I want to start a Digital Marketing Agency

[borntodominate]

So while I've been working on another project I have fallen in love with marketing and building websites etc.

I want to start my own agency as I feel like id be happy being related to this industry for the rest of my life, but I want it to be fastlane.

The problem is I have very limited marketing knowledge, would this be a problem? I was thinking if I could find clients I can hire other people to do the work etc

 

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[theag]

Yes its a problem if you dont know your shit. There are enough bullshit artists in the industry. I have to clean up after them every day and it pisses me off.

The industry also sucks major balls. Cant wait to get out.

Its great that you like marketing. But learn it to use it for yourself, not to make other people rich.

Agencies are the bitches in that industry.

 

[borntodominate]

Yes its a problem if you dont know your shit. There are enough bullshit artists in the industry. I have to clean up after them every day and it pisses me off.

The industry also sucks major balls. Cant wait to get out.

Its great that you like marketing. But learn it to use it for yourself, not to make other people rich.

Agencies are the bitches in that industry.

Why do you say this?

Also essentially I would be using it for myself as I'd find clients and then hire people to complete the jobs I can't do until I can get a full team?

 

[theag]

Why do you say this?

Because I work in it. If you work in an agency you are mostly dealing with morons. And you know what they say. You become the average of the people you spend time with. This doesnt just apply to friends.

 

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[jazb]

I don't want to scare you...but I hear business owners get multiple calls a day from digital marketing firms (and bad apples have ruined it for many people). so yours better be great...good luck.

Personally if you are really that good then you should find your own products to market online.

 

[borntodominate]

I don't want to scare you...but I hear business owners get multiple calls a day from digital marketing firms (and bad apples have ruined it for many people). so yours better be great...good luck.

Personally if you are really that good then you should find your own products to market online.

Where I live there isn't many agency's around. Also start-ups would not be able to afford their services, so I'd be targeting them.

I mean this is just an idea as of now, get some thoughts flowing.

 

[johnp]

I have a website idea. I want to build an e-commerce site for a high-end Italian cermaics shop that is 100% brick and mortar. I have this vision in my head about how I want the site to look, but I"m not sure how I want it to look. The site has to be be trendy, yet appeal to the demographics of women in their 40's-late 60's..Ohh but I also want to start appealing to young kids on Facebook. I need to use colors that represent the Tuscany Italy areas. And I would love to include a cobblestone street somewhere on the website! Oh and my budget is only $3.5k.

If you can figure out how to go through the process of turning the above into a website (that the client will love) then you might be ready to start an agency.

The above is a real life example from one of my clients. You will face clients like that and if you jump straight into making mockups then you're screwed. I have to spend 2-3 weeks doing discovery and design before I even touch mockups. And 3.5K? Forget it. I told the client that I won't even touch her project for that price. It has to be done right.

You will love web design until the day comes when you face clients that will make you second guess the way you dress in the morning. My advice is to start out freelancing. If you want to call yourself an agency then go ahead. I do that, but in reality it's mainly just me and a bunch of programmers/designers who I pay as outside contractors for now.

I also do a lot of in-house projects. So I will take on web design projects for clients, but I also do my own product launches and development under the same company. Right now I have a ratio of 80% outside work and 20% in-house projects (e-commerce, mobile apps, monster lead gen sites, and some other things). My goal is to eventually flip the number so maybe 20% of revenue will be outside projects and 80% will be revenue generated from all in-house stuff so I can get away from dealing with outsiders. Maybe you should consider something like that.

But anyway, if you really want to do websites for people then check out this site. They are on Youtube, try to watch all of their YouTube videos. I learned everything that I know from them. http://theskoolrocks.com/#sthash.pNqN2glJ.dpbs

 

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[AllenCrawley]

I had a digital marketing company for the past 5 years. Brutal and thankless 'job' with lots of crazies thrown in to boot. I wish you success if you wish to pursue. Someone on the forum has a pretty good DM agency that he's fastlaning... I think @FrankRumbauskas?

