Want to know a secret? For years, I struggled with how to market my own agency.

Kind of ironic, right? A 150-person growth machine led by a CEO who wasn’t clear how to grow.

(How did we scale from five to 150 people anyway, over seven years? That’s a newsletter for another day.)

I’m a B2C marketer by trade, and B2B growth felt like an entirely different beast. So, I did what any self-respecting entrepreneur would do – I threw money at the problem!

I hired ‘growth leaders’ with big résumés and even bigger pay expectations.

They spent months strategizing and exactly zero minutes executing. So I fired them all.

Two years ago, frustrated, I rolled up my sleeves and decided to crack B2B marketing myself.

Turns out, the ‘secret’ to growth is the same whether you’re selling sneakers or services:

TRUTH IS, THERE IS NO MAGIC ANSWER.

Growing your agency is about finding new clients in exactly the same way that you’d go about solving any other marketing challenge:
 - Know your audience
 - Understand their pain
 - Show up where they are, with creative that resonates

The real secret ingredient wasn’t a new playbook.

It was me getting into the weeds myself.

It was me actually doing the work – first.

Rolling up my sleeves (again) changed everything.

Where I live is surrounded by mountains. Imagine climbing one of them for the first time, blindfolded, leading a group of people who expect you to know the way. Wouldn’t you feel better if you’d walked the path yourself, at least once?

Marketing is that mountain. Today’s landscape demands personalization – meaning integration across tech, data, UX, and creative. It demands performance – because let’s be honest, we’re all just investment managers, except our portfolios are called ‘advertising investments’.

And the higher the stakes, the greater the need for Leaders who actually understand the work.

A marketing leader who doesn’t get at some level of comprehension, AdTech, MarTech, audience segmentation, personalization, or creative production is … ineffective.

I built a killer growth team because I walked the path myself first. 

I won’t live there forever, but having climbed the mountain, I’m now a decent enough growth guide to lead others up it.

You can’t lead where you don’t understand.

Want to break down silos and actually lead your marketing team instead of just attending their meetings? Try this:

Step 1: Get Uncomfortable – Let’s be real. It’s been years since you touched the tools. You’re more fluent in PowerPoint than in Google Ads. What if, instead of approving another strategy deck, you actually looked at what your media, AdTech, or first-party data teams were doing?

Step 2: Stop Assuming, Start Learning – We all think we “know enough to be dangerous.” But do you? Do you really know how Salesforce integrates with Google Ads? How dynamic creative gets personalized? What key insights your team learns from ad tests each week? Or are you just nodding along in meetings – like I used to two years ago in my growth team meetings.

Step 3: Create More Value – Leaders who get it make better decisions. Ask sharper questions. Drive better results. Influence grows when you feel confident to ask “Remind me what that audience segment is again?” or “What tests in Google Ads drive highest RoAS”?

Step 4: Move Up Faster – The best marketing leaders don’t micromanage, but they also don’t operate in ignorance. If you want a seat at the table, you need to understand the systems, data, and creative engines driving your business. You don’t need to be an expert. But you do need a clue. How? Ask your team great questions about what they do, and how they do it.

In marketing – just like in life – you can’t fake competence forever.

Doe and Smith (2021) found that Leaders with direct digital marketing experience consistently achieve superior campaign performance, while Johnson et al. (2020) demonstrated that experiential knowledge significantly enhances strategic innovation.

Additionally, Lee and Kim (2023) revealed that practical exposure to digital tools correlates with higher ROI and improved team dynamics.

Moreover, the integration of employee-generated content (EGC) in marketing strategies underscores the value of practical exposure. Brands like Loewe and Fenty Beauty have successfully utilized EGC to create authentic and engaging content, indicating that leaders who understand and participate in these digital dynamics can drive innovation and improve team dynamics.

Clients increasingly value senior Leaders in digital marketing agencies who possess hands-on experience. A survey by Michael Page revealed that 80% of respondents experienced a shortfall of digital experience in their marketing departments, emphasizing the critical need for practical expertise in their partners.

So Leaders who are still in a position to ‘walk the walk’ as well as ‘talk the talk’ have a double advantage. They can drive their organizations to ever greater heights both through their Leadership skills and through the examples they set.

If you’d like to discuss your career journey with me one-to-one, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or message me on LinkedIn.

Thank you for reading.

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