While it’s easy to get stuck in the status quo, a fact of life for any agency is that you should continually reevaluate and fine-tune your approach to doing business. Whether due to market shifts or team changes, your organization will eventually need to adapt and create solutions that meet client needs the best way.
In this article, we will be discussing how your digital agency can position itself for success in the coming years by looking closely at the current state of digital marketing and trends.
What is Digital Agency Positioning?
Digital agency positioning is a marketing strategy that helps your company stand out from the competition. It’s a way to position your company in the mind of a potential client as the best option for their project.
The goal of digital agency positioning is to create an impression in your potential clients’ minds about what kind of company you are and what type of work you do.
It’s essential to understand that this isn’t something you can “do.” You don’t need to write a manifesto or develop an elaborate marketing strategy. Still, you need to consider how people perceive your business and work on improving it if necessary.
Why is it So Important for Digital Agencies?
- It helps define the company’s culture, values, and goals.
- It establishes a clear target audience and how to reach them.
- It creates a consistent brand image across all channels (website, social media, etc.).
- It helps measure ROI on marketing efforts by tracking leads and conversions generated by different channels.
- A strong positioning statement should be memorable, unique, and easy to understand at first glance. If you can’t remember what your company does in five seconds, there’s something wrong with your messaging!
Digital Agency Positioning
Alt: digital agency positioning steps
Your agency position is the unique combination of your brand identity, skills, capabilities, values, and culture that will make you stand out from the competition.
Brand Identity
First and foremost, the agency must communicate a clear identity to the world. This means more than having a logo, website, and social media presence. The agency’s brand needs to be something that can be recognized by potential clients and will resonate with them on an emotional level. Top bookies in Asia realize the essence of brand identity and have implemented several innovative solutions for our clients that have helped them grow their businesses by leaps and bounds.
Your brand identity should be based on three things:
- What business are you in?
- Who are you? (Your personality)
- What do you stand for? (Your values)
Value Proposition
What makes your company different from its competitors? What makes you better than them?
Your value proposition should be based on your unique strengths and expertise. If you have experience in certain areas, such as SEO, social media, or content marketing, highlight those strengths in your positioning statement. If you’re an all-around agency handling everything from strategy to design to development, let potential clients know they won’t have to worry about finding another team member if they hire you.
Your Business Model
Your business model is a vital part of your agency’s positioning. Is your company a full-service agency or a specialized one? Do you have in-house developers or work with freelancers? Do you offer various creative services, or are you focused on one area? It’s important to consider how these different aspects of your business influence how you approach new business and how clients perceive you.
Additionally, it would help to determine how you want to make money in the agency world. There are many options, and each has its pros and cons. The most common models are:
- Hourly billing (the most common)
- Fixed price project work (great for startups)
- Retainers or monthly fees (good for recurring revenue)
- Per project pricing (best for more prominent companies)
Inbound Marketing Strategy and Tactics
Inbound marketing is earning attention, converting prospects into leads, and closing more sales. It’s a strategy that drives customers to your website by creating content that educates and inspires them.
Inbound marketing utilizes a variety of tactics and strategies to drive traffic to your website, including:
- Content Marketing (blogs, ebooks, case studies, etc.)
- Email Marketing (automation)
- Social Media Marketing (social media ads)
- SEO/SEM
- Landing page optimization (A/B testing)
Getting Found Online – the Website Strategy and Content Creation Plan.
The website is an essential marketing tool for any agency because it allows you to get found online. However, many agencies fail to create websites that make them stand out from their competition, which is why they often don’t get the leads they need.
Why? Because they’re competing in a very crowded space. To attract potential clients, you need a website that describes what you do interestingly and concisely and has engaging content that helps visitors understand how your agency can help them achieve their goals through digital marketing techniques.
What is Your New Business Strategy?
The new business strategy of your digital agency should be based on your positioning. Positioning is the core of everything you do and say as an agency. It’s not just a tagline; it’s how you brand yourself and differentiate yourself from the competition.
