Agency Growth

Picture this:

You’ve already been offering your agency’s services for a hot minute now, and you’re working with a bunch of awesome clients.

Yay!

But when you look at your financial statement at the end of the month, you see the figures hanging at the end of your profit report by their anemic, brittle little fingernails.

Or maybe you’ve been staring at an aspirational financial target for quite some time now. With bloodshot eyes. And wondering why you haven’t reached it yet.

Now you scratch your head and question your entire life’s choices.

Ugh. Why isn’t it working?! What’s the problem with my calculations? Where have I gone wrong?

Sob.

Your digital agency is a business that needs to earn a profit to operate. But looking at the same amount monthly isn’t a pretty sight if you’re trying to scale.

Dry your eyes. We can fix this!

In this article, we’ll show you how you can maximize your marketing agency’s profit and you’ll get the best tips from the leaders in the industry.

What Is an Agency’s Profit Margin?

You may have heard of the term. But haven’t entirely grasped the concept.

The profit margin is the number you get as a result of the profit (sales minus operating costs) divided by the revenue.

This tells you the connection between the number of sales you have in relation to the expenses you have while selling.

You can analyze your digital agency’s profitability just by looking at its profit margins. It’s one of the most common ways to measure your business’s financial health.

But more on that one later. Let’s get into benchmarks next.

Digital Marketing Agencies’ Profit Benchmarks

Is your digital agency’s profit margin a good one? Where do you stand as compared to other companies?

An average marketing agency earns a 7-10% profit margin for small digital marketing services, with 5% as a low margin and 20% as a high margin.

Large digital enterprises offering marketing activities even account for a 40% profit margin.

If you haven’t met these figures yet, does that mean that your digital agency is already doomed to fail? Is it really required for digital marketing agencies to have a good profit margin?

Allow us to clear the air and dispel your fears.

The Importance of a Healthy Profit Margin

Having a healthy profit margin is not just an answer to your well-meaning auntie’s question “How’s the business doing?” It’s also an indicator of your agency’s overall financial performance.

Securing healthy profit margins gives your investors, employees, and clients a sense of security, knowing that your marketing agency is stable and isn’t on a verge of bankruptcy.

When you track and report your gross profit margins regularly, this also helps you identify (and fix) a money-draining leakage. Low margins can be indicators of poor agency management or a lack of projects in the pipeline.

Having a healthy profit margin also helps make major company decisions, like changes in systems or processes, additional staff compensation, or confidence in expanding the business.

How to Calculate Your Profit Margins

If you’re not into all that math, trust us, this valuable metric is easy to compute!

PROFIT MARGIN = (Revenue – Expenses) /Revenue x 100

First, you need to get the sales amount that’s listed in your income statement. Then, add the total expenses.

Total expenses are the costs of doing business that you’ve incurred during a given period. This includes overhead costs, employee costs, operating costs, and other expenses during business operations for a certain amount of time.

All right. Now that your calculator is dusted off, what’s the next step?

Divide the figure by the revenue amount and multiply by 100 to get the percentage.

For example, let’s say you have $300,000 in revenue for January and you have spent $2700,00 in total for all the expenses during the same period. You can calculate the profit margin: ($300,000-$270,000) /$300,000 = 0.1 x 100 = 10%

There are two types of profit margins and differentiating them can help you monitor the overall profitability of your business.

The net profit margin includes all the costs in the total expenses plus the loans, taxes, and single-purchase figures.

On the other hand, computing the gross profit margin is less complicated because its expenses only include the costs made to produce results for specific clients — like white labeling costs or media buys.

7 Tips to Improve Your Agency’s Profit Margins

High-profit margins mean your digital agency is performing well and may even be better than your competitors. But what happens when your figures are on the low side?

We’ve got you covered. Check out these tips to help you boost your marketing agency profit margin.

• Strategize your pricing methods

• Calculating your services may be one of the many effective ways to increase your profit margin.One way to do it is to adjust your price point. Or use pricing strategies that won’t negatively, but positively, impact your customers.

  You may opt to use either competitive prices based on market value. Or opt for value-based pricing if your customers are willing to pay more f0r quality and they perceive your offer as high value.

  Regularly check on your pricing and assess if your present method is still profitable for your agency.

• Make sure your sales are profitable

  Another factor you’ll want to monitor to increase your profit margin is the sales team and processes.

  Are your marketing campaigns cost-effective? Is your sales pipeline and closing rate generating enough to grow your marketing agency? Do the team members consistently fulfill their unique roles to make it all happen?

  Perform an audit of your current sales objectives and policies to make sure they’re aligned with your goal to increase your profits.

• Set up project and engagement scopes profitably and protect the scope

  Scope creep. Ugh. It gets the best of us when we least expect it. But that doesn’t have to be the case all the time.

  You may already be going beyond your budget just to focus on profitability. But that’s counterproductive.

  Keeping an eye on the usual suspects behind scope creep, like unforeseen costs, and resolve them before the scope starts a’creepin’.

  Revisit your scope and reinforce boundaries with team involvement and customer buy-in. Communication is one of the solutions to preventing scope creep and ultimately, setting up realistic and profitable scopes with clients from the get-go.

• Focus on customer service and retention (and check client profitability)

• Both existing clients and new customers are sources of sales. But if you acquire new ones, will it cost you more than retaining your present client roster?Checking on your clients’ acquisition cost and lifetime value can help you identify if your target audiences and customer lists are still delivering the profit margins you need.

  Collect feedback from your profitable patrons and pamper them with excellent customer service. It will not only help you win great testimonials to expand your customer base, but also encourage them to choose you over any other digital agency.

• Streamline operations and use technology effectively

  Profit margins also include the amount of time spent on following procedures and seeking approvals before finishing a deliverable.

  So, troubleshoot your operations to establish a one-stop-shop workflow that runs smoothly and save bucketloads of time.

  What if you’ve already optimized your processes but still can’t keep your profits up?

  Using the best technology for your unique processes ensures that you spend less time on repetitive tasks. It also reduces your operating costs.

  Incorporating automation into your workflows and using efficient, reliable tools enables your team to focus on increasing productivity instead of repetitive tasks that suck up limited time and bandwidth.

• Train staff to increase productivity, bridge capabilities gaps, and increase billable hours

  When you’ve ticked off all the operational and marketing expenses and your profit margins are still lower than expected, it’s time to revisit your employees’ productivity.

  Up-skilling your staff to meet capability requirements, instead of hiring new people (more on this below!) will help you reduce non-billable hours and focus on the billable ones.

  That way, you only pay for the time they consume to produce business output.

  Carefully managing your resource schedule helps you religiously track everyone’s time an also decreases the chance of unwanted leaves and unplanned overtime.

  You don’t want to make sick leave a recurring template because your personnel is no longer motivated to work, right? Right?! Right.

• Hire slow and fire fast to maximize talent and keep overhead efficient

  Looking at your human resources and monitoring utilization rates will ensure you only have the best talent on your team. Are you willing to keep one person and let a whole team suffer because of inefficiency?

  In the vein, hiring someone because they’re your only option — instead of being selective about who you hire — results in forcing them into a role they can’t, or aren’t willing, to fit into.

  It’s all about keeping your overhead costs within budget and making room for the right talent at the right digital agencies.

Overview of Strategies to Maximize Profits

You’ve done it all and begun to notice changes in your company reports. Ruh roh. Now what?

It’s time to share our top strategies for achieving even higher margins and maximizing profits for your business.

Here are some tips to scale your marketing agency and keep your success on a roll:

• Evaluate your business processes to check if you’re ready to take your agency to the next level. Perform surveys and ask for feedback to identify possible risks and keep your team members engaged and excited for the upcoming phase.
• Establish and solidify your business identity with consistency and efficiency. You want your employees to be affiliated with a long-standing agency and your investors confident with their funding.Would you like your future clients to purchase because of pressure from hard sales and cold calls? Or because you’re well-established and they trust your existing clients’ testimonials? We all want the latter.
• Optimize your productivity with the appropriate tools and ditch unused subscriptions. Learn how to keep track of where everyone is at whether have a remote work culture or flexible-hour setup.It not only fosters accountability and teamwork, but also maintains focus on the scope and budget.

Examples from Successful Businesses

From advertising agencies to software development teams, here are a couple of best practices from successful agencies. You’ll notice that these strategies upped the company’s profit margins up and scaled them in a short period of time.

Let’s take a look at King Digital Entertainment.

They’re the makers of Candy Crush, an online game that was popular in 2012 with over 300 million active players.

The brand started in 2003 as a small web-based company. But with the rise of mobile gaming in 2010, they developed the smartphone game and secured 12X revenue growth but only 6X growth in costs.

Impressive.

How did they do that?!

They discovered a business development stage between finding a market that fits their product and retaining that market advantage despite competition.

They also focused on giving users a full gaming experience with in-app purchases. This allowed the company to reduce its operational costs since the units are bought inside the game.

They also dove into an enormous market with the same gaming needs and ability to pay, which automatically went to the agency’s revenue while decreasing overhead costs.

Another company we all know, Netflix, has been radical with its human resource measures to hire only the best of the best which strengthened overall performance.

This helped the brand build over 29 million subscribers in the U.S. alone. Today, the company has presence in over 190 countries for the past 7 years.

How did they do that?!

Netflix guiding principle is to only hire people who understand and support the company’s interest and vision. With this, they made it possible to have a highly-productive work environment. And the business was ruthless in letting go of individuals who weren’t a good fit and risked causing problems in the long run.

Unlike most companies, Netflix is willing to tell the truth about their employees’ performance and required skills and offers generous severance packages to personnel who deserve them. This keeps the rest of the team efficient and cuts employee costs, better providing for the present payroll.

Key Takeaways

To sum up, an agency’s profit margin is a powerful metric that lets you know how your business’s financial health is doing.

By keeping these numbers up, you can identify areas for improvement, avoid scope creep, and boost your overall capabilities to grow and scale.

Apply the following tips to improve your overall profit margins:

• Strategize your pricing
• Ensure profitable sales
• Protect your project or business scope
• Check on your clients’ profitability
• Streamline business operations with the proper technology
• Increase your employees’ productivity and billable hours
• Hire slow and fire fast to reduce overhead costs

After optimizing for profitability, you can start to concentrate on figuring out the best ways to maximize revenue and agency growth.

Need a little agency Miracle-Gro? ScaleTime’s strategies are the hot shi$ you need to scale this marketing agency biotch and make it grow.

Let ScaleTime guide you in assessing current processes, metrics, and tech to know what your gaps and strengths are!

Ah, the joys of living in a technologically-savvy saturated society. Businesses have to get crafty with their marketing and advertising efforts. It’s not like the good old days when ads were only seen on subway trains and buses, in magazines, and in newspapers.

