Stagnation is a real danger for an agency of any size. This begs the question, “what causes this lack of growth?” The answer; however, isn’t just one factor but many. The world of digital marketing can be fraught with many obstacles to agency development and scalability. Learning the common pitfalls, and how to overcome them is essential to long-term viability.
Client retention
One common issue many digital agencies deal with is client retention. This can stem from the quality of customer service to response time, or it can be due to the calibre of the client themselves. Focus your efforts on providing a service your customers value. Not sure what they’re looking for? Send a quick survey to find out what they find most important.
“Timely” responses to emails and phone calls can often be contentious. Quash any argument about this by providing guidelines to when and how you will respond to questions, requests and problems.
Let’s face it, there are times when we have less than stellar clients. We should always strive to meet the needs of our clients, but know that ones who are not engaged, committed and actively involved might not stay. When this happens, review client-agency interactions to see what, if anything, could have been done better. However, if you’ve done your best, evaluate why this client may not have been a good fit and utilise this as an invaluable takeaway for your acquisition strategies.
New client acquisition
Retaining your clients is always important, but without winning new clients you’ll be mired at your current size. Your first goal is to get in front of the right people. Start by speaking at industry events or going to business networking events that will put you in front of a variety of business owners and senior management that may be interested in your services.
Another fabulous acquisition strategy is to create compelling case studies, and actively seek out potential clients to pitch your strategies to. This method provides compelling evidence for what results can be expected and how well you can perform. Most decision makers are more attentive when they can see the results.
One last method is to utilise marketing to get the word out about your business. This means being listed in professional directories, engaging in local SEO and participating in paid search efforts. Social media and email marketing also play a role in this solution. Guest blogging and SEO best practices will place your URL in front of many potential customers. Marketing should be seen in the same way that you explain it to your clients, a comprehensive solution with many elements that lead to overall success.
Scaling the business
As you acquire new clients, it will soon become apparent that scalability will be an ongoing pain point. As you increase in size, you’ll begin to realise there aren’t always enough hands to get the work accomplished.
At this point, most businesses are faced with one of several decisions. Certainly, you could choose to hire additional employees, but there are some downsides to this too. You’ll have to invest your already limited time in searching for the new employee as well as training them. There will also be added costs you may not be ready for.
Hiring a freelancer is another option that many choose. With the wealth of sites like Fiverr and Upwork, it can be quite easy to find a freelancer but this has quite a time investment as well. This option has added risk, including not being able to hold the freelancer accountable for getting the work done on time. You’ll need to verify credentials and work history to ensure the freelancer has been honest about their experience. Employing a freelancer has many benefits, but can pose some concerns as well.
Lastly, an agency can choose to work with a white label solution. This is something a digital agency of any size can choose. White label solutions offer flexible pricing solutions and fulfilment without the need to train or conduct a lengthy search for assistance. At times this can be the ideal solution since you pay based on the number of accounts and spend, rather than the number of people needed to complete the work. The prior solutions involve hiring based on the number of employees needed to complete the new workload; white labelling takes the cost and guesswork out of this portion of growth. An agency should carefully weigh the possible solutions and choose the one that is most viable at their size, stage of growth and affordability.
Get help with acquisition and scalability
While it’s possible to create a thriving and continually expanding business without assistance, it truly never hurts to have a mentor. Another great avenue for gaining advice on developing your business is attending events, which gives you access to innovative strategies from forward thinking industry experts. Events also allow networking and personal development alongside business development. So, if you’d like to learn some new tactics from pros in the market, sign up for Agency Growth With AdWords At Google London hosted by innovative white label experts, InvisiblePPC.
About the Event
What
An informative event for digital agencies of every size who would like to learn how to acquire, grow and scale their PPC in 2017.
When
This event will take place on Wednesday, 22 February, 2017 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. GMT.
Where
The event will be held at the beautiful Google UK location at Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London.
About the hosts
InvisiblePPC are white label PPC experts specialising in training and fulfilment for agencies of all sizes.
“Invisible PPC are one of our most innovative partners.”
Alan Thygesen President, Google Marketing Solutions
Only 50 seats are available
