Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, eCommerce sales grew by a staggering 31.73% in 2020 from the previous year. While global circumstances were a direct influence, online sales continued to grow another 9.1% by Q2 of 2021. A Statista study also reported that nearly 10% of surveyed buyers made an online purchase for the first time during this period. In 2024. 37% people are making 3 to 5 online purchases each month.

While online shopping was already a growing business, it's grown apparent over the past two years that digital sales are a vital component of a successful business strategy. Whether you're new to the eCommerce world or looking to develop a lasting strategy, we've got you covered.

Below, we're going to outline tips you can use as a simple strategy to scale your eCommerce business now and start prepping for the busy 2021 holiday season.

How to Scale Your eCommerce Business for the Holidays?

Growing a business is a bit different from scaling a business. When you grow your business, you invest in the resources, so the business grows in size, but you don't necessarily make any profit.

On the flip side, when you scale a dropshipping business, you boost revenue without adding any resources. The overheads remain the same in this case. For an eCommerce business, it's crucial to find ways to increase sales and revenue.

Here are some innovative ways to scale your eCommerce business, especially during the Christmas and holiday season ahead, without spending a fortune on your resources.

1. Work on Your Brand Reputation and Social Proof

Your reputation whether it be through direct interactions or through word-of-mouth references accounts for a lot. This applies to eCommerce sales just as much as it does to brick-and-mortar businesses. Nearly every consumer (92%, to be exact) looks for some form of nonpaid and nonsponsored referral or recommendation before committing to a purchase.

Consumers are fairly self-aware of what types of products and services they are interested in buying. You can even begin to identify the intent to purchase from the types of keywords used to locate web pages through search results. At this point, your average person is merely looking for the support and validation they need to confirm that committing to the transaction is the correct choice. Whether or not they know the person recommending the brand seems to be irrelevant.

If you're looking for a minimal to no-cost investment that can help you scale your eCommerce business, look into boosting your brand reputation online. This can be done through a variety of methods. You should begin by collecting and posting previous customer reviews and opinions throughout your website and eCommerce store. Having reviews listed on every product or service page about that particular item is effective in helping customers make a purchasing decision. They may not fully trust your self-advertising, but they'll trust another buyer that has no stake in your business success.

Another method, one that we highly recommend, is to ensure that your business is listed on online directories. Directories are sites such as Yelp, Google My Business, and Bing Places. Local listings should be a part of any local business strategy, but they can help your eCommerce store as well by boosting your site's SEO value.

Individuals surfing the web can discover businesses through these online directories by searching for specific keywords, products, or industries. Your listing shares your website, physical location (if you have one), contact details, hours, products, services, and much more. Search engines like Google will recognize this information and compare it to the information listed on your business website. As long as your directory profiles are up-to-date, optimized, and contain the same accurate information listed on your site, it can build trust and boost your SEO efforts. The better your SEO value, the higher ranked your eCommerce business will be in SERPs.

Stay on top of these reputation management tools and take action to respond to customer reviews both positive or negative. Interacting with customers indicates a proactive response from your business and demonstrates that you care about the buyer experience. Taking the time to understand and remedy issues expressed by customers can also help to influence these customers, or the directories, in removing negative reviews from your reputation. By cultivating a 5-star status for your store, more visitors will be inclined to become customers.

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2. Analyze Your Inbound Marketing Strategies

Many marketing agencies make a fortune off of promising X amount of new traffic to your eCommerce store. However, what many business owners fail to realize is that web traffic by itself is simply a vanity metric. If you receive one hundred new visitors, but all of them quickly bounce away from your site, then the metric amounts to very little. While earning that traffic is part of the equation, your inbound marketing needs to lead to conversions.

The best way to gain a critical analysis of your website, the user experience, and the content you provide is to utilize free tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These will help you to quickly analyze and identify any existing issues with your website. While improving your site to be fast and responsive on all platforms is on the technical side, Analytics will allow you to test out a variety of content on your core business pages and product pages.

Ensure that the type of content on the page matches the intent of the user. For example, someone arriving at your home page or about page is generally looking to gain information and learn about your brand but is not at the stage yet where they're committed to making a purchase. On the other hand, your product pages should supply key information about a product, but the viewer is much closer to adding an item to their cart and completing the transaction.

Google Analytics can also assist you in A/B testing any content that you share on a given page. This will allow you to freely experiment with alterations in headlines, call-to-actions, images, or video content, while naturally directing traffic to the better-performing version. This is key for scaling as it allows you to extract better results from the traffic you're receiving without wasting more of your advertising budget.

Finally, any strong SEO strategy should also involve the addition of a blog on your website. While blogs are common on general, informational websites, eCommerce stores make the mistake of thinking that a blog doesn't fit into their marketing plan. Blog articles further assist your customers in learning more about your industry, products, and services, and, ultimately, make your brand a trustworthy authority. At the same time, SEO-optimized blog content contributes to your keyword and overall search rankings, which effectively pulls more, better-qualified visitors to your eCommerce store.

Investing in SEO and content creation is one of the lowest-costing, most effective long-term marketing strategies for your business. Stay ahead of your eCommerce competitors by developing a strategy, continuously testing your content, and regularly updating your website with high-quality material.

3. Improve Customer Service with Live Chat Automation

A scaling, growing business equates to a higher volume of customers. A higher volume of customers means more questions, inquiries, and general issues that may arise. Because scaling involves growth with minimal additional costs or spending, you need solutions that can help you stem the inevitable tide of incoming customer service pressures. This is where solutions like automation or even choosing to outsource ecommerce customer support come in, ensuring that your team can focus on more complex issues while routine inquiries are handled efficiently.

That's where smart automation enters the scene. Chatbots are no longer a new invention either, and a large share of initial interactions you have with businesses online are handled by automation. While not all customers will be ready to settle for a robot as opposed to humans, many businesses already found a place for automation within their customer service plan.

The top use cases reported by business owners for chatbots included providing quick answers to inquiries at 37% while resolving complaints, problems, or questions was around 35%. Your chatbot is able to instantly greet customers, identify the nature of the inquiry, and direct the individual to the right resources. Many basic interactions can be resolved with a response pulled from a content library based upon frequently asked questions. Even if the customer still requires human interaction, the chatbot effectively funnels out simple problems and quells the effects of customer churn.

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Integrating advanced technology into your eCommerce strategies can drastically reshape operations. For example, using ai for dropshipping is revolutionizing how businesses manage backend processes such as inventory management, marketing automation, and customer service efficiency. By adopting AI technology, eCommerce entrepreneurs can anticipate demand peaks and trends by analyzing historical data patterns with precision. This not only streamlines order fulfillment but also enhances personalized customer experiences—a critical component in light of increasing competition each holiday season.

As you integrate these tools, don't overlook the importance of a well-functioning eCommerce platform. For example, hiring specialists such as Shopify or WooCommerce developers ensures your site delivers a seamless and engaging shopping experience. This includes customizing features to improve user interaction, streamlining the checkout process, and ensuring the platform runs smoothly during high-traffic periods.

However, while automation may help your task management, does it positively impact your customers? A study suggests that an overwhelming 84% of customers base their purchasing decisions on their takeaways with customer service. A great experience might sway their decision to buy from you, but a negative interaction will almost definitely push them away.

Be mindful of how you use chatbots and automation. While technology seems to be slowly taking over this department, many people still quickly reach frustration points when they don't receive human interaction. Use the chatbot to identify issues and direct the user where they need to be. Ensure that your sales and support teams are well-trained and prepared to deal with issues and that they respond swiftly. Finally, ensure that you have enough personnel on your team to deal with the rise of customer issues as you begin to scale.

4. Apply to Become a Google Trusted Store

While there are a variety of sites that support your brand's reputation with reviews, none might be more valuable than Google Customer Reviews. This is because customer reviews and testimonials can appear right beside the search result for these stores without needing to ever click on a link. Not all eCommerce stores receive this benefit, and you must apply to Google to see if you are eligible to receive this certification.

To do this, you will need to find the Google Merchant Programs located in the settings of Google Merchant Center. This is where you can find a variety of business shopping programs such as Shopping ads and Local inventory ads. Simply select Enable, and Google will provide you with a survey you will need to embed on your website.

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Users will then have the option to participate in the survey when they visit your website. These questions will help Google learn what customers think about the service you provide and determine whether or not your operation is up to standards. The entire process can take up to three months, but you'll be rewarded with a Google Customer Reviews badge that you can then post on your site as social proof.

From a marketing perspective, this badge serves a similar function to licenses or certifications granted by external organizations. Because the badge granter has no affiliation with or motivation to promote your brand, customers are more likely to trust the badge provider, and, in turn, your eCommerce store as a result. Compare this to an online store that has no badges, certifications, website security, and poor customer reviews.

If you are unsuccessful in obtaining your badge, you will then have an indication that aspects of your service must be improved. In either scenario, applying is completely free and the feedback you receive for your eCommerce store is invaluable.