Nope. Now we find ads everywhere, even on our phones when we’re trying to take our next sh text our crush.

But fear not! With the right tools, you too can craft winning marketing proposals that’ll make your clients swoon.

And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a little swooning? With technology at our fingertips, we can create ads for digital billboards, our televisions, and even our smart fridges. Yes, you read that right. Smart. Fridges.

In short, technology has transformed the way marketing agencies make ads for their clients. And with a little bit of creativity and a lot of coffee, you too can master the art of marketing in the digital age.

Cheers to that!

Successful marketing efforts come from the minds of creatives which are effectively communicated to the clients.

Where do ads start?

Ads have to start somewhere, usually in the form of a creative idea. These ideas are communicated to clients and approved before they can become, well, ads.

The question is, how can you present these ideas to your clients as concisely as possible? After all, your ideas for ad campaigns are often complex. But clients will only need the key points to know whether they like it or not.

This is where a marketing proposal comes into the picture.

A marketing proposal is a formal document that provides the client with all the project details. This will help them decide whether your ideas align with their goals.

This article will elaborate on a marketing proposal, its importance, what information is included, and how to make a proposal that impresses clients the mostest and gains their approval.

What is a marketing proposal?

Agencies use marketing proposals, usually in the form of paper or PDF documents, outlining their marketing strategy. Agencies then submit the proposal to potential clients for approval.

This document contains all the marketing steps agencies will make to market the client’s products, goods, or services and should align with the client’s needs. A marketing proposal also contains the marketing project scope and its budget.

A marketing proposal’s target audience is usually individuals with limited marketing expertise, such as project stakeholders and key decision-makers of the client. Because of this, marketing proposals should go in-depth about how to execute a successful marketing strategy.

Depending on the approach, you can include various marketing strategies in our marketing proposal.

For example, you can apply digital and traditional approaches to market the client’s goods or services. The proposal should clearly illustrate how to use these approaches to meet the client’s needs.

Why is a marketing proposal important?

A marketing campaign will crash and burn harder than a weather balloon off the Carolina coast if there’s no guide to execution. A business proposal helps you present your ideas to the client and keep you on track with what the team is supposed to do.

Here are some important benefits you can glean from using an airtight marketing proposal.

We can showcase our value to a potential client

Using a marketing proposal can help convince potential clients that they will generate high returns on investment should they choose your marketing agency.

You’ll want to focus on your value which can be specific marketing expertise and experience. Or a comprehensive portfolio of campaigns with great results, or the customizability of your marketing strategies.

A winning marketing proposal will stand out from the crowd and helps you easily seal the deal with a potential client.

Marketing proposals help win new clients

We mentioned that clients and critical stakeholders choose you for their marketing campaigns through the marketing proposal. Therefore, a good marketing proposal should be clear enough to provide critical information to the clients.

It will also be the backbone of the contract after the client accepts your bid.

show what makes you different from competitors

A winning proposal highlights your unique abilities and differentiates you from other marketing agencies.

Unique selling propositions will include past experience that helped in developing the marketing agency as a whole. In short, clients understand who you are as an agency through a winning proposal.

In creating a marketing proposal, clearly illustrate your strategies and highlight what differentiates you from competitors. This way, potential clients can know what you will do to make successful campaigns.

Proposal outline

No matter the approach, a winning marketing proposal demonstrates your understanding of the client’s problem and how you can solve it.

You can only do this if you focus on your client rather than your brand. So, research your potential clients extensively to provide relevant details and pad out your unique marketing solution.

A winning marketing proposal also identifies issues the client may not have noticed and realized. As the ones with marketing expertise, you should accompany these issues with customized solutions.

This way, you can provide the client with results that will exceed their expectations.

But you may be wondering — what’s the most effectively way to present these issues and solutions to the client for best results?

This section will outline the key elements of a winning marketing proposal to act as a guide whenever you make your own.

Start with the cover page.

A marketing proposal starts with a cover page. This is the initial point of contact with our target audience — the client. With a kicka$$ cover page, the marketing proposal will impress clients immediately. So make it visually appealing.

Include their brand on the cover page to make them feel that the marketing proposal is created explicitly for them. Which it is, but you want that to be kind of in their face — in a good way.

The next part of the marketing proposal is the executive summary.

This portion highlights the value your agency offers potential customers. After researching, you can include what you discovered about the client’s business, such as their goals, budgets, deliverables, etc.

Key elements of a marketing proposal:

The following sections of the proposal template will determine whether you make it or break it with the potential customer.

Goal

As a marketing agency, you want to ensure that you align with the client’s goals. So, the goals need to be clear before you send the proposal.

Most marketing agencies focus too much on themselves rather than the client in this section of the proposal, which often leads to the clients skipping this portion.

To avoid this, your marketing pitch to any potential client should be focused on their goals.

You need to show prospective clients that your agency fully understands these goals so they will consider the solutions you’ll present to them. You can use the goal section of the marketing proposal to highlight the steps your agency will take to achieve the client’s goals.

So, how do you flesh out this all important part of the marketing proposal to make it a winner?

You’ll want to ask key stakeholders the right questions and align their needs and goals with your solutions.

Here are a few of these questions to get you started:

• What are their revenue targets for the next period?
• What were their revenue goals for previous sales periods? Have they achieved those goals?
• What challenges held them back from achieving their objectives and goals?
• What metrics do they use to measure their performance?
• What are the available resources that can help them meet their objectives?
• Do they have priorities that may take precedence over their highlighted goals?
• Are they up to modifying goals to meet their objectives?

In creating a winning marketing proposal, you’ll need to drive home what it’s going to cost the clients to NOT meet their goals.

Why?

Because many many businesses see marketing efforts as an expense rather than an investment. So, make them understand that their inaction will lead to greater costs than the amount they will spend on paying you.

The problem

When identifying the client’s issues, remember that they are usually more complex than initially listed.

Because of this, it becomes your job to identify and describe the client’s business problem or opportunity.

When presenting a marketing proposal to prospective clients, we should prove that we fully understand their business needs.

A winning marketing proposal should have a winning problem statement.

Your project proposal should be able to find the root cause of an issue and provide the client with a solution instead of a service. You can determine the problem that your prospective client has using the goals listed in the goal section of the marketing proposal and researching them.

This is an essential step as many clients find it difficult to voice, explain, or identify their issues. Some clients may also assume you already know their problem right from the start.

Example:

For example, a prospective client wants to generate a specified number of clicks through SEO and PPC campaigns. Many agencies may focus on movements that generate clicks. However, you should look deeper and find the real problem.

Why would the client hire a marketing agency to generate more clicks and increase traffic? You’ll want to analyze their current marketing efforts to determine what is ‘not clicking.’

Ultimately, the problem statement you identified should address what you discovered when you analyzed their current marketing strategy. explain the issue to the potential client as clearly as possible. That way, they’ll know what they actually need.

Doing so will give the client a better understanding of their problem and the path they must take to solve it.

To quickly impress clients, you want to present their real problems from the beginning of the proposal. This will grab their attention and make the marketing proposal stand out.

Your solution

After identifying the client’s problem, present them with a clear solution.

The proposed solution section of a strategic marketing plan should demonstrate how your agency will address the client’s problem in regards to their specific goals and objectives.

Any marketing and promotional strategy should be presented in a way that the client will easily understand. It should be concise yet well thought out to avoid confusion.

You have to remember that even though you may live in the marketing world, many clients will have little to no knowledge of marketing and advertising. That’s why they’re asking for your help in the first place.

Provide specific and concrete solutions to client’s problems in the marketing proposal as it will effectively show the client how

A winning proposal also outlines specific and concrete solutions tailored to the client. You’ll want to explain to the client how they can benefit from your solutions and their key features. You can grab any potential client’s attention when your solutions are unique or innovative, as it separates you from competitors.

In simple words, the marketing proposal’s solution section wins the hearts and minds of potential clients as it clearly lays out how they can overcome challenges and problems with your help.

It also presents the perfect opportunity to showcase your expertise through the marketing strategies you design and tailor to the client’s needs.

Services

Once you’ve outlined the solutions, then it’s time to highlight your marketing services. This part of the marketing proposal concerns what you do as a marketing agency.

Present the services you offer to the client in a way that highlights its value to them. The more valuable they are, the higher the chance of closing the deal.

In this section, enumerate the services we offer. But also describe each key feature of the services. Highlight how the client can benefit from them. This will help you earn the client’s trust and reassure them that your agency is the right choice.

In writing the services section of the marketing proposal, remember to emphasize how the multiple services you offer create a single, comprehensive solution for the customer’s problems.

This way, the client can fully understand the scope of the offered solutions. Doing so will also explain to the prospective client why they should choose you.

Key deliverables

As with any professional proposal, a marketing proposal must also provide the project deliverables. Outlining the project’s deliverables helps set expectations.

Providing a list of specific deliverables for the marketing proposal will help clients understand the solutions you are offering to them.

So, be sure to provide all the critical information about the deliverables and explain how each deliverable contributes to the proposal’s success. This way, clients will understand that each stage of your solution is essential to their success.

Project timeline

A project’s timeline is another essential aspect of the marketing proposal that clients will consider. They want quick projects completed within a timeframe aligned with their goals and objectives.

A winning marketing proposal must present a timeline for the project, including key milestones and deadlines. Any project will have multiple steps. And each step can’t be started without completing the one that precedes it.

When presenting the timeline, indicate the project starting point and the estimated end date. The proposal should also give the timeline for each step of the solution so the client can have a clear vision project phases.

Including a timeline in a marketing proposal will provide a customer with a clear picture on how long your solutions will be completed.

Presenting a project timeline can also be a way to improve the proposal. If the prospective client finds the timeline and deadlines impractical, you can modify it during the proposal process before they sign anything.

A detailed timeline serves as a guide for both you and the client. This section of the proposal lets the client know when to expect deliverables. It also informs the team of when the project goes into the execution phase.

Investment breakdown

Clients need to know how much it will cost them to get your services. To do this, be specific and transparent when discussing costs and investments.

In the investment section of the marketing proposal, we should be upfront when presenting to the client exactly how much our services cost.

The breakdown should indicate all the costs needed at every stage of the solution and the services provided. These costs include materials, labor, equipment, and other expenses.

This way, you can avoid providing cost estimates that can be significantly different from actual costs, thereby preventing client sticker shock.

Also, include your payment terms to help the client determine how easy it will be to start working with you.

When you provide a precise cost breakdown, clients can compare with competitors. If the value you can provide outweighs the costs, there’s a greater chance your proposal will get the client’s thumbs up.

Expiration date

Sometimes, clients take time to decide whether to use your services or not. But most of us have shi$ to do and money to make. This is why an expiration date on the marketing proposal matters.

