Agencies, start treating yourself as a Client.

When you’re behind the scenes in a digital marketing agency it’s all too easy to get swept up in the time it takes to build incredible branding and marketing campaigns for your clients. With hundreds of digital marketing agencies and freelancers out there and more joining the ranks every day, now is the time to pay some attention to the neglected middle child.

I’m looking at you, kid.

It’s second nature for us to produce digital campaigns for our clients that drive incredible results, but when is the last time you gave the same amount of time and love to your own agency?

I’m here to remind you that you are your client, too. Why do we find it so energising to produce campaigns for our clients but de-prioritise ourselves? The ideas and inspiration flow in for an external brief, but when it comes to setting up a strategy for your own business, you start to hit walls right and left. Here are some simple ways to keep yourself at the forefront of your competition:

Align the Troops

Have you established a marketing budget, as well as a fully worked-through marketing plan, and what does it consist of? Take the time to sit down individually with each team to put together a comprehensive, 360 plan. How will you allocate your budget between the channels? Creating a strong plan and using it to track your own ROI will give you the insight you need to make strategic decisions when it comes to adapting the plan throughout the year.

Content Marketing

The list is endless as to why content marketing is crucial for your business. Take the time to write insightful, not salesy, pieces to establish yourself as an industry insider. Utilise the opportunity to benefit your SEO and ask for advice and feedback from the SEO team within your company. Dedicating the time to developing a strong, thought-provoking blog will help to establish trust in your business and improve your own brand reputation.

Update Those Credentials

When was the last time you had a look, let alone updated, your agency credentials? Take the time to have a look at this at least once or twice per year. Enlist each of your teams to help put together case studies of your hero projects of the year, and write them in your tone of voice. It shouldn’t take more than a few slides: short, snappy and results-focused information is key here and your New Business team will be forever grateful. Bonus points if you have the ability to set up industry-specific credentials if you specialise across a few different industries.

Give Yourself Some Time

As your own client, you need to allocate a set amount of time and staff hours per month to work on your own marketing. This will not be your biggest, most time-consuming project but it is still certainly an important one. Set the hours and inform the team, and if a paying client needs work at the same time you need to stick to your guns and put your own needs first during that allotted time.

Just for a moment, try not to think about the 147 tasks in your meeting’s calendar, 47+ unread emails in your inbox from this morning and that creeping caffeine addiction that has been going on for a few months now. Free your mind to show your agency some love!

At the end of the day, we’re all marketers here, right?