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CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days

Sean Marshall

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Guys... this only seems to be low barrier to entry. Anyone can "start", but most fall over at the first hurdle of making sales. Like all businesses, commercial skills are more important than technical skills.

EXACTLY!

The actual DOING of the thing IS the barrier to entry.

Anyone in this forum could read this post and get excited about doing this. Will they? That's the difference right there - those who do and those who don't.
 
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I started by networking face to face with real business owners. I drove to businesses and interviewed them and how they do things. I gave them free marketing game plans to implement (most of the time they just hired me).

After two years of doing that, and scaled my business with a system and team, THEN I took off to live in the Caribbean and Europe. Not before.
I enjoy the first part. Meeting business owners face to face.
 

Sean Marshall

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I have been doing Facebook ads for realtors and it has been hell finding realtors that can pay me even 1k a month.
Not sure what I am doing wrong

I've usually avoided realtors. They usually don't have the budget and they make really pesky clients.

No offense to any realtors out there! It's just been my experience.

There are so many other niches (that I've already mentioned in this thread) that DO have the budget and make for great clients.
 

Sean Marshall

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I enjoy the first part. Meeting business owners face to face.

It also send your retention rate through the roof. I have clients that are still with me from literally 8 years ago.

Yeah, it kind of sucks to network and spend time shaking hands (unless that's your thing) but it:

1. Sets you apart from the others who want to just spam
2. Increases your retention rate
3. Makes you a "friend" to their business and they send you referrals like crazy

Also, you don't have to do too much of it before you have plenty of new business coming in. Then you can shift your focus to your online funnel (if you want).
 
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Andy Black

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It also send your retention rate through the roof. I have clients that are still with me from literally 8 years ago.

Yeah, it kind of sucks to network and spend time shaking hands (unless that's your thing) but it:

1. Sets you apart from the others who want to just spam
2. Increases your retention rate
3. Makes you a "friend" to their business and they send you referrals like crazy

Also, you don't have to do too much of it before you have plenty of new business coming in. Then you can shift your focus to your online funnel (if you want).
@MidwestLandlord ... you were literally chatting about this in your inside progress thread...
 

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How is this thread not GOLD yet?

Some serious value here Sean.

For the past year and a half I've worked as a contractor for a company that I guess you would call an authority site, but verges on marketing agency territory. B2B niche.

100% remote company and they always have been. They have a huge team (100+ writers), but everyone's a contractor. The operations part of the business has been systematised since well before I joined them and that side of the company would happily run itself without the owner's involvement, if only he could learn to step away more.

I joined them in sales. They paid me commission with a monthly draw against commission. Super simple for them - there's no tax implications or anything to deal with, nor the long list of obligations that usually go along with having employees. They just pay me and I get on with it. It's theoretically a full-time job but, as you would, they only care about the results, not the hours. It works out well for everyone.

Interesting thing about them is, it's an absolutely phenomenal site & community. It blows all the other media companies in their industry out of the water. Their competitors all genuinely suck by comparison. Yet their competitors are making millions annually and they've been making only a fraction of that for years.

They had the operations down to a fine art, but not the commercial side of the business. When I first started it was all about cold calls (not practicing what's being preached) and going back and forth with clients to iron out the details of little $5-10k deals. Bearing in mind we're typically dealing with corporates, not small business.

I've steered them towards doing a few things since I joined them.

1) No more building a custom offering for every client - now there's one high end custom service for if they want to replicate the results we're getting off their own website (moving into marketing agency territory), and everything else is off-the-shelf from the menu of services as far as possible
2) Tie each offering to a specific measurable result and an ROI
3) Turn the flagship offering into a month-by-month rental rather than a one-time purchase
4) Unify the messaging and services around achieving one overarching vision for the customer, rather than trying to be everything to everyone

Now the average deal size is more like $40-50k and there's definitely room for improvement there. The deals are also much easier to make than they were before. When I went through all the previous won deals, I found the average historically was more like $10k.

