How to Move From Agency Vendor to Trusted Marketing Advisor

Tired of being viewed as a disposable marketing vendor? Wondering how to become a partner your clients turn to for advice instead? 

In this article, you’ll learn how one marketer made the move from vendor to trusted advisor.

The Making of a Trusted Marketing Advisor: An Industry Veteran’s Perspective

Marketing has undergone significant shifts over the past 30 years. With the rise of the internet, email, social media, and now artificial intelligence (AI), tactics and technologies change rapidly. 

However, according to veteran agency owner and author John Jantsch, the fundamentals remain unchanged. No matter the platform, marketing begins with strategy before tactics. By positioning yourself as a trusted advisor focused on strategy, you and your agency can evolve along with new tools while building lasting business relationships. 

Since starting his company, Duct Tape Marketing, John has guided countless businesses to greater growth and success. His approach melds strategy first with relentless communication, resulting in lasting partnerships vs one-off transactions. He evolved from an eager entrepreneur to an industry thought leader, cementing knowledge authority through books and signature frameworks still used today.

John did not intend to start his own business. After working at an ad agency for five years right out of college, he thought he could run a business himself. Confident in his ability to sell and attract new work, he took the leap. For John, business ownership also aligned with his independent streak and desire to do things his own way.

This bit of confidence, combined with selling skills and hustle, comprises 50% of starting an agency. As John acknowledges, no amount of planning can fully prepare someone to run their own business. However, for John and entrepreneurs, being resilient and a little stubborn helps weather the inevitable storms.

The last 30 years have significantly changed marketing capabilities and social platforms. When John began, the internet wasn’t yet available to the public, and marketing strategies involved print ads and manual information requests via phone or mail. Today, real-time digital targeting powered by AI dominates the marketing landscape.

Yet, according to John, marketing fundamentals hold steady—strategy matters more than ever. By grounding yourself in a strategy-first marketing viewpoint, you can incorporate new tools and platforms as they arise. Those failing to evolve will likely struggle, while those focused on strategy can adapt to continuous change.

Transitioning From Marketing Vendor to Trusted Advisor: The Strategy-First Approach

Early on, John learned clients struggled to articulate their needs. Marketers attempting to simply meet their clients' stated demands only chase their tails. By contrast, bringing your agency’s perspective on what will best serve your clients and differentiate you from other agencies shows tremendous value. You can then position yourself as a trusted expert rather than an order-taker.

John coined this the “Fractional CMO” approach. An agency becomes an outsourced marketing executive by providing high-level strategic guidance plus implementation. This model has grown popular thanks to frequent gaps in strategic planning, especially since the pandemic shook many businesses.  

John helps develop his client's marketing roadmap for the next 12 months during a 60-day strategy engagement. This period provides his client’s clarity on their messaging, confidence in what will work, and some control over their future marketing. The goal is to become a trusted advisor your clients want to work with long-term to execute the marketing strategy.   

The key discovery in John’s 60-day engagement is how little most of his clients actually understand about their target customers. Even long-standing companies wanting to scale up often lack systematic marketing.

So when John’s company uncovers valuable insights about customer problems and needs that should become their core messaging, it builds instant trust and credibility. John’s team provides differentiation and positioning most haven't heard before, buying them credibility for at least the next 90 days.   

They also map out their complete customer journey through a process John developed called the “marketing hourglass”. This process exposes gaps in acquiring and retaining profitable customers that others haven't highlighted, things like referrals and loyalty.

Next, John and his team create an editorial strategy to move the needle vs churning out content. And they prioritize the initiatives that should happen in the next 60–120 days for maximum impact. Covering all this strategic ground specific to their business makes John's a trusted advisor, not just a vendor selling commodity services.

Cultivating Lasting Client Relationships 

For John, the key factor in client retention is over-communication. This means clearly explaining tangible plans, tactics, and outcomes upfront, reporting on progress, and setting the next steps. With consistent touchpoints, the value you deliver becomes abundantly clear. 

John conducts quarterly planning sessions with his clients, focused squarely on refining strategy. Maintaining strategy as the cornerstone, John addresses his client’s inevitable business shifts and realigns marketing priorities that drive new campaigns and projects accordingly. Together, they identify 2–3 key areas to focus on over the next three months. 

John’s process builds capabilities over time, so each new marketing channel has the proper support structure to convert interest into sales for his clients. This sequence prevents the typical “we need to start ads now but have nowhere to send people ” problem and shows his clients a linear progression to strategy. 

Rather than jumping on new ideas, John advises agencies to maintain a future-focused perspective that ties suggestions back to current priorities. This extends the horizon from quarter to quarter vs getting distracted by shiny objects.