Expiration dates also highlight the importance of the proposal. It shows how eager you are to assist clients in solving their problems and reaching their goals.

If the potential client is considering several marketing agencies for a project, an expiration date encourages them to decide before you grow a beard.

About you

The preceding sections of the marketing proposal template focused on the client, their goals, and their problems. Now, it’s time for the star of the show. You!

photography of people inside room during daytime

This section highlights your marketing expertise and relevant experience and qualifications. You’ll also want to include a portfolio of your past projects, from small to large and simple to complex, to let the client know you can address their issues.

Emphasize the successful, related marketing projects you’ve worked on to showcase how knowledgeable you are about the client’s issues. You can also display your knowledge of current trends, further helping you stand out among other proposals.

In short, your marketing proposal’s section About You should emphasize your strengths and selling points.

Contact info

You want your marketing agency to expand its customer base. So, always include a contact info section in the proposal in case what we created gets crowdsourced to someone that could be a potential client.

This section of the marketing proposal should include:

• Company website
• Physical address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Social media accounts, if any
  

  Include your contact information in your marketing proposal so that potential clients can reach you easily

By including your contact info, any interested business will know where to reach you should they want to get in touch.

Automating your sales proposals

With today’s technology, digital marketing agencies don’t need to create most marketing proposals independently. Many services have simple marketing templates available online, which are typically free of charge. So, use them as a foundation of what should go into your proposals to make them eye-catching.

Along with these templates, there are also automation tools that ease the process of creating a marketing proposal, be it in terms of gathering information, getting the client’s signature, and others.

Here are some automation tools we should consider that can help us create a winning proposal other than Microsoft Word.

Better proposals

Despite its focus on the client, a winning proposal should still reflect us as a brand. Better Proposals has various templates and design options to help customize proposals. The tool also has an e-signature feature, allowing you to easily and quickly get the client’s signature.

HelloSign

With its analytics features, HelloSign is a great tool for tracking performance regarding the proposal. It also has an e-signature feature to help with getting approvals quickly.

However, what makes HelloSign a great tool for proposal creation is its simple and user-friendly interface which helps create winning proposals with just a few clicks.

PandaDoc

With its analytics and collaboration features, PandaDoc is a perfect tool for marketing agencies who often collaborate when creating proposals.

These features allow them to create a proposal that suits the client’s needs, and you can also customize proposals. PandaDoc has many different design templates and options.

QWLR

For a more comprehensive tool for the automation of proposals, we can use QWLR. This platform can streamline the proposal process with its tools for proposal creation, delivery, and analysis.

Many automation tools have e-signature features, allowing marketing agencies to easily and quickly obtains signatures and approval from clients.

The creation becomes quick and streamlined when we use automation tools and a marketing proposal template. With marketing proposal templates and automation tools, we can create consistent marketing proposals to help us focus on other important tasks.

Create Your Most Persuasive Marketing Proposal Yet

As a marketing firm, you want to provide specialized services that meet your clients’ needs and goals. But you can only deliver such services once you’ve closed the deal.

So, before you can get into a legally binding contract with the client, you’ve got to propose and present yourself and solutions in the most persuasive way possible.

Let’s recap:

• A marketing proposal is a detailed document containing all the necessary marketing strategy information. The purpose is to help clients better understand what you can do to help them with their marketing efforts and spot issues they haven’t realized.
• Marketing proposals are crucial in getting new clients as it showcases your services, highlight your marketing and advertising expertise and experience, and demonstrate how valuable your solutions are to the clients.
• Many key elements in a winning marketing proposal are heavily focused on the client.
• A marketing proposal’s goal section outlines the project’s objectives and goals. Identify these goals through extensive research about the client.
• The problem statement of a winning marketing proposal must go deeper than what the client identified beforehand. Look into their goals and objectives and determine what hinders the client from achieving these.
• Solutions and services go hand-in-hand in a marketing proposal. Solutions must pave the way toward goal achievement, with the services acting as tools for the execution of these solutions.
• Be transparent in presenting details to the client regarding the project timeline or costs. This way, the client will have reasonable expectations from you.
• Automation helps the process of creating a marketing proposal in many ways. It can help you create a proposal that reflects your brand and allows you to gather information and collaborate quickly with your team members.

Put your newfangled knowledge on crafting effective marketing proposals to use. Upscale your digital marketing agency with your next winning proposal.

Increasing your numbers means exerting effort so that your market and customer base expands

You could have the secret to eternal youth in your product line. But if no one knows it exists, well, you know what they say about bears and farts in the woods.

Ultimately, the success of a business relies on sales growth and trajectory. But to get that sweet, sweet sales growth, you need an effective marketing strategy. The marketing team must develop engaging content and ads for retaining and gaining new customers.

Sounds good. What could possibly go wrong? A lot.

You could have an excellent marketing team with talented people on the roll call. But not all company marketing departments successfully build their own organization’s branding.

That’s why they outsource to advertising agencies to create effective, branded ad campaigns to augment their in-house marketing efforts.

Why use an ad agency?

The beauty of advertising agencies is that they specialize in creating a unique campaign for every client. This tickles the target audience’s interest and makes the brand’s goods and services memorable.

When companies need specialized expertise, an advertising agency can assist them in sustainably growing their business without spending too much on financial resources and time.

So, if you want to know how an ad agency can benefit your business, you’ve clicked on the right page.

In this piece, you’ll learn what an advertising agency is and the different types of advertising agencies so you’ll know who to contact for your business needs.

What is an Advertising and Marketing Agency?

Agencies work together to assist client in attracting consumers for their businesses.

Advertising agencies provide businesses and organizations with creative professionals who have the knowledge and industry expertise to plan and execute marketing and advertising efforts and initiatives.

The experts at these organizations choose the best form of advertising for their clients. They ensure that their ad campaigns are integrated into the lives of not only their existing clients but also their potential customers.

What Roles and Services Does an Advertising Agency Generally Offer?

At the heart of an advertising agencies service is brand building. Advertising professionals assist in all advertising phases for their clients, from planning each ad campaign to assessing whether the campaign successfully reached the target audience.

Here are some examples of the most common types of services an advertising company offers:

• Ad Campaigns

An advertising agency produces campaigns to meet specific client business or awareness goals. Ad campaigns are linked ads focused on conveying a single brand message.

Usually, ad campaigns are implemented to support a broader marketing strategy designed to generate sales, leads, and conversions.

• Social Media Management

Over the past few years, social media use has increased. As a result, marketing departments have started to go where the target audience is, through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

Also referred to as online marketing, social media management includes pay-per-click (PPC) ads, targeted content, search engine optimization (SEO), and more.

• Content Creation

Content creation intends to hook the target audience’s interest and win their trust, then convert them to paying customers.

Since popup ads are as annoying as a stubbed toe, advertising agencies have started to woo their target audiences with targeted content in blogs, social media posts, and others, often through SEO. Ya know, stuff that doesn’t pop up unannounced and uninvited.

Created content must be engaging for the reader.

• Graphic Design

Ads are usually more appealing to the target market when they’re a visual representation of the product or service being advertised. This is why advertising services include graphic design.

These visual concepts inspire, inform, and captivate their target market, from the company logo to publication designs and websites.

• Strategic Planning

No plan? Then plan to fail. A marketing agency builds a creative strategy and plan, and sets objectives, all for the goal of executing the campaign successfully.

Difference Between Traditional and Digital Marketing Agencies

Over the years, marketing has evolved from Ancient Roman graffiti on the walls of Pompeii, to newspaper print ads, to TV commercials, all the way to social media ads and SEO. The appearance of new ad channels raised the question of what to call these new forms and the agencies that produce them.

Traditional ads

An advertising agency that produces newspaper ads and other print advertisements is what we call a traditional advertising agency. So, whenever you’re in the armpit of Satan subway, and see an ad for a new movie, remember that a traditional advertising agency created it.

Digital ads

Meanwhile, a digital advertising agency focuses on creating ads using digital channels such as TV, radio, and the Internet. They’re in charge of creating engaging digital or online content that can convert viewers to customers.

So, whenever you encounter an ad before your TikTok video starts, remember that a digital marketing agency made it happen.

In short, the main difference between a traditional marketing agency and a digital advertising agency is the channel or medium used to send the marketing message.

Traditional advertising agencies use traditional media, such as newspapers and magazines, whereas a digital advertising agency utilizes digital media, such as websites and social media.

In the next sections, you’ll find some more examples so you can choose the best service possible for your brand.

Different Types of Advertising Agencies

    1. Traditional Marketing Agencies

This type of marketing generally uses traditional media to reach local, regional, or national audiences.

Despite the growing digital world, traditional media is still prominent in delivering information to the target market, especially to a local audience that’s targeted to a specific geographic area.

If you’re looking for advertising business agencies focusing on traditional advertising, many ranking websites have named Ogilvy the best advertising agency in the industry.

The agency offers service across the following areas of business:

1. Brand strategy
2. Advertising
3. Customer engagement and commerce
4. Public relations and influence
5. Digital transformation
6. Partnerships

What sets Ogilvy apart is its streamlined internal processes combined with siloed functions in separate offices. This structure of operations creates a seamless experience throughout all aspects of an ad project.

But, due to its reputation, Ogilvy’s clients are mostly large corporations, which means that it’s not very accessible to small businesses unless you’re willing to part with a kidney.

    2. Creative Agencies

A creative ad agency fuses traditional advertising strategies with the latest technologies and trends to create campaigns using the most effective channels for their clients.

Creative agencies include a range of experts and professionals, from content creators to web developers.

A creative team will include graphic designers, web developers, advertisers, and a content team. They might also offer technology to help you market your goods and services more effectively.

Some creative agencies specialize in a specific type of marketing. For example, they may offer services like:

• Online marketing
• Video production
• Social media management

Our pick for the best creative ad agency is Studio B Films in Berkeley, California. Their innovative team can produce high-quality video for the web, television, and even live event coverage.

Despite its big reputation, Studio B Films takes on clients from small and mid-sized companies. They have hourly rates between $50 to $100 and work on projects starting at $10,000.

    3. Digital Marketing Agency

Digital ad agencies create and launch marketing campaigns through social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and SEO.

To understand digital marketing agencies, you must first learn how they launch their ad campaigns.

Drum roll, please.

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM uses paid advertisements to appear on search engine results pages (SERPs). Digital advertising agencies bid on the keywords users might enter when searching for a certain product or service. This allows them to place their ads alongside the results of the search queries.

• Social media (SM)

Social media marketing helps you engage with your existing customers and to reach new ones. This technique uses social media to build your company’s brand and drive website traffic to increase sales.

• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

In this marketing strategy, a digital ad agency pays a publisher every time their ad link is clicked. This strategy is usually seen on search engines like Google and Bing and social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

• Dev Shop

Also known as a web development shop, a dev shop provides services related to building new web applications or improving existing applications.

