Insights from the 2025 Benchpress Research for UK Marketing Agencies

In today's episode, Tracey takes a look at the recently released 2025 Benchpress Research, which uncovers critical insights about UK agencies earning under one million pounds. She discusses the challenges faced by agency owners, including rising redundancies, falling hourly rates, and cash flow issues.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Agencies should prioritise measuring and improving their gross profit rather than just revenue. A significant number of agencies (32%) are missing out on vital insights by not tracking GP, which is crucial for sustainability. While 95% of agencies are utilising AI for various functions, it's important to maintain the unique tone and voice of the agency. AI can save time and money, but agencies should not pass these savings onto clients and must ensure the quality of AI-generated content. The main struggles for agency owners include winning new business (41%), being stuck working in the business rather than on it (23%), and cash flow issues (16%). These challenges are often interconnected, creating a vicious cycle that needs to be addressed. Successful agencies are focusing on specialisation, moving out of London for better profitability, and shifting to retainer or subscription models. Agencies with a clear niche see significant increases in fee income and gross profit. High confidence levels correlate with better performance. Building a culture of confidence within the agency, celebrating small wins, and focusing on unique value propositions can lead to improved outcomes and business growth. BEST MOMENTS "Agencies that are achieving 50% gross profit or higher are thriving while those who don't measure GP, shockingly 32% of agencies are missing out on vital insights." "AI is great because it saves us all time and therefore money, but don't pass those savings on to the client. You should get the benefit of your initiative." "The best performing agencies are doubling down on initial specialism, moving out of London to boost profitability, investing in marketing, social proof, and LinkedIn engagement." "Ghosting and unqualified leads are the two biggest frustrations for agency owners responding to the bench press research." "Specialisation drives growth and profitability, and agencies with a clear niche see a 26% plus increase in fee income and a gross profit of 61% or more." HOST BIO Tracey is a highly skilled creative marketer with 30+ years in-depth experience in lead gen, marketing and sales, a broad knowledge of business growth gained over decades. She has an innate knowledge of what works and, more importantly, what doesn't. Her specialist area is LinkedIn™ clocking up over 6000 hours learning so she can advise on generating leads, building communities and relationships. Her clients benefit from her various perspectives having worked on the client side in corporate advertising/marketing comms roles, Director level in a global design consultancy and SME agency experience. Having been headhunted to save a major financial account at a top London design consultancy, she increased the fees by 102% YOY and repeated this result on the British Airways account increasing fees 150% YOY. She believes in avoiding get-rich-quick shortcuts in favour of consistent, long-term, exceptional results. Podcast: Click here to subscribe LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/traceyburnett Website: www.leadstosuccessglobal.com Got a question? Give me a call: 0044 7877 042 804 Email: [email protected] Want to grow your business? https://this.leadstosuccessglobal.com/leadsandsales Find out if you are ready to get leads from LinkedIn - https://this.leadstosuccessglobal.com/linkedinGrow Your Business: https://www.leadstosuccessglobal.com/