How to Start a Content Marketing Agency

Part 1 - How to start a Content Marketing Agency business - Background

While a content marketing agency focuses on creating content, the nature and purpose of that content may change from client to client. Some clients primarily want to increase their customers via traditional advertising, whereas others want content that integrates with their sales funnel and improves the process of gathering leads. Still other clients may want help developing their unique brand and creating a social media presence in which their target demographic may engage with that brand.

You may also be interested in additional online business ideas.

Our guide is in 3 parts:

• Part 1 - How to start a Content Marketing business - Background
• Part 2 - Our planner tool to see if this idea is the right fit for you
• Part 3 - Action plan to get started

What are the costs involved in opening a content marketing agency?

The costs of opening a content marketing agency can be relatively small if you are willing and able to wear the many different hats of your business. For instance, if you are able to write content, shoot video, and share and manage social media accounts, then you can be the one-stop-shop for clients and can ultimately work from home. If you choose to lease an office space, then you may be paying between $1000 a month to $6000 a month depending on office size and location. It may take between $10,000 and $20,000 to purchase furniture and decorate office space to your tastes and to buy any equipment (such as computers, phones, modern projection equipment, and at least one professional video camera). It may be worth investing $1000 to $2000 in traditional advertisement for your business (newspaper and radio advertisements, for instance), but you should take the time to set up a web page with samples of content and create a social media presence. Ultimately, the latter two will bring in more clients than traditional advertising.

What are the ongoing expenses for a content marketing agency?

Your ongoing expenses will vary depending on whether you are working from home or from within a separate office space. If you are working from home, then things like your utilities and office space are built into the bills you already pay. If this is the case, then your ongoing expenses should be less than $500 a month for things like web hosting, software acquisition, and traditional advertising. If you are leasing an office space, then you will be paying between $1000-$6000 per month (depending on office space and location) and less than $1000 a month for utilities, phone, and internet. You will also be paying the salaries of your team members.

Who is the target market?

Part of owning a content marketing agency is that you will work with a wide variety of clients, from individuals with small projects to major corporations. The primary characteristic of your best clients is simply that they keep open, frequent, and honest communication with you. As a content provider, you must deliver what the client wants, so clients that are upfront about their needs and open to feedback and critique will make things easier for you.

How does a content marketing agency make money?

On the most basic level, a content marketing agency makes money for helping facilitate and deliver content for a client. This amount is usually some kind of set fee for different projects, though the nature of the payment will fluctuate with the nature of the work. For instance, you may simply be paid by the project, especially for larger projects. You may be paid a fixed amount each month in which you are contractually obligated to produce a certain amount of content. You may also be paid as a consultant for things like company blogs, the company website, or their social media presence.

How much can you charge customers?

The great variety of potential services that you might offer clients means that how much you can charge them may vary greatly. For instance, you might charge $100 an hour or more to do something like manage a client’s social media accounts. Similarly, you might charge between $75 to $200 to help a client optimize content they already have. However, your bread and butter will be individual content projects at the client’s request, and it’s up to you to determine what is fair. For instance, projects like that typically run between $500-$3,000, but it may be much easier (and, therefore, less expensive to the client) for you to write a quick article or create a small infographic than it is to create detailed interactive content, research and write our case studies, and so on.

How much profit can a content marketing agency make?

The goal of your agency, once you have established it, is to get a twenty percent or higher profit margin. With this in mind, there is not necessarily an upward limit of profit you can make, so long as you are willing to expand your business with more customers as needed. Profit also depends on the number of clients and the nature of your contract. The majority of content marketing agencies get compensated a monthly retainer fee by clients, and these fees average between $1000 and $5000 per client. Depending on how many clients you can reasonably take on, it is possible for this to be a six figure job.

How can you make your business more profitable?

One way to make your business more profitable is competitive pricing. You want to find the sweet spot between not driving clients to your competition and also not undervaluing your talent and labor. You can also focus on what clients want more of: for instance, fresh articles remain the main item requested by clients, so by providing more of those (and hiring more writers as needed), you can make more profit. Some platforms, such as Hubspot, offer affiliate or partner programs for young agencies. This allows the partner or affiliate to earn additional retainer income by offering more services. Finally, use client priorities to shape your priorities. Clients primarily want you to improve the numbers of leads generated; focusing on doing this better than anyone else ensures repeat business and continuous profit.

Day-to-Day and Growth

What happens during a typical day at a content marketing agency?

Some of your daily activities at your content marketing agency include creating the specific content clients want, such as writing articles or shooting videos. You will then be sharing that content via the company’s chosen channels, which may be very diverse if they are big believers in multi-channel marketing. Some of your time will be spent analyzing analytics to determine the effectiveness of your content—basically, you are determining if their demographics are responding well to chosen content or if you should change your approach. You will also be communicating with prospective clients, collaborating with existing clients, and researching things like SEO optimization to improve your future content.

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful content marketing agency?

Experience and training in things like Search Engine Optimization and Google Analytics (or other analytical tools) can be a big help in starting your agency. Experience in content management for others is obviously a major help, as is any experience you have with any Customer Management Systems used by previous employers. Finally, experience in writing and/or multimedia will be invaluable in helping you actually create the content, whereas.

What is the growth potential for a content marketing agency?

The growth potential for a content marketing agency is significant based on recent trends. For instance, the amount of content marketing jobs listed on the job-finding Indeed website increased by 350 percent between 2011 and 2015. Basically, content marketing is tethered to content delivery methods, and the sheer explosion of apps and other non-traditional channels means there is more need for content than ever before

What are some insider tips for jump starting a content marketing agency?

Whether on your company’s website or somewhere else, create an online portfolio that demonstrates content you have created for other clients. If you do not have much work yet, create proof of concept content. The point of this is to show prospective clients the quality and creativity that your agency has to offer, allowing them to imagine how you could impact their business.

How and when to build a team

Talented content marketers can easily start this business on their own. However, you may eventually have more work than you alone can handle; alternately, you may make a decision to hire a team in which different members can specialize in the different services your clients may need. The advantage to this is that you can take on more work (in terms of both volume and types of projects), but it will necessitate leasing an office space, which greatly increases your monthly operating costs.

Part 2 - Is a Content Marketing Agency business the right fit for you?

Part 3 - Action plan to launch your Content Marketing Agency business in 90 days