Starting your own marketing agency is a bold move. You will be taking on a lot of responsibility, creating your own business with all the expenses that come with it.
The best way to start is by gaining experience with other marketing agencies. By working with other firms, you will learn all the aspects of marketing and how to run an agency.
You can also gain experience by working at a marketing agency as a staff member. As you learn the ins and outs of the business, you can eventually take on more responsibilities and become an agent yourself.
Here at Marketing Agency Go, they offer several resources for aspiring agents looking to take the leap into starting their own business. They offer tips and tricks for starting your own agency and getting off the ground.
Read more here about their services and resources for aspiring agents.
Finding clients is the hardest part of being an agency. You cannot start working for clients until you have clients to work for!
You can run ads, use networking and marketing strategies, and employ other tactics to find new customers, but if you do not have any customers waiting, it is not going to be easy to make an agency.
Clients come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them will be very hard to convince to hire your agency, while others will be easier. It is your job to find as many easy ones as possible while avoiding the hard ones that will cost your agency time and money.
Network with other small business owners in your area and offer some free services or deals to get some exposure for your business. This will help get you some new clients while keeping your budget in check.
Once you have decided to start your own marketing agency, the next step is to build your team. This means finding other professionals to work with you.
As a marketing expert, you should be aware of the other disciplines that make up a full agency. These include creative, copywriting, social media marketing, and SEO specialists.
By hiring people with these skills, you can offer your clients a full suite of services. Clients will appreciate this and return for more services due to the variety offered.
To find professionals to work with you, look for talented people in the industry and ask them if they would like to join your new agency. Promote the benefits of joining your agency and offer competitive salaries to attract people.
Or, if needed, hire new people into the field that you know are talented and will help grow your business.
While it is nice to have experience in marketing, the experience you gain in other areas can be just as valuable.
Many marketing professionals gain experience in advertising, marketing, public relations, and sales. All of these areas are part of the five Ps of marketing, so you can be assured that you will learn something new.
Advertising includes learning about media buys, pricing strategies, and campaign creation and management. Marketing includes learning about target markets, product creation and improvement, and audience engagement.
Public relations includes creating press releases, getting exposure for your company or organization via media outlets, and improving your reputation. Sales includes understanding pricing strategies and how to pitch products or services to potential clients.
Any of these experiences can be transferred to the business side of marketing which makes them worth acquiring.
Starting an advertising agency requires some form of equipment. Most business start-ups need some sort of software or hardware to operate efficiently.
Advertising agencies need design software such as Adobe Creative Cloud to create compelling designs for advertisements, brochures, etc. They also need marketing software such as Marketo or Eloqua to manage client lists and track marketing efforts.
They require photography equipment to take high quality photos for marketing materials or advertisements. They also need some form of printing equipment to produce brochures, flyers, etc.
Having office space is a necessity for this type of agency as they need a place to conduct meetings with clients and employees. Desks, chairs, and other general office supplies are needed as well.
Start-up costs can run up pretty high depending on the level of equipment needed. Buying used gear can help cut costs.
Finding clients is the hardest part of running your own marketing agency. You will not get any work unless you solicit clients and promote your services.
You can do this via word of mouth, networking events, contacting businesses that are looking for marketing help, advertising, or applying for jobs at companies that need marketing assistance.
Network events are a great way to find clients as well as gain new contacts. When you attend an event, you can pick up on what people need or want and offer your services.
By attending networking events, you will gain a following and trust from people who see that you are willing to help them with something. Word gets around fast and people will start contacting you for work.
When advertising your agency, make sure to be clear about what you offer and how you offer it. Being clear and concise about your marketing services will help get more clients through the door.
As mentioned before, your client contacts should be transferred to the agency team so they can continue working with your former clients.
Clients like to know that their business is in good hands and that their needs will be met. The team needs to work hard to gain this trust from your clients.
It’s important for the agency team to have access to all of the information needed to service a client. This includes things like budgets, what needs to be done, and who else is working on the project.
Clients also like to know that there is someone reliable on the other end who can answer questions and get things done. An important part of the job is establishing and maintaining trust with clients.
Having access to client contacts is one of the most difficult parts of transitioning into an agency.
As mentioned earlier, marketing is a constantly-evolving field. New tactics and strategies are introduced frequently, and old ones become outdated quickly.
To be successful, an agency needs to stay up to date on the latest marketing trends, tactics, and strategies. That can be difficult when new things are being introduced so often!
Agency owners need to have a solid understanding of the marketing process so they can recognize new developments and apply them correctly. They also need to have other resources they can refer to when new things arise so they are not leaving clients exposed.
Clients want an agency that is aware of the latest developments and can implement new strategies successfully. This keeps their marketing efforts effective and current, which raises their visibility and reputation.
As mentioned earlier, being able to manage your time well is a key skill needed to run a successful marketing agency.
You will need to balance client projects, internal projects, ongoing tasks, and new project starts on top of administrative tasks like billing and marketing.
How organized you are with your internal projects, client work, and other responsibilities will determine how well you can focus on the new projects that come in.
Having a system in place for managing all of these things will save you time down the road when you need to switch gears quickly.
Clients can have very tight deadlines that require you to work late nights or pull you away from other responsibilities. Having good organization and time management skills will help prevent stress and burnout.
