Need help getting clients for my Digital Marketing Business

[Miketing]

In your case, you say you've worked in marketing. What exactly have you been doing in terms of SEO, FB ads, and copywriting?

A bit of everything, pretty much. Worked in-house at a marketing agency for a year and a half as a marketing executive. I then left to go freelance, was a generalist for a bit, then specialised in SEO for a while working for big agencies, worldwide companies, and some client SEO. This past year or so I've specialised as a copywriter, mostly helping a couple agencies with Amazon listings, email marketing and bits of other stuff. Also done some hiring and management along the way.

It was interesting learning copywriting, but I didn't enjoy writing the same type of bland projects every day with no progression, so I left all my old clients to focus on building an agency. I now have about a month's living costs to keep me going before I need to sign a client.

I've been following a course/mentorship which teaches mostly LinkedIn outreach and phone sales which I've learnt a lot from, but as of yet, no clients signed.

Maybe I should start a thread to journal my progress.

 

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[Process]

Most come from referrals.

Plus, we get a good amount from our own rankings and PPC.

1-2 a week come from cold calling in the down time. Think hundreds of calls to get meetings before you get decent.

It comes down to have the right offer at the right time to the right person spoken in the right tone.

As you get calibrated, you can do really well. The funny thing is your pipeline fills so much most of your day becomes followups and referrals which are much easier to convert...

If you deliver value first. People love to buy and they hate to be sold to. So your offer better act, assess, and adjust until it becomes compelling.

Don’t sell ice to eskimos, sell them blankets or something to keep them warm when they’re freezing their a$$ off.

Aggressively keep your word, and keep them as repeat customers and ask for referrals early and often.

You chose an industry with no barrier to entry so you better execute on this level or higher.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

A bit of everything, pretty much. Worked in-house at a marketing agency for a year and a half as a marketing executive. I then left to go freelance, was a generalist for a bit, then specialised in SEO for a while working for big agencies, worldwide companies, and some client SEO. This past year or so I've specialised as a copywriter, mostly helping a couple agencies with Amazon listings, email marketing and bits of other stuff. Also done some hiring and management along the way.

Sounds like you have quite a bit of overall experience. Probably you should choose an area you will master, and start there, and then expand your services. Since you have some experience with all those services you have an advantage: you already understand what is involved, and you could probably learn the rest quite quickly.

I've been following a course/mentorship which teaches mostly LinkedIn outreach and phone sales which I've learnt a lot from, but as of yet, no clients signed.

The initiative is good. How many calls did you make and how many people did you reach to on LinkedIn? I would avoid this holiday period but starting with January you can keep trying. A lot of this marketing is about getting the numbers game. Contact enough people so that the probabilities can be shifted in your favor.

I would advise you to develop a template for LinkedIn and a script for your calls. You will need to keep in mind that you still need to tailor certain bits for the specificities of the business you're reaching out to. The more personalization you have the better, but you have to strike a balance between personalization and being able to send out a lot of messages / make a lot of calls. This is the balance between quality/quantity.

Typically you'd write the template structure and leave gaps for where you have to insert something specific to each business. Try to find the key person you want to reach to in that business, get their details, figure out a specific pain-point or something they could instantly improve, etc.

You can also use something like Snov.io to gather emails from LinkedIn/websites and contact the people on both LinkedIn and email at the same time - it shows that you've made a proper effort to get in touch. These are some tips, but my main advice is to keep trying, and keep trying many strategies and tactics. The biggest thing is to reach to as many people as possible.

Have you tried any of the strategies/tips mentioned above, or what has your current approach been like?

Maybe I should start a thread to journal my progress.

I highly recommend you do that. It will also help keep you accountable, and one of the biggest dangers is not being honest to yourself. It helps to have someone keep you accountable, at least it helps me

Also, to keep you on the right path you may find this thread useful: Believing In Yourself Doesn't Mean Self Deception Or Lying

 

[James Klymus]

I know there are a few people giving you a hard time here, but I hope it doesn't discourage you from continuing on. Everyone has to start somewhere, and every agency/freelancer or business for that matter has had 0 clients at one point.

I think a good approach is to really hone in on the businesses you want to help. The people who are talking about there being a million different "social media marketing agencies" popping up because of Tai Lopez, do have a point.

There are plenty of general digital marketing agencies, but what if you started helping dentists get more dental implant patients? Or helping plumbers get water heater installations? How many agencies out there ONLY help dentists get dental implant clients? I think you should get specific, because the others who pointed this out are right. Business owners will get tired of these fly by night SMM agencies calling them. You have to be specific.

Ideally you want to work with businesses that make a lot of money per sale. Using the dentist example, tooth implants can be tens of thousands of dollars! Do you think the owner would be willing to give you $2000 if you brought him $10,000+ in business?

