Do you own a digital marketing agency or want to start one? You should know how to build and scale it so that you can help more people and make a good living. Read on to learn more.

Do Market Research

When building a digital marketing agency, you need to make sure it will be profitable. Market research lets you learn more about the people who need your services. You can determine if there even is a need and if so, any specific services that the market needs. You’ll also be able to learn more about your competition. Then, you can determine how you can make your offer stand out.

Market research ensures you can start with an idea that will make you money. Even if you have a digital marketing agency, regular market research can help you know if you need to pivot your business to a different structure.

Choose a Niche

Once you learn what the market needs, you can niche down. You can niche down by the type of client you want to serve, such as individuals or big companies. Another option is to niche down by industry, so perhaps that means targeting vehicle camera system companies. Or you can niche down by offering a specific service, such as social media marketing instead of general digital marketing.

A niche can help you figure out how to market your own business to attract your ideal customer. When you try to attract everyone, it can be hard to get anyone. The more specific you can get, the easier you can target your ideal clients.

Get a Website

When you have a digital marketing agency, you need a website. But you also need a good looking, easy-to-use website. That way, clients can navigate your site and figure out if they want to hire your agency. Without a website, it can be hard to prove to clients that you know what you’re doing. Not having a website can also make it hard to get clients in the first place.

Plus, if you focus on blogs or SEO, you can use your website as a case study to prove you’re an expert in digital marketing.

Start Small

To build a digital marketing agency, you may be tempted to lease a big office space and hire a full team to help you. But if you’re just starting or are on a budget, you should start smaller than that. You can start with yourself as the sole employee of the business, or you can hire an assistant if you need one. That way, you don’t have to spend as much on payroll before you get enough clients.

You can also start by working remotely out of your home. An office can be very professional, but you don’t need one to start or build a digital marketing agency.

Hire Contractors

As you do need help, hire freelancers or independent contractors to help you. Having contractors means you can easily outsource client work, so you can take on more clients. You don’t have to pay for things like employment taxes or unemployment insurance, and you can send work to contractors only when necessary.

A freelance team can give you more freedom to work on the projects you want. You can set rates with the freelancers so that you can still make money on their projects, but you don’t have to do all of the work alone. If you eventually need the help, you can even upgrade your freelancers to part-time or full-time employees later.

Add More Services

Another great way to build a digital marketing agency is to add more services. Perhaps you started as a social media manager, and you focused on Facebook and Instagram. To scale your business, you could add more social platforms, like Twitter or LinkedIn, to your management options. You can have current clients expand to the new package, or you can get new clients who are interested in your newer platforms.

Keep your services within your niche, though. If you’re a social media marketer, it doesn’t make as much sense to add on blog writing services. Luckily, you can expand your business pretty easily as a digital marketing agency.

Productize Your Offers

If you currently offer custom packages, consider moving away from that structure. Creating custom offers takes a lot of time and usually requires a sales call or a lengthy questionnaire from the client. All of that takes time away from doing things that make money in your business. So figure out a few package ideas that you want to offer to all of your clients.

Social media managers could offer packages for one, two, or three social media platforms, for example. Having a few packages for different budgets can allow you to attract more clients within your audience, so you can make more money.

Raise Your Rates

You can also grow your digital marketing agency by raising your rates. As you gain more experience, you can command more money from your clients. Good clients will respect the change, so you can also use higher rates as an excuse to get rid of clients that aren’t ideal for your business. That will give you space to take on more of your ideal clients.

You don’t need to raise your rates all of the time, and that can be excessive. But you can raise your rates each year to account for inflation, paying your contractors more, and other business expenses.

Live Your Business

As a digital marketer, you have the perfect place to showcase your skills: the internet. You should use your business to show potential clients what you can do for their businesses. If you focus on social media, make sure you grow your social media accounts. And if you focus on blogging or SEO content, use your website to showcase those skills.

Your business is your best resource for showing clients what you can do. If you can share your results, such as gaining followers or increasing sales, you can prove to others that you know what strategies to use for their business.

Running a digital marketing agency can be difficult, and building it can be even harder. Keep these tips in mind to grow your company online!