    4. Full-Stack Agencies

Full-stack agencies (also known as full-service agencies) can work in a wide range of marketing disciplines.

They don’t specialize in just one marketing area. Instead, they have practical knowledge in all areas of your company’s online presence. A full-service agency can operate comprehensive campaigns from the initial phase down to the finish line.

Our best agency for full-service advertising is Ignite Social Media. Though it has social media in its name, this advertising agency has the capability and knowledge to create strategies and ad initiatives for a full spectrum of industries.

Full-stack agencies may be considered as the jack of all trades

Some of their offered services include the following:

• Social strategy development
• Content creation
• Influencer management
• Community management
• Reporting and analytics
• Media buying
• Crisis management
• Promotion

Ignite’s prices can go as low as $5,000, making it affordable and accessible to smaller brands.

Agencies Focus on Conversion

Conversion is the completion of a desired action that the target audience takes.

For example, a conversion occurs when a Facebook user clicks on your ad or views a video ad, then takes action considered valuable to you, such as purchasing your product, signing up for your subscription, contacting sales, etc.

Advertising agencies keep track of conversions, as conversions determine where a purchase came from. It helps you and the advertising team better understand and optimize the campaign’s performance.

Recap and Next Steps

Effective marketing strategies and campaigns increase your sales and enable you to achieve your goals. While it’s possible to do this in-house, sometimes, you’ll get more bang for your buck if you hire an ad agency.

Let’s recap:

• Advertising and marketing agencies assist businesses in creating marketing and advertising efforts through careful planning and execution.
• There are many types of advertising agencies that respond to a specific marketing strategy and channel.
• Traditional advertising agencies execute advertising initiatives through traditional media channels such as newspapers and television.
• Creative agencies fuse traditional advertising methods with new technology to create campaigns using the most effective channels.
• Digital ad agencies create ad campaigns specifically designed for digital platforms such as social media.
• Conversion rates determine if an ad campaign is successful.

Your goals, audience, and brand is going to determine which type of marketing and advertising you need to move the needle forward for your business.

Once you’ve got a good idea of what your business goals are, then you can determine with a substantial degree of accuracy if you should go in-house or ad agency to reach those goals. Download our FREE checklist to see which path you should take for best results.

Then, contact us and upscale your potential for success!

The right digital agency fee structure will see you gain and retain quality clients.

The price is right! Or is it . . . ?

Several factors comprise a digital agency fee structure, and it has to make sense for your brand and your target customer. Because if the price isn’t right, your online revenue will be up sh$t creek without a paddle.

So, if you’re stumped for how to accurately price your services, you’re not alone. It’s a really common problem for marketing agencies.

After all, you’re not creating kicka$$ landing pages and stellar content creation out of the kindness of your heart. Although you love your clients, you aren’t running a charity here.

You started your agency it earn an income, right?

So, even though the digital market is highly competitive, you need to set reasonable prices to attract customers and stay in business.

You also need to make some profit, remain motivated, and meet your operating costs.

It’s a tall order. But you can do it!

We’ve put together a few examples of how you can refine your pricing strategy that makes clients (and your bank account) happy.

What is an Agency Fee Structure?

The simple definition?

An agency fee structure is the amount you charge clients for external marketing services. Then, the fees are further broken down into smaller prices for specific deliverables.

Although it sounds simple, drafting your agency fee structure requires in-depth research about the:

• Different factors that affect pricing
• Specific types of services offered
• Various pricing models

There are numerous ways to come up with agency fees. But we’ll focus on the most effective parameters that will reliably boost your online revenue.

What Type of Marketing Service Are You Providing?

Digital marketing is a cost-effective strategy that has helped millions of brands connect with a much larger audience. An audience that’s way larger than businesses could ever hope to reach through traditional marketing methods.

Sounds amazing. But the issue is, individual digital marketing techniques, and fitting into a broader strategy effectively, is complicated.

And pricing those services? Complex to say the least.

In order to price your services appropriately, you’ll have to start with a budget.

First, identify the main marketing service you are providing. This will guide you in the right direction when creating your agency fee structure.

As a marketing service provider, it’s essential to:

Understand Business Volume

Are you running aa low or high-volume business? Understanding your business’s volume will help you create a fee structure that makes sense for your business.

When starting, your business will likely be low-volume. So, you’ll need to sacrifice a part of your profit to reduce costs and attract more customers.

If this is where your business is currently, we suggest considering value-based over price-based pricing to build your client portfolio, accumulate knowledge, and level-up your experience.

Alternatively, if you have a high-volume business, you can set your prices higher. Aim for a 20 percent profit margin, since you’re already offering many services to many customers.

Understand the Market and Your Fees

What market are your serving? Smaller clients have smaller budgets, while the reverse is true for enterprise brands.

If you’re serving startups, small businesses, or mom and pop shops, you’ll have to set your prices accordingly since this type of market can’t bear higher fee structures.

Additionally, if you’re targeting a specific geographic area, this will also impact your fees. For example, startups in small and mid-sized cities can’t bear the prices that startups in metropolitan areas can.

So. understanding the market will tell you what price tolerance your geographical location can accommodate.

For example, digital marketing consultants globally charge between $100 and $400 per hour, with an average of $150. The average charge in the US alone is about $161.

With such price variations, your location will influence your price.

Types of Digital Marketing Services

Businesses spend as low as $500 to well over $10000 monthly for digital marketing services.

Digital marketing strategies are highly dependent on the brand seeking them, its customers, and offerings. So, this vast difference in price ranges depends on the digital marketing package they’ve specifically ordered.

As a digital marketing service provider, you can offer numerous digital marketing packages, each with a different price range. This wide range gives you the advantage of netting a broader customer group as there will be a Goldilocks just right plan for everyone.

Some of the most common digital marketing packages include:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization involves various techniques to optimize your client’s website to rank highly in search engines. Some ways to achieve a higher ranking are through promotion, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO.

SEO changes constantly. As a result, it requires continuous maintenance to retain top rankings. Your agency can generate long-term income from SEO tasks.

Typically, SEO costs $3000-$8000 for monthly retainers, while one-time projects could cost up to $30000. You could also decide to charge hourly consultation rates between $90 to $200.

Digital marketing pricing packages are different for different services, like SEO or PPC.

Content Marketing

Content marketing strategies promote relevant content for online traffic growth, lead generation, and brand awareness.

It may include writing and publishing your client’s blog post, but there’s a lot more to effective content marketing. You can also write ebooks and whitepapers, design infographics, and create audio or visual content.

Businesses that pay for content marketing services usually pay between $500 – $3000 a month. It’s quite a spread. So, the price you ultimately set for your agency depends on the technicality of the content and the monthly volume your client expects.

Pay-Per-Click or PPC Management

PPC management is a standard feature on Google ads that boosts online visibility. It is a form of advertising where you pay Google for ads on your client’s site to appear at the top of search listings.

PPCs can generate new leads for your client as soon as the ads go live. Your client then pays per click (CPC) or when their ad is clicked. PPCs have various target options, making them suitable for successful digital marketing campaigns.

They are a trendy package used even by top brands.

Many agencies charge customers 15-20 percent of their total ad spend as their fee for ads management. You can increase or decrease the percentage you charge based on how narrow their target audience is for their budgeted ad spend.

Social Media Management

Social media management is the process of online advertising through various social media channels. It involves posting content on multiple platforms and monitoring the marketing analytics. The channels include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Many agencies charge monthly fees varying from $500 to $10500 or simply charge $30 to $300 per day should a customer prefer.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a form of online marketing where companies can personalize their communication with their audiences. Most businesses use it to promote content, discounts, events, etc., and direct customers toward their websites.

An email marketing package is either charged per email or monthly.

Monthly payments typically range from $350 to $5000. Few services charge as low as $300 for their basic plan, while the cost per email is between $0.1 to $0.5.

Email marketing campaigns are affordable and effective. So, even small businesses with limited budgets can usually afford them.

Link Building

Link building is a strategy to link other websites to your site. You can buy links or hire someone to build them for you.

Link building can be costly. But it creates credibility for your site on Google.

Link building monthly prices are usually between $3000 and $10000, depending on the number and quality of links. Hourly price is between $50 – $250.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is a popular and effective form of digital marketing for modern businesses. You can use in-house videos, smartphone videos, or outsource video marketing production — depending on the objectives.

Smaller video projects can be priced between $1000-$150000, while large ones can be priced up to $40000.

Web Design

Web design is the process of creating and designing websites to make them more appealing to potential customers.

Quick-loading and easy-to-navigate websites increase traffic and generate new leads, costing between $2600 and $30000, depending on the customer’s needs.

Marketing agency pricing packages provide for the unique needs of each client.

Client Profitability

We have realized that in calculating agency prices, you need to set realistic ones. Realistic prices that make sense for both you and your clients enables a beneficial working relationship.

Some of the core factors to think about include:

Retainer-based or Project-based Pricing

While there are various pricing models, they fall under these two broad categories. Your business can operate on one or both, depending on your flexibility.

Retainer-based pricing

This pricing model is often adopted after establishing a relationship with a client. The customer agrees to pay an upfront amount for the services you intend to offer within the agreed period. You must calculate your total billable hours and present them as a single amount.

Retainer-based pricing can be complicated. So you should be cautious to avoid overcharging or undervaluing your services.

Project-based pricing

Project-based pricing is a standard model for most digital agencies. This is because project fees are simpler to determine compared to retainer fees.

With a well-defined scope of work, you’ll have fewer variables to consider.

Management or Monthly Fees

After settling on either a project-based or retainer-based model, you can discuss the payment terms with your client. It can be after several services or monthly.

Pricing Models: Use Digital Marketing Pricing Packages

If you provide various digital marketing services, you can outline the details and create a price for each package to make it more appealing to clients.

Some of the most popular digital marketing pricing packages include:

Social Media Package

Social media advertising is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to reach a large audience. The main objective of social marketing is to create exciting content that existing clients and friends can share, attracting new customers.

You can post your content on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Many businesses consider social marketing activities to be part of a basic digital marketing package.

Branding Packages

Branding is developing identifiable characteristics of your business. It involves creating a name, tagline, design, logo or symbol, and brand voice.

Branding bridges the gap between your services and the ideal customer, eliminating doubt and mistrust. It also increases your business’s recognition among customers, giving you a competitive edge, and creating loyalty and higher customer retention rates.

Branding is a vital marketing activity, so you should include its cost in your price tag.

Most digital marketing services offer branding packages for their clients to promote consistency. These packages often include creating the client’s logo, visual identity, and style guide.

The package consists of digital assets like websites, business card designs, email templates, letterheads, social media graphics, event branding, and more, depending on what was agreed with the client.

