How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency (Advice From 100+ Founders)

How bash you commencement your ain integer selling agency? I asked 100+ integer selling bureau founders on X and LinkedIn to find out.

Here’s however they started their agencies—and you can too.

Choosing what your bureau focuses connected should beryllium a premix of what radical want, what you cognize however to bash (and are bully at), and what you enjoy.

“I’m a large believer successful lone selling thing you’re good at.” 

Here’s what this looks similar visualized:

Although uncovering a bully bureau niche isn’t a guaranteed look for success—it’s often the champion spot to start.

“I learned beauteous aboriginal connected that it is fruitless to effort and connection SEO services to anyone and everyone, and you should either specialize successful what you connection (e.g., nexus gathering oregon tract audits) and who you connection it to (e.g., SaaS companies, eCommerce stores oregon radical successful the concern space) So it’s thing I would person done otherwise from time one, and it’s what I would travel contiguous if I was starting from zero.” 

Based connected Glen’s advice, to commencement your integer selling agency, you’ll request to bash 2 things:

• Work retired what to sell 
• Work retired who to sell to

When starting a integer selling agency, you’ll request to determine connected the types of integer selling services you privation to sell.

In my opinion, it’s champion to commencement by focusing connected providing 1 azygous work (and doing it truly well) you tin ever grow your offering later on.

Here are a fewer examples of fashionable integer selling services you could sell:

• Search motor optimization (SEO)
• Pay-per-click advertizing (PPC)
• Affiliate marketing
• Content marketing 
• Display
• Email marketing
• Social media

As determination are truthful galore services that are classified arsenic integer marketing, it’s tempting to accidental “yes” to each portion of enactment disposable erstwhile you commencement out—even if you aren’t an adept in it.

Agency founders told maine that they learned the hard mode that being the “one-stop shop” for each integer selling services wasn’t ever a bully idea, arsenic it watered down their expertise and message.

Most founders I spoke to agreed that it was champion to absorption connected providing 1 service, particularly erstwhile starting out—and that included Nathan Gotch:

“I’d absorption connected 1 marketplace conception alternatively of gathering a catch-all agency.” 

Once you’ve worked retired what to sell, you’ll request to enactment retired who to sell to.

Here’s immoderate ideas for who you tin sell to:

• Specific professions oregon industries – e.g., Dentists
• Customers successful a peculiar location – e.g., Florida
• A operation of the two – e.g., Dentists successful Florida

Identifying the industries oregon businesses funny successful your services allows you to tailor your work and selling strategies to resonate with your imaginable clients. 

By focusing connected circumstantial markets, you tin amusement the lawsuit that you are the adept successful that area.

When you commencement your integer selling agency, chances are you won’t person clients warring their mode to your doorway to enactment with you, truthful you’ll astir apt person to spell and find them. But however bash you do this?

Many bureau founders I spoke to suggested that the more you specialize, the easier it is to go recognized arsenic the adept for that peculiar service, meaning the clients people travel to you.

So however tin you specialize?

• Specialize successful the types of services you provide – You tin besides specialize successful providing a definite benignant of work for your clients. For example, if you tin onshore high-quality links with a precocious occurrence rate, past you could specialize successful providing integer PR services

• Specialize successful the types of businesses you enactment with – Only enactment with definite types of businesses. For example, you could take to specialize successful providing integer selling for SaaS businesses, oregon you could specialize by lone moving with businesses from a definite location.

• Do both – You tin instrumentality some the concepts supra and go the adept astatine providing services for a definite benignant of business. For example, you could go the go-to bureau for integer PR for manner ecommerce stores

The downside of specialization is that it’s inevitable that you’ll person to crook down concern opportunities. But successful the agelong term, it tin assistance carve retired your agency’s estimation arsenic the go-to supplier for a definite audience, a definite service, or both.

One of my favourite quotes connected this taxable is from bureau laminitis Amanda Sexton:

“Specialization does not conscionable found you arsenic a consummate adept successful a designated field. It acts arsenic a magnet.” 

Getting your archetypal lawsuit is the hardest portion of starting an agency. When I asked for advice, “use your network” is what bureau owners told maine clip and clip again. It sounds obvious, but it’s 1 of the astir overlooked ways to find clients.

It tin beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic talking to friends, family, colleagues, oregon anyone other you cognize and asking if they would beryllium funny successful your services oregon cognize anyone who would. 

If you’ve exhausted your real-world connections, you tin crook to societal media to amplify your connection further, arsenic Liam Quirk did:

“LinkedIn and Instagram are invaluable platforms to showcase expertise. I began by posting SEO lawsuit studies connected LinkedIn, demonstrating our results and capabilities. This not lone built my idiosyncratic marque but besides attracted imaginable clients who were seeking SEO services.” 

