In Episode #267, Eric and Neil discuss how to start a marketing agency. Tune in to learn how to scale yourself up from zero to a million as well as how to create an effective marketing tactic when you’re just starting out. It’ll get you those clients and perhaps a date on Tinder, too!

• 00:27 – Today’s topic: How to Start a Marketing Agency
• 00:40 – Neil shares why he named his first agency ACS
  • 00:44 – ACS stands for Advantage Consulting Services
  • 00:47 – Neil and his co-founder thought of the name
  • 01:07 – ACS was created 16 years ago
• 01:30 – Neil is starting a new marketing agency
• 02:03 – Neil wanted a website like iProspect’s, which is one of the biggest marketing agencies
• 02:14 – When starting a website, have your own unique angle
  • 02:20 – Keep it simple
  • 02:22 – Go on Crunchbase, find companies that are recently funded, email them their flaws in a full detailed document
  • 02:49 – From there, you can get clients and start having your own agency
• 03:05 – If you want to start a marketing agency, you have to be confident in marketing
• 03:11 – You have to do business development
  • 03:28 – If you’re starting out, use Mixmax’s sequences
  • 03:30 – Set up sequences and reach out to people like a cold outreach
  • 03:57 – Going from 0 to 1M, it all starts with you
  • 04:12 – Eric got a client from Quora by answering a question for SEO
  • 04:21 – Think about where your people are hanging out
  • 04:30 – Eric has a friend who currently makes money from Instagram
• 04:50 – Neil asks Eric the one thing he would do if he’s just starting
  • 04:59 – "Give free advice every single day”
  • 05:24 – People will eventually respond to you
  • 05:33 – Eric even sent Neil a couple of emails before responding to Neil’s blog
  • 05:45 – “You got to show value first and then, from there, you can scale up”
• 05:50 – Neil will also do the same thing as Eric if he’s just starting out
  • 06:00 – Neil will send an email with the name and a catchy sentence about the person’s business
• 06:39 – Use tools like Mixmax, Outreach and ZenProspect to make sure you have a CSV of the company names for the outreach
• 06:47 – Marketing is a numbers game
• 07:02 – Eric used to take videos to get clients
• 07:22 – Start to build up your portfolio and do some work for free to get referrals
  • 07:33 – It’s going to be tough at first
• 07:39 – Neil has a reader who used his marketing funnels to get dates on Tinder
  • 07:50 – Funnels is compared to the act of swiping
  • 07:58 – The more people you email, the more opens you’re going to get
• 08:20 – In Tinder, there’s a feature called “super like”
  • 08:49 – A “super like” is when a person made you a favorite
  • 09:00 – If you have a good headline, people will click through
  • 09:20 – Make sure you have a good image, just like in Tinder
• 10:00 – “Do good work and then things will start to happen”
• 10:05 – That’s it for today’s episode!

1. Confidence is important, but being an excellent marketer is fundamental—people will know if you are an expert or are just trying to be one.
2. There’s no elevator to success. Reach out to people as often as possible and offer free work if needed.
3. Create a plan and research how you will develop your business.

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Connect with us:

• NeilPatel.com
• Quick Sprout
• Growth Everywhere
• Single Grain
• Twitter @neilpatel
• Twitter @ericosiu

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