Digital Natives Group Doubled Its Average Client Retainer With Sprout Social’s Agency Partner Program

When you name your marketing agency “Digital Natives Group,” clients tend to knock on your door with high expectations.

But when you support client strategy using Sprout Social and are a part of its Agency Partner Program, you have the tools to deliver.

Since signing on with Sprout Social four years ago, and becoming a Founding Member of the Agency Partner Program two years after that, Digital Natives Group has expanded its services, landed bigger accounts and significantly grown its retainers.

A Single Solution

Digital Natives Group started as a social-first agency, according to Co-founder Jonathan Jacobs.

“It’s what we were known for,” he said. “It’s where we built our reputation.”

While the agency’s approach to social has evolved, making social just one part of a comprehensive digital-first approach, it remains a key component.

“We see social as the beginning and end of the sales pipeline,” Jacobs said. “As a firm, it’s still a big part of what we do. From content development to community management, it’s central to our work.”

All that was missing was the right tool for the job.

“We wanted one tool,” Jacobs said. “We didn’t want to have to go and link together six different softwares to figure out listening and analytics and publishing and social community management. We wanted to be able to have a one-stop utility that could do all of that for a host of different clients and profiles.”

Digital Natives Group, meet Sprout Social.

“There were lots of great tools that were very platform-specific, but Sprout offered the most comprehensive set of cross-platform data analytics and insights,” Jacobs said. “It had everything we needed at a really great price point for a boutique agency like ours.”

The Power of Partnership

Digital Natives Group decided to take its partnership with Sprout to the next level by joining the Agency Partner Program. Not only did the agency have access to a best-in-class product, it now received customized pricing, lead opportunities, marketing resources and community access.

Additionally, agency partners are given the chance to work with Channel Account Managers to help grow their businesses, receiving tailored strategies to pitch new clients, upgrade client contracts, better position social media services and more.

“For one, it was a pricing structure that made sense for us,” Jacobs said. “We cared about being able to scale our seats to as many or as few as we needed so we could facilitate client collaboration through Sprout. And two, we were excited to have the credential and validation of being part of this exclusive network of agencies. We were thrilled to finally be a part of the network as a way to promote ourselves and also connect with other power users of the platform.”

Even more importantly, Sprout’s Agency Partner Program has empowered Digital Natives Group to grow. Top agency partners receive access to leads through the Sprout Social Partner Directory, a valuable perk Digital Natives Group knows firsthand.

“There was recently a referral that came to us through Sprout,” Jacobs said. “And it’s now our highest-paying client. Sprout has raised the ceiling on what our retainers can be, thanks to being a part of this validated network, in a way that we didn’t think about before and in a way that continues to grow.”

That single retainer eclipsed Digital Natives’ highest existing recurring retainer by 20%. It’s wins like these that have helped the agency increase its average client retainer by 100%.

“It’s a huge client for us to land, and that’s a long-term relationship we’re going to have as a result of being a part of this network,” Jacobs said.

And thanks to Sprout’s Agency Partner Program, Digital Natives Group is primed for further growth.

“Having a tool and partnership we know we can rely on to manage so many different client accounts has allowed us to feel more comfortable scaling and growing our services for clients faster,” Jacobs said. “Sprout is a consistent part of that equation for us, and one that helps us keep growing.”

In a saturated space with fierce competition, every edge counts. That’s why Digital Natives Group stays sharp with Sprout Social and the Agency Partner Program.

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