Branding packages are pretty pricey and can cost up to $75000.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is constructing valuable content that meets your target audience’s needs and influences long-term customer relationships. It’s content that’s geared toward forming a connection, answering questions, and solving problems your customers already have.

In contrast, outbound marketing is meant to disrupt and interrupt — PPC ads are a form of outbound marketing.

The various types of inbound marketing content include:

• Blog writing
• Video marketing
• Research
• Infographics
• Webinars
• News articles
• Social media advertising
• Slideshare
• eBooks
• White papers

Inbound marketing can be costly. Pricing it as a standalone package can prevent your overall running costs from skyrocketing.

Media Buying

Media buying is the acquisition of advertising space on offline and digital platforms such as websites, social media, and YouTube.

You need resources and a well-defined marketing strategy to undertake successful integrated online marketing campaigns.

Full-Service Package

Fully-integrated marketing packages involve website design, content creation, email marketing, social media marketing, public relations, and other digital marketing services. Full packages cost between $30000 to over $200000.

Customize Sales Experience to the Pricing

There is stiff competition in the digital marketing sector. To retain your clients, you need to offer them valuable services for their money.

Which Pricing Model Should You Use?

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of various models to help you make an informed choice.

Project-Based (Milestone) Pricing Model

You can opt for this model if you’re confident in your skills and resources. However, you’ll have to accurately estimate the project’s length and involvement for you to charge accordingly.

Pros

• Agencies work without client supervision.
• Customers can check small tasks before committing to large and long-term projects.
• Agencies can request a part of the price upfront.
• Rates and deliverables are negotiated up front, safeguarding the agency from additional requests beyond the original contract.
• It’s convenient for agencies and clients since it’s easier to calculate than a retainer model.

Cons

• It can be challenging to determine the duration of a project before completion. This can be difficult for new agencies to charge appropriately, risking the loss of clients.
• Agencies cannot charge additional work automatically. They need to negotiate for it.
• Agencies have to divide massive projects into phases and negotiate payments per phase to maintain a steady cash flow.

Pricing digital marketing packages on an hourly basis can keep costs within a reasonable budget.

Hourly-Rate Pricing

Hourly pricing is the easiest and most convenient if you’re a beginner. This model values your time since clients pay you for the hours you’ve invested. And you earn as much as you can work.

Pros

• It is easy for customers to understand and stay within the budget.
• New agencies can create their first invoice faster since it’s the easiest of the models.
• Clients prefer this model because they know how much they’ll spend per hour.
• You can predict your cash flow if you’re sure of the number of hours you’ll work per week.
• You can earn more from long-term projects.

Cons

• You’ll get the same for complex and simple tasks without considering skill or experience.
• There are no incentives for working faster.
• You must track and document your working hours to receive payment.

Value-Based Pricing

If you’re an expert or have a ton of experience in your trade, a value-based pricing model is the most suitable to reward your worth. Clients will appreciate your premium services and be willing to pay high prices.

Pros

• You can earn more if you provide more value and drive growth for your clients.
• There is the freedom to set your prices.
• Clients are happy to receive valuable services.

Cons

• It is a challenge to produce consistent value always.
• You may value your work inappropriately.
• It is risky since a reduction in value lowers your profits.
• Despite all your efforts, you may fall short of some goals.

Retainer Pricing

A retainer model indicates your commitment to work for a specific client for a fixed duration of time at a predetermined rate. It assures you of steady income as long as you and your client honor your agreement.

Pros

• You have a steady flow of income.
• Your dues are paid upfront or in milestones.
• Clients have an easy time budgeting and accounting since they know their monthly expenses.
• You can create an ongoing strategy for your client.
• You have flexible time to work on projects and deliver them as agreed.

Cons

• Estimating how long a project will take before you begin working on it can be challenging.
• It is challenging to standardize your project.
• The final cost may surpass the client’s budget.

Customized Pricing

If you have various skills and resources, this is the pricing package you can adopt to have a variety of clients and different income streams. In addition, this model cushions you against losses since you have other clients to rely on if one client delays or defaults on payment.

Pros

• You can analyze clients’ specific needs and tailor services for them.
• Your services are cost-efficient.
• You can accommodate all types of clients.
• You can add value to your agency by providing various options.
• Clients only pay for the services they need.

Cons

• Clients may negotiate several services, lowering your profit margin.

Factors that Influence Digital Marketing Cost

Running a digital marketing agency is a practical step towards financial independence. In addition, offering quality services at appropriate rates can help you compete with established digital marketing agencies.

Digital marketing pricing requires in-depth research and consideration of other factors, regardless of your chosen pricing model.

Such factors include:

Clients look for an outsourced digital marketing team with experience.

Agency Experience

Digital marketing is a competitive industry where clients get what they pay for. Therefore, your rates as a beginner cannot be equivalent to those of established digital marketing agencies.

But don’t worry. Your hard work will pay off and you’ll be able to charge higher rates before you know it. But you need to showcase your past successful projects to stand out and obtain those higher fees.

The more experienced you are in the trade, the higher the rates you can charge and larger contracts you’ll attract.

As an experienced agency, you have all the digital marketing tools, and your digital marketing team has the necessary expertise to work better and quicker.

On the other hand, you should start at reasonable rates, build your reputation, and increase them as you grow.

Industry Competitiveness

Many industries scramble for digital space. But some are more competitive than others. The more competitive your industry is, the greater the effort and budget you’ll need to stand out.

For instance, the legal and medical sectors are highly competitive on popular advertising platforms such as Google Ads.

So, when venturing into a competitive industry, you’ll need more advanced advertising strategies and financial investment than when entering a less competitive trade.

Operating Costs

The operating costs of digital marketing companies vary according to their sizes. Larger companies have lower operating costs thanks to their economies of scale. This implies that they can charge affordable rates and still manage to make profits.

On the other hand, beginning digital marketing consultants may need to charge slightly higher to meet their operating costs.

To keep your budget low, maximize every dollar and let your charges reflect the quality and scope of your work.

Digital Marketing Strategy

There is no standardized strategy that determines marketing pricing.

Your digital marketing prices will fluctuate according to your client’s objectives.

Consider that one marketing strategy may work for a given agency or a specific client, but may not work for you or all your customers.

You should test each digital marketing plan with your client and find out what works best for their industry and business goals.

FAQs

What is agency markup?

Agency markup is the percentage of profit an agency makes after selling its services.

What is a typical agency fee?

A standard agency fee is an actual charge an agency places on its clients.

How much should a digital marketer charge?

Although most digital marketing hourly rates are between $50 and $400, they can be lower or higher depending on individual marketers.

When working hourly, it is essential to have an accurate timer to record your work time correctly.

How do I charge for my agency’s services?

Your charges will depend on your services, operating costs, and other factors that may determine your pricing. You’ll need to understand your clients’ businesses and find a suitable pricing model.

Check out our ScaleMap Diagnostic. It’ll tell you more about your agency and if now is the right time to scale!

Let’s face it.

Managing a digital marketing agency is no a piece of cake.

You’ve got to find the best people for your agency, and figure out how to pay them. You’ll also need to strategically market your agency to your potential customers.

And a whole lot more.

No matter what though, running a digital marketing agency requires implementing a marketing strategy that fits the needs of your target audience. And that’s especially relevant now that the business climate has drastically changed because of COVID-19.

In recent years, online digital marketing has become the norm. Today’s businesses tend to prioritize digital campaigns so their brands standout online.

Strategic digital marketing campaigns help modern businesses gain more customers. But they can only achieve this with the help of a digital marketing agency.

So, how can you, marketing agency owner, help small business owners level up their marketing?

Potential new clients will look at your past campaigns and reviews as deciding factors to choosing to work with you.

One way to help you gain new customers and retain them too is through the process of upscaling.

In this piece, we’ll be throwing down several awesome, kickbooty strategies you can use to scale your digital marketing agency — even if your target markets are in competitive, demanding industries.

What Does It Mean to Scale Your Marketing?

If you swim in the deep blue, shark-infested seas that is the content marketing world, then you’ll have to deal with many different clients. Some large, some small.

So, as you provide services for each client, you gain more experience and knowledge about their businesses as well as their target audience. You can use your experience to create more engaging content. Or implement new strategies, leading to very happy clients.

If you’re already thinking of taking on more clients for your marketing agency, then congratulations. You’re already in the early stages of upscaling.

However, you should remember that upscaling, just like starting up, is no easy task.

Just like in the beginning, your team may have a trouble with certain business aspects, such as hiring and resource management. However, there are some tips and strategies you can implement that will make the upscaling phase much easier.

So, what exactly does it mean to scale your marketing?

Does it mean you’ll have to measure your strengths and weaknesses to know whether you can increase your clientele and add more value to your agency?

Or does it mean you have to evaluate and adjust your business models for improved client retention?

For scaling your marketing efforts, it’s both.

You implement strategies that allow you to focus on the customer experience, which will widen your client base. Additionally, you’ll fuel the growth of your marketing agency since you’ll be investing in where your target audience is — online.

So, you’ll have to implement different marketing strategies across your online channels, and possibly offline marketing channels, to create successful campaigns and reach the right people.

How to Take Your Marketing Agency to the Next Level

When it comes to digital and online marketing, it is important that your strategies and marketing efforts deliver results, whether it’s:

• Building brand awareness
• Increasing website traffic
• Converting site visitors into customers

And so one.

Below are some of the top strategies for scaling your digital marketing efforts for maximum results.

Find your target niche

Before you break a sweat on any marketing effort, first determine the niche you want to focus on. Deciding on a niche is essential when you’re trying to scale your digital marketing agency.

Niched-down focus will brand you as the expert in that specific industry. Finding your target niche can also help you create more successful and engaging campaigns, which will generate more opportunities for your agency.

But when we say, find your niche, we don’t necessarily mean picking an industry-specific one.

Remember, marketing has different strategies.

For example, you can venture into vertical marketing where you cater to clients with specialized needs. Or you can niche down into lead generation services for small and mid-sized businesses.

The most important takeaway for this strategy is that the niche you ultimately decide to focus on helps you stand out from your competitors.

Evaluate your current workflow process

During the business growth phase, it’s critical to evaluate if your marketing agency is truly ready and primed for upscaling.

Evaluating your current workflow process will help you identify signs of potential breakdowns or bottlenecks in your process.

When you scale your digital marketing agency, you’ll likely need to take on additional human resources.

Some tips to get you started:

Create a workflow for your HR teams that’s dedicated to the entire hiring process — from recruitment to interviews, and all the way to onboarding.

A great tool for streamlining the employment process is implementing customer relationship management software that tracks where a candidate is currently.

Scaling, however, isn’t only applicable to your HR team. Even your creative teams can implement workflows intended for streamlining their processes.

