Starting my own Marketing Agency

Hey ATS,

I have been working on starting my own marketing agency and I plan on having my own ads running (PPC) by the middle of January. Little about me I am a Regional Account Manager for a large CRM/email marketing company here in the valley. I have certifications in SEO, CVO, CRO, PPC, Email marketing, and CFO.

I currently work with some big names in the business world (through my 9-5 job) and have helped design and optimize marketing campaigns for people like Dave Ramsay and Grant Cardone. If your not a business person you probably don't know them.

I have done local and global SEO for big and small companies. Most of whom I got ranking on page one for the keywords we optimized for.

My own website is almost finished. I just need a few blog posts and some landing pages to schedule a call.

My plan is to create a series of 6 one hour webinars talking about Digital Marketing and how to set things up in your businesses. I want to go after contractors and remodelers but I am not 100% on the niche I want to focus on.

I would then promote these webinars on FB/Insta/Google monthly to build my email list and hopefully get people to sign up on one of my packages.

Is anyone else a small business owner or agency owner here?

Any advice for an entrepreneur just getting started?

Any books I should read? (I already read The E-Myth, Traction, marketing agency blueprint, and some others)

Most importantly any contractors here? If so, what are your biggest struggles and fears when it comes to marketing and lead generation?

Any input on high ticket Niches I can focus on? High ticket meaning one sale for my client could be $3000+ dollars. Think PI Lawyers, not DUI lawyers. Or think plumbers who install septic systems VS plumbers to install toilets.

Maybe if I get the confidence ill link my site and let you guys hassle me over it. Just remember version 1 is better than version NONE.

Occasionally I deal with a company mfg./wholesale solar panels. Their marketing strategy is woefully subpar. I'll refer you when your site is up and running.

I guess it can't hurt to show you my site webrootmedia.com...

Like I said the "Schedule a call" links are not up yet just need to throw a landing page together for that. I am still writing several blogs as well.

a reply to: PraetorianAZ

Good Luck in your new biz.

This Book

Helped me in getting the skills and confidence to go after big accounts. Definitely a good investment for me.

It's a good read.

Also I'm a Big Fan of Dan Kennedy's style of Marketing.

not a fan of the color pallete, or your header. When viewed on mobile, the guys facial expression, plus the call to action button on top of the Guys junk, gives off a weird vibe lol...

Best of luck to you, I just opened a property management company and have a photography biz after three years of running the marketing department for a lazy business owner. Real estate is a nice Niche too - typically generating sellers is preferred over generating buyers.

As far as books go, the more the better. I bought 60 fairly notable lightly used business books for something like $70 shipped


a reply to: PraetorianAZ

originally posted by: Medusa18
not a fan of the color pallete, or your header. When viewed on mobile, the guys facial expression, plus the call to action button on top of the Guys junk, gives off a weird vibe lol...

Best of luck to you, I just opened a property management company and have a photography biz. Real estate is a nice Niche too - typically generating sellers is preferred over generating buyers.


a reply to: PraetorianAZ

I thought I had that fixed but perhaps I didn't publish it. Thanks for the advice.

originally posted by: Medusa18
not a fan of the color pallete, or your header.


a reply to: PraetorianAZ

What don't you like about the header? Is it too generic?

I used to do marketing for my own company. Once you get into the groove adding things to your campaign gets easier, of course. Quickly glancing at your website, first thing that comes to mind is emptiness, on my iPad it’s mostly open white space until I scroll down, and still there really isn’t much eye catching with substance, just a few generic photos anyone can download. Start learning photoshop, not for you but for your clients.

Edit: I went back to your website, you must have just republished something, now I see the guy in the header. I agree with another poster, the colors just don’t match what you trying to do, reminds me of The color of my kids toys. No offense.

a reply to: PraetorianAZ

My fatherbisna contractor, my aunt is a marketing manager for a huge developer. All of the contractors they use also use the developers in-house marketing team.

If you could convince contractors that they could save money by doing their own marketing, you might have something. My father noted he'd never do it because he doesn't have time between jobs.

a reply to: PraetorianAZ

find out super fast what you suck at. It's a business and there are many moving parts. You will find some of them bothersome or not achievable at the level needed. Find someone to do those things for you. That way you can focus on the things you are good at and let your business move forward. Good luck and don't be in a hurry to make millions, start small, be frugal, and try to limit the size of chances you take. Start manageable, so if you loose on something, you can recover quickly. And lastly, know that you won't fail because you won't give up. Best of luck!

Owned my own financially successful boutique agency for 9 years after working for a fairly major internet marketing company for 3. Most recently, a CMO for 4 years. Ghost wrote a best-selling book on SEO 10 years ago. Best advice... use a retainer model. Otherwise it’s very hard to get beyond the point where you’re barely covering your true time and able to hire a staff (which will become necessary about the $115k revenue mark) and still have a margin. The only real way to compress time to black is with a retainer or subscription based service model.

Book - The One Page Marketing Plan is amazing.

Your site colors don’t bother me but the third panel down on mobile has a background (grey) and font color (white) issue. Your copy is also a little too much about “what you offer” and less emotion-driven about problems you solve. People don’t buy or spend on services, they buy/spend on solutions to problems. Unless you’re doing or selling something novel (and marketing services aren’t for the most part), you need to address problems they already know they have and then focus on how you can help solve those problems better, faster, and easier. But again, still don’t make it about “you” (or your company) but about then.

a reply to: nicevillegrl