Recently I volunteered to move over and take on the marketing as the primary focus. It doesn't pay me any better (yet), and it's more work, but I figured it's a great opportunity to give them my best work and also get paid to learn how to build a 7-figure service business.

So I'm working on turning the sales process into an inbound model, the same way we offer that promise to our customers. Then the sales component of the business will be readily scalable.

The point I'm trying to underline from experience is: in this kind of business, getting the sales and marketing handled is far more important than what you actually do! Else you'll end up envying your sucky competitors that somehow manage to make bank while you can't.

Now I think about it, the other point here is that you have to get your hands dirty before you can scale. If I hadn't spent a year talking to customers day in, day out, I wouldn't know how to turn the sales process inbound.
 

Andy Black

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Now I think about it, the other point here is that you have to get your hands dirty before you can scale. If I hadn't spent a year talking to customers day in, day out, I wouldn't know how to turn the sales process inbound.
So much this.

I literally had this conversation with my small team today as we were bringing a new salesman up to speed. I said something along the lines of:

Speak to people face to face. Learn, in-situ, what turns of phrase resonate, and what make them glaze over. Observe and adjust while talking to them. Get slicker at it over time until it flows.

Find out what offer they bite your hand off over.

*Learn* the customer avatars by engaging your market, not by navel gazing.

Only then try and automate and scale.

How is this thread not GOLD yet?
Agreed. Done.


Thank you @Sean Marshall for your opening post, AND for patiently responding to queries (and with sensible replies).
 
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The Abundant Man

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YES! There's an entire group of multi-million revenue per year businesses that also need help.

I have clients that include:

Concrete fitting manufacturing
Adhesive manufacturers
Thermal imaging
and others

Nobody is going after these businesses. All the online marketers want to spam dentists and plastic surgeons.

But these "industrial" companies have loads of money and desperately need the help
How did you know that the "industrial" companies were the right ones to go for? How did you find these companies?
 

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How did you know that the "industrial" companies were the right ones to go for? How did you find these companies?

Offline: trade shows

Online: ibisworld, procurementiq, zoominfo, data.com, mantra, etc..

To go after these industrial companies you will need to understand how their business works inside and out.

Nobody wants to do that so they go after the lowest hanging fruit (plumbing, painting, roofers, dentists, pest removal, landscaping, carpet cleaning, etc)
 

momomaurice

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Great Post and great info here. I still see a lot of people here asking more questions he gave you everything to get started so just go do it. Don't be thinking too far ahead, learn as you go or else you'll be struck with no action taking.

A digital marketing agency takes time to get a client. You need to have a good offer to be ahead of the crowd. You need to do deep research. Ring businesses you want to help and ask them what problems they are having. You'll be surprised that people will actually talk to you.
 
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Sean Marshall

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1) No more building a custom offering for every client - now there's one high end custom service for if they want to replicate the results we're getting off their own website (moving into marketing agency territory), and everything else is off-the-shelf from the menu of services as far as possible
2) Tie each offering to a specific measurable result and an ROI
3) Turn the flagship offering into a month-by-month rental rather than a one-time purchase
4) Unify the messaging and services around achieving one overarching vision for the customer, rather than trying to be everything to everyone

YES!

I hired two different sales people in my first year and one sold the packages I made. The other tried to make a custom package for everyone he spoke with. It was a nightmare! I should have let him go but I was hungry and he was hustling. BUT, it bogged me down in trying to figure out how to deliver what he had promised.

After I outsold him myself for a few months straight, while I was also handling operations and everything else, I let him go.

The key is what you already said above. Such good stuff there! I learned it the hard way.

Hopefully our fellow fastlaners can learn it here!
 

Sean Marshall

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Sean Marshall

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How did you know that the "industrial" companies were the right ones to go for? How did you find these companies?

I didn't. Not at first. It wasn't until I got out there and started speaking with every business owner I could find that it sort of happened organically.
 