To get started, ask each team member about steps or ways that they think can optimize the whole process.

Are they utilizing project management software? If not, should they be?

In other words, collaborative effort will come in handy when it comes to scaling marketing agencies.

Build your agency’s brand

Digital marketing agencies have one primary role — to help their clients build their own brands. However, clients and new employees alike will tend to stay away from your agency if you don’t have a well-built brand.

Use these tips to establish strong branding as a digital marketing agency:

• Review your current buyer personas — Recent events in the market may have caused your clients and their target audience to change priorities. You can also observe your existing clients for any new trends they might be interested in. Review your meeting notes or even recent campaign briefs to gain insight into how your clients’ businesses have shifted over the past years.
• Identify opportunities — Investigate opportunities where you can offer your digital marketing services to niche-specific groups or industries. Who knows — maybe your gym is planning to take its business online!
• Have a consistent online presence — This is a crucial part of engaging your audience and increasing brand awareness. It’s also why updating your website and social media pages with your successful campaigns is essential for building your brand. With a consistent online presence, existing customers, new clients, and potential candidates can easily find you and see what they can expect from your agency.

Another effective strategy for brand building is to publish testimonials, video case studies, and blogs regularly. Use your own agency and its materials to showcase your expertise and marketing knowledge.

Create a remote-friendly work culture

One sign that your agency is in need of scaling is when you start generating more employment and job openings.

However, when creating policies for your workspaces, it’s important to consider your employees’ needs, similar to how you already cater to your clients’ needs.

In recent years, our situations have made remote work the norm. As much as we didn’t expect it to, remote work has enabled us to collaborate faster and easier.

But despite its positive impact on productivity and efficiency, remote work still has its challenges. For best results, you’ll want to address these challenges when establishing your agency’s new, improved, and upscaled work culture.

Here are some tips on how you can foster a remote-friendly work culture in your marketing agency:

• Encourage flexible work hours — Consider each employee’s productive work hours when assigning tasks. You can still set specific times for meetings. But be sure to allow employees to attend to their deliverables on their own time.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate — A secret to an effective remote work setup is effective communication. Make sure to facilitate team communication as easily and often as possible in every stage of the project.
• Stay organized — Projects and tasks aren’t different all the time. Some become repetitive. To help your teams with repetitive tasks, we highly recommend using checklists and workflow guides. This way, your teams have guidance in every step of the project, even those who are new to your marketing team.

Nevertheless, fostering a remote-friendly work culture requires all members to trust each other.

Your team will appreciate it if you can trust them to be productive on their own — even without your supervision.

Offer tiered solutions

Offering tiered solutions is one way you can optimize and scale your agency. Tied solutions allow you to streamline your workflows, provide more value to your company, and keep your clients happy and satisfied.

When offering tiered solutions, start with your most basic offer, explaining how it can help with your client’s needs.

Then, you can add more tiered solutions which include more services, all at a competitive price.

Make sure each tiered solution is distinguishable from the others. Otherwise, you may cause some confusion.

If you’re persuading your existing clients to take on your tiered solutions, offer them a free trial to see how it can help their businesses.

Stay on top of team productivity

Despite your best efforts, having a remote-friendly work culture still poses some challenges. One of these is keeping team productivity in check.

One way you can ensure team productivity and efficiency is by using project management software to track your employees’ time use and productivity.

This way, you can identify bottlenecks in the project, and in your team’s general workflows.

There are readily available tracking templates online. Or you can create your own timesheets for your team to fill out.

Optimize your tool stack

As your agency grows, so do your needs. So, it’s important that you make any necessary changes to the tools that support your agency’s work whenever possible.

Here are some ways you can check whether your tools need to be optimized:

• For user-dependent tools, check whether the tool can still support the growing number of team members using the account.
• Ask your employees for tool recommendations they think will greatly support them when working.
• Look into new and upgraded tools and determine whether the team would find them useful.

By optimizing your tool stack, not only will your work get easier, but you’ll also finish faster without sacrificing quality.

Also, an optimized and upgraded tool stack can help you stay competitive among other agencies.

Set boundaries with clients

Sometimes, having low-profit margins and client churn tempts you to agree with every client request. However, you should remember that this can have a negative impact on your marketing agency’s scaling in general.

It’s crucial that you stick to the niche that you’ve chosen beforehand. This way, you’ll find it easier to say no to clients who are making requests for services that are beyond your usual scope.

Focus on the areas you’re confident that you can excel and deliver in, instead of taking on every request that comes along.

Look at the big picture

When you see your agency scaling, it becomes harder to look at the bigger picture. You get busier as the days pass, and monitoring your’s and your team’s progress is time-consuming.

It’s all too easy to get lost in the details. But that’s not the way to do things if you want to stay afloat and keep growing.

Remember to take a step back and take a look at your agency’s progress from an outside’s point of view.

Who knows. You might gain new insight into how to fix bottlenecks and issues that are holding your team back from progressing.

Build excellent client relationships

Digital and online marketing is all about the client base.

What your clients say about you now will heavily impact your ability to get future projects. And if you can successfully retain clients.

So, for you to get more projects and clients, always work to build good relationships with them.

Here are some ways you can establish a great relationship with your clients:

• Guide them through each stage of their campaign — This way, they’ll know you’re dedicated to providing the results they want for their business.
• Give attention to their needs — This will help you deliver results. But also, staying attentive to your client’s needs will make them feel that they are an important part of the process.
• Communicate regularly — Keep clients updated on their project’s progress.

Building client relationships is important for your agency’s growth. Deliver consistent customer service, and you will make more money and scale your agency successfully.

Signs It’s Time to Grow Your Agency

Scaling is all about timing.

We all know that many agencies face challenges every day which can make them fearful of scaling. Some agencies scale at the right time, while other agencies scale before they’re ready.

One thing is for sure — choosing not to scale at the right time has dire consequences:

• Missed growth opportunities
• Turning away potential clients
• Failing to keep up with your current workload

And that’s just to name a few.

So, how do you know if your agency is ready for scaling?

Here are four signs it’s time to fuel growth and upscale.

1. More clients than you can handle

Your agency’s campaigns have garnered the attention of more clients — those in specific niches and those who’re high-paying.

Of course, you want to accept their requests and make more money. We all do!

But with these new leads and requests, you may find that you are now struggling to keep up with the workload.

Ask these questions to determine whether you need to scale up.

If your answer to any of the questions is yes, then it’s time to grow, young grasshopper.

• Is there currently a waiting list for clients?
• Is your agency turning down potential clients?
• Is there enough time or space to accept more work?

Choosing not to scale up despite the need to will only lead to employee burnout as there is more work and fewer people. You do not want to risk that.

2. Steady income

Scaling your agency means new expenses coming your way, from the employment process to implementing your strategies that are aligned with your business growth.

As a result, you’ll also need to upgrade your tools to keep up with the industry. With such expenses, you can only scale your agency once you have a steady income from your current service offerings.

So, if you’re getting in a stable income from your existing clients, consider using some of that income as the budget for scaling upward.

3. Desire for a bigger impact

Digital content marketers provide services so that their clients can leave an impact on the market. But you can’t go big when you stay small.

You may not be aware of it, but growth for your agency also means growth for your clients.

By upscaling, you can gather more resources to meet client demand. You can also boost your clients’ businesses alongside yours when you scale up.

4. You want to seize a big opportunity

Businesses always start small, and digital marketing is no exception.

You might have started in a specific niche, with a few employees with relevant knowledge and expertise in that market.

However, once you’ve gained attention from more leads, you’ll get inquiries from new ones. And the momentum just builds from there.

As you get more inquiries, you’ll naturally require bringing on more employees knowledgeable in that field. After all, they can assist you in getting new opportunities for your agency.

So, be brave, and expand your horizons to meet growing demand for your services.

Conclusion

Just like any other business, digital marketing agencies aim for growth.

But there are times when agency owners are afraid to grab opportunities because they worry their efforts will fall flat and hurt their business.

Scaling your agency is beneficial in more ways than one, including generating increased employment.

Here are some key points to remember when you’re planning to scale your digital content agency:

• Invest in where your target audience is online — Implement stages of the customer journey that will move leads through your marketing funnel, changing first-time visitors into new clients.
• Finding your target niche goes a long way — Niching down makes your business growth efforts laser-focused on the right clients. Then, you’ll produce better results faster.
• Set boundaries — Expanding your expertise is great. But still, learn when to say no to client requests, especially if they are beyond your usual scope.
• Build relationships — Always build relationships with your clients as they can pave the way for more opportunities for your agency.
• Read the writing on the wall — There are a few telltale signs that indicate it’s time to upscale your agency. Some of these signs are having more work than you can handle, consistently generating a steady income, wanting to provide a bigger impact, and seize a bigger opportunity in the market.

Knowing if you’re ready to scale isn’t as complex or opaque as discerning tea leaves. But it can still be a little confusing, especially if you’re new to the whole business growth thing.

So, if you’re still unsure, check out our ScaleMap Diagnostic. It’ll tell you if now is the right time to scale your agency!

Can you tell the difference between a process, a policy and a procedure?

We’ve all had that one time we are confused as to why our employees have failed to understand the instructions, we gave them.

Yes, I have given them clear steps.

Yes, I have demonstrated how to do it.

Why are they finding it hard to comply?

Your team may be unable to keep up because they are finding it hard to tell the difference between the rules to follow and the actions, they need to take to perform a task well.

Although these are both important for your agency to successfully deliver the desired outcome, it is still necessary to differentiate three elements essential to your business: policy, process, and procedure.

Organizations often mistake these three terms as being one and the same, but in reality, they are different tools with different definitions, applications, and documentation. In this article, we will discuss the distinctions, which are important to understand when researching and developing documentation for your organization. After reading, you will understand the key differences between a policy, process, and procedure. Let’s dive into it.

Business process definition

Put together a business process that is aligned with your goals

What are business processes? A business process is not only a single task; it is a high-level view of interrelated tasks done to produce a product or a service. It gives a big picture of the duties and assignments with the departments doing them. It serves as a connector to assignments done within an agency arm or even across several divisions across an agency.

Here are some process qualities: processes define “what to do” to complete a service or create a product in an organization. Usually, processes cross departments. Diagrams are sometimes created through process maps, which describe the points when and where a person in authority performs or approves the task. Process diagrams are work flowcharts that are graphical representations of the entire process flow. Processes also have a process map that bridges point A to point B and the people who control the action.

If the agency implements a process of delivering a product out of a business concept, it shows you that point A is the business concept while point B is the end product or service. It follows a detailed procedure that maps out what are the sub-processes you must do and the people or groups of people who will be functioning at a certain point for you to get from one point to another. Sometimes, the total process crosses department lines; however, they will always contain specific instructions on following the company’s strategic direction to get to the desired destination.

