No matter where I am or what I’m doing– whether I’m speaking at an event, doing Facebook live, or working with one of our international partners– a question I get asked all the time is, “What are the top things that you recommend for someone just getting started in their digital marketing agency?” So today, I will finally be answering that question.
In this blog, I’ll go over six important tips you need to focus on when you’re just getting started with your agency.
1- Be Committed
As someone who’s done this before and coached other digital agencies, I can safely say it is hard. Sure, it’s easy to sell a client or two initially, but it’s hard to sustain an agency long-term. Having a true commitment to your agency helps you overcome anything through entrepreneurship. So you have to focus on being committed.
2- Find The Right Team
You NEED to have a team. There are two core elements when it comes to having a Digital Marketing Agency:
- Sales
- Fulfillment
With both these core elements, you need experts on the subject. If you’re not an expert, it’s important to hire someone who is. With something as crucial as fulfillment, you have to ensure you’re not just hiring a VA and end up wondering how to grade them, train them, and do quality assurance. You need to find an expert.
There are two ways to find an expert:
Find A Partner: Someone who is your better half in sales and is there full time.
Find A Fulfillment Company: A company you can trust to partner up with you.
No matter how you go about it, having a team is extremely important.
3- Find A Strategy
You need to figure out how you want to do business. What’s your marketing strategy going to be? Are you going to have a niche? Are you going to go local? These are all very important questions to ask yourself. Many people, and coaches, will talk a lot about niches and claim it to be the best route to take. The reason for this is that for prospecting, it’s easy to automate a niche.
However, from a local standpoint, when there’s a crisis or churn– and I’ve noticed local agencies have a lower churn than niche agencies– local agencies are harder to cancel on because they’re more known on a personal level. This allows you to perform better, get things on point, and scale through your clients. You have to find your strategy.
4- Learn The Basics Of Product
It sounds simple, but it’s very important if you’re going to be invested and committed to growing your agency to learn the basics of your product. So many people won’t take the time to learn about SEO or the basics of PPC. I’m not talking about being an expert here; it’s about learning enough to understand how things work so you can help serve your client by understanding what you’re offering.
There are a lot of free articles and videos out there to help you get started. A basic understanding can get you a long way. So learn about how SEO works–one of my favorite products.
5- Set A Long-Term Plan
You have to plan long-term. The agency world, as I’ve mentioned before, is hard. If you’re not in it for the long-term, if you’re not fully dedicated, you’re going to fail, you’re going to be frustrated, and it’s not going to work. So it’s very important to plan for the long haul.
You have to be prepared for the ups and downs. There are going to be good times, and there are going to be bad times, so you need to have a long-term plan that will keep your drive and dedication up. This is not a short-game thing you need to be committed to your digital marketing strategy.
6- Talk To 5 Business Owners
This last tip is my sales tip and what I recommend to anyone I’m getting started within the Hite Digital world –and although it might sound simple, it truly works– making your goal to talk to 5 business owners a day.
Make it your goal to reach that 25 a week. You don’t have to sell or convince them about your services. Talk. Talk and have a quality conversation with a business owner. The more people you talk to, the more chances there are that someone will take a chance on you. Let the conversation go naturally, and it will eventually flow into what you do and what you can offer them.
But when you start that conversation, go into it, wanting to learn. Learn how to talk to business owners, learn how to approach the conversations with confidence, and ultimately you’ll be able to build a relationship that will ultimately wind up in some business.
Stay Committed
So there you go; those are my 6 tips you need to know if you’re starting with your digital marketing agency. Now that you know what it takes to start digital agencies, it’s time to get out there. Stay committed to your goals, and keep learning and evolving your strategies. With these tips in mind, you’ll set your agency up for success.