5. Boost Your Reach with PPC Campaigns

While pay-per-click advertisements are not a zero-cost marketing solution, they do provide you with considerable control over your budget and what you spend per month. Facebook advertising generally provides the cheapest solutions, while granting a wide reach, but Google and Amazon shopping ads are also highly effective at targeting buyers that already plan to buy. Partnering with an Amazon PPC agency can further optimize your campaigns, ensuring you’re getting the most value out of your ad spend.

To get the most out of your PPC campaigns, you'll need to ensure that you're tracking shopping results in either Google Analytics or in the Facebook Ads center via the Pixel. This will notify you of where your buyers are coming from, what they're buying, and your overall ROI for the ad spend.

Google also provides you with the ability to purchase ad extensions that create rich snippets for products or services within search engine results pages. These snippets provide you with additional opportunities to create intrigue and sell your goods. Competitor comparison extensions can allow your product result to appear next to your direct competition and highlight your superior prices or features with ease.

Finally, use the Ad Center on the platform you're using to keep a close eye on what you're paying per click for your right amazon keywords research chosen. Google Ads can especially become quite competitive, leaving you bidding and paying far too much for premium advertising if you're not careful. In these instances, it's essential to work closely with your SEO experts and determine which keywords might provide an effective, alternative strategy. Longtail keywords especially are overlooked due to their low search volume but are effective at targeting consumers with strong buyer intent.

6. Boost Customer Retention with Customer Accounts & Rewards

Every quality eCommerce store features the option to checkout as a guest or login with an account. This serves several purposes, but a primary one is to encourage customers to commit to shopping with your brand.

This may initially seem counterintuitive as adding more steps between a buyer and a purchase generally lowers conversion rates. However, those that create accounts are more likely to convert than those shopping as guests. This means that the returning traffic you receive is of a higher quality than the unnamed traffic that might visit your store.

However, you never want to bar users from making a purchase from your store without an account as this just equates to a lost sale. Instead, consider prompting users to make an account after making a purchase. They're likely to already feel strongly about their decision and you can take advantage of the opportunity by listing out the benefits your business provides with an account. You might consider offering member benefits such as free shopping over X dollars spent or guaranteed monthly discounts.

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You can also provide a one-time signup coupon or offer as an incentive to get the account created. With the email in your store's system, you'll be able to maximize your marketing efforts and create targeted email campaigns that are unique to that buyer's interests and needs. This is the best way for an eCommerce brand to get even more out of customer's that already decided that they enjoy your store.

Making an account isn't a guarantee that they will return, however. Work with your team to create solutions that actively reward your customers and make them feel positive about returning to and continuing to buy from your brand. This can include regular promotions for account owners and early-bird access to sales or new products. Some brands also offer a point reward system for every dollar spent that they can convert into discounts down the line.

7. Find Ways to Reduce Shipping Costs

A significant challenge that's unique to eCommerce stores as opposed to brick-and-mortar is the logistics expenses. While physical locations still deal with shipments, your store is responsible for safely packing, transporting, and delivering every item to and from your warehouse. The problem is that shipping costs were already climbing and the state of the world in 2020-2021 has significantly compounded the problem. Reports indicate that these inflated costs are here to stay.

An effective way of dealing with this is to outsource your product distribution to a company that specializes in logistics. While you'll still need to pay regular premiums for their services, they'll likely be able to save you money in the long-term that you would be spending on supplies, the labor of packing yourself, and shipping costs. Using asset management software can further streamline your operations and reduce overall expenses.

The costs continue to climb when dealing with international shipping as a result of customs, additional taxes, and foreign regulations. What's worse is that unless you're an expert in international freight, shipping, and inventory management, mistakes can result in delays that not only hurt you financially but hurt your reputation with the customers that are waiting on their goods. Thankfully, these shipping providers understand your plight and generally offer special rates to businesses that provide an expected amount of business every month.

By reducing logistics complexities and improving shipping efficiencies, businesses can save significant costs. For eCommerce owners aiming for seamless management through technology, explore the best logistics management tools to streamline operations. Identifying the right software ensures not just operational efficiency but also enhances customer satisfaction by timely and accurate delivery tracking.

Using advanced methods to manage eCommerce logistics can help significantly cut costs. By tapping into AI consulting for logistics optimization, businesses can enhance their operational efficiency and tackle the increasing shipping expenses tied to online sales. These improvements grant businesses a competitive edge, enabling seamless service delivery crucial for scaling.

By managing your logistics costs, particularly the cost of pallet racking systems, you can significantly improve your storage efficiency and business profitability. These racking systems are essential for effectively handling inventory which directly impacts scaling and operational processes.

An alternative way to combat rising shipping costs is to work it into the price of the product. Customers that are seasoned in shopping online generally expect to pay a bit more for the convenience of having an item delivered to their home. With the right marketing, you can promise a quality product to your customers with the convenience of fast, reliable shipping. Efficient business storage can support this strategy by ensuring that inventory is organized and readily available for quick fulfillment. With the cost worked into the product instead of a hefty, added charge, your audience is likely to find this to be a great deal. Just be mindful to do your research and do not inflate costs to a point where you're no longer competitive with your rivals.

8. Utilize Opportunities to Upsell and Cross-Sell

Your marketing strategy works and the customer is in the process of moving the item from their cart to a shipping package. Since the intent to spend is already there, there's no better opportunity to encourage the buyer to add on just one more thing.

Salespeople have been utilizing strategies to upsell and cross-sell for an eternity and the strategy should be no different when it comes to your eCommerce store. Cross-selling is simply suggesting products that add to or enhance the item they've already selected. This is generally reserved for items that are of a similar price or cheaper than the item they want. It's an easy psychological trick as if someone, for example, is already spending $20, then an additional $5 on the same credit charge is no real issue.

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Alternatively, the upsell is a final opportunity to upgrade the customer's original purchase to a more expensive model or variation. The same concept applies here in that the buyer has already overcome the struggle with the purchasing decision. Because they're committed to spending a certain sum of money, it's easier to justify spending a bit more on a product that's superior, but similar to the one that they selected on their own.

The key to a strong upsell or cross-sell is to present the opportunity without being singlyĀ overly assertive with the customer. Simply adding an upgrade option and a brief description to a cart before payment is one example of a strategy that works without getting in the way of an otherwise clean checkout process. You take advantage of the chance to sell, while the customer still feels empowered to make their own decisions.

As with any sale, a strong value proposition will speak for itself. Do not overly rely on the additional sales, but welcome them and look for opportunities to improve these conversion rates whenever you can.

Conclusion - Start Scaling Your eCommerce Business Now to Be Ready for the Holidays!

Whether you're prepared or not, online shopping is the way of the future. More shoppers than ever are making online purchases for the first time and the forecast shows no signs of this trend slowing. While it hasn't entirely replaced the need for brick-and-mortar stores, online sales present a powerful, cost-effective way to scale your sales and reach customers all around the world.

However, eCommerce is a highly competitive world for this same reason. With this in mind, you need to give your store every advantage available to compete against not only smaller stores but against juggernaut distributors like Amazon. Collaborating with an ecommerce website development company Elogic can provide the necessary support to streamline operations and boost site functionality, ensuring a competitive edge as you scale. Start by building up your reputation online by listing yourself only as many directories as possible. Keep your details up to date and work with those who leave reviews to resolve issues and maintain a sterling reputation.

Take advantage of advertising platforms such as Facebook, Google, Amazon, and others to feature your products on web pages and search results at the budget that you set. The more intelligence you gather about your audience, the better you can refine your advertisements to target a variety of persons at different stages of the buyer's journey. Platforms like Google can even award your eCommerce store with a trusted store brand so long as you provide excellent service that meets their standards.

Maximize the ROI gained from those that click your ads and visit your website by ensuring that you utilize SEO best practices at all times. Not only does this involve mapping out keywords for your web pages and creating dynamic sales content, but it also involves adding a regularly updated blog to your website. This blog can focus on the news, product updates, or serve as an educational resource for your customers to learn more about your industry. Frequent, high-quality content boosts your SEO, and, therefore, boosts your overall search rankings over time.

Finally, maximize the returns you get on the sales you are receiving by upgrading to a more efficient, cost-effective logistics process. Leave these processes to experts that can reduce costs and offer discounts to businesses like yours that deal in high volume. When customers are ready to purchase items for those partners to ship, take advantage of opportunities to upsell and cross-sell additional goods that can improve your results and assist with scaling.

With dedicated practice and the use of powerful analytics tools to test your strategies and content, your eCommerce store will inevitably scale and grant you the additional profits every business is looking for during the holidays and beyond.

For a new business, allocating a huge marketing budget is something that is not always feasible. At a time when new business owners cannot afford costly marketing methods, they can always take the help of some low-cost techniques to give their businesses a considerable marketing push. These techniques will help put their businesses on the map.

