The Essential Elements of Agency Credibility: Why Proof Points Matter

By Mark Duval

In the competitive advertising landscape, potential clients are bombarded with many similar promises and pitches. There’s not a lot of “new” in the noise, and what does it all mean to a team that doesn’t truly know your agency yet?

Outside of established relationships, agencies must appreciate the difference between what prospective clients hear and what they can believe. And getting prospects to believe in your agency is a must.

Agencies that win business do more than just demonstrate creative brilliance and strategic thinking — they prove credibility with concrete evidence. Let’s explore the critical components of agency credibility and how to leverage them effectively.

Case Studies: Your Success Stories in Action

When it comes to proof points and credibility, case studies are your most powerful tools. They transform agency promises into tangible results and abstract service offerings into a collection of possibilities. However, not all case studies are created equal.

The most effective case studies follow a clear structure that includes these three components:

• An outline of the client’s initial challenge
• An overview of your approach to finding and implementing a solution
• Evidence of specific, measurable results (you can get creative here, but it’s best when the results are numeric and directly connect to business impact)

Case studies should also include images of the work. You might show how the work appears in a social feed or on a billboard and how people respond to it. Embedded videos might deepen the story with insights that shaped the direction, highlights of the campaign, interesting behind-the-scenes work, or the impact the work had on people.
Client Testimonials

Where possible, client testimonials further validate both the work and the agency’s value as a partner. They are especially important when KPIs are scarce.

Effective testimonials:

• Come from recognized brands or industry leaders
• Speak to specific challenges and solutions, including measurable results
• May address how working with your agency made a difference and what kind of partner you are
• Feature named individuals rather than anonymous quotes

TIP: Include relevant client testimonials within case studies, but also consider using them in other locations across your site.

Industry Recognition and Awards

While creative talent and industry peers may value awards more than the average prospect, they still serve as third-party validation of your agency’s excellence. To maximize their relevance for prospects, highlight aspects that matter to them, such as:

• Recognition for measurable client results or effectiveness
• Industry-specific awards that demonstrate vertical expertise
• Innovation awards that showcase forward thinking
• Creative awards that demonstrate excellence in execution

TIP: Most agencies feature award logos without providing any context. Consider including the year and category of the award, especially if it was in the past 2-3 years.

The Work: Demonstrating Creative Capabilities

While the case study’s proof of impact is paramount for new business, for those seeking the boldest, most creative work, sometimes the best proof is just the work itself.

Unfortunately, not all decision-makers share the same appreciation for bold creative work. Advertising investments are expected to make business sense. And business considerations – including ROI – often lead to clients wanting safer work. But what if you can have bold creative and ROI?

TBWA’s Jen Costello recently made the case in WARC that “playing it safe is actually the riskiest thing a marketer can do,” citing a 2024 WARC study that found $109B more spend is needed to match market share growth for dull work compared to non-dull work. (How many agencies will reference that stat to clients who want to take the expected path in 2025?)

I could list any number of agencies at the forefront of making bold, non-dull creative work that is also effective. But the first that comes to mind is Mischief, which keeps winning awards for their work’s ROI (like this ‘Skin so Soft Even Soft Things Think You’re Soft’ Campaign for EOS that nabbed Best ROI: Work That Works recognition from AdAge.)

Agencies known for bold creative (the kind creatives want to make) are still connecting their work to business impact, even when the work may “speak for itself” with certain audiences. Considering pitch decisions are influenced by multiple parties, it’s important to build credibility with each of them, which means investing in multiple modes of proof.

More About Using Creativity to Stand Out

Mischief is a great case study in generating new business growth through creative work, reputation, and a stand-out social presence (under the expert eye of Director of Development Oliver McAteer).

In October 2024, AdAge’s Brian Bonilla dubbed McAteer “the business development executive other agencies want to copy,” despite the fact that he focuses on social media innovation, PR-ing Mischief’s work, and developing the agency’s brand instead of selling. Why? His approach works. It led to an incredible 400+ inbound leads for Mischief in the previous year, 20+ new business wins, and 30% revenue growth — all without a traditional agency pitch.

Will centering your agency’s work, brand, and showing up with personality on social media help your agency get new business? Maybe. But let’s be honest, we can’t all be Mischief.

What more agencies can do, though, is stop waiting for the next “brave” client to fund their big idea so they can break through. You don’t need a client to show people how your agency thinks and what you can do. All you need is your team to build credibility for your creative capabilities. So don’t wait! Go make something to share with the world and attract a client who wants to work with the agency that did “that cool thing.”

Thought Leadership: Establishing Industry Authority

While case studies prove past success and creative work shows vision and range, thought leadership demonstrates forward-thinking expertise. It shows potential clients that your agency doesn’t just execute – it leads and innovates.

Effective thought leadership should:

• Address emerging industry trends and challenges
• Provide unique insights backed by research or experience
• Demonstrate deep understanding of specific industries or marketing disciplines
• Offer actionable takeaways for the reader

As you build credibility with content, sometimes less is more when it comes to both target audience and content volume. One deeply researched, insightful piece will carry more weight than dozens of superficial blog posts. And focused expertise in specific industries or disciplines can be more compelling than trying to be everything to everyone.

