In this guide, I’ll share a step-by-step strategy for growing a marketing agency from your bedroom. Let’s start from the beginning.
Step 1: Define the product/service
I don’t have to tell you what service to sell. If you want to start an agency, you have a set of skills that you hope businesses will find valuable.
Awesome.
It is important to be clear about how much value the company will derive from the service. In business terms, you call it return on investment (ROI). The harder it is to prove your worth, the harder it is to find and attract customers.
Let me give you an example:
- CRO – I will improve the design of your website so you can make more money
- Graphic Designer – I will make you attractive marketing graphics
Who would you work with if you had a limited marketing budget?
The clearer the ROI picture, the more people will be interested in your services. You need to be sure of this.
The second thing you need to do is define your target audience.
As you can see from my failed projects in 2017, I targeted hotels. This is because my wife runs a tour company. I have experience in a niche market and feel I can offer va
The reason a niche is good is that you can appear to be an expert on the topic. It will also make you an expert on a subject once you start landing clients.
This is handy for referrals but also makes it easier for you to charge extra for your expertise.
As part of this process, you may end up doing some sort of customer persona as well as a sales and marketing exercise. There are three stages to this process. do you need:
- Research the type of business you want to work with
- How much money do they make?
- How many employees do they have?
- In which niche market do they operate?
- Define the pain point the service will solve
- What is the biggest problem facing businesses?
- What is your unique selling point?
- Decide who in the company you should contact
- What are their job titles?
- What might their marketing goals be?
At the end of the customer persona exercise, you should end up with something roughly similar to this.
Having a clear idea of what services you will be offering, and the type of businesses you will be targeting will get you off to a good start. This is where customer mapping is done. to the next stage.
Step 2: Create your marketing materials
At the beginning of this guide to starting a marketing agency, I shared screenshots of the website my brother built. This is one of several marketing materials we use to market his services. I recommend that you create some marketing materials for your marketing agency as this is crucial during the lead generation phase.
I believe the two key things every digital marketing agency needs to generate sales are a simple website and a branded email address. That’s not much. I’ll explain why you need it below.
Why Every Digital Marketing Agency Needs a Website
If you bring up a cold lead by phone or email, you can guarantee that the first thing a person will do is Google your business. That’s why your institution needs a website.
The website you create can be simple. A few core pages are usually sufficient. I recommend that you create at least three pages. They are:
- Website homepage – essentially a sales page where you showcase your services
- About page – just some information about the background of the company
- Case study pages – examples of the value you can add to your business
Of these three pages, only the home page of the website is essential. It doesn’t need anything fancy to get the result, as you can see from the example I gave at the beginning.
The other two pages, while valuable, are not required. You can create such a website with a simple landing page builder.
Why You Need a Branded Email Address
The next thing to start a digital marketing agency is a branded email address. This will be something like [email protected]. A branded email address will help you look more professional when outreaching or communicating with prospects or clients.
It’s a small investment. I mine through the Gmail integration, which costs about $4 per month. Here you can find instructions on how to set up a branded email address with them if needed.
Step 3: Grow your professional network
At this stage, we’ve covered how to determine which type of customers to target, create customer personas, and prepare some basic marketing materials for launching a digital agency. It’s simple. The hard part is turning your idea into a profitable business.
To grow your business, you need to create a list of companies to target.
There are many resources available for creating these types of lists. Here are some resources you can use, depending on the size and type of company you’re targeting:
- Google My Business: Good for local business listings. For example, law firms, accounting firms, etc. in your area
- Business lists and awards: useful for scaling up and larger companies, Inc 5,000, Local Business Roundup and Local Business Awards
- Stock Market: It’s unlikely you’ll be pitching to a big company right away, but if you choose to, the stock market is an obvious place to be
I always list leads on Google Sheets. Then, I tried using LinkedIn to give each company a name for the relevant decision-maker.
First, search for the company name through the platform. Then, on the People tab, enter the relevant job title. If you plan to work with a large company, get in touch with several decision-makers in the company.
