Chasing Freedom - Creating My Own Digital Marketing Company

[Kyle T]

Well good going man. Sorry to here that but failure is the part of success, right?

Have you gave them enough value until they see the results of SEO? I mean apart from the SEO, anything you could have helped them/adviced them which can potential solved some or atleast one of their problem?

This saturday, i had a meeting with my first client for SMM service. They are having exhibition in June and they need to spread their brand awareness and get sales in that exhibition.

After we shook hand for the deal, they shared one problem. Supposedly they are offering 10% discount on the exhibition day and they want the offer to be limited and it will be only on that day. This was their ideal scenerio but issue is many of the potential clients needed time to think to buy their products because the product value falls in 5 figure.

So if the potential clients come to them after 2-3 days and ask for the discount, it will go against the urgency they are showing on exhibition day but they also can't lose those clients.

And if they give them the discount after the exhibition, many other will ask for the same because that vertical is very concentrated and if they give to one other will come to know.

Hence after comtemplating on the issue, i suggested them to put a signup form(hard paper) in the exhibition and if someone want to buy with the same discounted price they should have filled the form otherwise no discount.
This will lead to get a hold of all the potential clients which can buy in future + strong prospects database for future marketing and it will create a special effect on urgency and uniqueness.

This advice of mine hit them on spot and they were impressed and accepted to implement this. And i am feel the vibe that they won't be impatient for the result and will wait whole month.

-------

I may not be able to portrait my words properly.

I feel like there is definitely a disconnect of perceived value. I did many things that went "above and beyond" and provided them with strategy, content & much more than what I promised them.

The trouble that I found was getting them to "buy in". Two of the clients that I lost had an investor initially pay for the services... because it wasn't their own money, I believe they were less invested in the services.

Even getting these clients to respond to an email or to send me pictures was more of a headache then it should have been.

 

[Kyle T]

when refering to PPC - you mean GoogleAds/Facebook/Instagram Ads? I understand "pay per click" but 95% is google/fb/ig ads? maybe linkedin?

/what was your first offer? you mention SEO? Backlink Building? Content Writing?

Originally I was doing way too much. SEO was always my primary offering but it was packaged with website maintenance, social media marketing, content marketing, & reputation management.

When I refer to PPC... I am referring to Google Ads but it is dependant on the business. I specialize in helping home service contractors and the customers are 100% looking for them on Google... so that is where I have focused my efforts.

 

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[Kyle T]

Are you buying email lists in order to send 30-50 per day?

Paid a VA to scrape 1000 leads for $100. Then sorted into 3 categories: "Great Website", "Outdated Website", "No Website/Expired Domain".

Then plugged the respective groups into cold email campaigns with cold email software.

 

[Envious]

Hey kyle, I’ve just finished reading your thread and I just want to tell you how I’m amazed at what you’ve done so far, unlike you I was action faking to take action but reading that have made me understand that I had to go with my all if I want to change my life, so thanks you for that
If you don’t mind I have some questions about marketing agency,
1.I only know the very basic of html and css and I think I have forgotten the half should I go for an update or hiring someone would be the best way (I know someone who has already made website for his friends, teaming up with him would be a bad idea or I should rather give a try and see how it's going ?) ?
2.When you make a website for a client do you use wordpress or something like that ?
3.what advice could you give me to pick niches or find clients.
4.Have you any courses to advices ?

Thanks for all the informations you’ve shared with us so far.
PS: If you’re using wordpress or any site like that are you the one paying the subscription for clients ?

You've read the whole thread, but you've completely missed the point. What Kyle has demonstrated is taking action, learning and re-adjusting. He didn't have all the answers and he learnt as he went.

No one has all the answers.

You must do the same. Get out there and start getting clients, once they present you with their problems, you'll be able to figure out the answers.

 

[Kyle T]

Hey kyle, I’ve just finished reading your thread and I just want to tell you how I’m amazed at what you’ve done so far, unlike you I was action faking to take action but reading that have made me understand that I had to go with my all if I want to change my life, so thanks you for that
If you don’t mind I have some questions about marketing agency,
1.I only know the very basic of html and css and I think I have forgotten the half should I go for an update or hiring someone would be the best way (I know someone who has already made website for his friends, teaming up with him would be a bad idea or I should rather give a try and see how it's going ?) ?
2.When you make a website for a client do you use wordpress or something like that ?
3.what advice could you give me to pick niches or find clients.
4.Have you any courses to advices ?

Thanks for all the informations you’ve shared with us so far.
PS: If you’re using wordpress or any site like that are you the one paying the subscription for clients ?

