This quarter we focused on revenue generation for digital marketing agencies. In January, we discussed how new agencies get their first clients. Then, we shared how intermediate agencies score high-ticket clients.
This time, we discuss established agencies. What’s an established agency? Here are the general categories:
New agencies gross anywhere from $0 to $2,000 per month. At this point, the agency usually has just one employee: the owner. They don’t earn enough to support themselves full-time yet.
Intermediate agencies go up a bracket, making anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000 a month. It takes $8,000 per month to earn six figures per year.
We encourage our students to reach this mark as soon as possible. People can make a living with an intermediate agency, or start building a team around themselves.
Some agencies become more established, regularly bringing in over $8,000 a month. However, with greater revenue come greater operating costs that cut into profit. Once an agency becomes more established, they need to look for new sources of revenue to offset costs and continue expanding.
Also Read: How To Retain Existing Clients Long-Term
It’s Easier than You Think to Find New Revenue
To start, a new stream doesn’t require new skills.
Sometimes we think of a “new revenue stream” and equate it with learning a brand-new set of skills, or drastically changing something about our business.
That may be the case for traditional businesses, which have to invest in research and development, bring in new employees, and build relationships in a new market if they want a new stream.
But a digital economy offers far more leeway. You can generate new streams of revenue using skills you already have.
This leads to the second reason new streams are easier than you think: There are so many opportunities out there.
While we certainly live in difficult and uncertain times, we also live during an era of historic opportunity. Before the 1990s, working from home was impossible. Now, many industries have gone partially or fully digital.
It has never been easier to make money online provided you learn a marketable skill and understand how to build relationships. If you already run an established digital marketing agency, you certainly qualify.
Also Read: Essential Entrepreneurial Skills Every Digital Marketer Must Have
4 New Streams of Revenue To Consider in 2021
You already have the skills and experience to take hold of a plethora of opportunities. Here are a few ways to pump up your numbers, so that you can profit and/or expand.
- Investments
I won’t spend too long on this, because I am not a certified financial advisor. However, investing is a fantastic way to create a passive source of income, one that doesn’t require any babysitting. I’ll put it simply: If you’re not investing, then you should be. If you are investing, consider investing more.
Schedule an appointment with an expert, and tell them your goals. Have them explain the legalities that come with your business’ format. Set up a system that makes it easy to passively invest. You’ll thank yourself later.
- Courses/Learning Materials
People will pay good money for the knowledge you already possess. Think about it: You have taken an online business from 0 to six figures. Along the way, you learned and grew tremendously. If you turn around and teach others, you can earn yourself a pretty penny while paying it forward.
It’s easy to monetize your methods and sell your systems. Take some time to reflect on what works, and document it. With your clients’ permission, you could even record your conversations to show newer digital marketers how things get done.
If you start a project, like helping a client reach $10,000 in revenue for a new product, keep track of everything you do to make it happen. Take notes of the methods, results, and the length of your project. Afterward, repackage everything as a course. Here’s an example:
“90 Days to 5 Figures: How to Help Your Clients Market New Products”
When you think through the lens of creating learning materials, you’ll start to see all sorts of things you know that could benefit others.
When you learn to repurpose your experience into educational material, you’ll discover all sorts of accumulated wisdom you can monetize. The possibilities are endless.
- Coaching
This goes hand-in-hand with coursework. Like the other ideas, it doesn’t require any new skills. You already know how to run a successful agency and how to work with people.
If you offer your time to coach newer agencies, you’re bound to find some “rookies” who want help from an expert in their industry.
You could even set aside a day of the week, or certain hours of the day, for coaching calls. This is a fantastic way to earn extra money and break up your weekly routine. Plus, personally helping new businesses come along is extremely fulfilling.
- Develop Packages
Last but not least, packaging your services will take your agency to the next level. At the start, you only knew one or two skills, like SEO or Facebook ads.
As you grew, you learned new skills. You built a team of specialists. You may have found a partner whose skills complemented yours, and merged.
For example, Nick and I partnered together because I knew offline marketing extremely well, and he was an expert in SEO and web design. Soon enough, we “knew someone” for every need a client had.
Since you can do so much more than you used to, start offering tiered packages at monthly rates.
You could offer a “basic” package that optimizes content, updates their website, and runs an ad campaign or two. At the other end, offer a “premium” tier that completely offloads their marketing onto you, with the promise of improving certain KPIs.
You’d be surprised how many businesses completely outsource their marketing efforts to a pro. Many founders don’t have marketing skills. They may understand people, or know how to develop products, but they need someone to step in and help sell. That’s where your agency comes in.
You can generate more revenue by keeping several clients on retainer, paying you a flat rate, and giving you carte blanche to get results.
As an established agency, you already have the proof to get them to commit. It just requires reorganizing your services, bringing in freelancers or staff for the skills you lack, and finally, pitching your services.
Notice how none of these streams of revenue require you to change much?
You already have the skills and personnel to start right now. In the next month, give at least one of these strategies a try. As you watch your margins increase, you’ll be glad you did.
Further Reading: Scaling Your Digital Marketing Agency
Photos by Immo Wegmann, Mathieu Stern, & Nguyen Thu Hoai on Unsplash
