Benefits of a Remote Team with Susan LaPlante-Dube

Susan LaPlante-Dube, owner of Precision Marketing Group, joins the Agency Journey podcast to share how she built a successful agency with a distributed team of 16 employees and 10 contractors, all located in New England for occasional in-person meetings.

Why Remote Works for Senior Talent

Susan explains that remote work is not just about cost savings - it is about accessing a caliber of talent that would be impossible to find in a single market. The professionals who thrive at Precision Marketing Group are experienced marketers who value lifestyle flexibility. They do not want to commute to an office every day, but they are deeply committed to doing excellent work.

By offering remote work, Susan can recruit senior-level talent from across the region who might not consider a traditional office role. These experienced professionals bring years of expertise that younger, office-based agencies often cannot match.

Positioning as an Outsourced Marketing Department

Rather than competing on individual services, Precision Marketing Group positions itself as an outsourced marketing department. This framing changes the client conversation entirely. Instead of comparing the agency’s SEO services to another agency’s SEO services, clients are evaluating whether they want a complete marketing capability without the overhead of building it internally.

This strong positioning differentiates the agency from both competitors and commodity vendors. It creates a clear value proposition that resonates with businesses that need marketing expertise but do not want to build and manage a full in-house team.

Value-Based Pricing with Internal Formulas

Susan developed internal formulas for value-based pricing that tie retainer fees to the scope and impact of the campaigns. Rather than quoting hourly rates, the agency prices based on the value delivered to the client.

This approach allows Precision Marketing Group to scale retainer agreements as campaigns expand. When the agency demonstrates results, the conversation about increasing investment becomes natural and justified.

90-Day Campaign Engagement Models

One of the most practical strategies Susan shares is structuring client engagements in 90-day increments. Each 90-day period has clear goals, deliverables, and success metrics. At the end of each cycle, the team reviews results and plans the next phase.

This model creates natural checkpoints where the agency can demonstrate value and justify continued (or increased) investment. It also prevents the stagnation that can happen in open-ended retainers where both sides lose sight of progress.

Early HubSpot Adoption

Precision Marketing Group was an early adopter of HubSpot, which gave them a significant first-mover advantage in their market. Susan shares how the evolution of inbound marketing shaped her agency’s growth and how staying ahead of industry trends has been a consistent competitive advantage. Being early to a platform or methodology creates credibility that latecomers struggle to match.