Rethinking the website logo reel
Everything is ripe for disruption, and the time has come for this legacy element
I was tasked with broadening our SEO agency search this past week to make sure we were making the best possible decision, so I spent a fair bit of time checking out different SEO agency websites.
As I was scrolling these sites to get a sense for the agencies, I realized one big thing:
The client logos the agency highlighted in their “logo reel” was doing some of the agencies more harm than good.
Let me explain…
Sponsor: HockeyStack
Your CEO just slacked you: "We have our board meeting in 2 days. Send me a slide with what's working + anything they need to know."
Did your palms get sweaty reading that?
Or is this an easy ask because you can easily get to this info already?
I'm neurotic about forecasting + tracking performance. I have reports upon reports and dashboards upon dashboards.
So when Emir + Claudia over at HockeyStack asked me what my perfect dashboard would look like, I immediately started geeking out.
And when they sent this dashboard mock-up back to me yesterday, I was in nerd heaven 🙌
2025 planning is here. And it's also never too late to add some solid reports or views to your dashboard, so hopefully this provides some inspiration to any of you who are looking to level up your dashboarding game.
Relevance, relevance, RELEVANCE
(shout out to you if you read that in Jan Brady’s voice as “Marcia, Marcia, MARCIA!”)
Not going to draw out this cliffhanger. Some of the agency websites were flat out turning me away from them and they probably didn’t even realize it. In fact, they probably thought they were pulling me in. How?
The client logos they were showcasing.
Here’s the deal. When your prospects are finally shopping, there are two primary criteria that they’re focused on when selecting vendors. Yes, there are other important factors, but at the end of the day, these two need to be checked off as “Yes” before proceeding any further. And they are:
Will this product/service solve the problem I’m looking for a solution to?
Is this product/service built specifically for companies like mine?
The first question is straightforward and any company that’s survived more than a year has figured out how to word this on their website.
The second question is the one that many companies think they’re getting right, but not executing in all of the places that matter.
So what’s this mystery place they’re getting wrong? (Well, probably not much mystery based on the subject line of this newsletter)
The logo reel
Every company is has a unique makeup based on their firmographic variables.
HQ/company location
Market(s) they serve
B2B/B2C/B2B2C/etc.
If they’re a product or a service
If they’re a nice to have or a need to have
How many employees they have
How much annual revenue they generate
If they’re looking to grow or hold steady
If they sell direct to buyers or through partners/resellers
The list goes on and on and on…
Some companies have defaulted to having a website navigation dropdown with a section that speaks to “who they serve” and list those out for the web visitors to pick from. That’s definitely a great start.
…but not everyone is willing to go past the home page as they search for the answer to the above two questions mentioned earlier.
And this is where most companies are dropping the relevance ball. For some reason, we’ve defaulted to thinking that the largest, most well-known brands are the most impressive to highlight and will convince prospects to schedule a demo or go through the PLG motion.
But if I’m being honest, as I was going through this with the SEO agencies, I would look at the logos of who they highlighted to understand if they’d be able to help my company based on where we are today.
We’re based in the US
We are a small company
We’re B2B SaaS
We have ambitious growth goals
Here are two example logo reels I came across. Now you tell me why I would think these agencies probably wouldn’t be a great fit to partner with…
Agency 1
Very large, enterprise companies listed in their reel. Many of these are publicly traded. Only 1 is B2B/SaaS.
Agency 2
Again, very large/enterprise companies here. Furthermore, not a single company listed here is B2B or SaaS.
Agency 3
This one is a LOT better. Multiple B2B SaaS companies that have grown significantly in the past ~5 years. They aren’t showing just their biggest clients, but a mix of large and small alike.
Why does this matter?
Like I said earlier - relevance. I’m able to see that they previously or currently work with companies that are similar to me.
They likely understand the resources I have available within my team.
They likely have a framework for getting companies where I am today to where I want to be tomorrow
They likely have team members who specialize in smaller or larger companies, B2B or B2C companies, etc. that map best to our unique firmographic makeup.
I only have so much time to research and shop around.
I can’t afford to make a poor decision and partner with the wrong agency.
I use the two questions listed earlier to quickly rule in/out agencies that I should further consider.
So yes, while I recognize many of those well-known names in a logo reel, if those companies are nothing like mine in stage, maturity, market, product/service offering, etc., is the product/service even relevant to me?
And that my friends is exactly why I believe the logo reel is ripe for disruption. In fact, it’s already beginning.
Noble recognizes this + is building the next generation “social proof wall”. Instead of showcasing irrelevant, big name logos, they let you see which people you already have in your network who use the product/service of the company you’re looking at.
We know backchannel conversations are going to be had, so why not proactively surface the people a prospect knows who are using a product/service instead of the logo of some Fortune 500 company that your startup has zero things in common with aside from that the employees of both organizations breathe oxygen.
Very bullish on this direction. And no, I’m not being paid to write about Noble here - I just love the disruption they’re bringing to a space that badly in need of it.
I’M HIRING!!!
I am EXCITED about 2025. We’ve got some ambitious growth goals and are investing in building out our GTM team as the year goes on with 4 hires that’ll report into me, and multiple other roles that I’ll work closely with through Sales, BDR, Customer Success, Product, and more. So if you’re looking to make a move, reply back to this email.
A few days ago, we officially opened up a role for a Revenue Operations Manager. That link will take you to the full job description, but what I’m most excited about is the general approach that we take to adding members to our marketing team.
At Loxo, we’re not simply offering you a job - we’re inviting you to join a team that is paving the future of the recruitment industry. In this role, you will have a mix of responsibilities you've probably held before, as well as responsibilities and projects that many companies shy away from due to fear of the unknown. Loxo isn't the place for everybody, and we recognize that. We move quickly and hold the team to high standards. If you're looking to just get by, for a monotonous role, or for a place where you can blend into the background - this isn't the opportunity for you.
This person is not someone who likes to do things “by the book” or just focus on strategy.
This person is someone who knows there's a better way to do things, but has been held up by red tape or fear of change from their leadership.This person is not someone who needs to be told exactly what to do and how to manage their time.
This person is someone who identifies problems and opportunities, comes up with a plan, and takes action to drive results.That being said, we also recognize that very few people will meet 100% of the qualifications below. We don't expect to find a unicorn. But what we are looking for is someone with the passion, desire, and tenacity to learn and master the above. We're looking for someone with a growth mindset and high potential. So if reading this excites you, but you're worried about not checking every box, that's ok - we still want to get the chance to meet you.
If this excites you and you’re looking to grow your career in RevOps, please drop your application here.
The other marketing-specific roles that we’ll be adding over the next few quarters will be a Product Marketing Manager, an SEO/Content Marketing Manager, and a Community Marketing Manager. So if any of those sound like you, well, it never hurts to get ahead of the competition and start a conversation with me early 😉
See you next Saturday,
Sam