- How to start a digital marketing agency
from scratch in 2022.
So you're probably wondering,
hey, agencies make a ton of money, and they do.
And by the end of this video,
you'll know exactly how to build a agency
starting from scratch with no team,
no money, and no network.
And I can tell you from experience
what it looks like to start a agency
with and without money and the resources.
I've done it in both ways.
Here's the main difference between them.
When you have money, you can quickly hire people
who are going to build business for you
and focus on whatever is their strength.
And you can focus on your strength.
I'm good with content marketing.
I'm good with SEO.
So I focus my efforts on driving traffic to my business,
whether it's creating videos like this,
or writing blog post content, or speaking at events.
The rest of my team focus on other areas
that I know that they're great at,
such as management, client services, strategy.
I also help with some strategy,
but more so I do that because I love it.
I'm a marketer.
Now, when you don't have money,
you'll need to wear a few different hats to run the business
and deliver the results to your clients,
especially if you want them to be satisfied.
You'll need to know which hats you need to wear,
or you'll get completely distracted
from things that'll actually grow your business
and keep your clients happy.
According to eMarketer, in 2021,
digital ad spending worldwide has grown by 29.1%,
reaching a historical high of 491 billion,
not million, but billion dollars.
A lot of people want a slice of that pie,
but it's a large enough industry
for you to be able to grow that agency
and make a lot of clients happy while becoming wealthy.
So let's go over the core things
you need to focus on when you're starting an agency today,
especially in your first year.
Number one, focus on getting a niche expertise.
Businesses that get paid by their clients
on a reoccurring basis,
or at least high-ticket products or services,
they typically focus on one thing, right?
Is it e-commerce or are you doing marketing for B2B?
Pick one specific thing.
Focus number two, client acquisition.
When you want clients, go with businesses
that are focused on investing and growth,
people who are spending money on Google Ads,
or spending money on social ads like Facebook.
You can look at people's Facebook ad library
to see if they're running any ads recently.
Tools like SpyFu, Ubersuggest, they all show you this.
I have an entire video on how you can get more customers
from your agency, and you should go and check it out.
The link, by the way, is in the description.
Focus number three, delivering amazing services and results.
Look, services, businesses, most of it's word of mouth.
If you do a crap job, you're not really going to grow.
So make sure that whatever activities you're doing
for your clients, you're focused on getting them results.
Focus on building a result-based portfolio,
so that way people keep referring you to their friends.
Business owners know more business owners.
Focus number four, documenting processes.
Start at a high level, then go more in depth.
And don't worry about perfection.
Processes change over time.
Focus number five, self-management.
You need to be great at managing
not just other people's time, but your own time.
You need to be super organized.
You know those people
who have really messy desktop computers?
That can't be you.
Clean it up.
Stay organized.
Use basic product management platforms
like Trello, Basecamp, Asana, Notion.
Stick to your deadlines.
Do not over-commit.
Do not over-promise.
Deliver upon what you agreed upon.
And ideally, deliver more than what you agreed upon.
Focus number six, hiring and staffing.
Happens to you when you start scaling up.
Look, the bigger you get, the more people you're going to need.
You're going to need to learn how to delegate
those low-value tasks, so then that way you're focusing
on the most important things that are generating you ROI.
Make sure you get people who have achieved
the results you're looking for a few times in the past,
because they're much more likely to do better
versus people have to learn on the job.
That way you don't need to do tons of training
and management and they're self-sufficient.