Growing a marketing communications agency is one thing, but building one that scales with intention is another. Whether you're navigating your first wave of rapid hiring, preparing for new business, or simply trying to make sense of your financials beyond what's sitting in your bank account, the infrastructure decisions you make now will define the business you become. The operational backbone of a high-performing agency demands as much strategic rigor as the client work itself. We tapped a group of industry experts spanning HR, finance, and business advisory to share the frameworks and hard-won insights that separate agencies that grow from those that scale.

Heather Purcell - CEO, Fiscally

Fiscally is a strategic finance partner for independent creative agencies. By providing the oversight of a CFO paired with a specialized accounting team, Fiscally helps exit-minded founders transform their finance function into a leadership tool that builds long-term, transferable value.

If you’re looking to build a firm that you can exit one day, we recommend prioritizing these five key areas. By doing so, you are also gaining much-needed clarity to make confident decisions today while ensuring the agency is ready for a seamless transition when it’s time to exit.

Shift to Accrual-Based Revenue Recognition 

To a potential buyer, "cash in the bank” is less important than Revenue Integrity. For agencies that bill retainers or project fees in advance,  a high cash balance can be a liability - it represents work you haven’t yet performed.  We would always encourage you to bill in advance where you can, but you need a mechanism to know how much of that billing is revenue and how much of that billing you still owe to clients at a later date. Professionalizing your finance function means moving from cash-basis accounting (tracking money as it hits the bank) to GAAP-compliant revenue recognition and accrual accounting (matching your revenue to the actual month your team delivers the work), and ideally, at least three years before a sale.

• The Reasoning: Buyers need to understand your true revenue, costs to deliver and EBITDA and they will pay a premium for predictable, standardized data.

• The Pitfall: Waiting until due diligence to clean up your books can lead to numbers that change during due diligence which will impact the ultimate price you are paid for your firm  (known as “valuation haircuts”.)

Bridge the Gap Between Workflow and Finance 

Scaling requires a "Single Source of Truth" where the tools to run your business (revenue trackers, client profitability, etc) need to match your official financial records - i.e. your General Ledger. If the documents you use to run the agency don't match your financial statements, you risk running your business on what you think is happening vs. what is actually happening

• The Reasoning: If the documents you are relying on to run your business don’t match your financial statements, you could be performing better or worse than you thought.

• The Pitfall: You may be operating with a scarcity or an abundance mindset, which will affect how quickly you make decisions and how you decide.  As you plan to exit, you need to be making confident, data-driven decisions using the most accurate source of truth.

Move from "Bank Balance" to "Rolling Forecasts" 

Professional agencies don’t look at the current bank balance to make decisions; they look at a weighted pipeline and a rolling 12-month forecast. This is especially the case when you pre-bill your work or carry a lot of hard costs as part of your budgets.  Better data means faster, more confident decision-making.

• The Reasoning: High-value agencies are predictable. Buyers look for "forward-looking visibility" as a sign of a mature management team.  They can also test the future patterns vs. the historical realities to increase confidence in the forecasts, especially for project-based businesses

• The Pitfall: Relying on a static annual budget that becomes irrelevant by the end of Q1.

Sanitize Your P&L and Standardize Contracts 

Professionalization involves "contractual hygiene" - ensuring all Client MSAs and SOWs are standardized, include IP protections, and are easily transferable. Simultaneously, you must separate "owner perks" from legitimate business expenses.

• The Reasoning: A messy P&L full of personal expenses creates friction during due diligence and suggests the business is too dependent on the owner’s lifestyle.

• The Pitfall: Custom-negotiating every contract, which creates a legal nightmare for a buyer to audit.

Optimize for "Quality of Earnings" (QoE) and Revenue Durability

Professionalizing your finance function means moving beyond a simple P&L to a "normalized" EBITDA that highlights the sustainability of your profit. This involves shifting your mix toward high-value recurring revenue and Agency of Record (AOR) agreements, while providing the data trails necessary to prove "repeatable" Year-over-Year (YoY) revenue for project-based clients.

