Traction is an essential ingredient for any profitable business, especially in its early phases of development. In business, traction refers to gaining momentum and accelerating into a growth period that extends beyond just making ends meet.
Today, we’re going to talk about business traction and why it’s so important for your agency to develop it. With the right level of traction, your digital agency can find its position in the market and catapult forward into sustainable profitability, innovation, and success.
Understanding Traction
In a more practical sense, traction refers to the grip an object could have on a surface before it moves forward, such as a tire on a road. Once that grip is strong, progress occurs.
Every company needs to gain traction before it can graduate into the next phase of growth. It’s about fully resonating with your target audience, meeting, and exceeding profit goals, and establishing a sustainable, energising workflow that employees can comfortably meet.
There is no one metric to measure an agency’s traction levels. But there are other, related metrics you can use to help gauge a better idea of where your trajectory stands, such as:
- Revenue generation
- Online engagement and traffic
- Share of voice
- Media presence
- Employee motivation
Using metrics is a powerful way to gain insight into your digital agency’s traction rate. Without them, everything is a vague estimation. Also known as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), these metrics will bring clarity and structure to your traction-developing process.
Traction Channels
Without the right tools and processes, gaining traction can be a difficult process. Fortunately, you can utilise traction channels to push you in the right direction.
Traction channels are systems, platforms, or strategies that facilitate agency visibility and growth. They help bring your agency’s name forward, expose you to clients within your target market, and help refine your agency’s identity for optimal growth and success.
There are quite a few different traction channels available, including:
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Chances are, you ended up on this very page due to SEO. SEO remains one of the most effective and accessible digital marketing strategies of the modern age, and that makes it a prime tool for instigating traction.
SEO can be used to significantly boost online traffic and encourage higher client conversions. The only downside is that it can take a while to see results, which is usually a focal point for newer agencies looking for a fast turnaround.
Email Marketing
This tried and tested traction method remains one of the most effective ways to reach clients and promote your services online. Sending out regular newsletters offering clients package deals is a great way to gain traction.
One of the few downsides to email marketing is that some clients may perceive it as spam, which can be annoying. But with quality and careful selection, you should be fine.
Content Marketing
As a digital marketing agency, chances are you’re already dealing with a lot of content. Developing a strong content marketing strategy is one of the best ways to gain traction in this industry, from social media to web content like blogs.
However, content marketing only really works if you are a visual content-focused digital agency, as that’s what tends to perform best on social media platforms.
Ultimately, gaining traction is about delivering high-quality services and setting up strong strategies and systems for showcasing them to a wider audience. Once you have your bases covered, traction can start to develop naturally and sustainably.
Implementing Traction
Traction can be tricky to implement if you’re new to the business of digital marketing, but even more experienced agencies struggle.
Experimenting with different approaches and strategies is an important aspect of traction implementation. What works for one agency may not work for the next, so make sure to keep your strategies varied, and make your mark on the industry.
Here is some practical advice on how to implement traction for your digital agency:
Collaborate With Other Agencies
Collaboration is important for all types of businesses, especially those in the field of digital content and strategy.
By working with affiliate agencies on larger projects, you can not only establish your brand as a more competitive industry player, but you’ll also gain access to a much wider network of clients.
Research Your Audience Needs Thoroughly
This is important no matter what phase of development your digital agency is in. Cultivating a deep, broad-reaching knowledge of who your audience is and what they want from you is key to gaining traction.
Without an understanding of who you are marketing to, it will be nearly impossible to meet their needs and expectations. Perform ongoing research to prevent this.
Quantify Your Traction Goals
As we’ve gone through today, there is no one way to measure traction. Therefore, you must set your own goals and develop your own understanding of what it means for your agency to gain it.
What does your agency need in order to gain traction? Higher revenue? More clients? Bigger projects? Understand what you want and set traction goals from there.
Many highly successful businesses use traction as a benchmark for achieving growth. Google is a great example – they have used a variety of digital marketing techniques to achieve both traction and growth in a sustainable and future-oriented way. They used SEO strategies to become the most popular search engine in the world and continuously align itself with adjacent brands like YouTube to reach new audiences and gain momentum in different areas of business.
Traction Equals Success
Traction is an essential ingredient in the process of making a successful digital agency. It prompts growth, boosts revenue, and leverages your best assets to help you grow and connect with an ever-expanding audience.
The idea behind traction is that you set your agency up in a way that is primed for acceleration and momentum. Preparing your employees, resources, and infrastructure to evolve and form strong client connections around the world. By gaining traction, your agency can only move forward. You can find more information about traction in digital marketing here.