The Value Equation Blog

Insights, frameworks, and tools to help your agency stop selling effort and start scaling value.

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What Pricing on Value Actually Tests

Pricing on value doesn’t fix a broken model — it makes it worse. Like treating joint pain without diagnosing the underlying imbalance, changing how you price may relieve surface pressure while leaving the real structural constraint untouched. When agencies attempt to shift to value-based pricing, the outcome reveals whether they’re facing a contained pricing problem or a deeper value model misalignment. Learn how to diagnose the real issue and why defining value operationally must come before adjusting the price attached to it.

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How do we price outcomes when we often don’t own the events that drive the client’s business result.

Pricing outcomes doesn’t require owning the client’s entire business ecosystem—it requires clarity about the specific results your agency can credibly influence. Instead of tying compensation to lagging KPIs like revenue or market share, focus on the leading indicators you shape most: brand consideration, engagement, conversion velocity, and efficiency. When agencies define a Scope of Value before a scope of work, pricing shifts from effort to impact—creating more confident, value-aligned partnerships. You don’t need full control to price outcomes; you just need to define the right ones.

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Unlocking the Dynamics of Modern Marketing Procurement

Modern marketing procurement is evolving fast, shifting from a cost-control function to a strategic partner focused on long-term value, innovation, and measurable impact. In this guide, we break down the procurement personas agencies are most likely to encounter—and the negotiation strategies that work with each. As brands move toward outcome-based compensation models, agencies that understand procurement’s motivations and lead the value conversation will be far better positioned to protect margins and build stronger partnerships. This is your roadmap to navigating procurement confidently and on your terms.

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Change is on the Horizon for the Agency Business Model

The traditional labor based agency model is running out of runway, especially as AI accelerates delivery and procurement pushes harder on hourly fees. This post walks through how value led models like value based, performance based, output based, and especially product based compensation are reshaping how agencies define and capture value. You will learn why productization is emerging as the next evolution of output based models, what it really means to turn your services into products, and what agencies must rethink in their business model to make this shift work in practice.

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