Agency Repositioning without alienating clients

This question was posted in my LinkedIn group:

The shift from “prettiest portfolio” to “brave enough to evolve” is the uncomfortable truth most agencies avoid. How do you help agency owners actually implement positioning changes without tanking current client relationships? That’s usually where the friction lives.

Brand evolution can be tricky for agency owners. So how do you evolve or make a strategic shift without worrying about client retention. There’s an easy way to do it.

When I launched Next Agency back in June, I didn’t know how hard change would be for agencies or how long it would take to shift decades of old thinking.

How I got to Next Agency was through the realization that Business development skills aren’t enough in this climate. They matter, but they’re not the whole story. It's hard to win when you look and sound like everyone else. Design has become a commodity, and clients have endless choices.

Next Agency Cohort 3 starts January 2026

So I challenged that. What if an agency could offer something genuinely different? What if the model itself evolved?

Fifteen brave agency owners have said yes so far and spent 12 weeks together testing, exploring, pushing, resisting…and eventually breaking through. There were a lot of “but this is how we’ve always done it” moments.

The first cohort wrapped up in early September. Four months later, I’m hearing:

“We’re gaining momentum.”

“We chose a niche.”

“It’s working.”

These messages make me ridiculously happy because there have been days when I wondered if I was completely insane for trying to shift an entire industry by myself.

Back to the original question:

How do you change your market positioning without freaking out your current clients?

The solution is simple:

Create a separate landing page for the new positioning. It can be hidden on your current site or at a fresh URL.

Test it quietly.

Next Agency Cohort 3 starts January 2026

This is exactly what I did years ago with Adduci Studios in the SF Bay Area. We repositioned them as “A Creative Agency For Science Types.” They were anxious about the idea of changing their main site, so I told them: Don’t. Leave it. Let’s launch a new URL and test the new positioning.

Their business took off. The old site stayed up as a security blanket. No drama. No client confusion. Just traction.

You don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. You just need a safe place to try something new and see how it lands.

I’m starting Cohort 3 in January. If you've been thinking about evolving your agency and want guidance through the process, send me an email (rhonda@knowyourdifference.com). Let’s determine if Cohort 3 is the right next step for you.

Change isn’t usually smooth sailing… But it is worth it. (Trust me. I’ve lived it.)