As for metrics, John focuses on setting up goals in analytics and creating attribution models to prove which marketing efforts directly lead to his client’s business growth. While metrics like social media engagement can show positive momentum, what matters most to clients is seeing concrete growth in dollars and customers from specific campaigns. 

So, beyond just tracking performance, John implements tools like call tracking to attribute sales to the marketing initiatives he runs directly. This shows clear ROI and that his work is generating real customer acquisition.

While occasional “dud” clients slip through, John doesn't often get demands or frequent changes from clients because his marketing hourglass process educates prospects on their differences and reveals gaps in their marketing. This process gets them asking how John’s agency can fix those problems rather than selling to clients. 

By attracting the right prospects with effective messaging about their point of view, John and his team set the tone from the start on working collaboratively. He avoids getting demanding clients who constantly want to change strategies later on. The relationship begins when you talk to prospects about what you could do together.

Serving the Right Clients and Building Trust 

John says he doesn’t often lose customers, but when he does, it's usually because he’s educated them on what not to do. His agency advises clients against jumping on the latest marketing fad or platform unless they feel it will truly benefit them. They take a pragmatic approach focused on practical strategies that best serve their customers, not just what's trendy.

This advising role builds trust over time. Many businesses have been burned before by marketing promises that don't deliver. By telling clients “no” to the idea of the week and letting them know what can help, they rely on your guidance. 

For example, John and his team prepared their clients for the Google Analytics 4 rollout over a year before explaining how they would implement it. As a result, long-term retainers are common. John’s longest-running client has been with his agency since 2004, now on their 2nd generation of ownership. This longevity speaks to the trust he and his team build. 

Not simply accepting business as it comes knocks agencies out of reactive mode. John advises agencies to target clients investing in community and industry, signals of an investor rather than a short-term mentality.   

Early in his career, John took on clients willing to pay without vetting their ethics or values alignment. One client's activities led Jantsch to testify before a grand jury, an uncomfortable experience.

It was a watershed moment for John—he realized focusing on attracting the right clients is crucial, not just taking any work. As a small firm, John and his team have to work with people who share their values, where they can bring more value, and where there’s a fit around solving their client’s actual problems.

John has since turned down more business than he’s taken because of a misalignment between his values and prospective clients. The wrong clients can drive teams crazy and distract them from meaningful work with engaged clients. And you can underestimate the opportunity cost around them—both revenue you miss from focusing on ideal clients and satisfaction you lose doing work you believe in.

John's philosophy is that 80% of revenue comes from 20% of clients. So focusing on those delighted clients, growing with them, and providing what else they need is more fulfilling and profitable than chasing deals.

His research on a client's industry, customers, competitors, threats, opportunities, and trends is crucial to building trust. Even if it's an industry he knows, going deep educates John and his team and shows the client they are genuinely interested in their success.

Sharing those insights, even ones they may already know demonstrates their knowledge and commitment to their clients. Many marketers refrain from talking about revenue and profit, but John digs into the business gaps between where they are today and their goals.

Asking clients hard questions about their constraints, growth challenges, and the need to know their numbers establishes trust. It signals that if your clients are open with you about their business, you will become a trusted guide who understands what they need to achieve.

Writing books has also helped move John to trusted advisor status and drive his ongoing business. It tripled his speaking fees, brought in leads seeking his agency’s services, and let people see he knows what he’s talking about. John is the author of seven books, including the best-selling Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Guide and The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business To Market Itself.

His company now has licensed its scalable Fractional CMO+ methodology to around 400 agencies and consultants. Attracting these partners has primarily been due to the books laying out their processes. His agency provides them with the tools, positioning, and scripts on how to sell and deliver ongoing marketing strategy and implementation.

Leveraging Technology in the Age of Automation 

Despite AI’s rise, John believes the fundamentals of relationship-building endure. As automation handles more tactical work, the necessity of strategic thinking only increases. AI cannot replace human thinking and expertise.

Though AI currently provides “information automation”—like an assistant finding information or generating basic content like writing website metadata—it does not offer true intelligence. AI can also help inform marketing strategy. It can analyze data to surface customer concerns and opportunities. But human guidance is still needed to make decisions.

John believes smart agencies adopt AI for appropriate tasks while understanding its limitations—you should use AI to complement strategy, not drive it. Many companies are selling simple, low-cost marketing solutions powered by AI chatbots. However, this technology is still in the very early stages.

The bottom line is marketing fundamentals don't change—AI doesn't replace the need for human-led strategy. Agencies that position themselves as expert strategists while judiciously leveraging AI will remain essential partners.

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