Episode: 11 Chapter Eleven of Anyone, Not Everyone discusses vertical sales and marketing strategies, emphasizing the importance of choosing specific actions and avoiding others. The chapter breaks down the sales and marketing activities into inbound marketing, outbound sales and marketing, and relationship marketing, providing an approach to reach clients in the active buying process and underlining the necessity of being a top consideration for potential clients. Reminder that this is a...

"Niche is the number one growth accelerator."  – Josh Nelson, Mentor & Coach at Seven Figure Agency Growth can happen in an instant when you’re doing the right things. But when you find the right fit, niche, offering, and vertical, that’s the unfair advantage. Nobody knows this better than today’s guest, who not only coaches agencies on growth, but also grew his own verticalized agency from zero to seven figures in under two years. This week, we welcome Josh Nelson to the Deep...

Episode: 10 Chapter Ten of Anyone, Not Everyone presents the development of a Vertical Messaging Guide as an essential framework for consistent, high-quality messaging in marketing efforts for a chosen vertical market. This guide compiles key elements such as the agency’s Point of View, vertical positioning, client attributes, business challenges, intrinsic and extrinsic wins, transformation narrative, and proof points to create a central reference point for crafting impactful marketing...

"We specialize in B2B and we specialize in the experiences of three things: A better brand that will create a better employee experience and ultimately, a stronger client experience."  – Susan Quinn, President and CEO of Circle S Studio It’s not every day you get to sit down with an agency leader with a career spanning four decades, and running! This week’s podcast guest, Susan Quinn, is not only deeply experienced, but also one of those leaders who spits quotable business wisdom on every...

Episode: 9 Chapter Nine of Anyone, Not Everyone discusses how crafting a unique Point of View (POV) for your agency provides a competitive edge and serves as a key differentiator in a crowded marketplace. The chapter guides you through identifying a significant, meaningful problem in your vertical market, framing it against a metaphorical villain, envisioning a transformed future without the problem, and presenting your agency as a bridge to that future, thus creating a compelling and...

"We've operated in over 30 states in Europe, Mexico and Canada. The Cannabis Creative Group has absolutely taken off like wildfire."  – Dan Serard, VP of Sales and Marketing for Cannabis Creative Group  Let’s take a deep dive into a vertical that certainly is anything but dull. This week's guest, Dan Serard is a trailblazer in cannabis marketing and has stories to tell in setting up agency services for cannabis companies. As the VP of Sales and Marketing for Cannabis Creative Group, Dan was...

Episode: 8 Chapter Eight of Anyone, Not Everyone outlines a four-step process for developing a distinctive vertical positioning, ensuring your agency stands out in the marketplace. It involves identifying key attributes that your vertical clients desire, plotting these attributes to find your unique "white space," and crafting a vertical positioning statement that encapsulates your agency’s distinct place in the client’s perception. This strategic positioning is not a static tagline but a...

"The average small business uses over three dozen different pieces of software to run different aspects of their business."  – Jeff Tomlin, Co-Founder & CMO of Vendasta If you had to summarize Vendasta’s marketplace for small and medium sized agencies, it would be, in Jeff’s words, “Business in a box”.  Vendasta gives 80k+ agencies a full-stack platform to rebrand and resell online services to local business clients, granting them the scalability of a SaaS recurring revenue model....

Episode: 7 Chapter Seven of Anyone, Not Everyone advises on the importance of understanding your competition in the chosen vertical market, with 90% of marketers reporting positive outcomes from such research. It suggests balancing competitive analysis with a focus on clients, emphasizing that overconcentration on competitors may lead to reactive, non-client-focused decisions. This chapter guides readers through a three-step process to identify, research, and document findings on competitors...

"The higher that gross margin is, the more optionality you have to make deliberate decisions about your agency."  – Marcel Petitpas, Co-Founder & CEO of Parakeeto Agency founders are often incredible visionaries when it comes to their core competency, but financials are rarely something they enjoy or excel at (pun intended). Between billable hours, shifting client scopes, clients scaling up or down, time-tracking, and pass-through costs, it’s no easy feat, either. In that vein, today’s...

Episode: 6   Chapter Six of Anyone, Not Everyone stresses the significance of deeply understanding the needs, desires, and fears of your target vertical market to create marketing that resonates and stands out amidst the noise. It guides readers on conducting buyer journey client interviews, a method superior to assumptions or surface-level market research, for crafting highly relevant and impactful marketing messages that echo the specific context and challenges of the vertical...

"The two challenges that we see with most agencies are that they don't have a clear growth strategy nor the resources to execute it. "  – Eric Brown, Co-Founder at Blood Sweat & Tears Most agencies initially grow through founder-led sales and tapping into leads in your network, but what is the next step? Where do agencies typically get stuck and how can they break through? There are no better people to answer these questions than today’s guests Nora DiNuzzo and Eric Brown, Co-Founders...

