Why we don’t call ourselves an agency.
Field Notes | Marketing Operations
Because honestly, we're not. We operate as an internal team. We just cost less.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this. For good reason.
It's exactly what brought me to where I am today and allowed me to launch my second fractional marketing services organization, agent.m.
agent.m is a fractional marketing services provider designed to embed senior-level marketing leadership into businesses, combining strategy and execution under one roof. A full marketing team. A fraction of the time and a fraction of the cost… more on that later.
Because this isn't just about what we do. It's about what we call what we do, and why that matters.
The truth is, I set out to build an agency. That was the plan. It was familiar. Proven. It made sense on paper. But somewhere along the way, that path started to shift.
This wasn't the plan
At least that's what I thought.
I was going to consult for a bit and then eventually build my own agency. But what actually happened looked very different.
Most of the clients I started working with were startups or smaller businesses—$10M and under. They weren't looking for an agency. They were looking for help building something from the ground up—their brand, their positioning, their go-to-market strategy.
And in those early days, it was just me. Shaping brands. Designing websites. Managing timelines. Writing copy. I was not only the strategic advisor, but I wore every other hat in marketing.
At first, it felt efficient. One person. One brain. One point of contact. But it was far from it.
The moment it shifted
I was writing copy for a client and it was taking me twice as long as it should have.
And when you actually do the math, it gets worse.
Two hours to write something a copywriter could do in one—at roughly three times the hourly rate.
That's six times the cost for the same output.
Not because I couldn't do it. But because it wasn't the best use of my time or their money.
So, I suggested we bring one in. And immediately, things got better. Faster. Sharper. More cost-effective. Then came a designer. Then a project manager. Then a business development manager. Then an operations manager.
Piece by piece, we built the right fractional team around the business—based on what it needed, when it needed it. And somewhere along the way, we were saving the client a meaningful amount annually while improving the quality of the work.
It just… happened. There was no grand plan. No "this is the model." It was simply the most logical way to solve the problem in front of us.
A real-world example
They were already working with an agency and they weren't happy. Not with the output, not with the process, not with the results.
But they still had a few months left on their retainer. They hired me as their fractional CMO and, in that role, asked me to manage the agency's remaining work.
I remember thinking, this should be interesting.
What happened next completely surprised them. They started loving the work. The agency began delivering exactly what they had been hoping for—often on the first try. Less back and forth. Better alignment. Stronger output.
Nothing about the agency itself had changed. It wasn't a bad agency. In fact, they were quite good. What changed was the input.
Agencies don't operate in a vacuum. They need clear direction. Strong briefs. Thoughtful feedback. Decisive leadership. Without that, even the best agencies struggle. And most businesses don't have someone, full-time or fractional, to properly manage that process. That's where things break down.
And then it clicked
They didn't need convincing.
Because they were facing the same challenge: they needed senior marketing leadership, but not necessarily full-time. They needed execution, but not a bloated team. They needed flexibility, focus, and people who could step in and actually do the work.
What they didn't need was a traditional agency structure. And that's when I realized—this wasn't consulting anymore, and it wasn't an agency either. It was something else.
Scaling it—intentionally
If I wanted to scale it—without compromising the quality, the thinking, or the level of partnership—it couldn't just be me. So, I brought on two senior-level partners. Not to build layers, but to strengthen the model. To ensure every client benefits from true senior leadership. To create a structure where strategy and execution stay tightly connected, no matter how we grow.
That was an important moment. Because it reinforced what this was becoming—and what it wasn't.
We're not external. We're embedded.
The pressure points. The trade-offs. The things that don't show up in a brief. We're in the conversations that happen before the work is defined. The messy ones. The ones where you're not sure what the right answer is yet.
That's a very different posture than an agency. It requires a different level of ownership. A different level of care. And honestly, a different level of accountability. Because when you're embedded, you don't get to step back and say, "That's outside of scope." You're part of it. All of it.
Strategy and execution aren't separate lanes
The strategy gets developed—often thoughtfully—and then handed off to a team that wasn't part of shaping it. And somewhere along the way, the nuance gets lost. The intent softens. The work becomes… fine.
We've never been interested in that model. For us, the thinking and the doing are tightly connected. The same people shaping the direction are involved in bringing it to life. Not in a "review and approve" way—but in a doing the work way. Because that's where the real value shows up.
How we're different
We work with you.
| Traditional Agency | agent.m |
|---|---|
| External partner | Embedded partner |
| Briefed on what to do | Helps define what should be done |
| Strategy and execution often separated | Strategy and execution tightly connected |
| Scoped work, defined deliverables | Fluid support based on business needs |
| Managed by the client (often inconsistently) | Managed internally by senior leadership |
| Team structure defined upfront | Team built based on what's needed, when it's needed |
| Higher fixed cost structures | Fractional model—flexible, efficient, right-sized |
The bottom line
We're just being honest about what we are—and what we're not.
We're a small, senior team that embeds into businesses and helps them move forward. We think. We build. We execute. We stay close to the work and even closer to the outcomes—supported by a full-service, plug-and-play team designed to scale with what the business needs, when it needs it.
And for us, that's a much better place to be.
Curious what the cost difference actually looks like? We broke it down with real numbers — fractional vs. in-house, side by side.
A Smarter Way to Scale Marketing →