Growing a marketing agency from €900K to €3 Million Revenue in 3 years

Hi Everyone

We have been getting some requests to also feature some stories about agencies. You ask, we listen. 

Today, we have Tycho from a leading B2b Growth Agency, Dapper in The Netherlands, sharing their very own growth story. He unpacks how they went from $900K to $3 Million revenue in 3 years and grew from a team of 7 marketers struggling to survive to a team of 35, set to double over the coming year.

Enjoy the read.
- Stefan

How becoming 'niche famous' took us from surviving to thriving in a crowded marketplace.
by Tycho Luijten, from Dapper

Back in 2022, our agency struggled to grow.

We were a small team of 7 marketers with big ambitions. But we didn’t land enough new clients to realize our growth goals. In 2022 we only grew by 20% (while we aimed to double in revenue).

However, everything changed when we decided to become famous in our niche. In 2023 and 2024 we managed to double our revenue in both years. And we expect a similar growth rate for 2025.

In this newsletter, I will take you through our rather simple marketing strategy, and how it propelled our growth, setting us on the course to become one of the leading B2B growth agencies in Europe.

While this case is about the growth of a service company, the same marketing principles apply when growing a SaaS or other B2B proposition.

2022: Pipeline as dry as the Sahara

Back In 2022, getting new business leads was tough. We relied mainly on referrals and also tried Google Ads, cold outreach, and some LinkedIn content marketing.

But none of it really worked, and growth fell short of our big ambitions. Here’s a picture of our entire team from that year.

Our small but mighty team in 2022. And yes, I look tiny - the guy behind me is 7 feet tall.

In hindsight, it is pretty clear to me why we didn’t get a lot of new business in 2022:

1. We didn’t have a clear niche.

We offered our services to a wide range of companies (B2B, B2C, and everything in between).

As an example of how that translated to our marketing: The content I made for LinkedIn was super generic. I got a lot of impressions and likes, but it didn’t get any business opportunities. I didn’t position myself in a niche with a clear solution. So even though I had great engagement, it wasn't clear what we could help companies with.

2. We could not compete with Google Ads and Direct Outreach

Capturing demand is generally hard in a red ocean. All your competitors are fighting for the same 3% of your prospects who are in-market (currently looking for a solution in your category).

Our proposition and website weren’t strong enough to compete for active demand in the market: The more mature agencies were crushing us.

The Niche Famous Framework 

At the time, we had developed a framework for our B2B clientele: the Niche Famous Framework.

We helped clients ‘become famous’ in their niche by creating and distributing content focused on demand generation. The goal was simple: getting our clients top-of-mind within their category.

The intended result: Prospects think of you when they think of your category, which in turn leads to pipeline growth.

The main lessons here that I taught my clients were:

1. Niche down: Pick a niche that you can deliver the most value to, and that is most profitable to your business. The more specific your niche, the better.
   
   
2. Play the long game: Create content that makes your prospects understand that you can solve their problems, and keep serving that content to them. Becoming famous in a niche takes time.
   

Then, in 2022, it hit me: I wasn’t following my own advice for Dapper.

I lacked a clear niche and focused on short-term tactics like Google Ads and direct outreach, neglecting long-term strategies.

Making Dapper Niche Famous

I decided to apply our own framework to the marketing of Dapper.
These were the steps I followed:

1. I defined our ICP

Our ICP become crystal clear:
Marketing Leaders and Founders at B2B Scale-ups from 20-200 FTE in the Netherlands.

2. I identified what I wanted Dapper to become famous for

We defined what we at Dapper call our ‘Core Messaging’:
The themes and POV that we were going to repeat in all our messaging.

3. I built a content creation system

I developed a system that guaranteed fresh, high-value content every week. The goal was to clearly show our ICP that we’re the authority in solving their growth challenges and problems. I focused on both video and written content to drive that message home.

We also used my personal LinkedIn account as primary distribution channel, because people buy from people, not from companies. I have religiously been posting high quality video content on a daily basis for the past few years.

At first, I saw the impressions and engagement go down on my LinkedIn posts.
But I realized that was because the content was much more tailored to a niche.

4. I implemented a content distribution strategy

In addition to posting on LinkedIn, I used LinkedIn Advertising to ensure my content reached our ICP. We also retargeted website visitors on META and YouTube to stay top-of-mind.

Alongside advertising, we launched a weekly email with B2B marketing tips and eventually even launched a podcast, B2BIN15.

The goal was simple: we wanted to be visible constantly and consistently to our niche. When a B2B marketing leader or founder in The Netherlands thinks of a growth agency, they had to think of us.

The Results

As mentioned in the intro, 2022 was a tough year, but 2023 and 2024 were game-changers for the agency.

By appearing on our ICP's timelines about 100 times, we truly  managed to became "niche famous," leading to:

• A surge in inbound leads
• Sales cycles cut by 50%+
• Nearly doubling our revenue each year
  • 900k revenue in 2022
  • 1.6M revenue in 2023
  • 3M revenue in 2024
• Over 60% of leads coming from our Niche Famous strategy
• That small team of 7, which struggled in 2022, has now grown to 35 marketers - and we’re on track to double again next year.

Now, we have more business than we can handle.
Our biggest challenge isn’t finding clients - it’s finding and recruiting great talent.

If you are an agency or B2B company struggling to grow, niche down and create great content. I promise you, you won't look back.

Good luck out there. 

Latest Course
Content Strategy for Demand Generation

This course is your complete approach to building a fast-flowing highway of continuous demand. Learn each step of the process for driving B2B leads with content marketing, from the first action to the final outcome.

After completing this online course on content strategy & SEO for demand generation you will be able to assist your team and company with:

• Developing content strategies that align with lead generation goals.
• Researching and optimizing key phrases for SEO.
• Producing and repurposing content efficiently for various platforms.
• Measuring and improving content performance for better results.
• Collaborating with influencers to extend content reach.

Dive in now > 

New Blogs

• How to start a business podcast: A proven step-by-step guide for growing companies

So, you’re thinking about launching a podcast. Maybe you’re leading a marketing team at a growth-stage SMB, or you’re just looking for a way to punch above your weight.

In this blog I will provide you with a guide that is based on real strategies that have helped SMBs navigate challenges, stretch tight budgets, and hit targets they never thought possible. 

✔ Unlimited team seats – big team, big savings.

✔ 120+ highly practical and detailed marketing courses.

✔ 10 deep skill-building programs.

✔ Learn from vetted top 1% marketing practitioners.

If you have a team of 10, that’d be only $672/yr per team member. $336/yr per member for a team of 20.

Start a 7-day free trial. 

CXL, 901 S Mo Pac Expy, Suite 150, Barton Oaks Plaza One, Austin TX 78746.

Follow us on LinkedIn.

Unsubscribe from future emails like these.