Written by Ian Magley, EastMain Digital Marketing
Do you own a Digital Marketing Agency that’s ready to grow? You may be dreaming of scaling up your business and its operations, but the reality of actually doing it can feel daunting – where do you even start? The good news is, with some careful planning, smart strategies, and hard work, success isn’t out of reach. To help get your plans in motion and set yourself on the path for growth, here are 9 top tips for scaling your marketing agency for success from an agency owner who has built and scaled multiple agencies over the past 8 years.
#1 Choose a niche
Your clients want to find experts in specific tasks of their marketing. So, it will help you to specialize in something and deliver better results than your competitors.
This process will help you to define your target audience and ideal clients. Then, you will deliver great services and build a reputation for a specific audience. For example, you can offer services for email marketing, SEO, or social media, depending on the skills of your team and the target audience. The number one way to truly scale a business is to be an expert in one niche. As a great mentor once told me “the riches are in the niches”!
#2 Build A Strong Team
You want to work with people with great skills and know the latest trends. Their talent and vision should be relevant to the success you want to achieve. Passion for marketing and willingness to grow are important qualities as well.
Once you have hired some top individuals, you should care about their training and development. It will require investment, but you want to ensure your team is always up-to-date and provides great service. For example, you can offer them online training from different sources or live seminars.
#3 Focus On Results
A result-oriented mindset and culture will help every member of your team to do a better job. At the same time, it will improve the results of your agency and your clients.
It is not only about setting goals, which is important, but you also want to keep everyone accountable and review your efforts. So, set specific goals and ensure everyone in your team knows them. Then, keep track of every action. Before you start any project, you should have 5-7 prime KPIs that are realistic and agreed upon by your team and the client. You cannot make progress on something you cannot or are not measuring.
#4 Leverage The Right Tools
Today there are tools for every part of your marketing and tasks. You can apply online tools and digital marketing to get more clients, use automation, and increase productivity. For example, tools like Hubspots and Ahrefs can complete multiple tasks for you and your clients.
While technology can help with most tasks, not every tool is right for your business. Some tasks should be manual to ensure results and great service. However, you can save both money and time with the right choices.
#5 Scale Your Efforts
You want to produce more work and results. So, you need to find scalable systems that can be repeated consistently. This concept can apply to your marketing, productivity, and administration tasks.
Digital marketing is scalable by doubling your efforts or investment. You can do the same with project management leads, orders, billing, etc. Some online tools and automation can also allow you to scale tasks. For example, if you find a strategy that works well, repeat it for your and all the clients that need a relevant service. This is as critical as any step when identifying how to grow your business.
#6 Provide Exceptional Service
If you want to build a successful marketing agency, it’s critical to provide exceptional service and keep your clients happy. Simple things can make a difference, such as quick replies, availability, and results.
Happy clients will return with more projects and offer many chances to refer your business. Word-of-mouth marketing is a great way to get more customers and can be achieved only with great service!
#7 Adapt To The Latest Trends
Today everything is changing fast. So, businesses need to adapt to new trends, consumer behaviors, and new technology. A marketing agency needs to be agile and adapt fast to these new changes.
Some things to evaluate regularly are your marketing channels, technology to help you get results, and new strategies. Your clients are aware of the trends and expect you to adapt!
#8 Have A Great Sales And Marketing Strategy
Every business needs to find new clients and keep the existing ones. So, you need to use the power of digital marketing and the available channels.
Search engines and social media can be sources of quality leads if you provide quality content or use paid ads. You can use all the available platforms to reach your target audience. A strong online presence can build a strong brand to ensure long-term results and a good reputation. Referrals are unpredictable, make sure you have your own pipeline and you can show your prospects you practice what you preach.
#9 Public Speaking
Public speaking can improve your reputation and make you an expert in your niche. You just need to talk about what you already know and provide the best advice.
Online platforms like social media and YouTube can help to spread your content across millions of users and reach your target audience. You can start speaking at local events or use online channels like podcasts and live videos. Once you build your authority up, you can apply to speak at the biggest, best stage out there and become a T&C speaker!
Conclusion
These tips will help you scale your marketing agency, providing a foundation of growth and positive results. You will get the most benefits if you apply them consistently.
If you want more actionable insights check out the Traffic and Conversion Summit for marketing professionals. It will help you to get more ideas and meet other people in your industry.
And if you think you have what it takes to take your marketing agency to the next level, please apply to speak at the next Traffic and Conversion Summit!