Today, the rise of digital marketing and social media has made it easier and affordable to market a business. If you are a new business owner mulling over some low-cost marketing techniques or strategies, we have got you covered. Check out these 20 low-cost marketing techniques that can help you:

1. Blog

The list of marketing techniques can't be complete without the mention of blogging. When you talk of online marketing, a business blog is an essential strategy. So, we recommend that you use it and make it work for you. In case you are unhappy with your current business blog, you can always follow some tips and make it better, such as:

1. Always sound successful
2. Write for your customers first and your company second
3. Concentrate on creating engaging blog content
4. Blog on relevant content
5. Remember to be consistent

2. Get More User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is another marketing technique you can consider for your business. It is any form of content such as videos, images, audio, and text that users have posted on online platforms like social media. Regarded as a marketing goldmine, UGC is practically free and provides great results.

To execute this marketing technique, you need to motivate your customers and fans to tell their own story, create content, and share it. This engaging, fresh content will definitely appeal to your target audience.

If the latest statistics are to be believed, millennials trust user-generated content 50% more than the original content produced by the brands. So, more UGC can help in marketing your business tremendously.

3. Claim A Hashtag

Think of a hashtag as a billboard of the internet. It is an interactive and searchable extension of your business that holds the potential to spread virally.

Today, hashtags are easily available on all the big social platforms. You can easily create one for your company and use it when you post.

4. Create Google My Business Account

When you create a Google My Business account, your business can appear in Google searches and individuals can easily find your business. Also, when you create the account, your business becomes visible on Google maps. The great thing about creating a Google My Business account is that you don't need to spend any money in the process.

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5. Upsell Your Existing Customers

So many of us see marketing as a means to reach new customers. But, it is important to know that some of the best marketing is aimed at your existing customers.

When you market back to your existing customers, you see how low-cost and relatively easy it is. So, we suggest that you upsell your existing customers if you are looking for a low-cost marketing technique.

6. Use Twitter

Twitter is an amazing marketing platform. It can help you create never-ending social buzz and a lot of brand exposure. Follow at least 10 influencers in your niche on Twitter, make sure you retweet their tweets, mention them in your comments, and follow their followers.

7. Carry Out A Contest

Running an online contest is yet another low-cost marketing technique that you can try. Giving away cash prizes or merchandise is a great way to enhance your brand image and gain some viral potential.

8. Market in Person

Try to market in person whenever you can. For instance, sometimes you meet great people in real life you may not come across on the internet. We suggest that you tell them about your business whenever the issue of work comes up during your conversation. Don't miss an opportunity to introduce your business to other people whenever you get to speak on the subject.

9. Comment on the Blogs in Your Niche

Commenting on the blogs in your niche is a great way to create a persistent brand image. The two easy steps you need to follow to use this marketing technique effectively are:

1. Search for the 5 best blogs in your niche
2. Read and comment on them regularly

You may be wondering how commenting on blogs helps market your brand. When you comment and people view your name and your associated brand, they begin to recognize you. Over time, they'll grow more curious about you and your business.

Tip: When you comment, keep a check on the quality of your comment because it shapes the perception of the person reading it.

10. Conduct A Free Webinar

Webinars help introduce your business to a wider audience. As per the latest statistics, one webinar could potentially generate over 1,000 leads.

If you plan on hosting a webinar, ensure that you brainstorm topics, plan them, and then promote them.

Tip: Try to go for a more appealing topic to attract interest.

11. Take the Brochure Route

Brochures may sound old school to you. But they are highly effective even today. This holds true particularly for small companies that are targeting a local community. A well-designed brochure is a fantastic marketing material that talks about how your business stands out and it doesn't cost a bomb.

12. Make Engaging Videos

Let's look at some video marketing statistics for 2021 first. 68% of consumers prefer viewing videos to learn about new services or products over infographics, presentations, ebooks, and articles.

Videos are marketing tools that are easy to consume and can help generate leads. To limit the costs, begin by creating basic videos that you can make on your own. You can then upgrade to more professional videos in the future when you have the budget for them.

13. Make A LinkedIn Group

LinkedIn is a social network of professionals that provides you with remarkable marketing opportunities. It also acts as a powerful resume builder, offering much more than just a place to display your resume. You can use it to publish content, connect with people, and create a marketing group of members in thousands. And the good thing is that all of this will cost you nothing!

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14. Provide Free Help To Others

Offering help and guidance is a great way to build a sense of community. For instance, think about offering memberships to customers who cannot afford your service, or giving away a product, or contributing an hour of your time.

15. Get Yourself A Business Award

So many industries host business awards in various categories. Work hard for your business, take part in a competition relevant to your industry, and aim to become the recipient of a business award. If you win the award, it will work as a badge of honor on your site that will help boost your credibility and increase sales.

16. Do Smart Email Marketing

Email marketing is a cost-effective way to connect with your existing customers and those who have signed up for your emails. Ensure you do smart email marketing and do not spam your customers with emails as it can diminish your sales. Use email marketing campaigns only when you have to share something important.

17. Create Content

Another way to market your business at a low cost is by publishing great content. The content can be in the form of listicles, infographics, know-how guides, and more. You must then find ways to distribute it effectively and get the wider public to consume it.

18. Join a Local Networking Group

When you join a local network group, you get a chance to connect with other businesses and let the local community know about your business. The latter is one of the best ways to build a customer base, especially when yours is a new business.

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19. Cross-Promote

An incredible marketing method that a lot of companies use is called cross-promotion. In cross-promotion, you partner with related businesses that help market your services and in return, you market their services. Pretty cool, right?

20. Consider Sending Text Messages

Ā People from all walks of life use text messages to communicate. Then why should brands be any different? The good thing about text messages is that they can be delivered to a lot of people instantaneously.

You can easily use text messages for different types of marketing. For instance, you can send discounts/coupons or inform your customers about the opening of a new store via text messages.

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Additionally, text messages are wonderful marketing tools as they help deliver more information to customers. For example, a text message from your business can include a map, video, or a link to your website (make sure your website is mobile-friendly).

Tip: Now that we are on the subject of a mobile-friendly website, you must know that having a mobile-friendly website is crucial for your business. We all know that building a mobile-friendly, professional, niche-based website can take several days. But, if you use DashClicks' agency website tool, you can make a mobile-friendly, custom branded agency website in just a few seconds.

Wrapping It Up

Remember, you can do marketing for your business without having to break the bank. The above-mentioned low-cost marketing techniques work really well, especially for small businesses. These ideas help promote your brand and take your business to new heights. Invest your time and effort in the implementation of these techniques and you are set!

Now that you know a lot of low-cost marketing techniques, you can start marketing your business today. We also want to ask - which of these marketing techniques are you absolutely going to try? Which of these techniques do you think are the most effective?

In order to keep their businesses operational and viable, business owners take the help of marketing. This is because it helps them raise brand awareness and attract customers. If you are a small business owner, getting the word out about your business can pose a challenge due to a lack of resources or less visibility. However, some strategies can help scale the marketing efforts of your small business. From building your website's SEO to email marketing, there are many marketing strategies that can help market your business and get you, new customers.

Irrespective of whether you have time restraints due to a small team, have a limited budget, or simply require some direction, small business marketing strategies and tips will always come in handy. Let's discuss them in detail:

Small Business Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategies promote your business to a target audience, help brand your business, and help achieve sales goals. After you get listed on Google, here are some of the best marketing strategies for small businesses that you can follow:

1. Create A Website

A website is a channel you own. It is a place where you show who you are, what your offerings are, and how to contact you. If you have a professional-looking website up and running, it is the most significant asset for your small business.

We highly recommend creating a website to own your online presence. It works as a full-fledged salesperson for your business and we recommend that you create a site if you haven't already.

Note: Ensure you create an SEO-friendly website for your business. This is because it enhances the customer experience and helps generate organic traffic. As building an SEO-friendly, professional niche-based website can take days, we suggest that you use DashClicks' agency website tool. With this tool, you can make an SEO-friendly, custom branded agency website in a matter of seconds.

2. Invest in Ads

You may be aware that organic traffic takes time to build. So, as a small business, you can consider Google Ads or social media ads for short-term wins.

Google Ads are ideal if you are aware that your target audience is looking for your solution or product on the web. In case they aren't, you can think about investing in social media ads. It is true that people on social media have less buying intent, however, with the help of highly targeted ads and the required impressions, you will capture the interest of your audience.

3. Stay Active On Social Media

Social media platforms aren't just for connecting and socializing but also double up as fantastic business tools. They help businesses engage with potential customers and improve their search engine rankings.

Today, customers expect companies to be active on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. They also expect them to regularly post on social media.

4. Consider Blogging

Another small business marketing strategy you can consider is blogging. It is a great way to generate organic traffic. Even if you post a blog once every week, it will help educate your potential customers and build trust amongst them. Doing so will also increase your site's visibility. Ensure you add a CTA in your blogs for visitors to subscribe to them. Remember, blogging helps provide your potential customers with information even if they haven't yet made up their minds about buying from you.

