Digital Marketing
Business Plan
average $500,000 in annual revenue
Are you planning to run a digital marketing agency? That’s a fantastic thought! But have you developed a digital marketing business plan? Do you know how to write it? If the answer is no, that’s okay! Many new startups find it difficult to write.
But the good news is you can get a paid business plan writing service or try writing it yourself. This article will discuss a business plan and how to write it for your digital marketing agency. Let’s kick off, then!
What is a Business Plan For a Marketing Agency?
A business plan documents your company’s past performance and plans. It explains your business objective and goals. Moreover, a business plan also provides a roadmap or strategies that you will use in the upcoming years to achieve your goals.
Crafting an effective business plan requires a lot of research and effort as you have to touch every aspect of your business while researching. It requires critical thinking. Besides, it also enables you to secure financing, outline financial projections, document your business model, and turn your dream into a reality.
Why a Digital Marketing Business Plan Is So Important?
According to a study, 21% of new startups fail in the first year, and almost 50% fail in the first five years. And you know what? One of the primary causes of the failure of such businesses is the lack of a business plan.
If you are about to run a marketing agency, remember to have a well-crafted digital marketing business plan. Here’s how it will help you:
- Setting and communicating objectives and benchmarks
- Enables you to secure financing from the investors
- Acts as a guide for service providers
- Understanding a broader landscape
- Reduces the risk of failure
- Saves you from blunders
- Making critical decisions
Where Does the Funds For Digital Marketing Agency Come From?
Well! The primary funding sources for digital marketing include personal savings, bank loans, credit cards, and angel investors. If you are asking a bank for a loan, it will first see your business plan to gain confidence that you will be able to repay the loan later.
Likewise, investors also check your business plan first before investing their money. Therefore, your business plan for digital marketing agency needs to be compelling.
How Can You Sketch Out a Solid Digital Marketing Business Plan?
A business plan has some essentials that you must discuss. Here’s a brief guide about those essentials that will help you craft a persuasive digital agency business plan. Let’s get started, then!
#1 The Executive Summary
The executive summary gives readers an overview of your business and its goals. It gives you an overview of the digital marketing agency, its type, competitors, marketing strategy, and your financial plan.
#2 An Overview About Your Agency
In this section, you will describe the type of digital marketing agency you want to run. For instance, there are different types of digital marketing agencies, like
- Full-service digital marketing agency that provides various services to partner businesses.
- SEO digital marketing agency which focuses on ranking the clients’ websites on search engines.
- Social media marketing establishes companies’ presence via organic and inorganic posting.
- Web design digital marketing agency is a type of digital marketing agency that specializes in developing customized and optimized websites for clients.
Specify the type of digital marketing agency you are running and include the answers to the following questions in this section.
- When did you start the business, and why?
- Have you achieved any milestones to date?
- What’s your legal business structure?
#3 Do a Proper Marketing Analysis
Provide an overview of the digital marketing analysis here. Wondering why market analysis? Here are the reasons!
- Develops market understanding
- Helps in identifying marketing trends.
- Depicts you as an industry expert.
Therefore, remember to include to answer these questions in your market analysis.
- What’s the scope of a digital marketing agency?
- Is the marking going up or down?
- Who are the key market competitors?
- Trends affecting the market, industry’s growth forecast for the upcoming years, relevant market size, etc.
Answering all these questions in this section is crucial and will require extensive research. Besides, you can also hire someone for market research services.
#4 Customer and Competitive Analysis
In the customer analysis section, brief about the customers you want to serve, i.e., large companies, small businesses, and nonprofits. Also, break this part into demographic and psychographic profiles.
In the former, tell about your target audience’s age, location, gender, and income levels. Be vocal about your client’s needs and wants in the latter one.
In the competitive analysis, identify your direct and indirect competitors, determine their strengths and weaknesses, and determine how to improve your agency.
In this part of the business plan, you will focus on the following things.
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Your competitors’ clients
- Agency type
- Their pricing
Moreover, end this section by documenting how your marketing services are better than the competitors.
#5 Your Marketing Plan
Your digital marketing agency’s marketing plan needs to have four Ps.
- Product
Tell about the digital product or services you are offering.
- Price
Document the prices of your products and services in your plan.
- Place
Tell about the location of your site and how its location is ideal for your customers. If it’s online, mention it too.
- Promotions
Document your methods to drive customers to your location or online agency here. For instance, you can consider the following ways:
- Advertising in newspapers and social media
- Improving website SEO
- Email marketing
- Flyer distribution
#6 Describe Your Operations Plan
An operations plan gives you a roadmap for achieving your business goals. It has two sections. The first is everyday short-term tasks like communicating with clients, staff meetings, advertising campaigns, payments, etc.
The second session is of long-term goals, including generating $X revenue, expanding the businesses to other cities, etc.
# 7 Organization’s Management Structure
For the success of a business, a management team plays a crucial role. In this part of your business plan for a digital marketing agency, talk about the background of your key team members, highlight their experiences and expertise, and how they benefited the organization.
Also, mention your team and each individual’s role in achieving the common goal.
#8 Your Financial Plan
Tell us about your agency’s financial plan for the upcoming 5 years here. Include your financial statements, i.e., income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, for these years in your financial plan. Moreover, while creating these statements, consider the following things.
- Equipment and office supplies cost
- Business insurance and taxes
- Staff’s salaries
- Other expenses
#9 Appendix
In the appendix, attach your full financial projections and all the supporting documents to make your business plan for a digital marketing agency more compelling.
Wrapping It Up
Writing a digital marketing business plan is a must for the success of your digital marketing agency. It not only shows your passion and preparedness for the business but also helps in getting more clients.
As it’s a blueprint of how your business will work to achieve its goals, it must be compelling and stand out from the competitors. For that, ensure you cover all the essentials of an effective business plan.