If you don’t have one yet, that’s okay — but it’s time to get one soon.
The new business strategy should be focused on these things:
Know the Marketplace
Understanding the marketplace is the first step in developing a successful new business strategy. You need to know who your clients are, what they want from you, and how they want it delivered. Without this information in hand, you won’t be able to develop a strong value proposition for your prospects.
The easiest way to get started is by talking with existing customers or reaching out to prospects on LinkedIn (or other social media sites). Ask them what they want from you, how often they want updates, and if they have any questions or concerns about their current marketing strategy.
Remember the Agency’s Strengths
It’s important to remember that there are two kinds of positioning: internal and external.
Internal positioning is about what your team believes about itself. It’s where you start. It defines how you see yourself compared to your competitors and the market.
External positioning is what you want others to think about your agency, specifically targeting clients in new business pitches.
The best way to define both is by asking yourself a series of questions:
- What sets us apart from our competitors?
- What makes us unique?
- What do we offer that other agencies don’t?
Understand the Competition
Competition is a reality for all businesses, digital agencies included. The best way to understand your competitors is to know what they are doing. How do they position themselves? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
How do they target their prospects, how do they communicate with them, and which channels do they use to reach out to them? What are the unique selling propositions (USPs) for each of their services and offerings? These are some of the questions that will help you build a solid strategy for your new business development process.
Know What Clients are Looking for
Your new business strategy is your plan for attracting new clients and converting them into paying customers. If you don’t know what they want, how will you give it to them?
The first step in developing your New Business Strategy is identifying the gaps between where you are now and where you want to be. Start by gathering general information about the digital marketing agency market so you can compare it to your strengths and weaknesses. You need to make sure that you understand your industry’s current state of play before you can develop an effective strategy for yourself.
Once you know what clients are looking for, then it’s time to start thinking about how you can position yourself against them. Your position will depend on:
- The types of services or products that your business offers.
- Your target audience (who are they?).
- How does your business work compared with other digital agencies (what makes us different?).
Play to Your Strengths
First and foremost, you must understand what makes your agency unique. If your agency has a specific niche or focus area (e.g., eCommerce), then focus on that area in your marketing efforts. If you have an extensive social media marketing and influencer outreach background, highlight those capabilities in your marketing materials and proposals.
Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
A USP is a statement that describes how your agency solves problems for clients better than anyone else in the industry does. For example, if you have an extensive social media marketing and influencer outreach background, consider using this USP as part of your messaging. “We strategically target influential people relevant to our clients’ industries by reaching out directly with personalized messages about their products or services so they can share them with their followers organically without being asked first.
Be Nimble and Agile
Be willing to change direction when necessary — whether that means moving into new markets or shifting focus within an existing market based on client needs. This can help you build better relationships with clients and keep them happy over time by ensuring they get what they need from you.
Use Technology as a Competitive Advantage
Providing custom solutions for clients requires you to spend a lot of time learning about their pain points, business challenges, and future goals. This might include customer experience management to how they want their website to look and feel. The more knowledge you have about these things, the better positioned you are to win new business or help existing clients grow their businesses. Sport betting sites Vietnam have embraced technology to be able to provide better customer experiences and more personalized services.
Understand the Value of Your Offering
This will help you determine how much you should charge for each service. Your target market may not know they need what you offer until they see how it can improve their business. They may not understand the value of your services either until they see how they can benefit them personally or their company once implemented. For example, social media marketing does not seem essential for small businesses until they experience its effectiveness firsthand and realize how much time it saves them every day.
Conclusion
Digital agencies continue to be a driving force for new business strategies, and the trend shows no sign of stopping. The growing reliance on digital marketing accounts for this growth—but that doesn’t mean offline tactics are any less effective. If anything, you should use the two in conjunction to better market your business. Either way, there’s no questioning the importance of positioning if you want to secure as many clients as possible.