The total process converts input to output, covering each process step underneath it so that an employee knows what to expect from start to finish after a function has been activated. That way, they know the task has started or been completed already!

Understanding what a policy is

Policies outline an organization’s rules

Most companies have a particular set of work instructions. They are defined as policies. These policies are business rules that align with the agency’s objectives, goals, and management philosophies.

Setting an agency policy demonstrates an organization’s best practice; without policies, the other two elements – the processes and procedures – will be affected. This set of regulations helps establish the company culture that all employees from each division or department will follow, no matter their rank. They also help create control points with which you can monitor the extent to which policies and procedures are being adhered to.

Business policies can be regarded as laws inside the agency because they build the framework from which an organization helps its team quickly learn about the company. Tasks, especially repetitive ones, be implemented in a more standardized manner. Unnecessary errors can be avoided because there is already a policy put down, and people act following it to ensure that the agency operates smoothly.

A distinct quality of a policy is that it will always let an agency understand its destination clearly. However, it will not specify the direction to take or how to get there.

Policies address related subject matter

An excellent example of a policy would be a data privacy policy. This policy is often included in an agency’s rulebook. It assures its clients that their records and transactions are kept private. It is also a policy to protect your team members, ensuring that the employees’ information security is maintained and safely kept.

The data privacy policy can be seen as a reflection of how the company’s culture prioritizes the preservation of confidentiality within its organizational structure and externally among its clients. It aligns with a company’s goal of safeguarding its reputation and building trust. Still, it does not specify who is responsible for its implementation or how it is executed.

Other policies that can be established are vacation policy, social media policy, and recruitment policy.

Policy versus procedure

Procedures are instructions, not rules

On the other hand, procedures refer to detailed instructions on how to do tasks or perform a sub-process action. Procedures should be aligned with all business rules contained in the company’s policy.

Special procedure manuals give specific instructions on how to go from point A to point B, how employees will go to the next phase, or how they will know if the process is complete.

Procedure qualities: procedures define the steps

Procedures identify which step-by-step instructions are needed to support team members in carrying out specific work. It is also a way to empower them to take control over work instruction. Business procedures help you manage tasks more efficiently by delegating assignments to make the most of your time as your agency learns to follow and document industry specifics.

A more detailed procedure can even be established by creating a desk top procedure for easy accessibility to the different department lines. This documentation presents procedure components, the detailed procedure, and business rules.

Developing documentation requires understanding the process tasks, how to properly structure the document, and any other related subject matter. The content contained in the procedures document should identify policy and graphically display system instructions.

How does a policy differ from a procedure?

The key difference between policies and procedures is that procedures are steps to achieve a particular outcome, which can be as little as a single task or as big as a full-blown company process. In contrast, policies address the reason behind constructing each procedure.

The policy is the “why”– the foundation and rationality – while the procedure is the “how”, the agency’s compliance to the why, and the manner or method by which you systematically achieve the goal.

There is no specific procedure for each policy, but each of your procedures should align with the organization’s business policy to keep it in check and operational.

What about a business process vs. procedure?

Business processes are useful information for customers and employees to learn the workflow outline and identify the responsible decision-making body. The procedure then elaborates on the series of steps required by the details of activity within the process.

The employee promotion process, for example, is composed of several points to rising from a certain rank to another. It involves several people who perform a specific service (role or responsibility) – the employee, the immediate supervisor, and the senior management. It can include a few sub-processes like evaluation, training, submission of requirements, and employee and colleague interviews, to name a few.

The procedure under each step discusses each detail from filling out the application form, giving X number of hours to perform promotion-related tasks, attending which seminars, and waiting X number of days for the approving body to decide.

What are the benefits of knowing the definition of each element?

We have now defined each key element together with its qualities and purpose. By knowing the differences and similarities of each, an agency can create its own structure of policies, processes, and procedures to improve its productivity and efficiency.

It is also useful information that can guide point persons in handling resources and can be vital to enhancing employee and client systems. It plays an important role in training new employees and tenured employees to observe compliance.

Organizations can also build on their internal and external connections by polishing up their policies, processes, and procedures. Marketing strategies can be easily executed by properly explaining guidelines to boost customer relationships. Departments implement these elements with reporting and proper documentation for future data baseline and evaluation.

Giving and receiving input on completed guidelines can serve as feedback for employees’ performance and foster communication in finding areas for improvement in your agency.

ScaleTime’s Agency Growth Assessment is an excellent tool to help you manage your policies, processes, and procedures

Key Takeaway

An agency’s process, procedure, and policy are essential because they go hand in hand to make a task more manageable and transparent. When properly structured, they help ensure consistency and set industry standards, ultimately creating work stability in the organization. While a process describes the outline to meet the end goal specified by the policy, the procedure details the minute actions taken to complete it. Assessing and revisiting these elements improves the organization’s work and eliminates, if not reduces, inaccuracy in performing work.

If you still have difficulty differentiating these three essential elements in your agency, keep in mind that policy-process-procedure are like peas in a pod:

• Policies are business rules and regulations set by the company to achieve its goals
• Processes give directions to point persons or the various department lines based on the policies
• Procedures detail step-by-step guides on how to perform the processes

While policies and procedures help establish control points and ensure consistency, procedures explain the exact steps to follow policy and procedure requirements.

Following your organization’s policy, process, and procedure makes it easy to connect points and identify functional areas as everything is properly structured. Understanding the distinction keeps you and your team well-informed and aligned with your organization’s objectives from Day 1 until project completion.

With ScaleTime you can take a step back and let your agency grow. We give you guidelines on maintaining your team members’ accountability so they can work independently in their functional areas. We provide process improvement with our guidelines and templates, help you identify major functions, and properly structure your organization to attract new customers. Your policies, processes, and procedures will be taken care of to level up how you run your agency.

Take our FREE agency growth assessment quiz to see where things are falling short. We’ll send you a bundle of resources tailored to scaling your agency.

Thinking of hiring a business coach? Get started with our guide!

As a small business owner, you have no doubt heard the value of hiring a business coach. Whether you’re just starting out or ready to scale, these advisors will help you see the gaps in your plan that you haven’t seen and provide you with the guidance you need to stop your company from collapsing.

Some business owners look at their business coach as their savior, a knight in shining armor ready to win their battle against the business management monsters, with all their words written in the stars.

But is that the purpose of having a business coach? Is their presence vital to attaining business success? Read on to find out.

Why Business Owners Hire a Coach

A business owner can say that their business is already successful with the help of analytics: performance and satisfaction reports, profit margins, industry awards and recognition, and personal success. In the ideal world, a business owner ticks everything off their list, but in reality, there is always room for improvement.

This is where a business coach comes in. After all, it wouldn’t hurt to have a professional look from the outside in, acting as a sounding board and advising as they see fit from their perspective.

Companies and small business owners hire a business coach to gain leverage over their market and become recognized in their field. A business coach assists in professional career development to maximize your expertise in running an entire agency. With the help of a business coach, small business owners are empowered to design policies and action plans to grow their businesses and motivate their teams.

Things to Consider When Hiring a Business Coach

Effective business coaches assist you in making accurate decisions, assessing your strengths and weaknesses, and improving overall agency performance. Sounds promising, eh? But just like any other coach who offers their services to you, immediately taking the bait without properly scrutinizing it may cause more negative impacts than positive ones in the long run.

Here are a few factors you can take into account first:

What stage is your business at?

Does your new business already exist? Is your business producing enough to make the cash flow stable? Although small business coaches specialize in start-ups and self-employed individuals, it is still important to note which stage your company is at to get a clearer picture of where to begin.

Is your mindset aligned with success?

There’s been a lot of talk lately about “Success Mindset”. This isn’t just about being positive or having high hopes for your business; it requires visualizing success and what steps you’ll need to take to get there. It is a powerful tool, and a small business owner should spend some time checking in on your approaches to solutions, strategy, and collaboration, as all of these things are essential to success.

Some people find coaching helpful for improvement in this area, but keep in mind that even a great coach won’t be able to do this introspective work for you.

Is this really right for me?

Business coaching is a bit like having a life coach. Business owners can still live and function well without them. For some people, the opportunity to reflect with a coach is useful; for others, it feels uncomfortable and unproductive.

When Hiring a Business Coach Isn’t Worth It

If you are seriously considering hiring a business coach, but can’t put your finger on exactly why you should, then maybe you should also check why you shouldn’t.

You can’t afford it

Small business coaching services don’t come cheap. Their charges start at a thousand dollars a month or higher. Others charge $500 per hour, and other in-house coaching goes as high as $2,500 for one-on-one sessions. So if business owners don’t think they can spend more of their budget on additional business costs, hiring a business coach may not be the best solution.

You aren’t sure what you want to achieve

Everyone can say business growth is their plan six months from now, but how would an entrepreneur achieve this? When the answer is “I don’t know,” then a business coach may not be worth hiring. Their presence is to advise and observe the best way to fill in the gaps they see, but not spoon-feed the path itself. Business coaches give directions, but they’re not going to dictate where you take your business.

Your business is stable and predictable

Small business owners use business coaching services when their business plans fail. Likewise, many entrepreneurs take advice when they want to overcome obstacles like if they feel stuck, desire additional revenue, improve their sales and marketing skills, and so on. But if your business is stable, and you can foresee future growth despite the challenges, there may be no need to look for a business coach.

Why We Don’t Recommend a Business Coach

A great business coach is like a life coach for your organization. They collaborate with CEOs and owners to determine the best way to build businesses. However, having a business coach does not always turn out to be the best answer for all organizations. Here’s why we don’t recommend getting a business coach:

There is a misdirected focus in coaching sessions

Because business coaches want to figure out the optimum track to maximize your agency’s growth, it not only deals with the organization but with the top figures of the company as well. Unfortunately, coaching sessions today tend to focus more on talking about the entrepreneurs’ feelings and aspirations rather than developing KPIs and business strategies. Ultimately, they act as behavioral therapists who psychoanalyze instead of working alongside you.

They promise quick results

Business solutions take time before earning the fruits of their labor. Suppose it’s a whole system you aim to change, a structure for new ventures you want to create, or decades of embedded company culture that need modification. In these cases, successful business owners know there’s no shortcut to implementing an efficient development process.

They treat symptoms, not the cause

Business coaches tend to act on the immediate needs rather than the causes. Patching up the symptoms might help in the short run, but will only mean delaying if not foregoing long-term success. The underlying issues will still be around unless cured. As a result, business coaches’ approach can sometimes be limited, failing to address the root cause of problems that stop the entrepreneurs’ skills and organizations’ abilities from performing well.

Alternatives to Hiring Business Coaches

So, how does one succeed without the aid of business coaches?