5. Know The Power Of Your Existing Customers

As per a 1990 study by Bain & Company and HBR, acquiring a new customer is 5 times costlier than closing an existing one (on average). Keeping this in mind, don't stop marketing once your customers have purchased from you.

Think about this - your existing customers have purchased your product/service, which means they already like and trust you. So, identify your opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and repeat purchasing.

6. Offer A Free Consultation

If you have established yourself as an authority in your niche and offer a high-priced or expert service, you can think about offering a free consultation. Individuals want access to expertise when they are looking to buy professional services. Therefore, offering a consultation can be a step in the right direction. Providing a free consultation also helps you generate more leads and thus, proves to be beneficial for your business.

You can promote your free consultation on social media and your website.

Tip: Offer a 30-60 minute consultation and focus on providing value to your potential customers.

7. Become a Speaker at Events

Another good marketing strategy is speaking at events. When you start out as a speaker for events, deliver insightful talks at smaller events first. You can then slowly work your way into grabbing opportunities that allow you to speak at bigger events.

You can start out by becoming a speaker at these types of events:

• Specific interest groups (for example – sewing, hiking, etc.)
• Major companies and their employees
• Schools
• Upcoming events which you can check in magazines and newspapers
• Business networking groups

8. Offer a Free Webinar

Offering a free webinar is a great medium to allow potential customers to sign up for an online course that you'll host. Such courses are typically between 30-60 minutes. In these courses, you can provide tips and answer questions about a topic your business is experienced enough to talk about.

If you decide to provide a webinar, you get the chance to boost your credibility in your industry. You also get to unlock sales opportunities.

9. Display Reviews on Your Site

Apart from social media, don't forget to display reviews on your site. The reason behind displaying reviews is simple - When customers are thinking about purchasing something, they don't turn their attention to ads, they turn to other customers. This may not come as a shock because showing reviews can raise conversion by more than 360%

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10. Offer An Exceptional Customer Experience

Ensure you provide an amazing customer experience. Remember, happy customers can recommend your business to their family and friends. According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from family and friends compared to other advertising types.

To improve your customer experience, make sure you go through customer feedback and work on the areas that require improvement. When you focus on providing a great customer experience, you get more online reviews, which builds trust and ultimately drives more sales.

11. Text Your Customers

There is a high chance that your customers may ignore promotional material in their inboxes. But that is not the case with text messages on their phones. As per the statistics, text messages have a 98% open rate. Therefore, from getting a review to advertising a sale, text messaging service for small business can prove to be helpful. Just ensure you write a strong CTA in your text message to motivate the customers to take action (for example: Leave us a review on Google).

12. Establish a Brand

Your business is required to have a clear brand identity for your audience and customers to know what your business is, what it does, and what it stands for. Once you decide your company's identity, match it with a suitable name, colors, logo, and imagery that conveys your brand to your target audience.

Once your business has your own logo, ensure you display it on everything - business cards, advertising, website, and email signatures.

13. Email Potential Customers and Customers

There are many benefits of using email as a marketing strategy. It can be automated, is easy to do, doesn't cost that much, offers instantaneous communication, and can reach many potential customers.

It is important that your business emails relevant, valuable, and interesting content to your audience. This is because you don't want your email to just remain unread in their inboxes.

14. Join Local Business Groups

Another great marketing strategy is joining the local business groups. Doing so offers the opportunity to meet up with like-minded business owners. You can look for meetups and niche-specific groups in your area. These groups are great places to share your ideas and listen to other's opinions about them. It also helps recognize fresh opportunities and even find fresh talent. Lastly, these groups can also lead to profitable partnerships and joint ventures.

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Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

When you invest in marketing, you grow your business and your brand. To position your company for success in 2021, let's discuss some marketing tips for small businesses that can prove helpful to you:

15. Create A Buyer Persona

When you think about a customer looking for your service or product, how do you imagine them? What are their pain points? What job do they do? Creating a buyer persona that describes your ideal customer and tells a story about them can assist you in optimizing your website for them.

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When you create a buyer persona, you are in a better position to know what kinds of things your target customers could be searching for online. These terms can then be used on your website.

16. Increase Your Google Ranking With SEO

The technique that helps your site rank higher in SERPs is defined as SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO makes your site more visible to those searching for solutions that your business can offer via search engines such as Bing, Yahoo!, and Google.

An SEO strategy consists of certain things, including buyer persona research, on-page SEO research, and keyword research. With the help of these three areas, you get to know how your target audience is searching on the web. These areas also make your business get noticed by the right people online.

17. Research Keyword Opportunities

In the previous sections, we talked about creating buyer personas. Use these personas to find the right keywords for your business. Then, what you can do is open a tool called KW Finder to search for related keywords for your audience.

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You can also go through our Definitive Guide on Keyword Research for SEO to know how to find keyword ideas.

18. Optimize Your Site For Mobile Devices

We all do a lot of Google searches on mobile devices, that, too, almost every single day. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the importance of having a website that is optimized for mobile devices. Your website, when opened on a smartphone, should look clean and allow for easy navigation. Remember, you can lose potential customers if they decide to leave your site because it wasn't optimized for their mobile phones.

19. Use Social Media For Customer Service

After you join different social media platforms, make it a point to answer customer questions when they ask them via direct messages or comments. You want to let your audience know that you are responsive as well as credible.

Note: A lot of companies today are using Twitter for customer service.

20. Encourage Happy Customers To Share Their Experiences

When a delighted customer talks about how amazing your business is on review websites or social media platforms, it shows that your service or product is a great investment. Social media in particular is where word of mouth really works and influences a person's purchasing decision. For example, if an individual sees their friend raving about your company on Facebook, they are more likely to purchase from your business.

If your customers say that they loved your product, encourage them to share about their experience on Google, Facebook, or Yelp.

21. Reply to Customer Reviews

So many business owners do not reply to reviews. But, this is a mistake they must stop making. Responding to reviews is highly beneficial for your business. One of the most significant benefits you get from doing this is customer loyalty. When you reply with a simple message such as “Thank you so much, we hope we can see you again soon,” you leave a great impression in your customer's minds and encourage them to return to you.

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22. Give Co-Marketing A Try

Look for a local business in your area that you do not directly compete with but provides a service or product to a similar target audience. If you find one, think about working with the business on a co-branded campaign to promote each other through email, on social media, or in your blog. Doing so will give the local business a lot of promotion and let their fanbase know about your business.

23. Try Influencer Marketing

Look for a person in your area who is an expert in your field and has a strong social media following. If you can contact the person, check if they can share their experience of your service or product on social media. If the person agrees, their follower base will know about your offering and may trust it because an expert recommends it.

24. Advertise on Social Media

Most of the big social media platforms provide advertising options. With these options, you can target your posts to a particular audience. Small businesses have been advertising on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook for years. You can think of advertising on Instagram as well.

25. Offer Coupons on Landing Pages or in Newsletters

A great way to engage your customers and make them happy is to place a coupon in your marketing emails. When your customers purchase a service or product from you by availing of a discount, they may be more likely to pay the full price the next time.

Tip: You can provide a code for a free trial to your prospects.

26. Tell a Unique Brand Story

Telling a unique brand story is like conveying your own life story - one that has feelings, emotions, and teaches something. Your brand should have a different, one-of-its-kind story that draws your audience towards your business and makes them want to know more about it.

“Content” is a means to let people focus on your business. Some content creation tips for your brand's story are:

1. Know what your audience desires and what their content preferences are.
2. Produce content that educates and entertains.

27. Create Video Content

It may not come as a surprise to know that people remember 95% of a message from a video. We all know that video content is quicker and much easier to understand. Today, people prefer video lessons as it gives a clear picture regarding what a person wishes to explain. So, another great marketing tip for small businesses is producing more video content for their audiences.

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28. Create Beautiful Assets

When you have beautiful assets, your business stands out. Once you figure out your content marketing calendar, you should start creating your assets.

As a first step, start with content. Make it a point to write original and professional content. Then, you can create email campaigns and social media posts. Also, focus on updating your website, creating video content, and contemplating the potential landing pages to create.

All in all, make it a point to be proactive about creating beautiful assets.

29. Leverage Your Community

When marketing your brand, it is best to aim small before you decide to expand your outreach. At this point, the entire world doesn't need to know about what your business has to offer. Start by reaching out to the people around you. Get the word out about your business by telling your family, the local community, and your friends. Check if they support your business. Once you create a customer base within your community, you can consider expanding your outreach and promoting your business.

30. Update and Improve

Stand out from your competition and be honest, genuine, and bold. As a small business owner, you must constantly look for ways to improve and update your offerings. Look at adding value and don't be afraid to try something unique.

