Are you wondering if starting a digital marketing agency is worth your time? Learning about the pros and cons of starting an agency may help to clarify your decision and give you the direction you need.
According to Forbes, there are a few key reasons why starting a digital marketing agency may indeed be worth it. The business behemoth notes that business conditions in marketing seem to be improving since their dip in 2020, and a rising global economic growth rate means more businesses will have the budget to hire you.
Forbes also notes that more businesses than ever before need digital marketing to establish their online presence, attract new customers, and build communities. Digital marketing has a far higher reach than traditional ad campaigns and at a far lower cost, which explains the rapidly growing demand for services like those you plan on offering.
Moreover, digital marketing is a highly scalable business model and plenty of skilled and talented professionals are seeking out jobs in this sector, making hiring easy.
Here are the benefits and potential challenges of starting your own agency and our best tips to make it work in your favour.
Benefits of Starting a Digital Marketing Agency
#1: Increased Visibility and Brand Awareness
Digital marketing channels have exceptional reach. These channels can aid you in easily building brand awareness for your agency and for your client’s businesses in a fraction of the time it would take using traditional marketing methods.
When you use channels like social media platforms, you can amplify the reach of any content you post exponentially, getting your brand’s identity in front of thousands or even millions of potential leads.
#2: Better Customer Engagement and Retention
Using online marketing tactics to promote your own agency is arguably the best way to build customer engagement and retain your clients in the long run.
Once you have experience in doing this for your own business, you can successfully build engagement and retention for your clients, increasing your odds of getting hired.
#3: Increased Website Traffic and Leads
When you establish a digital agency and use the right combination of SEO, inbound marketing and social campaigns to promote your services, you can dramatically increase your website traffic and lead generation figures. All without having to spend thousands on the process.
This gives you access to high-quality leads and clients without breaking the bank. Plus, it allows you to engage people through your on-site content, videos, blogs, and more in the long run.
#4: More Comprehensive Market Research
Once you have an established digital agency, you’ll have all of the tools, skills and talent you need to perform in-depth market research into your ideal target audience. This means that you can quickly identify how to use their interests, pain points and needs to persuade them to invest in your services.
Your agency can use a combination of automated tools, paid search, analytics, keyword research, and social metrics to find out exactly where your best quality leads spend their time—and how you can effectively reach out to them.
#5: Cost-Effective Advertising
Most digital marketing and advertising methods cost a fraction of what you would pay for traditional inbound marketing methods like cold calling, emails, and TV and radio ads.
They also reach a significantly wider audience in shorter periods of time. This makes it easier and more affordable to get your agency noticed by the right people.
#6: Measurable Results and ROI
Most digital marketing platforms and tools include easy-to-use analytics dashboards that tell you exactly how impactful your campaigns have been, how you can improve them, and what you can expect your ROI to be.
This means no more guesswork for you. You’ll know exactly how effective every ad and campaign you run is, which will allow you to perfect your approach in a strategic way!
Challenges of Starting a Digital Marketing Agency
Competition
It’s no secret that the digital marketing sector is highly competitive, and you might be up against some very well-established and capable agencies when you start out.
High Costs
The initial expenses associated with starting up an agency can include hiring costs, software and digital tool expenses, and even outsourcing certain tasks to freelancers should you not yet have the staff on board to tackle them.
Technological Challenges
It’s not always easy to know which tools and software will best suit your agency right off the bat. It takes time and experimentation to find out, and there could be a steep learning curve involved as well.
Time-Intensive Tasks
Most new agencies don’t yet have the budget for automation software to handle tedious tasks. This means that you and your team may be saddled with handling it all manually until you have the funds to upgrade your approach.
Legal Compliance Challenges
Tackling and adhering to ever-changing privacy laws, Ts and Cs, intellectual property stipulations and competition regulations can prove to be a headache, at least while you’re still learning the ropes.
Lack of Experience
If you and your team are just starting out, you may not know how to handle every situation, client, and request you encounter with efficiency and accuracy.
These skills come with time. In the meantime, you may need to approach some experienced freelancers or fellow agency owners to help point you in the right direction.
In a Nutshell
Starting a digital marketing agency is absolutely worth your time. Provided that you prepare for potential challenges ahead of time and budget sufficiently to cover any initial expenses, skills gaps, and legal and technological challenges.
Here are our top tips for establishing an agency that’s destined for success:
- Start out as a freelancer to gain valuable experience. By the time you’re ready to open your agency, you know exactly what to do and how to do it.
- Use social media, industry forums, and networking events to build connections with other agency leaders and gain knowledge and identify potential leads.
- Nurture your people skills by keeping in regular contact with leads and clients through meetings and emails – people love communication with a personal touch.
- Hire the right people who gel with your agency’s culture and align with your goals and vision.
- Develop and promote your brand by posting blogs, creating content for social channels, and ensuring that your agency’s website is fast, visually impressive, and easy to navigate!
If you didn’t already get the answer – YES. Starting a digital agency is really worth it — you just need to do it right.