Make a note of the person’s name on your Google Sheet. I usually follow up with a connection request.
As your professional network grows, you’ll want to do the usual social media stuff. Like people’s posts, leave comments, and the rest. This type of interaction naturally leads to conversations with some people. This is your first point of contact.
Step 4: How to Generate Leads for Your Business
So now you have a list of potential customers to target. Your job is to turn some of the people on your list into customers. The most direct way is to let them know that you can provide services 😉
If you are starting a digital marketing agency, I recommend that you offer both paid services and some key clients for free. Let’s look at the more controversial of the two strategies first.
Why You Should Provide Your Services Selectively Pro Bono
It can take a while to gain a foothold in a niche market. You need to get your name out there and make a name for yourself. This can take years to accomplish if you start from the ground up.
You can often establish yourself faster by networking and building friendships with niche influencers and business leaders. Three advantages of working with a niche influencer or business leader are:
- Respected in their field – you can name them when pitching to clients / some of their fame will have an impact on you
- Source of leads and referrals – they have a large professional network that you can leverage
- Promotional platforms – getting social shares or guest posts on their site can help you build your name
Of course, getting the attention of industry leaders is difficult.
This is where pro bono work can pay for itself.
You don’t need much strategy to sell someone your work for free. First, define the market leaders in your field that you would like to contact. You probably already have a mental list of the most influential people in your niche in your head.
Once you’ve created this list, market your services for free. A simple email template similar to this one will probably work fine.
Hi [name],
My name is [name]. I [Service Offering]. I want to help you [whatever you do] for free.
Normally, I charge [amount] for [service product], but I want to offer you my skills and problem-solving abilities for free. Are you interested? Nice to hop on a Skype call to chat about this.
cheers
[name]
Below is an example of an email I sent to Michelle Schroeder from Make Sense of Cents. She is an influencer in the marketing world, and she mentioned in her newsletter that she wants to learn about SEO in 2020.
Nothing came of this proposal, but that’s okay.
Marketing any service is just a numbers game. If you say you will work for several people without charging them, someone will say yes. It’s just the way things are.
Offering services for free is a long-term strategy for expanding the sales funnel of digital marketing agencies. However, you cannot pay rent by promising future payments. So let’s see how to run a cold outreach strategy to generate some leads.
How to Market Your Services Via Email
Several great articles discuss how to run cold outreach. Most articles emphasize the same point:
- Keep Emails Short and Sweet
- Send several emails in a series
- Provide some hooks for them to call
- have a short and sweet subject line
“I do a lot of outreach for my agency. I’ve found that a strong subject line like “A quick question…” or “Just a minute…” converts far more than a wordy The ones who sell the most,” said Matt Diggity of Diggity Marketing .
Regarding email length, I try to keep email templates under three paragraphs. Email copy should be polite and professional. You can find tips on how to write professional outreach emails here .
You should send out a series of emails as part of your outreach, as not everyone will respond to the first message. This stat from a Mailshake article shows you what I mean.
Source: Post Shake
When sending a series of emails, each message must focus on a different touchpoint. You can’t just send the same email three or four times and expect a response.
When doing cold outreach, I make sure that each email in the series has a different hook. For example, when pitching SEO services, an email might have the following focus:
- Send potential clients Youtube videos of your marketing services
- Offer recipients a free website audit
- Send an email with a PDF of the case study
This might seem a bit theoretical. Below is a great example of Daniel Di Piazza using a video link in a cold-speech pitch for Elance, as it was known at the time, for his web development business.
You can see how the call to action in this email is focused on getting potential customers to watch the video. Video works because you can provide a lot of value in a short amount of time. Additionally, 93% of our communication is non-verbal. With video, you can convey emotion through tone of voice and expression. This helps build trust.
Here are some email templates you might choose to market your SEO services:
Subject line: More leads?
hi, name ,
I can see WEBSITE doing a good job with content marketing, but you’re just beyond the first page with lots of valuable phrases. I and my team can help improve your ranking. I made a short two-minute video with a couple of case studies to show you how we can get your website to the top of the first page. Here it is: youtube.com/yourvideo
Watch the video and let me know if you can make a business call on DAY. I’d love to tell you about what I do and how I can help grow your business.
cheers
name
This could be the first email template for your outreach series. Each subsequent template has a different focus. By following the steps outlined in this guide to growing a digital agency, you’ll generate interest in your services.
