I’m curious how people get started with their own marketing agencies and I’d love to hear stories from people who have done it. What are the must-have things you need to begin? Is it a team, experience, or what else?
If you already run your own agency, what advice would you give to someone just starting?
How do you get new customers? How hard is it to build a customer base and make your agency grow?
Edit: Let me rephrase. There are tons of marketing agencies out there, so how do people even start one? I don’t have much marketing experience and I’ve been applying for jobs since I recently graduated.
Coordinater said:
You don’t just start an agency without any clients.
You begin by freelancing or consulting, and once you’re too busy, you start building a team to help you grow into an agency.
Start there.
This is usually the best way, but many experts aren’t good at sales or management, so they’d rather work directly with clients. The hardest part about running an agency is knowing you’ll have to show the client work that isn’t as good as you could have made it yourself. (Because you’re spending all your time on sales, project management, and team management.) If you want to lead an agency, be the “Creative Director,” and approve all projects, then you need someone else to handle sales and project management. As they say, “choose your hard.”
Please have real, proven skills. Faking it 'til you make it is dishonest and hurts your reputation. Agencies aren’t easy ways to get rich quick (or ever). Don’t listen to the gurus.
@Lex
Definitely. It’s easy to “run an agency” and do a project once for a client while paying someone on Fiverr to do the work. The challenge is to do really good work and get the client to come back. Almost always, this means doing more work than the client paid for, so you have to find the next client to stay profitable. It’s a constant cycle.
I have my own (small) agency! I worked in-house for about 11 years. Some former coworkers asked me to consult for the brands they were leading, and once I had three freelance clients, I quit my in-house job. That was six years and two kids ago! Now I have a couple of awesome employees, and we have around 10 clients at a time. Lots of different experiences, but I hope that helps! Good luck with your career!
@Quinn
That’s a great way to think about it, and I appreciate you breaking it down. I don’t have much marketing experience, not enough to start my own agency yet.
Zephyr said: @Quinn
That’s a great way to think about it, and I appreciate you breaking it down. I don’t have much marketing experience, not enough to start my own agency yet.
Learn marketing by working at an agency first.
Too many people without experience are taking a two-week course and “starting an agency” – or being a freelancer and doing bad work that makes businesses avoid marketing because they had one bad experience with a remote agency.
I started a few years ago. I built up a clientele on the side first, then told all my past employers and clients that I was open for business. That helped a lot. After that, you need referrals, referrals, referrals. And don’t sell anything you aren’t doing for your own brand, so get busy prepping.
@Zora
Exactly. Almost all work will come from referrals from past clients. People who “run agencies” and get clients from cold traffic and social media often do one project (with average or poor results) and never hear from the client again. When you do good work, people will find you.
@Gerald
That’s very true! I have nothing against cold calling, but referrals are still the best! No one will recommend something bad!
And I hate “agency-style” onboarding. It’s like a revolving door with staff who just learned the product themselves. There are too many of those. Go with an expert who knows the system and wants a long-term relationship.
@Zora
Exactly, it’s relationship sales. Many “start your own agency” people just want to do quick projects and pay contractors – it’s a scam. Working with clients for a long time is really cool, and it leads to easy conversations for opening doors and building new relationships with a trusted referral.