Going from £3 - £10m… the main marketing differences.

Besides the obvious (a few million pounds!) one question I get asked a lot from founders who are scaling  is “What’s the main difference between an agency with around £3m revenue and an agency at £10m+?”

Generally, there are a lot of differences, but I’ve focussed on 10 areas within marketing and summarised where I see the main differences based on my experience working with agencies across this range.

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1. Goals and priorities

• £3m
  Focused more on growth, building brand awareness and acquiring new clients to expand their market share. Marketing efforts may be more reactive and driven by immediate revenue needs.

• £10m
  Focus shifts towards market leadership, brand positioning and diversifying client bases. They might prioritise client retention more, deeper thought leadership and scaling their services across broader markets. Less reliance on new business, with bigger wins occurring less frequently.

2. Budget

• £3m
  Typically have smaller marketing budgets, focusing on cost-effective channels like digital ads, SEO and content marketing. ROI-driven tactics are a priority with less experimentation. 

• £10m
  Have a larger marketing budget allowing for broader campaigns, multi-channel strategies, and investment in high-quality branding, PR, and partnerships.

3. Team structure

• £3m
  Likely have a lean marketing team often with generalists handling multiple roles. Outsourcing or relying on freelancers may be common for certain specialised tasks.

• £10m
  Tend to have a more structured marketing team with specialists (e.g. digital marketing, PR, events, analytics). They might also use more sophisticated tools and platforms to support their strategy.

4. Brand positioning

• £3m
  Often emphasises flexibility, personalised service and competitive pricing. Their messaging might be focused on solving specific client pain points with relationship building at their core.

• £10m
  Focus more on being a trusted expert or thought leader. Their positioning may highlight industry authority, long-term partnerships and broader capabilities.

5. Target audience

• £3m
  These tend to target smaller businesses, startups or mid-sized companies looking for affordable yet effective solutions.

• £10m
  Focussed more on larger organisations, multi-location businesses or high-value accounts with a focus on strategic long-term relationships. Noticeable difference in depth of audience knowledge.

6. Channels and tactics

• £3m

• Take a digital-first approach with heavy reliance on performance marketing (e.g. PPC, email campaigns and social).

• Broader thought leadership to appeal to a wider audience.

• Heavy reliance on referrals and networking as key acquisition channels.

• £10m

• Bigger investment in integrated campaigns across digital, print and experiential marketing.

• Likely engage in more specific thought leadership through whitepapers, webinars and speaking opportunities.

• Uses advanced tools (e.g. marketing automation, AI-driven analytics) for more personalised and scalable campaigns.

7. Measurement and KPIs

• £3m
  Measures success through leads, conversions and immediate ROI. Their metrics tend to be more focussed on growing client count and revenue per client.

• £10m
  Monitors broader metrics like market share, client lifetime value, brand sentiment and campaign reach. They may also track the impact of long-term branding efforts. Their methods for tracking are more sophisticated too with a deeper use of technology.

8. Partnerships and strategic alliances

• £3m
  Limited partnerships, often working with local or niche service providers. Collaboration tends to be project-specific. Usually find partnerships are the last area of lead generation to focus on due to limited resource, capacity and longer timeframes.

• £10m
  Firmer strategic partnerships with larger platforms, media outlets or industry organisations that allow greater reach and influence. They have more resource so can dedicate investment to finding and building core partnerships.

9. Innovation and Experimentation

• £3m
  Tried-and-tested methods are more relied upon due to limited budgets for experimentation. We don’t see a huge amount, generally.

• £10m
  More room to play with emerging technologies, tools and trends in terms of experimental investment budget, time and people resources.

10. Tech stack

• £3m
  Early stage understanding of different tools and platforms, likely still getting to grips with not just what to use but how they should be used.

• £10m
  Established confidence in using an agreed and spec’d tech stack. Platforms complement each other and provide a greater depth of insight and data to inform more strategic decision making.