competitive, poorly differentiated, and increasingly commoditised.

Routine standard media relations often represent what could be described as "thin value". These services are oversupplied, widely available, and heavily price-driven.

By contrast, the greatest opportunities lie in "thick value". Thick value exists where markets remain underserved, where problems are difficult to solve, and where genuine expertise is scarce.

These assignments often involve high-stakes challenges such as organisational transformation, reputation management, complex stakeholder environments, behavioural change, or executive positioning.

They’re harder. More strategic. And significantly more valuable.

Scarcity creates value.

If what you do is easy to replicate, clients have abundant alternatives. If what you do is difficult, specialised, and genuinely rare, premium pricing becomes far easier to justify.

Productise solutions, not services

One of the most significant shifts occurring in professional services is the move from selling hours to selling solutions.

Forward-thinking agencies are increasingly packaging their expertise into proprietary programmes designed to solve recurring business challenges.

Rather than selling media relations, strategy workshops, or social campaigns independently, they assemble integrated solution sets around client problems.

Instead of asking clients, "what services do you need?", they ask, "what problem are you trying to solve?" This represents a profound shift in positioning.

Clients don't buy activities. They buy confidence that an important business challenge will be solved.

Some leading firms now organise their offerings around themes such as transformation, reputation resilience, executive influence, AI adoption, or brand acceleration.

Behind each programme sits a carefully designed combination of capabilities, methodologies, and intellectual property. This makes the agency substantially harder to copy.

Competitors can replicate services. They cannot easily replicate a well-developed framework, process, or solution built around years of accumulated expertise.

Develop a point of view

Powerful positioning requires more than selecting a niche.

It requires having a perspective.

The agencies that command attention don't simply describe what they do. They articulate what they believe. They challenge conventional thinking.

They confidently explain why the market has changed and why clients need a different approach. That doesn't require being controversial simply for attention, but what it does require is courage.

Clients remember agencies with a clear point of view far more readily than those that offer safe, generic observations. An agency should be known for something.

If someone described your firm over lunch to another marketer, what words would they use?

What problem would they say you solve? What would you be famous for?

If those answers aren't obvious, your positioning probably isn't yet distinctive enough.

Build the narrative

Great positioning isn't just strategy.

It must also be translated into a simple narrative that everyone inside the business can articulate consistently. A useful structure includes four components:

1. Create a memorable strapline that captures your core idea in just a few words.

2. Define your positioning by clearly stating the business you're truly in - not simply "public relations," but perhaps reputation transformation, earned influence or behavioural change.

3. Develop a proposition that identifies the client problem you solve, for whom, and the unique outcome you deliver.

4. Explain how you deliver that outcome through your distinctive capabilities, frameworks, or expertise.

This narrative becomes the foundation of business development, recruitment, marketing, thought leadership, and client conversations.

Be prepared to claim your space

Many agencies delay sharpening their positioning because they believe they need years of evidence before making a bold claim. But often the reverse is true.

Choose your focus first. Communicate it consistently. And build the proof over time.

Differentiation isn't created by waiting. It's created by repeatedly demonstrating expertise within a carefully chosen space.

Done is almost always better than perfect.

A minimum viable position, consistently communicated, is more powerful than endless internal debate.

Positioning is never finished

Markets move quickly. Client priorities shift. Technology changes.

Positioning should therefore never become a "set and forget" exercise.

The strongest agencies revisit their strategic positioning regularly - often every nine to 12 months - to ensure it remains relevant to emerging client challenges.

That doesn't mean changing direction constantly. It means continually asking whether your expertise remains aligned with where future demand and future profit are heading.

Winning before the pitch

Ultimately, positioning determines the quality of opportunities that arrive at your door.

When your agency becomes recognised for solving one valuable problem exceptionally well, prospects begin self-selecting. The conversations become easier. The sales cycle shortens. Pricing pressure reduces.

Your team spends less time explaining what you do and more time discussing how you can help. That is the real objective.

The strongest agencies are not those that shout the loudest. They are the ones that occupy a distinctive position that clients genuinely value.

Growth rarely comes from doing more of everything. It comes from doing fewer things with greater expertise, greater confidence, and greater relevance.

The future belongs to earned-first agencies that stop selling services and start owning problems.

Because when clients believe you are uniquely qualified to solve their most important challenge, you've already won the battle before the first meeting begins.

Chris Savage is one of Asia Pacific’s pre-eminent creative communications industry leaders. Following a highly successful 25-year career in public relations, Chris launched The Savage Company in 2015, focused on helping business leaders energise growth. He has built and led some of the region’s biggest PR companies and groups, including as Australia CEO and Vice Chairman Asia Pacific of Burson-Marsteller, CEO of Ogilvy PR Australia, and COO of marketing content and communications group, STW Group (now WPP ANZ). Chris is also a shareholder and chairman of eight communications agencies.

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