And, arsenic the sanction of the crippled is conscionable to get noticed—anything that tin assistance you bash that is worthwhile. For example, Brendan Hufford started a 100-day task to get his sanction retired determination and get noticed:

“Starting out, it was conscionable astir getting my sanction retired there. For example, I did a 100-day task wherever I published a blog, podcast episode, and YouTube video each time for 100 days (Ahrefs was a sponsor!)” 

“Talk to section businesses” was different wide shared extremity from bureau founders. 

It’s 1 of the astir straightforward ways to find your archetypal fewer clients. The payment of doing concern locally is that it’s mostly little competitive, and you’re already apt to person cognition of the section marketplace and businesses.

Agency owners who focused connected section businesses recovered that it was a bully mode to commencement retired and separate themselves from different bigger, much established agencies.

“We specifically focused connected the Wisconsin marketplace arsenic we started. This helped acceptable america isolated with our committedness to our section businesses.” 

If you’ve exhausted your web and it’s not getting the leads you want, it’s worthy casting your nett wider by getting immoderate enactment connected freelance sites. 

Here are a fewer examples of websites you tin usage to advertise your services:

• Upwork
• People Per Hour 
• Freelancer.com

As good arsenic getting enactment connected freelance sites, bureau founders told maine that they got enactment successful societal media communities, similar Facebook groups.

“I started arsenic a freelance SEO adept earlier starting an agency. I decided to spell with the bureau exemplary aft getting immoderate clients and acquisition managing SEO clients. I got my archetypal SEO lawsuit (as an SEO freelancer) from a Facebook group. I shared my keyword probe guide there.” 

The much enactment that you complete, the much you’ll commencement to physique up your reputation, which volition assistance you get much clients.

Cold calling and emailing person a atrocious reputation, but if you are starting out, it’s worthy giving it a try. If you get your transportation right, it tin footwear commencement your agency, arsenic it did for Joshua George, who got his archetypal 20 clients done acold email utilizing this method:

“We utilized to hunt for a keyword successful Google, and we’d spell from leafage 2 to leafage 7 of Google, find their names and email addresses, and nonstop them an email.”

To get the astir retired of acold emailing and calling, it’s champion to probe your prospects beforehand and personalize your transportation to them. Joshua did this by pursuing up with a personalized video afterward.

Once you’ve established your bureau and got a fewer clients, founders told maine their astir invaluable leads came from referrals from different spouse agencies.

“We enactment with web improvement agencies, plan agencies, and a paid advertizing bureau that each person clients that whitethorn request our services. These are the champion types of leads due to the fact that we person travel highly recommended, and there’s usually precise little, if any, contention for the work.” 

If you privation to commencement partnering with different agencies, a bully spot to commencement is by networking with the radical who run them. 

You tin bash this by:

• Searching for meetups successful your country that involvement you 
• Following different agencies connected LinkedIn and commencement engaging with their content
• Arrange video calls with different bureau founders

Getting referrals from different agencies is 1 of the astir effectual ways to get clients—because determination are usually nary different agencies pitching for the aforesaid work, meaning little competition.

Another vantage of getting concern this mode is you don’t person the time-consuming process of pitching for the business, arsenic you already travel highly recommended.

Once you’ve identified imaginable clients, you’ll request to person them to acquisition your services—this is often easier said than done.

Here’s however you should attack this erstwhile you’ve recovered imaginable clients.

• Start by showing value, e.g., For SEO services, supply a video of their site’s existent SEO issues and however to fix them
• Provide a solution done your agency’s services, e.g., For SEO, suggest an archetypal SEO audit project
• Email the projected roadmap, supply a forecast, and specify the scope of the services you’ll beryllium delivering to adjacent the lead

Convincing clients to acquisition your services gets easier arsenic you physique up your reputation, but it tin take time.

Here are immoderate things you tin bash to amusement the worth of moving with your bureau early on.

• Share your show wins connected societal media similar Reddico sharing a lawsuit survey connected however they boosted integrated postulation by 55%
• Share your expertise and acquisition connected podcasts oregon YouTube, similar Carrie Rose sharing her acquisition of gathering an bureau with YouTuber Ali Abdaal
• Enter your enactment for manufacture awards (and triumph them!), similar Reddico winning astatine the Drum Awards 

Once you’ve got a fewer clients done the door, it’s clip to commencement reasoning astir refining your work offering. One of the astir captious elements of this is the pricing.

Price excessively low, you won’t beryllium capable to screen your costs. If you terms excessively high, you whitethorn suffer invaluable clients—it’s a tricky balance. 

Many of the bureau founders that I spoke to said that they undervalued their services erstwhile they started out:

“Avoid offering rates little than different akin agencies. You merit the payment, clients expect definite costs, and reducing your prices tin awesome you’re unsure astir the prime you deliver.” 

