The most successful digital agencies are the ones that set laser-clear goals and work in alignment with their purpose and vision to achieve them. Without goals and a purpose in place, many agencies stagnate and battle to accomplish anything truly transformative or meaningful which leads to further digital agency mistakes.
Setting goals is arguably the most essential practice for achieving the results you and your team desire. But your goals need to be informed by your purpose and infused with your agency’s culture and operations if you want to reach them.
Of course, most agencies already know about goals – so why are we focusing on them so much?
The truth is that thousands of digital agencies struggle and fail due to just a handful of common and often preventable purpose, vision, and traction mistakes. We want your agency to thrive. That’s why we’ve outlined the most common digital agency mistakes and how to avoid them!
#1: Not Having a Business Plan
A business plan is, simply put, the very foundation of any strong agency. Think of your business plan as a GPS that will guide you to exactly where you want to be.
A good, constructive plan will take you through every stage of starting, growing and managing your digital agency, and uses real-world information to structure your decision-making processes. If you don’t have a business plan, you could be missing out on vital elements of your agency’s operations. This can leave you and your team feeling lost, demotivated, and unclear on how to move forward towards your goals.
A business plan is a tool that helps your agency to project its next three or five years of operations. Use it to outline the precise path down which you want to take your agency, expand your revenue streams, and make enough money to secure its future.
Each section should be divided into smaller micro plans; one for pricing, another for operations, another for marketing, and more.
The more detailed your plan, the easier it is for you to take a step back and think critically about your agency and how to drive it forward. It’ll also help you to secure loans and investments, investors, and business partners if you need them.
Remember, every digital agency’s business plan will look different, and there’s no wrong way to write one up. Choose the format that meets your needs and summarise all your most important goals, plans and projected milestones. As long as you have one, it can reduce the number of digital agency mistakes.
#2: Not Working With a Plan or Goal For the Business
We’ve already gone over the importance of having a business plan for your agency, which is tied to having a clear plan and goal for the growth of your business. However, we want to take things a step further: you need to be flexible with your goals to succeed.
Setting goals is not a once-off event limited to crafting your business plan. It needs to be a regular, ongoing process. The economy and your market are constantly in flux. So, you need to be as proactive as possible in setting goals if you want to get ahead. Even the smallest of plans can take you far when the chips are stacked against you.
Goals help to maintain your success when your agency is thriving. But they can also protect you during unexpected crises like recessions, market fluctuations, and rapid changes in your industry.
#3: Not Having a Good Team Behind You
Your team is the lifeblood of your organisation. End of story. If they’re not passionate, engaged, and willing to work towards your goals while embodying your purpose and vision, then your agency will suffer.
A team that works well together is highly efficient, produces consistent and quality outputs, and can work harmoniously to finish challenging projects faster. Teams are also self-monitoring and rely on how hard each other member works. When everyone is motivated, they can innovate much more quickly, create a culture of healthy competition, and forge strong relationships that help support your goals.
#4: Not Knowing Your Purpose
According to the peeps at Forbes, the purpose of a company or agency is intrinsically tied to its leadership. As a digital agency leader, it’s your job to define your business’s purpose, communicate it to your team, and design goals and processes in line with this greater purpose. Companies are about much more than simply earning money and achieving growth. They need to have a reason for doing it. Or, more specifically, a reason that’s powerful enough to get their team to pour all their passion and dedication into their work.
It’s the task of every agency leader to make sure that their agency achieves profitability in a responsible, ethical, and accountable way while ensuring ideal outcomes for stakeholders and team members alike. Creating a successful agency has so much to do with the kind of culture your agency has, how it engages with its stakeholders, and the values and purpose it is built on.
#5: Not Having a Vision
In essence, the purpose of an agency is to hold a meaningful, achievable vision for its future and achievements, and then to reach this vision while remaining profitable. When we say profitable, we’re talking about sustainable, long-term profits. If your profitability isn’t sustainable, it means you can’t deliver returns over months or years, and you’ll never reach your vision as your agency simply won’t make it…
What do you see your agency embodying and achieving in a year’s time? How about five years, or ten? This is your core vision. It might change over time, requiring you to develop new plans and strategies for growth. Not having a business plan is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when trying to build a robust digital agency.
#6: Constantly Comparing Your Agency to Another
No two agencies are the same. And while looking at your competition to see what you can do differently is good, constantly comparing your agency and losing sight of all else is problematic. If you spend too much time comparing, you could miss out on awesome opportunities to attract and retain loyal customers.
Instead of falling into the over-comparing trap, follow these easy steps to ensure that your customers continue to return.
- Ask yourself and your team why people should do business with you, and what makes you stand out from the rest.
- Assess your competition and ask yourself what you’re doing that they’re not, and what they’re doing that you’re not. If you find any good strategies that your peers are using that you aren’t yet taking advantage of, put your own unique spin on them to ensure that they become more of your stand-out features.
- Make a note of your favourite businesses and why you enjoy engaging with them. Compare this list to the list of things you aren’t yet doing and identify things you can start doing to take your agency from acceptable to outstanding.
Find Your Purpose and Vision
Honing your agency’s purpose and vision is absolutely vital to your long-term success. Build your future now by ensuring that your purpose, vision, business plan, goals, team, and value propositions align with each other in a way that makes clients eager to give you their next project.