More than 3 billion people in the United States use the internet on a regular basis. This means that digital marketing offers a huge platform for any business that is serious about success. Learning how to start a digital marketing agency will be helpful.
Because of this, digital marketing companies have become more and more popular with businesses around the world. In fact, the third biggest marketing agency in the US specializes in digital marketing and brings in over $2.3 billion a year! If you are serious about making money online then you can’t go wrong with digital marketing.
Not sure how a digital marketing company works? Then you’re in the right place!
Read on to find out everything you need to know about how to start a digital marketing agency and run it successfully!
Page Contents
What Is a Digital Marketing Company?
Digital marketing companies support businesses with digital marketing campaigns. This may be a one-off service for a specific campaign or over a long period of time.
As a marketing company, you will be in charge of drawing up a digital marketing campaign for a business and executing this. To do this you will need a good understanding of different digital marketing tools and how to use them.
A digital marketing campaign should combine advertising across different digital platforms. These platforms include search engines, such as Google ads and Google alerts. Social media platforms for things like Youtube adverts also play a vital role in campaigns.
Creating a campaign involves coming up with ideas and generating original content. You should also collect feedback on your adverts to ensure they target customers effectively.
Digital marketing companies also help businesses by boosting their SEO ranking. Generating specific online content can help to do this.
You will also need to keep the business’s website up-to-date and running smoothly. Together, these elements can unlock success for a business no matter what industry they work in.
The beauty of a digital marketing company is that you can run it online. Therefore you can run it from wherever in the world you are and do not need an office! It makes ideal work for anyone who wants to make money using their computer.
Sounds great right? In that case, let’s take a look at how to start your own digital marketing agency.
Familiarize Yourself with Digital Marketing Needs
First things first, it is worth doing some research into different approaches you can take to digital marketing. Without this, you will struggle to book clients and deliver on your pitches.
Some aspects of digital marketing are more familiar than others. For example, most people know the basics of how to use social media sites. In fact, a site like Instagram has more than one billion active monthly users all around the world.
To make the most of social media sites and online search engines, you need to familiarize yourself with the business settings these offer. This will help you to successfully share ad campaigns and collect feedback on them. This is the kind of data most clients will expect from a digital marketing agency.
Knowing what you are doing means you will be able to have in-depth discussions with clients when you pitch to them. This is vital if you want to book any clients at all.
Understanding the market will also ensure that you know what services you can offer your clients. This means you can draw up specific price plans for different services in order to turn a profit. Make sure that you plan this pricing structure in advance in your business plan.
Create Your Business Plan
Whether you are starting a digital marketing company or starting out as an influencer, you need a business plan. You should put this together before you start approaching clients. It will give you a great idea of the best way to run your business in order to turn a profit.
Your business plan should outline the brand you want to create for your company. This includes doing research on the types of clients you want to approach.
When it comes to marketing a marketing agency, sometimes it is a good idea to pick a field that you want to specialize in. For example, you could focus on digital marketing for travel businesses. This could help you to build up a specialized portfolio and to become an expert in that part of the market.
However, specializing also means that you narrow down your client base. You could look at expanding later, but this is certainly something you should think about before you start out.
Your business plan is also where you should focus on your budget. Without looking at this, you can easily lose money.
Luckily, it is possible to start your business with less than $100 because you can cut down your running costs by working from home. Some of the costs you will need to think about include paying for a fast internet connection and promoting your business. You should also factor in things such as travel time if you have client meetings and your phone bill.
If you want extra financial support starting your business, you will also need a business plan in place before you approach investors. This shows that you are serious about making your business a success.
Create an Online Presence
Before you start distributing your promotional ads, make sure that you have your website and any social media profiles in place. These are the first places that potential clients will look.
Take the time to ensure that your brand is coherent across your website and social media accounts. You should also carefully check that all online copy is correct and that your website displays on mobile devices as well as computers.