• The Reasoning: Sophisticated buyers pay a premium for "durability." By identifying non-recurring expenses (add-backs) and proving your revenue isn't just a series of one-offs, you lower the buyer's risk profile and justify a significantly higher valuation multiple.

• The Pitfall: Failing to document the "recurring nature" of project-based work; if a buyer views your revenue as "volatile" rather than "reliable," they will apply a heavy discount to your firm’s value during due diligence.

Allyns Melendez - CEO, HR Transformed

From the HR standpoint, those in the marcomms industry should build people systems that can scale.

Talent Pipelines

I feel that one of the biggest advantages is having a warm bench of talent in strategy, design, and account management.  This shortens the time-to-fill during growth periods. 

Scalable Onboarding Structure

Don't ever underestimate the importance of a solid and scalable onboarding.  It should consist of a 30/60/90 day plan, training, clear performance expectations, toolkit for new hires (systems access, workflows, brand guidelines, approval paths, daily/weekly goals. The structure should be designed to make sure there is a fast ramp up and less retraining.  

HR Tech Stack

From your ATS to your HRIS, when you are scaling quickly, manually tracking applicants and team members becomes an administrative time suck.  Shift to systems that will handle multi-state or multi-country rules, performance tools, skills tracking, learning platforms, etc.  

Some Tips

Don't neglect manager training, adjust handbooks when adding employees in different states (and countries), culturally integrate people, communicate often and clearly, work with finance to connect financial forecasting with headcount forecasting. 

Kelsey Campbell - Senior Director, Consulting, Armanino

Diversification of Clients

Too often, Marcomm companies focus too much of their business on one client or one portfolio of clients with common ownership. While this may feel efficient, it can be detrimental to a business if anything happens to that client—whether it’s new leadership, a shift in strategy, or financial challenges. Diversifying your client base helps protect revenue stability and reduces overall business risk.

Strong Reporting & Budgeting

Strong reporting and budgeting practices are critical to understanding and improving performance. At the client and project level, you should track all costs and revenue to accurately measure profitability. Regularly reviewing client profitability is essential—sometimes the client you think is a “great” client is actually costing your company money. It’s also worth considering implementing an admin fee for each client that is a percentage of the total fee. That way, as a client relationship grows, you aren’t still collecting your initial $500 monthly admin fee.

Timely financial reporting allows you to make real-time business decisions. Financials should be reviewed within the first two weeks of the new month, and cash flow should be monitored weekly. Comparing current-year performance to both your budget and prior-year results provides valuable perspective. If you’ve never created a budget before, don’t be intimidated—start with the main controllable expenses such as payroll, insurance, and facilities costs, and build from there. Reviewing prior-year performance can be extremely helpful when establishing your budget.

Industry benchmarks can also guide expectations. Payroll and benefits should generally represent 55–60% of revenue. Other operating expenses—including rent, office supplies, insurance, and similar costs—should fall between 20–25% of revenue. Net income should target approximately 15–25% of revenue.

Cash flow management is equally important. If you do not currently utilize outside financing, consider exploring it—this can be especially helpful during a cash crunch when clients are slow to pay and payroll is approaching. You should also evaluate whether you have a runway of two to three months of cash on hand. Determine what level of runway makes you comfortable and work to maintain it consistently.

Labor Demands

Labor demands require thoughtful planning. For new hires, establish clear duties and roles before beginning the recruiting process. As client needs and strategic direction evolve, assess how staffing changes may impact the makeup of your team. In addition, focus on building a strong internal talent pipeline. Consider whether you have the right talent in place to help grow the business and secure the successful future of the organization.

New Business Pipeline

A strong new business pipeline is essential for growth. Evaluate whether you currently have an active pipeline and how you are tracking it. Consider whether you offer incentives for employees who bring in new business and identify where your referrals are coming from. A healthy pipeline is key to growing your agency—it supports greater profitability and long-term success.

Seek the Right Advisors & Community

It’s important to work with the right advisors and build a strong community. Partner with attorneys, accountants, and insurance brokers who understand your industry and can help guide your growth. Additionally, create a network with other agency owners and operators. Many agencies face similar challenges, and having that network can provide valuable insight, perspective, and meaningful sanity checks.