1) My coding is a joke. I haven't coded once since I started and don't anticipate re-learning to code anytime soon. Don't overthink it. Find people you can help & help them.

2) Wordpress almost always.

3) Your niche will find you. I tried to plan my niche and the best clients that I have are completely outside it. Don't be picky. Just start helping people.

The only niche that I am focused on is businesses that actually have money.

4) Udemy courses are an awesome resource but there is no magical course. I look for courses only when I hit a fork in the road.

Adding PPC ads to my services? Find a couple of courses on that.

Want to improve landing pages? Find a course on that.

Improving your sales funnel? Take a course on that.

I have found great value in courses but I haven't finished a single one. I scan the sections and find the most essential ones that I need and then I use it as a resource to refer back to.

5) Wordpress doesn't have a subscription. You might mean hosting? I have looked into a few managed hosting options but I decided against hosting websites. I refer them to my preferred provider and collect the referral bonus instead.

Fewer Headaches

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Thanks for the resources.

I think I'm going to go for this one: Digital Marketing Agency | Social Media Marketing Business
The only "problem": ~70 hours of content But looks awesome.

Check out @Andy Black 's posts before you dive into any course.
thise 70 hours could be better spend actually doing marketing rather than learning.

Also, I’d highly suggest picking one or two services and be the best you can at those rather than a jack of all trades “full service” agency.

 

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[Andy Black]

@PizzaOnTheRoof @Andy Black indeed, that's way too much, and there are so many different topics in that course that it doesn't make sense. I'm quite intrigued by digital marketing, so I'm just looking around, but I don't plan to spend so much time to start with (I don't have the time anyway).



Thanks, added to the list!

The reason I linked to that call is that it’s simpler than most think. Less lists, more action? Don’t learn this stuff. Do it.

HTH

 

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[Andy Black]

I'd say Google Ads is actually more complex. The reason I say it's more boring is because it seems to be more useful for business that sell their product and potential buyers are actively searching for it on Google, whereas Facebook Ads puts usually B2C businesses in front of users that are not looking for them explicitly, by grabbing their attention. Maybe 'boring' was a bad definition though.


The pressure to deliver is there as in any other service business? I'm not saying it's easy, or that the first few clients are going to pay you that without previous results (actually, I'd expect a few jobs for free to start with). What I mean is that if you target businesses that earn good money and you can make them even more money, they shouldn't be concerned about paying these monthly fees (value pricing). And it has potential to scale and become semi-passive if you outsource most of the work, as other members of the forum have done. Compared to selling websites, which are a one-off charge, this sounds more compelling to me.

Gotcha.

You explained exactly why I prefer Google Ads to Facebook Ads. Done right, the visitor arrives with credit card in hand looking to buy.

 

[Kyle T]

Just came across this thread and skimmed it through, well done on the progress.

Read your latest update on the fact that you've changed your focus to lead generation, as that's what your clients want.

Could you please explain how the process exactly works in a nutshell, as I've read about lead generation for local businesses before, but I don't fully understand how it works in practice?

Do you build a Wordpress website targeting certain niche keywords in a specific city and them somehow refer the visitors to your client's business? I'm assuming you do PPC for this to get traffic, as doing SEO would take ages and would not be consistent?

Would appreciate if you could explain how this is done in details.

Thanks

Seems like you understand the the gist of it. I typically use Facebook Ads & Facebook Leadforms. This removes the extra work of managing landing pages & it adds a little higher comfort level to the potential leads because all the activity remains within the comfort of Facebook.

 

[Blackman]

Seems like you understand the the gist of it. I typically use Facebook Ads & Facebook Leadforms. This removes the extra work of managing landing pages & it adds a little higher comfort level to the potential leads because all the activity remains within the comfort of Facebook.

You know, one thing which baffles me about this local lead gen method is that according to Google's Keyword Tool and probably many others, the search volume for local service keywords is almost non-existent.

If you take an example a service keyword, such as "window cleaning dayton ohio", Google says the average monthly search volume is "100-1k". So while that doesn't sound like a lot, but you would think that it's not too bad, because with a few similar keywords, you could probably get okayish traffic (100 visitors/day?) once ranked in the top spots.

However, before getting too excited with launching websites and building backlinks, I decided to test the ACTUAL search volume of a keyword like that using Google Ads, and I got 2-3 clicks a day.....That's with a perfectly relevant campaign, good quality score, etc.

Granted, I only run it for 3 days, but I was getting like 10 impressions/day for a keyword which supposedly has "100-1k" monthly volume, and my ads were on the top above all the local and organic results.

So I'm in a position where I've got this real data in front of me and yet I see people talk about local lead gen and how it works really well for them?

What am I missing?

