It’s easy to underestimate the importance of marketing for an agency. You have clients willing to pay you for your services and projects. But what happens when you need more clients? Marketing your agency comes in: it’s about getting your name out there and letting people know about the benefits of working with your agency.
Attend Industry Events
Attending industry events is a great way to meet new clients and potential partners. It’s also a chance to get up-to-date on what’s happening in your industry, which can help your agency stay on top of trends.
The best part? It doesn’t cost anything! Here are some tips for getting the most out of attending an event:
- Make sure it’s relevant to your business (i.e., don’t go to a yoga convention if you’re a bookkeeping firm).
- Take advantage of free food and drink (and bring extra business cards). Don’t forget networking opportunities—you never know who will be there!
Practice Thought Leadership
Thought leadership is the ability to be seen as an expert in your industry and an authority on your topic. It’s important for agencies because it makes you more memorable and increases client retention.
According to a study by MarketingProfs, “thought leaders” are perceived as having expertise compared with their peers. They’re also more likely than their non-thought-leading counterparts to be invited to speak at events, receive media coverage, and be listed in directories such as Who’s Who in Business. And research from Content Magazine shows that being a thought leader can boost sales by up to 48 percent!
The good news is that every agency can practice thought leadership, even if it doesn’t have an all-star team of writers or social media experts on board. Here are five tips for doing so:
Create a Referral Force
When marketing your agency, you can create a referral force by doing things like:
- Keeping your company’s name in front of your friends and family. Offer them a discount on their first service with you, or ask if they know anyone else who might need your services.
- Working hard to resolve any issues that come up when working with customers. This way, when the customer has a need for another service, they’ll think of you first.
- Providing excellent service throughout the entire process—from initial contact through closing the sale and beyond—so that clients feel confident in your abilities and will want to refer others to you.
Reach Out to Former Clients
When former clients leave, they’re not lost forever. As part of your marketing strategy, you can reach out to them to re-engage them with your agency and find out what they didn’t like about working with you. You can then use this feedback to improve the quality of your services or revise your processes.
Finding out what clients liked about working with you will help guide how you market yourself in the future. This is especially true if they refer friends and family members to work with your agency. If this was the case for a past client, it might be worth investing more time into these relationships, so those referrals continue coming in!
Provide an Exceptional Client Experience
Timely
Being punctual is one of the most basic ways to show clients that you respect their time, and it’s also a vital part of creating a positive client experience. If an appointment says 10 am, and your client doesn’t walk through your door until 10:15, that sets the tone for what they can expect from your agency regarding professionalism and thoroughness. Marketing your agency is a breeze when you are being pedantic.
Prepared
This doesn’t just mean well-prepared—it means prepared with everything you need for their meeting or presentation, including extra pens and paper if requested or if you think they’ll need them. A laptop or tablet is loaded with all relevant documents, software such as Photoshop installed on the device, and any other specialized applications needed to complete tasks (such as QuickBooks).
Professionalism & friendliness/engagement
A great way we’ve found success here at our agency is keeping things lighthearted while still maintaining professionalism—and remembering that some clients will prefer more serious interactions than others! Always ensure everyone feels comfortable discussing what needs to be discussed during meetings, so no one feels awkward about approaching sensitive topics like budgets or timelines. And if someone seems uncomfortable discussing anything, remember there are always other ways around problems than finishing each other’s sentences! The best thing we’ve done lately has started sending thank-you notes when we finish working with someone new – it only takes an extra minute but makes us look extra thoughtful.
Conclusion
When marketing your agency, it is most important to do it consistently. You can’t just wait for clients and referrals to come to you. You have to be proactive about getting them in the first place! Also, don’t forget that sometimes the best way to market yourself is by being nice! We all want our clients to feel valued and appreciated. So treat them like they matter too!
