Marketing agency simulator
See what your marketing or design agency would turn over, how many clients you'd win and who you'd lose them to — quarter by quarter for four years — before you spend real money.
Retainers, pitches and the client that is half your revenue. This one opens as Brightside Studio: A small agency doing marketing and design work for businesses on retainers and projects. Rename it, reprice it, or describe your own marketing or design agency and let Nova rewrite it to fit.
What a steady agency ends up with
Played steadily for all four years — quality first, then growth, a fair share of the bank spent each year — a steady agency here ends its last year on $1.2m of revenue and $260k of profit, with 83 clients and 3.2% of the market (#5 of 6).
It starts from nothing: $40k in the bank and you, 50 hours a week, with no clients yet.
People who play it well do better, and a bad plan runs out of money.
Revenue in the last year: $1.2m
Profit in the last year: $260k
Clients at the end: 83
Share of the market: From nothing to 3.2%
Where it finishes: #5 of 6
Years and decisions: 4 years, quarterly
What you'll decide each quarter
Each quarter you set your fees, decide how many people to carry against the work you have won, what to spend on winning the next client, and which cities you work in.
Each decision shows on a forecast before you file it, and every period resolves against the rivals and the economy.
Who your clients are
Expertise sells on reputation and is limited by people: every client needs somebody's hours, so growing means hiring just ahead of the work without running out of cash first.
2,300 clients in all, across your home city, the capital, the second city, a university city and a coastal city.
Small businesses: One decision-maker, a tight budget, and a need for it to just be handled. About 1,270 of them, worth $8.1k a year each.
Mid-sized firms: A proper brief, a few stakeholders and a renewal every year. About 690 of them, worth $25k a year each.
Large organisations: Panels, procurement and the work that pays for everything else. About 161 of them, worth $90k a year each.
Founders and individuals: One-off help, found through a friend or a search. About 184 of them, worth $4.5k a year each.
Who you're up against
Three rivals are already in it, and they play to win: they cut prices, spend on marketing and answer what you do. Most of the market is theirs on day one.
The big-name firm: The biggest, and slow to change — it has stopped listening to its smaller customers. Holds about 28% of the market.
The local practice everyone uses: Hasn't changed in years and is living off the customers it already has. Holds about 20% of the market.
The freelancer network: Wins on price and little else; its customers leave the moment somebody is better. Holds about 12% of the market.
How it works
Free until you start: building and previewing cost nothing, and starting is $10, once.
Build it — free: Press build and you get your own copy of this market: four kinds of client, three rivals and five cities.
Make it yours: Change any number, describe your marketing or design agency in a sentence or two and let Nova fill it in, or upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history to fit it to your real figures.
Preview — free: See what a steady agency ends up with, and every warning worth reading, before you pay anything.
Start — $10: Pay once to start, your seat included. Then run it quarter by quarter for four years.
Also for
marketing · design · creative · branding · web design · social media
How much does the marketing agency simulator cost?
Building and previewing are free: make your own copy of this marketing or design agency market, change anything in it and see what a steady agency ends up with without paying. Starting the simulation is $10, once, and your own seat is included.
Can I make it match my own marketing or design agency?
Yes. Every number can be changed — the clients and what they pay, the rivals, the cities, the costs and the starting cash. Or describe your marketing or design agency in a sentence or two and Nova, SparkTower's AI, fills every section in for one Nova action. If you already trade, upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history and the simulation is fitted to your real numbers, starting from where your business stands today.
Are the numbers realistic for a marketing or design agency?
The template is checked against what real ones do: played steadily, a believable one finishes year four turning over between $250k and $1.5m, with between 8 and 120 clients. This one's preview comes to about $1.2m and 83. Your own prices, costs and figures change that, which is the point of trying it here first.
Can I use it to test a marketing or design agency business plan?
That is what it is for. Put your plan's prices, costs and starting cash in, play it forward quarter by quarter, and see whether the money lasts, how many clients you would need and what a rival's price cut does to you — before you put real money in.
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