Conclusion

Bottom line, these marketing strategies, and tips will definitely help in the growth of your small business in the year 2021 and beyond. Some of these ideas may take time to show results, while others may provide immediate effects. But it is important to note that all of these ideas will help take your business to new heights.

Now that you are armed with so many ideas, you have started your journey of marketing your small business much more effectively. So, which of these strategies and tips are you going to use first? Which ones are your absolute favorite?

As an agency owner, you must make sure that you are making money. The increasing competition in the digital marketing industry is pushing down prices, and it calls for competitive prices to be introduced by the agencies. However, if you don't make a profit, you will soon find yourself struggling as an agency owner.

Criteria to Be Used to Determine the Prices in a Digital Agency

It can be the biggest challenge for the startups, yet as a general rule, the prices charged by you should cover the overheads and the cost of the service provided. So, the pricing model should entirely be based on the services you provide.

If you are curious to know how much you should charge, our digital marketing pricing guide will help you immensely. Please remember that these charges are applicable for the year 2021.

If you intend to charge your customer regularly, the average price should be anywhere between $2,500 to $12,000 per month. The hourly charges would vary from $50 to $600 per hour. The minimum amount for a project would start from $1000, and it applies to small to midsize companies.

How to Determine a Reasonable Price?

With so many price models available, you will likely find a considerable variation in the rates. It makes determining reasonable prices for your services a challenge. These variations in the rates may expand further when you outsource your work.

Companies and agencies that outsource from third-world countries have an obvious cost advantage over their rivals. They can quickly drop their prices significantly without compromising their profit margins.

How should you determine the prices that don't go beyond customer expectations and still cover your operational costs in such a scenario?

Let’s consider two major factors to help you decide the prices you should charge as an agency:

1. Your overall operational cost
2. Agency pricing model you want to implement

1. What is the Overall Operational Cost of Your Agency

There are several expenses you should consider to determine the overall operating cost:

A. Office Expenses

It includes some basic expenses such as furniture and equipment, rent, maintenance, merchant fees, office supplies, etc.

B. Production Expenses

Professional digital agencies spend on team management software, CRM, SEO, digital marketing tools, social media tools, cameras, projectors, etc.

C. Workforce Costs

Staffing cost includes salaries, perks, benefits, insurance, training expenses, and bonuses.

D. Business Setup Fees

Licensing fees, corporate taxes, attorney's fees, accountants and book-keepers, consultant fees, etc.

E. Additional Expenses

Online marketing startups also need to spend on advertising, travel, accommodation, etc.

2. Agency Pricing Model You Want to Implement

You have a wide range of choices available to make digital marketing pricing plans. Some of these options are as follows:

• Hourly Charges: Charging hourly rates is the simplest form of pricing when you are unsure of the time needed to complete a project. Make sure the hourly charges cover your operational costs. Remember to keep a few extra hours as a buffer. It helps the clients to stay within their budget.

• Project-based Charges: If you have the required skills to execute a project, you can charge based on the project. Developing a social media ad campaign or managing online reputation campaigns falls under this category. With new clients, the strategy works best because once they get satisfied with your performance, you can go for more extensive projects with recurring fees.

• Retainer Prices: Once you can build trust and establish rapport with your client, you can charge retainer prices, where the deliverables are predefined. Such pricing gives the agency the actual financial strength it needs the capacity to survive without any external assistance as you start earning a regular monthly income. However, make sure your price doesn’t sound too expensive to the clients.

• Recurring Pricing Model: This is one of the most common pricing models, especially for long-term projects such as SEO projects. Since SEO takes a lot of time to deliver results, which easily stretches from months to years, it marks the beginning of a lasting relationship with your clients and steady income.

• Performance-based Pricing: It is the riskiest pricing model often adopted by reputed agencies confident of their expertise and ability to deliver results. It may be related to sales, conversions, or traffic on the site. However, it would help if you were prepared to provide the right metrics to support your claims and the efforts you have put in. Performance-based pricing is easy to scale, and hence it helps you exert influence and the client’s business. However, it is a significant drawback; you won’t get paid if your agency cannot perform.

• Value-based Pricing: Such a pricing model is adopted by the agencies that are confident of providing value to the client’s business or are convinced that they can solve their intricate problems. It is challenging to implement because agencies can’t achieve challenging goals consistently.

• Customized Pricing: This type of pricing is applicable when you charge for different services offered within the digital marketing domain. It is one of the most transparent and affordable pricing models, which allows you to tailor your services according to the client’s needs. It makes it easier for you to charge on an hourly basis and adopt the recurring price model.

Pro Tip: Remember to send your clients a professional quote – you can easily create one with the free quote maker.

The Average Prices of Digital Marketing Services in 2021

This table will provide you with the standard online marketing rates in the US in 2021:

Apart from that, there are different service plans for which you can charge a monthly fee. It can be $1500, $2500, or $3500 per month.

These packages are applicable roughly for 100, 150, and 200 keywords and include a dedicated digital marketing expert for your assistance.

What Determines Digital Marketing Pricing?

We are going to discuss the different factors that determine digital marketing prices in the section.

It would help if you remembered a simple formula for pricing, and that is:

                                                 Cost + Markup = Price

The cost of the services includes the hourly charges of the experts, administrative fees and office expenditure, and money incurred on buying expensive software and tools. Digital marketing pricing packages also include markup prices. Markup is the money you make on the services provided.

It usually is 20% to 50% of the service cost. This amount is variable, and the discount is offered from the markup only. If you face difficulty determining the markup price, estimate the value you provide to the client, and you will easily do it.

While this holds for SEO services, the PPC pricing may be entirely different. The PPC charges include the percentage of the ad spend, so you can easily mess up these deals. The project may involve more than one contractor, i.e., a copywriter, a content manager, a graphic designer, a video editor, and an ad manager.

It makes it difficult to calculate the actual cost of service. It is up to you to figure out the right pricing strategy in such scenarios. It can be hourly or campaign-based pricing, whichever suits best for you.

How to Price Social Media Marketing Services?

Knowing how to price your social media marketing services is instrumental for your success as a digital marketing agency. Social media is vast, and your presence on the platforms your audience uses the most determines your success. Posting engaging content regularly on these social media sites requires teamwork.

Agencies hire freelancers and full-time employees to manage their clients' social media accounts and provide value. Agencies markup the cost of the services they provide when billing their clients. According to the pricing structure discussed above, they may add a markup of 20-50% of the service cost. For premium agencies, this charge maybe even higher.

To determine the cost, you need first to figure out the roles and costs associated with your social media account management team. Hire content managers, graphic designers, and video editors and estimate the cost of hiring their services for your clients' social media projects. Add the desired profit margin to it to calculate the prices you can charge.

Formula to Calculate Social Media Agency Pricing

The actual cost of hiring social media professionals and designers + cost of the software & tools being used + your profit margin = PRICE a digital agency should charge for a social media project

Here are the hourly charges of some of the roles as in-house employees in a digital agency:

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Here are some of the possible social media roles associated with a social media project:

Social Media Management

To determine the average cost of social media management, you must know the different tasks associated with it and the roles you’ll need.

Different tasks associated with managing a social media account:

• creating content
• providing customer support
• monitoring conversations
• analytics
• working with influencers
• community management
• running paid ads

Social media roles you will need:

• strategist
• ad manager
• scheduler
• creative director
• copywriter
• designer
• video editor
• proof-reader
• analytics reporter

One Time Account Setup Fee

Every account needs a one-time setup apart from the recurring services. Setting up a social media account is an essential service because it carries the essence of your branding. It would help if you considered everything from the tone to the organization's colors, graphics, and mission statement while setting up an account.

It might also involve creating a video cover, profile image, cover page, featured images, and short and long bios. Apart from these, you may also need to create a business manager account and possibly a group.

Therefore, agencies also charge a separate one-time account setup fee.

Social Media Marketing Pricing For Ads

Social media ads management is also an essential service to consider, especially when determining SMM pricing. It involves managing ad spend, setting up the ad campaign, and making it a part of the comprehensive social media strategy. Again, you need an entire team of experts to manage social media ads just as you need it to manage a social account.

Here is an example:

An agency charges for social media ads in this fashion.$500 flat rate + 30% of ad spend (If the total ad spend is less than Rs. 3000/-)

If the ad spend is above 3K, then a percentage fee replaces the flat rate.

A % rate of the ad spend + 30% of ad spend (If the total ad spend more than Rs. 3000/-)

You would also need to charge for image creation (shooting) and editing for social media purposes if the client doesn't supply stock photos.

Don't Undervalue Your Social Media Services and Pricing

The pricing depends on the value an agency offers to the client, but most of the time, social media agencies undervalue their services and charge a meager fee. If you know the worth of your services, you can always set a reasonable price.

Apart from connecting businesses with their customers and building a community, social media does much more than one can expect. It also helps create brand awareness, increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, generates leads, boost sales, and retain clients. Social media also brings quality inbound traffic.

