How to Start a Marketing Agency (a Practical, No-Bull Guide)

I've just launched a new YouTube channel!! The concept? I take real businesses struggling to stand the f*ck out, provide my positioning/branding/lead gen help, and record it all for YouTube. The first mini-series features three freelance marketers (copywriter Rob, ecommerce designer Laura, and non-fiction book coach Vicky).

I hope you'll set aside half an hour to watch it through. Maybe with your morning coffee? Or lunch break? Or evening onion soup? And then, the usual "Subscribe, Like, Share" would go a long, long way too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNXaHHVnVntg5gpveB-5_Q

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So you want to learn how to start a marketing agency?

You dream of a new challenge.

You’re ready to build a business and a team you look forward to working with each day.

I get it. I was in your shoes not too long ago.

In 2015, I started my consulting business because I was fed up with bad marketing and all of the noise online.

My goal was to build a no-BS approach to marketing, and I went all-in on it, even being fully transparent about our monthly profits.

Did it go perfectly? Not exactly.

But I gained a lot from my experience, and I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned along the way to my podcast listeners.

For starters, most marketing agencies are BAD.

Can this be true?

Unfortunately, there are too many sleazy marketers out there.

So I brought David Baker on the show to share his thoughts on why this is and to provide a strategy for how to start a remarkable marketing agency from scratch.

David Baker works with entrepreneurs to teach them how to make better business decisions and create firms that are scalable and sustainable.

We discussed:

• What exact steps to take before launching your agency
• How good agencies can stand out from their competitors
• Why you shouldn’t focus on serving local businesses
• Where to search when you’re looking for your first client
• How to get good clients to come to you
• And more

What follows is the 4-step approach David Baker would use to start a marketing agency from scratch (plus a bonus step at the end from yours truly).

Ready to learn how to start a marketing agency?

How to Start a Remarkable Marketing Agency From Scratch

Step 1: Identify a Viable Target Market

So why are most marketing agencies so bad?

The truth is because they’re afraid to position themselves.

Agencies fear that positioning will limit their opportunity.

They become trapped in thinking that if they specialize in the services they provide, they’re stuck in a box.

They risk the chance to work on different projects.

Let me explain why this isn’t true.

“If you’re really good at what you do, it’s hard to imagine limiting opportunities so much that you starve in this world.”—David Baker

When I started my consulting business, we focused on everything.

We took on all kinds of companies and projects — from conversion optimization to lead generation and registration.

After a while, we noticed that we worked better with specific business niches.

We decided to take a risk and start narrowing our position to only work with these types of companies.

Did it hurt our business?

While it closed a few doors for us, it opened a lot of doors too.

I only took on clients that I enjoyed working with, instead of taking on projects I didn’t appreciate.

Looking back now, I realize that narrowing my focus was the best way to compete with bigger agencies.

According to David Baker, positioning is the first step to finding a viable target market. You want to specialize your agency in an area where there IS some competition, but not more than 200 worldwide.

Think of it this way.

If there are already agencies specializing in a narrow niche, you know the market is profitable and worth pursuing.

But keep in mind, we can work from anywhere (thanks to the internet).

That’s why it’s important to look at the competition from a global marketplace.

David recommends looking for at least 2,000-10,000 prospective clients around the world that need what you’re offering.

Limited competition + a small pool of prospective clients = your positioning.