Freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Freelancer are another simple way to find people in need of your services. Simply respond to job postings on these sites to find an opportunity for your agency and get to work! While these marketplaces are great to find tons of work opportunities, they only work if you already have some prior work experience.
Placing local ads on Google AdWords and Facebook can be a quick way to get leads who are looking to work with someone nearby. Start by budgeting a small amount of money and trying out different variations. If you start getting leads, you can increase your budget.
While starting an agency can be hard, with the right tools and processes, things get much simpler. Whether you run your agency remotely or from an office space, using the right workplace software can streamline your business operations to boost your profit margins.
Effective communication is a crucial element in meeting client demands, analyzing work progress and collaborating on projects. Luckily, messaging tools like Fleep and Slack let you instantly communicate with your employees.
You can also share project updates and files to keep everyone on the same page. Additionally, video calling tools like Zoom and Skype are perfect for detailed discussions for specific projects and weekly meetings. They also help with team-building activities to make any remote staff feel part of your agency. As you could be working on multiple projects simultaneously, you need tools to help your employees collaborate on files and store them online.
File management tools like Google Drive and Dropbox let you store and share files and collaborate over them seamlessly. As these are cloud-based software, you can keep track of all your project files remotely. Luckily, performance tracking tools like Time Doctor make employees monitoring a breeze. Time Doctor is a powerful productivity software used by large companies like Apple, Verizon and SMBs like Firehouse Subs to monitor employee performance.
While getting new clients is important to scale your business, keeping your current ones happy is just as essential. Additionally, they can give client testimonials and refer you to their network, bringing in new business for your agency. Once your business is up and running, you need to have efficient systems in place to manage processes. In this case we were able to show how paid search was actually driving organic search later in the buying cycle, and therefore if the client was to just stop paid advertising, this would have a detrimental effect further down the line.
There was also a strong need for time lag data being fed into remarketing campaigns. Analytics showed most transactions occurred within one day, so considerable budget was saved by reducing the length of the campaign as in this sector, there was an extremely short buying decision period and there was little point showing remarketing once a purchase had been made.
Of course extra effort and excitement is always meant well, but unless you are focused this may cause more damage than it does good. You need to have the ability to get results and then scale up, rather than spreading yourself too thin early on and overwhelming everyone.
On being especially focused in your client work; I think there are a number of areas you should keep an eye on. Planning, and avoiding too much distraction. Ultimately though, planning ahead and making small adjustments as needed is a powerful stage to have in your process.
That means that to get the best results, you need to be on the same page — so having an educational approach is hugely important. Feedback on these events is continuously positive and rewarding. To really stand out, you have to do things differently. I had several of these step-change deals in my time running an agency.
I cast my mind back to my first and last. My first, a Premiership football team, I was one of 18 companies. No sane person would have entered that pitch and it nearly broke me getting to the final four.
It took hard work and the whole team going the extra mile — and they did it because they all knew what it meant for their CVs for years to come. No one went as far as we did to win that pitch — we simply did more than everyone else.
It was a step-change deal that opened up a whole sector of opportunities over the coming five years. Secondly, the last pitch before I sold the agency, I worked 64 hours with three hours sleep and most of my team did the same. The night before we pitched, we practiced until 4am, slept for an hour and then did another at 5am for the 8am pitch: eight of us in a hotel room, four creative routes, videos, a proposal that was the size of book, a global rebrand, an agency in Hampshire, pitching in Paris against two French agencies.
I often ask the question; whatever size you are when the step-change deal comes, the deal that will take your business to the next level, are you and the whole team really ready to pitch to win?
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments on what you see as the most important agency traits. You must be logged in to post a comment. Simon Penson , founder and MD of Zazzle Media: As we are a content strategy agency we have spent a huge amount of time blending expertise from print media, journalism and digital. Peter Czapp , co-founder at The Agency Collective: The only way you can find out how efficient you really are as an agency is to start using project management software, including timesheets.
Louisa Pau , managing director at Woolley Pau : Successful agencies are filled with people clients really want to work with; the kinds of people who make an effort to listen to them and understand their point of view. Truly successful agencies are making this investment. Kevin Gibbons , managing director at BlueGlass: At BlueGlass we not only experiment with our own websites, but we run them as our own businesses too. Leave a comment Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment.
While not exhaustive, I have put together what I think are the key categories of values that most agencies follow. An agency committed to clients is all about customer service and client service.
They focus on keeping their clients happy and preserving their relationships. A commitment to employees is about making a great workplace and the belief that the best workplace creates the best work. Honesty and ethics often manifest in an agency that focuses on pushing clients to do what is right rather than what they want.
They also highly value ethics in all business practices. An agency that focuses on profitability makes decisions that will maximize efficiency, margins and growing new business. An agency that focuses on social responsibility chooses people and projects that will allow them to make a difference. They also focus on the way in which they operate their company to be socially responsible. An agency with adaptability at its core is highly agile and flexible to change at many levels.
The company will try new ideas, services and clients regularly. They come in many shapes but knowing what you are is very important to growing as a company. Identity helps you understand what you are good at, where you create value and where you are headed.
Defining a creative agency. What is a creative agency? Full Service Digital Agency These agencies excel at executing on complex projects where many disciplines are required. Digital Agency These agencies are similar to full service agencies but most commonly they do not offer full advertising services. Design Agency These agencies focus on design and often work with external partners like ad agencies, consultants or engineers to fully deploy their work.
Interactive Agency These agencies focus on building great projects for the web. Engineering Agency These agencies focus on being technology experts. Advertising Agency These agencies focus purely on marketing and advertising services. Consulting Agency These agencies focus on strategy and big ideas. Design innovation These agencies specialize in using design to solve big problems. Business and billing models Understanding the business model of your company is another key factor in creating an identity.
Time and materials This is the most basic business model and often the one most used for simple projects and smaller agencies. Project based This model is used for the majority of small to medium size engagements between clients and agencies.
Value based Value based billing allows an agency to capture the high value they create for a client on what might be a relatively simple project. Revenue sharing and commission This model allows for the agency to share in a percentage of revenue rather than billing by time and materials.
Investing With this model an agency trades time for equity using their services to invest in another company. Software as a service This model allows an agency to create a software product that they sell. Acquisition Although not truly a business model, many companies seek acquisition as a primary goal. The values The last factor that I believe defines a company is its values. Commitment to customers An agency committed to clients is all about customer service and client service. Commitment to employees A commitment to employees is about making a great workplace and the belief that the best workplace creates the best work.
Ethics and honesty Honesty and ethics often manifest in an agency that focuses on pushing clients to do what is right rather than what they want. Profitability and growth An agency that focuses on profitability makes decisions that will maximize efficiency, margins and growing new business.
Social responsibility An agency that focuses on social responsibility chooses people and projects that will allow them to make a difference.
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