Did you know that digital market spending is supposed to climb to $375 billion by 2021? If you’re looking to break into this promising field, you’ll want to learn how. This article contains information about what digital marketing is, plus how to start and run a digital marketing agency.
Read on to discover how to break into the marketing world and watch those big checks fly in.
Starting a Digital Agency in 8 Steps
- Educate Yourself
- Find Your Niche
- Do Competitor Research
- Launch Your Website
- Build a Portfolio
- Set a Business Model
- Have a Social Media Presence
- Generate Leads
Educate Yourself
Before beginning, it’s important to educate yourself and understand as much as possible about digital marketing. Some of the most successful people in the world never stop learning. So, invest your time and money in learning. You’ll also want to have an understanding of the industry as well.
Some different concepts you’ll want to understand are PPC (pay-per-click marketing), SEO, email marketing campaigns, and creating online funnels. You’ll also want to understand graphic design and content marketing as well.
Once that’s understood, you’ll want to find your niche.
Find Your Niche
Competition is intense, so finding your niche is vital to stand out. You can then focus on a smaller audience that’s interested in what you offer.
Do Competitor Research
When starting any business, you’ll want to know how you’ll rank against the competitors. When you research your competitors, you’ll then be able to understand how to surpass them.
To do competitor analysis, you’ll want to use the same keywords your business would use online. Narrow down your competition to about 10-15 competitors.
Once you’ve discovered your competition, check out how they’re monetizing (obtaining their money). Then you can learn what their methods are and what’s successful.
Some examples of monetization methods are:
- Donation, commission, coaching
- Selling a digital or physical product
- Lead generation, affiliate sales, advertising
Identify at least one method per competitor.
Once you’ve figured out how they monetize, you can then determine their content marketing strategy. Take a look at their blog posts, social media, and SEO. As far as content is it in the form of podcasts, blogging, or videos?
Then, take a look at how they communicate with their customers. After this, determine if you’d like to use a similar content marketing strategy, or differ.
Launching a Website
Before you launch your website, you’ll want to keep content and competitors in mind. You also need to decide how you’ll find clients for your business. You’ll then need a domain name and hosting service for your site.
Build a Portfolio
When you’re starting a digital marketing agency, to get reviews and your name out there, you’ll want to offer free services. When you gain trust from your customers, you’ll then attract potential customers.
A good portfolio includes:
- In-depth case studies
- Headlines or snippets
- Client testimonials
- Upcoming goals for that client
You want to show your audience that you can deliver results and will continue to do so. Make sure your portfolio is ethical and honest, not stretching the truth.
Set a Business Model
There are numerous ways you can bill your client, and how is up to you. One choice is where they pay you by the hour. This is good for when you have one or shorter tasks. When you start scaling up it can be trickier.
A flat retainer is a simple pricing model. This is a flat fee for the month. Just make sure to have rules as far as if a client quits early or scales up with their requirements.
The next pricing model is the percentage of spending. This makes sure your agency will receive the correct compensation from your hard work.
Have a Social Media Presence
When you’re starting a digital marketing agency, you’ll want to be on social media. It’s free to create an account on social media platforms, so why not take advantage? You can benefit from organic lead generation, engaging with customers and potential customers, and then turn your business global.
Generating Leads
There are several ways to generate leads, but it can be difficult at first growing your client base so don’t get discouraged. Before generating leads, you’ll want to have your target customer in mind.
Once you have your target customer, one method you can use for lead generation is starting a Youtube channel.
Make sure to regularly publish video content on Youtube to generate leads with helpful content. Some publishing ideas are case studies, hot marketing topics, how to’s, and reviews from clients.
Are you noticing some articles on your blog perform better than others? Take a look at the title. Do A/B testing of different titles and see which performs better. You can always go back and switch out articles for blog posts.
Another method is to do affiliate marketing. When you partner with affiliates, you can then expand your network and find potential prospects. You can also do cold emails, but be careful with this method so you don’t come off as spam.
Properly research each company before reaching out, and craft an email that speaks to their needs. This is great when you’re first starting out and your budget is limited.
Actually you should also keep in mind that, if your agency will work on generating leads for other companies in some way, you should know how to do it. If you can market yourself, it will be easier to do it for your customers and you will have a case study in your hands about you.
Are You Ready for Starting Your Digital Agency?
While it can seem overwhelming first starting out, you should have a good idea of how to start and run a digital marketing agency. Keep this guide in mind as you’re planning out each step of your agency.
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