Here are some great tips from Digital Catalyst on getting more clients for your digital marketing agency.
1. Be Your First Client
As a digital marketing agency, the very first thing you should do is treat yourself as your first client. Many other agencies adopt this successful strategy.
After all, you would already have a process that you would implement for clients, so you should start by implementing those processes on your own agency.
Basically, implement each step for your own business in the same way that you would for any other client. This means creating a brand guide, getting data, developing a market plan based on this data and ensuring that each step is accurately completed.
Implement all of the tips and guidelines on your own business that you would typically give to your actual clients. It is best to utilize storytelling tactics so that you can build a strong connection with your agency’s target audience as a healthcare marketing agency.
Avoid sacrificing quality because potential clients would be paying attention to your marketing to determine what you can actually achieve for their businesses.
2. Leave Your Desk
We are in the technological era and when thinking about marketing, most people immediately think about digital marketing agency. With that said, you should not ignore the real, physical world.
This means that you should build a real world presence where your agency is located. For example, you can go to local events and connect with business owners. This means visiting business expos, networking events, business conferences, trade shows and more.
The entire point of doing this is to build a name for yourself within your local community. It is essential that other business owners become familiar with you so that they can become potential clients.
When you start to build out your clientele, be sure to refer your clients to other businesses when possible. This will encourage these business owners to become your client and the chances are much higher that they’ll actually refer clients to your agency in return.
Simply going to the right conference can help your business to explode. You can learn more about this from Vanessa Van Edwards who is a Behavioral Investigator.
3. Make Use Of Online Directories
In order to build your online presence, you need to work on more than just your website. A good strategy that not many people implement is listing your business in online directories. Strive to list your agency in as many directories as possible since it is quite effective at getting clients.
You can list in both general and industry specific online directories. Some good general directories include Yelp and Google.
When it comes to industry specific online directories, you should look for digital marketing or marketing directories. These type of directories are quite effective since they target your ideal client who want the type of services that you offer.
It is also a good idea to list your agency in your local directories as well. Many potential local clients will check out these local directories since they would likely want to hire a local agency that operates within their area.
With that said, all directories aren’t the same. Many of these directories only allow you to list your business. It is best to list in directories that offer more such as the ability to run ads, events you can go to etc.
4. Pay Attention To Your Portfolio
When speaking to possible clients, you can tell them how great your agency is, but they won’t truly believe it until you have proof. In order to get lots of clients, you absolutely need to have a great portfolio that you can showcase your work. Your team should also have many well known digital marketing certificates that you can show to potential clients.
When compiling your digital portfolio, there are a couple of things you need to pay attention to. One of the most important things is variety. After all, potential clients want to ensure that you have a wide range of experience with different types of brands and you have the ability to showcase the voice of their brand.
Next, your portfolio should be specialized to show the type of clients you want to work with in order to get more of those type of clients. For example, if you’re targeting the pet niche, then your portfolio should show many past pet businesses that you’ve already worked with. So, when you approach other pet companies, they will see that you are an expert in the pet niche and they will have a greater likelihood of hiring your agency.
5. Blogging
As a digital marketing agency, you likely spend a great deal of time talking to your clients about content marketing in order to showcase their expertise to their audience. This advice should also apply to your digital marketing agency.
The vast majority of businesses try to implement their own marketing in order to decrease their expenses. This often leads to lots of Google research and attempts to teach themselves digital marketing.
Some business owners may even try to implement marketing campaigns and then realize that it is a lot more challenging than it looks. At this point, they likely start looking for a digital marketing agency.
In many cases, these business owners contact the agencies where they actually learned a lot about digital marketing from since they clearly showcase a great deal of knowledge on digital marketing. So, this is a prime reason why it is so important for you to implement your own content marketing strategy to get lots of organic clients.
Additionally, your blog will increase your agency’s overall credibility which will naturally increase your client list. Blogging is also great for your website’s SEO, which will show your clients that you know what you’re doing.
In addition to blogging on your business website, you should also do guest blogs regularly. Some good options include Forbes, Business Insider etc since many business owners actually visit these websites.
6. Become Interactive
Social media has become extremely important in digital marketing agency and many businesses fail to make good use of these platforms. Even though they may create content, they may not engage with their customers or share their work.
So, be sure to do your research on the businesses that you’d like to have as clients and check out their social media pages. Know all about them and if they are eligible for a trading online voucher scheme as this can be a great way to start a conversation. Be sure to engage with their posts before approaching them. This will go a long way since the business owner will become familiar with your company and would be more receptive to talking to you and even becoming a client.