Thinking to start your digital marketing agency? But don’t know how to start your own digital marketing agency? Read this article! It will guide you each step on how to start your own digital marketing agency. 

Since the world is going through the fourth industrial revolution and becoming digital day by day, digital marketing is the need of the hour for every business. Traditional marketing is not a good choice at all in today’s digital age.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing includes marketing a product or service via any digital channels for example:

• Internet marketing 
• Social media marketing 
• Mobile marketing 
• Advertisement on YouTube 
• Advertisement on Google Search Engine
• Facebook marketing  
• Marketing on TikTok
• Marketing on Pinterest 

And many more digital channels. Since the 4th industrial revolution happened, the world is becoming digital aggressively.Digital marketing is a vital part of business strategy in the 21st Century. Gradually businesses will cut their traditional marketing budgets and invest more in digital marketing. 

What is a digital marketing agency?

A digital marketing agency provides digital marketing services to companies that usually don’t have in-house digital marketing teams or expertise. There are 13 thousand plus digital marketing agencies only in the US. You can see the number. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s data is not available, anyhow a lot of entrepreneurs are coming towards the digital marketing side.

Why should you start a digital marketing agency?

When we talk about digital marketing it has a big market. There are a lot of business opportunities in Pakistan and Worldwide. According to PTA, there are 161 million+ mobile phone users in Pakistan. Pakistan has 76 million + internet users. There are 3.5 billion smartphone users and 4.57 billion internet users worldwide. See the side of the market. It’s a big business opportunity for digital marketers.

What skill-set do you need to start a digital marketing agency?

If you have the following skills you can start a digital marketing agency today. Even if you don’t have these skills, no worries, you can learn now:

• Learn Digital ’Marketing Tools’
• Learn Digital ’Marketing Management Tools’
• Learn Creative Thinking
• Learn Critical Thinking
• Learn Problem Solving Skill
• Learn Strategizing 
• Learn Planning
• Learn Project Management 
• Learn Business Communication
• Learn Basic Knowledge about digital marketing 
• Learn Team building 
• Learn ’how to Unlearn and relearn’ 
• Learn Leadership 
• Lear Negotiation and sales skills 

You don’t need to learn every skill needed for a digital marketing agency, you can hire a smart Co-founder and then team to compensate you in different domains. 

Identify the problem and gap in existing digital marketing agencies:

If you are thinking of starting a digital marketing agency then the first question you should ask yourself is – why does the market need another digital marketing agency? Why Do Companies Need another agency? Where is the gap in existing digital marketing agencies? What existing digital marketing agencies are missing? Identify customers’ pain points. Identify the core-gap, this will help you to create ideas for offering solutions. How to identify problems and gaps?

• Visit existing marketing agencies and see what they are doing.
• Ask companies what problem they are facing.
• Read reports on the internet.
• Adopt other creative ways.
• Ask people and professionals.

Enlist your Ideas to solve the problem and gap in existing digital marketing agencies:

Research the market, brainstorm with your friends and family, and enlist new ideas to solve the problems you identified. Enlist all the ideas to fix customers’ pain points. Brainstorming is the key here. Think out of the box. Don’t be rigid. Let your brain create crazy ideas, note them all down, don’t be judgmental. Later, you can shortlist and fine-tune. 

Choose the best Idea and solution from the options you crafted:

Once you have a couple of innovative ideas to fix the customers’ pain-point. Choose the best idea. How to choose the best. Here is the food for thought for you:

• Your idea can offer cheap price
• Your idea can offer fast service 
• Your idea can offer trusted service 
• Your idea can offer more result-oriented services
• Your idea included more techy things that can save customers time 
• Your idea can offer more quality services as compared to your competitors 

Decide your target audience and choose your niche:

“You can’t hit a target you cannot see, and you cannot see a target you do not have.” _Zig Ziglar

All your efforts will go wrong if you don’t know your target audience. You must know to whom you will offer your services for example startups, schools, colleges, and food businesses etc.

Create a business plan for your digital marketing agency:

”A goal without a plan is just wished”. Before doing anything take your notepad and write your complete business plan to build a social media marketing agency. Launch your business on paper, before you launch it in the market. Read the following guidelines and create your plan.

How to identify the problems:

Ask yourself the very first and most important question – what problems you want to solve as a social media marketing agency. Identify gaps in the market where you can enter with your services.

How to conduct SWOT Analysis:

S – Strengths (I’m an expert in social media campaigns, I’m a good creative writer).

W – Weaknesses (I can not handle business communication with the public).

