There are a lot of moving parts in the world of online marketing, and keeping up with all of it is no easy task. It’s important to have the right people, processes, and tools in place to ensure you make the right calls at the right time. If you’re looking to establish an online marketing agency or consult company, here are just a few things you need to bear in mind.

Personal Touch

People love to connect with individuals. When we interact with another person, we feel a connection and have a personal relationship. This is why when you’re setting up shop as an online marketing agency, it’s essential you have a personal touch to your business. Just having a professional front is no longer enough – you need to have the ability to have a conversation with a real person. To that end, establish a personal relationship with your customer by setting up a one-on-one conversation with them. Ask questions about their business, their products, or their marketing objectives and plan to develop a strategy to help them succeed. This will make a huge difference in the relationship you’re able to establish with your customers and, ultimately, increase your conversions.

Location

If your customers are physically located in another county or state, you’ll need to consider how you want to conduct business and what legal structures make the most sense for your situation. Many businesses operate using a LLC or corporation in place of a traditional business model. This can be beneficial as it provides more legal protections and is generally less expensive than other options. If you’re looking for a more traditional business structure with a greater degree of liability, consider using a partnership or sole proprietorship. In any case, make sure you’re aware of the legal requirements in your state or county.

Cultivating A Clientele

The best way to grow your business successfully is by developing a clientele. You can do this by establishing yourself as an expert in your industry or niche and then using that expertise to help your customers find solutions to their problems. There are two ways to go about this:

• By creating and curating content that is relevant, helpful, and of good quality.
• By establishing yourself as an authoritative voice in your industry or niche.

The first option is fairly easy to implement. You can establish yourself as an expert in your industry by taking the time to develop quality and helpful content. This can take the form of a blog, a vlog, a podcast, or a YouTube channel featuring industry insights, helpful tips, or case studies. By establishing yourself as an industry expert, you’ll be able to build credibility and trust with potential customers. They’ll be able to find helpful content that is relevant to their needs and there’s a good chance they’ll end up on your radar as a possible customer. Getting them to this point, though, can be difficult – you’ll need to create high-quality content that is good enough to convince them to listen to or read your content without any distractions or annoyances. This takes a lot of effort!

The second option is a bit more complex. You need to identify the problems that your customers are facing and then create a solution for those specific problems. It may be that you’ve seen a problem with your product and are aware of the challenges your customers are facing – in which case, your task is simply to create a solution for that problem. However, if you’re completely unaware of the problem, you’ll need to conduct research to find out what are the key issues facing your customer base. Think about your target audience and the problems they’re facing – if you can’t answer this question, it may be that your product is not a good fit for that customer base. Create a list of key problems and issues that potential customers are facing – you can then narrow this list down to three or four key issues that are the most important to address. Once you’ve established yourself as an expert in your industry or niche, this will be a lot easier – you’ll be able to create a solution tailored to meet their specific needs. To illustrate this point, let’s say that you’re a pet store specializing in German Shepherd dogs. You know that this is an expensive and demanding breed to care for, so you’ve developed a strategy to attract and retain customers – what would your strategy be? Start by creating a blog post about German Shepherd care, compile a list of the key challenges facing pet store owners with German Shepherds, and then develop a plan to tackle these issues. You can use your plan to develop a series of blog posts or a podcast episode. The important thing is that you’ve taken the time to think through your customer’s’ problems and then developed a strategy to solve them. Your customer will be able to find your expertise by searching for ‘german shepherd’ + ‘consulting’ or ‘pet store’ +’strategy’, and then find your business. You can also establish yourself as an expert by taking the time to become a Google Trusted Seller – this involves creating high-quality, responsive product listings on Google that are optimized for organic traffic. The more you commit to creating helpful, quality content, the more likely it is that customers will come back for more.

Marketing Mix

Having the right people, processes, and tools in place is one thing, but you also need to have the right mix of marketing tactics to make the most out of your online marketing plan. The difference between a well-planned and well-executed marketing campaign and a campaign that doesn’t achieve its potential is the mix. While some companies specialize in only one area of marketing (such as SEO, content creation, or social media), the best digital marketing agencies take a holistic view of the customer journey and marketing mix. This involves analyzing the demographics, psychographics, and digital behaviour of your ideal customer – the person or group of people that are most likely to purchase your products or services – and then designing a strategy to target these individuals or groups.

To develop this strategy, think about the different touchpoints – the places where you can reach out to potential customers – that your product or service has reached (or could reach). This includes offline marketing channels such as radio ads, billboards, magazine covers, and TV commercials; as well as digital channels such as your website, social media platforms, and email campaigns.

Once you’ve established yourself as an expert in your industry or niche, you can use this knowledge to create highly targeted marketing campaigns. Designing these campaigns can be difficult – you’ll need to consider how each channel fits into your overall marketing strategy and then develop a plan to allocate the right resources to make the most of each channel. Your plan will be focused on getting you to that point – the rest is up to you!

ROI

The Return On Investment (ROI) is another factor to consider when judging the success of your marketing plan. Every business is looking for ways to increase their profit, and the ability to provide a clear ROI is what makes the difference between a successful business and one that is still struggling. The best digital marketing agencies are careful not to promise unrealistic returns on investment but instead lay out quite clearly the exact amount of profit they are able to make on your behalf. This is important because it will stop you from wasting resources trying to grow your business without a clear idea of what you’re looking for – you’ll be able to track the results of your investment clearly and precisely. The best agencies also make sure to disclose any potential fees that you might incur for their services.