Starting a marketing business can be very lucrative; after all, every business can benefit from marketing. Marketers can benefit from adapting quickly to the often rapid changes in the digital marketing industry.
As the owner of an advertising agency or a digital agency, there are certain steps you can take to maximise your profit by embracing these changes.
So, lets dive into a curated selection of marketing and business growth hints and tips that can help you start a digital agency and grow a digital marketing agency in 2024 and beyond.
1. Make client onboarding as simple as possible for your clients
Digital agencies and marketing agencies can’t succeed without their clients. With a simple onboarding process, you can build strong and lasting relationships by demonstrating to new clients just how easy it is to do business with you.
Focus on making sure that you can meet the expectations of your clients. Send them client surveys quarterly or half-yearly to gauge their satisfaction and to identify where you may be able further support them.
2. Optimise your website
You are likely making recommendations to your clients about how they can improve their company website, but are you sure that your own company website is optimised?
When your business provides marketing advice and digital recommendations, it is important to ensure that you have a well-designed and high quality company website that provides valuable information for your customers.
This is especially important when your customers are making decisions about whether or not they do more business with your agency, or take their business to one of your competitors. Ensure that you check the performance of your SEO program regularly to ensure that it is still providing an acceptable return on your investment and is driving new leads and increased traffic and sales.
3. Leverage data and analytics to your advantage
To find clients for your marketing business and increase your digital marketing agency profit, lean into data and analytics and use the insights they provide to your advantage.
Technology is an important business investment that helps agencies operate with increased efficiency by leveraging key data and useful analytics tools. To make life easier for your clients, your agency may adopt a system that is fully integrated with technology.
You can get started by using leading digital analytics software such as Google Search Console or SEMrush; both are handy digital marketing tools for checking the effectiveness of your SEO activities. You can also use Google Ads to analyse new SEO keywords you may be considering adding to your SEO program.
4. Invest in your team members
Investing in your team and harnessing the knowledge and skills of your people can be one of the more effective digital marketing tips for your business. Your team is your most valuable asset, while also being your biggest investment, all of which means that investing in them is important – for them, but also for the future of your business.
5. Attract entry-level talent
Investing in the development of your entry-level team members and helping them develop their skills can be a great way to attract new talent to your business. Remember that the amount of money someone earns has no direct relationship to their value to your business, or to the quality of work they contribute to your business.
The higher the qualifications that your entry-level employees have when they join your business, the more value your agency will be able to provide to your clients. This is great for your clients, and great for your business too, as it generally means your business will be more profitable.
6. Fill the gaps between talent, strategy, and technology
Your customers are willing to pay a premium for the services that they cannot provide themselves. If your digital agency offers unique or original capabilities that are in high demand, there’s no reason why you can’t charge more for delivering those solutions for clients. A marketing agency or a digital agency that offers unique solutions will likely have no trouble finding clients.
7. Maintain balance between budget and service
Agency business owners can see their profitability eroded fast if they over-serve clients and lose balance between the projects and budgets. It is crucial to identify project risks early on, as often agencies are already dealing with small profit margins.
Project management software can be your friend here by helping you to keep track of project budgeting. These tools can also reduce stress for business owners and increase the productivity and efficiency of your employees.
8. Qualify your clients
The primary duty of any business owner or manager is to ensure that the company’s goals are met. The goal of a marketer is to generate leads and convert those leads into sales. If you don’t qualify your clients before you start serving them, your business risks wasting time and losing money. So, qualify your clients first; it’s a great way to avoid the proverbial ‘tyre kickers’.
You can save precious time by reducing the time you spend on prospects who are not committed. You can gain insights about their interests and behaviors by tracking the content that they read on your website and their answers to the questions you ask them.
9. Get paid for strategic planning
As many agency business owners know all too well, an agency’s most valuable work for clients is strategic planning. In order to attract clients, agencies will often give strategic planning away for free – often as part of an initial marketing workshop.
However, your clients may not value the knowledge and services of your agency if you simply give it away for free. This is the reasons why the request for proposal has an impact on agency-client relationships.
10. Focus on performance
One of the more effective ways to increase rates and control your pricing is by having a direct, measurable impact on the bottom line of your clients’ business.
Clients will be more than happy to pay your agency invoices if they can see the tangible difference that your work is having on their business.
It’s not easy to implement value-based pricing, but you can decide which services are cost-based and then price them according to their value. Clients’ perception can be improved by your agency’s success and brand.
Analyse your analytics so you can clearly demonstrate to new prospects just how you create value for clients. Value-based pricing allows you to get paid for your services proportionally, regardless of how much time is spent.
11. Know when to say “no” to clients
Remember that not all business is good business. When a client is not interested in your services, you need to know when to say “no”. Instead of wasting time and resources on a client who just won’t meet you halfway, you may be better off focusing on growing the working relationships with other clients on your books.
How business insurance can reduce business risk for agencies
Running a successful marketing agency or advertising agency long-term is nothing to sneeze at. A successful marketing agency or digital agency stand the test of time and endure the ups and downs of a notoriously competitive industry. And this is where business insurance such as Professional Indemnity insurance, and marketing consultant insurance can lend a hand to your business.
Learn more about the types of business insurance that can benefit marketing consultants and get competitive insurance quotes for your business instantly online, or call 1300 920 871 to discuss your business insurance needs with our team.
