How To Start Your Digital Marketing Agency In 9 Steps?

Starting a business without dealing with many confusions is not easy if you are not well-informed of the industry. How risky or rewarding will it be; it depends on the decisions you are making.

So, if you are planning to start a digital marketing agency and achieve 6-figure as soon as possible, you can achieve this by following the six steps explained in this article. 

10 or 15 or 20 years ago, it was not easy to start and run a digital marketing business. From a technology point of view and easy and quick availability of knowledge, things are improved now.

However, still, it can be a little difficult for those who are unable to choose the right tools and resources. You need to analyze the needs and expectations of your clients, the competition in the industry, and the latest trends and technologies used by the industry. Even after that, lack of attention and unplanned strategy may lead them to commit the most common online marketing mistakes.

Steps to Start A Successful Digital Marketing Agency

• Know your Industry 
• Do A Market Study
• Price your business services 
• Create a digital marketing agency business plan
• Approach businesses 
• Get results 
• Make a team 

Step 1: Learn About the Industry 

When starting your own digital marketing business, never think that you have enough knowledge about the industry. All successful people have one common trait. They never stop learning. So, if you want to be a part of this growing industry, learn as much as you can.

Start with investing your resources on understanding the industry. You need a strong understanding of the industry and needs of your clients to deliver services that grow clients’ and your business.

When you are promoting your SEO, PPC, email marketing, SMM, web design and development and other digital marketing services, you have to present yourself as an expert.

This is not possible without having the knowledge and understanding of the industry. 

• Do you know how to find clients? 
• Do you know how to create online funnels? 
• What about the pricing? 
• Shall you outsource some responsibilities? 
• How and where to sell your services? 

There are some essential areas of digital marketing. Make sure that you have the resources to be at the top of the following areas: 

• Website design and development 
• Search engine marketing 
• Social media marketing 
• Email marketing 
• PPC, also known as Google Ads  

You can also plan to target a specific niche. For example, you can only target digital marketing for Shopify, SEO for artists, SEO for dentists, HVAC SEO services, etc.

It will be good for your digital marketing agency if you have a strong understanding of content marketing and graphic design as well. You should be able to acquire and apply the latest concepts in your services. 

Step 2: Perform a Market Study

Conducting a market study It is one of the key points to start any business. However, don’t confuse it with industry research. The former helps you know in-depth trends of the sector, the latter makes you familiar with your competition.

It is very important that you know well what others do, how they do it and what aspects you can use to develop your business. This will allow you to create a suitable strategy from the beginning.

But you may be wondering how to do such an analysis. It is normal to have such doubts. Here’s exactly what to keep in mind:

Competitors: It is all about the competition that you will face. Study their strengths and weaknesses and learn from them.

Possible Collaborators: Do not hesitate to develop and maintain relationships with allies who are in the same field of work. Working together with advertisers, designers, media and digital agencies will give you many opportunities and advantages over the competition.

Customers: Customers are of the utmost importance. You must remember that the success you have when setting up an online marketing agency is subject to the quality of your service. Study who they are, what their behaviour is, where are they from, etc. Learn everything about them and adapt your products to their needs.

Products and Services: Other online marketing agencies may offer services very similar to yours. To position yourself in the market, and especially in the consumer’s mind, you must differentiate yourself from others, generating unique and attractive content. Look for a differentiating element that identifies you and you will avoid being one of the bunch.

Step 3: Find Financing to Set up Your Anency

Money is a fundamental part, without it it will be impossible to start in this business. Before starting, you should have saved some money for the initial investment.

Having money to start with is the ideal option, but if this is not the case, you can look for business investors. You can pitch your idea to get financing or a loan.

Perhaps the financial part scares you, do not worry, you will always have solutions available. There are countless credits/loans you can opt for. All you have to do is choose the one that best suits your situation.

The amount of money you need should guarantee the following :

> The payment of everything you need to start: Premises, Computer Equipment, Software, Electricity, Internet connection, Employees, etc.

> Have some extra money: Perhaps you think with what you have you can go pulling, but having a small economic mattress will save your life in case the business does not start to profit as quickly as you expected.

Step 4: Pricing Your Services 

When learning how to start your own digital marketing agency, the next important step is pricing your services. Under-pricing leads to losses and then failure. Your services should be fairly priced. To do that, you can create pricing tiers for the services you are offering.

