Digital Marketing Agency, the new Podcasting?

[The Abundant Man]

A forum member on here inspired by your web design post quit his engineering job, started a web design business and never heard from him again....we all know what probably happened...

This is what happened...

 

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[The Abundant Man]

Looking at Crazy G's progress thread was very heartbreaking. He made 700 calls over 3 months and made 1 sale....

Only 1 sale out of 700? I don't mean to be mean but he could hire a sales coach? Read some sales books? Hire people to sell for him? I haven't read the thread but what do you think he could have done better to get more sales?

Look, it's like dating...

If all the women you meet are manipulative, what do they have in common? YOU.

You need to take a good hard look in the mirror and think, what do I need to fix about myself so that this never happens again?

When I was in the Army ROTC Program, we had to write an AAR(After Action Report) after each training exercise. In the AAR we had to go through all the Pros and Cons. What did we do right during the event? What did we do wrong? What can we fix so that the next training event is better? Did everybody bring their canteens? Were the canteens full of water? Was the briefing clear so that each cadet knew what to do during the exercise?

If I only got a 1000 out 2400 on the SAT to get into a good college, who do I have to blame? The SAT? The College Board? No, I have the blame because I didn't study.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Love how people expect things to be easy, from the sales process to the learning curve. The only thing that is easy is how quickly one will quit when their first, second, and third swing misses.

For those citing the engineering dude who can't close, this guy quit his NY investment banking to start a web design firm. He's doing pretty good and he start posting before any first sales. @GuitarManDan

GOLD! - Moved to Scottsdale, Growing a Web Design Firm

Again, I don't have any dog in the fight except for the dogs that want to say it's all about luck and randomness, and not process. Standard economics apply -- the more crowded something is, the more you have to be better at it -- bigger crowds = lower probabilities.

 

[GuitarManDan]

Love how people expect things to be easy, from the sales process to the learning curve. The only thing that is easy is how quickly one will quit when their first, second, and third swing misses.

For those citing the engineering dude who can't close, this guy quit his NY investment banking to start a web design firm. He's doing pretty good and he start posting before any first sales. @GuitarManDan

GOLD! - Moved to Scottsdale, Growing a Web Design Firm

Again, I don't have any dog in the fight except for the dogs that want to say it's all about luck and randomness, and not process. Standard economics apply -- the more crowded something is, the more you have to be better at it -- bigger crowds = lower probabilities.

Thanks for the shoutout MJ - haven't had a chance to go through the full post yet but I'll check it out tonight.

Based on the response and the title though I can imagine what this is about. I'll be the first to say of course I knew going into this business that it's highly competitive and highly saturated, which like MJ said means you have to go above and beyond to make it work.

I was working in an absolutely miserable work environment in investment banking in NYC and it was so stressful and toxic I was actually beginning to get random stress-induced health issues when I was only 26/27 years old.

What I absolutely loved about web design and starting this business is that you don't need crazy overhead and if you work smart and take action (I can't even begin to tell you how many times I failed with sales calls, spammy cold emails, terrible sales meetings, missing out on huge opportunities), you can make it work and start making high-profit sales.

I'm definitely not at a point now where I can just sit around and drink margaritas on the beach all day, but it's been an amazing learning experience and that's the other main reason I took this step forward.

In the beginning, I didn't focus on web design, I religiously read and learned from those who knew how to sell because I knew I could be the best coder in the world and if I wasn't making sales, I'd fall on my face.

I've learned so much from these forums and @Fox 's groups it's been crazy. I also went into this with realistic expectations that I would need to adapt as the way tech moves, the way I'm doing things now could be obsolete in a few years.

However, I've honed my skills with closing sales, sales meetings, and just learning the fundamentals of starting a business and that is absolutely crucial to whatever business I end up doing after this is I go after another opportunity. It makes me feel confident that no matter what I do, I'll be successful at it with how much I've learned this past year or so with this business.

For now, my plan is to continue to build this business up for the next 2-4 years or so, really specializing in web design and SEO and constantly reevaluate and adjust accordingly.

 

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[Fox]

Thanks for the shoutout MJ - haven't had a chance to go through the full post yet but I'll check it out tonight.

Based on the response and the title though I can imagine what this is about. I'll be the first to say of course I knew going into this business that it's highly competitive and highly saturated, which like MJ said means you have to go above and beyond to make it work.

