Our website is supported by our users, when you buy from links on our website or blog we may earn an affiliate commission.

When starting a digital marketing agency, the foundation you must lay is imperative. You will need to set up tools and processes to ensure a seamless onboarding and management of clients. You will be required to send quotes/proposals, invoices and reports, and track your time spent on each project. Time and resource management is your bread and butter. If you are managing a team, you will also need project management tools to help you understand the scope of the task to create timelines and allocate tasks.

Invoicing

The bane of my existence is month-end invoicing and reports. I've done it the laborious manual way for far too long. It costs me time, money, and sanity. With this free invoice software, TimeTrack by Apploye, I can capture a client's details from the start, create quotes and even track the time spent, which is linked to an automatically generated invoice at the end of the month. Having this process happen at the click of a mouse will save you many hours of work.

Reporting

One of the services I offer is PPC advertising which is a data-driven service. At the end of the month, I provide clients with an in-depth report of how I spent their money for the best ROI. The reports help us to determine how to achieve next month's objectives. It is vital to create reports to see what is and isn't working and implement your strategy accordingly. Webforce Media offers this dashboard that gathers data from your marketing efforts and displays it in an easy-to-understand dashboard. This dashboard is much easier for the client than a complicated excel spreadsheet with tons of tabs.

SEO Tool

Now let's talk SEO; the chances are that whatever direction you take your agency, you will come across the need for SEO and keyword research. Whether you create a website, Facebook page, or Google ad, it all starts with keywords. Rank tracker is a fantastic SEO tool that helps determine what keywords to rank for and how well your website will rank in the SERPs. You need to stay on top of your game with SEO if you want to create long-term, lasting results on the search engines, and this tool does just that.

Builders and Email Marketing

When starting a digital marketing agency, you would be providing clients with owned media such as websites, funnels, and lead capture pages. Lead capture leads to list building and email marketing. You could gather various tools, open loads of accounts, and add numerous plugins to connect them all, but I suggest using one tool that does it all. And that tool is Builderall. I know you're probably thinking, "oh no, here comes the pitch," but I am genuinely excited to tell you about my favorite product. Builderall has helped me grow my business to what it is today and has plans to suit every budget. Builderall helps you to create, host, and expand your digital marketing efforts seamlessly. You can create and securely host websites, funnels, e-learning, webinars, membership sites, e-commerce stores, online magazines, and effortlessly connect it all with built-in email marketing, SMS messaging, WhatsApp integration, chatbots, and social media auto posting. All this with hundreds of ready-to-use funnels and 24/7 support in a variety of languages. For one low price, you have all these tools at your fingertips and can link 15 domains, unlimited subdomains, and have unlimited email subscribers. It just doesn't get any better.

Creative Design Tools

When creating a website, there is an element of graphic design skill involved for which you will need the right tools. You can expect to produce various graphic content such as print ads, social media posts, presentations, YouTube, or TikTok videos. Depending on what you offer and how experienced you are, you can choose Canva or Adobe. Canva allows you to create posts using done for you templates, it's easy and simple to use, and you can even get away with just using the free version if you have a low workload. Adobe is for more advanced users and does have a bit of a learning curve. However, if you can master the Adobe suite, the sky is the limit. You can create anything from business cards to promotional videos and more.

Stock Footage and Assets

The next set of tools in your arsenal that you really can't do without is access to royalty-free photos, graphics, video templates, stock footage, and audio. If you've ever gone browsing for some of these, you know the prices can quickly escalate for premium stuff. The key here is to find a happy medium. You need resources that won't break the bank but won't look boring and cheap either. The free ones are so overused, and it's incredibly difficult to find the exact image you have in mind for that perfect design. I use Envato, it offers a decent variety, and often, the templates have simple-to-follow instructions for editing. With Envato I have access to WordPress and Elementor templates, Adobe After Effects templates, Powerpoint presentations, vector graphics, photos, and stock video footage. It is invaluable to my business because it saves me hours, and my annual subscription is for unlimited downloads, which is easy on the pocket. In the rare cases where I can't find what I need on Envato I head over to Deposit Photos. Out of all the stock photo and video websites, this is the epitome of the happy medium. The quality of photos and videos is better, but you pay per download, so it's best to look out for their bulk deals and stock up.

Copywriting

Lastly, I recommend looking at some AI tools to save you time when creating content. The best tool I have seen to help with copywriting is CopyBlocks. It does take a little getting used to, but it's an amazing tool once you get the hang of it. It can cut down time spent on a blog post to mere hours instead of days. It helps you generate ideas, and you can achieve that high word count effortlessly. You can use it to write website sales copy, blog posts, or even killer ads.

 

I have been running my ever-evolving digital marketing agency for almost 4 years. I didn't start with all these tools, but I wish I had. These are tools I have discovered along the way that have helped streamline my business and save me time and money. The digital marketing arena changes so quickly and so often that you need to find what works best for you and leverage it to stay relevant and profitable. If you need any advice, feel free to reach out to me at eleonora@onevirtualsolution.co.za

?????????