Why Digital Agencies Need to Diversify Quickly

You put up a query around DigitalMarketing services or Social Media services on a portal (job, social network, gig-based networks or simply a freelance network), and within minutes you are being hounded by social media “experts”. You receive calls, direct messages, messages on WhatsApp. Some of these service providers are really affordable, and from a pricing standpoint, you have hit the jackpot! There are multiple agencies/freelancers working under the garb of an agency willing to work for free, almost!

This may be appealing initially but in almost all of the cases, this model is not sustainable and cannot work for too long. The service received is poor. The ROI is minimal and the time that has been wasted in the engagement is lost forever.

The Current Digital Marketing Industry

Before we look at how to address this, let’s try to look at the history of what forced us to end up here.

The low hanging fruit – In reality, the barrier to entry for entering this profession is extremely low. Excelling is a different ball game together (which I will discuss in the latter part of this article). Anyone born in the ’80s and ’90s has a good command over technology and has seen and used these platforms, can become a so-called “digital marketer”.

No capital expenditure needed – Who does not like this? Starting a business without investment.

Design is cheap – No, the design is not cheap! In fact, I find that good design is the most expensive part. It is rather unfortunate that the way tools and software have been exploited and rampant piracy has been used. Clearly, ethics have taken a back seat.

Packaging and selling Digital Marketing courses – A lot of Digital Marketing training institutes mushroomed across India where the focus was on making a quick buck, rather than building marketers with a strong foundation. It was always quantity over quality, and these courses were not at all cheap. The graduates from these programs proudly claim to be digital marketers. We interview them for job interviews and trust me, finding a good marketer is like finding a diamond in a coal mine.

So, now we are in a situation where we have people selling services at less than $2 per hour. We have been successful in creating an extremely mediocre talent pool fighting for that $2 per hour.

How can the Agency and Brands Stay Strong in This Ever-Changing Game!

We have been observing this industry since the past decade and would like to share our observations with fellow agencies as well as brands who are looking for agencies.

You are currently over-dependent on Facebook/Instagram – Creating a graphic and posting it, writing ad copies and running simple ads; these are not going to get you too far. You need to understand that business should not be easy to replicate, hence if your client can move from you to someone else, then it is time for you to think again. If your business model revolves at the mercy of Facebook, it should be considered a red flag. We have seen a lack of consistency as far as Facebook advertising is concerned, Facebook loves to A/B test, and guess who pays for it – you or your client!

Concentrate more on original thinking – It is easy to search for similar products and services and try to copy their marketing strategy. Although I would not be completely against it as it's ok to take inspiration, your thinking needs to be original, otherwise, it will just add noise in this cacophony.

Know the Costs Involved – The bottom line is, as long as you are able to justify the costs to yourself, you will be able to justify and explain them to the client or the lead. It’s actually easy, just grab an excel sheet and estimate the following:

The number of resources required

The number of hours the task will take

Cost of the resource

That simple?!? Not exactly. Let I break down the cost of the resource (as this is what we get wrong all the time). There are various factors that come into play here while deciding this cost:

The cost to hire that resource

The cost to the company (everything goes in here, and I mean everything right down to the money taken by the janitor!)

The cost of the resource falls sick or leaves

Cost of software(s) used (you can include that in the CTC, though I would stress on the fact that even if you are small, try to follow ethics, they will take you a long way)

The cost you incur to train/motivate the resource

You cannot know these costs when you start, but keeping an eye on them and focusing on them can help you define the right price for your offering which you can back up.

One Size DOES NOT fit all – Bigger companies are no longer looking at generalists. They want people who are super-specialized. If you are still operating under the umbrella of a 360-degree agency, it’s time to rethink and focus on your core strengths.

Communication is the key – This is the part that I see most young professionals in this space get wrong, it always has to be a mix of branding and sales. Focusing on sales only may get the customer to your door but ignoring branding will not keep them engaged or encourage buying again.

The digital landscape is evolving and so should you! You need to know what the popular networks are and be there before your users show up. You need to be early adopters and have the will to experiment. This field will turn into the specialized-network-based field in the future.