I was working in an absolutely miserable work environment in investment banking in NYC and it was so stressful and toxic I was actually beginning to get random stress-induced health issues when I was only 26/27 years old.

What I absolutely loved about web design and starting this business is that you don't need crazy overhead and if you work smart and take action (I can't even begin to tell you how many times I failed with sales calls, spammy cold emails, terrible sales meetings, missing out on huge opportunities), you can make it work and start making high-profit sales.

I'm definitely not at a point now where I can just sit around and drink margaritas on the beach all day, but it's been an amazing learning experience and that's the other main reason I took this step forward.

In the beginning, I didn't focus on web design, I religiously read and learned from those who knew how to sell because I knew I could be the best coder in the world and if I wasn't making sales, I'd fall on my face.

I've learned so much from these forums and @Fox 's groups it's been crazy. I also went into this with realistic expectations that I would need to adapt as the way tech moves, the way I'm doing things now could be obsolete in a few years.

However, I've honed my skills with closing sales, sales meetings, and just learning the fundamentals of starting a business and that is absolutely crucial to whatever business I end up doing after this is I go after another opportunity. It makes me feel confident that no matter what I do, I'll be successful at it with how much I've learned this past year or so with this business.

For now, my plan is to continue to build this business up for the next 2-4 years or so, really specializing in web design and SEO and constantly reevaluate and adjust accordingly.

As a side note on the "mindset for success" look at the language used in this post compared to other not so successful people.

This post:
"if you work smart and take action"
"I'm definitely not at a point now where I can just sit around"
"I religiously read and learned from those who knew how to sell"
"I also went into this with realistic expectations that I would need to adapt"

A course is just a course. A book is just a book.
99% of where you are and what you will become is on your own shoulders.

I would say 100% but someone will have a crazy outliner example that I got to account for

 

[The Abundant Man]

Thanks for the shoutout MJ - haven't had a chance to go through the full post yet but I'll check it out tonight.

Based on the response and the title though I can imagine what this is about. I'll be the first to say of course I knew going into this business that it's highly competitive and highly saturated, which like MJ said means you have to go above and beyond to make it work.

I was working in an absolutely miserable work environment in investment banking in NYC and it was so stressful and toxic I was actually beginning to get random stress-induced health issues when I was only 26/27 years old.

What I absolutely loved about web design and starting this business is that you don't need crazy overhead and if you work smart and take action (I can't even begin to tell you how many times I failed with sales calls, spammy cold emails, terrible sales meetings, missing out on huge opportunities), you can make it work and start making high-profit sales.

I'm definitely not at a point now where I can just sit around and drink margaritas on the beach all day, but it's been an amazing learning experience and that's the other main reason I took this step forward.

In the beginning, I didn't focus on web design, I religiously read and learned from those who knew how to sell because I knew I could be the best coder in the world and if I wasn't making sales, I'd fall on my face.

I've learned so much from these forums and @Fox 's groups it's been crazy. I also went into this with realistic expectations that I would need to adapt as the way tech moves, the way I'm doing things now could be obsolete in a few years.

However, I've honed my skills with closing sales, sales meetings, and just learning the fundamentals of starting a business and that is absolutely crucial to whatever business I end up doing after this is I go after another opportunity. It makes me feel confident that no matter what I do, I'll be successful at it with how much I've learned this past year or so with this business.

For now, my plan is to continue to build this business up for the next 2-4 years or so, really specializing in web design and SEO and constantly reevaluate and adjust accordingly.

 

[MrYoshi]

To anyone running a digital agency in this thread - Alex Berman can help you get in front of any person you want with cold emailing.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmV95PBTsqY


I saw his videos a couple years ago, but he helped me a ton with cold-emailing when I was in a sales role.

I'm now able to get in front of almost any enterprise-level client because of his work and some of the tweaks I've made to my outreach process.

 

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[InspireHD]

I've been following this thread since it started. I'm into web design and recently started learning more about SEO. I love the data and analytics of SEO and it's been something that grabbed me from the beginning. I'm a big numbers guy so playing with all the numbers has really pulled me in.

I'm a couple days away from receiving my first payment for a site that I designed and was possibly going to put it back toward an SEO course and an SEO tool. Since learning about the SEO techniques, I've been rearranging and optimizing the site, plus another site for my friend. I'm intrigued to see the pages starting to get ranked by Google.

