We venture to say that starting a marketing agency, especially in the digital age, is one of the toughest challenges to embark on. Imagine competing in a highly-concentrated market while also working to keep abreast with the ever-evolving tech and methodologies. Let’s also not underestimate the power of creative people – who are abundant in the field of marketing – when it comes to competition. Safe to say that now is the time to invest in a good moisturizer because the process has a high chance of aging you out quickly.
Kidding aside, we’re suggesting an additional step apart from the usual planning measures – and that is minimizing risks. This article will help you by listing some typical mistakes previous agencies made. The goal here, however, is to veer away from marketing agencies that closed too soon and instead focus on those who failed to innovate, those that hardly had any growth. We believe those are a bit more tragic as marketing, by its nature, is meant to always evolve as media changes form quite fast.
That being said, here are some reasons why marketing agencies fail to scale and how to avoid them:
Shortsighted Planning
With constant pressure to ramp up sales, it’s quite easy to lose sight of the long run in favor of your next quota. Sadly, we can’t blame these startups, as investor money is always on the line. However, taking a bit of a step back is highly advised when you feel like there’s no healthy balance between long- and short-term priorities.
The best advice is to draw a hard line between quotas and long-term plans. Prioritize building client and employee relationships to strengthen longevity. It also pays to have an efficient project management tool in place to visualize goals better.
Not Adapting With Constant Changes
Especially, the digital ones! Too often, digital innovations being set aside had been the cause of death – or major loss, at least – for some well-established brands. Time and time again, it gets proven that technological stagnation is a big no-no for marketing agencies.
The market will continually evolve, and so will its media. Lagging behind on this front will make you lose lots of inventory. First, one of marketing agencies’ well-known tasks is to instantly spot a client’s consumer base. With Millennials and Gen Z-ers gaining more purchasing power as the days pass, it will be a big mistake not to familiarize the digital landscape.
Harsh as it is, but without the risk appetite for innovation, your marketing agency will be of little to no help to your clients.
Veering Away from Unique Selling Propositions
It bears stressing that your USPs set you apart from your competitors. USPs are a key element for brand recall and recognition, providing you with an edge over the market. Sometimes, marketing agencies fail to stand firm by these, as they struggle to scale too fast by offering full-stack services at the onset.
This may sound great however the risk lies in abandoning USPs that drew in clients in the first place. We are not discouraging expanding services as a means for growth. Marketing agencies must strike a balance between expansion and having a healthy foundation to stand on.
Wasting Good Leads
In pinning a client down, the customer journey must be sustained the very moment an initial lead has been sent. This not only makes sure that their interest does not dwindle, it is also a surefire way to give an air of consistency to your prospects.
We’re well aware that this practice is quite time-consuming especially since there’s never a 100% success rate for good leads. However, a practical solution for this circles us back to our advice about adaptability as this can be easily automated. In fact, keeping Email and SMS Marketing Software in your toolbox has been quite the standard for startups now. We’re pretty sure you’ve stumbled across highly automated inquiry chatbots in some well-built sites.
A good example is Ringbot.io’s Mobile SMS Marketing Software where developers can easily link and automate lead responses tailored to your marketing goals. Even better, RingBot can also retrofit services for automating interactions between your team and your existing clients. Two-way SMS tools like these tick all our boxes as startup aspirants now have time to respond to prospects while maintaining a good rapport with their existing customers.
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Strike a healthy balance as you increase prospects while staying constant with your current services. RingBot representatives are here to customize the services needed for your business goals. Raise your agency game and start your free trial now!