Marketing agencies are excellent businesses because they don\u2019t require any money to start, and you make money more or less immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is the step-by-step blueprint for starting a marketing agency, even if you have zero experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1.) Select One Service For One Industry\/Avatar<\/h2>\n
If you have an issue with your heart, you\u2019ll want to speak to a cardiologist \u2013 not a general doctor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even if the cardiologist charges more, you\u2019ll probably go them rather than the general doctor.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
A cardiologist is much more experienced with heart issues than a general doctor and can therefore give you better advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t really want to make a gamble with your heart health.<\/p>\n
The same is true for great marketing agency clients.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t want to make a gamble. They want to hire a true expert who understands their industry and has a proven solution for their problem.<\/p>\n
If you position yourself as a specialist in a particular subset of marketing, you\u2019re actually more<\/em> likely to stand out to clients looking for the particular service you offer, and you can also charge more for your services.<\/p>\n As your agency grows and you can hire more talented experts, you can expand to offer more services.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, pick just one service as you\u2019re getting started.<\/p>\n Here are some examples of marketing agency services you can offer:<\/p>\n For broader services, like \u201cinfluencer marketing\u201d or \u201cpaid advertising,\u201d you can get even more specific.<\/p>\n For example, instead of specializing in influencer marketing, you could specialize in influencer marketing for Instagram.\u00a0<\/p>\n Secondly, pick just one industry\/avatar to serve.<\/p>\n Here are a few examples of very specific avatars:<\/p>\n Those examples are very specific. You could broaden your avatar a little (e.g., \u201cD2C companies with 10+ employees\u201d rather than D2C companies specifically in health and wellness).<\/p>\n However, the more you match the characteristics of your prospects, the more compelling you\u2019ll appear to prospects because they\u2019ll believe that your system was designed specifically for their nuanced problems.<\/p>\n The golden rule of building a marketing agency is this:<\/p>\n Produce great results for clients<\/em>.<\/p>\n The good news is that this isn\u2019t too difficult \u2013 even for beginners.<\/p>\n If you spend a few months studying and executing the service, you\u2019ll robably be better than about 90% of people.<\/p>\n But there is one problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you have no experience, how do you get your first job to practice and build experience?<\/p>\n Most people will turn you down even if you offer to work for free.<\/p>\n It\u2019s too risky. What if you tank the marketing strategy?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, you\u2019d probably prefer to pay an experienced surgeon for open heart surgery than accept a free open heart surgery from a college student with no experience.<\/p>\n The good news is that there are a few different ways around this problem.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you want to offer SEO for ecommerce.\u00a0<\/p>\n You could go onto a platform like MentorPass, look at all of the Shopify SEO experts<\/a>, and then pitch your target brands that you\u2019ll pay to take a call with one of those world-class experts to create and execute a strategy for their brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n From the brand\u2019s perspective, they\u2019re getting feedback from world-class experts and someone to execute it \u2013 all for free!<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of pitch I sent:<\/p>\n This strategy does<\/em> require you to put some cash up for the initial coaching call, but you could work out a deal where the company pays for future coaching calls.\u00a0<\/p>\n And, assuming you do a great job, you\u2019ll probably close the new client. So it\u2019s more like a customer acquisition cost.<\/p>\n Even if you don\u2019t<\/em> close the brand you pitched, the mentor you work with might be impressed with your work and give you referrals for free.\u00a0<\/p>\n If nothing else, you\u2019ll learn a lot doing the coaching call and execution, and the call is still probably cheaper than a college course!<\/p>\n Acadium<\/a> is a platform that matches new marketers with businesses that need services.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, if you want to do SEO for ecommerce, you can sign up for Acadium and request to be matched with an ecommerce company that wants help with SEO.\u00a0<\/p>\n These businesses don\u2019t expect you to have a lot of experience and (unlike businesses you\u2019d be cold pitching) are willing to put in the time to train you.<\/p>\n Each apprenticeship contract is 3 months and you\u2019ll be expected to dedicate about 10 hours per week to the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead of telling someone you\u2019ll do the work for free, just send them the completed work.<\/p>\n This strategy doesn\u2019t work for every marketing service, but it does for some.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of how you could create free samples for a D2C store:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if they don\u2019t post\/use my work<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n First, you can always just tweak the sample and send it to their competitors.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t get a response to your first cold pitch to competitors, you can even send a follow up asking them to at least give you a \u201cno\u201d as you\u2019ll send it to their competitor (but mention you would really like to work with them).