 

[borntodominate]

I have a website idea. I want to build an e-commerce site for a high-end Italian cermaics shop that is 100% brick and mortar. I have this vision in my head about how I want the site to look, but I"m not sure how I want it to look. The site has to be be trendy, yet appeal to the demographics of women in their 40's-late 60's..Ohh but I also want to start appealing to young kids on Facebook. I need to use colors that represent the Tuscany Italy areas. And I would love to include a cobblestone street somewhere on the website! Oh and my budget is only $3.5k.

If you can figure out how to go through the process of turning the above into a website (that the client will love) then you might be ready to start an agency.

The above is a real life example from one of my clients. You will face clients like that and if you jump straight into making mockups then you're screwed. I have to spend 2-3 weeks doing discovery and design before I even touch mockups. And 3.5K? Forget it. I told the client that I won't even touch her project for that price. It has to be done right.

You will love web design until the day comes when you face clients that will make you second guess the way you dress in the morning. My advice is to start out freelancing. If you want to call yourself an agency then go ahead. I do that, but in reality it's mainly just me and a bunch of programmers/designers who I pay as outside contractors for now.

I also do a lot of in-house projects. So I will take on web design projects for clients, but I also do my own product launches and development under the same company. Right now I have a ratio of 80% outside work and 20% in-house projects (e-commerce, mobile apps, monster lead gen sites, and some other things). My goal is to eventually flip the number so maybe 20% of revenue will be outside projects and 80% will be revenue generated from all in-house stuff so I can get away from dealing with outsiders. Maybe you should consider something like that.

But anyway, if you really want to do websites for people then check out this site. They are on Youtube, try to watch all of their YouTube videos. I learned everything that I know from them. http://theskoolrocks.com/#sthash.pNqN2glJ.dpbs

3.5k is alot though lol. I feel like I could design a website for the example you wrote. I've done a few websites here and there for people. It's just the actual marketing I suck at.

Thanks for the advice man, I appreciate it.

 

[borntodominate]

I had a digital marketing company for the past 5 years. Brutal and thankless 'job' with lots of crazies thrown in to boot. I wish you success if you wish to pursue. Someone on the forum has a pretty good DM agency that he's fastlaning... I think @FrankRumbauskas?

I guess this is why i come to this forum, I get real examples and advice.

I really thought having an agency would be alot different lol

 

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[johnp]

3.5k is alot though lol. I feel like I could design a website for the example you wrote. I've done a few websites here and there for people. It's just the actual marketing I suck at.

Yea anybody can design a website for the example, but will the client like it? If you build websites that clients don't like then you won't make it.

It's not really a lot of money.. I'm doing it for 3x that. Done right, this is a 2-3 month job. Most of the focus is put into discovery & design. The backend is easy but still time consuming.

 

[theag]

It's just the actual marketing I suck at.

I want to start my own agency

If you would hear somebody say this, what would you think?

 

[Andy Black]

Pick up a few clients. Help them out. Get paid for it. Get paid to manage their advertising cost. Not a bad route to get better at marketing, and to learn loads about dealing with businesses.

Do it till you get sick of it, because you will eventually.

*EVERY* agency owner I've met or spoken to wants to get out of being an agency.

Clients hire you because you know more than them, which by definition means they know less than you. After a while you'll be fed up pushing the same boulder up the same hill but for a different business.

Oh, and that boulder you're pushing is the client - because they don't want to do what they asked you to help them with.

Maybe I'm just crap at it, but I'm with @theag... I want to swap clients for customers and concentrate on building my own business and not everyone else's.



EDIT:

Here's the exact quote from an agency owner I know:

"Digital marketing clients need to be constantly sold and told how good you are if you are going to keep them coming back. Once we can show ongoing increases, then we don't have to sell them on those anymore, but then have to sell them on the next service, because in marketing, the revenue you grew is now the revenue they have and they want more."

Kinda depressing isn't it?


EDIT2:

I want to start my own agency

Try saying that as "I want to help other businesses improve their online marketing".

Now just go help someone this week and get started at it.

 

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[Andy Black]

If you work in an agency you are mostly dealing with morons. And you know what they say. You become the average of the people you spend time with. This doesnt just apply to friends.

