What It Is
This strategy deliberately moves an agency away from commodity execution like content production, link placement, and rank reporting toward higher-value strategy, content intelligence, and business advisory work. Commodity deliverables are increasingly automated and price-competitive, so margins erode while advisory work grows more valuable. By repositioning as a strategic partner who informs business decisions, the agency escapes the race to the bottom.
How It Works
- Map your current deliverables against how easily each can be automated or commoditized.
- Identify the strategic and advisory outcomes clients actually value but rarely buy explicitly.
- Package a higher-tier advisory or content-intelligence offer with clear business-level outcomes.
- Retrain or hire for strategic consulting and analysis capabilities beyond execution.
- Transition existing clients up-market by demonstrating advisory value on a pilot engagement.
- Reprice and restructure contracts to reward strategy over volume of deliverables.
Who Recommends It
- Flynn Zaiger endorses — Frames the agency’s critical evolution as climbing from execution toward strategy and business advisory as commodity SEO gets automated. Unscripted SEO episode →
Difficulty & Time Estimates
HardDifficulty
6–12 moTime to Results