I was talking with my girlfriends uncle at christmas yesterday about what I do, and he told me he needs someone to help one of his clients with digital marketing. His client installs commercial HVAC systems and makes over $4,000 per job. He would be foolish to NOT pay me $1000 a month to bring him in even 1-2 $4,000+ sales.

Now imagine if your agency only focused on contractors who install commercial HVAC systems. You could approach them no problem and tell them how you could help them. It wouldn't have to be some hard pitch that tries so hard to convince them that they need you. And as time goes on and you gather testimonials and case studies, all they need to do is see them and they will be on board.

 

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[GigMistress]

I happen to run a marketing agency, and I can tell you that the way I market my agency has NOTHING to do with the way I do marketing for my clients. This means that I could be very good at doing marketing for my clients, and terrible at getting clients.

And yet, if a client came to you with the needs you have, you would presumably be able to formulate a plan to achieve that client's goals, just as you have done for both yourself and your clients (albeit differently).

 

[shaun mac]

Hello, I just started a Digital Marketing Business that is mostly growth marketing via social medias. My problem is how to obtain clients? I emailed local businesses my pitch, but I get no response...
What is the best way to start getting clients for my business? Can someone steer me in the right direction.. would it be better to cold call businesses instead of email?

okay well here goes, first things first you need to be niching down, yes I know that might sounds strange but think about it for a moment, I run an agency which helps agencies I niched right down, and the reason why is when people are searching they will search terms like how do I get more clients in my ..... Not how do I do digital marketing?
Another great thing is when you niche down then straight away you are cutting your workload down, so if you are building a chatbot, then you only need 1 template and its done ready to sell again and again, you will also know the ads that work because you have had a chance to test them in your niche.
Now as for getting clients, first things first approach them with a simple hi I'm just wondering if your ...... could handle another x amount of clients per month. All you are after is a response, think how you can give value first, perhaps a free pdf on how a chatbot could work fro them and reduce their ad spend to build their email lists etc. after they reply, a lot won't as they get bombarded with messages like this every day. so think a little differently.
firstly send out the first request via sms or voicedrop as well as email, get them into your chatbot. you want to have a full sequence built, if they can see you in all angles they will know that you can do the same for their business.
This is the key. I currently run a piece of software, which I also have 1 week free so you can totally test it

macmarketing

give this a go too
Now to the most important bit, a lot of people will sign clients get them leads then realise that these people cant sell for shit, make sure you offer some form of closing training, that way you aren't looking for clients to keep your head above water but getting clients to expand

 

[DaRK9]

Red ocean type beat.

The advice on finding a niche is key. You might need to eat dirt on one job to get a solid case study if you aren’t really good at sales.

Plus once you find a good system it’s easier to replicate.

 

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[BlackMagician]

I agree, digital marketing is at the moment a hypercompetitive market. And, to be honest, whether you get clients and are successful largely depends on your sales & marketing ability. Yes, you DO need to do a good enough job (otherwise you won't get paid - and trust me, clients who pay a lot can recognize good work from bad), but it's your sales & marketing ability for your own business that will make the difference. Even if you are only decent at Facebook ads or whatever you do - you can still scale up and make a lot of money. But you gotta be at least decent. Most people totally SUCK. They literarily watched some videos about FB ads yesterday, and today they run a FB ads agency...

Just last month I spoke with some guys from the US who had reached out. Apparently they just came from working with an agency trying to do FB ads, and they spent $8K (4K to the agency) and got ZERO results. Their numbers really did look abysmal... 0.1% CTR, 0 conversions.

They didn't even know those were bad numbers. They were trying to market festivals and events. So after discussing with them, it turned out that most of their attendants came from billboards and the like. They were bleeding money because those were too expensive, and they had lost money with every event they ran.

And they were looking to have my agency do Facebook ads for them and fully book an event for them in 2 weeks. Of course I turned them down. I advised them to go back to the drawing board and think of ways to reach their target market that give more bang for their buck, even if they don't scale as well as FB. I told them: we can do FB for you if you insist, but our prices are high, and we may not get the results you want in such a short time. Other marketing methods are much better for you.

It was clear that they could get up to 1-2% CTR at least on FB, but it would still require a big ad spend to reach and convert as many people as they wished. Too big of a risk for a business that doesn't have a proven business model.

They were far better off trying offline marketing (locally) or contacting local Instagram influencers. I told them to reach back to me after they tried that. So I sent them out the door.

I'm sure newbies would have been keen to take them on and been like "YEAH, WE WILL GET YOUR EVENT BOOKED IN NO TIME! YOU'VE WORKED WITH PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING BEFORE, BUT DON'T WORRY MAN, WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED!"