But, then I saw this thread and it was like, "hmmm...is it worth all the time, effort, and money? Am I wasting my time? Is this really confirmation that I should go and do something else?"

What's the consensus? Go off and do something more unique? Getting into it now is a few years too late?

For every person who says "yes," there's another who says "no."

 

[Jonathan Hoch]

I'm shocked people aren't trying to sell more shovels.

 

[Charnell]

I'm shocked people aren't trying to sell more shovels.

Because the people that have the credentials to create and sell are course are too busy running a successful agency.

 

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[Jonathan Hoch]

Because the people that have the credentials to create and sell are course are too busy running a successful agency.

I'm talking about selling to the idiots who are trying to slap together agencies after watching Tai Lopez videos.

 

[Jonathan Hoch]

One guy selling a video course I bought has 6,000 students x $799 (do the math on that). But so what? His course just saved me $100,000 to get this same level of instruction from film school. I see the availability of courses/free Youtube content as a great thing - third level education and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt don't have to be the main option for people to learn skills anymore. I don't know how I would learn this stuff in Mexico by myself without people like him helping others.

I loved the video you did for that gym website! I would have never guessed that the skill set was developed from a low cost course! Name drops are fine (hint hint)

 

[Fox]

I loved the video you did for that gym website! I would have never guessed that the skill set was developed from a low cost course! Name drops are fine (hint hint)

Parker Walkbecks Fulltime Filmmaker course.

 

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[Longinus]

I used to do webdesign too, it was the main thing that let me quit my job last year. Would definitely go deeper into webdesign and SEO if I wasn't involved in ecommerce as well. That's for my reason I dropped a bit in Fox' group, and there are others like me as well.

Said it before and will say it again: what you learn in offering digital marketing services are great skills you can use later in every venture later. It's like an entrepreneur bootcamp that gets you paid as well!

 

[Andy Black]

I've been following this thread since it started. I'm into web design and recently started learning more about SEO. I love the data and analytics of SEO and it's been something that grabbed me from the beginning. I'm a big numbers guy so playing with all the numbers has really pulled me in.

I'm a couple days away from receiving my first payment for a site that I designed and was possibly going to put it back toward an SEO course and an SEO tool. Since learning about the SEO techniques, I've been rearranging and optimizing the site, plus another site for my friend. I'm intrigued to see the pages starting to get ranked by Google.

But, then I saw this thread and it was like, "hmmm...is it worth all the time, effort, and money? Am I wasting my time? Is this really confirmation that I should go and do something else?"

What's the consensus? Go off and do something more unique? Getting into it now is a few years too late?

For every person who says "yes," there's another who says "no."

You’re enjoying it, it adds value, you’re getting paid for it?

Who cares what others say. Go for it.

 

[Andy Black]

Said it before and will say it again: what you learn in offering digital marketing services are great skills you can use later in every venture later. It's like an entrepreneur bootcamp that gets you paid as well!

This.

I don’t know how to spell it out any plainer:

• You get paid.
• To learn how to generate more website visitors and sales (a useful skill right?).
• Using *their* ad spend.
• In multiple industries (so you get incredible learnings that can transfer across industries).
• Till you find the industry that has your name on it.
• While rubbing shoulders with business owners who will “mentor” you by showing you what they do (rather than telling you what they’d do).
• While building quality and deep relationships with your clients.
• That lends itself to growth by referrals.
• That naturally shows you the productised services to offer your market.
• That could naturally lead to a product or SaaS offering.
• And is a springboard to many different directions if you want to move beyond providing services (such as rank-and-rent, directories, marketplaces, your own eCommerce stores, revenue shares, pay-per-lead, etc.)
• Oh, and did I mention you get paid while doing this?

 

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[Andy Black]

Because the people that have the credentials to create and sell are course are too busy running a successful agency.

Not many people who do can teach. (In your face those who keep spouting “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”)

Not many who can teach WANT to teach.

Not many that want to do both have the time/mental bandwidth to serve their current market (the DFY business owners), at the same time as serving their DIY market.

Fewer yet can put together a course that actually helps their students.



Did anyone spot that @Fox spent a chunk of time and money improving his video skills so he could better serve his students?

