What’s Trending?
Each year, the Financial Times releases a list of Europe’s 1k fastest-growing companies. To be included in the list, companies must meet the following criteria:
- Revenue of €100k+ (~$118k+) generated in 2016
- Revenue of €1.5m+ (~$1.8m+) generated in 2019
- The company is independent
- The revenue growth between 2016 and 2019 was primarily organic
Why It’s Important?
Some of the fastest-growing companies are listed below from the FT list… think about how you can capitalize on emerging trends.
Source: FT 1000
1. Recruitment Tech and Job Platforms
Jobandtalent is the 10th fastest-growing company in Europe, according to the list. It’s an on-demand temp staffing marketplace based in Spain. They grew revenue at a CAGR of 285% from ~$5.7m in 2016 to ~$320m in 2019.
They reportedly hit ~$590m in 2020 and raised $120m from SoftBank in 2021 to expand to the US. The company, which uses algorithms to match temp workers with jobs, is one of a few recruitment and job-seeking platforms on the list.
Others include:
- Gojob, which also specializes in temp work, and raised ~$13m last year,
- Golden Bees, a programmatic recruitment platform, and
- Workable recruitment software
As many countries face all-time high unemployment rates in the wake of COVID, there will be more opportunities for innovative recruiting and temping solutions to enter the market (e.g., niche job boards). For example, platforms that enable virtual hiring stand to win big. According to Gartner’s research, 86% of organizations incorporated new virtual technology to interview candidates during COVID. The trend should stick around with the shift toward remote work.
2. Old-School Photo Applications
When was the last time you received a postcard? Depending on your age, your answer might even be “never.” There is a company on the list is looking to change that.
MyPostcard is a mobile app that allows users to create and send personalized postcards and greeting cards using their own photos to anywhere in the world. The German company grew revenue at a CAGR of ~54% from ~$1.6m in 2016 to ~$5.8m in 2019.
This trend could skyrocket as the world opens up and travel resumes. The point? Start following these types of companies.
Source: Google Trends
Postcards are not the only retro photos adapting to the e-commerce era.
PastBook’s software integrates with social media apps to create personalized photo books, posters, and calendars. The Dutch company grew revenue at a CAGR of ~108% from ~$1.4m in 2016 to ~$13.5m in 2019.
PastBook’s pricing (Source: PastBook website)
The opportunity is not limited to B2C, either. Companies like Postcard Mania, which makes ~$50m in annual revenue, is a direct-mail marketing company focusing on postcards. You could build the same for D2C ecommerce startups.
3. Honorable Mentions
Other fast-growing companies include:
- Chilly’s Bottles: Reusable water bottles and food pots that keep contents cold for 24 hours. Grew revenue at a CAGR of ~283% from ~$860k in 2016 to ~$41m in 2019.
- Cleveron: Produces automated parcel terminals/pickup lockers. Grew revenue at a CAGR of ~173% from ~$3.8m in 2016 to ~$78m in 2019.
- Foot District: Online sneaker store with 2 physical stores described as “must-see destinations for sneaker-heads.” Grew revenue at a CAGR of ~202% from ~$443k in 2016 to ~$12m in 2019.
- Playdigious: An indie game publisher that funds and publishes new games. Grew revenue at a CAGR of ~124% from ~$229k in 2016 to ~$2.6m in 2019.
- Finally, click here to check out our analysis of last year’s list.
The Opportunity:
Remember… many trends shift west from Europe so start connecting the dots and building relationships with some of these European fastest-growing companies and there competitors!
Prospect smAARt, pitch with purpose, and most importantly, with passion.
Is your new business plan merely to respond to every RFI that you find? If so, that’s not the best strategy but I’m sure you already know that too…
We’ve all heard about those cattle call RFIs where brands sometimes get upwards of 100+ responses to their RFIs. And if they don’t already know your name or your work, it’s going to be tough to stand out in a sea of sameness.
But how do you get on a brand’s radar prior to an RFI opportunity? The answer is quite simple but the work behind it takes discipline: Good old-fashioned relationship building.
