Starting a digital marketing agency is one thing, making it thrive is a different story.
Studies show that there are more than 55.3K digital marketing agencies on the planet, and to say that it is competitive would be an understatement. Yet there are agencies that have skyrocketed in a short time by finding their own mantra of success.
After extensive research and interviewing a number of agency founders and managers, we have put together some tips that we are optimistic will help you achieve your expansion goals.
1. Develop Inbound and Outbound Marketing Strategies
One of the most common mistakes that most digital marketing firms make is that they do not pay heed to their own brand and market themselves. Keep in mind that your business cannot experience growth until you do not have a strong brand identity. That’s why you need to allocate resources for inbound and outbound marketing in order to attract more and more leads to your business.
Inbound Marketing – Inbound marketing involves activities that allow you to attract customers by creating content and experiences that are tailored to their unique needs. Common examples include; SEO, Pay-Per-Click, social media, and content marketing.
Outbound Marketing – Outbound marketing involves activities that allow you to promote awareness about your brand and attract customers by creating non-targeted content. Some common examples include cold calls and cold emails.
2. Make Sure that the Pricing is Right
A critical factor that drives the growth of a digital marketing agency is the price of its services. Many startups fail just because they do not charge enough for their ventures, while many others because they charge too high. Look at what your main competitors are charging and set the right pricing for your services that aligns with them.
Keep in mind that what you charge shows the value of what you offer. Therefore, do not set it too low.
3. Develop a Scalable Process
Like any other business, the key to a successful digital marketing agency has specific policies and procedures. They will help you in executing work efficiently and follow up on deliverables.
Think about automating the reporting process. Simply filling out the automated templates and sending them to clients can help you save a lot of time that you have to spend on writing proposals and contracts otherwise.
Additionally, provide specific guidelines to your team so they can accomplish their work in the most efficient manner.
4. Recruit the Right People and Outsource When Necessary
A common mistake that digital marketing agencies make is that they carry all the work burden alone. A tight schedule leaves little room for growth. This is where outsourcing comes into play. There are several services that you can choose to outsource, including SEO and Social Media Management.
Let the out-house people take care of the work that is beyond your scope of expertise or until you do not have enough in-house resources for it.
5. Create a Streamlined Onboarding Process
Having a seamless onboarding strategies strategy in place ensures that the clients use your services and stay engaged with them. The onboarding process holds the key to client retention; therefore, it should be as simple and straightforward as possible.
From the proposal submission to the initial meeting, a great onboarding process is important to ensure that you offer what they need. It is what helps you turn your potential customers into loyal brand ambassadors.
Once a customer purchases a solution, send out satisfaction surveys to them and ask what parts of your onboarding process prompted them to do business with you and what areas still need improvement.
6. Invest in the Right Tools
As a digital marketing firm, it is immensely important to invest in technology that improves your access to the tools that make it easier for you to provide quality service.
Some of the useful tools you may need include;
SEMrush, MOZ – To check SEO ranking
Google Adwords, Google Trends, and SEMrush – for SEO keyword analysis
Google Analytics: For digital analytics and site audience comparison
7. Optimize Your Own Website
As a digital marketing agency, all your efforts are focused on helping your clients attract more leads and sales. It is hard if a website does not maintain a good ranking on Google. However, while improving the ranking of other websites, you may not have paid heed to the maintenance and SEO optimization of your own site.
Make sure that your team keeps a check on the SEO of your website. Publishing informative, quality articles and insights about your industry is also an excellent way to maintain your Google ranking.
8. Integrate Conversational UI into Your System
A conversational user interface is designed to provide quick answers to your potential customers when live support is not readily available. With such a system in place, you can interact with online customers and make sales beyond standard business hours.
9. Harness the Power of AI
Today, an individualized marketing strategy is critical to help your clients edge ahead of their competitors. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help you do so. The system can predict how people respond to various products and ads and interpret customer behavior. This, in turn, helps you drive conversions.
10. Build Case Studies from Your Successful Clients
Client case studies are a great self-promotional strategy used by most successful digital marketing agencies for lead generation. Telling the success stories of your past clients to your future clients can help you win their trust and boost your sales instantly.
Final Thoughts
There is no shortcut to meaningful, lasting success as digital marketers. However, we hope that the tips shared here can put you on track SEO expert to becoming a successful, well-rounded digital marketing agency.
