There are thousands of digital marketing agencies all across Australia. Do you run one of them? Are you having a hard time attracting new clients and boosting your bottom line? The goal of a digital marketing agency is to help other businesses grow – but that doesn’t mean we should lose sight of our own goals. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that growth YOY is vital to the success and longevity of any business.
If you’re currently struggling and in need of a jumpstart, the problem might be your management strategy. In my experience, management strategy is often overlooked when it comes to diagnosing marketing agency-growth issues. But luckily, streamlining your strategy is an easy fix. Read on for some tips that will help you how to manage a digital marketing agency for maximum growth.
Identify Your Niche
Lots of digital marketing agencies describe themselves vaguely as “full-service” agencies.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but I’m sure you’ve heard the expression – “jack of all trades, master of none?”. Basically, when you try to offer everything and cater to everyone, you sometimes end up not really appealing to anyone. This, in turn, can make it hard for you to attract clients and build your business and brand.
Think about the type of client you want to work with. What kind of business do they run? What kinds of services (content writing, PPC ads, etc) will be most beneficial to them? What type of industry are they in? These are the kinds of questions you should ask yourself when defining your niche. Every business is different, so your niche should be, too.
Once you have a better understanding of what you clients want and need, you’ll be able to build a competent team which offers specialised digital marketing services. This will help you attract more of the right kind of clients and boost your bottom line.
Prioritize Brand-Building
When you make brand-building a priority, it’s easier for you to differentiate your agency from your competitors. Branding encapsulates everything about who you are as a business, from your logo and colour palette to the tone you use when writing ad copy.
Think about your current branding. Do you have a specific set of colours and fonts that you use on your website, social media posts, and other marketing materials? Do you have a set of guidelines that you follow when it comes to writing about and advertising your services?
If you haven’t figured out these things and created a style guide for your agency, now is a great time to do so. It will allow for more consistency and make it easier for people to separate you from other agencies that offer similar services. Having a sense of brand also helps when trying to attract new clients. It makes it easier for potential clients to understand what you can do for them and how your services can benefit their company.
Hire for Fit
Managing your digital marketing agency isn’t just about marketing and branding. You also need to think about the people you’re hiring to help you run things and serve your clients.
When you’re vetting candidates to fill different roles at your agency, don’t solely rely on the accomplishments listed on their resume. Use a resume builder to dig deeper and discover additional strengths, experiences, and qualities that could make them a perfect fit for the position and your team.
These things are important, of course, but they’re not all that matters. You should also consider how each person will fit into your agency and question whether or not their goals and values align with your agency’s goals and values.
Ask them about their communication skills, how they handle tense situations, and what kind of team player they are. This will help you to ensure that the people you hire will fit in with your firm’s culture. This is especially important if you’re building a team; it will give your employees and yourself a chance to gel and find a rhythm together.
Discover some useful and effective employee templates to supercharge your workflow and assist you on this task.
Simplify Onboarding
Consider the way you’re onboarding new hires, too. The easier it is for new employees to learn about your agency’s values and general way of doing things, the easier it’ll be for them to offer a high level of service to your clients (and keep them coming back for more).
Take a look at your onboarding materials for new hires. Are they clear and concise? Try to keep things as simple and streamlined as possible, without skipping out on essential information, of course.
Consider partnering new hires with a mentor if you can, too. When someone new joins your agency, you might not have a lot of time to coach them through the basics. Mentoring can be a great way to get one-on-one time with new hires and help them learn the ropes. To optimize this mentoring process, implementing mentoring software could provide structured support, facilitating meaningful connections and tracking developmental milestones effectively
Focus on Client Referrals
Never underestimate the power of your existing clients when it comes to managing your digital marketing agency. There’s a good chance your current clients know of other business owners who could benefit from your services.
Don’t hesitate to ask if they have any colleagues or friends they want to send your way. You might want to consider creating a referral program, too. That way, you can reward clients when they recommend that others utilize your services.
It all adds up to the right attitudes and mindset. When it comes to managing your digital marketing agency, you need to be organised and focused on what matters most. If you want to really succeed and achieve growth, you have to think of yourself as a boss as well as an employee.
Streamline Project Management
If you want to grow your digital marketing agency, you need to make sure you’re offering unparalleled customer service.
One way to keep your clients happy and ensure they continue working with you is to simplify your project management process. If you streamline the way you and your employees get projects done (and get them done on time), clients will be more inclined to continue working with you.
Not sure where to start? Consider using project management software. These tools help you to stay organized, communicate with colleagues and clients about ongoing projects, and monitor progress. If you’re looking to streamline your processes, it’s important to get feedback from your team as well. The best way to do that is to have regular meetings and ask for their input. One more great way for gathering your team’s feedback is by creating amazing surveys with interesting questions using the Survey Maker plugin.
Offer Flexible Pricing
You may have an easier time attracting and retaining clients if you offer more flexible pricing options.
When agencies choose not to offer flexible pricing, they typically either end up charging far too little or far too much for their services. Both of these issues can result in trouble running a profitable, successful business.
If you’re flexible with your pricing and willing to make adjustments based on people’s needs and budget, you’ll likely have an easier time getting people interested in what you have to offer and closing the deal.
Practice Upselling and Cross-Selling
If you’re struggling to boost your bottom line, you may need to work on upselling and cross-selling. Upselling involves convincing your clients to upgrade their purchase, whereas cross-selling involves convincing them to spend more by adding something else to it.
To successfully upsell or cross-sell, be clear about the benefits the client can experience when they upgrade or invest in adding something else to their order. However, if you’re overly pushy, you could end up turning them off to your agency altogether.
Try to keep the upsell and cross-sell conversations light, funny and engaging. If you do this, you can increase your chances of getting people to take action by purchasing additional services.
Be Transparent
A big part of running a good digital marketing agency management is transparency.
Practice honesty, openness, and transparency with your customers and employees in all ways, from hiring and onboarding someone new to giving potential clients quotes for upcoming projects or explaining the benefits of upgrading to a different package.
You’ll find that it’s much easier to keep people around (both employees and clients) and set your agency up for long-term success when you make transparency a top priority.
Transparency is extremely important for managing your digital marketing agency. If your clients aren’t aware of what you’re doing, you’re likely to run into issues with billing and the quality of the service they receive.
Another way to show prospective clients that you’re a trustworthy business is to be transparent about what you’ll and won’t offer. If there will be any hidden or additional charges, make sure you’re upfront about them. It might sound like a strange idea, but this is one of the best ways to show that you’re committed to making your digital marketing agency a success and prioritizing the needs of your clients.
Level Up Your Digital Marketing Management Today
Are you interested in learning how to manage a digital marketing agency for growth? As you can see, there are lots of different management strategies you can start implementing today. Whether you’re trying to improve your team’s skills or refine the service you offer to clients, it all comes down to being strategic and intentional.
Give one (or more) of these tips a try today. They’ll help you to attract new clients and set your agency up for success.
Have more ideas on how to grow a digital marketing agency? Comment below to share the wealth!