The last two years have proven that nothing is certain, and security is a pipe dream. In fact, everybody felt the effects that COVID-19 left on the economy in 2020. Some businesses are still being held back from growing their business, creating new products and services and increasing market share.
However, 2022 seems the perfect time to grow your marketing agency. Many talented people are looking for work, your competitors have shut down, and the market has a hunger for innovation.
Here’s why you need to start growing your marketing agency today.
1. The Landscape Is Packing Innovation
During the pandemic, various new industries have popped up and current ones are reinventing themselves. Essentially, the pandemic has caused a global pause but forced industries to move forward by at least a decade.
So, it has created many new behaviors for people, which opens an invitation for new ideas and businesses. For instance, Telehealth, remote learning and convenience eCommerce are all driving a wedge in the market. Therefore, plenty of opportunities are on the rise, and there’s no better time to start growing your business than now.
2. Less Competition
Many brick-and-mortar and service businesses had to shut down entirely due to government mandates in 2020. Still, when that wasn’t in effect — the pandemic reduced foot traffic for many health-conscious consumers. In fact, over 400,000 small businesses closed down within the first three months of COVID-19, according to studies.
This is good news if you have the opportunity to deliver new services with less competition. However, fewer businesses also mean less spending power — resulting in not as much building capital as you may anticipate.
Still, there is hope. The unemployment rate is at 3.6% compared to 6.0% in 2021. It seems things are looking up for businesses and there is more activity — and companies can invest in marketing again.
3. The Talent Is Out There
While there are millions of job openings today, employers are having difficulty finding and retaining talent — calling it the Great Resignation. And while many businesses laid off workers at the beginning of the pandemic, they didn’t jump on the opportunity to get their jobs back.
Companies are finding it challenging to fill positions because people have changed. Some want to work remotely for good, while others want a flexible and meaningful career path.
Many now have the “you only live once” mentality and companies are reassessing the labor market. Luckily, you can position your business for a better future by finding the right talent and catering to workers’ needs. If your company allows remote work, flexibility and career growth, you should have no problem finding valuable employees.
You can do most marketing projects remotely with communication tools and project management software. So if you’re planning or already offer remote work, you’ll also enjoy higher employee retention.
4. Your Business Is Scalable
While certain marketing services, such as brochure printing and direct mail, have high costs — you certainly can’t avoid that. However, working in the digital marketing space gives you more freedom to scale.
While it may only take an hour to design and publish a new digital ad — it goes on to work for your clients every day. In turn, you get unlimited impressions, views and clicks. With the incredible results you bring for your clients, your services could be worth thousands of dollars of revenue or more.
More businesses need digital marketers these days. Therefore, your agency allows you to enjoy high-profit margins and lower costs if you offer digital marketing services.
Top Secrets To Growing Your Marketing Agency
If you want to know how you can grow your marketing business, here are the top secrets to achieving success.
1. Focus on a Specialization
Many marketing businesses identify themselves as full-service agencies. Yet, successful agencies grow when they focus on a niche or one field. For instance, some marketing agencies will focus on pay-per-click advertising. In contrast, others will focus on content marketing or serving eCommerce clients.
Laser focusing on a specialty allows your agency to stand out, and it also helps you:
- Create better content: As an agency, you can create cornerstone content, and specialization ensures your content is relevant and focused.
- Manage projects with better processes: You can develop better strategies and templates to handle similar challenges, whether you focus on one skill or client type.
- Achieve better rankings: It’s more challenging to rank for “digital marketing agency” than for “real estate agency.”
2. Hire Based on Who Fits Your Company
Marketing agencies consistently say hiring is their greatest challenge because of the time consumption. However, most agency owners can’t find the right talent because they use conventional hiring practices — such as studying resumes or shortlisting candidates based on experience.
These methods don’t exactly work in a fast-paced industry, and resumes often make for poor storytellers.
Instead, go beyond their skills or resume and look for a cultural fit. During interviews, you can determine whether you see yourself socializing with this person outside a professional setting.
Furthermore, your employees have to wear multiple hats if you’re a younger agency. Plus, they have to make do with what they have with limited resources. If the person is willing to find ways to get things done, they’ll make for a critical employee.
3. Avoid Making Yourself Indispensable
As an agency owner, you have numerous responsibilities between hiring people, managing clients and adapting to industry changes. One survey identified that 84% of business owners work over 40 hours a week. And one out of 10 feel overwhelmed by all of their responsibilities.
Unfortunately, marketing businesses don’t achieve growth because the owner is wearing too many hats. This makes it more critical than ever to set up processes for handling various aspects of your business.
In other words, you should avoid being indispensable to your company and start focusing more on what you enjoy doing. As for the rest of the work, you can delegate.
Make Growing Your Marketing Agency Non-Negotiable
While growing a marketing agency is hard work, you have the power to succeed — despite the challenges that many businesses face. Keep focusing on building more efficient processes, hire the right people and be picky about the clients you work with in your company.
When you remain consistent in following these tips, you will surely be on your way to achieving success.