Fret not! There’s still hope! There are other options to build businesses and increase ROI. Here are a few alternatives to check out if you’re still in doubt about getting a business coach:

Be conscious of your agency’s goals

What would you like your company to achieve? Split it down: What do you want to achieve by the end of the week? By the end of the year? Five years from now? Most business owners skip this part and take the plunge right away. Sit down with your team and confirm you’re all on the same page. Commit to making progress within the agency.

Establish and optimize your process

Set an effective business plan, find ways to measure development and monitor your progress. Metrics are not some scary nightmare of figures chasing you; they can be your best friend. Listen to them and honor their results. Be transparent and give feedback if needed.

Keeping track of your growth means evaluating what you already have and comparing it to what you want to achieve. A constant learning curve will help you become aware of areas for improvement and recognize your successes.

Make room for self-education

Education does not stop in college or senior high. Always say “yes” to improving yourself. Start by reading a few books that will help you discover and learn. Then, hire a pro to do a specified, detailed task so that you can take time to prioritize your physical and mental health. Finally, ask questions so that you can solve them yourself next time.

Lastly, become competent in using available online business tools like ScaleTime. They are there to help you time and again with running your organization with confidence and ease. Take the Sales Toolkit, for example, which will help you simplify and streamline your sales process and monitor the earnings you will be taking in.

Key Takeaways

To summarize, here’s our take on hiring a business coach for your agency:

• Small business coaching is not necessarily a route to success.
• They are there to help you improve your strategies and source of motivation, but they don’t guarantee you or your company’s growth.
• Business coaching can be expensive, and it doesn’t do the work for you.
• If business owners do not benefit from hiring one, they can focus on alternatives such as goal awareness, optimizing processes, and self-education.

Take our FREE agency growth assessment quiz to see where things are falling short. We’ll send you a bundle of resources tailored to scaling your agency.

Business strategy is the backbone of your company. It’s the strategic plan directing your company to the pathway of success and achieving your goals.

Well, that certainly sounds simple, right?

Not.

Constructing an effective business strategy plan is one thing. Implementing it though? That’s an entirely different, major step.

You’ve got to execute the implementation well to ensure the company’s competitive status in the market, continue its ventures, satisfy your customers, and achieve your goals.

In this post, we’ll break it down so you can spot these top signs of wonky implementation and straighten them out:

1. The company isn’t growing anymore.
2. Your employees aren’t responding to directives.
3. Customers and partners don’t want to work with you.
4. Competitors are catching up.
5. Qualified employees are scarce.
6. Growth has stalled and there’s no progress in the recent reports.
7. You’re having difficulty making decisions.

But first, coffee.

Fill up that mug. We’re gonna get into your strategic planning must-haves first.

Your strategic planning must-haves

We’ve got to make sure your have the necessary resources, manpower, and systems in place that will conform to the strategies set forth in your plan.

So why is this important?

Because this is the deal-breaker in business. These courses of action will tell if the business plan is effective or not, and by not, we mean the plan is failing.

Sound easy? Not gonna lie. It’s kind of hard.

But the things which are hard, are most worth doing.

Executing business strategies is another big challenge to conquer.

What makes the implementation so difficult? Where do problems come from? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs)? Is it the company’s method, manpower, or the systems?

Strategic issues are conflicts or problems without apparent solutions. Because if there is an obvious solution, the question is, why wasn’t it addressed in the first place?

Identifying all the issues with strategy execution in strategic management exposes the strategy’s cracks and helps you determine the next course of action.

So, let’s discuss the major signs pointing to any underlying cracks in your strategic implementation process.

1.  The company isn’t growing

Growth is the most important factor to measure a business’s success. A growing company means it’s expanding in multiple ways.

Although there’s no single way to measure growth, we have different points where we can determine if the company is becoming stagnant or isn’t growing anymore.

• Profits and losses reports are not changing.
• Office tasks are repetitive.
• You’re not getting new customers.

We may think that it’s easy to spot these signs. But finding out which parts of the strategic plans are the root causes of these issues is the real challenge.

Maybe, the strategic planning process is too slow responding to current changes in the marketplace. Technology, disasters, political conflicts, and pandemics are factors that may not be addressed in strategic implementation.

Still, as we see nowadays, these issues affect businesses in ways we haven’t witnessed before.

The bottom line is, you can’t just react. You have to anticipate. As such, a successful strategy implementation process must be action-oriented.

2.  Employees aren’t responding to directives

If the strategic plan is the backbone of the business, then, employees are the most critical resources. So, helping them engage in the company and reach their full potential can be rewarding for both the employer and the employee.

But at the same time, it can be disappointing if employees don’t carry out their given instructions or accomplish their specific tasks. This is a sign pointing to something wrong in the strategic implementation plan.

Top reasons why employees become unresponsive

The main reasons employees underperform and become unresponsive are:

• They don’t know what is expected from them
• The company’s environment doesn’t empower team effort
• The tasks delegated to employees don’t align with their skills or level of capability
• They don’t feel they are contributing to the company, so they don’t feel appreciated.

Solving this issue requires reviewing the key components in implementation planning and highlighting how employees can participate in the company as decision makers.

As a result, employees and team members involved will be empowered. They’ll understand how their efforts contribute directly to the company’s progress — while also allowing them to grow personally and financially.

3. Customers and partners don’t want to work with you

Customers are the lifeblood of the business. They provide the cash that keeps the brand alive. So, their needs are the foundation of the product or service we offer and propel the company’s further development.

But how do you know if customers aren’t satisfied?

• They rarely or never complain because they’re tired of doing so.
• They don’t care about special offers.
• They rely on the contract conditions because they don’t trust customer service anymore.

To ensure success, you have to understand your customers’ concerns and let them know you hear them and will respond. You’ve got to review your business plan and present an immediate solution to the customer’s complaints.

On the other hand, business partners might need to give you additional access to funding, resources, innovation, and knowledge to help you reach more customers successfully. But what if your business partners don’t want to work with you anymore?

That often indicates strategic plan issues.

Some telltale signs a business partnership is about to end:

• Collapse in communication
• Business partner is no longer contributing
• Frequent conflicting business decisions
• Changes in partner’s goals

You can’t ignore these warning signs. You must have an open discussion with your wavering partner and let them voice their concerns without judgment. It’s also a good idea to seek outside help or a third party to mediate and resolve the problems.

4.  Competitors are catching up or overtaking your brand in the market

Keeping your thumb on the pulse of your business competitors is a significant factor in your brand’s ultimate success.

Aside from the current competition you have, new contenders are constantly entering the market. And that’s why it’s important to know where you stand amongst the competition.

So, how do you know if your competitors are catching up or overtaking your brand?

While comparing revenue is the easiest way to know who’s leading the pack, there are other signs indicating if competitors are pulling in more marketshare. And by extension, your clientele:

• Clients or customers are querying about new products
• Customers’ feedback is changing
• You’re missing opportunities for innovation
• The availability of resources has changed

Good strategic planning with an emphasis on the key initiatives of the sales and marketing teams will prevent your business from drowning in the competition. Know your competitors, what they’re up to, and what they’re offering in the marketplace.

Competing is about retaining and attracting new customers. Knowing your target customers and how their expectations are changing will help you adjust the strategic plan so the product or service you offer remains appealing.

Check the latest craze in social media since it’s the easiest way to assess the market.

5.  You can’t find qualified employees

Qualified employees are needed to execute the strategic plan successfully.

Although the unemployment rate has gone down, believe it or not, finding qualified employees is still one of the biggest struggles in the business industry.  The reasons are the demand for qualified employees surpasses the supply, salary, location of the company, changes in the needs of the employees, and a flawed hiring process.

How can we solve these problems and get all the necessary skills in the company from new hires? Consider an organizational change and review the business plan. Fix each of the issues mentioned above.

Here are some of the ways to overcome this particular business challenge:

• Build the company’s reputation.
• Don’t settle for less. Make use of the interview process to assess and screen the qualifications of each applicant.
• Adapt to the needs of employees, and allow employees to work remotely if possible.
• Add cool, unique perks and benefits.
• Build a consistent and organized hiring process.

Button up your hiring process with our FREE Hiring Toolkit.

6.  Growth has stalled and there’s no clear way forward

Businesses, whether big or small, often experience rapid growth at first. But then growth significantly slows for some reason.

When we focus solely on selling products or services, we often forget the importance of strategy and innovation. As a result, the business growth plateaus.

So, what are the most common culprits behind business growth slowdown?

• A weak or outdated strategic policy plan
• Flawed pricing technique
• Leadership has become too complacent
• You’re playing it safe

Tossing money aggressively at the problems won’t solve them. It’s time to go back to the strategic plan and see what can be fixed.

Here are some ways to address this problem and give the business a new direction:

• Re-evaluate the strategy plan and update it so it’s relevant to market changes.
• Don’t focus on lowering the prices. Instead, try adding value to the product or service.
• Don’t blend in. Stand out in a crowded market.
• Bring back the enthusiasm, reignite the passion, and make tough organizational decisions.

As soon as the problems are resolved, start moving forward and shift direction to invigorate new life into the business.

7.  You’re struggling with decision making

An effective strategic implementation boils down to the ability of the team to make fast and precise decisions about which course of actions the organization should take.

But if the team struggles to make these critical decisions, it can impede the company’s growth and survival.

Why is making decisions quickly and precisely so difficult?

Fear.

The fear of making the wrong decision and suffering negative consequences stops the team from doing it in the first place. In some cases, the organization may not have the sufficient resources or the right tools to help the team comprehend and handle a significant problem. Also, the team making the big decisions may not know enough about the problem, and so, can’t come up with a good solution.

No matter how complicated or straightforward the decisions are, we can do something to outline the fundamentals for great-decision making practice.

Here are some:

• Empower the team and encourage them to learn from failures.
• Seek an outside expert’s help if necessary.
• Be transparent with your team.

Honesty, and fostering a company culture of growth and learning prevents people from shying away from making the necessary, tough decisions.

Conclusion

When these not-so-obvious pitfalls in business are detected early, it’s much easier to solve them or avoid them altogether.

Strategic planning and successful implementation and execution aren’t a leap of faith. They’re an outcome of a thorough, critical study and implementation of sound, fundamental business practices.

So, your action steps:

• Be brave enough to pivot and change direction
• Keep an eye on your competitors and revamp your offerings to exceed consumer expectations
• Seek outside, expert help if necessary
• Button up your hiring processes
• Foster a company culture of honesty, growth, and learning
• Empower your team members to learn from their mistakes
• Communicate effectively with customers and business partners

Feel like something is off with your business processes, but aren’t sure what it is? Take our FREE agency growth assessment quiz to see where things are falling short. We’ll send you a bundle of resources tailored to scaling your agency.

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