<\/p>\n Even if their competitors don\u2019t accept the work, you\u2019ll have gained excellent experience and will have developed systems and processes that you can use to pitch future clients.<\/p>\n You can also add it to your portfolio.<\/p>\n My favorite strategy is simply doing the work for yourself and using it as a case study.\u00a0<\/p>\n I love this method because it allows you to experiment and find what does and does not work. You can also post about your experiences on social media, which will help you build an audience and make valuable connections.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, if you want to offer SEO services, start a website in any niche and document the process of growing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n I realize that paid ads might not be feasible if you don\u2019t have any money to spend making the case study.<\/p>\n However, services like content marketing, ghostwriting, SEO, design, and web development are all easy for you to start doing for yourself today.<\/p>\n Now that you have a few case studies and glowing reviews from people you worked with for free, closing your first paying customer will be much easier.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are some of the best ways to get your first marketing agency customers in 2025.<\/p>\n Partnerships have been one of my most profitable client acquisition strategies. Many larger agencies only deal with clients with an enterprise budget, and you can work out a referral deal where they give you some of their lower budget prospects.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t recommend pricing your services cheap<\/em>, but you can position yourself as a premium provider for smaller companies that can\u2019t realistically afford some of the larger agencies.<\/p>\n Alternatively, you could partner with some of the smaller agencies that have parallel specialties.<\/p>\n For example, if you specialize in YouTube influencer marketing, you could partner with an agency that specializes in Instagram influencer marketing. This expands their service capabilities, making it a win-win.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re confident in your capabilities, consider reaching out to some B2B influencers (LinkedIn\/X) and ask if you can do some work for them for free. If they like the work, offer to pay them to write a post about your services.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, Andrew Wilkinson occasionally promotes other companies on his Twitter account:<\/p>\n To make B2B influencer promotions work, your services must be truly outstanding. Otherwise, the influencer probably won\u2019t agree to promote it, and you could get a negative reputation before you even really get started.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve already worked for someone for free building case studies, ask if they have friends looking for the same service. If you\u2019ve done a great job for them, they\u2019ll likely be more than happy to help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, many people say they\u2019ve tried asking for referrals, and it hasn\u2019t resulted in any new business.<\/p>\n Referral strategies fail if the asker (you) puts the work on the other<\/em> person (your client) to make the referral.<\/p>\n Instead, do the work for them by writing out the text for a LinkedIn or Twitter post they can immediately publish.<\/p>\n You could also write out a list of ideal prospects who you know they know and ask if they\u2019ll make the intro to those specific people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n If you just ask, \u201cCan you give me a referral?\u201d they\u2019ll probably agree, but won\u2019t do anything. They won\u2019t want to take the time to think of who might want your services or what to write on social media.<\/p>\n Cold outreach still works if you do it correctly.\u00a0<\/p>\n These are the three core ingredients to cold email success:<\/p>\n These three ingredients may seem simple, but they\u2019re remarkably difficult to achieve.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first pillar (demand) is particularly challenging.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if the company fits your ideal customer profile, they might either already have an agency doing the service you offer and therefore aren\u2019t interested. Or they might simply not be interested in the service you offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are two options to navigate this:<\/p>\n It may seem counterintuitive to pitch companies already doing the service you offer \u2013 if they have a service provider, why would they hire me<\/em>?\u00a0<\/p>\n This is a valid point, and in many cases, they won\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, I usually see a better response rate from companies that are already investing in the service for two reasons:<\/p>\n The second ingredient is pitching the right person.\u00a0<\/p>\n Send the email to the person with the power to hire for that position.\u00a0<\/p>\n This might be the CMO, VP of Marketing, or Head of Brand for smaller companies and the head of the department (e.g., SEO) for larger companies (200 plus employees).<\/p>\n A quick LinkedIn search can reveal who this person is:<\/p>\n Then, you can use a tool like Hunter to find that person\u2019s email address.<\/p>\n The third step is crafting the pitch.<\/p>\n I typically use the subject line \u201cWorking with (brand name).\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s relatively vague, but the brand name should pique their curiosity enough to click. Remember that hiring and partnerships are probably a major part of this person\u2019s responsibilities, so they\u2019ll likely open the email.<\/p>\n However, it\u2019s also truthful, so they won\u2019t feel like it was clickbait once they open the email.<\/p>\n As for the pitch itself, try to keep it to three lines.