Surprising lessons from my first two weeks in a B2B marketing agency

I’ll be honest, I was slightly nervous about joining another agency. Just slightly!

I’ve been on both sides of the table and seen agencies sell the vision, overpromise in the pitch and quietly stretch their teams to breaking point trying to deliver it. I’ve seen polished reporting mask underperformance. I’ve seen account managers build relationships while junior teams scramble behind the scenes.

That’s the type of agency I wanted to avoid because I was looking for structure, integrity and transparency.

What surprised me in my first week at Brandshake wasn’t just the capability. It was the maturity.

Emily, our director, has created structure without micromanagement. I can see there are high standards without ego and very clear systems that support a (mostly) remote team properly. And once you’re in, you’re trusted to do your job.

That combination is rare.

The Photoshoot: Where it ‘Clicked’ for Me

My second Monday at Brandshake was their bi-annual Brandshake Day. Think photoshoots, business pillars, values, vision. And yes, great lunch and afternoon chocolate.

That’s where something shifted for me.

We kicked off with a team photoshoot. Cue the Sydney humidity and my hair doing its own thing. 

It could easily be written off as just getting new headshots. But it actually says a lot. It forced us to align how we present ourselves with how we actually operate. When someone lands on your website or LinkedIn, they should feel the energy of your company. Not a stock image version of it.

Because if you work in B2B, corporate or professional services marketing, there’s this belief that you have to choose between polished and relatable.

The shoot was structured, but also relaxed and genuinely fun. We talked through concepts, brought more of our personality into the frame, and created imagery that reflects who we actually are.

I could tell from that day that as a team we put our money where our mouth is. We tell our clients to put their people forward. To show the humans behind the brand. To build trust through visibility.

 Trust starts with that mix of professionalism and personality

Onto ‘Brandshake Day’

Next came the most important part of the day. 

Lunch. Kidding (Mostly).

After that, we dove into the vision of the business (ideal services, clients, team etc), got clearer on our values and USP and broke the business into pillars, team, clients, operations, brand, and pressure-tested each one using a simple framework: green, amber, red.

What’s working?
What needs attention?
What needs fixing?

There weren’t dramatic red flags, but it was great to see that the team felt comfortable sharing their amber flags

We were able to discuss…

Meetings that weren’t serving the team.
Systems that needed refining.
Client hour expectations that weren’t realistic.
Operational friction that could be tightened.

These are the honest conversations that need to be had so they don’t turn into red flags.

Sometimes the solution was immediate.
Sometimes the answer was, “I don’t know yet, but we’ll look at it.”

That level of transparency builds internal trust. And internally healthy agencies produce better external work.

Most agencies would quietly hope everything looks green. Brandshake calls ‘less than ideal’ or ‘becoming inefficient’ early and fixes it.

That’s not a soft culture. That’s commercial discipline.

So What Does That Mean for Our Clients?

I have loved Brandshakes culture (the team is really lovely) but let’s be real…clients don’t hire agencies because they are nice (although it does help).

They hire agencies to get sh*t done.

Marketing leaders are stretched. They want to know:

• The agency understands their business.

• Deliverables are clear.

• Reporting reflects reality.

• What was sold is what’s being delivered.

Most importantly, they want to trust the agency to be experts.

That level of trust only happens when there’s no theatre behind the scenes. No hidden outsourcing. No inflated hours. No overcomplicated strategy designed to look impressive rather than drive results.

Culture isn’t a “nice to have”. It directly impacts output.

Let’s Talk About Marketing for a Minute (From My POV)

Marketing feels noisy.

Too many experts. Too many opposing opinions. Too many trends to chase. Too much pressure to be on every platform.

In-house teams are exhausted (I’ve been there!). Many are stuck in reactive execution mode, trying to keep up with shifting leadership priorities while being told they need fast results and long-term brand building at the same time.

One of the biggest myths I see?

That you have to be everywhere.
That funnels are dead.
That one viral moment will fix your revenue problem.

The fundamentals haven’t disappeared. Awareness, nurture and conversion still matter. What’s changed is how people move through them. The whole team at Brandshake firmly agrees on this point, and it’s something that sets us apart from the ‘2020-something marketing gurus’.

If marketing is done properly, it should feel strategic and sustainable.

Strategic enough that every piece of activity ladders up to a clear objective.
Sustainable enough that your team can actually maintain it.

Not trend-led chaos.

The Marketing Fundamentals That Still Matter

Brands That Show Up Win

You cannot expect results if you haven’t shown up enough. Brands need repeated exposure to build familiarity and trust. Content isn’t a side task. It’s infrastructure. And please don’t be boring, even if you think you have to be.

Data and creativity are not opposites. The strongest marketing blends both. You measure what matters. You test. You refine. But you still create work that connects.

Throwing more budget at a broken funnel won’t fix it.
Chasing trends won’t build a brand.
And cutting marketing at the first sign of slow results is short-term thinking.

The ‘No BS’ approach is about being simple, scalable, strategies that will get internal buy-in and move customers through their clients’ funnels to really grow their client’s businesses.  

After my first week at Brandshake, what stands out is isn’t just capability. It’s the commitment to building marketing systems and strategies properly.