It's not just that they suck. Some of them are decent. The bigger problem is that they do not know how to advise their clients. They just know how to do one thing. And they will do that one thing, but if the client doesn't need that one thing, then they will still take the client on and will not be able to distinguish what is in the client's best interest. Then they come with sleazy "friendly" BS - "oh what can I do for your business? Uh, what's your biggest problem?" and of course clients treat them like trash.

And then most one-trick ponies don't know how to take care of accounting and the legal side of business. They don't know how to negotiate and how to structure deals to their advantage. So they get cheated out of money. Clients can smell an idiot that they can abuse.

At the agency, I've never had a client not pay in the end. Never. Currently I'm about to sue a past client for 8K because he breached our contract. You must keep people you work with accountable.

If you have clients who don't pay you, then you're either doing a terrible job (and they are entitled not to pay you) or you don't know how to structure deals and make contracts. In both cases, you shouldn't be in business. Close your doors, learn how to be confident, get a good mindset, study your craft, learn how to write a contract and then come back.


I am 26 years young. You get the skills by studying, implementing and doing the work. When you get a project, you do a damn good job, even if it takes you 20 times the time you estimated it would take. You study the project. Many people I've hired in the past told me "uhh but you're only paying me $450, that means so and so hours for me" and I tell them "I've hired you on a per project basis, not on an hourly basis. It's not my fault that you can't estimate how much a project is going to take. Why did you agree to the project in the first place?"

I don't understand what is going on through these people's minds. If you need to get a task done, are you going to do a SHIT JOB just because you understand in the process of doing it that it's a bit more complicated than you first estimated? You're not going to do all the work that is required to do it well because it takes longer than YOU estimated? Really? Imagine if I said that to a client... "Ummm Mr. So and So, I'm afraid we can't get you a running funnel because you only paid $8,000 to us, and that means just 16 hours of work. Sorry about that..." I can guarantee you that if I said that my client would come and slap me and sue the hell out of me. Most people really have to fix their mindset.

Your mindset matters more than your skills. How well do you control your emotions? How clearly can you think in high-pressure situations? How well do you know to help the client? How well can you read between the lines? These soft-skills you can only learn by thinking about your past experience in a lot of depth.


Do you need success as a soccer player before you can be qualified to be a soccer manager? Read: THIS Controls Your Life And You Don't Even Know It...

Starting a business for yourself is different than marketing an existing business. You need to learn the skills that you need to market businesses for your clients. Start studying marketing. Proper studying. Read books, read articles, study landing pages, study ads, etc. Proper study takes time. It will take you at least 1-2 months of studying copywriting for example, before you can open the door and call yourself a freelance copywriter.

In your case, you say you've worked in marketing. What exactly have you been doing in terms of SEO, FB ads, and copywriting?

Pure gold. Can i get this post it's separate thread with more thoughts and inputs? Please...

 

[Bekit]

I'll be honest, and this isn't directed at you or the OP or anyone in particular: there are too many digital marketing agencies and almost all of them suck. Entrepreneurs will hire these companies and almost invariably have a bad experience. Then they try to hire some other one, hoping that the more expensive one or the one with the big name clients will finally help them. Of course, the agency takes the client because so many of these agencies are so hungry for work that they won't turn down an obviously bad fit.

This is true. What is the most dangerous, in my opinion, is digital marketing agencies who do a fabulous job of marketing themselves, and then do a horrible job of marketing the client's business. I've seen that and it's really sad.

When you get a project, you do a damn good job, even if it takes you 20 times the time you estimated it would take. You study the project. Many people I've hired in the past told me "uhh but you're only paying me $450, that means so and so hours for me" and I tell them "I've hired you on a per project basis, not on an hourly basis. It's not my fault that you can't estimate how much a project is going to take. Why did you agree to the project in the first place?"

This is gold right here.

Ideally you want to work with businesses that make a lot of money per sale. Using the dentist example, tooth implants can be tens of thousands of dollars! Do you think the owner would be willing to give you $2000 if you brought him $10,000+ in business?

Yes yes yes!

In other words, develop a good radar for who has a high-profit-margin business, and then think through what you would need to do to bring that business more customers. Once you can do it for one, you can do it for more. The HVAC example was a good one, as well as the tooth implants and other high-priced, high-margin services that solve a big pain point.

A good rule of thumb to follow: If you want to do digital marketing, pair your skills with businesses who are already following CENTS.

 

[Andy Black]

It doesn’t just have to be high ticket stuff. Lots of ways to skin this cat.

Appliance repairs in Dublin? Plentiful visitors, cheap CPCs, low ticket, pretty urgent, high conversion rate.

