How to Start a Marketing Agency

Whether you’re a freelancer looking to expand your business or an entrepreneur with their sights set on their next venture, learning how to start a marketing agency can be the first step toward a rewarding career. 

Besides, with advertising agencies growing by 2.6% (from 2023 to 2024) to 433,410 advertising agencies globally in 2024, it’s a great time to take that next step to establish a marketing agency.

However, there are still considerations to take into account. There are several moving parts to navigate when starting a new business, and marketing startups are no exception. So, we’ve put together some tips to help you get started.

Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

• Starting a marketing agency can be a challenging yet rewarding experience.
• You need the right skills and experience to run an agency successfully.
• AI technology can help improve the productivity of your business.
• To guide business decisions, it's important to pinpoint your target audience and niche.
• Choosing the right pricing model from the beginning is key for efficiency.
• Scaling your business won’t happen overnight, but you do have options.

Develop Key Skills and Experience

One of the best ways to prepare for this new role is to spend time as a marketer or marketing freelancer. It’s a great way to expand your marketing skillset for your future agency.

However, this does take time — after all, there is plenty to learn about marketing and starting your own business!

Fortunately, you have options if you’re eager to get your marketing agency off the ground. You can always leverage the experience and skills of others while you’re still learning the ropes. 

You can do this by:

• Finding a partner who has excellent marketing skills.
• Working with investors to help get you through the first stages of development.
• Hire an experienced team.

As long as you have the right skills and experience on your side, you can create an agency that drives results right from the start.

Take Advantage of AI Technology

Whether your goal is to learn how to start a digital marketing agency or something more traditional, having someone on your team well-versed in AI technology has some real benefits. After all, 61% of US advertising agencies already use AI, with another 30% exploring use cases.

With AI, you can:

• Automate data analysis, customer segmentation, and content brief creation.
• Analyze massive datasets in little time, enabling you to make data-driven decisions.
• Improve personalization and customer experience by analyzing user data.
• Use predictive SEO, analytics, and forecasting to identify trends and opportunities.

However, it’s important to note that there are some issues with AI. For example, Google may penalize AI-generated content, resulting in lower rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Fortunately, with AI content detection in marketing, you can publish with confidence. If you ever become concerned about the amount of AI content on your agency’s site, you can perform a site scan to identify it.

Identify Your Target Market and Niche

You may already have a few thoughts about the audience and niche you’d like to target with your marketing agency, but it’s important to sit down and really build those ideas out. 

Here, you should ask the following questions:

• What type of marketing agency should you start? Is there a specific area of marketing I’d like to target?
• What makes my agency unique? Can I offer something that similar agencies are missing?
• Who is my ideal customer?
• What services is my customer looking for?

There are benefits to sticking within your ideal customer niche and target audience, from developing streamlined processes to providing a more consistent experience for clients.

Consider Pricing Models

Determining the right pricing model for your services is one of the most important decisions you need to make when starting a marketing business. It can play a major role in the efficiency of your agency over time, so you should weigh the pros and cons carefully.

Some of the most common pricing models include:

• Hourly: You bill clients by the number of hours you work on their services.
• Flat retainer: Clients pay an ongoing, usually monthly, fee for recurring services. 
• Per project: You charge a certain amount per project.

Make sure you also factor in other business costs when pricing your services to optimize profit margins.

Decide How You Want to Scale

Although you might start with a small operation, you may want to grow your marketing agency in the future. To do this, you need to market your business to a larger audience while keeping your current clients happy. It can be a delicate balance, but it can be done!

To scale your marketing agency, consider:

• Content marketing: Informative blog posts, videos, podcasts, and eBooks can help attract new clients and keep current ones coming back for more.
• Referrals: Clients may have connections with others in your niche.
• Networking: Whether in-person or online, networking with like-minded individuals may open up new business opportunities.

Keep in mind that scaling your agency isn’t going to happen overnight. It may take months or even years to bring it to the next level, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results right away.

Are You Ready to Start a Marketing Agency?

Starting a marketing agency requires a lot of time, resources, and continuous learning.

As long as you are willing to put in the work, refer to experts when needed, and exercise a little patience along the way, it’s entirely possible to start a successful agency that you can be proud of!

Looking for more marketing agency resources? Read our guides on how to create high-quality content, how to get SEO clients, and learn about B2B marketing agencies.