You can use the three-tier pricing strategy. For example, you can offer the following three packages to your clients: 

• Basic Package 
• Advanced Package 
• Premium package 

The basic package can be a safe bet. The advanced package can be something your client finds optimal to go for. And the premium package is for businesses that are ready to pay more for quality services.

By offering three different packages, you are not scaring anyone away with your pricing. 

• A small business can go for the basic package. 
• The advanced package is ideal for a medium-sized business. 
• The premium package is for big businesses. 

The quality and amount of services should increase with the price.            

Don’t forget that you have to consider the software fee and some other fees as well.

It is also important to understand the value you are delivering while determining price tiers. Your basic package should not be too cheap.    

Step 5: Create A Business Plan 

After determining the pricing of your services, it’s time to create a business plan.

First of all, choose a suitable name for your business. After that, determine the industry or niche you will serve. 

You can get both work and experience from online freelancing platforms such as Upwork, Freelance.com and Fiverr. This can help you in building your portfolio.

However, this will not create a strong presence on the web. You need to set up a website. Create a strategy to promote your business on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. 

Step 6: Approach Businesses 

You have knowledge, skills and strategy. Don’t just rely on online freelancing platforms for projects.

You can run social media campaigns and attract new clients. There are many other ways of approaching businesses. Following are the most common:

Cold Calling

Find the contact details of local businesses you can serve. Send them emails. Make phone calls. Tell them about your business and services.  

Offer Digital Marketing Audits 

Most likely, local businesses are already working with some other digital marketing agency. Creating contacts is beneficial but not enough to land clients. You have to show them that you can deliver value.

They may or may not be satisfied with the services offered by the digital marketing agencies they are currently working with. If you can tell a client how, why and where his current digital marketers are falling short, you can attract that client.

Do a digital marketing audit for the business of that client. Inform him of the issues in his current digital marketing campaign and suggest solutions. Let him know why and how his competitors are selling more.

Attend Events 

It is important to build your own network or be a part of a network. Join local business associations. Join business membership groups. Attend events or organize one.

These events give you opportunities to speak to people and also increase your understanding of the industry. 

Step 7: Set up Meetings 

Now, it’s time to hook a client who has reviewed the audit. Set up a meeting with that client and tell how you can help him. Don’t try to sell your product or service.

Provide that client with value. Offer a solution that will help his business excel.     

Land clients

Learn what the client wants. Tell the client about the process. The client should know what he should expect. Following are the two approaches you can use while speaking to clients: 

• Logical approach focuses on solving the problem of the client. 
• Emotional approach uses emotions to sell services.  

Step 8: Getting Results 

Now you have some businesses paying for your services. From here, you can either get more business or lose your existing clients. It depends on the results you are producing for them.

The client’s return on investment should be measurable and visible. Track results. Send reports to keep the client informed of the progress.  

Step 9: Increase Your Team 

If you have started making a decent income and you feel that you need some talented individuals to help you, it’s time to build a team. Hire graphic and web designers, developers, PPC experts, SEO specialists, and other professionals depending on your projects.

While your team is working on projects, you can work on finding new clients to grow your business. The size of your team is also an indicator of your success.

When all the businesses are moving to the web, it is the best time to start a digital marketing agency. Offer quality services to your existing clients to retain them. Earn a reputation. This will attract new clients.

A Golden Tip at Last: 

Keep Clear And Quantitative Goals

Many times we plan and organize what we have to do day by day but we do not define our goals in a concrete way. Not having well-defined objectives, we fail to take advantage of important opportunities.

If you want to prosper with your online marketing agency, you must specify your goals. Not just the regular ones. Make a list of all your short, medium, and long-term goals. They must be concrete and measurable objectives.

This will allow you to build an action plan, allowing you to have a clear path. This path will tell you when to do which things that will lead to the success of the agency.

It will also help you track your progress and where you are currently standing. It is essential to know so that you can analyze where to go.

Finally, do not despair if at first, you do not have the number of clients that you had thought. It takes time to reach there. The roam was not built in a day.

Just have patience and work harder than your previous day and the world will soon see you in the position you desire.

We wish you all the best!