How to sell to Heads of Marketing at Agencies companies in United States
Heads of Marketing at agencies are primarily measured on client retention rates. They respond to outreach that demonstrates an understanding of their unique challenges, such as the need for innovative campaign strategies that drive client satisfaction and loyalty. Highlighting insights from similar agency successes can make your outreach resonate.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 558 agencies company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- high client turnover
- ineffective campaign tracking
- limited internal resources
- pressure to innovate
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent client wins
Search for agencies that recently announced new client acquisitions or successful project completions. Use industry news websites or agency press releases to find relevant announcements. This indicates they may be looking for ways to maintain or enhance client relationships.
- 02
Segment by agency size
Filter your list for agencies with 50-200 employees. This size typically indicates a need for scalable marketing solutions without extensive internal resources. Use LinkedIn or business databases to confirm employee counts.
- 03
Reference industry-specific challenges
Craft your message to address common pain points like high client turnover or ineffective campaign tracking. Mention specific tactics that have worked for other agencies facing similar issues to demonstrate your understanding of their landscape.
- 04
Follow up on engagement metrics
If your initial outreach sees low engagement, check if they opened your email but didn’t respond. A follow-up message acknowledging their busy schedule while reiterating the value you can bring can help revive interest.
- 05
Suggest a specific time for a call
When proposing a call, suggest a specific time slot, such as Tuesday at 2 PM. This reduces decision fatigue and increases the likelihood of securing a meeting. Be prepared to adjust based on their availability.
Can agencies companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 558 agencies companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 16.8% of 1–10-person companies against 55.4% of the largest — 39 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Boost your client retention rates
- Strategies for innovative campaigns
- Tackling high turnover challenges
Questions
- Why do Heads of Marketing at agencies ignore outreach about analytics tools?
- They may feel overwhelmed by existing tools or believe their current systems are sufficient. Additionally, they often prioritize immediate client needs over exploring new solutions, especially if they perceive the outreach as generic or not tailored to their specific challenges.
- What concerns do Heads of Marketing have about outsourcing?
- They often worry about losing control over brand messaging and the potential for misalignment with client expectations. There’s also concern about the quality of work and whether outsourced teams can understand their unique agency culture and client needs.
- How can I engage Heads of Marketing without being intrusive?
- Provide valuable insights or resources that address their specific challenges without directly selling. Sharing relevant industry reports, case studies, or best practices can position you as a knowledgeable partner rather than just a salesperson.
- What makes Heads of Marketing at agencies prioritize one vendor over another?
- They typically prioritize vendors who demonstrate a deep understanding of agency dynamics and can offer tailored solutions. Testimonials from similar agencies and case studies showcasing successful partnerships can significantly influence their decision-making process.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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