What you Need to Run a Digital Content Agency

Digital marketing agencies are all the rage right now. Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the gig-economy to make millions by acting as mediators, delegators and negotiators. It’s a great time to be a freelancer and a better time to be an entrepreneur. But if you are one of the former and want to become one of the latter then making the switch could be easier than you thought. You just need to maintain a high-level of professionalism, follow the rules outlined in the Online Writer’s Companion, and make sure you have the following: A Team The worst thing you can do when running a digital marketing agency is to get the work first and then look for capable freelancers. In our experience you will need to test 20 freelancers for every 1 that can actually do the job. You need reliable, hard-working, talented freelancers who will always be on hand when you need them. To begin with, create some basic jobs as test jobs, letting the freelancers know that you’re looking for longer term contracts. It takes a little money (you should always offer to pay for the samples they provide) a lot of trials and a good eye. When you have that then you can start looking for work. It’s all about building supply chain contracts. A Presence Your online presence is 95% of your business and it relates to what kind of agency you run. If you run an SEO agency then you need a website that ranks highly in Google, not only because you can get more hits on local SEO keywords, but also so you can prove that you are able to practice what you preach. If you run a social media or marketing agency, then make sure you have a large special media presence. Spend time building this up before you fully commit. A Budget You need one of two things to get the ball rolling with a digital marketing agency. You either need capital so that you can launch yourself into a major ad campaign and be able to handle all the work that comes in, or you need to be prepared to work hard, saving on expenses by doing work yourself and building yourself up steadily. This latter option is the best, because you stand to lose a lot less and can get a better idea of how the business will develop. Take it one client at a time, using the profits from one job to get one that is bigger and better. No Life It sounds harsh, but it’s true: if you want to be successful as an entrepreneur in this saturated field then you need to sacrifice your social life, your vacations and everything else you enjoy and be prepared to work throughout the day. There are successful agency owners out there who only work a few hours a day, but they spend the rest of the day delegating and to get to that point they worked anywhere from 12 to 20 hours a day. Our own PJ Aitken created Compulsion Media on a small budget, relied heavily on his own expertise and continues to put every hour he has into it. As a result, he works 100+ hours a week and hasn’t take a day off in over 3 years. On the one hand, this is a great sector to get involved with and it’s one that everyone can profit from, but on the other hand you really need to work long and hard for it.