Start implementing some or all of these smAARt tactics with the CMOS of the brands you’re salivating overworking for prior to them releasing an RFI. If you do the following, I can all but guarantee that at the very least, you will build visibility, raise awareness, build a name, become a resource, and eventually, your agency will stand out to that CMO in the next search process. Hell, maybe you’ll even preempt a review and the CMO will simply reach out to you first! After all, that is the ultimate goal.
Create a client referral program.
Just as marketers encourage current customers to evangelize on their behalf through social media, your agency should be marketing to brands through a “tradigital” mix of social posts and good old-fashioned, one-to-one conversations. Try a client referral program that offers incentives for targeted, satisfied customers to pass your name along. Many clients are probably happy to recommend you, but incentivizing them motivates them to actually make those referrals!
Track clients when they go to a new company.
Nurture relationships with the individuals you meet as you pitch companies. As they move up the corporate ladder, they may gain the influence to hire you. If they transition to another role at a different company, they could give you the inside track to pitch those new opportunities. As for the junior manager on the client team, they often have more say than you might realize… And they grow up fast. I ran a review for a health insurance company a number of years ago and the junior brand manager was pretty much the deciding vote in the final selection. Since then, she’s moved on and has a more senior role in another company making more decisions. Bottom line: it pays to stay in touch!
Remember- Winmo, AAR’s sister company tracks decision-maker shifts 24/7/365. You can set alerts on your top marketers so if anything ever changes, not only do you know where they went… you know why, and you also get their new contact info!
Lost pitches don’t mean it’s over.
You may not win the business this time around, but remember… not winning doesn’t mean you lost! Marketers are not shy about switching agencies to capture the best team for their brands and the most recent research estimates that the average client-agency relationship lasts just 3.2 years. Stay in the loop about the brand and the business. More and more, marketers want to work with agencies that offer complete marcom solutions plus understand their business landscape. You’ll get a second look if you can prove you’re right beside the brand in their quest to stay abreast of industry happenings.
Improve your organic reach.
Make sure you show up on Google and in the places marketers are researching new agencies. I don’t need to tell you how to rank organically. You make a living on helping brands rank organically and run ads… But I’m still amazed at how many agencies don’t do this basic stuff for their own businesses even though they are doing it for their clients.
So, I don’t know who needs to hear this… but set up your Google My Business account already!
Move with purpose.
A Forbes article revealed that global consumers are 4-6 times more likely to purchase, protect and champion purpose-driven companies. Don’t forget… marketers are YOUR customers. And they want to work with purpose-driven companies as well.
What is your agency’s purpose? If you aren’t sure, there are plenty of ways to find it but make sure it only answers one question, “Why you?” Why your agency and not another?
People remember companies that do good work for the good of others. Marketers will remember you for it too.
And if you need a great platform to share your agency’s purpose with brands, apply to be a guest on AAR Partner’s On Purpose Podcast!
Show off what you do best: Advertise!
Whether it’s through paid search, programmatic ads, or a colorful spread in the top industry publications, paid media is a great way to make your agency stand out. You control the message, the graphics, and the placement.
In a business where the way you pitch yourself is the first impression, a potential client will have about what you can do for them, make advertising your agency a priority!
In fact, one of the most important tactics for a successful digital marketing agency is to advertise their agency and their work. They have inbound requests from their ad program and they are selective with who they would like to progress in the discussion by evaluating their brand and needs.
Take Advantage of Your Agency Growth Program Membership.
Being an Agency Growth Program Member comes with a lot of benefits… but it’s up to you to take advantage of them. Here are six things you get included with your membership:
- Inclusion in our Agency Data Center: No action item here. As soon as you signed up with us, your agency info was put into your database that marketers use to review agencies and compile their shortlists.
- Lead and Opportunity Reports: 6-12 times per year we deliver hot leads into your inbox that are focused on exploding sub-categories. It’s your chance to evaluate the opportunity and start building relationships without ambulance-chasing!
- One-on-One Consultations: Want to pick my brain? Spend time with me to discuss new business issues? Need feedback on your capabilities presentation? Whether you want me to look at your pitch deck or merely talk about the industry, I’m all yours a few times a year! Take advantage of that time and book your consultation now.
