How to Grow Your Digital Marketing Agency (Step-by-Step Guide)

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Marketing agencies are everywhere these days, and I mean everywhere. Every time I check my LinkedIn I see a new one pop up somewhere. And there are a variety of them too: social media agencies, marketing, growth marketing, growth hacking, content creators, you name it. What’s your marketing agency like? 

Regardless of all these fancy names and terms, the concept remains the same.

If it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

So if you are wondering what all these new terms mean, let me simplify it for you just a bit.

  • Social media marketing: deals primarily with social media.
  • Growth marketing and hacking: focus on growing businesses, marketing analytics, and proven results.
  • Content agency: creative people offering content writing, editing, strategy, and some form of SEO usually.

These are the three most common forms of marketing agencies that I’ve seen so far. As you might know, a large portion of our beloved eClincher users are themselves marketing and social media agencies that use our platform to manage the numerous social media pages and accounts for their clients.

So we wanted to write a quick post to help *you* awesome people get the latest tools and tips to grow your beautiful marketing agencies, make more revenue, and have even more reason to celebrate this holiday season.

Step 1 – Maximize every profile

Every website has its own footprint on the worldwide web. It’s important that your marketing agency spreads far and wide and leaves undistinguishable footprints everywhere it goes.

Here is what I mean.

Every single business profile or page you open on social media needs to be optimized. Look at some of your most relevant competitors and get some ideas for possible keywords. My favorite place to do this is my LinkedIn page.

Did you know that the number of searches that your LinkedIn profile shows up on is directly proportional to the quantity and relevance of the keywords you use?

My friend Deepak Shukla from Unsheathed Reviews showed me this one. Officially, I’m a marketing manager during the day and a badass content writer at night (saving Gotham from its content-eating villains). So we did a little experiment.

I added a bunch of relevant keywords to my profile (within the description and the skills section),
such as email marketing, growth marketing, email subscriber list, open rates, etc. That week, my profile views went up from a meager 20 to 50.

If you do the same thing for your company’s business page, you will see that more and more people are finding and visiting your business pages on social media.

Cool. Now that your company pages are all optimized, what daily activity should you be involved in?

You guessed it—content creation related to your marketing agency.

Step 2 – Content is Everything

Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve probably heard the statement that content is king. I think content is way more than that.

Your business only has two measures of success: how well you tell your story and how well you execute. The execution needs to be flawless, for sure. But without the story, how are people going to find out about your marketing agency?

This goes back to the famous “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” concept that Gary Vaynerchuk popularized so well. Audiences expect to get quality content from businesses for free on a regular basis. Your audience wants to learn more about you, connect to your story, and learn some actionable tips before they ever buy your product or service.

This is why you need to tell your story and post regularly on a variety of social media pages. You also need to use several mediums for your content.  Using the best tools for digital marketing makes things even easier! Here are some of the top ones:

  • Audio – create a podcast where you share best practices and/or interview your customers, employees, or industry experts. Publish it on iTunes, SoundCloud, and all the other podcast apps out there.
  • Written: write 800-1200-word posts and publish them on your blog regularly. Also, write longer pieces on Medium.com that have more images and GIFs. Write small stories and vignettes for LinkedIn. Lastly, practice the long-form Facebook post and see what kind of results you get (Gary Vaynerchuk swears by those)
  • Video: video is hands-down the most interactive form that content could take. I highly recommend you start a YouTube channel for your business and publish short videos (3–8 minutes) regularly. They don’t have to be super techy; remember, smartphones take better videos than cameras used to a few years ago. So use your smartphone and film away.

What is missing in this equation? 

The missing piece is setting up a lead generation machine that uses all of these mediums to get you sales and boost your marketing agency.

Step 3 – Lead Gen 2.0

Optimizing lead generation is one of the key ways that you could grow your marketing agency. Add a lead magnet or sign-up form to each of your content pieces. You can use Upscribe for Medium articles, ManyChat landing pages for LinkedIn, and a simple WordPress plugin like Sumo for your blog.

Another great way to get more subscribers is to use chatbot popups (instead of or in lieu of traditional email popups). I like to use ManyChat for this, and it works really well. Chat messages get 86% open rates and 58% click-through rates, according to Neil Patel (link here). I’ve tested this out myself, and it’s 100% true.

You should also set up an email marketing service to send outbound email campaigns every week and start new conversations with people about your business. Owners should also read the Best 15 marketing books as well!

YouTube video

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I start a digital marketing agency?

Begin by defining your niche, creating a solid business plan, building a skilled team, and establishing an online presence to attract potential clients.

What services should my digital marketing agency offer?

Offer a range of services, such as social media management, SEO, content creation, email marketing, and paid advertising, to cater to diverse client needs.

How can I attract clients to my agency?

Utilize content marketing, networking, referrals, and showcasing successful case studies to demonstrate your expertise and attract potential clients.

How do I scale up my digital marketing agency?

Focus on hiring more talent, streamlining operations, expanding service offerings, nurturing existing client relationships, and leveraging data-driven insights to drive growth.

Conclusion

Growing a marketing agency has never been this exciting. There are so many awesome tools out there that can help you get the job done smoothly and efficiently. Here are the three areas to focus on:

  • Optimize your social media profiles in order to reach more people.
  • Write content on various platforms regularly in order to tell the story of your company and provide value for your readers.
  • Bring your lead generation to the next level using outbound campaigns, chatbot popups and chat subscription lists.

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