Five reasons why most digital marketing agencies fail

Planning to start a digital marketing agency? That’s a great idea! Except that not many agencies manage to stay afloat for a more extended period and generally end up losing their business to other better-placed agencies. So here is a list of reasons why most agencies fail to make a mark on the digital marketing circuit and end up moving out of business.

1. Hiring the wrong people: Like any other business, hiring the right people for the job is the first thing that you should keep in mind while bringing in people to work for you. Hiring mediocre people will deliver mediocre or average results, slowly pushing your agency into oblivion. Instead, think about hiring as a long-term investment and don’t be hesitant in spending your resources towards the retention of the best talent. The resources that you spend today on your best employees will grow manifolds in the future and come back to you.

1. Leaning too heavily on outsourcing: Quite often, digital marketing agencies completely forget about a project that they have outsourced to their partners; without being concerned about the quality of the project delivered. A successful outsourcing partnership can be established if the responsibilities of either party are laid down, realistic expectations are set, and the plan is followed through until its completion. It might increase your burden, but it is sure to maintain the standard that you want the work to have. After the end of the project, it is essential to assess and evaluate the performance of your marketing partners and provide valuable insights to them to help them improve their performance.

1. Not investing in system and resources: Investing in your workforce ensures that your employees are not burnt out and enhances productivity. You must make sure that your employees do not overwork as it may impact their performance and burn them out, thereby bringing down the agency’s productivity. Also, it can create immense job dissatisfaction which might trouble you in retaining talented employees for your agency. Keeping reasonable work hours and defining specific job roles for each employee could go a long way in ensuring that the employees don’t get over-burdened with responsibilities. Moreover, outsourcing projects could be unavoidable if you have an influx of projects which might overload your employees.

1. Ignoring self-marketing: Often, agencies are so fixated on the marketing of their clients that they tend to forget their marketing. Thus, inadvertently they harm their own business by not branding themselves. Creating a fantastic website with strong SEO and having a social media plan in place are a couple of ways to increase online presence which will help you generate more leads and retain your current clients.

2. Failing to keep up with technology: Digital marketing is a continually evolving process with new trends and technologies consistently flooding the digital landscape. Digital marketing agencies are often so caught up in their efforts to delivering the best results to their clients that they ignore or avoid researching the latest technology and trends. If you don’t keep up with the latest digital marketing trends, your clients might move on to some other service provider to get the best results. It is imperative for you to adapt to new technology and brief yourself with the latest trends to run your business efficiently.

Whether your digital marketing agency is new or well established, you are bound to face challenges in running your business. Difficulties with finding the right employees, clients, making enough revenue, etc. are the problems to name a few. While owning and managing a digital marketing agency can be tedious, the rewards that it offers is worth all the trouble.