 

[Andy Black]

Hey @Kyle T and @Andy Black, what would your opinion be on offering a $100 Google Ads credit included in the management fee? Would this be an easier sell or just more work for me?

I think it could work by giving the client a "risk-free" chance to see results quickly, and get the ball rolling instead of having to wait for onboarding, billing set up, etc...

Of course, if the client wants to spend more I can set up billing to their credit card. Work wouldn't start until the monthly bill is paid on the 1st just like usual.

Thoughts?

I’ve never tried it. It might work so try it out.

For some of my prospects or clients, talking about $100 would only have them stare blankly at me. They’re doing six figures revenue a month so why am I talking about $100?

I like where you’re going of taking some of the risk on yourself. I do this, but don’t advertise it at the start to signup a client. I want to signup clients who are prepared to pay the full amount. And if things aren’t going well then I refund fees or pay for some of the ad spend so they know I’m there to create a win-win. I think the surprise of a small refund or gesture to pay some of the Google Ads bill is better than offering it at the start to sign them up.

 

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[Blackman]

We have a new client where campaigns started this week. Only two clicks so far (it’s early days and I’d hope we can get more as we dial it in). One enquiry out of the two clicks. If it converts into a sale then it’s potentially thousands (tens of thousands) in profit for my client. It’s high ticket stuff.

Even for low ticket stuff, a business owner can make more money from a sale than a middle-man. They get a new customer and we don’t know what their LTV might be. That new customer might also refer more people?

The business owner might just want to run break even on Google Ads too. They might have a crew and have pressure to meet payroll lest they lose that crew.

I see what you mean and I thought of that too.

This explains why local service keywords almost always have ads when you search those phrases in Google. However, when you look up the search volume of those keywords, you really wonder what kind of traffic those ads get? 5-10 clicks a day?

Obviously, it all depends on the service type and city size, but to the best of my knowledge the paid/organic traffic split is roughly 60/40, meaning 60% of visitors searching for something will normally click on top ads and 40% will go further down to the organic results, so it's hard to believe that organic results for local service keywords get any traffic at all...

So would you say it's worth building websites for local service keywords, despite very low search volumes? Not sure why I'm asking, because there's quite a few guys here doing exactly this...

 

[Kyle T]

Hey @Kyle T and @Andy Black, what would your opinion be on offering a $100 Google Ads credit included in the management fee? Would this be an easier sell or just more work for me?

I think it could work by giving the client a "risk-free" chance to see results quickly, and get the ball rolling instead of having to wait for onboarding, billing set up, etc...

Of course, if the client wants to spend more I can set up billing to their credit card. Work wouldn't start until the monthly bill is paid on the 1st just like usual.

Thoughts?

Its seems like an odd offer to me. It is not really significant enough to make an impact on the buyer's decision and it does get a bit harder to keep track of. Maybe I am not understanding what you mean exactly?

What I have been doing is one of the two options:

1) Discounted Trial (Not FREE!) - I start to talk to a client who is on the fence and say : "I understand that you are skeptical, rightfully so! There are millions of marketers out there promising the world to you and you don't know if I can legitimately provide the results that I say I can. So how about this, We get you signed up for your first month & i will give you a 50% discount. Instead of paying $2000 in the first month, you will only pay $1000. I will still use the same amount of ad spend and it should be enough time to get you a few customers using our ads. The only way that this offer works however, is if you commit this to me: If I deliver like I promise and you get multiple customers per month then you won't have a problem paying me my normal fee starting in month 2."

Typically my fee is 1500 + 500 ad spend. By offering them the discount I am effectively reducing my rate to $500 for the first month. I only offer this if they sign a contract that establishes the rae and that they won't haggle me afterwards.

2) A Guarantee (kinda). This is when the client is close enough that I just need to sweeten the deal a bit for them. I say something like: "Here is what I can do for you... I understand that you are skeptical. $x,xxx is a lot of money. Here is a guarantee that I can give you... As we discussed earlier, the absolute worst case scenario is that we get X number of leads and that you only generate x number of sales. If that happens then you are breaking even from this investment and the results are a wash.

So here is my promise to you: If I don't get you those minimum results then I will continue managing your ads for free until we do reach those numbers. How does that sound?

When I was less confident just a few weeks ago it was my natural tendency to go to #1 super fast even though it pulled $1,000 out of my pocket. Now I am only pulling that out at a time that the sale is getting away from me and I only throw it out there if I think that it gives me a chance to reel someone back in.

 

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[Kyle T]

Congrats for the success Kyle.

Though, I still can't understand what are you talking about. What system you are talking about? Last I read, you were doing video reach on Linkedin and getting good number of clients and were able to generate leads for them.

