No experience? No excuses. Here’s how to launch your agency now.
Dav Nash
14 min read
Thinking of starting your own digital marketing agency? You’re in luck, because now might just be the perfect time.
With the internet becoming an even bigger part of the consumer experience, brands are investing heavily in digital marketing, and by 2026, worldwide spending on digital marketing will reach more than $830 billion. Entering the market now presents plenty of opportunity for digital marketing agencies to get their slice of the pie.
And what’s more, you don’t necessarily need to have bags of prior experience to find success in this sector. With the demand for digital marketing services higher than ever, there are plenty of clients — and money — to go around.
But of course, you can’t just call yourself a digital marketing agency and expect work to roll in. In this post, we’ll run through the essential steps for how to start a digital marketing agency with no experience. Take our tips on board, and you should find that you’re in a strong position to grab yourself plenty of clients.
While it’s true that demand for digital marketing services is high, it’s important to keep in mind that there are already plenty of agencies in the market — and, as such, competition for clients, especially the top clients, can be fierce.
Putting together a robust, well-thought-out business plan will increase your chances of success. You can think of your digital marketing agency business plan as a roadmap that outlines what your agency will do, how it’ll do it, and who it’s for. In other words, it answers all the questions that you’d need to address at one point or another — and it’s much better to answer them before you’re fully underway.
Dedicating plenty of time and energy toward creating a watertight business plan offers a psychological benefit, too. It’s much easier to proceed with confidence when you have a clear outline of how you’ll achieve success.
Digital marketing agencies don’t exist just for the sake of it — they have a purpose. Your executive summary will outline why you exist, or in other words: why your clients would want to work with you.
Every agency’s executive summary will be different. A good starting point is to think, in basic terms, about what you offer. For example, if your agency will focus on, say, law firms, then your executive summary could outline that your agency will help law clients to get more clients, as well as information about the approach you’ll take to help achieve that goal.
It’s all good and well offering services that you think will benefit your clients, but if there’s no demand for them, then your agency is unlikely to be a success.
Analysing the market involves both assessing the demand for the services you’ll provide as well as looking at any other agencies currently operating in the sector.
If there are already multiple agencies catering to your target audience, then you may struggle to find clients. On the other hand, if it’s an underserved sector, then you may find it easier to get clients.
However, keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to abandon your idea just because there are other agencies in the market. If your USP — Unique Selling Proposition — is strong enough, then you can still be successful.
OK, so by now you should have an idea of which types of businesses you’re going to help. Now you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to help them.
There’s no shortage of digital marketing services you can offer, but it’s best to focus on just a few. Offering a few core services allows you to be — and just as importantly, appear — more specialised.
In your business plan, include information about the services you’ll offer and how they’ll help your clients. For instance:
Figuring out the financial details of your marketing agency is, perhaps, the most important part of your business plan. You can learn how to start a digital marketing agency with no experience, but you probably can’t start one without spending some money first.
After all, even the most basic components of your agency, such as your website, will require money.
You’ll need to put together a detailed breakdown of how much it’ll cost to run your business, how much you’ll charge for your services, how many clients you’ll need to be profitable, the cost of renting an office/co-working space, and so on.
Remember: most businesses fail due to financial issues, and many of those failures could have been avoided if the financial calculations of the business plan had been sound.
Unless you’re exceptionally lucky, it’s unlikely that clients will just fall into your lap.
You’ll need to go out and get them.
There are multiple ways to win clients. In all likelihood, you’ll use a combination of tactics. These can include:
Writing down how you’ll get clients is about more than just recording the information. It’ll also give you something to focus on from the first day you get your agency underway.
It’s good to be ambitious, but it’s better to be realistic. You might like to think that you’ll steal away all of your competitors’ clients, but it’s probably not going to happen. Taking a realistic view of what your agency can achieve in the first 6 – 12 months is key for getting started on the right foot — and for preserving your sanity!