Sean Marshall

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I still see a lot of people here asking more questions he gave you everything to get started so just go do it. Don't be thinking too far ahead, learn as you go or else you'll be struck with no action taking.

It's about 1000% more than what I had when I first started, that's for sure. Action is the best teacher.

That said, I'm happy to answer any questions anybody's got.
 

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YES!

I hired two different sales people in my first year and one sold the packages I made. The other tried to make a custom package for everyone he spoke with. It was a nightmare! I should have let him go but I was hungry and he was hustling. BUT, it bogged me down in trying to figure out how to deliver what he had promised.

After I outsold him myself for a few months straight, while I was also handling operations and everything else, I let him go.

The key is what you already said above. Such good stuff there! I learned it the hard way.

Hopefully our fellow fastlaners can learn it here!

In my experience it's not just the fulfillment that gets bogged down, but the sales process in itself. Back and forth over and over on multiple points, priorities, ROI calculations, justifications...and in my case, getting multiple people in the company to all agree each step of the way.

If you're selling six- or high five-figure services, that's fine and to be expected. Otherwise, it's a disaster.

Now the time to close is DOWN while the deal value is UP. Much better.

Now I think about it, one of the big reasons they spent years struggling to get anywhere commercially must be because the sales process was so complex, but they could never afford to hire top dollar salaried sales reps (and if you're starting a business like Sean's, neither can you). They were lucky to get someone like me who has the skills but doesn't want a job, but still needed some interim location-independent income.

@Sean Marshall : I might have missed this earlier, but do you use commission-only freelancers for sales? How do you attract, select and retain them?
 
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Sean Marshall

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but do you use commission-only freelancers for sales? How do you attract, select and retain them?

Only in the first year. They were contacts that I already had who were experienced in sales. They were commission only and if I remember correctly, I paid them a 30% cut up front and 10% ongoing for the life of the client (ie - $1000/mo package - they got $300 and then $100/mo)

BUT, it only lasted about 6 months because like I mentioned, I myself was able to outsell them. Also, by then I had a steady stream of new referrals coming in.

In the end, I think they proved to be more of a hindrance than a help. I wouldn't be entirely opposed to having sales people again but I would probably use an agency instead of contracting my own people.
 

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Just like to say too, I've been trying this for the past 3 months and my main problem was picking a niche. I wanted to choose something that wasn't over crowded and it stopped me from taking action.

Its also funny, when you start calling and sending emails to help these people you may get abuse. One plumber called me a parasite and said all you guys need to get real jobs. I think Marketers have bad names becuase there is a lot of cowboys out there so be prepared to grow tough skin.
 

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Only in the first year. They were contacts that I already had who were experienced in sales. They were commission only and if I remember correctly, I paid them a 30% cut up front and 10% ongoing for the life of the client (ie - $1000/mo package - they got $300 and then $100/mo)

BUT, it only lasted about 6 months because like I mentioned, I myself was able to outsell them. Also, by then I had a steady stream of new referrals coming in.

In the end, I think they proved to be more of a hindrance than a help. I wouldn't be entirely opposed to having sales people again but I would probably use an agency instead of contracting my own people.

Ah, I missed the part where you didn't replace them. Gotcha.

Hearing about other people's businesses, I've noticed that working directly with business owners tends to fire up the referral machine. Actually when I briefly did some digital marketing freelancing, I got one client off Upwork and three unsolicited referrals from that client very shortly thereafter. All business owners.

Selling to employees, I almost never get referrals.

Just like to say too, I've been trying this for the past 3 months and my main problem was picking a niche. I wanted to choose something that wasn't over crowded and it stopped me from taking action.

Its also funny, when you start calling and sending emails to help these people you may get abuse. One plumber called me a parasite and said all you guys need to get real jobs. I think Marketers have bad names becuase there is a lot of cowboys out there so be prepared to grow tough skin.

You should try being a recruiter. :D
 
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Sean Marshall

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Its also funny, when you start calling and sending emails to help these people you may get abuse.