Roles to Be Filled In

To figure out roles to be filled in and the number of hours needed to complete the job is necessary to execute a successful social media campaign. The next step is to decide the markup, usually 20% to 50% of their costs. Keeping some margin in the markup will provide you a cushion against unexpected expenses.

Here is an example:

• The cumulative cost of the contractors/freelancers is $50 an hour.
• Agency charges $70 to $75 an hour.
• It equals a 45-50% markup so that the agency will make $20 to $25 per hour in labor costs.
• Contrary to smaller agencies, the premium agencies may charge anywhere from 70-150% markups. However, they need to deliver exceptional quality to justify the prices.

You need to create platform-specific content to deliver value and drive results for your client. In the digital marketing industry, you can charge according to the quality you provide. Hiring experienced and trained contractors will always be advantageous if you don't want to start from the bottom.

How to Price Website Design Services?

The same formula is also applicable to calculate the price of web design services:

Cost + Markup (profit margin) = Price

Website design is a multi-step process, which makes its pricing a bit complicated.

Here, too, tasks, job roles included, and markup will decide the ultimate cost of the project.

There is a difference between website design and website development. The former has to do with the user interface (UI), and the latter is more related to User Experience (UX).

How Much Should I Charge to Create a Website?

To determine the price of web design, you need to consider the following two factors:

1. The amount of work required for web design
2. The amount of value it will provide to the client

Here are the elements of web design services:

1. UI design
2. UX design
3. Graphic design

Ongoing Maintenance of a Website

The ongoing maintenance of a website should also be considered when figuring out the cost of web design. It includes code maintenance as well.

So, the simple formula you can use to calculate the cost of web design is:

Cost of web design = [Hourly rates of the designers and developers + Web hosting and domain registration fee and taxes + Hourly rates of other contractors such as copywriters, graphic designers, and video editors]

To reduce your expenditure on hiring website developers and designers, try hiring white label web design services. You’ll be stunned by the results, convenience, features, and prices. White label web design services have the following features:

1. Easy drag and drop editor
2. Self-service maintenance
3. Hosting and SSL certificate

How to Price PPC Services?

For PPC, experts recommend charging a flat price until the ad spend is less than $3000. It can be anywhere between $450-$750. When ad spend exceeds $3000, you can charge between 13% to 30% of the total ad spend.

You can lower down the percentage you charge as the ad spend grows. More ad spend doesn’t mean more clients or more business. It’s just that the financial strain has increased on a single client. So, it would help if you didn’t charge more.

If you don’t have a PPC expert on board, you can hire freelancers from sites like FreeUp or Upwork, but finding the right contractor who can deliver results is extremely difficult. So, the best solution is to hire white label PPC services. Reputed white label companies are known for their consistent performance and ROI so that it can be the safest bet yet the most affordable option for the agencies.

What to Expect Next After Ordering A Fulfillment Service in DashClicks

How To Price SEO Services?

You can use the standard formula to price SEO services:

Cost + markup = price of the SEO services

Generally, agencies markup on SEO services ranges between 20% to 50%. Add contactors’ fee, i.e., $50 an hour, to a 50% markup price, and it comes to $75 per hour, which is, on average, the final cost to the client. So, you make $25 an hour on SEO services from a single client.

Premium agencies usually charge a 70% – 150% markup, and most businesses can’t afford that.

Again, there are three significant types of SEO services:

1. Off-Page SEO
2. On-Page SEO
3. Local SEO

SEO requires a lot of activities and effort. Collectively, you should pay an average of $50 for all of these tasks. However, the price is not carved in stone and can be increased or decreased a bit.

The essential elements of SEO are:

1. The site structure
2. A secure HTTPS
3. The page speed of the site (A critical ranking factor)
4. A Robots.txt file (A file that prevents Google spiders from tracking specific content)
5. Keyword strategy
6. Removal of duplicate and thin content
7. Internal linking strategy and creating topic clusters

If you want to impress your client and rank #1 on various search engines for multiple keywords and search terms, try hiring DashClick’s white label SEO services. With access to the white-label dashboard, you’ll also receive automated white label SEO reports that will save your time and efforts.

Conclusion

Making a cost evaluation and establishing a budget is crucial to ensuring profits in an agency business. Most often, the prospects don't know what they want. A consultation and assessment of their budget are essential before you offer them online marketing services.

Hiring white label services is now a trend as not only it helps you reduce the contractors' fee. It also eliminates the hassle of reporting and ensuring the delivery of quality services. DashClicks' white label services are known for excellence and result-oriented services and hence customer satisfaction and business growth. Call us today at +1 (866) 600-3369 to learn more about the various packages and discounts.

Digital marketing has gathered momentum, and soon the industry will touch the $375 billion mark globally.

To harness its enormous benefits, you should first spend some time learning its various streams and fundamentals. Developing a roadmap and an action plan is the next most important step. The easy availability of numerous marketing options can overwhelm a beginner solopreneur, so cutting all the clutter, we bring you an actionable plan that includes where to start and how to proceed.

A strategic roadmap template will help you define and shape your marketing efforts to attain your goals faster. So, first, learn how to build and run a digital agency from scratch.

How to Build a Digital Agency?

Here are a few steps to successfully build your digital marketing agency:

1. Spend time on self-education
2. Choose your niche and leverage niche marketing
3. Start local
4. Perform competitor research
5. Create a professional website
6. Build a portfolio
7. Set a pricing model
8. Go social
9. Generate leads
10. Simplify client onboarding
11. Hire white-label services

1. Spend Time on Self-Education

You can get access to a host of free educational material from DashClicks that will sharpen and upgrade your online marketing skills. Most of the study material is designed for agency owners, and you’d easily be able to locate the sections dedicated to agency owners in our blog section.

Here are some of the resources you can refer to:

1. Blog
2. Video blog
3. Marketers Mindset Podcast
4. Webinars
5. Private Facebook Group
6. Support Center

• Video Blog

Dashclicks’ video blog is immensely beneficial for the agency owners as it shares proven digital marketing strategies directly from the successful agency owners, including Chad Kodary, the CEO of DashClicks.

• Dash University

Dash University is the DashClicks' education, and training venture explicitly launched to help agency owners succeed in this challenging marketplace. Branded as a "university for agency owners," Dash University educates you on what works and what doesn't work.

Dash University conducts a new live online training session every week. With four distinct training styles, it helps you absorb all the information with minimal effort. With entertainment and engagement being the top priorities during the training sessions at Dash University, you can learn complicated stuff without feeling overwhelmed.

2. Choose Your Niche and Leverage Niche Marketing

Finding your niche is crucial to survival in this challenging marketplace. Most agencies promote themselves as full-service agencies, but it goes against them when targeting clients from a specific niche. Positioning yourself as an expert in a particular niche is the remedy that works wonders.

To know more about targeting a specific niche and other aspects of niche marketing, read this article - How to Grow and Scale Your Digital Marketing Agency in 2021

According to a HubSpot study, the average agency's profit margins are generally shallow ā reportedly between 10% and 20%. It is therefore essential to distinguish your agency from others.

The big question here is how to define your niche. Do some SWOT analysis and discover which type of company or industry you can serve most effectively, given your experience, exposure, and interest. For example, you can specialize in specific sectors such as tech companies, finance companies, and businesses linked with travel and hospitality. You can also choose the business types such as family-owned businesses, small businesses, and VC-funded companies.

Some of the niches you may consider are as follows:

• Roofers
• Painters
• Landscape architects and designers
• Educational institutions
• Massage Therapists
• Personal Trainers
• Tattoo parlors
• Engineering and technology companies
• HVAC
• Water Damage
• Rehab Centers
• Auto Shops

To pick the low-hanging fruit offered by niche marketing, follow these tips:

Show the proof of success in the category you claim to be an expert in through testimonials, mentions, or case studies.

Acquire expertise and knowledge of your niche as well as current and future trends. Keep yourself abreast with the latest industry updates through blogs, trade journals, and subject matter experts and influencers.

Get access to customized marketing tools and templates related to the niche you want to target.

It’s not necessary to focus on just one niche, you can choose multiple niches at a time, but these three tips apply to all of them. Hard work is the key to success, along with these tactics.

3. Start Local

Being in the same area builds trust among local businesses. It is comparatively easier to introduce your agency when you are a local player. Once you have a portfolio of local clients, you can easily penetrate the international market. Meet local community leaders, attend local events and get yourself featured in the local press. Participate in a social cause.

4. Perform Competitor Research

Performing a competitive analysis helps you in many ways, especially when you need to know your competitors’ specific strategies. You can use Ubersuggest, a keyword suggestion tool, to find the popular keywords and their variations.