Treat that first purchase as a test. Get in the door, do a good job, get repeat business and referrals. (I’m talking about the electrician here, but this applies equally to any business owner.)

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

Pure gold. Can i get this post it's separate thread with more thoughts and inputs? Please...

Hi @BlackMagician ! Glad you’ve found it valuable.

Absolutely feel free to start a thread if you wish. Also feel free to ask any specific questions you’re interested in, Id be more than glad to help.

One thing to keep in mind: Im currently on holiday in a mountain area with poor internet access just from my phone, so I’ll most likely be getting back to you on the 6th of January when Im back. So if I don’t respond till then, that’s why!

 

[BlackMagician]

Hi @BlackMagician ! Glad you’ve found it valuable.

Absolutely feel free to start a thread if you wish. Also feel free to ask any specific questions you’re interested in, Id be more than glad to help.

One thing to keep in mind: Im currently on holiday in a mountain area with poor internet access just from my phone, so I’ll most likely be getting back to you on the 6th of January when Im back. So if I don’t respond till then, that’s why!

Thanks man. I have created a thread where i am confused on sales funnel. I have tagged you in it. Waiting for you to come from holiday.

 

[changelife]

1 Get your Offer (Product) but you need some who has faced the music before to advise you how to get a good product,ecommerce program,affiliate,referral,network marketing program






2 How to generate traffic to your Offer through,from Facebook Groups,Twitter,Instagram, Ouora,Youtube
Fourms,Tumblr, Livejournal >>steps Build Relationship first Send to your Capture Page to get your Clients Email address
contacts into your Data base system this helps you to continue sending
them value information while educating them to understand your
product benefits before your make a close.
3 Follow up.close ,duplicate this to your business partners where success is all based on leveraging
4 After getting enough commission you need to go viral to pay for Facebook Ads and other traffic
generating platforms

Skyrocket,go viral Your Offer(Product) Capture page connected to your Sales Funnel or Autoresponder videos to educate your clients,customers Video, video video Call To Action = SALES

 

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[minivanman]

I've seen this same question several times over the last few years and I just laugh my (*) off every time I see it. Kind of like a foot doctor telling you his foot hurts and he doesn't know what to do about it. But, a lot of people make lots of profits from things like this..... some customers aren't always thrilled by what they get for their money but they continue on. I know a guy that started a house cleaning business, never knew 1 thing about cleaning and has made millions and has it franchised now. To this day, lots of customers complain. lol Good luck!

 

[Dmorr]

One thing you can do is pick a niche on a local basis in a medium sized city. Develop a campaign and generate some leads. Target a business and see if they want the leads. If they do make a deal with them to continue providing them leads. Poof. Your first customer. Do it again in another location or niche.

 

[Swift]

Hello, I just started a Digital Marketing Business that is mostly growth marketing via social medias. My problem is how to obtain clients? I emailed local businesses my pitch, but I get no response...
What is the best way to start getting clients for my business? Can someone steer me in the right direction.. would it be better to cold call businesses instead of email?

Try various outreach methods like lumpy mail, postcards, sales letters, email, Linkedin automation through sales navigator and MeetAlfred. I try to send at least 200 letters a month or 80 lumpy mail packages along with 30 emails a day and 100 connection requests a day through meetalfred. You can also try calling up those businesses you've mailed to if they don't reply. Saying something like "hey did u get my package I help xyz do xyz without insert pain point here." Ryan Holmer on twitter and the Traffic and Funnels guys are really helpful if you're looking to learn from guys with bigger agencies.

 

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[The Abundant Man]

 

[SkyLake]

View attachment 29867

Pretty much this.

If you are new to business, the fastest way to get business is by grabbing it.

That means cold calling, cold emailing, cold walking - COLD interrupting people's day to start a conversation that hopefully leads to a sale.

Right now there are probably 100 businesses within 1 hour drive that are thinking of buying what you're selling. How can you reach even one of them and strike a conversation that leads to a deposit?

There was a thread here from a guy who was blind and got work from cold calling.

Another guy didn't have any skills and didn't have anything to sell but cold called just to see what happens - he had multiple clients within just 1,000 calls (I think).

I've met a guy in my city a few weeks ago who built his entire business on cold calling. He started not even 18 months ago and does 100k profit a month. He now works on it only 1 hour a day to keep everything running smoothly and focuses on other ventures the rest of the day.

Cold calling is so simple yet so scary but it just plain works. It's math.. it's simply impossible to not make it work.

 

[The Abundant Man]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzo5TDfamk


Jordan Belfort, himself, wrote the cold call script that Leo DiCaprio says in this scene

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQleT6BtCbE

 

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