Since none of you commented on my post last week regarding what you want me to talk about this week, I decided to start from the beginning. I would like to breakdown how I started a Creative Agency and what are the do’s and don’ts of a good start. I don’t understand why everyone thinks it’s difficult and impossible in this day and age. They are always confused about lead generation, hiring people, management, client servicing but it’s very easy when you break it all down.
So if I had to start again, these are are areas I will focus on:
1. Identity
Before you start, brainstorm and decide the services you will offer, try to limit them to under 5 if you are starting off with low investment or don’t have a lot of resources to start off with. This is because you can only have limited super powers and you want to specifically limit them so when you scale, you can easily establish SOPs and the process. Think KFC and Mcdonalds- they have a limited menu and have global operations, they are proud of the process which transcends national boundaries and still serve the same level of service and quality, if not a little diluted or personalized, as their global HQ. It takes a lot of precision and honing to get to that level, but it helps if you start off with this mindset.
2. Core Strength
“Do what you love” – take this very seriously because at the end of the day, if all else fails, you have to deliver and if you don’t have that skillset, you’re gonna suffer and get a bad repute. I believe that you must select the service you have knowledge in and can do that on your own, for example, web development, so if your resources are delaying or resign, you can still deliver for your clients and not face the wrath (i.e bad review) from their side. I chose graphic design because that was something I had expertise in and could easily do it myself and estimate workload, cost and timelines easily. I am mentioning this as in my experience of 7 years, I took some project which I had little to no knowledge of and relied on hired resources, when they resigned, I had this project in midway for which I did not know what to take in handover or how to document or start again.
3. Corporate Outlook
So you’re just starting out on your own, you may not have office or people, but that is something you know and not for your clients’ to know as long as you’re confident you can deliver the project to their satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to learn and see how the big players do it, and replicate their professionalism, ethics and procedures when dealing with clients. What I mean is, you should know how to properly draft a contract or MOU, how to create and send invoices and how to communicate to clients at the very least. The website you make must encapsulate these and the meetings you take should reflect this. I remember when I was starting off and was working alone, even then my clients were under the impression that I have a team, that is because I always acted like I had one. “Fake it till you make it” – this is another quote that I would ask you to take seriously and implement it as after seeing the team grow to 40+ people and having designated departments instead of me doing all the work, I realized that I always acted as if I had all these all along. I always used to use statements like “I will have the accounts department send you an invoice”, or “you should talk to my creatives head for that”, or “this is something my HR oversees” and I did not realize when these things became a reality.
4. Formalities
I call this part formalities because these may not sound important at the start but trust me, it will help you immensely in scoring clients. These include official business registration, payment method ( i.e. Business bank account) in the market you’re dealing in along with an office address that the clients’ would see when they’re doing their homework on you after you just dazzled them in the meeting/pitch. Otherwise, you may wonder why you’re losing clients after the initial pitch.
These are the 4 pillars I would ask you to work on if you’re just starting off or planning to start a digital agency and hope to scale it in future. Once you’ve established that, the only important part that remains is Lead Generation, but that is a discussion for some other time, afterall, if I spill all the secrets in one go, why would you stay tuned for the next edition, eh?.
See you all next week.
Syed Zohaib Ahmed – Creative Superhero
