If you’ve been dabbling in online marketing for a while and think you have the skills to help people increase their online reach or have been working for a digital agency your whole life and feel like you can be the captain of your own ship, starting a digital agency could be a good idea. Organizations everywhere are looking for people to help them navigate their online marketing efforts and monitor them, and, if you’re good at what you do, you’ll never run out of clients.
With that being said, starting a digital marketing agency could be much more complex than you imagined and you have to be ready to face some obstacles at first. Here’s what you need to do to build a successful digital agency.
Find a Niche
You can always start as a general agency, but you might have more success if you specialize yourself. By doing so, you’ll be able to present yourself as an expert and allow your brand to stand out.
You could decide to work with healthcare organizations only, for instance, or work for non-profits. Some people decide to work with the public sector only or focus on one specific type of online marketing. The choice is yours. The most important is gauging demand properly and making sure that you have the expertise needed to provide results.
Refine Your Skillset
If you choose a specialized niche, then you might have to refine your skillset. If you want to work with restaurant owners, for example, then you might want to learn about things like geo-fencing and brush up on your local SEO skills if you feel like you’re behind. If you want to work in the public sector or with non-profits, then you will have to get familiar with SMS marketing platforms if you aren’t already.
If this is a niche that interests you, we strongly suggest that you check political SMS marketing platforms like Tatango. You should get familiar with things like donor management and political data enhancement tools as well. The more well-rounded your skill set is, the more services you’ll be able to offer and the more credible you will be as an agency.
Start Making a Name for Yourself
References and testimonials are everything in this field, so you will have to find a way to get as many as you can fast. The best way to do this is to offer your services for free or at a huge discount. Make sure that you treat your first customers as gold as they could make or break your brand. Also, make sure to follow up with them and learn what they liked and didn’t like about your service.
Start Slow
Be careful to not stretch yourself too thin at the beginning and don’t get overwhelmed if you get offered a huge contract. If you feel like this is too soon for you, turn it down politely. It’s always better than taking it and failing miserably. This is your time to learn, so take baby steps and look at what you can take away from your mistakes.
A digital marketing agency can be extremely profitable if you know what you’re doing and treat your clients well. Do as much research as you can on the industry before you get started and consider speaking with current or former owners so they can warn you of some caveats to avoid.
