Why I chose to specialize in a niche market for my HubSpot partner agency

I grew up in the automotive repair industry. My family owns what started as a Saab and Volvo exclusive independent repair shop. My parents were very progressive with technology within their business. They were one of the first in the industry (eem before the franchised dealerships) to install computers and then to have a custom point-of-sale software program created. They had a website very early on which I took over management of and began moving their marketing initiatives forward. At a time when most small and medium-sized businesses did not see the value of even having a website, I was doing inbound marketing.

Now my path towards growing a marketing agency has taken many detours. It was inevitable that I ended up here. Along the way I established myself within the Highline European car repair niche as a thought leader in digital marketing advising a small group of reputable progressive business owners through an automotive repair shop 20 group. The relationships that I formed within this niche market allowed me to hit the ground running when I left my family's business and started Business Actualization.

At the beginning, I was advising on fixed operations or service selling, internal business structure, and consulting. I used this to supplement my company's income as I built a model to grow marketing revenue. In early 2011, I came across HubSpot and started engaging with their sales process. I was immediately sold on the marketing platform and soon after, I signed up for my own HubSpot subscription.

I knew that the HubSpot marketing platform and the inbound marketing methodology was perfect for the automotive repair shop industry. I started taking everything that I learned from HubSpot and the software and began replicating it through Wordpress, Constant Contact, Yoast SEO plug-ins, and many other one off tools so that I could implement my strategy for all of BA clients. I prequalified my clients and the industry as a whole assuming that they would not be able to afford a HubSpot subscription or a real marketing retainer. This was the single largest mistake I made early on in my agency.

In late 2013, I made the decision to migrate all of my clients to the HubSpot marketing platform and to bring them up to a marketing retainer that would allow me to successfully implement an inbound marketing strategy.

In 2014, I went from being a dormant HubSpot partner to becoming a gold partner in less than nine months. Focusing solely on Highline European car repair shops has allowed me to develop a niche market in which I have zero competitors. I am the only inbound marketing agency focused on automotive repair shops. Having more than 20 years of experience in marketing this type of business, I have an intimate knowledge of how to communicate with their customers and prospects.

Specializing in one industry segment allows a HubSpot partner to develop marketing campaigns that can be reused as a foundation for multiple clients. This provides repeatable results and scalability of an agency. Though my target clients marketing budget and therefore my marketing retainers are much smaller than that of a traditional medium-sized business that a HubSpot partner may target, having a very niched focus allows me to be effective and successful. 

Specialization is key for a HubSpot partner to provide the highest level of value to their clients and allow them to continuously hone marketing campaigns rather than continuing to try and determine the next best thing. Not every part of the inbound marketing methodology can be replicated from client to client, but the parts that can allow for an agency to move faster at providing higher value to the client.

The traditional marketing agency role is to have a broad focus so that they may attract many different types of clients. The INBOUND methodology applied to growing a specialized marketing agency requires selecting one industry and one segment of that industry so that you not only set yourself apart from other marketing agencies, but other HubSpot partners as well. This allows the HubSpot partner community to continue to grow without any inter-agency competition; creating an environment for collaboration between all partner agencies.

I welcome any partner agency to reach out to me and discuss what industry your agency is considering targeting and how you can grow your marketing agency without ever having a competitor.