I can imagine! I myself, in my own business, get nailed with these emails all the time. The majority of them are from countries that are hoping that by spamming as many people as they can, they'll get some business somehow.

While email marketing may work for some, I preferred face to face networking - at least to get things started.
 

Phillip Anderson

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I know we'd be using bots to help grow our clients' accounts, so my question is, how do prevent the accounts getting banned from Instagram due to bad proxies, for example? How do you differentiate a good proxy provider from a bad one?
 
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yyes

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A lot of great and valuable information here.

I understand that its a good idea to charge a monthly fee, but what about charging a percentage of the sales/leads that you generate for your customer every month?

If you are skilled enough, wouldn't this be the way to go?

If you're not skilled enough, your work would show this and your customer wouldn't have to pay you. Honestly speaking, why should he pay you if you didn't provide value?
 

Sean Marshall

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A lot of great and valuable information here.

I understand that its a good idea to charge a monthly fee, but what about charging a percentage of the sales/leads that you generate for your customer every month?

If you are skilled enough, wouldn't this be the way to go?

If you're not skilled enough, your work would show this and your customer wouldn't have to pay you. Honestly speaking, why should he pay you if you didn't provide value?

You can do that if you want to. You'll also need to put a tracking system in place to make sure you get paid for the leads you bring in.

It's not something I've personally ever done or ever will. I have a staff and they're getting paid for their time and the work they put in. That work will/should help the clients rank better online resulting in more business for our clients.

Everything we do is on a month-to-month basis anyway. I set it up intentionally this way to show the client that there's no strings attached. In other words, they only keep paying because they WANT to keep paying. When they see the results of our work - like new signs up on their website or increased phone calls - they want to keep paying us.

I have a great retention rate. It's all based on the results.

But again, every agency runs differently.
 

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Thank you for this very comprehensive guide. I am currently working as a digital marketer for a software company and I wanna start my own biz someday. Just need to gather that capital first and save money. I made a lot of bad decisions when I was got right out of college like, spending money on useless stuff, not taking extra side hustles, being lazy and unmotivated in general. Now, I am more determined than ever thanks to the support of this forum. Love seeing hustlers! You guys inspire me and motivate me to be one.
 
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Jeff Noel

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I know we'd be using bots to help grow our clients' accounts, so my question is, how do prevent the accounts getting banned from Instagram due to bad proxies, for example? How do you differentiate a good proxy provider from a bad one?

Why would you want to use bots ? You're better off having a human interact with people on social medias such as Instagram... it prevents 100% of the ban risk for the customer's account. You do not want to put your customers at risk, ever.
 

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Why would you want to use bots ? You're better off having a human interact with people on social medias such as Instagram... it prevents 100% of the ban risk for the customer's account. You do not want to put your customers at risk, ever.
I agree. A human, ideally the business owner at least at the start.
 

yyes

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You can do that if you want to. You'll also need to put a tracking system in place to make sure you get paid for the leads you bring in.

It's not something I've personally ever done or ever will. I have a staff and they're getting paid for their time and the work they put in. That work will/should help the clients rank better online resulting in more business for our clients.

Everything we do is on a month-to-month basis anyway. I set it up intentionally this way to show the client that there's no strings attached. In other words, they only keep paying because they WANT to keep paying. When they see the results of our work - like new signs up on their website or increased phone calls - they want to keep paying us.

I have a great retention rate. It's all based on the results.

But again, every agency runs differently.

So in your case, if a business decides to stop doing business with you, is the ad theirs to keep or do you take down the ad?

What stops them from literally copying your ad before you bring it down?
 
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Andy Black

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What stops them from literally copying your ad before you bring it down?
The ad is the tip of the iceberg. There's all the targeting, bids, and other mechanics that need setup.
 

yyes

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The ad is the tip of the iceberg. There's all the targeting, bids, and other mechanics that need setup.
ahh, that makes perfect sense.

Even with the ad, I imagine one can make the argument that the ad itself is intellectual property and should be brought down as soon as the business relationship terminates right?
 

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