Vertical positioning
Vertical positioning for marketing and PR agencies
Vertical positioning means choosing an industry your agency serves and becoming known for it. Tim Kilroy treats it as one of the strongest positioning moves available, with a real risk that most advice skips.
Last updated · Published by Tim Kilroy
What is vertical positioning for an agency?
Vertical positioning is when an agency focuses on one industry, such as dental practices or B2B software, instead of serving everyone. Tim Kilroy describes positioning as the choice to burn the boats: taking options away so the ones left are the strongest match between your impact and the market's need. A vertical is one way to make that choice.
Definition
Vertical positioning, defined
Vertical positioningdefines an agency by the industry it serves. Horizontal positioning defines it by a service or method, such as paid search or brand strategy. Both work. What fails, in Tim Kilroy's experience, is the “we work with everyone” agency, which he says gets friend-zoned: prospects like it, recommend it and hire someone else.
His test is blunt. If a prospect, a client, a teammate or you cannot describe what the agency does in under 20 seconds, there is no defensible position. And the buyer, not the agency, decides what that position is.
Nobody tells you what to do when the niche has a bad year.
Comparison
Vertical versus horizontal positioning
| Approach | Defined by | Main benefit | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical | The industry you serve | Faster trust and higher rates within the niche | Risk concentrated in one market |
| Horizontal | The service or method you deliver | Spread across many industries | Harder to stand out in a crowded service category |
| Generalist | Whatever comes in | Takes almost any work | Hard to remember, so deals collapse to price |
Procedure
How to choose a vertical
Start from your case studies
The market reads your work, not your tagline. If your work says everyone, a specialist tagline is noise.Pick a market you can genuinely dominate
Small enough to own, large enough to sustain the agency.Name the buyer in plain words
Write the position so someone can repeat it in under 20 seconds.Commit long enough for the market to notice
Headlines change in a week. Repositioning takes years, and the work has to back the words.Watch concentration
Treat the niche the way you would a client that grew to 40% of revenue.
Next step
Positioning comes before tactics
Tim Kilroy puts positioning first in every custom engagement, because a price objection is usually a positioning problem in disguise. Read more about agency growth consulting or the core marketing agency coaching program.
Common questions
- Is a niche a moat or a trap for my agency?
- Both. A niche earns faster trust and higher rates, but it concentrates risk in one market. Tim Kilroy’s warning is that nobody tells you what to do when the niche has a bad year. Pick a market you can genuinely dominate, and watch concentration the way you would watch a single client that grew to 40% of revenue.
- Why do we keep losing deals on price?
- Usually because the agency sells effort while the buyer pays for an outcome. When a prospect cannot see the specific change you create, the rate is the only thing left to compare. Tim Kilroy’s fix is to shift the conversation to the outcome, raise the floor on who you take and walk away from deals that anchor you low.
- What is the owner-operator trap?
- The owner-operator trap is when the founder does sales, delivery, strategy and operations, maxes out personally and revenue plateaus. Tim Kilroy’s three ways out are a defined ideal client, scalable lead generation and the right offer for that client, meaning the right service and pricing model. Referrals alone cannot break the trap because they do not scale on demand.
- How long until coaching shows results?
- It depends on the constraint. Pipeline math and follow-up fixes can change what you do the following week, while repositioning takes much longer because the market has to notice. Tim Kilroy’s positioning playbook says you can rewrite headlines in a week but repositioning takes years. Agree on one measurable number at the start so you can judge progress honestly.
- My agency runs on referrals. Is that a problem?
- Only when you need growth on demand. Referrals reflect past work and relationships, so you cannot turn them up when revenue dips. The RSW/US 2025 Agency Survey, cited on timkilroy.com, found 75% of agencies name referrals as their top new-business source, and 93% say their growth engine is not strong enough. Coaching adds a system alongside referrals.
- Who is Tim Kilroy’s coaching for?
- It is for established small marketing, creative, PR, development and content agencies whose growth has outgrown referrals. Agency Studio serves founders under $50K a month, and custom work serves agencies between $1M and $20M a year. The common thread is an agency that does good work but lacks a repeatable way to win clients.
Not sure which lane is yours?
Contact Tim Kilroy to talk through your positioning.