Entering a broad term into the software to engage in keyword discovery will bring you many ideas to explore the topic. When you perform competitive research, you should follow these tips:

1. Restrict your competitors to 10-15
2. Find out how they are monetizing, i.e., making money
3. Delve deeper into their content marketing strategy

a. Take a look at their blog posts and social media posts
b. Check their content formats, i.e., podcasts, blogging, or vlogging
c. Analyze their SEO tactics

5. Create a Professional Website

Based on the competitor analysis and content marketing analysis, you can launch your website. All you need to do is choose a domain name and hosting service. Remember, your website is often the first touchpoint for your customers, so create it as per your branding. Avoid clutter and make it user-friendly.

1-Click Agency Website through DashClicks' Agency Website Tool

You can create a professional agency website through DashClicks' Sites App within a matter of minutes. You don't need designers, developers, and content writers to develop these professional and beautiful template-based websites.

6. Build a Portfolio

Building a portfolio is the prerequisite before you create your website. Offer free digital marketing services to your friends and their businesses to make your first portfolio. It will also help you get free testimonials that you can use on your website to build trust. You need not run a full-fledged online marketing campaign for a client to make a portfolio. If they have a local store or local business, you need to do local SEO for them through Google My Business and perform some directory listing.

When you have so many things on your plate and if it seems too much for you, you can order white-label directory listing services from DashClicks at an affordable rate. We are with you at every step of your journey to become a seven-figure agency.

Creating a Facebook business page and an Instagram account for them and creating a couple of posts is also a good idea. This approach has two benefits. First, it will help you in networking and spreading awareness about your business. Secondly, you may also win a paid contract in the process in case your friends liked your work.

Tip: Keep your portfolio ethical and verifiable.

Further reading: 11 Benefits of Using White Label Digital Marketing Services

7. Set a Pricing Model

For essential services, you can charge your client on an hourly basis. A flat retainer or a monthly fee is the simplest pricing model. You can also charge a percentage of spending as your fee, which offers a pretty transparent pricing model. Refer to a digital agency pricing guide or check out the market rates before you launch your agency. Here are some of the pricing options available to you.

1. Hourly charges — Straightforward, but it offers no incentive to work faster.
2. Project-based charges — If you have the required skills, charge a flat fee for any project. It’s understandable and easier to scale.
3. Retainer model — Ensure a good steady income each month. Good for you when your agency produces a large volume of work each month.
4. Recurring model —Offers discounted annual agency pricing plan. It’s Ideal for long-term projects such as SEO.

8. Go Social

Social media platforms enjoy a tremendous reputation as some are the most powerful communication mediums between the business and customers. So, as soon as you have your website live, create your company's social media accounts on the major social networking sites. These are the best places to build brand awareness and engage people to bring them into your sales funnel.

For further reading, please read: 14 Digital Marketing Tools to Boost Your Online Presence

9. Generate Leads

Generating leads can be the most challenging aspect of a business for a new agency, but you shouldn't be discouraged. We are sharing with you a formula that will help you generate leads. Keep your target customer in mind and create their buyer persona. Agencies generally succeed with their lead generation efforts through video marketing, blogging, and affiliate marketing.

Let's begin with video marketing

A. Start Video Marketing

Create a YouTube channel and start posting excellent videos adding your target audience's pain points. You can include case studies, how-to videos, and client reviews and testimonials in these videos. Please make sure you regularly post on your YouTube channel. Otherwise, it will lose its traffic and rankings. If some of your blog posts or articles perform well, you can always make vlogs of them. This way, you will soon develop a small audience that you can divert to your website.

B. Try Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing and cold email marketing also have tremendous potential. It involves referring or endorsing a product or service through a blog or your social media account. Sometimes, affiliate marketers also create a full-fledged website to sell a product or bundle of products. The affiliates earn a commission on each sale made through the unique links placed by them.

Further reading: Get Clients for Your Digital Marketing Agency in 2019 on Autopilot

C. Create a Lead Magnet for Your Website

Most of your website visitors never convert to leads. From readiness to commitment to an inadequate level of trust, there can be "n number" of reasons for this. For such visitors, you can use a lead magnet.

What is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is used to capture website visitors' contact information, so you can move them into your marketing funnel and nurture them till they convert and become your loyal customer. Ebooks cheat sheets, templates, whitepapers, and other learning resources are pretty popular these days as lead magnets.

Click this link to see the examples of lead magnets used by companies such as Instant Offices.

D. PPC (Pay Per Click)

Pay per click is one of the best marketing strategies for ROI to generate leads when you have little or no organic traffic. Both Facebook and Google Ads can boost your outreach beyond your expectations. PPC ads allow you to target a specific audience looking for services similar to yours, which is why these are highly effective for lead generation. However, it would help to keep a tab on your ad spend as it may soon go beyond your budget.

E. Content Marketing and SEO

The best way to generate leads is through content marketing and SEO. The organic traffic is free, and hence this is the best option to generate, nurture and convert leads.

Write content on topics your audience needs. Answer their queries, address their pain points and tell them how your products and services can help. SEO helps your website to get more visibility on search engines. It boosts traffic on your website that is primarily free. Create a blog and create helpful content and optimize it to attract search engines' attention to your blog.

Pro Tip: Hire white-label SEO and content marketing services as both fields require expertise, and hiring professionals can be a costly affair for a newly launched agency.

Here are the five benefits of hiring white label content marketing services from DashClicks:

In the end, this video will immensely help you to build, scale and grow your digital marketing agency.

The Exact Blueprint To Starting A Digital Marketing Agency

10. Simplify Client Onboarding

When your agency grows, you get more clients on board every month. Onboarding is a tedious and repetitive process, so it consumes a lot of your time and energy. Technology comes to your rescue in this and allows you to handle onboarding on autopilot.

DashClicks' onboarding platform allows you to automate client onboarding.

The intelligent onboarding process prevents all the manual work by gathering crucial information from the client. So, you can either complete it yourself or send them straight to your client via your white-labeled dashboard. The system also sends automated reminders through email to the client, so they don't forget to complete them. As a result, onboarding can be achieved without any delay.

11. Hire and Resell White Label Services

Spending too much on hiring and recruitment, in the beginning, can turn out to be a recipe for disaster. Instead, you should hire white-label digital marketing services, which are pretty affordable yet best-in-class.

It would be best to convey your brand values and preferences to your white-label partner, who will deliver the most suitable solutions to you. So, you can allocate your limited resources and time to marketing and sales and delegate all the functional and operational tasks to us. DashClicks' fully white-labeled marketing platform allows your agency's brand to shine. The platform will enable you to add your own branding wherever you want.

Further reading: Your Complete Guide to White Label Reselling

Additional Tips:

1. Keep your lead response time low. Typically, it shouldn’t be more than an hour, or else you may lose the client.
2. Set up an outbound sales team and create a lead pipeline.
3. Market your website first and bring it on top of search engine results. Try paid advertising on Facebook and Google too.
4. Invest in guest posting for link building and creating brand awareness.
5. Use original pictures & high-quality graphics on your website instead of cheap-looking stock photos.
6. Add personality to your brand. If you look like a replica of Jeff Bezos in his early days running Amazon from a single desk garage office, mention it. Talk about it in your About Us section and reveal your authentic self.
7. Frequently publish on third-party websites and LinkedIn for added exposure.
8. Guard your online reputation. Answer negative reviews, complaints, and queries promptly on social media and elsewhere.
9. Highlight your strengths and share your achievements.
10. Create powerful customer success stories and case studies and share them aggressively.
11. Set your milestones and long-term goals.
12. Build relationships with your customers, deliver excellent results and ask for referrals.
13. Delegate rather than doing it all by yourself.
14. Send letters and gifts to your clients at important events and festivals.
15. Hire and train the right people.

Are You Ready to Launch Your Digital Agency?

Even though the idea of launching a digital marketing agency sounds overwhelming, if you carefully tread the path and follow the tips shared above, with perseverance, eventually you will succeed. It would help if you had the right team, the right strategy, and the right tools to succeed in this competitive and demanding marketplace. DashClicks equips you with the right tools and strategy. Collaborate with your clients and offer free training using DashClicks educational and training resources. There is substantial money in the field of corporate training, and it will reduce your churn rate, too.

The biggest mistake newborn agencies make is to strive for high-ticket clients right from the onset. While it's a good idea to have high ticket clients onboard to generate instant revenues, the strategy won't take you any far as it has a fundamental flaw.

A large number of low-ticket clients is always better than having a small number of high-ticket clients. There are two primary reasons for that. The first reason is that this industry has a super high churn rate, which is three months only. Secondly, it's much more challenging to win a new client than upselling an existing client or offering them recurring services.

So, you should choose your method of prospecting carefully. We have laid out this entire process to help you understand the best practices recommended by Chad Kodary, the CEO of DashClicks, to grow your agency and boost its revenues.

Mantra: You need to LOWER CHURN to improve revenue growth in your agency. So, every step you take to reduce churn will ultimately help you increase your revenues and survive as a business.

1. Start With a Low Barrier to Entry Products

The best way of prospecting is to start with an irresistibly low barrier to entry products that people can buy easily. For a digital agency, it can be a professional-grade website. DashClicks tool InstaSites allows you to create instant websites for your clients within seconds.