Did anyone spot that he is still in the trenches building a DFY business while using that journey to help his DIY students?

That’s a super hard line to walk, and I think his content and courses are a steal for what he charges.


Me? I decided this year to firmly close the door on new course creation, my own fledgling forum/Facebook group, and training/coaching. Splitting my focus between serving my DFY and DIY markets wasn’t serving both as well as I wanted.

Hats off to those who can pull it off.

Hats off to those whose business is to help beginners all day every day.


EDIT: Hats off to all the business owners in here who spend their time, for free, helping people get started.

 

[Conor506]

This.

I don’t know how to spell it out any plainer:

• You get paid.
• To learn how to generate more website visitors and sales (a useful skill right?).
• Using *their* ad spend.
• In multiple industries (so you get incredible learnings that can transfer across industries).
• Till you find the industry that has your name on it.
• While rubbing shoulders with business owners who will “mentor” you by showing you what they do (rather than telling you what they’d do).
• While building quality and deep relationships with your clients.
• That lends itself to growth by referrals.
• That naturally shows you the productised services to offer your market.
• That could naturally lead to a product or SaaS offering.
• And is a springboard to many different directions if you want to move beyond providing services (such as rank-and-rent, directories, marketplaces, your own eCommerce stores, revenue shares, pay-per-lead, etc.)
• Did I mention you get paid while doing this?

This has really been my approach the whole time.

My business plan, that I created in spring last year, was to first get good at web design. Mostly so I could design good landing pages for sales.

Next, to learn paid advertising to make it easier for me to demonstrate a clear ROI on the money that businesses invest with me. Also, I can set up my services on a retainer basis to avoid the feast famine cycle of web design. On top of that I would be using other people's money to fund my education!

Finally, move into using the skills I learned above to launch my own CENTS business.

So far I've done a couple of websites for other people in my own network. Just 1K but I'm happy with it as I progress and because living full time off of web design was never the long term goal. On top of that my design and technical skills are much better.

I just got Google Ads certified and am going to start asking charities if they need help managing their campaigns and are willing to give me a shot. Then move on to businesses.

I've already had people close to me begin talking about me as the "digital marketing guy" and having people ask about how to promote their businesses or events.

So everything you just said in the quote above really hit home for me!

I don't see the "digital marketing" side hustle I'm doing right now as something that's going to create job replacing income in a few months, or even a year, but I'm learning awesome skills, building a net work, and getting paid to do it. I'm bringing in some extra money for my family that is only going to grow over time.

And eventually it will give me the skills to launch more impressive projects in the future if I want to move in that direction.

 

[BlackMagician]

I don’t know how to spell it out any plainer:

• You get paid.
• To learn how to generate more website visitors and sales (a useful skill right?).
• Using *their* ad spend.
• In multiple industries (so you get incredible learnings that can transfer across industries).
• Till you find the industry that has your name on it.
• While rubbing shoulders with business owners who will “mentor” you by showing you what they do (rather than telling you what they’d do).
• While building quality and deep relationships with your clients.
• That lends itself to growth by referrals.
• That naturally shows you the productised services to offer your market.
• That could naturally lead to a product or SaaS offering.
• And is a springboard to many different directions if you want to move beyond providing services (such as rank-and-rent, directories, marketplaces, your own eCommerce stores, revenue shares, pay-per-lead, etc.)
• Did I mention you get paid while doing this?

THIS!

Just half hour ago, the same steps were playing in my mind while i was walking. The new client i closed the deal yesterday mentioned his biggest pain point, if solved can bring massive value in his business, literally almost 10% - 20% more sales.

If i can find the solution for his pain point and solve it through website i am building, and SMM i am going to handle, will lead to create big value.

After that, the same steps came into my mind:

Gain experience in solving the client problem
Take that skill/solutions to solve some other business in same vertical
Scale it
Find a SaaS solution which solve the same problem


I don't know i will be able to pull it off as i am expecting, but @Andy Black hatsoff to you to layout such a roadmap in simple steps.
Well it sounds simple, but it is not. Just to understand the pain point of this client, it took 3 full days of extensive research in his vertical, asking some smart questions in almost 6+hours of communication.

Web Design (DM) business is very competitive and difficult, but as @Fox said, with right mindset, ability to learn, being persistent and providing value will make this biz successful after many failures. haha.