You’ll go into your new venture full of positivity and excitement for all that you might achieve, but remember that you’ll hit challenges along the way. It’ll be much easier to roll with the punches if you’ve included those challenges in your business plan and knew that they were likely to come your way.
Having a solid understanding of your costs and projected income can help you avoid headaches further down the line.
After all, if the underlying financial calculations are incorrect, then you can’t be all too surprised if you run into financial difficulties!
Your online presence will do more than help potential clients to find you. It’ll also show those potential clients that you know what you’re doing.
After all, you probably wouldn’t trust a digital marketing agency to strengthen your online presence if you couldn’t find them online.
Putting together a strong online presence shows that you can walk the walk, not just talk the talk. It’s best to get to work on your own digital marketing as soon as possible since some elements (such as SEO) need a few months before you’ll see results.
Let’s take a look at some of the key areas to focus on.
In the vast majority of cases, the first interaction your potential clients have with your agency will be via your website.
It’s your chance to make a strong first impression. If your website has excellent design, is intuitive to use, and is full of features that your clients would want to have on their websites, then you’ll be increasing the chances that they’ll want to work with you.
Unless you have prior experience developing websites, it’ll be best to hand the job over to a web design team. Don’t worry too much if you don’t have all of your planned content on your website before launch. Once you have your key information, including your services and contact information, then it’s best to just get it online as soon as possible.
Some of your potential clients will go directly to your website, but most will simply search for your name via Google. Others will search for the services you provide (for instance, ‘digital marketing for dentists’).
If your potential clients can’t find your website via the main search engines, then you’ll struggle to find any meaningful level of success.
Plus, to a potential client, not being able to find a digital marketing agency via Google would be a red flag. After all, it’ll be hard to convince them that you’re the team they need to get noticed online if…you can’t get your own brand noticed online!
Having a presence on social media is, in this day and age, outright essential. Some 95% of the world’s internet users use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media sites — which essentially means that your potential clients are likely using the sites in one form or another.
Publishing engaging content on your social media channels will both expand your reach and help draw in more potential clients, and can also be a good way to highlight your expertise. Plus, it helps you to nurture your relationships with your clients once you’re up and running, too.
There’s much to love about hosting well-written, informative content on your website. For one thing, it’s Google’s favourite type of content, which means it can provide a big boost to your website’s search engine ranking.
Plus, it can show your potential clients that you know what you’re talking about. By hosting expert content, you’ll demonstrate that you have what it takes to offer real value, increasing the chances that your visitors become clients.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that offering your services to any and all clients is the way to go. After all, the wider your reach, the more clients you will get, right?
Well, maybe. But more likely, no. Brands don’t want cookie-cutter solutions; they want expert solutions. And you can’t be an expert in everything.
Your digital marketing agency will likely find more success if you choose a niche. This will allow you to target your services to particular types of clients, differentiate yourself from the competition, and position yourself as an expert.
There’s more than one way to become a niche digital marketing agency. Three of the most common methods are:
There are a bunch of ways to figure out which niche you should choose for your digital marketing agency. Some handy methods include:
It would be nice if clients flocked to you just because they sensed that you have what it takes to make their marketing dreams come true.
But that’s not how the real world works. Most clients will want to see evidence that you know what you’re talking about.
The problem for new digital marketing agencies is that you probably won’t have bags of evidence at your disposal, for the simple reason that, well, you don’t have any clients yet!
But there are ways around this. Let’s take a look at how you build a portfolio and ensure that it makes a positive impression.
First thing first: you’ll need to have something to show potential clients. If you’ve worked in a marketing role before, then use that (just make sure you only take credit for what you did, rather than the organisation you worked for).
You can also consider offering your services for free to charities or small businesses. You won’t be paid, but you can use the results of your efforts in your portfolio, so think of it as an investment that will pay off in the future.
Whatever examples of your expertise you use, make sure to incorporate data whenever you can. It’s much better to demonstrate the impact you had using facts and figures, rather than simply telling your potential clients that you were awesome in a role.
