Please agencies, have a point of view

And no, the fact you have a great team, are London based and are ambitious doesn’t count.

Speak to brands about what they want from agencies and the same phrase comes up again and again.

“We’re looking for fresh thinking.”

“We want an agency that will challenge us.”

“We need a partner who brings new ideas to the table.”

Sounds simple enough. But then look at how most agencies talk about themselves and you see the problem.

“We’re a passionate team.”

“We’re independent.”

“We’re based in London.”

“We’re ambitious.”

“We work collaboratively.”

Lovely. Also completely forgettable.

None of that is a point of view. It’s the agency equivalent of saying you like food, music and holidays on a dating profile. Technically true. Deeply unhelpful.

A point of view is what you believe about your industry, your clients’ challenges, and the future of the work you do. It’s the thing that makes a prospect stop scrolling and think, “That’s interesting. I hadn’t thought about it like that.”

And in a market where every agency is fighting for attention, that matters.

Being good is not enough

There are hundreds of good agencies out there.

Good teams. Good case studies. Good processes. Good intentions.

The problem is, from the outside, many of them sound exactly the same. Same services. Same promises. Same language. Same “we help ambitious brands grow” energy.

That might have been enough when leads were flowing, referrals were reliable, and buyers had the time to meet a few agencies and work out who had the spark.

But buyers are under pressure now. They are busy, cautious and drowning in options. They don’t have the time or inclination to decode your difference for you.

So you have to make it obvious.

Not by shouting louder. Not by posting more. Not by adding another page to your credentials deck.

By having something to say.

What a point of view actually is

A point of view is not a slogan.

It is not a trend report with your logo on the front.

It is not “AI is changing everything”, because yes, thank you, we noticed.

A proper point of view takes a position.

It says: here is what we believe is broken, misunderstood, overhyped, underused, ignored or about to change.

For example:

A paid media agency should have a strong opinion on measurement. Are in-platform metrics giving ecommerce brands a distorted view of performance? Is last-click attribution still fit for purpose? Are brands optimising for what is easy to report rather than what actually drives profit?

A creative agency should have a view on AI. Not just “we use it to work faster”, but what role it should play in the creative process. Should AI-generated concepts be disclosed? Does it improve ideation or flatten originality? Where is the line between acceleration and creative laziness?

A brand agency should have a view on positioning. Are businesses too obsessed with category convention? Are they mistaking visual identity for brand strategy? Are they trying to appeal to everyone and ending up meaning nothing to anyone?

That is where the interesting stuff lives.

Not in “we’re nice people”.

In what you believe.

Why prospects care

Prospects are not just buying delivery. They are buying judgement.

They want to know how you think. They want to know what you will challenge. They want to know whether you are going to sit quietly on status calls taking notes, or whether you are going to help them make better decisions.

A strong point of view gives them a preview of what it feels like to work with you.

It builds trust before the first call. It creates a reason to get in touch. It gives your sales team something useful to lead with that is not “just checking in”. It gives your marketing a spine.

Without it, you are left trying to win people over with chemistry, credentials and availability.

That is a risky little cocktail.

Where to find your point of view

The good news is you probably already have one. It is just hiding in your client conversations, your pitch debriefs, your Slack rants and the things your senior team keep saying after meetings.

You just need to drag it out into the light.

Start with your best client relationships. Pick the three clients who trust you most and ask them for a proper conversation. Coffee, lunch, video call, whatever works. But do not ask them, “What do you like about us?” That will get you politeness.

Ask better questions.

What are you struggling to make sense of in our space?

What do you wish agencies challenged you on more?

Where do you think agencies are still talking nonsense?

What are your internal teams finding hardest to get buy-in for?

What do you wish someone would just say out loud?

That is where the gold is.

Then look at the big brands in your space. Famous examples are useful because people already understand the context. If you are making a point about ecommerce measurement, talk about the brands everyone knows. If you are making a point about AI and creativity, use the campaigns, tools and behaviours people are already debating.

You are not doing this to be provocative for the sake of it. You are doing it to make your thinking easier to understand.

Finally, challenge your senior team properly.

Ask yourselves: why should a prospect care about what we have to say?

Not why should they hire us. Not why are we good. Not what services do we offer.

Why should they listen?

If that question makes the room uncomfortable, good. That probably means you are getting somewhere.

The best points of view have tension

A bland opinion will not travel.

“Brands need to be more customer-centric” is not a point of view. It is wallpaper.

“Most brands say they are customer-centric, but still build their marketing around internal reporting structures” is more interesting.

“AI will make agencies more efficient” is obvious.

“AI will expose agencies that have been selling process as creativity” has some teeth.

“Measurement is important” says nothing.

“Most ecommerce brands are optimising media spend against metrics that make platforms look good, not businesses healthier” gives people something to react to.

You do not need to be controversial for clicks. But you do need a bit of tension. A bit of edge. A sense that you are prepared to say what others are politely dancing around.

And then you need to use it

Once you have a point of view, do not bury it in a blog once and move on.

Build around it.

Turn it into content. Use it in outreach. Shape events around it. Create a roundtable discussion. Build a diagnostic tool. Run a webinar. Pitch it to podcasts. Use it as the opening of a sales conversation.

This is where point of view becomes pipeline.

Because suddenly you are not contacting prospects with “thought I’d introduce ourselves”.

You are saying: “We think the way ecommerce brands measure paid media is quietly costing them growth. We’ve been exploring this with marketing leaders and thought it might be relevant to what you’re doing.”

That is a very different conversation.

It has a reason. It has relevance. It has a point.

The uncomfortable truth

Most agencies do not have a visibility problem.

They have a meaning problem.

They are posting, emailing, pitching and networking, but they are not really saying anything distinctive. They are hoping the market will somehow infer their brilliance from a nice website and a few case studies.

It won’t.

Your prospects are busy. Your competitors are everywhere. Your “great team” is not enough.

So please, agencies, have a point of view.

Have a belief. Have a challenge. Have a take. Have something you are willing to stand behind.

Because the agencies that win attention, trust and ultimately new business are not always the biggest or the loudest.

They are the ones that make people think:

“Finally. Someone has said something useful.”