Caution. This biz looks shiny, but if you(I) want to make it success, the i need to learn from people who know (fox), jumping on the market(as MJ preach) and executing every day.

Thanks everyone for so many valuable posts and tips in this thread.
At least make it Notable

and Finally @MJ DeMarco, i can't thank you enough for creating such forum.

Thanks to all those who share there experience, knowledge which can't be found anywhere else (i think).

 

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[Andy Black]

A service based business often gives you the knowledge and insights to build a product based business.

Don't just take my word for it:

• http://www.tropicalmba.com/theservicesproblem/
• http://www.tropicalmba.com/services/

 

[eliquid]

I didn't want to stick my neck on this, but I think I will.

I've been in the web design/marketing area since 1996-1997. I've seen a lot of shit come and go in many of the areas.

I personally feel digital marketing is completely and utterly saturated.

Meaning, I can go on UpWork and find thousands of people with PPC or SEO or Social This and That in their profiles and I can pick any flavor of UpWork contractor I want. It is saturated from a "spin the wheel and win a digital marketing agency today" perspective.

I could probably walk down my street, throw a dart, and it would land and prick someone. And that someone would probably be a "digital marketing agency" person.

Where it is NOT saturated is with quality. Original thinkers, doers, mavericks, people who get performance or care for their clients and actually get their hands dirty with things they didn't hear from a blog.

Also, the hardest thing in digital marketing is not the work or skill, its winning the client. The "foot in the door" that Lex speaks about.

Any of these new digital marketing agencies can walk down their street, enter a club and ask to manager their Instagram profile. But hardly none of these people will research companies that do $100m a year with 100+ employees and gatekeepers in a skyrise and try to pitch them.

The easy shit is walking into a club during the day where the manager is right there wiping down tables in the off hours. The hard shit is going after bigger catches that require more work upfront or getting clients that aren't just "on the street" and require a bit more crowbar.

So yes, it is saturated from a number of people's game.. BUT its not saturated in the quality/value/thinking/bigger fish game.

If you can distance yourself away from the "numbers" people, you will have it made.

This is one reason I don't price myself low. Nothing against people who do, but I try to find reasons to stay out of the same pool the numbers people are in even if it means pricing myself out of certain clients, niches, industries, verticals, etc

.

 

[Jonathan Hoch]

I don’t know how to spell it out any plainer:

• You get paid.
• To learn how to generate more website visitors and sales (a useful skill right?).
• Using *their* ad spend.
• In multiple industries (so you get incredible learnings that can transfer across industries).
• Till you find the industry that has your name on it.
• While rubbing shoulders with business owners who will “mentor” you by showing you what they do (rather than telling you what they’d do).
• While building quality and deep relationships with your clients.
• That lends itself to growth by referrals.
• That naturally shows you the productised services to offer your market.
• That could naturally lead to a product or SaaS offering.
• And is a springboard to many different directions if you want to move beyond providing services (such as rank-and-rent, directories, marketplaces, your own eCommerce stores, revenue shares, pay-per-lead, etc.)
• Did I mention you get paid while doing this?

Earning to learn, while learning to earn. There is no better way.

 

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[Andy Black]

Earning to learn, while learning to earn. There is no better way.

Exactly.

So you’re going to spend $250/mth learning digital marketing?

Cool. I’ll earn $250/mth doing it live for a real client.

(Change $250/mth to whatever you’re planning on spending on that digital marketing course.)

 

[yaponchik]

Digital Marketing is a $120b industry. Capture 0.0083% of that market and you're a millionaire. So why is everyone poor and struggling to pull their businesses out of economic doom?

It has low barrier entry which means everyone and their mother is your competitor. Entering a saturated market with low barriers to entry is always a bad idea.

You always want significant barriers to entry in any business you get involved in, and you want to be one of the people who happen to be able to overcome those barriers (for whatever reason - specialized skills, access to capital, or whatever).

If one has the hustle and bravery to start a business, why not start one where you actually add value and have a competitive advantage rather than a saturated one with low barriers to entry? The only singular reason to do so is because one couldn't think of a better idea. And that's a bad reason to get into any particular business.

