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Brian Kessman
Operating model consultant for creative/marketing agencies
Brian Kessman is an experienced professional in the marketing and agency consulting industry, currently serving as the Founder and Principal Consultant at Lodestar Agency Consulting.1 Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Kessman has a diverse background in agency operations, product management, and digital strategy.1
Career Highlights
Current Roles::
- Founder and Principal Consultant at Lodestar Agency Consulting
- Contributing Writer for MarTech (since November 2022)
- Lead Consultant at Cella (since November 2021)
Previous Positions::
- Head of Business Strategy and Director of Product Management at Lytho (formerly inMotionNow)
- Managing Director and VP of Product at Smashing Boxes
- Executive Producer and Director of Digital Strategy at McKinney
- Various roles at RED Interactive Agency, including Web Group Director and Senior Digital Producer
Expertise and Focus
Brian Kessman specializes in helping agency leaders evolve their business models to adapt to changing industry dynamics.1 His work involves:
- Agency transformation and business model innovation
- Marketing operations (MOps)
- Product management in SaaS for marketing and creative teams
- Digital strategy and user experience design
Recent Activities
Kessman has been actively sharing insights on agency transformation and AI integration in the creative industry:
- He recently built an AI app to assist agencies in transforming their business models.2
- He has been advising agencies on productizing their services, such as a video production company he's been working with since April.3
- Kessman has shared his perspective on how he would start an agency today based on his consulting experience.4
Education
Brian Kessman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from the University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business.1
Through his work at Lodestar Agency Consulting and his various roles in the industry, Brian Kessman has established himself as a thought leader in agency transformation and marketing technology innovation.
Highlights
Small and mid-size agencies have an advantage when productizing their firm's value.
An agency founder asked if there are different challenges or starting points for smaller firms that want to productize their value compared to larger, more mature firms.
If you're a small or mid-size firm, you have the advantage.
Compared to larger firms...
‣ Your firm is likely focusing on a narrower niche, which is a great place to begin productizing its value.
‣ Your firm will likely have more flexibility to get your productized value into the market quicker. You may also be able to pivot faster, such as retiring commoditized, price-sensitive services to invest more in higher-value offerings.
‣ At a smaller size, your agency will likely have less complexity, so it's easier to make internal changes vs. down the road when your firm is larger.
Proof of these advantages is a 34-person agency client that pitched a new retainer offering two days after our solution design work session and won the business a few weeks later.
The faster an agency can productize its value, the faster the ROI.
Most agency leaders will agree that the business model of selling time is not sustainable. Here's how agencies can adapt.
Many agencies have already shifted their thinking to repackage their intellectual capital as “solutions,” “programs,” and “products” designed to address high-value problems for prospects and clients.
Their positioning, pricing strategies, and new business conversations now focus on the value of their offerings, not the hours that go into them.
In doing so, they’ve:
- Realigned their business model with their client’s needs for stronger, reliable relationships.
- Created working environments free from the pressures of billable utilization and time sheets, enabling their people to do their best work.
- Begun to leverage the benefits of AI to scale their effectiveness and impact and transform their business model.
Join my live webinar on Thursday, May 30th to learn how your firm can do the same.
𝗞𝗘𝗬 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦 will be:
🔸 New “value-led” revenue models agencies are using and their benefits and drawbacks
🔸 How agencies are shifting their thinking, strategies, and operations to a product-based model
🔸 Many examples of agencies already using a productized and tech/AI-enabled service model
🔸 Which is right for you: ‘evolutionary’ AI augmentation or ‘revolutionary’ transformation
🔸 How to think about packaging your intellectual capital as solutions, programs, and products
🔸 The steps to begin moving from time to a productized value model
I've designed the material for Agency Principals, C-suite, Presidents, Managing Directors, Heads of Marketing, Business Development and Account Services.
𝗥𝗘𝗚𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥 here: https://lnkd.in/eUwWAWF3
*Hosted by Filament Inc