- Thought Leadership: Write a guest blog each year that will be published on AAR’s website. Not only do thousands of marketers reading our blogs, but you get a nice little backlink for your agency.
- Get in Our Quarterly Agency Resource Guides: Each quarter, AAR honors our commitment to ‘reverse the search’ and educate marketers on solid, productive, talented agencies. 3K+ marketers receive this guidebook and it is well-received to the tune of an average 40%+ open and CTR! We educate marketers without the sales pitch and endorse agencies that pass through AAR’s evaluation process. It is a win-win. Look out for your participation invites in your email inbox!
- Executive Education: Read through the endless content in our digital resource center to get new business tips, stories, and lessons from past pitches.
Responding to RFIs is easy when you already have a foot in the door through strategic client relationship-building practices. But we are in the business of relationships first… it all goes back to the old adage, “Treat your current clients like prospects and your prospects like current clients!” Most of all… Pitch with passion.
In our last smAARt Huddle in May, I mentioned that if you were feeling like you’ve been drinking from a firehose you weren’t alone.
Here we are in mid-August… and the narrative hasn’t changed.
There is an enormous flurry of activity that just isn’t stopping. And in this month’s smAARt Huddle, I sat down with other AAR Agency Premium Members to discuss:
- The level of activity we’re seeing
- The rising turnaround expectations from customers
- The fast-paced decision making coming from decision-makers
- The types of business coming into the funnel
And so much more!
If you missed the conversation, give it a watch here.
The search process culminates at the final pitch but what goes on behind closed doors when clients are deliberating over that final agency selection?
Let me start by saying no agency has ever won a review based solely on the final presentation.
But what are some of those questions that clients are kicking around after all final meetings are finished? Here are some to keep in the back of your mind the next time you’re prepping for a final pitch. Of course, some of these vary depending on the type of review.
- Did the agency have both a comms idea and creative idea and did they work well together?
- Was there a clear and unique insight behind the strategy?
- How clear was the interpretation of the strategy?
- Did the creative idea or concept feel off or on brand?
- Did the creative push the brand enough to reach new ground – whether that is new consumers, new markets or new ways to reinforce current consumers?
- Did the creative feel familiar or referential?
- And this is a big question that comes up frequently. I often hear clients say, “Well, we tried something very similar and it failed years ago.”
- How much will the client team need to edit the work (meaning research, strategy and creative) being presented?
- Who thought about short-term sales and long-term brand building?
- Who had the most business intelligence about the category, consumer and brand?
- Who learned the most about the category and brand?
- Which agency felt like a natural extension with the client team and can work well together to elevate the brand?
- Which agency challenged the client the most in a positive way?
- What agency authentically cares about the brand?
And finally, as I’ve stated above, it’s not all based solely on the final pitch. It’s a discussion of the entire process from start to finish focusing on which agency learned the most, uncovered the most unique ideas and insights, had the best cultural compatibility and continuously gave the clients, throughout the process, the most confidence that it will be a successful relationship by being an asset in the agency ecosystem.
There you have it. That’s my counsel on this topic and I hope it helps. Look out for more of my new biz quick tips shared exclusively with AAR Agency Growth Program Partners…
Ghosting… as new business professionals you’re all too familiar with the concept.
But in case you aren’t, here is the formal definition:
Truthfully, we’ve all had a prospect who we knew was a great fit. We enjoyed talking to them and knew we could provide value to their business. But after sending the proposal, they fell off the face of the earth without giving us a reason.
Maybe it was sticker shock? Maybe you came across as too pushy? Maybe they’re just too busy right now but they’ll get back to you later?
The truth is you don’t know. And you may never know what truly went wrong. And there’s really no other way to put it… it sucks.
But what if there was a way to decrease the chance of prospects ghosting you or even eliminate it completely?
That’s exactly what Ahmad Munawar from Boutique Growth is going to teach us today in our latest Lesson Session: 5 Ways to Prevent Proposal Ghosting Once and For All.
Check out this exciting tutorial here.
Happy prospecting!