To make this work on both the implementation end and the marketing end, you basically have to have the capital to hire a great team already hired to do one or the other before you ever even open for business regardless of your cashflow. If not, either marketing or implementation will suffer, because no one person can do it all.

Even if you have a great team you run into another challenge. Scaling.

How many people who say they run a digital marketing agency are actually scaling it?

In the agency world, where people billing hours is the product, you can probably assume that revenue is flat for most of these agencies. Flat = death for any company.

Guess what? Agency growth in the early stages is hard as hell.

As you get bigger, it gets a lot harder to scale. There are lots of agency founders with the gift of gab who can impress CMOs and secure new business; but they frequently hit a wall when the story gets old and there’s not enough of that charisma to spread to every sales pitch and client meeting.

See declining employee counts at agencies like Droga5, Laundry Service, and Crispin+Porter for example. None of them has made it over the 1,000-employee hurdle as far as we can see.

Laundry Service lays off 10 percent of staff, founder Jason Stein out - Digiday

 

[BlackMagician]

This.

I don’t know how to spell it out any plainer:

• You get paid.
• To learn how to generate more website visitors and sales (a useful skill right?).
• Using *their* ad spend.
• In multiple industries (so you get incredible learnings that can transfer across industries).
• Till you find the industry that has your name on it.
• While rubbing shoulders with business owners who will “mentor” you by showing you what they do (rather than telling you what they’d do).
• While building quality and deep relationships with your clients.
• That lends itself to growth by referrals.
• That naturally shows you the productised services to offer your market.
• That could naturally lead to a product or SaaS offering.
• And is a springboard to many different directions if you want to move beyond providing services (such as rank-and-rent, directories, marketplaces, your own eCommerce stores, revenue shares, pay-per-lead, etc.)
• Oh, and did I mention you get paid while doing this?

The Roadmap is really good for starters like me who know not much about business and have no money. I am learning so much that i feel the previous me was a frog in well.

It's just that, there is loads of work. Sometimes its frightening. Yesterday i woke up at 6am and slept at 1am. The whole day went on client work, 9-5 job, client meeting, deal closing. It's really tough.

But you know. I am enjoying it. The feel. The thirst to help someone. The excitement on the face of client when we solve there problems. It's worth it to work my a** off.

 

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[Andy Black]

I am enjoying it. The feel. The thirst to help someone. The excitement on the face of client when we solve there problems.

It never gets old for me.

Just yesterday a new client was sitting behind me looking over my shoulder as I was creating his ad. I wanted to ask him how to spell something so looked round at him.

He was leans forward wide-eyed with the biggest goofy grin on his face.

I’ve known him over a decade and that’s the most excited I’ve ever seen his face.

We boosted the bids to €10 to make sure Google showed us, then 10 minutes later we did a search on my computer.

“Wow! There it is!”

He then did the search on his phone and screenshot it to send to his two business partners.

 

[Andy Black]

Digital Marketing is a $120b industry. Capture 0.0083% of that market and you're a millionaire. So why is everyone poor and struggling to pull their businesses out of economic doom?

It has low barrier entry which means everyone and their mother is your competitor. Entering a saturated market with low barriers to entry is always a bad idea.

You always want significant barriers to entry in any business you get involved in, and you want to be one of the people who happen to be able to overcome those barriers (for whatever reason - specialized skills, access to capital, or whatever).

If one has the hustle and bravery to start a business, why not start one where you actually add value and have a competitive advantage rather than a saturated one with low barriers to entry? The only singular reason to do so is because one couldn't think of a better idea. And that's a bad reason to get into any particular business.

To make this work on both the implementation end and the marketing end, you basically have to have the capital to hire a great team already hired to do one or the other before you ever even open for business regardless of your cashflow. If not, either marketing or implementation will suffer, because no one person can do it all.

Even if you have a great team you run into another challenge. Scaling.

How many people who say they run a digital marketing agency are actually scaling it?

In the agency world, where people billing hours is the product, you can probably assume that revenue is flat for most of these agencies. Flat = death for any company.

Guess what? Agency growth in the early stages is hard as hell.

As you get bigger, it gets a lot harder to scale. There are lots of agency founders with the gift of gab who can impress CMOs and secure new business; but they frequently hit a wall when the story gets old and there’s not enough of that charisma to spread to every sales pitch and client meeting.

