Digital marketing is a significant part of many company’s advertising budgets whether they are fully online themselves or have a brick and mortar component. You can start your own digital marketing business without spending too much money, but you will need some experience in the field to be successful.
Get the Experience
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Even if you’ve studied digital marketing in college, fresh out of school is not the best way to jump into running your own digital marketing company. A few years of experience can give you the network you need as well as the expertise in dealing with some of the difficulties of the job, from working with challenging clients to managing accounts to honing your technical skills. The good and the bad of marketing campaigns that you work on as an employee will give you the perspective and resilience you’ll need to go it alone. Furthermore, working full-time allows you to ease into freelancing before starting a full-fledged business. You can pick up a client here and there without having to worry about how you will support yourself.
Find Your Niche
Digital marketer can mean a lot of different things to different people, and you’ll need to decide what services you want to offer. This could include everything from copywriting and SEO to building a landing page, developing promotional campaigns, analyzing data, social media and more. You can’t master every single aspect of digital marketing, and it is better to do a few things well than to try to do everything. You should also decide whether you want to offer your services on a one-time basis or ongoing.
Get Organized
Running your own business requires organization. This means getting your own finances in order before you take the leap and putting systems in place to ensure your business runs smoothly. If you have student loans, you might want to try to pay down substantially before starting your business by looking into refinancing. Refinancing multiple loans with a private lender can mean you have just one monthly payment and could save you money monthly. If you are running a one-person operation, you may still want to consider opening a separate bank account just for business. If your digital marketing agency is going to consist of more people than just you, you need to decide what kind of business entity you will be. An attorney might help you with the right paperwork, and you may also want to consider working with an accountant.
Fee Structure and Marketing Plan
How much will you charge? Will it be hourly or by the project? Will you bundle services? How can you make sure you will get paid? These are some of the questions you’ll need to ask yourself. Furthermore, just because you’re a marketing agency doesn’t mean you don’t need a marketing plan of your own. Just as you chose the areas you wanted to focus on, you might also want to consider whether you want to target certain industries or work with organizations that have certain characteristics. For example, you may decide you want to work with education and nonprofits, or you may want to make small local businesses your main customer base.