Focusing your thought leadership content on a specific audience will make it more relevant and actionable. For example, writing about how AI trends apply to CPG food and beverage brands can elevate the value of your content with a smaller audience of F&B marketers. In contrast, general content about AI trends may reach more people but matter less to them.

Tap Your Team’s Expertise

Your people are walking proof points, with experiences and stories that don’t appear on your agency’s case studies or work pages. Don’t let them go to waste!

Connect your team’s expertise to agency practice areas or verticals and showcase their expertise through:

• Speaking engagements at industry conferences
• Published articles in respected publications
• Active participation in industry organizations
• Personal brand building on professional platforms

Every member of your team has something valuable to offer. You must identify those stories and turn them into proof points and connections.

Capabilities Presentations: Your Agency’s Story

Capabilities presentations can feel like boring lists of services that don’t connect to the prospect. But the best capabilities decks tell a compelling story about:

• Your agency’s unique approach and methodology – every capes deck includes this, but the best ones pull it through across each work example and into their thinking about the prospect’s challenge.
• How your services work together to solve client challenges – the best agencies incorporate something unique in their combination of services to stand out as different and better.
• Your team’s expertise and experience – the best agencies tell their team’s story in a way that maximizes prospect relevance, from choosing the team line-up to highlighting prior brand and industry experience.
• What makes your agency different from competitors – too many agencies say people and culture. If you say your people are great or some variation thereof, know that it is very hard to communicate that credibly over the course of a pitch.

Remember, capabilities presentations should be living documents, regularly updated with fresh case studies, new service offerings, and evolving methodologies.

Building a Credibility Ecosystem

The power of credibility markers multiplies when they work together. Your creative excellence should inform your case studies, and your case studies should inform your thought leadership. Your capabilities presentation should reference all three. And your team’s expertise should be evident across all materials.

But how do you get there? Building a case for new business credibility starts by identifying your agency’s new business goals. First, objectively identify where you have a right to win today and what directions you plan to grow in.

From there, you can identify your ideal customer profile and define the businesses that will likely be a good fit for your services. Who are the decision-makers? What concerns and priorities are top of mind for them? How do they like to receive their information? This is important because writing for a CEO is usually quite different from writing for a CMO. Often, you’ll need to reach both.

Once you’ve identified these elements, you can align your new business goals with your content creation and marketing efforts. Without this step, your team’s hard work developing thought leadership content, social media posts – and even case studies and creds decks – may not quite hit the mark. If you can’t visualize who you are writing for as you are writing, it’s challenging to make it resonate with them.

It’s important not to silo your agency’s new business goals. Every person on your team should understand the agency’s direction so that they can work to support those targets. Outside of attracting future talent, everything your agency does should ladder up in some way to attract new business.

Next, let’s explore some hallmarks of a well-developed credibility ecosystem.

Well-Organized Case Studies Resonate Better

Agencies that demonstrate credibility often maintain a diverse portfolio of case studies across industries, challenges, and solution types. On websites, this is reflected in tagging systems that allow visitors to sort work by categories to identify what’s most relevant to them.

For presentations, having organized versions of case studies ready to go helps agencies customize a hyper-relevant message for each prospect, whether it’s highlighting relevant industry experience or sharing solutions to similar business challenges. Thinking about the different stories you can use to talk about your case studies allows you to make stronger connections with prospects and gives you greater control of your narrative when presenting.

Showing Up Credibly Where Prospects Find You

Your agency’s website and social media presence are often the first touchpoints for potential clients. They should showcase recent creative work and case studies, highlight team expertise, and feature current thought leadership content related to the areas your agency “owns.”

When it comes to showing up credibly, consider your agency’s core areas of expertise. For example, if your agency specializes in social media services, prospects will judge it based on its social media presence. Neglecting social media channels is not ideal for any agency, but when an agency with social media expertise neglects its social channels, it undermines its credibility as an expert.

Another common example is UX and web development. If those are your agency’s areas of expertise, the stakes are higher for your website than for an agency specializing in video production or media placement. It is fair to expect prospects to judge your agency’s abilities based on their experience with your website.

Maintaining and Updating Credibility Markers

Credibility building is not a one-and-done, but an ongoing effort. Regular maintenance is required to keep agency case studies, capes decks, team bios, and thought leadership content updated and current. Your newest and best work should always be front and center.

When there’s little sign of new activity over the past year, it’s a clear indication that not much is happening with the agency. And that can make a great agency appear on the decline instead of an upward trajectory, which raises questions and creates uncertainty.

Parting Thoughts

In today’s competitive agency landscape, credibility markers are not optional extras but essential tools for winning client trust and new business. The key is developing a comprehensive, integrated approach to building and maintaining these proof points.

Credibility is earned, not claimed. Remember that when you’re telling prospects about your agency. Just because you know something to be true for your agency, it doesn’t mean a prospect will find it believable. So make sure you give them every reason to believe in you.

Each element of your credibility portfolio should work together to tell a compelling story about why your agency is the right partner for the prospect considering you. In a world where many agencies make similar promises, your proof points are what set you apart.

The most successful agencies understand that building credibility is an ongoing process. Agencies can build the trust necessary to win and retain valuable client relationships by continuously developing and refining these essential elements.