Specialization vs. Positioning: What’s the Difference?
Ivona Namjesnik
Business Development
Agency founders love to talk about niching down. But when you dig into the details, the terms start to blur. Are we talking about specialization? Positioning? Vertical focus? Platform expertise?
It’s easy to mix them up.
But the distinction matters, especially if you want to grow with intention.
Here’s how we define them at Barrel Holdings:
Specialization is internal: what your agency chooses to master
Positioning is external: how you present that mastery to the market
They work together. But they’re not the same.
Specialization: What You Commit to Mastering
Specialization is about building depth, not just variety.
It’s what you choose to become excellent at:
A vertical, like food & beverage or hospitality
A capability, like retention marketing or CRO
A platform, like Shopify or Webflow
At Barrel, we didn’t start specialized. We were doing brand, dev, and paid marketing for everyone from nail salons to investment banks. It was fun, but chaotic.
Eventually, we realized we were most effective when we had repeatable patterns.
That led us to specialize around e-commerce and specifically Shopify. Then, we layered in even more focus: CPG and food & beverage.
The result: we stopped reinventing the wheel every project. We built internal playbooks. And we got known as the go-to agency for a specific type of client.
Positioning: How You Frame It to the World
Specialization is what you master.
Positioning is how you explain it on your website, in your pitch deck, through your outbound emails.
It’s the external signal that attracts the right clients and repels the wrong ones.
For Barrel, our positioning shifted to:
“Barrel partners with CPG brands to transform their websites into digital flagships that power storytelling, conversion, and loyalty everywhere customers shop.”
That message doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of strategic choices made internally - specialization - expressed with clarity and conviction.
Positioning is what turns your internal focus into external opportunity.
What Happens When They’re Misaligned
Here’s where most agencies get stuck:
They specialize in something, but their website says they “do it all”
Or they position themselves narrowly, but still take on any project that comes in
That disconnect makes it harder to win the right work and harder to grow efficiently.
We’ve seen this with newer agencies in our portfolio.
For example, BX Studio focuses on Webflow. But within that, they served a wide range of industries. Over time, they noticed a natural cluster: hospitality. Hotels, restaurants, developers.
They started codifying that knowledge: the tools, the workflows, the use cases.
The next step? Shift positioning to reflect that focus. Speak directly to hospitality clients. Build a landing page. Show proof of expertise.
That’s how specialization becomes positioning. And how positioning generates authority.
What About Out-of-Scope Work?
You don’t need to turn away every opportunity that doesn’t fit your specialization.
But you do need to be clear on the tradeoffs.
At Barrel, they still get asked to pitch work outside the sweet spot, like electronics or apparel brands. Sometimes they take it. But they keep the public-facing signal consistent: Shopify + CPG.
That’s the difference between the work you take and the work you attract.
Positioning should reflect your preference, not your exceptions.
Why It Matters (Especially If You’re Small)
Specialization isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about value.
Specialized agencies:
Build deeper client trust
Command higher fees
Create IP and repeatable processes
Attract longer-term relationships
Operate with stronger margins
When we look at performance across the Barrel Holdings portfolio, the most specialized agencies consistently show higher profitability and more defensible positioning.
They’re not just service providers. They’re expert partners.
How to Get Started
If you’re early, or still operating as a generalist, start small.
Audit your past work. Look for clusters: verticals, use cases, or platforms you’ve repeated.
Identify what you’re best at and enjoy. Depth comes from repetition and motivation.
Build toward a tighter narrative. Specialize first. Position clearly second.
Test your message. Use landing pages, outreach, and case studies to validate.
Decide what you’ll say no to. Every signal gets stronger when it has a boundary.
The Takeaway
Specialization and positioning are not the same, but they’re deeply connected.
Specialization builds the engine.
Positioning tells the market what that engine is built for.
🎧 Want to hear how we’ve evolved this across our agencies? [Listen to the full podcast episode here.]