If you are looking at getting your digital communication audited, do get in in touch with us at info@vggroups.com

How to choose the Best Digital Marketing Agency

Half of the private companies flop in the main year and tragically, in the event that they endure, just 5% of them make past the five years. Entrepreneurs have a low spending plan, more often than not bring down income and extraordinary odds of jumping using a loan. One wrong move and it will be demolished. All things considered, they should be cautious about where they need to spend their cash on procuring new clients. Advanced advertising has turned into a need for all the independent companies out there and the majority of them don't have an in-house computerized showcasing group. This prompts them to re-appropriating all their advanced advertising exercises. 

It is significant for these private ventures to adapt totally to any computerized showcasing organization before they redistribute their advertising exercises. They ought to do the appropriate research before marking an agreement with any office and not succumb to phony showcasing tricks. There are such a large number of low quality, obscure and blackhat computerized showcasing organizations out there which stunt independent ventures into causing them to accept that they have gone to the correct spot. Be that as it may, everything they do is eat into your computerized advertising spending plan for their own benefits. 

As an entrepreneur, you ought to comprehend that computerized promoting is anything but a solitary action but instead it comprises of various web-based showcasing systems like Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), Email Marketing, Content Marketing, video advertising and so on. Remember that despite the fact that each computerized advertising office out there cases to offer these administrations, it doesn't imply that you should get them all. For certain organizations, simply the essential advanced showcasing classifications like website improvement, web-based life-promoting, and email showcasing is sufficient while for other people, they may require amazing methodologies like substance promoting, a video showcasing, and internet publicizing. Everything relies upon your business and the spending you have at the top of the priority list for structure your advanced showcasing methodology. Web optimization and SMM are in every case very on the moderate side for everybody while content, video, online notices, and so on fall on the expensive side. Presently, here are a few hints for you to enable you to pick the best advanced advertising office. Keep these focuses on your psyche and you will never be disillusioned. 

How does the office present itself 

What great is a computerized promoting office on the off chance that they can't publicize themselves appropriately? Begin searching for computerized promoting offices that utilize inventive thoughts and procedures to showcase their administrations. On the off chance that an organization is offering computerized promoting administrations, you can figure out how they work from their online web nearness itself. Check in the event that they are positioning naturally in an initial couple of pages for your query items when you are searching for them. Experience their internet based life posts and evaluate their quality – is it persuading enough, are individuals connecting with them or are they simply go into the void, and so forth. 

Examine their site – is it totally enhanced for guests and web crawlers, do they have an appropriate webpage route, is the substance on their site persuading enough, how are they pitching their administrations, are they utilizing a legitimate suggestion to take action for everything, and so on. How an office presents itself talks a great deal about how they treat their clients. 

Do they have involvement in your industry 

As I would like to think, it is smarter to work with computerized promoting offices who have worked with organizations like yours beforehand. In the event that they have the learning and experience working with comparable organizations already, I'm almost certain they would have looked into about it and have a decent methodology close by. In addition, they will have a fundamental thought regarding what you will anticipate from them. It's far and away superior in the event that they can comprehend your group of spectators and your rivals. 

What's their procedure or work process 

There are such a large number of individuals out there who will request that you go with an organization that offers advanced promoting administrations at moderate costs. There's nothing incorrectly in that except for when an organization does all the hard work for you including examination and produces information-driven substance for your business which snaps with your potential clients, they are certain to beg to be spent. All things considered, it merits spending your cash as the outcomes will bring you many more benefits. Anyway, before you settle for a computerized advertising organization, investigate their work procedure – how would they plan, explore and execute their methodology. 

Investigate their past work or white papers to see how they work with specific issues. It will likewise enable you to see how they oversee web-based social networking, their procedure of getting data, how they explore their customers' organizations, how far they can go to enable customers to develop their organizations, and so forth. 

This is significant in light of the fact that a ton of organizations utilizes dark cap or malicious techniques to advertise your business, particularly with regards to third party referencing for SEO. This can give you snappy outcomes and everything looks great on reports however in the long haul, it won't be justified, despite all the trouble and you may get your site punished. When Google knows about something turning out badly with your SEO technique, it will begin pushing your site down except if you rush to discover and fix the issue. Be a player, and ensure your office doesn't go the incorrect method to manufacture backlinks quick for your site. You should realize that it doesn't satisfy over the long haul. 

