Digital marketing is one of the only industries that has continued its growth through 2020 and 2021. Taking your digital marketing agency to the next level is a very exciting prospect, but if you want to do it properly, it is probably rather intimidating too. While you are likely in a position where you can sustain growth slowly, getting to that next level involves taking risks, which will make you nervous about the potential for loss. The best way to mitigate your risk is to scale up properly and carefully monitor the signs that it is time to take your business to the next level and act when the time is right.
You might feel that it’s obvious that scaling is an opportunity you should take, but you should be hesitant and take your time thinking things through. The fact that many smaller enterprises don’t achieve their aims is because they scale too quickly. You can avoid this by looking out for these signs, as they are indicators that scaling is an appropriate decision for you to make:
This is highly common – you have started to attract customers that you weren’t even targeting! That’s a surefire sign that you are ready to expand and conquer a new target market or at least widen the scope a little. This is a great sign because there’s little speculation involved – you have the raw data that your service is in demand.
It’s great to be in profit, but if you’re a small business, sitting and enjoying the dividends might not be the best option. Sitting on profit for at least two years is a good sign that you’re doing things right and should think about growing your business. You can do so gradually, but if you have great numbers behind you, you can use them to approach investors who can fuel your growth more dramatically.
If you are getting a large spike in the organic leads that are feeding into your business, you are again demonstrating a higher demand for your services, so you should think about expanding to meet that demand. It’s simple capitalist growth at its finest.
If you have a great team assembled and feel like they do a great job at running your agency with you, you should assess their effectiveness and deliberate on taking things to a new level. Do you think they’d be able to handle the business running at a larger scale, with more moving parts and more things to take care of? Will they be able to handle new employees and a maturing company culture?
The next step, once you think you are on the right track and have identified one or even more indicators, is to start putting the wheels in motion and looking to grow your company.
As the owner of a digital marketing agency, you likely have many skills and areas of expertise. However, all business leaders should have an awareness of their weaknesses, so if you are astute, you are likely also aware that there are gaps in your knowledge. Picking the brains of another expert, like a coach, is the best way to improve yourself and your business. Partnering with a Digital Agency Coach is the best way to learn invaluable expert knowledge from those dedicated to learning more about the industry you’re a part of. Your coach will help you come up with a strategy to develop your business better and will be there to be contacted whenever you need their expert advice.
Perhaps more than any other industry, a creative industry relies on excellent people. It can be very difficult to find those people but don’t think you have to take the weight of recruitment on your own shoulders. You can always work with a recruiter. They will be able to strategize with you about the exact sort of skills you need and then go and identify those people who will provide that value to your team.
When your company is getting bigger, you should start to automate specific workflows and processes, which will save you time and money, as well as create a stable pathway forward. This will allow you to take on new clients in a systematic and controlled manner.
Outsourcing is one of the blessings of modern business – it allows you to reap the benefits of new manpower without making the investment yourself. It is a great option if you want to dip your toe in the water of growth while taking minimal risks. You and your team might not be able to handle keeping up with all your new work, so you can delegate certain tasks out of the company, allowing you to make do with more time on your hands while at any moment being able to scale back and cut your costs.