You’d pay attention if an agency told you they had increased organic traffic by 287%, wouldn’t you?
You’ll only have one chance to make a first impression on your potential clients. If they don’t like what they see, then they’ll be unlikely to stick around — after all, you’re not the only digital marketing agency in town!
Try to make your portfolio as engaging as possible. For that, think gifs, images, and videos; anything that helps to make it a more enjoyable experience.
If you’ve taken all of the tips above, then your digital marketing agency should be in a strong position to begin serving clients.
And really, there’s no better feeling in the world than getting your first client! It’ll be the encouragement you need that all of your efforts were worth it. Here’s how you can bring them on board.
Does your website pop up when people make searches related to the services you offer? Remember — they can’t click your ‘contact’ page if they can’t reach your website!
Your friends, family, and professional connections may know people who require digital marketing services. Ask them to spread the word about your new agency.
Not every client will immediately jump in the net. By offering free consultations, you can outline who you are, what you do, and how you can help them, increasing the chances that they become a paying client.
Serving your local area? Then reach out to local businesses. They may be unaware of how much they can benefit from working with digital marketing experts.
Are there professional get-togethers hosted in your city? Then make sure you go along — you never know who you might meet that might eventually become a client.
Struggling to get your first clients? Offer a discounted rate in exchange for a testimonial.
Your marketing strategy for your digital marketing agency will likely be pretty similar to the strategies you’ll use for your clients.
There’s no shortage of marketing strategies you can use, but most agencies find that the following tactics are right for their needs.
Investing in SEO — Search Engine Optimisation — increases the chances that your potential clients can find you via Google and other search engines. Remember: Google is the first port of call for the vast majority of internet users. By investing in your SEO, you can ensure that it’s your website that your potential clients see, not your competitors’ site.
It’s important to invest in SEO, but the effects of those efforts can take months to kick in. PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising allows you to reach the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) immediately, which is ideal for agencies who are just starting out and need to get their first clients.
You can’t just throw money at a PPC campaign and hope for the best. You’ll need to take a considered approach to ensure that your ads get put on the screens of people who are looking for your services.
Social media offers a fantastic way to engage with potential (and current) clients in a more relaxed, conversational way. It can have long-term benefits to your agency — even if someone doesn’t become a client immediately, there’s every chance that they do so in the future if you continue to publish quality content.
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies on the planet, offering a tremendous ROI. Building your email subscriber list allows you to gain more clients and get more value from your existing clients.
Looking to build your email marketing list as quickly as possible? Look at putting together valuable digital content, and then offer it for free in exchange for the user’s email address. This will help build your list and give you a chance to showcase your marketing expertise.
It would be nice if you could simply put together a marketing strategy and then let it do its thing forever and ever. But alas, it’s not like that — it needs to be continually revised, tweaked, and updated to get the best results. In fact, that’s exactly why companies hire digital marketing agencies!
You can apply the same service you’ll offer to your clients to your own operations. Once you’ve got your marketing strategy in place, make a habit of reviewing its effectiveness and make adjustments when necessary.
Having knowledge about the current best marketing practices will allow you to offer a good level of service to your clients today.
But you’re not just building your digital marketing agency for today. You’re building it for tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, and so on.
And the marketing tactics that are effective today won’t necessarily be effective in the future. Staying up to date with the latest marketing trends is essential for the long-term success of your agency. After all, your success will depend on the quality of work that you provide for your clients — and if you’re using outdated tactics, then your work won’t be nearly as effective as it needs to be to find success in a competitive market.
With virtually every brand on the planet investing in digital marketing, there’s a huge demand for good digital marketing agencies. And happily, while you’ll need to do more than simply put together a website and start calling yourself an agency, the entry barrier to operate in this sector is pretty low.
If you’re passionate about marketing and have an entrepreneurial spirit, then take the tips we’ve outlined above on board, and begin your journey towards starting your very own digital marketing agency.