With InstaSites, you can create a beautiful looking instant website based on a niche-based template and ready with content and graphics. It will provide a truly transformational experience for your prospects. You can offer a completely professional-looking website for $199 + $40 per month. So, it will become a source of recurring revenue for you for at least the next six months.

The fact is that a website is an inexpensive product that brings with it a lot of value. It's easy to sell to build relationships with a prospect. Furthermore, it takes a lot of time to make a professional website, but with DashClicks tools, you can instantly create a ready-to-use website. If you share how the website will look like, they will be impressed with your speed and skills.

2. Use a Value Ladder Approach for Upsells & Downsells

After selling the website, you shouldn't sit idle. Instead, you should call up your client and ask them for feedback. Since most of your clients are probably local businesses such as roofers, plumbers, home services providers, masons, and carpenters, they must promote themselves as local businesses on the web.

They need to get their directory listings fixed as there can be several inconsistencies due to manual errors which can prevent your customer from being able to contact you. The customers who search for local businesses or services through their mobile phones or local directories such as Yelp can't find you if you have an incorrect building number mentioned there.

Price rebuttals are common, but if there is any other reason stopping them from buying your product or service, you can convince them of the value of the product versus its price. For example, you can push directory listing services to boost their local SEO and attract more local traffic.

88% of people who search for a local service on their smartphones visit the store the same day.

3. Sell Recurring Services (Monthly Payments)

The best way to become a millionaire is to have multiple clients paying you recurring fees every month rather than a few clients paying a one-time hefty fee.

What is a Recurring Payment?

Just like you pay for Google Apps, Kindle Unlimited, Netflix, loan repayments, kids' school fees, and perhaps your website hosting, there are millions of people and agencies who make recurring payments for a service.

Recurring billing happens when you allow a merchant to automatically charge you for specific services as per the schedule mentioned in your contract.

Many household items, electronic goods, and furniture items are available on a recurring payment basis from different merchants and physical and online stores such as Amazon. Recurring transactions are so common that the total volume of annual recurring transactions in the US alone is estimated to be around $473 billion in 2021.

Here are a few ways you can sell recurring billing to your customers:

1. Make recurring payments the standard way to buy or subscribe to your digital services.
2. Give many options to your customers and support as many payment types as possible.
3. Don’t overcharge and introduce a fair price point that your customers find easy to pay.

Here are the recurring methods suggested by Chad. If you buy white label services from DashClicks, you can easily offer your clients the following recurring subscriptions. DashClicks will do the fulfillment:

1. Create a website through InstaSites in a matter of minutes and sell it to your prospect @ $49/month + $199 Setup Fee
2. When they become your customer, share with them the value of local SEO for incoming traffic and sales and offer Directory Listing Services @ 199/month + $99 Setup Fee. Again, source these white label services
3. Offer them Social Media Posting services and charge $399/month + $99 Setup Fee
4. Offer them SEO services and charge $699/month + $199 Setup Fee
5. Offer them PPC services and charge $999/month (roughly) + $699 Setup Fee

Irresistible Sales Formula Training Course

Conversion of leads is the biggest challenge for marketing and salespeople. Here is an irresistible sales formula from Chad Kodary, the CEO of DashClicks, that will help you turn leads into high-value clients. The training course introduces you to proven prospecting systems that will assist you in filling the pipelines with qualified leads and teach you how to make those leads an irresistible offer.

Get Access to all our courses, tools, training & curriculums, mentors, and communities including Dash University and Call Center Secrets. To create a successful marketing agency, you can join Dash Elite Program and youā€™ll get free access to all of the above.

Note: Watch this video to know more about the Dash Elite Program.

4. Offer Promotional Prices on Long-Term Commitments

People are not likely to say yes to every sales offer, but they love discounts and offers. Capitalize on this psychology and offer them an irresistible package on long-term commitments. Shift your positioning and review your prices. Pick up your phone and check if they are hesitating to say yes to your previous offer.

If so, offer them a much better-discounted price for the long-term commitment. This trick will likely work and help you to add another customer to a recurring payment contract. It will boost your cash flow and offer you the ability to survive for a long time.

5. Build a List

None of your campaigns will succeed if you don't have a list of prospects. Lists are essential as marketers aptly say that the money is in the lists. Email lists, social media followers' lists, and even telephone numbers obtained from similar or lookalike databases can do the trick.

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The more extensive the list, the more money you are likely to make. Use these lists for email marketing campaigns and social media campaigns.

6. Build a Sales Team

Building a sales team is highly crucial to a digital agency. But, what about its structure and sales strategy?

Chad further explains it in this way. You can build a sales team of tele-callers, and sales reps referred to as “fronters” and “closers,” respectively. You can generate a list of your prospects as per the services you offer and your physical location. In this list, you can also include people who have:

1. Visited your website
2. Expressed interest in your business during an event, a meeting, or online interaction.

Source: Top 10 Fastest Ways To Add Additional Revenue to Your Agency

7. Overdeliver Since the First Customer Interaction

To decrease churn, you must overdeliver since your first customer interaction. If you make it a part of your mission statement, it will not go unnoticed, and soon people will get to know about you through word-of-mouth publicity. The standard churn rate is 3-5%, so, if you can manage it within this limit, you're doing a great job.

Over-delivering never fails to impress your customers, and it gets acknowledged almost immediately. Overdelivering leads to customer delight and loyalty, and it helps you boost your brand image. It also dramatically reduces the churn rate, which is a significant challenge for the agencies.

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8. Create an Easy Onboarding ExperienceĀ

Onboarding can be tedious both for you and for your clients because of lengthy documentation and paperwork. DashClicks white label dashboard makes onboarding a smooth process by taking care of all the repetitive tasks. DashClicks' intelligent onboarding process automatically gathers essential information from your clients. You can buy the service from DashClicks' fulfillment store and automatically allow your clients to access the white-labeled onboarding platform.

Most agencies complete the onboardings themselves, which chews up lots of your time, straining precious resources. The best way is to send them straight to your client via your white-labeled dashboard.

It will also help reduce churn in a big way.

9. Educate Your Customers

Educate your customers to reduce churn and grow your revenues. Certain aspects of digital marketing require education, especially when you're running a campaign, and your client has no clues about its purpose, scope, TAT, and estimated time to expect results. As a result, the churn rate is often high in SEO projects.

The core services such as SEO require a lot of communication between the client and the agency because people are generally unaware of its value, dos and don'ts, methodologies, and complications.

When you hire white-label SEO or digital marketing services from DashClicks, you also get access to a host of educational material from DashClicks such as their highly informative blog, Video blog, Marketers Mindset Podcast, Webinars, Private Facebook Group, and Support Center.

• Video Blog

DashClicksā€™ video blog is highly beneficial for the agency owners as it shares proven digital marketing strategies directly from the successful agency owners, including Chad Kodary, the CEO of DashClicks.

• Dash University

Dash University is DashClicks’ education and training venture explicitly launched to help agency owners succeed in this challenging marketplace. Branded as a “university for agency owners,” Dash University educates you on what works and what doesn’t.

Dash University invites its members every week to a new live online training. With four distinct training styles, it helps you absorb all the information with minimal effort. Engagement and entertainment are the salient features of the university, so you can learn complicated stuff without feeling overwhelmed.

10. Increase Communication With Your Clients

ARC triangle is often used in Scientology, a 20th-century belief system invented by L. Ron Hubbard. The ARC triangle has three components:

1. Affinity
2. Reality
3. Communication

The triangle is often used to describe the dynamics of human relationships and emotional connections. Affinity is the degree of affection or love between two persons to be described as the emotional state. Reality reflects the state of mind or agreements on what is real. It forms the basis of our behavior toward others.

Communication is considered one of the most crucial in all of the three elements, and it happens through the exchange of ideas. According to Scientology, improving communication will improve all three aspects of the ARC triangle, including affinity and reality. So, if you drag one corner of this triangle, you'll also have to pull the other two in equal proportion to keep the triangle in its original shape. According to these principles, most of the human survival issues emanate from ineffective communication.

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Similarly, in the business environment, it's essential to establish effective communication. Poor communication will always result in conflicts, misunderstandings, and a lack of trust.

11. Offer Full Transparency

Your business relations become more vital when you have complete transparency. It leaves no room for mistrust and confusion, and as a result, the relationships last longer. Maintain transparency in terms of costs, business policies, and other vital issues. Your clients will appreciate that and reciprocate it with loyalty and long-term business.

Conclusion

These were some of the ways to add additional revenue to your digital marketing agency. Most of the methods recommended by Chad are already tested. Surrounding yourself with the people who have already done it is the best way to learn from them. Mentors and business coaches can help, but they can't provide you with expert advice because they don't have the experience of running an agency and marketing it. For expert advice, you can look forward to someone who's been doing marketing for quite some time. A mastermind community can also help.