Hahahaha. That made my day. (No, I don't mean anyone I've helped out in the forum, I mean the bigger clients.)

 

[jazb]

Where I live there isn't many agency's around. Also start-ups would not be able to afford their services, so I'd be targeting them.

I mean this is just an idea as of now, get some thoughts flowing.

Ok. If you want to get into start ups then I hope you have the patience of a saint. guys in start ups can be such a pain in the a$$. They want it absolutely perfect, they have a huge emotional attachment to it which is obviously understandable. just another barrier to beat.
You probably want to speak to @DennisDuty about this.

 

[eliquid]

Because I work in it. If you work in an agency you are mostly dealing with morons. And you know what they say. You become the average of the people you spend time with. This doesnt just apply to friends.

Ain't this the damn truth!

I have worked in agency life off and on for a total of about 7 years for others and about 10 years for myself.

I love digital marketing, but I hate people.

 

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[Gymjunkie]

If you would hear somebody say this, what would you think?

Unbelievable...

OP, if you don't know marketing then don't even think about marketing agency.. web design agency..fine.

As a freelancer I can say that there are ton of bad clients and there are ton of good clients. You'll get all kinds of until you learn how to filter them and learn how to say 'NO'.

Also, it's easy to criticise clients, but when you start an agency, you are starting an education company too. You are the professional, you are the one that has to set guidelines and explain to customers why some of their ideas work and some don't. This is not something to complain about, it's just your job as a leader and the professional to do it. There won't be many easy jobs. But they aren't all bad either.

So agency life is hard, but it's not something to bitch about either. Everything is on you as the Pro.

And to those who think agencies don't scale.. well, there is one agency that did over $1.3 Billion revenue per year:

World's Biggest Digital Agency - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapient_Corporation

 

[Gymjunkie]

Ain't this the damn truth!

I have worked in agency life off and on for a total of about 7 years for others and about 10 years for myself.

I love digital marketing, but I hate people.

So you hate people and then complain that they are morons?

Wonder whose fault that really is.. maybe check your own attitude and how that impacts your relationships at work and life?

 

[eliquid]

Maybe I hate people because they are morons.

Sounds like you need a check up from the neck up brother.

 

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[johnp]

I have worked in agency life off and on for a total of about 7 years for others and about 10 years for myself.

I love digital marketing, but I hate people.

I have heard a lot of people say that. Makes perfect sense.

Here's my spin on it.

A lot of people out there don't have the know how or the experience to do the marketing and web design. Morons are not, they actually need the help. I guess we are all bad in something.

I don't mind that. If my client is not educated in the areas of marketing or web design then I try to educate them while doing. It can get extremely frustrating and I may dislike them at times (if they are a pain in the a$$), but I always try to remain grateful for their business and the opportunity to help them. I also have clients who have had a huge positive impact on my life.

I have dealt with bad customers for more passive businesses too.

As far as building other businesses at the expense of your own, I guess it all depends on how you do it.

I could be completely wrong by standards of another person. I guess it's all about perspective.

 

[johnp]

omeone on the forum has a pretty good DM agency that he's fastlaning... I think @@FrankRumbauskas?

Is this the never cold call again guy? It seems like he also sells his own product. I get a few emails per week from him.

 

[Gymjunkie]

Maybe I hate people because they are morons.

Sounds like you need a check up from the neck up brother.

Yeah man, all people are morons and you're the only smart and enlightened one!

Sound like you need an ego check.. If instead of being a Professional and a Leader you bitch about everyone else, good luck!

 

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[Silverhawk851]

I have very limited marketing knowledge, would this be a problem?

Hahaha only slightly.

+1 to alot of the sentiments here. Especially what @Andy Black said, you need to have a thick skin if you've got to convince new people to do new things every time you get a new client.

Ideally, if you're smart, you just start a couple of your own funnels/companies, and then use your marketing agency to blow those up, sell those off for 6-7 figures and then retain them as clients/part owner

Umbrella corp for the win

 

[eliquid]

I never said all people are morons, so it seems like you are the really enlightened one.