Your digital presence as a company is an extra way of advertising your skills so these should be perfect before you launch them. It will not reflect well on your company if you cannot run your own digital campaign!
Put Together Promotional Materials
In order to bring in clients, you need to promote your services. There are several ways you can do this.
You could prepare a basic pitch about your services and send this out to prospective clients in an email. This should highlight the key things you have to offer them and not overwhelm clients with information. It is also a good idea to include information about why they should want to use this service.
For example, you could mention that 90% of website traffic from smartphones and tablets comes via Google. Because of this, you can point out that a company’s Google SEO ranking could have an impact on the success of their business. Then you can offer a service that will help them to improve this.
However, targeting potential clients with a pitch is only one way to reach out to them. Taking out online ad space is another.
If you do this, make sure that you place your ad on a site where the right people are going to see it. Professional social media websites, such as LinkedIn, are a better place to promote your services than, say, Twitter. So if you have to pick between two sites, make sure you look at the kind of footfall they get before posting your ad.
Depending on your budget, you may also want to get some business cards printed. This is a great idea if you are planning to network in person. Networking might take a bit more time but it is a great way to reel in clients because meeting in person encourages a relationship of trust.
Start Looking for Clients
Putting out adverts is a great way of bringing in clients from all over the web. However, you can get the ball rolling yourself by looking for clients who may be interested in your services.
It is a good idea to target small businesses rather than large ones, as they are less likely to already have digital marketing in place. If a business already has an online presence, you can still target them by reviewing their current marketing. Then use your review to outline why they need to improve it.
This is a great way to approach a client in a way that shows you have a personal interest in their business. Just make sure you do not tell them exactly what you would do otherwise they can simply use your ideas for free!
You can save yourself some time when approaching clients by checking if they already have a marketing team. If they have a team working for them full-time then they will probably not be that interested in outsourcing their work.
It is a good idea to keep a record of the clients that you approach. Keep a note of the following organized in a spreadsheet:
- The name of the company
- The date you contacted them
- Their website
- Their contact details
- Who you spoke to
- Their response (if you receive one)
This is a great way to keep tabs on clients. You do not have to remember clients off the top of your head. It will also help you avoid contacting the same client multiple times, which a lot of companies find extremely annoying.
Tailor Your Offers
Once you do hear back from clients, make sure you take the time to reply properly to all their concerns. A quick reply that repeats everything in your initial pitch could cost you the job.
Take a look through their current digital presence and have a look at their competitors. This is a great way to encourage a client to use your service. If they feel that everyone else is investing in digital marketing then they will want to as well.
Make sure you discuss their budget. You should offer a price that is high enough to show you’re the real deal but still reasonable. This means you won’t risk losing clients because of extortionate prices and, as you grow your client base, you will be able to charge more.
Take Time to Deliver Results
Your company’s reputation matters when it comes to online marketing, so make sure you deliver everything that you promise.
In order to do this, you may want to invest in some digital marketing software to make your job easier. For example, some programs will help to increase your email marketing returns.
If you are going to buy software, make sure that you keep this in mind when budgeting. The last thing you want is to spend all your earnings on software and miss out on any profits.
How to Grow a Digital Marketing Agency
The last few years of business have seen more digital market growth than ever. To really make real money, you should think about how you can grow your business to keep up with this.
There are a few things you can do to become a growing marketing agency.
You should keep a record of all the clients that you work with and create case studies from these. This is a great way of showing prospective clients how good you are, rather than simply talking about it.
Once you have a grip on the basics, you could also look at offering more specialized additional services. For example, you could offer a package for live video marketing.
Improving your communication is also key if you are going to start working with more clients. You may want to hire more staff for this, although this will mean spending more money. Instead, why not integrate your website with a chatbot or AI technology so that you can reply to clients quickly.
Now You Know How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency!
If you want to know how to start a digital marketing agency and run it successfully, stick to these key steps and you can’t go wrong!
For more help creating the perfect website for your company, check out our tips for running a fast website.