Episode: 5   Chapter Five of Anyone, Not Everyone introduces a four-step process for selecting the ideal vertical market for your agency, including gathering client data, identifying potential verticals, scoring them based on qualitative and quantitative factors, and finally, validating the market to ensure it can meet your business growth goals. This systematic approach serves as both an investment and insurance policy against the costly error of choosing an unsuitable vertical,...

"We went from generalist agency to performance marketing for franchises and renovations."  – Marty Menard, President of Giant Creative Finding success by niching down your agency focus surely isn’t a new story on this podcast, but there is a reason our guests on the show have found scalable growth through verticalization. And, each story comes with unique insights founders can tap into. This week, we’ll hear Marty Menard's journey into specialization. He is President and Chief Business...

Episode: 4 Chapter Four of Anyone, Not Everyone emphasizes the vital role of empathy in deep specialization, likening it to the caring aspect of good parenting, essential for the long-term success of an agency. By genuinely investing in clients' businesses and industries, and offering support especially in challenging times, an agency can significantly differentiate itself from competitors, build stronger relationships, and lay the groundwork for sustainable growth and success. Reminder...

"What most people are trying to talk about when they talk about scale, but that's really leverage."– Greg Hickman, Founder of AltAgency Leverage is everything when it comes to growing a successful agency or service offering. And that’s exactly what today’s guest helps develop for his clients: Leverage to grow and develop their business to the level and direction they want to go. This week, welcome Greg Hickman on the show. He is an industry veteran and Founder of AltAgency, a consultancy...

Episode 3 Chapter Three of Anyone, Not Everyone underlines the importance of careful and informed selection when choosing a vertical market to specialize in, warning that a hasty or ill-informed choice can lead to significant loss of time and potential revenue. It encourages agency founders to use their client history data to make an educated decision and highlights the characteristics of a desirable vertical, advising to start with a generalist approach before specializing to gain a...

"Acquiring a service you want to offer helps your company leapfrog years of trial and error. " – Sam Shepler, Founder of Testimonial Hero We welcome back Sam Shepler, Founder of Testimonial Hero, a global video testimonial company that helps B2B SaaS companies close more deals through customer stories.  After a quick recap on what Testimonial Hero does (listen to episode 55 for part one), Corey and Sam get into the topic of acquisitions. Testimonial Hero recently acquired a company named...

Episode 2 Chapter Two of Anyone, Not Everyone outlines six compelling benefits of becoming a vertical market specialist, drawing on the real-world transition and success of marketing agency Gorilla 76, which honed its focus on industrial manufacturing clients.  The chapter highlights how specialization simplifies sales and marketing, improves sales confidence through deep industry knowledge, removes friction from the buying process by becoming an insider, makes agencies extraordinary by...

"We’ve chosen to focus. And that focus is powerful. It delivers value to the end customer. – Ron Callis Jr., CEO of One Firefly Ron Callis Jr., is the Chief Executive Officer of One Firefly, an award-winning marketing agency that has consistently ranked in the INC 5000 list for its impressive growth. With a laser focus on the custom integration, security, and clean tech industries, Ron brings invaluable insights into scaling a business through the power of specialization and dedicated team...

Episode: Introduction  The Introduction of Anyone, Not Everyone sets the stage by emphasizing the significance of niche marketing for businesses. It explains how focusing on specific audiences rather than a broad market can lead to more meaningful engagement, efficient use of resources, and ultimately, greater success.  Episode: 1  Chapter One of Anyone, Not Everyone illustrates the pitfalls of generalist agencies that stretch themselves thin by saying yes to too many types of clients,...

"Our philosophy at Digital Mastermind, an agency leadership group, is that a rising tide lifts all boats." –– Jon Tsourakis, Owner, Digital Mastermind Group The agency landscape is extremely competitive across most verticals - some might prefer to gatekeep insights around best practices and growth levers to maintain an edge. That’s not the case at all for today’s guest, Jon Tsourakis.  Jon is a long-time agency owner, entrepreneur, and a steadfast believer in the power of peer knowledge. As...

"All 14 of our clients got the product. We got them onboarded and they all loved it and paid a fee to use it, which was incredible." Robin Alex, Founder of HighLevel. Usually, it takes a long while for a B2B software product to find traction. That wasn’t the case for today’s guest, who by luck and brilliant vision found success from the get-go. A lifelong entrepreneur, Robin joins The Deep Specialization Podcast to share his founding story, going from building companies in his dorm room to...

"Unlike other professions, there's a helping atmosphere in law. They're always networking and talking with each other." Brendan Chard, Founder of The Modern Firm. And, it was those initial referrals that got Brendan into many of the local attorney firms in Ann Arbor some 20 years ago. Born into a family of lawyers, you could say that the legal vertical is in our guest’s blood, and he almost went to law school himself.  But destiny had other things in mind: Brendan somewhat accidentally...