As a matter of fact, I never even used the word "morons" from your original quote of mine, so where you got that is beyond me. Please enlighten me though. I just said I hated people. Moron never was in my posting. That word was used by someone else at the beginning of this thread.

I said I liked digital marketing but hated people, meaning the people that I routinely come across while doing digital marketing stuff. This thread is about agencies and the issues with being in one, you know? It's no surprise a lot of the talk in this thread is about the clients and people. Hmmm, i guess we are all big ego'd for thinking the same thing? I just put my spin on it after you shoved the word "morons" into my mouth in my 2nd post.

I never once said I hated all people or just those people who wear orange shirts, blah blah blah.

And I don't think they are morons because I know a little something something about marketing and they don't. If they did, they wouldn't be using an agency.

I think most of them are morons b/c, well jeez:

• What about the time one client insisted on using her Amex to pay her invoices for a full year and then on the 13th month charge backed all the payments. When asked why, she stated, "I thought it was fraud, I didn't recognize the name on my Amex statement". Our name had been the same the whole time she was client.
• The client that ended their relationship with us after we took them from $0 in revenues to $12MM because they hired a VP of digital marketing. When we congratulated them on their growth and did our exit with them, we found out the newly hired VP was the brother of the owner and the qualification he had for the job was he had put up a band page on Myspace. 6 months later this company was out of business.
• How about the client that despite all the reputation management we did for them to clean up their brand name in the SERP, routinely picked fights with people each time a negative review popped up for their name?

Jeez, I could go on and on.. but I don't have to time to "enlighten" people on here that have either never worked at an agency or have any clue what they are talking about because they simply assumed I said certain things or meant other things entirely.

 

[eliquid]

BTW, I wanted to say sorry to borntodominate for crashing the thread.

Do what you gotta do to make it, regardless of some of the other people's ( like mine ) experience has been.

You might pull it off better and larger without the headache. At least now you know what the headache is though.

 

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[theag]

After a while you'll be fed up pushing the same boulder up the same hill but for a different business.

This is the perfect analogy. SO true. Rep+

 

[theag]

Since a pissing match erupted over it in the last posts, I also wanted to clarify my original statement about morons.

Yes, I am the enlightened one and think that 95-99% of people living on this planet are morons. @eliquid seems enlightened too.

 

[borntodominate]

Thread actually turned out pretty well. I actually understand how it could be headache. I had envisioned people working for me, rainbows and money

 

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[OnlineGodfather]

I can tell you from my own expirience. I am in internet marketing for over 8 years, so i have more expirience then you for sure on all fields involved around it. I had an agency with 15+ people and i was stressed the F*ck out!(sorry, i just wanted you to feel it) I know really good how and what to do but dealing with clients, it is not really my thing BUT i think it also has something to do with the nature of this particular business in my opinion. I would not suggest you go down this road, especially since i remember couple of weeks ago you were asking how to build a website type of questions, thats no-no. (not to discourage you or offend you but what when you need to create ppc campaigns, etc...)

I would suggest you stick with what you know and double down on that since if you can not be in 5% of the best in your field, how in the world you will compete with someone like me or even better ones out there in internet marketing industry but its your life, do what you want.

 

[borntodominate]

I can tell you from my own expirience. I am in internet marketing for over 8 years, so i have more expirience then you for sure on all fields involved around it. I had an agency with 15+ people and i was stressed the F*ck out!(sorry, i just wanted you to feel it) I know really good how and what to do but dealing with clients, it is not really my thing BUT i think it also has something to do with the nature of this particular business in my opinion. I would not suggest you go down this road, especially since i remember couple of weeks ago you were asking how to build a website type of questions, thats no-no. (not to discourage you or offend you but what when you need to create ppc campaigns, etc...)

I would suggest you stick with what you know and double down on that since if you can not be in 5% of the best in your field, how in the world you will compete with someone like me or even better ones out there in internet marketing industry but its your life, do what you want.

I'd hire someone to do it for me? I honestly thought owning an agency would be mostly hands off and finding clients