How to Find New Customers for Your Digital Marketing Agency (In a Scalable Way)

Your digital marketing agency is struggling to attract new customers. You may have had to downsize during Covid-19, or you simply need a reboot. 

We’ll give you a few pointers on how to find new customers, and how to track your scalability while you’re doing so.

Rebuild Your Brand

You may have become stale and not come up with any new marketing strategies for too long.

You have depended on your status quo and have lost clients because of it. Covid-19 has also had a knock-on effect on businesses around the globe. 

You may have tried to maintain contact with your clients, but lockdown and loss of customers may have seen them downsizing or even closing their doors. 

Whatever the reason, your customer base has declined and you need to attract new ones.

There are several strategies you can apply:

• Redefine your business goals
• Streamline your workflow
• Re-ignite your workforce
• Educate your clients
• Increase your brand awareness
• Track your progress

 

Redefine Your Business Goals

Have you lost sight of your original goals?

What should your business goals be?

What is the definition of a digital marketing agency?

Think about offering expertise in areas such as marketing, design, and copywriting. You could use your expertise to evaluate how relevant your clients’ social media content is, and monitor their website traffic. 

You could expand to other services. For example, if you are offering trusted SEO services, consider making a cheaper spin-off in a form of a meta description audit.

For a digital agency, this is a simple service that can quickly bing a big impact, as you would be surprised to discover that a lot of potential clients do not optimize that at all.

At the same time, it may serve as a door opener to expand the business with that client. Meta optimization is quite an easy win on which you can show your value. When you establish the flow, grab an email lookup tool, compile the list of fresh leads and blast them with your new offering through a cold email. 

To redefine your own goals, put yourself in your clients’ shoes and take an honest look at how well you provide what you offer. Whatever you do for clients is what you should be doing for yourself.

 

Streamline Your Workflow

Coping with the administrative stuff is one of the most time-consuming tasks of running a business. Use smart strategies to reduce your paper-based tasks:

• Automate timesheets by using an online time tracker.
• Create automated reports to save time and money.
• Use online payment systems such as PayPal rather than check payments.

The time saved here can be better spent attracting clients, so make sure you cut redundant work and use various outreach automation tools to make you and your team more efficient. 

Show your staff you can get your hands dirty. If there is an urgent deadline that needs extra input — get in there and do it. Your staff will respect that you don’t think you are too big to do menial tasks and will repay you with loyalty to your brand: they will think of it as their brand too. 

Reignite Your Workforce

Your employees may have become demotivated and are possibly afraid of losing their jobs.

The business world has done a u-turn since Covid-19. Both you and your staff could be facing uncertain futures. 

Motivating your workforce is a vital component in attracting new customers. Without your people selling your vision, you will be facing extremely long odds of success.

What would it take to make your staff feel appreciated and indispensable?

Your digital agency means everyone is working from home but this is no reason not to make everyone feel included and a part of your team.

 

Use some of these strategies to motivate your workforce:

1. Let them know how their input is valuable

Each person will have their strengths: e.g., 

• A wide business network
• Strategic thinking
• Excellent at closing deals
• A good team leader

 

2. Keep the team together

Even during the lockdown, it’s necessary to maintain team spirit.

Hold regular online meetings to keep everyone in the loop.

You could:

• Encourage them to socialize with each other online
• Have a virtual coffee break
• Play a team game
• Swap personal news

 

Enthusiasm rubs off. 

A cheerful, motivated team will be the best way to attract new customers. Trust your employees to put in the hours required of them — you do not need to micromanage your staff. Allow them to adapt to the new digital world in their ways: everyone has a personal life. Your staff will be more productive if they can work to their hours. They may find it more convenient to answer emails or draft quotes uninterrupted at 3 am. If the work gets done, there is no need to stick to regular office hours.

 

Educate Your Clients

Don’t lose sight of your existing clients. Let them know that they can still rely on you to give them the services they are paying you for.

You need to clarify which clients need which aspects of your business: tell them what they want. It’s your business to strengthen their business, and showing them how you can assist will make them follow your lead. To attract new clients, you need to let them know you are a leader in the field. You could send out a regular newsletter by email, informing them of new technologies, which may help develop their footprint.

Let prospective clients know that you are comfortable with developing local, national, or worldwide marketing strategies.

 

Increase Your Brand Awareness

You need to be the name that people mention when anyone wants a referral to a digital marketing agency.

To increase your brand awareness, you have to be visible. To be visible, you have to be an active voice on social media.

But remember that all social media exposure is not equal.

Generation Z, which includes people born after 1997, had always known “the internet”. 

Facebook is the most used social media app. As of December 2020, there were 1.84 billion daily active users (DAUs) and almost 2.8 billion monthly active users (MAUs). 

That is b.i.l.l.i.o.n.s of potential clients.

The five most popular social media apps as of January 2021 are (mil. users):

• Facebook - 2,740
• YouTube - 2,291
• WhatsApp - 2,000
• Facebook Messenger - 1,300
• Instagram - 1,221

Don’t forget other useful apps such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, and Quora. Each has its strengths, and you will have to decide which will be most useful for your business. 

Ways in which to use social media to increase your brand awareness and attract new customers include:

• Setting up a weekly or monthly blog 
• Posting photos and word of mouth referrals
• Making a short video with examples of digital marketing
• Finding and commenting on your existing customers’ social media accounts

 

Track Your Scalability

You will need to know if your methods to attract new clients are working.

You may have kickstarted your business with a great idea and a cellphone. You’ve expanded since then and have to consider responsibilities to your staff.

Time and money are too valuable to waste, so make use of technology to streamline time-consuming admin jobs e.g., your payroll and timekeeping system.

You already understand the strength of Facebook Insights and Google Analytics — both invaluable tools for analyzing statistics. Remember that knowledge is power. The more you know about the inner goings-on of your business, the better equipped you will be to address and improve less efficient areas.

Learn different skills like a new language, even if it’s not directly linked to your business. People will always appreciate it if you can communicate with them on their terms. You don’t have to be fluent, but if you can get your basic message across in French or Spanish, you have already won.

Map out a strategy for where you want to be in one, five, and ten years. Keep your ideas practical but be prepared to take chances that might pay off better than you expected.

Look at what your competition is doing right and try to emulate that. Of course, you will not copy their marketing strategies, but you can adapt the ideas to suit your own business.

If necessary, take a short course in bookkeeping: you may not be writing up your books, but you do need to know the figures are accurate.

You know what your strengths and weaknesses are, so take advantage of the former and improve the latter.

Don’t be too eager to expand. Carefully consider the consequences of each decision as it’s sometimes too easy to run away with ideas that turn out to be impractical. At the worst, they could lose your business, money, or your reputation.

Building on a small but solid base will get you where you want to be. It may take more time than you had planned, but in the long run, you can achieve more than you had originally anticipated.

 

Conclusion 

Ultimately, the best way to attract new customers is to get away from your desk and interact with people on a personal level.

Where physical restrictions will allow, set up face-to-face meetings. Arrange coffee or lunch meetings.

Don’t be afraid to post about your achievements online — not in a boastful way, but show you are proud of your work.

To summarize, remember these 5 points are the core of your business:

• Brand
• Goals
• Workflow
• Clients
• Awareness
• Scalability

Respect that people are your lifeblood and you will turn your business around in no time.

Be patient, keep your integrity, work diligently and thoroughly and you will reap all the regards you ever wanted.