Why our business model might look like we’re failing…
Okay, hear me out.
We might actually be quite shit at running an agency. Because our business model involves… losing clients.
Not in the “they hated us and sent a strongly worded email” kind of way. More in the “we helped them grow to the point where they don’t need us anymore” kind of way. Which, inconveniently, is the entire fucking point.
When I started House of Zemi, our business model was pretty clear.
We’re a creative agency for small to medium businesses. We sit in that awkward middle ground between “I’m doing all the marketing myself and I’m one Instagram reel away from a nervous breakdown” and “we’re ready to hire someone internally.”
We come in, help build the foundations, make the marketing actually make sense, and eventually… you might not need us in the same capacity anymore. Which sounds like a terrible business model when you say it out loud.
“Hi, hire us! We’ll teach you everything we know and then eventually help you replace us.”
Excellent business strategy, Kaytea. No notes. Except… it works.
Statistically, a client stays with an agency for about six months. Our clients, for the most part, have stayed with us for years. Not to toot our own horns (beep fucking beep) but we’re bloody proud of that. Mainly because a long-term client relationship tells us we’re doing something right. We’re trusted, we’re useful, we’re delivering, and somewhere along the way we’ve become part of how that business operates.
But the other part of our job is knowing when a client has outgrown what they originally needed from us.
That’s why we spend A LOT of time teaching. We don’t just hand over a bunch of pretty content and disappear into the night. We explain the what, the why and the how. We want you to understand what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and what the hell all those numbers in your Meta Ads Manager actually mean. Because if your goal is to eventually take the reins yourself, we want you to be bloody ready when you do. And to be clear, that isn’t everyone’s goal.
We’ve recently had a client reach the point where they were ready to bring their marketing in-house. Which, obviously, you’d think is where we were supposed to dramatically clutch our pearls and scream:
“BUT WHO WILL MANAGE THE SOCIALS?!”
Instead, we were thrilled.
Another client trusted us enough that they actually asked if we wanted to become their internal marketing team. Which was a pretty bloody funny moment because imagine being so good at helping someone build an internal marketing function that they ask you to… become the internal marketing function. Unfortunately for them, that wasn't quite the House of Zemi business model.
And that’s the thing.
Every business is going somewhere different.
Sometimes you need someone to take marketing completely off your plate. Sometimes you need to build a brand. Sometimes you need to make enough bloody money that hiring a marketing person finally makes financial sense. And sometimes, you need us for a few years before you're ready to take it from here.
Our job is to be useful for whatever stage you're in.
So if we help you get to the point where bringing marketing in-house is the right move? We haven't lost a client. We've literally achieved the goal. And yes, we’d much rather celebrate that than desperately cling to a retainer because our monthly revenue spreadsheet told us to.
After all, a contract ending doesn’t mean the relationship ends either. We’ll still be in your corner. We’ll still celebrate your wins. We’ll still tell everyone how bloody clever you are.
And if six months later your new marketing person leaves and everyone turns to you like “so… what do we post?” You know where we are.
At House of Zemi, we’re bloody proud of the clients who stay with us for years. But we’re also bloody proud when a client grows into something different. Sometimes the best proof that we’ve done our job well is that you’re ready to do more without us.
And that’s a pretty fucking good problem to have.