A Step by Step Guide on How to Start a Marketing Agency
Some people just have that gift that makes them great at marketing. If that person is you, you’ve got the intuition for great marketing copy, you turn your ad budget into business revenue, and you’ve got a general knack for all things marketing.
You might want to start your own marketing business, but you just don’t know where to get started. Well, you’re in luck.
We’re going to look at how to start a marketing agency today, giving you key insights into the things you need to do to get the ball rolling. Hopefully, the ideas below make you realize that it’s not as hard as you may think.
Let’s get started.
How to Start a Marketing Agency
The first thing you need to do is a little research on your proposed niche. What area of marketing do you want to start with, and what are the requirements of that field?
You might have insight into marketing for lawyers, or have experience working digital marketing for small businesses. Start brainstorming in the areas that you have an understanding of, then see what marketing agencies in that field are expected to do.
If you already have all of the knowledge of that niche, you’re good to go. That said, there’s no shame in taking a week or two to study up and fill in the gaps of your understanding.
Find a Welcoming Target Market
Once you’ve got your feet under you, it’s time to start isolating the specific groups that you’ll work for. Doing this research gives you insight into the volume of clients you might take on, what their needs are, and whether or not there even is a need for that particular kind of marketing.
If you find that there isn’t space for the type of agency you had imagined, it’s not a bad idea to make a lateral move into a similar niche. A lot of forms of marketing are similar in practice, so your experience will still apply.
Create a Business Plan
A business plan is an excellent document to have. It helps to structure your budget, your time, your manpower, and it helps potential investors get a clear idea of what you’re after.
Generally speaking, though, working through a business plan forces you to specify all of the things you need to have in place. A functional business plan takes your idea out of the abstract and into the practical.
Create a Hypothetical Client Plan
So, you know how marketing works. That’s great, but do you know how to apply that insight to a real-life client’s business?
Work through your plan, write it out, and give yourself clear metrics and practices that you’ll adhere to when you have your first client. How will you show them the results?
How will you frame your conversations and establish expectations for the client? What are you going to do to bring those results?
These are things that are scary to think about because they might reveal gaps in your business plan. That said, would you rather realize those gaps on your own or have to explain them to a paying client?
A great way to flesh these ideas out is by applying them to your own website. You need a website to get yourself established and to have a place for people to land and find your information. Your social media accounts can only get you so far.
So, run your own marketing campaign on your own website. You have to do it anyway, and it’s a great way to feel out how the process will go for your clients.
Find a Business Office Space
Unless you plan to do everything online, you need to find an office space for rent. There are a lot of options out there, and they don’t all have to be glamorous.
It’s possible to clean up a small, affordable space in a way that feels professional. If you’re going to sit down with clients, you don’t want it to be in your messy garage, so go out and find a respectable place to call your own.
Find a Business Partner
It never hurts to put two heads together in times like these. Someone else with similar experience might complement your vision exceptionally well.
You can pool resources, work together with brainstorming the business, and double the amount of work that your agency can handle. Doing things yourself is respectable, but it isn’t always the smartest thing to do.
Think about potential business partners that you might work well with and see if they’re game.
Register Your Business
Once you’ve got all of the particulars sorted out, it’s time to make your business a distinct legal entity.
The place that you live and the nature of your business will determine if it needs to get registered in the first place. That said, most marketing businesses need to get registered in one way or another.
There are numerous tax, legal, and personal benefits involved with registering your business. If you don’t register, you will miss out on those benefits and make things a little more complicated for yourself.
Get Started
The hardest part of the whole process of starting a business is getting out there and accepting that you’re doing it. You need to apply that little effort and open yourself to the possibility of failing.
If you don’t, you’ll never actually move forward. Market yourself, find clients, and do your best to meet their needs. If you don’t come through the first time, you’ll come through the second time.
All marketing companies start with a little failure, and there’s no way to find success other than putting yourself on the line and giving it your best shot.
Want to Learn More About Starting Marketing Firms?
There’s a lot more to learn about how to start a marketing agency. It can get a little tricky at times. If you’re a little confused about where to turn next, we’re here to help you move forward.
Explore our site for more insight on starting a business, managing finances, marketing yourself, and more.