Can you elaborate more on what do you mean about the system and what efforts involved?
Thanks

I still use video to reach out to potential clients but the system that I am referring to is the actual services & structure that I am providing to the clients.

• I no longer work with anyone that is outside my niche
• I will no longer provide any other services other then lead gen with paid ads.
• I now provide more automation & systems. (CRM, Automation, Campaigns)
• I restructured the model so that there is no retainer & I only get paid on the back end.

My outreach has also changed quite a bit where I don't send videos as much as I used too. Majority of my current business is inbound because I have started to build a reputation as "the 'niche' marketing guy".

 

[Kyle T]

What services do you provide?

SEO, Content Creation, Social Media Management, Website design etc.

I have set packages but I expect clients to have custom requests. Will look to add more in the future. Primarily focused on local SEO as my starting point.

 

[Kyle T]

Would you be able to design a website like: sheerstrengthlabs.com from scratch using shopify?

Yeah, wouldn't be a problem. If you have any more specifics then feel free to shoot me a DM.

 

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[Matt Sun]

This is inspiring, thanks for sharing. Did you have a background with SEO, web desing or something else ? Are you going to do all the work or are you going to use fiverr or something else ?

 

[Jacob Wilson]

Thanks for sharing your progress Kyle and well done on your first sale! I think joining a BNI group could be beneficial. I don't know if this is a universal thing but the chapter I visited and looked into joining here in SC was $600 to join per year.

However, just from my one visit and the conversations with the 3 or 4 members (local business owners) I was able to talk to, they all told me they needed help with the online, marketing stuff and I scheduled 1 meeting out of it. Perhaps would have had better results but I didn't have business cards, business name, or even a website I could tell them to go to for more information.

I believe you get two free visits per chapter you go to so I would definitely recommend at least checking it out!

 

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[MakeItHappen]

Great progress thread @Kyle Thumm , I am definitly following this thread.
Good luck & keep pushing!

 

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[Crazy GG]

2 Clients paid for 4-months of Marketing Services at $450/month.
One client also paid $350 for some general web design.

I offer my services on a month to month basis but I explain to my clients that it can take 5-6 months to see significant SEO progress. When I communicate that they both just wanted to pay a larger sum up front rather then scheduling the recurring payments.

Both of the clients know each other... so my guess is that they were talking to each other and both decided to do it the same way.

Hey Kyle!

First off - big congrats on the two sales you have made - that's very impressive.

I wanted to know what kind of SEO work will you be doing for your clients? Obviously there are so many things you can do - what will you do in the start?

Just on-page SEO or publishing content and link-building as well?

The reason I ask is that I sell websites, and many times people mention SEO and ask about it so I want to know at least a general idea of what I would do if someone asked me to do their SEO after I had built a site with them.

Thanks

 

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[maikooo]

A Valuable Lesson Learned
Don't assume that your client's know ANYTHING.

Twice now I have talked to potential clients that have websites that are awful & 20 years out of date.

So what did I do? I told them the truth.

"Your current website kinda sucks...."

This inconvenient truth rubbed them the wrong way and didn't help my pitch at all.

Even if their website looks like it was built when AOL was king, don't assume that the client agrees with you about its shortcomings.

I will no longer put words into my client's mouth and will practice getting them to voice their marketing shortcomings before I call it out myself.

Thanks for a reminder. This is a big no-no, kills empathy immediately. You gotta lead the conversation in a way that they say it themselves.

BTW, thanks all for all the book recos! cheers

 

[Kyle T]

Thanks for a reminder. This is a big no-no, kills empathy immediately. You gotta lead the conversation in a way that they say it themselves.

BTW, thanks all for all the book recos! cheers

I listen to books a lot so I have plenty! Just got done reading 80/20 Sales & Marketing and that was a great one as well.

 

[Chapas]

Day 1 of Cold Calling
Dials: 30
Reached: 6 (20%)
Leads: 0 (0%)
Prospects: 0 (0%)

Ouch, that was rough! But you know what? I am glad that I did it.

Every single dial puts me out of my comfort zone and I look forward to making some improvements tomorrow.

The most important thing is to start! People are terrified of cold calls. So am I even though I worked in a call-center for a couple of years. You will get better day by day and will slowly start to get out of your comfort zone. Great hustling my friend. Looking forward to see how your results will be in 2-3 weeks. Just keep going!

 

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[Isaac Oh]

As I mentioned in my last update... PPC ads seem to be a better service to lead with when forming a relationship with clients.

The last 3 days or so I have been focused on improving my skills with PPC ads as well as to find prospects who would be interested in Google Ad campaigns.