Now comes the hard work, converting prospects into customers.
Step 5: How to Land Your First Client
Turning prospects into customers is hard. The reason is easy to understand.
I have yet to come across a strategy that is guaranteed to convert every prospect into a customer. However, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of making a sale. I’ll describe my three main sales techniques below.
Get leads to complete surveys
Questionnaires are an excellent way to understand intent. I haven’t seen them used a lot as part of the sales process, but they should be.
I recommend that you have each prospect complete a short 10-15 question questionnaire before making a sales call. In the survey, you should try to get answers to the following questions:
- What are they trying to achieve by working with the agency?
- How do they define success / what KPIs do they use?
- Have they worked with organizations similar to yours?
- What is their marketing budget?
- What is the potential customer worth to their business?
These are the kinds of questions you want answered in a sales meeting. You will be better prepared if you have the answers to these questions before the meeting. Importantly, understanding what they are looking for and how they measure success enables you to market your services in a way that matches their business goals.
Research Individuals and Businesses
You probably know the saying, “By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.” This saying applies to most things in life, including sales meetings.
Spend half an hour to an hour researching the company and the people you are meeting. A quick look at LinkedIn can often give you insight into the professional history of the person you’re meeting. Social media should give you insights into their bygone era.
The purpose of researching an individual is to identify common interests and an understanding of their work history. For example:
- Where do they work and how long have they worked in their position?
- Do they publish content from various publications online?
- Did you go to the same college, or do you have friends who went to the same college?
- What hobbies do they have? Are you interested in the same thing?
Background research about a person will help you come up with things to talk about. This is useful at the beginning of the meeting and at the end of the meeting, you tend to make small talk. At the same time, getting to know the company you’re pitching to shows that you took the time to prepare for the meeting and made a good impression.
Prepare some sales props and talking points
If you watch Shark Tank, you’ll notice that most people use some prop during the presentation. They use props to help engage the audience and get their point across. Props are equally useful in sales meetings.
I suggest you bring a prop to your sales meeting. You don’t need to use it, but it’s nice to have something to refer to if you want to continue your sales meeting.
One of the props that salespeople rely on the most is a slide presentation. Slideshare presentations often tell a story. The presentation will cover why you are the right person for the job, as well as reference case studies demonstrating your expertise.
I prefer to use more interactive props. Before a meeting, I usually ask for access to Google Search Console. Then, I can directly view their search results. I like using this method because it engages other people and allows me to showcase my expertise.
How to Scale Your Marketing Agency
The strategies I share in this article should give you the framework for growing your digital marketing agency. Many successful companies rely on this sales strategy to acquire customers.
Of course, direct marketing should be just one of the mixed channels you use to grow your agency. Other effective channels you can choose to focus on include:
- Content Marketing – Blogs, Podcasts, Vlogs
- Offline Events – host your own event or be a speaker
- Referrals – client referrals and agent referrals
But fundamentally, your agency’s success should be based on your ability to deliver results for your clients. This will ultimately keep you in business.
in conclusion
I spent a few years on the sidelines when it came to providing digital marketing services. Despite having the experience and knowledge required to sell services, I’ve always focused on long-term projects that take a lot of time to generate a decent amount of revenue.
The truth is, selling digital marketing services is one of the fastest ways to start making money online. For SEO, a reasonable client will pay you $2k per month. A good client can make you over $5.
You need a lot of direct or affiliate sales to earn this kind of cash.
With a clear strategy, something as simple as the one I shared, and a little determination, I can almost guarantee you’ll find a client using this strategy within two months. On a whole scale, that’s not a very long time.
Once you have clients, you need to decide whether serving clients is just a means to a different end or if you want to go the extra mile and grow a digital marketing agency. I leave it to you.