<\/p>\n My first line is usually something about the product itself. For example, I typically try to pitch brands whose products I\u2019ve actually used. That first line is then me giving them feedback on the product.<\/p>\n C suite executives love<\/em> this information.<\/p>\n My last line is some kind of proof.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of an email I might send to a protein bar company that I\u2019m pitching influencer marketing to:<\/p>\n \u201cHi (name),<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been looking for a protein bar that\u2019s keto friendly and under 200 calories. Finally tried (brand) and haven\u2019t had any other protein bars since \ud83d\ude09<\/em><\/p>\n I learned about it through your brand through (influener name) but it took me 7 months to decide to try it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Can I share what turned me off about it? I also have some ideas to improve general campaign performance.<\/em><\/p>\n P.S. I\u2019ve 10xed the influencer marketing ROI for other D2C companies like (X), and (X)<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, I won\u2019t lie. This level of personalization is very hard to scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another option is to simply state how you discovered the brand. For example, if you\u2019re pitching to offer influencer marketing as a service, mention a specific influencer whose campaign you saw.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n \u201cHi name,\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I just learned about (brand) through (influencer).<\/em><\/p>\n I have a few ideas on how to improve your campaign. Can I share?<\/em><\/p>\n P.S. <\/em>I\u2019ve 10xed the influencer marketing ROI for other D2C companies like (X), and (X).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This is definitely easier to scale, though it probably won\u2019t be as effective.\u00a0<\/p>\n My philosophy has always been quality over quantity. Figure out who you want to work with and then laser target them.\u00a0<\/p>\n I also follow up with each brand two to three times.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cold email is one of the fastest ways to get clients for your marketing agency, but be sure to also carve out time to practice executing the work itself (either for yourself or for free).<\/p>\n If you spend all of your time sending cold emails and none of your time doing the work itself, you won\u2019t be able to move on to the next step, which is one of the most important.<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re just getting started or you\u2019ve been in business for a while, getting clients is always one of the biggest challenges agency owners face.<\/p>\n A personal brand solves this problem by allowing you to build an audience<\/a> of people who need your marketing help.<\/p>\n Once you have an engaged following, you\u2019ll notice that you consistently have a handful of people message you asking for services organically.<\/p>\n So, how do you build a personal brand?<\/p>\n We have a separate resource that goes into more detail on building a personal brand<\/a> and outlines the steps my business partner, Charles Miller, used to grow his LinkedIn and X accounts to over 100,000 followers.<\/p>\n However, I\u2019ll breifly go over the basic steps below.<\/p>\n The niche you choose should be the marketing service you offer for your target customer.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to pay an expensive branding agency for this, but the fonts and color scheme for your website, LinkedIn, and X profiles should be the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of Charles Miller\u2019s LinkedIn profile and website:<\/p>\n People follow you to read your content, so this is arguably the most important stage of the process. To attract the right people, write about the pain points you solve for your target audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, if you offer SEO for SaaS companies, write about common SEO problems you see SaaS companies make and how to fix them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some content formats that tend to perform well on social media include talking about case studies, how you\u2019ve overcome failures, and tools\/tips you use.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the problems with social media content is that it\u2019s only relevant for a few hours, so you have to consistently publish to stay relevant.<\/p>\n The good news is that you can maximize your efforts with content republishing. Here\u2019s the exact content repurposing I use on social media to post simultaneously to Instagram, Pinterest, Threads, LinkedIn and X.<\/p>\n Getting engagement when you\u2019re first starting out can be hard, as algorithms will limit your reach.\u00a0<\/p>\n To solve this problem, engage with other industry leaders on LinkedIn and build genuine relationships.<\/p>\n Over time, they may agree to share and engage with your content.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alternatively, you can also pay these influencers for engagement. However, I recommend honing your content creation skills organic first and then expand to paying for engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once you have a following, you need to give them an offer to become customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n So on your LinkedIn and X profiles, create two offers:<\/p>\n Building a personal brand really just comes down to consistency.\u00a0<\/p>\n Everyone has their own strategies for staying consistent, but I find the best approach is carving out time for content creation each week.<\/p>\n For example, schedule content creation from 8-10 am each Monday.<\/p>\n Building a personal brand takes time, and you probably won\u2019t see results overnight. However, you will find that it\u2019s one of the most effective ways to create steady demand for your services.