Here’s however to get started: Your work pricing should beryllium based connected your full costs positive your margin. 

Service pricing = full costs (staff, tools, office, equipment) + ~20% margin 

The borderline tin beryllium immoderate percent you want, but it needs to beryllium realistic.

Digital selling agencies person antithetic pricing models, but the agencies I’ve worked astatine person utilized either the retainer oregon project-based pricing models. For instance, astir SEO services are semipermanent and usually acceptable a retainer exemplary for pricing, but an SEO audit mightiness beryllium much suited arsenic a project.

Retainer pricing is wherever the lawsuit is charged a monthly interest for your services.

It’s 1 of the astir communal ways agencies complaint their clients. The main crushed is that it creates a predictable currency travel for the agency, which is utile arsenic it enables you to program for caller hires and reinvestment backmost into the business.

Project-based pricing is wherever the lawsuit is charged per project. It’s utile for archetypal consultation and a bully mode for clients to “test” your services earlier entering into a retainer contract.

When I priced up projects successful an bureau setting, I would cipher the fig of hours my squad would instrumentality to implicit the task multiplied by the hourly complaint of the radical doing the work. I would past adhd our agency’s borderline to that figure.

Your agency’s estimation is babelike connected the prime of the enactment that you enactment out. But unless you make templates, modular operating procedures (SOPs), and processes, you won’t beryllium capable to personally warrant to clients erstwhile your bureau expands that you tin present what is required. 

That’s wherefore it’s a bully thought to make SOPs and templates before you prosecute anyone other successful the agency.

SOPs and templates guarantee the following:

• Consistency – You tin beryllium definite that enactment is completed to a precocious modular that you define
• Efficiency – You tin supply the astir businesslike method to implicit the tasks
• Prioritization – Focusing connected the important aspects of the work is important successful bid to clasp your clients

When astir radical deliberation of starting an agency, they ideate having their ain bureau and having a squad of full-time employees (FTEs) providing their integer selling services, but the world is that astir agencies—including the truly large ones—will usage a premix of freelancers and FTEs to get the job done.

So, however bash you start? It’s champion to commencement with freelancers, arsenic Matt Cayless suggests:

FTEs and freelancers travel with their ain pros and cons. 

• If you are looking for flexibility, past freelancers oregon moving connected a task ground freelancers would beryllium the best fit
• If you privation idiosyncratic moving 9-5 connected a lawsuit retainer project, past you astir apt privation to see hiring an FTE

Another facet to see is that arsenic your concern grows and evolves, your demands (and cognition of success) whitethorn alteration over time. 

This is what Glen Allsopp realized:

“As I became much successful, I watched my mindset spell from: ‘I privation a immense squad with astonishing offices and dozens of staff,’ to ‘I privation the smallest squad I tin perchance have’ wherever we each bask what we’re moving connected and enactment with imagination clients.” 

Finding the close radical (and retaining talent) is usually conscionable arsenic tricky arsenic getting clients. Even if you’re the world’s champion integer marketer, it’s unsustainable to present the full bureau workload yourself, truthful you’ll request to delegate astatine some point. 

Hiring your ain squad is important if you privation to turn your agency, but it tin beryllium a delicate equilibrium betwixt occurrence and failure, arsenic bureau laminitis Simon Schnieders pointed out:

“Hiring is virtually the beingness and decease of an agency. Over 50% of your costs volition beryllium labor. Over-hire, and you termination immoderate margin, under-hire, and you termination your squad and your customers. It’s a delicate balance.” 

In my ain experience, you request to look for radical who would beryllium a bully acceptable for your squad but, astatine the aforesaid time, person a hunger to larn and clasp alteration easily. 

Approaches to hiring varied somewhat from bureau to agency—but I liked the simplicity of Joshua’s approach:

“Only prosecute idiosyncratic that’s amended than you astatine the relation you’re hiring for.” 

The aforesaid attack was besides shared by Andy Barr astatine 10 Yetis.

Agencies often obsess with scaling rapidly and hiring much radical to found themselves successful the market, but hiring much radical earlier the company’s acceptable could mean you perpetrate fiscal suicide—-and also, you whitethorn find that you conscionable don’t enjoy it.

“I ever cognize I could person scaled things further by bringing connected much people, but I cognize I wouldn’t bask what I bash adjacent fractional as much.” 

Final thoughts

Starting a integer selling bureau is not for the faint-hearted. You’ve got to person drive, commitment, and a emotion of the business. The trickiest portion is determination is nary blueprint for success—every bureau is different.

But, if you’re capable to find a large niche, prosecute large people, and present exceptional results for your clients, there’s nary crushed wherefore your bureau can’t beryllium a success. 

Got much questions? Ping maine on X. 🙂