P.S. Keep in mind that not all moderate advanced promoting administrations are terrible and not every expensive administration is great. Simply my input 

How would they examine their exhibition 

Another significant part of evaluating a computerized showcasing office is taking a gander at how dependable their outcomes are. You would need to ensure that the outcome reports and execution examinations you get are justified, despite all the trouble for the measure of cash you spend on them. Ensure you get some information about the instruments and administrations they are utilizing to break down the exhibition, survey your site's positioning and assess internet based life execution and check them on the web. Additionally, attempt to figure out how they typically oversee PPC crusades and the rundown of robotization instruments they use. This will enable you to see that they are so dedicated to their work. 

What are the bundles advertised 

At long last, it goes to the valuing. I thoroughly comprehend that it is hard for private ventures who are simply beginning to endure the harsh occasions when the challenge gets extremely hard. In any case, cost-adequacy is in every case superior to going for shoddy administrations. As opposed to going for an out and out bundle that offers every one of the fancy odds and ends, you can demand a custom bundle and pick just the administrations which you need. Most organizations offer custom bundles these days. In any case, ensure you do some exploration before you fill in the structure for a custom statement. Offices need to make benefits to maintain their own business yet on the off chance that they will be cheating you, it's an exacting no. That is the reason you have to appropriately comprehend what advanced showcasing is before you can talk with somebody from the organization on the equivalent. 

Tip: Never approach an advanced promoting organization with a clear personality or you'll fall prey to their alluring offers and terms which you won't get it. The greater part of the occasions, you won't require their extra bundles. Try not to surrender to their upsell pitches ever and lament later for eating into your spending limit. 

You have all the privilege to pose these inquiries so as to pick the best advanced promoting organization for the necessities of your private company. 

There are such huge numbers of advanced promoting organizations on the web and not every one of them is the equivalent – some of them overperform, some of them fail to meet expectations, some are simply alright, while some others are definitely justified even despite the cash. On the off chance that you don't have the foggiest idea of how to pick the correct organization to put your cash in, you won't endure the challenge without successful promoting.

The Beginning of My Digital Marketing Journey

At the age of 22, I have decided to embark on the journey towards Digital Agency ownership. This blog will document that journey. Beginning with my first social media marketing course and hopefully progressing into a career in digital marketing, my aim is to bring you with me on every step.

Why do this?

·         To summarize and document the lessons I learn on my journey.

·         To help others who may be in the same position.

·    To increase accountability, by having to broadcast my successes (and failures!).

·    To hopefully build a community of like-minded people, who can help each other along the road to success.

I am a recent college graduate who studied engineering. I am now working in the tech sector in a graduate role. I have no experience of running a business and very little experience in digital marketing. I will clarify that I understand a lot of the theory behind various digital marketing services and I am not completely alien to the concepts they work on.

To begin I aim to post pretty much daily updates of what I learn. The lessons I learn and post here will summarize what I have taken from the course which I am about to begin. I would like to point out that I will only be documenting my understanding of each lesson, and what I have taken away from it.

Following From this, it is my goal to have the course finished within 21 days, and begin my quest for clients at this point. I imagine that as I continue on this journey my updates may become less frequent; moving from daily to maybe weekly. MY updates will still concern the lessons I have learned each week, what has gone well and what I can improve on.

I hope that Two Comma Thinking can become a valuable resource for all entrepreneurs; young and old, as they start on their journey or progress on their path.

I am going to set a small measure of success here, at the start of it all. As my experience evolves, I am sure I will set new and loftier targets, but for now I would like to think that I could reach €3000 profit per month in retainers within 100 days.

This would allow me to do this full time, instead of alongside my job. If you like what you read here I would ask two things:

·     First, to keep up to date with the journey, follow us on Instagram through the link in our footer.

·      Second, if you know of any business owners out there who could avail of the services I blog about, please reach out to me or send them my contact info. This would be a huge help in meeting my goals both short and long term and allowing me to provide more high-quality content!

Thank you for sticking with me this far! I look forward to welcoming you back here with better and better content over the coming days, months and hopefully years!