<\/p>\n Customers go to chain restaurants because they can expect the same quality each time.<\/p>\n This is because chain restaurants have documented processes. It doesn\u2019t matter who<\/em> is making the food. The end result is always the same because they use the same documented process.\u00a0<\/p>\n Marketing agency clients also want consistent, high quality work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Creating documented processes ensures consistent work quality, even as you start hiring other people to help you.<\/p>\n Even as you\u2019re getting started, write out a process for every task you do more than once.<\/p>\n For example, if you\u2019re running an SEO agency, here are a few repetitive processes to document:<\/p>\n I recommend creating a Notion template or document for all of your processes.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are a few additional benefits to creating processes:<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to hire when you can\u2019t take on any more client work.<\/p>\n The next step is to decide which role you want to hire for.\u00a0<\/p>\n First, hire assistants and offload as much administration work as possible.<\/p>\n You can also look into AI solutions to automate as many manual processes as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve automated as much of the administrative work as possible and you\u2019re ready to hire real marketing talent, create the following matrix:<\/p>\n Hire for the fourth quadrant first.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, if you\u2019re a Facebook ads agency and don\u2019t enjoy designing the ad creative and aren\u2019t very good at it, hire someone to design the ad creative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of your early hires can also be part-time or freelance hires. For example, you can hire a designer on Dribbble<\/a> to do your ad creative work.\u00a0<\/p>\n You can also look on Upwork for simple freelance work.<\/p>\n These platforms are great for early hires. Look for people who have a high rating and have made several thousand dollars:<\/p>\n Start by giving these freelancers small test projects and see if they follow directions, complete the work on time, and are easy to work with.\u00a0<\/p>\n You can give them larger projects and more responsibilities as they prove themselves.<\/p>\n Some of them might even grow into full-time hires.<\/p>\n However, don\u2019t skimp on quality when you are ready to make a full-time hire.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wait until you can afford great talent that has repeatedly produced outstanding results.<\/p>\n The best way to find great talent is to look on LinkedIn for people who have produced the results you need not once but twice.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ideally, you want people who have been promoted internally several times, as they\u2019re clearly top performers.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll also want to start thinking about building a company culture and core values, as this will be key to building a sustainable company that lasts over time.<\/p>\n This is the step-by-step playbook on how to start a marketing agency in 2025. It\u2019s simple, but not necessarily easy. It can also be lonely, as most of your friends probably don\u2019t really understand what you\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n If you want support from a group of other like-minded people working towards a similar goal, consider joining Copyblogger Academy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a course and community run by two seven-figure entrepreneurs \u2013 myself and Charles Miller.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inside, you\u2019ll have access to courses on SEO, email marketing, content marketing, personal branding, and everything you need to start your marketing agency. You\u2019ll also be able to attend accountability sessions and ask questions in the community.<\/p>\n\n
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2.) Build Case Studies<\/h2>\n
1. Offer to bring in world class mentorship.<\/h3>\n
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2. Sign up for an apprenticeship program.<\/h3>\n
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3. Send completed work.<\/h3>\n
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4. Do the marketing for yourself.<\/h3>\n
3.) Get Your First Paying Customer<\/h2>\n
Partnerships<\/h4>\n
B2B Influencers<\/h4>\n
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Ask For Referrals<\/h4>\n
Do some cold outreach<\/h4>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXeA2C6ZbWYxCMeLg8wCtZqzWEs9jgZqfSjjbJqgVi6qc1eKg4d8Q5VVQMFDt_GJySIx9JUdFPWrrYpVtZAgnfK5Npu9jJGrlQ5FRz6slewdGMUiiEtSmJH7fX_FXbtV9WWBqDuzPQ?key=ptIEQfEQTYh6LQpSpCNqzYCa\")
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4.) Build a Personal Brand<\/h2>\n
Step 1: Niche Selection<\/h4>\n
Step 2: Create a Professional Brand Identity<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXdyulRjCX5aVgxYOrHB1IxpDzkMMf--Kbf4FwQfgQ9RPzSBPdINxHTiSpGLgoIapovICnWYHOEt5fLooFB66GBKyibkCpCW2uoCwVxjeD0mAG_0WqnvvdIvBPy5-AFe3NRAsiF53A?key=ptIEQfEQTYh6LQpSpCNqzYCa\")
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Step 3: Content Creation<\/h4>\n
Step 4: Content Repurposing<\/h4>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXcvf4z8dgQPKDNPFw31R0rSIV3cmiyHjcZAN7yg6LH8PLVorozE4seiV9iQgVFtWjeqws2eXETmpXf2AZ1Rk5S_qMed0BgIL7DVdInG48knSBfF8KEKsvs9NBAqlshzOnri332j3w?key=ptIEQfEQTYh6LQpSpCNqzYCa\")
Step 5: Content Distribution<\/h4>\n
Step 6: Create an Offer and Simple Funnel<\/h4>\n
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Step 7: Stay Consistent<\/h4>\n
5.) Document Your Processes<\/h2>\n
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6.) Invest in Great Talent<\/h2>\n
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Get More Help Building Your Marketing Agency<\/h2>\n