So far, so good! I have found 20 prospects in a matter of 3 days through networking, social media, and my personal network. People seem super interested in the idea and best of all it seems that there are a lot fewer competitors (in my network at least) than website design or SEO.

Feel like I am getting out of my funk and I am excited to be hustling again for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Brother, you've just shoved in my face how much I've been action faking. This thread has been Gold for myself and I'm sure for many others as well.

Thank you.

Time to actually get some sales closed.

 

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[Andy Daniels]

@Kyle T Keep on pushing brother! I'm on a similar track as you, and it's hard work.

Thank you for the amazing value you have already provided this community.

I'm here for you!

-Andy

 

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[ZeroTo100]

I haven't posted for awhile and it has sure been a roller coaster!

The business was growing and I was flying high.

In the last week I have lost 3 of my very first clients and it hit me like a brick In the face. A few lessons that I have learned from the experience:

1) Communication is the number one thing I can improve upon. Communication is the reason that this churn hit me like a bus. I wasn't doing a good job in communicating with my clients. Especially with SEO, there is a ton of work that I was doing for them that they will never notice and that is a problem. Moving forward I am going to be scheduling weekly check in meetings to update them on what is going on and remind them of the expectations and gain feedback from them

2) I underestimated how impatient clients would be. No matter how many times I tell them the timeframe to expect results, they still get impatient. For this reason, I think that PPC ads are a better thing to specialize in for small businesses. They like results and they want them ASAP. The fact that PPC gets their phone ringing quicker is something that would help to prevent the quick churn.

3) I still need to master my systems. I am spending too much time micromanaging my VA and it's not a valuable use of my time. My plan is to divide all the tasks into daily, weekly, and monthly lists and then have my project management software automatically assign it.

A week ago I was on top of the world and I got pummeled. It's way too easy to become content and I still have so much to learn.

Dude, give yourself a pat on the shoulder. You’re doing well...better then a lot of people. I know what it’s like because I have kids and family too! Finding the time is super hard sometimes.

A little advice - let loose! Unbutton your shirt and take it easy. Sometimes it’s worth stepping away from your business and taking a refresher. Look at things from the outside in.

Ask yourself if there is a smarter way to do what you’re doing? Is there a smarter way to get leads coming in VS you going out after them? Is outreach the only way? Can you build a simple funnel system?

As Entrepreneurs, we think we can handle it all. We think we have to do every single job...you’re going to deteriorate bro...

You ever think about hiring a company to handle your outreach?

What do you pay your VA?

Systems are super important, especially in the service business. Establish those systems even if it means cutting your client list down until you’re where you need to be.

 

[Boab]

Hey Kyle,

thanks so much for documenting your journey. It has been truly inspiring and very clear that you will be a success at whatever you do

Can I ask if you quote fixed price for PPC costs to include ad spend? If not how much do you recommend small businesses spend?

Robert

 

[Kyle T]

Hey Kyle,

thanks so much for documenting your journey. It has been truly inspiring and very clear that you will be a success at whatever you do

Can I ask if you quote fixed price for PPC costs to include ad spend? If not how much do you recommend small businesses spend?

Robert

Doesn't include ad spend and totally depends on the market. $300 in ad spend would do NOTHING for a lawyer but the same $300 can get some awesome results for an appliance repairman.

Location is huge too.

For example, I have an appliance repairman in Utah referred me to a friend of his who lives in California.

The cost of the ads is 3-4x more expensive. So the same ad spend doesn't get the same results.

 

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[Chip01]

thanks but I prefer to know why did you choose this niche and not another ? what are the criteria do you use to select a niche ?

It’s not so much WHY a niche is chosen. It’s about just choosing it.

Construction may be a good niche to go after in one city/state but not in another.

You need to test this for yourself. Remember, there’s no magic pill or secret formula.

Trying to find the perfect niche before you start dialling is just another form of procrastination. As soon as you start phoning companies in any niche you’ll get a better idea of what services (if any) they need help with.

Dentists in your area may already have good websites but need help with SEO. Chiropractors maybe already have someone allocated to their social media so don’t need any help with that but their websites need an update.

Just take action and adjust from there!

 

[srodrigo]

While my business had successfully replaced my income, I realize that I had built myself a job.

This is my problem with this kind of business that is so popular nowadays, I see most folks building another job for themselves. This has made me stay away from it and try the product path instead.

Customers were coming to me for lead generation yet I was spending more time on these other service categories.

I am honestly just not as good at these things and perfectly happy abandoning them at this stage because it is what is required to allow me to scale to where I want to go (15 - 30k per month).

Eliminate what doesn't pay off, and double on what it does. Good.

 

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