"If all you're trying to do is essentially the same thing as your rivals, then it's unlikely that you'll be very successful."
Thousands of agencies. Same positioning. Same claims. Same race to the bottom. You can't differentiate by claiming you're different. We build marketing strategy expertise into your agency, so you compete on capability, not cost.
Strategic expertise for agencies.
The Agency Positioning Problem
Every agency leans on the same tired claims. Great team, award-winning work, years of experience, unique process, deep specialisms, strategic thinking, passion, and being "an extension of your team." None of it differentiates you. Everyone says they have a great team. Trophy cabinets don't fill pipelines. Experience is table stakes. Your process isn't unique. Neither are your specialisms—you share them with 1000’s of other agencies. And if you're so strategic, why are you giving it away for free?
None of it works. You're still seen as a tactical supplier. Still competing on price. Still pitching against agencies who sound exactly like you.
The Agency Strategy Conundrum
Most agencies claim they offer strategy—website strategy, go-to-market strategy, content strategy, SEO strategy, social strategy, paid media strategy, email strategy, creative strategy, campaign strategy, and a dozen more variations. These aren't marketing strategy. They're tactical plans dressed up in strategic language.
Marketing strategy is foundational. It’s the bedrock on which everything else sits. Most businesses don't have one. So marketing becomes random acts you facilitate. You're executing someone else's thinking, giving tactical strategy away free in proposals, or you've got no strategic impact at all.
What changes when you lead with marketing strategy
You stop competing with tactical agencies.
Different RFP pool. Different conversation. You're answering, "who can help us win?" not "who can build our website?"
You control the tactics.
Here's what most agencies miss: when you own the marketing strategy, you naturally own the tactical content project, the social project, the campaign project that flows from it. You're not competing for those tactical projects—you're the incumbent. You wrote the plan.
You elevate your expertise.
Client’s value what they can't get anywhere. Strategy makes you the brain, not just the hands. You're in the room earlier, talking to more senior people, being asked your opinion beyond the project brief.
You become the partner, not the supplier
Tactical agencies are replaceable. Strategic partners aren't. You understand their business in ways others don't. You've earned trust. Clients don't casually replace that. Your relationships deepen. Your contracts extend. When budgets tighten, you're the last agency they'd cut.
You control the strategy.
If you don't write it, someone else will try—a consultancy, another agency, or the client cobbles something together. Then you're executing someone else's thinking. When you own the strategy, you set the direction and define success.
"But we're not a strategy agency"
You don't need to be.
You just need MSQ. MSQ is over 15 years of delivering marketing strategy to clients, packaged as a process, platform, and product you can use. Not consultants. Not fractionals. Not SaaS. Not theory.
Tried and tested IP that agencies of all types and sizes use to deliver world-class marketing strategy as a paid-for service.
What MSQ actually is
A product you can sell. Complete marketing strategy offering. Clear deliverables, timelines, pricing. No ambiguity. You know what you're selling. Your clients know what they're buying.
A Process You Can Repeat. Step-by-step frameworks for every stage. Consistent quality. Faster delivery as you build experience. Your team follows the same process every time.
A platform with everything built in
Client-facing strategy templates, research and analysis frameworks, presentation decks and report structures, pricing and scoping calculators, video training on every stage, and real project case studies. Not PDFs gathering dust. Actual tools your team uses daily.
Three ways to use MSQ
New Business
Lead with strategy instead of jumping to tactics. Position yourself as the agency that thinks before executing. Win on expertise, not price.
Instead of "We can build your website and run your social media," you say "Let's start with a marketing strategy to figure out where you should compete and how to win. Then we'll build the website and marketing plan that deliver against that."
Different conversation. Different client. Different fee.
Lapsed Clients
Perfect re-engagement tool. You're not pitching the same tactical services they stopped buying. You're offering the foundational thinking they probably never had. "We've been building our marketing strategy capability. I'd love to show you what we're doing now—it's quite different from when we last worked together."
That opens doors.
Existing Clients
Natural upsell. You're already working with them. You understand their business. You're the logical choice to build the strategic foundation that makes all the tactical work more effective. "We've been delivering your content for two years, and I think we could be getting better results if we started with a proper marketing strategy. Can I show you what that would look like?"
Not a hard sell. A partner suggesting something that makes the existing work more valuable.
Who we work with
We work with independent agencies (£2-8m revenue, 15-50 people) who like to think strategically, but can't demonstrate it, sell it, or retain clients because of it. You often claim to be a strategic partner, but get hired, and priced, like a supplier.
You're right for us if:
You win pitches on chemistry, but lose to agencies who are more strategic than you
Your website claims "strategic partner", but you have no proprietary framework or expertise, and no strategy P&L
Client tenure averages 12-18 months because you can't shift from tactical supplier to strategic authority
You're giving strategic thinking away free in pitches and delivery instead of billing for it
You've plateaued and realised execution-only won't get you to grow further
You're probably not right for us if you're genuinely happy being an execution specialist with no interest in leading with strategic authority.