See declining employee counts at agencies like Droga5, Laundry Service, and Crispin+Porter for example. None of them has made it over the 1,000-employee hurdle as far as we can see.

Laundry Service lays off 10 percent of staff, founder Jason Stein out - Digiday

Personally, I’m bypassing building an agency that relies on a high body count.

I’ve clients and a team so I suppose that makes me an agency. I don’t use the “agency” word though. I’m positioned differently in my own mind.

However, I would still recommend freelancing and building a small agency to people who are interested in digital marketing.

I don’t think it’s saturated. The barrier to entry is being able to get business, and retain that business. People taking a course, proclaiming themselves a digital marketing agency, but not engaging the market or getting clients aren’t actually in business.

 

[Florian]

However, I would still recommend freelancing and building a small agency to people who are interested in digital marketing.

Jop, that's exactly what I did for the last 8 months. I can tell if you're a newbie it makes sense since you're getting paid to learn business. Yet I wouldn't recommend it as a long-term thing.

It can be very frustrating since clients can hop off very quickly and lead gen (Upwork, LinkedIn, ...) get's more and more competitive.

Recently I decided to quit the gig I was working on and had the choice: Digital marketing agency or a CENTS business. I asked Emmanuel Fredenrich (multi-millionaire, operating in a very similar field) and he told me the following:

"To answer your question, I would stay away from the Facebook ads agency
unless you have an exceptional track record with FB Ads (i.e over
$500k-$1 million in profitable ad spend). It's an overcrowded space, low
barrier of entry and hard to automate. I would look into a business with
higher entry barriers, a bigger need (i.e at least $1 billion industry)
and that you can automate easily.

Unless you're a complete newbie, in which case you should just focus on
getting sales. But if you're already making money, then look for an
opportunity that fits MJ's book perfectly."

So that's what I'm doing right now and I think it's a solid approach.

 

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[BlackMagician]

Personally, I’m bypassing building an agency that relies on a high body count.

I’ve clients and a team so I suppose that makes me an agency. I don’t use the “agency” word though. I’m positioned differently in my own mind.

However, I would still recommend freelancing and building a small agency to people who are interested in digital marketing.

I don’t think it’s saturated. The barrier to entry is being able to get business, and retain that business. People taking a course, proclaiming themselves a digital marketing agency, but not engaging the market or getting clients aren’t actually in business.

Important part is solving there pain points. In the month of January, i have met 4 clients. All of them have website, doing some kind of seo, smm, BUT getting no results. There pain points are not solved

They don't even know how to solve the issue because no one is there to guide them, to help them understand technology.

It's kind of saddening that these real businesses are losing money, time because of noise Digital agencies are creating.

They are desperately want someone to help them. To guide them in online model and they will just throw there money to us if we REALLY help them.

So, I will just say, What this industry need is not more Digital Agencies. They need Problem solvers who can relief there pain through online(website, SMM, Ads).

Let's become problem solver, instead of 'Agency'.

 

[BrooklynHustle]

I run a digital marketing agency.

Seems like everyone is doing it now...

Two, three years ago everyone was talking about starting a podcast.

Now it seems the rage is "digital marketing agencies".

Is this what happens any time a guru promotes these businesses as a great business to start?

Suddenly they're on every street corner?

IMO, If some top-tier guru/influencer is selling you a course on "how to start a [blank] business" it's probably not a business you want to start.

Just my opinion, but would seem to me that either path is still viable, but the difference is the approach...

Is the person entering after a quick buck, or are they out to become excellent over a long period of time and actually create an amazing experience over a long period of time for their users/customers/listeners/whatever.

One of these approaches is likely to be successful, while the other isn't (not that I am telling you guys anything new).

For example, my wife has been doing a podcast since June of 2016 (probably after many people would have said the market was too saturated) and now consistently ranks in the top 200 of business podcasts (out of 10s of thousands of podcasts) and earns a more than full-time income monetizing both directly and indirectly because she keeps an intense focus on knowing who her audience is and what they want from a show like hers. I predict she will continue to slowly grow and become more successful because of this focus. Not incredibly sexy, but it works.

In that same time period, many other podcasts have probably come and gone or just not gone anywhere because their focus, commitment, and consistency was not right. I am sure there must be examples on either side of the equation in the digital marketing agency space as a result of these same types of behaviors.

What say you?