O – Opportunities (Pakistan’s businesses are adopting digital business models. New startups are appearing in Pakistan that can be my target audience. New startups need economical social media services). Rates of existing marketing agencies are a bit high. 

T – Threats (There are a lot of experienced social media agencies in the market). I have a very low investment. I have no investment. 

Before you jump into the market do your SWOT analysis. Examples are mentioned above. Now, strategize your plan accordingly. For example, if your competitors’ rates are high, you can keep a bit low to attract new customers. 

How to know your competitors:

Remember, until you know your competitor, you can not devise a strategy for your business. Since you know your services and target audience, enlist your competitor accordingly. Analyze their services, their pricing strategy, their packages, etc, and set your pricing accordingly. Keep in mind, setting your price is just playing with the first. So, be vigilant and realistic while setting the price.

How to offer a solution:

Since you know the gaps and problems in the market. Now, offer the solution accordingly so it can relieve the pain of your customers. Don’t try to offer misfit solutions. First, diagnose the pain of the customers, then offer the remedy in the form of services.

Give a catchy name to your Digital Marketing Agency:

Just like a human being, the name is the recognition of a company. Anybody knows you first with your name, anybody remembers you or calls you by your name. It said, “give a beautiful name to a baby”. Your venture is also your baby, give it a beautiful name. Tips:

• Create a short name 
• .com domain hard to find with short names or single words. So, try to create a combination name.
• Try to book the .com domain 
• If you book PK domain then reserve both .com.pk and .pk (so that none else could occupy your domain name).

Reserve a domain name for your digital marketing agency:

Since you are going to build a digital marketing agency, a domain is a must for you. Don’t think of a business in today’s digital age without a domain. 

Create an attractive logo for your digital marketing agency:

Think of a handsome boy or a gorgeous girl, his or her face is the first thing you see, same is the case with your company’s logo. A logo is the face of your company. A logo is the first impression of your company. So, create a decent logo for your startup. Hire a creative agency or you can hire a freelance creative designer with a minion budget. You can give him/her your concept or sample logos as food for thought. Then your designer can share a couple of options with you. 

Register your digital marketing agency’s name:

To build the worth of your company, register your company as:

• Sole proprietor 
• AOP (association of persons)
• Private Limited Company 

As per your business plan and long term strategy. You can consult with your mentor, consultant, and do it yourself or take the services of a professional lawyer.

Secure your intellectual properties and Get your Trade Mark Registered:

The intellectual property of your business like business name and logo etc is your property just like your own home registered with the government. So that nobody can copy your brand name, taglines, designs, or any of your digital assets. Get your intellectual property registered with IPO Pakistan. 

Build a decent website and host it:

Website is the most basic digital asset of any business. When you talk about digital marketing of any business, a website is the first thing that a customer checks to check business’ authenticity. To build a decent website for your digital marketing agency. Check some top digital marketing agencies’ websites, take some food for thought, get some creative ideas, and build a creative website for you.

Create business accounts for your digital marketing agency on social media platforms:

In today’s digital age virtual presence of every business is a must. All the businesses were already adopting online channels but since COVID-19, the process is accelerated. COVID-19 has pushed the world so hard and compelled it to adopt online ways of business. So it’s a must for you to have your business’ accounts on all popular social media accounts for example:

• Facebook 
• Instagram 
• LinkedIn 
• TikTok
• Twitter 
• Pinterest 
• YouTube 

Open your Bank Account in the name of your digital marketing agency:

Open your bank account as per your company’s type:

• Sole Proprietor Account 
• Joint Account (in case of AOP)
• Private Limited Account 

A bank account makes your financial record authenticated and transparent. Your company’s bank account makes your business trustworthy.

Get NTN(National Tax Number) for your digital marketing agency:

It’s necessary to get your business’ NTN (National tax number). By getting your NTN number and paying your due income tax to the government you fulfill your moral and national duty, and additionally, it authenticates your business, increases the worth of your business, it shows you are an honest, responsible, and trustworthy company. In the future, when you will scale your business, all your documents and tax things will strengthen your business.

Launch your digital marketing agency:

Since you have learned all the steps, It’s time to take action. Take action now! Draft a business plan and launch your own digital marketing agency. If you need to learn different skills for your digital marketing agency, Visit this Link and learn a digital marketing course from experts at Dankash to secure your future in the digital world.

 Dankash wishes you the best of luck with your business. Share your feedback or as for further help at help@dankash.com

Dankash wishes you the best of luck with your venture!