What Should You Know Before Starting a Digital Agency?

Online presence is of the utmost importance to businesses these days. The main reason is that everything happens online nowadays, from customer acquisition, through marketing to sales.

Online presence is of the utmost importance to businesses these days. The main reason is that everything happens online nowadays, from customer acquisition, through marketing to sales. Many companies try to get to their customers through creative and innovative digital marketing ideas. However, many businesses have difficulties managing their digital marketing, so they look for professional aid to help them through. In addition, they're more than willing to pay for professional assistance.

Many entrepreneurs are savvy in the field of digital marketing and want to start their own digital agencies, to help other businesses market themselves successfully. Although similar, being savvy and running a successful business are two different things. If you want to utilize your knowledge to its fullest potential and turn it into a profitable career, you'll have to learn how to manage your business first. Here are a few things you should know before you start a digital agency.

Do your research

There's no business that can be successful without proper market research. You must determine who your toughest competition is and who your target audience are. That way, you'll know how to position yourself on the market the best way possible. As you may already know, digital marketing is one of the most powerful industries today, and also the one that saturated the most with tough competition.

What's more, with proper research you'll be able to identify what can make you unique, so that you can effectively stand out from the rest of your competitors. Furthermore, research will help you determine your niche and who you want to appeal to, as well as how. That way, you’ll know where to look for clients and how to promote your agency efficiently.

Define your company structure

Your marketing skills alone won't be enough to run a successful digital agency. That means you also need to focus on legal aspects of running and establishing a business. For instance, you need to choose a proper business structure that will determine license permits, insurances and federal taxes. Moreover, you need to secure funding if you want to support and grow your agency properly.

It's a good idea to have everything in writing on a term sheet, especially if you have a co-founder and if you secured funding from outside investors. That way you can define responsibilities and conditions for both founders and investors. You need to take care of the less interesting business aspects, in order to ensure that your agency is legit and that it operates legally.

Market yourself

You already know the importance of good marketing. Now, it's time to apply that knowledge to both yourself and your agency. Social media networks are a good place to start building your presence and increase visibility. Being active on social media will help build your reputation. What's more, you'll be able to identify potential clients and establish relationships with them.

You can also send out an email newsletter to potential clients to generate leads and lead them down your marketing funnel. Furthermore, don't restrict yourself to a single social media platform. For instance, use YouTube for video marketing, Facebook and Twitter to engage with your audience and build your presence, and LinkedIn to build your business profile. The more you promote yourself the better the odds of acquiring new clients you'll have.

Hire some employees

No matter how skilled a marketer you are, you must realize that you can't manage everything on your own. This is especially true if your digital agency experiences rapid growth. That's why you need to consider getting some help and hiring some employees. Depending on your budget and business goals you can either hire full-time or part-time workers.

There's also an option to leverage freelancers if that method suits you more at the moment. Nevertheless, at one point, you should strongly consider equipping your digital agency with a permanent workforce that will be productive and effective. However, your choice should be made based on your budget and the amount of work you currently have, as well as on how much success your agency has.

Create your portfolio

Showing the proof of your skills can be stronger than words. That's why every digital marketer needs to have a good portfolio. The best way to convince clients to hire you is to show them your previous experience and how you deliver your services. A well-designed portfolio can be your ace in the hole for sealing the deal.

When clients see that you've worked with other people before and that they're satisfied with your work, they'll be more eager to hire you. If you haven't done any work yet, you can do some freelance work or perhaps even work for someone for free, so you can have projects to showcase. Furthermore, aside from your previous work, make sure your portfolio contains client testimonials. That way, you can utilize satisfied clients as your marketing tool.

Just like any other business, starting a digital agency is no walk in the park. Being a savvy digital marketer doesn't necessarily make you good at running a business. That's why you must focus on important business aspects and ensure everything is set up properly. That way you'll make a lucrative career out of your digital marketing skills.